**Dawn in the Forbidden City**
When Ruan Hongxiao was shoved from the prison cart at dawn, her knees struck the flagstones with a sickening crack. Through the morning mist, towering vermilion walls loomed like a slumbering beast. Behind her, an aunt stifled sobs—of the twelve Ruan women taken, only seven remained.
"Mark me well!" Wang Dequan's shrill voice cut the air. "From this day forth, you're laundry drudges in the lowest pits of Yeting Yard. Rise at the third watch, sleep at the ninth. Defy this—" His horsetail whisk snapped like a whip, "—and the Discipline Bureau will teach you regret."
Hongxiao dug her nails into her palms. A month ago, she'd played the qin beneath her family's flowering crabapple tree, her father promising to arrange the finest marriage. Now the Ruan compound stood empty—men beheaded, women exiled or sold. Only these few young daughters had been "favored" with this fate: the palace's belly, where women were swallowed whole.
"You. Name?" The eunuch's whisk tilted her chin upward.
"This unworthy one bears the Ruan name." She lowered her lashes but not her head.
The old eunuch's slit eyes gleamed. "They say Ruan girls read?"
"I know some characters."
The whisk lashed her shoulder. Pain spiderwebbed down her spine as gasps rippled through the group. Aunt Lin lurched forward, only to be seized by two matrons.
"Remember! In Yeting, you forfeit even your surnames!" Wang's spittle struck her cheeks. "You're 'Red' now—just another worthless maid."
**Third Watch**
The night watchman's clapper still echoed when icy water shocked Hongxiao awake. Early spring wells bred needles of cold that pierced her cracked fingertips. As she plunged heavy silks into the basin, blood from her chilblains bloomed on emerald brocade before vanishing under her scrubbing.
"Clumsy whore! You'll pay for ruining the Consort's cloud-patterned silk!" Bi Lian's nails bit into Hongxiao's neck. The plump head laundress, barely twenty, had viper's eyes that missed nothing.
Hongxiao endured the pinching silently. Three days prior, she'd seen Bi Lian slip a powder packet to Consort Li's eunuch. Since then, "accidental" rips kept appearing in her assigned laundry, each earning fresh punishments.
"Played the noble lady once, didn't you?" Bi Lian stomped on the gown Hongxiao was rinsing. "Now you're lower than stray dogs."
The water barrel reflected a gaunt face—pearl-like skin now waxen, fingers ulcerated, only the almond eyes still bright. She remembered the hairpin her mother had placed in her coiled tresses at last year's coming-of-age ceremony, its golden phoenix lost to the purge.
"Daydreaming?" A bucket of ice water drenched her. "Thirty pieces by sundown, or no rations!"
**Dusk's Secrets**
At twilight, Hongxiao was finally permitted a moldy corn bun. Passing the Western Palaces' alleyway, a wrinkled hand yanked her behind a rockery.
"Eat, child." The old serving woman pressed warm pastry into her palm.
"Who—?"
"Zheng. Your father once spared my clan." The woman scanned the shadows. "Listen—Li Chongyi was promoted to War Ministry last moon. His daughter Consort Li has the Emperor's ear. Beware her."
Hongxiao's grip tightened on the pastry. "Nurse Zheng... who truly destroyed my family?"
"The waters run deep..." The old woman froze. Jade pendants clinked as a palanquin procession rounded the corner. Through fluttering curtains, Consort Li's beauty flashed—the vermilion dot between her brows like fresh blood.
When the entourage passed, Zheng whispered urgently: "Three things: The Crown Prince and Second Prince battle over the Revenue Ministry's vacancy. Northern armies starve while silver goes missing. And—" Her eyes bulged as she shoved Hongxiao aside.
"Laundry sluts loitering near nobles' quarters?" Bi Lian blocked the path with two matrons. "Flog them!"
Cudgels rained down. Curled tight, Hongxiao heard Zheng's screams fade down the path, and Bi Lian's hissed triumph: "Consort Li's orders—make it fatal."
**Moonlit Revelations**
Her wounds took half a moon to heal. On night-watch duty, Hongxiao spotted a figure slipping into a disused well. Barefoot, she followed, finding an oilcloth bundle in a crevice—a partial ledger stamped with the Revenue Ministry's seal.
"Who goes?" A young eunuch's challenge nearly made her drop it. Moonlight revealed sharp features and an Eastern Palace insignia at his waist.
"This lowly one... fetches water." She hid the ledger in her robes.
The eunuch stepped closer. "Laundry's west. This is the Crown Prince's well." His gaze dropped. "What do you hold?"
Her retreat faltered on moss. As she fell, his calloused hand caught her wrist—a scholar's grip, hardened by brushwork.
"His Highness's documents went missing," he murmured. "If you see anything—"
"Xiao Shunzi! You're needed!" Distant shouts made him release her. As he left, a jade plaque slipped from his sleeve.
Hongxiao lifted it to the moon. The engraved character 承—Crown Prince Xiao Jingcheng's private mark. Her pulse hammered. Father's last letter surfaced in her mind: *The military payroll ledgers hold the key...*
**Blood and Fire**
By the third watch, Hongxiao was scribbling on rag-paper with salvaged charcoal:
*18th moon: Consort Li met War Ministry envoy. Eastern Palace seeks missing ledger. Prince's aide: "Xiao Shunzi."*
A scuffle outside froze her hand. Through rice-paper windows, Bi Lian wrestled a young eunuch:
"...tell Minister Li the arms shipment must avoid Tong Pass..."
"...Crown Prince's men already..."
A wet thud. Bi Lian collapsed as the eunuch wiped his dagger. "Consort Li says loose tongues stay cut."
Hongxiao muffled her breathing. When the killer left, she pried a blood-smeared letter from Bi Lian's sleeve—its wax seal bore the mark *Li, Military Governor of Longxi*.
By dawn, she'd memorized every character before feeding it to the stove. In the flames, her father's last words resonated:
*"Live, Hongxiao. Uncover the truth."*
Studying her scarred reflection, she smiled. Yeting's filth hadn't drowned the Ruan spirit—it had forged her vengeance keener. From this day, she wouldn't just survive. She'd climb from this abyss, stepping on her enemies' bones.