The afternoon light barely reached the floor.
Qing knelt beside Lin Yue, drawing lines into the dust with a stick.
"This means 'door,'" she said, tracing the shape slowly. "It looks like two panels."
Lin Yue leaned closer, copying it carefully.
"If I write it," she said concentrating, "will a real door come?"
Qing paused, then let out a small laugh.
"No," she said gently. "It doesn't make things appear."
Lin Yue frowned, looking down at the shape.
"Then why write it?"
"So you can understand when others do," Qing replied. "And so you are not tricked."
Lin Yue looked at the mark again.
*Not magic.*
*Just knowing, got it.*
She traced it once more, slower this time.
"You shouldn't be teaching her that."
A voice cut through the room.
Concubine Wei stood near the doorway, her eyes bore into Qing.
Qing immediately pulled her hand back. "I was only—"
"She does not need it," Consort Wei snapped. "What use is writing to her? What could she even learn?"
Lin Yue's hands clenched around the stick.
Concubine Wei's gaze dropped to her.
"She already has a face that will draw attention," she continued, her voice colder now. "That is enough."
Qing said nothing.
"Do not fill her head with unnecessary things," Concubine Wei added. "It will only cause more problems."
Lin Yue lowered her eyes, her fingers brushing over the shape in the dust until it blurred.
Then Concubine Wei went to rest, Qing went over to Lin Yue again.
She did not sit as close this time, for a moment, she said nothing, then quietly she said.
"You must learn anyway."
Lin Yue looked up at her.
Qing's voice stayed low.
"Pretty things are noticed, but they are not protected."
Lin Yue looked confused.
"If you are not smart," Qing continued, "you will not know when something is wrong. And if you dont know…"
She did not finish the sentence, she didnt need to, the meaning was clear.
Lin Yue's small hands tightened slightly in her lap.
"I will learn," she said with a nod.
Qing nodded once.
That night, Lin Yue lay awake.
The room was dark, the air cold against her skin.
She pressed her hand lightly against her chest.
*Be smart, I will be smart, I will be strong.*
The words felt important, important enough that she did not want to forget. She closed her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~♡
On the morning of the sixth day, the rice sack sat open and empty.
Concubine Wei stared into it for a long moment.
Then she stood "Stay here."
Lin Yue pushed herself up quickly. "Mother—"
"Stay!"
Lin Yue froze.
Concubine Wei did not look at her again. She gathered her outer robe, fingers moving fast, then stepped out without another word. The door slamming behind her.
Lin Yue stood where she was for a moment, then sat back down slowly. She looked at the empty sack.
*Theres nothing left.*
Her stomach tightened.
*If she doesn't come back…*
The thought slipped in without warning.
Lin Yue pressed her lips together and looked away.
*Don't think like that.*
Across the room, Qing was already moving. She lifted the lid from the pot, checking what remained, then set it back down.
"She will return," Qing said.
Lin Yue looked at her.
Qing did not look back, but her voice stayed even.
"She has to, and if not I will keep us alive."
Lin Yue nodded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~♡
Concubine Wei walked the long path back to the main residence alone. Her skirts brushed against the polished stone, the sound soft beneath her steps.
*That stupid child.*
*If I ask properly…*
*If I lower myself enough…*
*They will give something.*
*They have to.*
Her fingers tightened slightly at her sides.
*It is only rice.*
*Not gold, not silk.*
*Just rice, I shouldn't even have to do this. It's all that girl's fault!*
The path felt longer than she remembered.
*If I return with nothing—*
Her thoughts stopped there, she straightened her back.
*No.*
She would not return like that.
~~~~~~~~~~~♡
When she reached Lady Han's residence, she was led inside without ceremony.
Lady Han sat beneath embroidered cranes and bamboo, her posture straight, her expression calm. A cup of tea rested in her hand.
She did not rise to greet Concubine Wei.
Concubine Wei dropped to her knees."My lady," she began.
Lady Han let out a long sigh, her eyes rolling slightly as she lowered her cup with a *clack.*
"The rations aren't enough," Concubine Wei said. "The child is weak."
