The Wolf and the Lily of the Valley

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

For young people spurned by the bigoted society, the private academy, Wu Xing, opened its doors to provide opportunity for change. The likes of Chen Xiao, who was orphaned at a very young age, roamed the dangerous streets of Hanzhou when radical purging of the Zhang followers was rampant. He was but a child, but he learned the ways in those turbulent times. Getting in at Wu Xing as a scholar is a privilege unknowingly bestowed to the deprived.

The youngest scholar in the academy could be not less than five and the oldest not more than eighteen. Once they leave the academy, the scholars are either given special jobs by administrators depending on their school merits, or they are given the freedom to practice their specialities like advancing their studies at the Imperial Academy so they could get a decent job at the government and eventually raise their ranks. Wu Xing was not founded too long ago. It came around just five years ago when the rich merchants from the north came to establish the black market. They were the merchants from Anyang and Manchu, and who were very wealthy that they couldn't care less investing their money on the hazards of the black market. One of the merchants, the sly and clever man whom people knew of only as 'The Lone Wolf' discovered the profit of utilizing these scavenging orphans that raid the streets day and night. And there and then, the Lone Wolf built Wu Xing with his blood and sweat to become a shelter and a training ground for these orphans.

The orphans were taught basic education like reading and writing in their younger years, and as they move along from one level to another, their studies have included more complex philosophies and theories that are expected to be put to application once they have reached the level the Lone Wolf intended them to end up at.

One morning, when the chrysanthemum that grew at the hedges outside the gates of Wu Xing were fully blossomed, a group of scholars were hooting with laughter, their bellies protruded as air fill up the hollows inside. They formed a barricade around the gates, arms around each other, faces puffed and eyes welling up with tears.

A boy, whose hair tied up in a bun with a wooden ornament, clothed in grey open cross-collar tunic, came forward, his arms on his hips, his chin tilted up and his gaze looking down on a gaunt-looking boy who struggling to get up on his knees. He started, the tone of his voice disparaging the stranger whose knees were dirtied with rainwater and mud, "Are you certain you're in the right place? With that face of yours, you're going to frighten everybody."

And the laughter loudened as the dirtied gaunt-looking boy stood tall in front the towering scholars, his rucksack in disarray as clothes fell off it.

"Hey, we shouldn't be too cruel to this little soul," mentioned Chen Xiao who pierced right through the human barricade the scholars formed to prevent the stranger from entering the gates of Wu Xing. "This little fellow here has ambitions like us. We should be encouraging anyone who wants to rise above their ranks." Chen Xiao stepped down the riser, the stone landing a bit slippery from this early morning's rain shower. He approached the stranger who looked as though he was regretting coming to Wu Xing; his shoulders tensed, his back obscurely bent forward, and his frail arms cuddling his ragged rucksack.

As Chen Xiao drew nearer, his face appraised the stranger's appearance as he figured out it was the cause of the commotion. The laughter from the crowd of scholars did not completely withered away, most of them bit the tips of their tongues so Chen Xiao could concentrate on this matter of great importance.

Chen Xiao circled the poor stranger, his gaze travelled from his soiled pair of hand-me-down boots to his rather compelling countenance. Then, to the stranger's utmost shock, Chen Xiao put his arm around his shoulders that felt so small under his long arm. He faced the other scholars and said, "What about we strike a deal?"