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It was dark and cold.

Bingquing felt around the box and could feel things protruding out of every side of the box. Some were smooth and knobbed. Other things were sharp and would toggle as the carriers of the box shifted the weight on their shoulders. It was a precarious exploration as she couldn't see much and her body was completely exposed. She could feel the air from outside filtering in through some imperceivable gaps in the box.

She felt around the floor of the box and found two opposing knobs that were widely spaced. If she bumped into one it would jostle the other. She put her body in the center of what she realized was a circle panel in the floor and pushed each knob in opposite directions. As she did this the panel below her opened and Bingquing let out a yelp as she fell an inch down.

She opened her eyes. It was a silly notion as with open or closed eyes the area around her was still dark. The floor below her was now curiously soft. Bingquing touched the place around her and realized it was a soft bed. There were no blanket or pillow, but it was still better than nothing. So eventually she curled up and slept.

It was not long before she woke up again. It was the middle of the night but it was so cold that she had shivered herself awake. She rubbed her eyes and looked at her hand in front of her face. She realized there was a limited amount of light streaming through the top of the box.

She lay down and looked up to see characters illuminated in the ceiling among stars. Bingquing read them aloud, "Here is the box of succession to name the heir of Jungpi. Namely how quickly you leave here will name your place. This is the box for women who have not begun their moon cycle."

The words stumped her. They sounded so ordinary. She realized the levers and gears she had felt when she had entered the box had receded when she had opened the bed platform. Bingquing balanced on the edge of the box and triggered the mechanism to close the bed and the gears all returned to their upright positions.

She piled all of her hair onto her head in a knot so she could think "Succession? Numbers!" Bingquing looked around the box for numbers and found one near her foot. It was a lever she pushed into the ground. It was hard to push it in. To do so, she had to put her full body weight on top of it. When it finally went in, a panel outside of the box moved.

She was getting closer. On Bingquing continued with increasing difficult motions needs to get all the switches to move. As the progression increased, so did the light as a flame would start in a small fireplace behind her. The place was closed off by a smooth see through substance that she couldn't penetrate.

"That must be how they know I'm finished," Bingquing reasoned as she continued.

The final puzzle was a clock face with the phases of the moon. There were a set of dials that could spin around. Bingquing looked up at the hint. It didn't really give her any insights so she looked around. She was stumped.

She thought of her father. She thought of Du Ni. If she had known she would die, she would have done anything to have prevented her from coming to the palace. Bingquing wished dearly they had fled to Yan or Wei. Anywhere that wasn't Jungpi as long as they were together.

As she did so the Queen's words came to her, "Nothing. You cannot bring Caiwong with you."

Bingquing looked at the phases and looked at the walls. She realized the walls were all carved to look like the phases of the moon. The bed was the new moon. The fireplace, a gibbous moon. The opposite wall with levers a crescent. This wall had only the face of the clock. Bingquing began spinning the clock face until all the phases were hidden. Once she did this, she felt something click and she pushed down hard. As she did this she heard a horn blare.