Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The mule cart was ancient, jolting so hard it felt like my bones were about to shake apart.
Eight girls were crammed inside, myself included. None of us cried. We were simply silent.
Perhaps the drought had wrung our tears dry long ago.
The wheels creaked as they rolled over the cracked yellow dirt road, carrying us farther and farther from home.
A girl sitting in the corner suddenly began to sob under her breath, then quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. Only her shoulders kept trembling.
I leaned against the swaying side of the cart and closed my eyes.
Three dou of millet.
That was the price of my life.
The mule cart creaked on without stopping, heading north.
At the end of the road stood the vermilion walls of the Forbidden City, and its tall, narrow palace gates.
Like the mouth of some silent beast.
At last, the mule cart stopped outside a side gate.
The gate was smaller than I had imagined, and darker. Gray walls stretched out from it as far as the eye could see, pressing wordlessly down on my chest.
The human trafficker urged us out of the cart. The eight of us huddled together like startled sparrows as several expressionless eunuchs led us through that small gate.
With a clang, the door shut behind us, cutting off everything outside.
In that instant, something inside me went hollow.
I knew that home, my parents, and those three dou of millet had all been sealed away behind that sound.
Before us rose walls even taller and deeper. Beneath our feet lay a smooth yet ice-cold bluestone path. There was a strange smell in the air.
Incense, dust, and some indescribably stale odor had mingled together, heavy and oppressive.
We were led into a spacious, empty room. Inside stood an elderly nanny dressed in dark teal palace robes, her hair combed with immaculate precision. Her taut face showed not the faintest trace of a smile.
Only later did I learn that she was the instructor, Nanny Zhang.
“Take everything off.”
Her voice was not loud, but it was like shards of ice, scraping painfully against the ear.
No one moved.
The girls were all terrified out of their wits, shrinking against one another.
“Do I need to say it a second time?”
Nanny Zhang lifted her eyelids, her gaze sweeping over us like a blade.
Fear came faster than shame.
With a faint rustling, our coarse cloth garments fell one by one to the floor.
The chill of early spring immediately wrapped around our bare skin, sending a shiver through us.
I kept my head lowered, hard, not daring to look at anyone else, and not daring to let anyone look at me.
Several older palace maids came forward. Their eyes were numb, their movements mechanical as they inspected our bodies.
They pried open our mouths to check our teeth, felt our bones, as if examining livestock.
One girl could not hold it in and began to sob softly.
“Shut your mouth.”
Nanny Zhang snapped coldly.
“The palace has no shortage of girls who can cry. What it lacks are girls who know how to survive and how to work. Clean bodies, all your limbs intact-that is your good fortune.”
“From this day on, you are no longer those wild little girls from outside. Your lives belong to your masters. Your dignity is something your masters grant you. Remember that.”