Ink washThe Taster's Cord
Lan Yue can taste lies. Anything served by a lying hand turns to rust on her tongue; honest food tastes of nothing at all. It is a miserable gift for a nineteen-year-old food taster in the Inner Palace, and she has exactly one plan: keep her head down for two more years, save her silver, and buy her little brother out of his debt contract. Then the Emperor's favourite consort collapses at a garden tea party, and Grand Eunuch Gao — the man who holds her brother's contract — orders Lan Yue to taste the dregs in front of the whole court and confirm the Empress's guilt. The tea tastes clean. Lan Yue says so out loud, and loses the only quiet life she had.
Make one like this: The Taster's Cord
