It worked. “Really? You saw him?”
“I was watching on the front wall to see if anything interesting would come down the street.” She grinned. “And someone did!”
“Did Master Gao make him kowtow?”
Ling Xin nodded. She had a favorite hiding spot on every wall of their home, but the one over Master Gao’s back garden was the best. There was even a dark alcove in the tree branches where she had spent many an hour dreaming of her future as the next Empress of China.
It wasn’t a vain hope. The Feast of Fertility would begin in a few weeks’ time. After years of waiting, the time of choosing was nearly here. She would be one of many women vying to become empress, but her father assured her that she would be selected. He had done everything necessary to ensure her success. All she needed to do was impress the emperor, and then she would be selected.
That was what he said, but privately she wondered. Every bannered woman in the country would head to the Forbidden City with the exact same hope. Every one of them would be beautiful, cultured, and talented. How could she stand above the rest to catch the emperor’s eye?
She didn’t know and that worried her. But what could she do about it? Nothing. So she settled on telling Li Fei all about the new student.
“His name is Ko Zhi Hao, and he’s from the south.”
“How can you tell?”
“His accent. His clothes. He’s bigger than most of Master Gao’s students. He has muscles!”
“Muscles won’t help him pass the exam. Is he smart? Do you think he has a chance?”
Ling Xin shrugged. “He just arrived. We won’t know that for another night at least.”
“You plan to spy on him?”
“What else is there to do?” She arched her brows at her cousin. Li Fei bit her lip, clearly thinking hard. Two years ago, she would have been over the wall already to peer in Master Gao’s window. Instead, the girl knotted her hands together and frowned.
What had happened to suppress her irrepressible cousin?
“Li Fei, what happened to you—” she asked, but her cousin cut her off.
“We must find out if he is smart, discover if he has a chance at the exam.”
Of course they would, mostly because Ling Xin was bored. But why was Li Fei so keen to know? “What difference does it make? One student is much the same as another.”
“Think!” Li Fei huffed. “He must have some connection to the Forbidden City. It takes wealth and connections to be free to study all the time. No peasant boy can take the exam. He must work to eat.”
“So what?”
“So connections are useful. Maybe he doesn’t know anyone inside the Forbidden City, but there’s a chance he does. Master Gao is a famous teacher. He doesn’t take anyone as a student. Someone had to convince him to accept another one this close to the exam. And not just teach him but live with him, too.” Li Fei touched Ling Xin’s arm, squeezing it as she pulled them both to a secluded corner of the garden. “That means someone either powerful or wealthy has helped this man. When you become empress, you will need as many allies as you can find. If this student has connections, find out who they are. Maybe it will be useful. Once you’re inside the Forbidden City, no one out here can help you.”
Ling Xin felt her heart squeeze tight. It was so unfair that once she entered the Forbidden City, she would never be allowed outside again. And unless she was chosen as a favored concubine, she would never see her own family again. Females there were kept strictly apart.
“Explain to me again why you aren’t competing?” Ling Xin pressed. “We were supposed to do this together.”
Li Fei tsked as she pulled Ling Xin inside the house. “Never mind that. My fate has already been decided. I’m trying to help you become empress. Then maybe you can help me.”
“How?”
“As empress, you will be able to do a lot of things. But first you must be selected.”
“And you think this student can help me?”
Her cousin grinned. “It never hurts to ask. So long as you don’t go over the wall, you can speak with him. Charm him. Find out everything he knows about what it is like inside the Forbidden City.”
Ling Xin felt a thrill of excitement course through her body. Now, she had the perfect excuse to see more of the new student. Finally, she had someone new to talk to, instead of the same parents and servants she had seen nearly every day of her life. Plus, he wasn’t only new. He was handsome and fun.
“He has to wander the back garden after dark,” she said as much to herself as her cousin. “That’s the only way we can talk.”