Jia Li Alternate Ending

Jia Li tried to fill her head with the old farm song, but her thoughts were drowned out by the two

arguing sisters. Their words flew at each other in a pitch as shrill as a peacock’s cry. Ping and Jiao

would be empresses one day -- though anyone who witnessed this ill-mannered tirade might

consider them less refined than the lowliest peasant. Still, the sisters belonged to the Qing,

China’s ruling dynasty, and at the moment, Jia Li’s fate was in their hands.

“I am the eldest,” shouted Jiao, “and I may do as I please.”

“I will not give up my maidservant,” Ping squawked. “Besides, yours is newer and prettier—why

must we switch?”

“She never smiles!” said Jiao. “She darkens my mood with her constant scowl.”

“That’s because
“Serving me will put a smile upon your face, won’t it?”

Jia Li nodded. What else could she do? But she would never be happy as long as she remained

inside the walls of the Forbidden City.

After the evening meal, Jia Li attended to her new mistress’s bath, then settled on a cushion with

a small pile of Ping’s mending. Ping wore exquisite silk garments even on the most ordinary day.

Jia Li had never seen such cloth -- until, that is, she had been taken from her father’s farm.

Had three weeks really passed? Jia Li poked her needle in and out along a torn seam as she

remembered how she had been wrenched from her family. Without warning, the sentries had

galloped down the hill on wild-eyed black stallions, stopping in front of their small hut. Instantly,

Jia Li’s mother had recognized them as Emperor’s men, and surmised their mission: culling

servant girls from among the farmers’
But it was no use. The men dismounted, one sentry taking hold of Jia Li while another recited a proclamation declaring the people’s allegiance to the Emperor. As Jia Li was borne away on

horseback, she heard Zhi sobbing, “I’ll come find you!” Two years younger than herself, Zhi