Chapter 10 · Survival Menu - Chapter 10: The Dowager Takes a Bite

The Dowager's courtyard smelled like old incense and older money.

Jin kept her eyes down, tray balanced on both palms. The pastry sat in the center—golden, perfect, exactly like her mother used to make. Except someone had dusted it with something that wasn't cinnamon half an hour ago, and Jin's tongue still burned from the taste test she'd forced herself to take. Poison mushroom powder. Not enough to kill outright. Just enough to make the eater sick, slow, confused.

Enough to point fingers.

She'd scraped off what she could in the dim corner of the prep kitchen, her hands shaking so hard she nearly dropped the whole plate. But mushroom dust clung. It soaked in. And now she was walking it straight to the Dowager's table with Nanny Liu three steps behind, breathing down her neck like a countdown.