Alice woke up, still in the carriage. She opened her eyes to see no one in the carriage but her. She heard bustling outside. Alice peered out of the carriage. She saw the big men again, this time taking the luggage off the carriages and into a house. The house was European style, with a tinge of Chinese flavour to it. She saw Fangwu and Lord Ascot walking along a corridor of the house. Alice guessed that this was the place they would be staying. Alice hopped off the carriage and started wandering around, weaving through the carriages. She almost bumped into two big men, who were carrying a chest.

"Sorry," Alice mumbled. The two men ignored her. Alice continued to wander and day dream. She was thinking about home, in London. This place was so different the place she'd spent her whole life. Why did she want to come in the first place? She was beginning to miss London terribly, and it was only her first day in Hong Kong.

There was a girl coming out of the house. She carried a bucket of dirty water and wore a dull maiden-like dress. The girl kept her eyes on the path in front of her, careful not to trip over the hem of the dress. With that girl not paying attention and Alice also not paying much attention, the girl crashed into Alice, sending murky water over both their dresses. Alice stood with her mouth open in shock, while the Chinese girl got up from the ground quickly, apologising over and over again.

"I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to soak you in floor-scrubbing water! Here, take this as an apology," the girl took something out of her pocket and thrust it into Alice's hands, and then she picked up her bucket and ran off.

Alice opened her palm to see a chain. On the silver chain was a tiny key with delicate carvings on it. It looked almost like a small version of the key to Underland. Alice smiled at this. She tucked it into the pocket of her dress and went into the house.

Fangwu was inside. He looked up and saw Alice. "Hello Miss Kingsley. Mr Ascot is in his room. Your room is the second door on the right down that hallway." He pointed to his left. There were so many doors. Alice gave a quick smile and walked briskly into her room. In there she found all of her luggage already there. She took a change of clothes and shut the door to put them on. As she was changing she could hear voices outside.

"…Well if you got her drenched, you should apologise." Fangwu said.

"But I already have! I've given her my most valued possession!" It was that maid that had bumped into her. "Well, my second most valued." She added.

"Go on!" Fangwu still urged. Alice heard a knock on her door. Thankfully, she had finished changing into a midnight blue dress.

"Come in," Alice said as she pulled her hair back behind her ears. The girl that she'd met before was shoved hastily into the room. Behind her, Alice caught a glimpse of Fangwu scooting away before she could say hello. Alice looked at the girl. This time, she saw her features more clearly. The girl looked about early teens. Her silky black hair was done up into a neat bun, with a rabbit pin holding it in place, instead of draping down the sides of her face. She wasn't wearing the grey dress with holes in it anymore. Instead, she had a green dress on. It was the style that Alice had seen the rich Chinese ladies wear.

The girl looked at the floor. "Sorry again for what happened," she mumbled. Alice could now tell she was no housemaid. She noticed that her English was good, better than Fangwu's. You couldn't tell she was Chinese unless you saw her speaking.

"What's your name?" Alice asked. The girl looked up.

"Do you accept my apology?" She squeaked. Alice smiled at her persistency.

"Yes," she sighed. "You don't have to act like I'm the queen. I'm Alice."

"My name is Lingling Jiang. I am Fangwu's sister," the girl said, now feeling less nervous with Alice. Lingling's lips crept slighty upward with the sound of Alice's name. She was so friendly, unlike the British ladies she'd heard about before.

"Fangwu's sister? But you were scrubbing the floors earlier today!" Alice couldn't believe the daughter of a wealthy family was cleaning the house; surely they had maids for that?

"We do have housemaids, but I like to work amongst them. Strange as it sounds, I've become good friends with them. Hopefully you don't think I'm mad, making friends with maids?"

"Mad? You're absolutely bonkers! Of course, all the best people are," Alice was enjoying the company of Lingling. Alice had so much to learn about this land and these people here. Lingling was the first friend she made in Hong Kong. The two talked until dusk. The scent of their dinner drifted into the room.

"Do mealtimes here always smell this good?" Alice asked as she took a whiff. The smell was irresistible, sort of like the tea and desserts in Underland.

"Dinner? Oh no, I promised the maids I'd prepare it with them! If you'll excuse me, maybe we can talk another day?" Lingling smiled apologetically. Alice nodded a goodbye and Lingling rushed off to the group of maids outside in the kitchen. Just as Lingling got off the bed, Alice noticed that a something had fallen out of her pocket. Alice took one glance at it and gasped. The metal object was a key. It looked exactly like the mini version of itself that Lingling had given her on the silver chain. It also looked identical to what Alice remembered the key to Underland had been like. She grabbed the key and slipped it into her own pocket, hoping no one else had seen it but her and possibly Lingling.