“I have so many peasants at home who act just the same, and they cannot afford to wear a pair of decent shoes,” she continued. “Speaking of them, I don’t like peasants looking at my shoes. They always think about stealing them. But I daresay it’s her mother’s fault. She forgot to teach her. But perhaps she is ignorant as well. You know the saying goes, ‘Like mother, like daughter’?”
I rose from my pallet and walked to her so she had to look at my face. It was fine if she mocked me, but not my mother. “You may have a thousand pairs of shoes, but it does not make you a thousand times better than the others. If I were you, I would keep my eyes on my shoes and keep my mouth closed.”
She growled. “Who needs your advice? You’re no better than a peasant’s daughter.”
Peasants were the lowest social class, and it was the worst insult she could give me. “I would like to tell you my mother is a cousin of an empress and my father was a governor—”
“Peasant!” she spat at me.
I raised my hand to slap her. She had gone too far.
Something smacked my head. I staggered backward and stepped on something soft. A pillow? No. Someone’s leg. “I fell, and before I could get up, fists, spits, taunts, and scorn rained down on me. Someone yanked my hair, another girl pounded on my back, and yet another kicked my arms and legs.
“What’s going on there?” someone shouted from outside.
They stopped.
“Coward, that’s what you are,” the Xu Girl hissed.
I did not have strength to speak. My head was hurting. I lay down on my pallet and curled up. I was angry, yet there was nothing I could do. For the rest of the night, I stared at the swirling lattices of the window. They seemed to whirl and spin out of control.
? ? ?
The morning light shot into my eyes. I rose stiffly, my body sore. In front of me stood the head eunuch, the Xu Girl, and the other Selects. They were smirking.
My heart tightened. I ignored my headache and bowed. “Zao an.” Good morning.
The Xu Girl pointed at me. “Here she is. She slapped me!”
I straightened and turned to the eunuch. “You shouldn’t listen to her. She is lying.”
The eunuch scowled, waving his hand. “The guards heard your voice. The girls here confirmed what happened.”
“But they are all lying.”
“There’s no point in denying it. You, the daughter of the Wu family, attacked your fellow Select and disturbed the court peace. You must be punished. Guards, take her to the Ice Palace.”
I felt chilled. The Ice Palace. The last place where a palace lady would want to go. “No…please don’t… I can’t… I… What about the Emperor? He will not allow it!”
“There is no need to bother the One Above All.” He waved at the female guards behind him. “Take her now.”
Like vultures, they dove at me. I drew back to the corner of the bedchamber, but their hands came anyway. I threw them off. “Get away from me. I will walk myself.”
I hurried out of the bedchamber, passing the girls quickly so they would not have the satisfaction of seeing my tears. It was my own fault. I had underestimated them and let this happen.
“Wait,” a voice called out when we turned on the pebble path outside of the compound where I stayed. The air was cold, and the sun spread its golden rays through the thin branches and reflected on the bare garden rock beside me. But I did not feel the warmth. “Where are you going?”
Jewel.
“To the Ice Palace,” the eunuch replied.
“What?” Jewel’s fan paused in midair. Behind her, some girls who were pounding their laundry with flat wooden clubs at the bank of the canal stood up, craning their necks in my direction. A group of older Selects, who were on the way to fetch water, came around the pavilion to watch me.
“What happened, Mei?” Jewel asked.
“I…” I stared at the treetops in the Forbidden Park, unable to bring myself to recount last night’s story. The wind whipped my loosened hair around my face. I gathered it in front of my chest and held it there, but still the wind plucked at the strands and sent them flying. I wished it could blow me away.
“Was there a fight?” Jewel said, glancing at the Selects on my left, who had followed me. “My respected head eunuch, perhaps you may not wish to rush into decisions. She is only thirteen. So young! She does not deserve to be punished in the Ice Palace. Perhaps you may wish to ask more questions?”
“Stay out of this, Jewel. I do not like people questioning my judgment.” He looked down his nose at us.
Jewel sighed. “Yes, my respected head eunuch, I shall not question you, lest you throw me into the Ice Palace too. I do wish, and kindly beseech, that you will give this incident some thought and give her another chance.” She pulled me beside her, and before I knew what she wished me to do, she bowed. Deeply. Three times. “If there is anything I can do to make you change your mind…” she said.
I was grateful to her. She was the only woman who dared to help me.
“I have made up my mind.” The eunuch waved at the guards. “Take this disobedient girl now. Let’s go.”