Lady Han did not gesture for her to come closer, she looked almost bored.
"The household faces many expenses," she replied, her voice flat.
"We ask only for rice," Consort Wei said quickly. "A small allowance until—"
"Until what?" Lady Han let out a short laugh, flicking her handkerchief inConcubine We's direction. "Lord Shen has no interest in that cursed girl."
Consort Wei's hands tightened against the floor, her nails pressing into her palms.
"She is six," Lady Han continued, leaning back, her eyes looking Concubine Wei up and downin amusement. "And already a problem."
Consort Wei blinked. "My lady what do you mean?"
Lady Han sighed loudly.
"Have you not noticed how people look at her?"
Consort Wei hesitated. "She does nothing improper."
"That is precisely the issue," Lady Han said smoothly.
She glanced down at her nails, turning her hand slightly in the light.
"My daughters have yet to find suitable matches," she continued. "Proposals depend on reputation."
She lifted her eyes to meet Concubine Wei's.
"Beauty within a household must be… properly arranged."
Consort Wei said nothing. Something cold moved through her chest.
*Arranged.*
Her fingers pressed harder into her palms.
*She has no right to do this to me.*
Lady Han's voice lowered. "Lin Yue's face invites comparison. Comparison invites gossip, gossip ruins alliances."
"You would starve a child over gossip?" Consort Wei yelled, voice cracking.
Lady Han smiled faintly and opened a fan embroidered with butterflies and flowers. The silk snapped open with a soft *snap*. "I would protect my children," she said, leaning forward slightly. "There are remedies for unwanted stars."
Behind the fan, her lips curved almost lazily.
Of course, there were remedies. In households like these, problems rarely lasted long when someone had the will to remove them. A concubine's daughter was a small thing to erase, barely a ripple in the waters of the Shen family. If Consort Wei had any sense at all, she would understand that.
Consort Wei's breath caught in her throat. *No… she can't mean…*
"You suggest—" she began, but Lady Han interrupted gently.
"I suggest," Lady Han said, voice calm, "that accidents happen, illness visits the weak and a girl may be sent away quietly."
Behind her fan, Lady Han studied Consort Wei's angry face with quiet satisfaction. Let the woman struggle with it. Fear and desperation would do the rest.
Consort Wei recoiled. "You are monstrous."
"And you," Lady Han replied calmly, "are foolish." She waved her fan lazily through the air. "If your daughter truly is unlucky, perhaps Heaven will solve the matter for you."
Concubine Wei's mind spun wildly. Her daughter.
*If Lin Yue truly was cursed…*
*If Heaven truly meant to destroy her…*
*Would it not be kinder to end the suffering now?*
The thought felt almost correct. *No. No, she cannot—*
Yet another voice whispered cruelly in the back of her mind.
*If Lin Yue remained, the Shen household would never accept them again. Lord Shen had already turned his back on them. The servants avoided them, the courtyard they live in grows colder, lonelier.*
*If the girl disappeared…*
*Perhaps the household would forgive her.*
*Perhaps her husband would look at her again.*
*Perhaps… she could survive.*
"No!" Consort Wei's voice cracked suddenly, the word bursting from her before the thought could finish forming.
Lady Han's eyes hardened slightly.
"Then solve it yourself," she said, throwing her fan down impatiently.
Inside, irritation flickered through her thoughts. *Weak woman. Even now she hesitates, but that was fine. Desperation had a way of pushing people to ugly decisions eventually.* Lady Han had seen it before.
"Remove the problem," Lady Han finished softly. *Yes,* Lady Han thought calmly. Better to erase that problem. "And your fortune may yet improve."
Across from her, Consort Wei felt her knees tremble. Her mind churned with horror. *Kill her child?* Her hands pressed against her chest as if trying to hold her heart together. But beneath the terror, beneath the revulsion—
A single, poisonous doubt had already taken root and she hated herself for even thinking it.
She left the main residence not as a mother seeking rice, but as a prisoner carrying a sentence. The path back to the Western Courtyard felt longer now, every step echoing with the word *Remove.* The sun was high, but for Consort Wei, the world had already gone dark.