chapter 8

Eunuch Su’s head is a secret between Yan Ci and me. Yan Ci said that the only people who know his secrets are confidants and the dead.

Fine. So I became his confidant, learning to do what a confidant should do, such as stealing.

My birth mother was frail and sickly. Yan Ci couldn’t afford good medicine, so he had to resort to theft. But the Imperial Medical Pavilion was strictly guarded, making it nearly impossible to get in.

He set his sights on the rare ingredients used for medicinal cuisine in the kitchen. Every night at the third watch, I would sneak into the kitchen, preparing to steal.

Moonlight flowed down from the wooden shelves, where Persian glass jars were neatly lined up, their surfaces gleaming with a lustrous glow.

The kitchen weighed precious ingredients every day, so I only dared to take a little at a time, so as not to get caught.

At the fourth watch, I would quietly place the glass jars back on the shelf, and then hear dogs barking outside the window-a signal to leave.

Once, just as I climbed out the window, I started vomiting uncontrollably. Because I saw the new rare ingredient brought into the kitchen.

The transparent Persian glass jar was filled with golden wine, and inside floated fresh chunks of meat-fetuses cut from pregnant bellies.

Yan Ci was covered in my vomit. He said, “Confidant? I think you’re more of a major headache.”

The kitchen staff were puzzled again. They wondered why the little thief who used to steal slop no longer came by.

Because I switched to stealing leftovers. Leftovers weren’t easy to steal, but they were certainly delicious.