Chapter 2
Chapter 2
No one answered.
I curled my toes, feeling the chill from the floor seep up through the soles of my feet and burrow straight into my bones.
“Have you remembered it?”
She asked again, her voice sinking lower.
“…We have.”
A few scattered replies sounded.
“Did none of you eat? Say it properly!”
Her voice suddenly rose, echoing through the empty room.
“We have!”
We all flinched and shouted the words out.
She seemed a little more satisfied. She walked up to us, and at some point, a yellowed register had appeared in her hand.
She began reading out names. Then, with a casual point of her finger, whoever she pointed at had to step forward and kneel to await instructions.
Those names were no longer the ones our parents had given us.
“Chunlan.”
“Qiuju.”
“Dongmei.”
…
One name after another fell from her mouth, like labels slapped onto objects-careless and cold.
The girls who were called froze for a moment before realizing she meant them, then hurried forward and knelt.
As I listened, my chest tightened.
Mother and Father had named me Zhaodi, hoping I would bring them a younger brother.
My younger brother had come, but I had left.
I supposed I had no use for that name anymore.
“Ruyi.”
Nanny Zhang’s voice held no inflection at all.
I stared blankly for an instant before realizing it was my turn.
I quickly stepped forward and knelt on the cold bluestone floor.
Pain shot through my knees.
“Ruyi,” she added, as if completing a note in the margin.
“From now on, that is what you will be called.”
Ruyi.
What an auspicious word.
May all things go as one wishes.
But I knew that from this moment on, the country girl named Zhaodi was well and truly dead.
The one who remained was the palace maid Ruyi.
The name was light as a feather, yet it pressed down on my chest until I could barely breathe.
I lowered my eyes and answered softly to the floor.
“Yes.”
She seemed a little more satisfied. Only then did she slowly say, “I am the nanny in charge of your instruction. For the days to come, I will teach you the rules. Learn well, and it will be your good fortune. Fail to learn…”
She paused, her gaze sweeping over us.
“The northwest corner of the palace is a desolate place. Plenty of people vanish there without a sound.”
My heart clenched hard.