1 Long Live Lord Xia!

Far away from the capital of Zhou Kingdom,

The sense of hope, optimism and life filled the air as a horse came galloping at a frightening speed. Its galloping sounded as if someone was beating drums, announcing the arrival of news all of them were waiting for. 

People roared when with each step it started becoming visible to all of them. 

A valiant young man was riding the horse, his face covered with a silver mask which was there to depict his identity to everyone. Yes, it was this silver mask of his which revealed that he wasn't an enemy but rather a messenger of hope. It was as if Buddha had sent the young man there just to put them out of indescribable misery. 

Only his unique phoenix eyes were visible. A ripple appeared in his ever so blank and stagnant phoenix eyes as he slowed down the horse, and gestured to his comrades who were following him on their respective horses. 

In the next moment, the people, who appeared as if they couldn't afford an inch of clothes, given the rags they were wearing, extended their hands and the valiant man and his comrades began distributing the alms that they had looted from imperial godowns.  

The people, he and his comrades were distributing alms, were not beggars but once the most prosperous farmers of the empire. Famine and typhoon had destroyed their crops, rendering them homeless and foodless. As if it was not enough to break their backs, local officers were not willing to reduce the hefty amount of taxes that they had to pay each season. 

The class of people that once fed the entire capital was now begging for a single grain of food as the Emperor chose to build great architecture to be remembered as a great emperor in history. 

Little did the emperor of the great Zhou empire know that it was not how great Emperors were made. 

"Long live Lord Xia!"

"Long live Lord Xia!"

"All bow down to Lord Xia!"

Once everyone received the food and other basic necessities that might be good enough for them for a week or perhaps a month, they started hailing him. 

"Mother, is it the same lord Xia who is a man wanted by the law?" A young boy couldn't help but ask once the valiant young man disappeared with his comrades like a gust of wind. It felt for a moment as if he was never there and what all of them watched was just a mirage.  

The boy's mother fiercely glared at him as she held his shoulder and said, "Hush, you ignorant boy! Lord Xia is our messiah, if not for him we would have been starving to death. You wouldn't have survived the stroke of hunger. When we lost our homes and means of livelihood, the Emperor didn't bother to give us a fleeting gaze. It was Lord Xia who appeared like a Messiah for all of us."

The young boy scoffed as he heard his mother's words, "What Messiah? What sort of Messiah loots the rich to distribute wealth among the poor? I refuse to take him as a Messiah!"

An old woman was hearing them. She had lost her entire family except for her grandson to famine and typhoon. She merely smiled at the young man's words as she said, "It's always the perception that is capable enough of deeming a messiah like Emperor thief and a thief as Messiah. You are not wrong, young man, but your mother is not wrong either!"

"What a tragedy it is! Conflict of two rights!"

"A tragedy indeed!"

Several hours later, a carriage was headed towards the grand estate of the Xia family. Several soldiers were seen guarding the carriage. It was not a question that the person inside the carriage was an important person. Other carriages running on the road were stopped to give this carriage freeway. 

Who in the capital city didn't know about the Xia family?  

The family emblem on the carriage was enough to make people walking on the street now in respect. 

The person inside the carriage was no one else but the eldest Di daughter of the Xia family– Xia Xi Wan. She was wearing a light blue dress, her hair made in a gorgeous intricate loose braid. A beautiful jade pin was highlighting the beauty of the hairstyle. 

"Young Miss, if the news of Young Master coming back is true, you can't disguise as Lord Xia to distribute food among the homeless and poor for the time being," Lu Shi, Xia Xi Wan's maid said in a tone filled with grievance. 

"Young Miss should pay attention to her safety," Lu Xin, another maid, who was the first maid's twin sister said. 

Xia Xi Wan opened her phoenix eyes to gaze at her maids who were talking too much and waved her hand, signalling them to stop talking. It wasn't an easy feat for her to loot an imperial godown with her comrades. 

.....

Welcome back to another episode of 'I'm writing a new book and I urge my readers to support me in the very same cause.' Yes, this was what you expected that I would be asking all of you?

If you think the same, you are absolutely right my dear readers. 😊

This is my entry for WSA 2022. I hope all of you will show your love for the story with power stones, comments, golden tickets and everything I am forgetting at this moment.