Chapter 8

# Chapter 8

I spent five days locked in the side courtyard.

Court Lady Song thought that because I could not get out, neither could the accounts.

She underestimated the girls of Lanyi Academy.

Whenever Qi Tang passed the courtyard, she deliberately started an argument with the guards.

“How many points did I lose today?” she would shout. “If I lose them all, will you send me back to the frontier? The food in this wretched place is terrible!”

The guards grew so irritated that they stopped watching the corner of the wall.

Ye Chan sewed tiny messages into the hems of the needlework she delivered. When Matron Qi made her nightly inspection, she coughed three times outside my door. After the third cough, I could slide my answers out.

Qin Zhaomian never came.

But she sent me two things.

One was the list of sponsors who had submitted each noble girl’s name before enrollment.

The other was a draft of Court Lady Song’s report to the empress.

The draft made everything plain.

Xu is rash and blunt, unfit for the palace. She may be displayed as an example of Grade D.

Qi is crude and fierce. If her father surrenders a Ministry of War appointment, she may be admitted to Grade B.

Qin is gentle and obedient. Grade A.

Ye is frail. If the Ye family of the Ministry of Rites adds another courtesy gift, she may be retained as a reserve candidate.

The girls were sorted neatly on paper.

Like meat on a butcher’s block: more for the fat cuts, less for the lean, and sell whatever might spoil as quickly as possible.

On the fifth night, Jiang Yanbai unlocked the door.

I was sitting on the floor eating a cold steamed bun.

He looked at it. “You manage to survive anywhere.”

“When people are hungry, they can swallow almost anything.”

He opened the door. “The final examination is tomorrow.”

“I’m allowed to attend?”

“The crown prince has personally ordered every student of Lanyi Academy to appear.”

The examination should have been a month away. But matters had reached a point where no one could afford to wait.

I stood, and one numb leg buckled.

Jiang Yanbai caught my arm. I did not pull away. His grip was steady, and he released me as soon as I found my balance.

“After tomorrow, Xu Man, I may not be able to protect you.”

“Have you ever protected me?”

He looked at me.

I had meant to stab him with another sharp remark, but the dark circles beneath his eyes stopped me.

“I submitted the examination question to the crown prince,” he said. “You will be asked to manage one year of Eastern Palace expenses.”

“And?”

“You may use any ledger you wish in your answer.”

I understood.

He had built us a set of stairs.

This would not be a private accusation. It would be a public examination. Court Lady Song could not stand before the court and claim that girls were wrong to know how to keep accounts.

“What will happen to you?” I asked.

“If anything goes wrong, I failed to instruct my students properly.”

“You intend to take the blame for us?”

“Someone must.”

I frowned. “Are men taught this from childhood? The moment trouble appears, you turn yourselves into coffin lids and throw yourselves over it.”

He stared.

“I don’t need you to bury yourself over this. I need a road, not a grave.”

Jiang Yanbai suddenly laughed, very softly.

“Xu Man.”

“What?”

“You truly are the girl least suited to enter the palace.”

I smiled too. “And you truly excel at saying useless things.”

The next day, the final examination began.

Lanyi Academy’s main hall was packed.

The empress had come. The crown prince had come. Officials from the Ministry of Rites, the Imperial Household Department, and the Crown Prince’s Secretariat were present. The ladies of our families sat behind screens.

The students stood in two rows.

I saw Qin Zhaomian in pale blue, her face white. She looked at me.

I nodded once.

Her eyes reddened at once.

Court Lady Song stood beside the empress holding the evaluation register.

The empress was past forty, dignified and composed. She needed no display of anger to command the room.

“Today is the final examination,” she said. “Since the Junior Tutor has changed the subject, let us see how well these young ladies can manage accounts.”

Jiang Yanbai bowed.

“The subject is one year of Eastern Palace expenditure. Using Lanyi Academy as an example, propose measures to reduce expenses.”

Court Lady Song’s face changed.

Using Lanyi Academy as an example.

The knife was in our hands.

Now we only had to dare to cut.