Arc Du Destin

2

"I'll tell you, you are writing it wrong!"

"And I tell you, this is the right character!"

"You're still writing it in the wrong order. We're not allowed to write in the wrong order."

"Why does that even matter!"

"It matters, alright? Laoshi* will make you practice that character on the blackboard till it fills up, everyday, if he finds out that you are writing the strokes in the wrong order*! And you still haven't answered the questions yet."

"Arrrrgh !!!"

Tiny, but highly annoyed voices floated to me, waking me up. I realized that I had dozed off in the back seat of the hired car.

Letting out a huge yawn I sat up and looked out of the window. It looked like the driver had made a stop at a gas station on our way.  I couldn't help yawn again. The heat that had been continuing to bake the earth for days didn't give any sign to reduce any time soon, but that hadn't stopped me from accepting this project. I wouldn't have stopped for even a volcano eruption. Quite the opposite. I'd have hurried more, focused on saving knowledge. It's a noble task you know. But at the moment I craved a cool bath and iced lemonade more than books. I decided to see if there was anything available to quench my thirst.

The driver of the car hurried to me when he saw me stepping out. "I hope you had a good sleep, miss. We still have an hour's drive left. Would you like to get something to eat here if you are hungry?"

I nodded and got out of the car to walk towards the small shop that looked like it stocked refreshments and asked for a bottle of cold water. I felt relieved once I gulped down half of it, only then able to take a look around. The arguing voices belonged to two little boys who sat near the refreshment stand, their books in their hands. It made me smile to see them get hot and bothered over mere homework. At any stage of life, a burden is still a burden. I decided to see what the problem was and walked over.

"Hi kids. You two sound mighty upset. What seems to be the problem?"

The two looked up at me, slightly surprised and a bit suspicious at someone who looked like a foreigner and yet spoke fluent Chinese. It looked like they were debating whether to run or not when the owner of the gas station appeared and talked to me for a bit. That made them sit back down. The one who looked the older of the two decided to speak.

"We can't understand what to write." He explained.

"Well, let me have a look at it. May I?" I asked, and took the book from him. The questions seemed fairly easy so I helped them understand the answers. They were jotting down the last few sentences when the voice of the owner boomed across the space, startling us.

"Are you two making others do your homework once again?? What have I told you about doing it yourselves? Eh?"

"What?" I uttered.

"I'm so sorry if my little ones troubled you, miss." The man apologized. "They have recently got this bad habit of asking people to 'help' them do their homework. And by helping I mean doing it all. Can't get them to stop!"

"Is that so, you scamps?" I asked, turning to see empty air. The two had vanished. The owner laughed.

"Er... I had no idea." I said, a little amused and slightly apologetic. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, miss. I'll be sure to make them do it all over again this evening." The owner grinned. "Your car is filled up again. Are you going to the Linxia Temple?"

"Yes. Do many tourists come this way?"

"Fairly well, yes. Nothing remarkable though. The temple is small and quaint. It is revered alright but we don't get visitors out of the ordinary." He answered. "At least till recently" he added, muttering the last part.