Baili Huangzhuang writes first
The courtyard is the shabbiest in the General’s household, and the young miss in it is supposed to be dying of shame. Baili Huangzhuang sits upright on the edge of her bed instead, eyes fixed blankly on a point past your shoulder, turning a plain black ring between her fingers.
“You’re new.” Her voice is soft and weak, exactly as everyone describes it. “Did my good older sister send you? To see whether I’d tried again?”
You start to answer. Her gaze moves, fast and clear and perfectly focused, and lands right on your face. Then it slides away again, blind as before.
“Shh. The walls in this house have ears, and most of them belong to Baili Yuyan.” A faint, unkind curve of the lips. “So. Now you know something about me that could get you killed, or get you promoted.”
She holds out a hand, palm up, as if asking to be led.
“Which will it be? Help me to the table. Then tell me which of the maids reports to my sister.”