It is a week after my beating. I rake the garden and out of the corner of my eye see a new slave walk over to me. "Ni hao!" She looks at me and smiles.

I stare and nod slowly, then continue to my job. She watches me for a little while. "What is your name?" She asks.

"I'm..." My voice turns to a small whisper.

"Eh?" She tilts her head.

"..." Again, I whisper my name, but she must be a horrible lip reader or does not get the gist because she says: "Cháhuā? That's a beautiful name. Mine is Lǜ Niǎo!"

I turn and look at her in a mixture of astonishment, wonder, and disgust. Lǜ Niǎo means green bird... sickening...

But the idiot just keeps on talking. "I can't believe that I'm working at the palace now. It's so grand; do you think we'll be able to clean the altars?"

I twitch and continue raking.

She comes over and slaps my chest.

I jerk out of her reach and look at her in disgust, trying to hit her with the rake. "What the hell was that!?"

Lǜ Niǎo just laughs and dodges. "I was wondering why a boy would be named Cháhuā! Now I know why: because you're not a boy!" I twitch and try to hit her with the rake again, but she just sidesteps.

"Why is your hair so short? I bet everyone thinks you're a boy because of that!"

I freeze when she talks about my hair, and then swing the rake at her side; this time she isn't able to avoid it and it hits her in the stomach.

"A-ai ya..." She clutches her abdomen. "Are you mad because I touched you? I was only curious; you looked so much like a boy that I had to make sure. Besides, it's not like you have any breasts..."

I try not to hiss in annoyance. What was this girl trying to pull? Sure, my hair is short, sure, I have no chest, but that doesn't mean that someone could just come up to me and start talking about it- especially not my hair. "Shut the hell up. Maybe you're just jealous that I have less of a chance of being raped."

Lǜ Niǎo sighs. "I guess that's true, since it's pretty obvious that I'm a girl …" She looks down at her chest. "Simply a shame…"

I look at her. "Are you done?"

She looks back up at me. "Yes, I am."

"Good." I return to raking the garden. As I'm doing this, Lǜ Niǎo comes up behind me and starts braiding what little there is to braid of my hair. I feel my face flush with heat, but I don't stop her. I hear her softly humming and feel her gentle touch as her fingers brush my neck. It has been so long since someone has done this, to act as if they were my family, like a sister playing with in the small forest of my old home.

Memories flood to my mind, and I let them flow.

I see my old friend, Kōngjiàng, fly across my mind. Then mother. Father doesn't come up- I've never seen him before.

"Cháhuā, come sleep with me tonight!" Lǜ Niǎo pats the spot on the ground next to her, and I sit down. "Where do you usually sleep?" She asks.

"Wherever, it doesn't matter."

"Well now this is our spot, no one can sleep here, okay?"

"...Okay." I honestly don't get Lǜ Niǎo. She's so weird, and optimistic, and... open. Yes, that's the word. Like when she slapped my chest. She did it again, too. There may not be much there, but it still hurt.

"So... Wǎn'ān!" Lǜ Niǎo throws her body back onto the floor. And after wondering at her, I lie down also.