THE COLD BITTER TRUTH

POV: MING (a slum dweller in louyang)

LOCATION: THE CRANNIES (a slum in louyang)

TIME: A LITTLE AFTER THE FIRST LIGHT OF DAWN

She could not stop shaking she realized. She knew the old man with the teapot would hurt her and the crying lady would do nothing more than cry. She tried to move or at least speak but for some reasons her entire body refused to move.

"There must be no evidence of this indiscretion my daughter " The man said as he approached with the hot teapot thereby scarring the little girl even more

"The name of the family must remain pure"

So saying he emptied the teapot on her face

You woke up with a start as your fingers caressed the burnt mark on your face. To say you were drenched in sweat would be an overstatement for you had been having these dreams ever since you were little. While most don't shake you anymore ,there are still some intensely vivid ones that makes your burn marks itch.

"Nightmare again?" You turn to see your younger brother shang staring at you with worry in his green eyes

"Just a silly old dream" you reply rubbing his rough brown hair

"Then why do your hands still scratch your burns"

You had no reply to this

"Have you been fed at this time?"

He nods and hands you half broken pottery piece with a little scrape of rice

"You should eat quickly. The ant master has a special target he wants all of us to pursue"

"And who is that?" You ask admist a mouth full

"Come quickly"

Meanwhile in the road side of the alley the ant master as you all call him , a big man with a bit of muscle was explaining in detail his ideal target

"Listen well everybody , the new year is not too far away so a lot of people will be coming to luoyang to celebrate. These people will have PLENTY MONEY and so much coin that they will not even miss one if it drops.

This made all of you children to laugh lightly as you all knew what he meant by drop.

"But ant master" you say "how do we know this new ones?"

"Well (scratching his head) first they will wear fine kimonos (he uses his ragged outer garment to demonstrate), then they will carry fat coin pouchs, (scratches his head again) oh and they will be turning their heads every which way like so. (Demonstrates with his head) So if you see one of them don't fail to mark them. Now go and the heavens bless you.

With that the ant master sent you off and six long toiling hours later even though you have seen some proper marks, they were all either too alert or too well armed. In contract though the vast majority of people seem to be people who the recent bad harvest and the plague have driven into a bad life in the hills. You once heared the ant master saying that the anthills won't be enough come winter. You don't which that to be true.

"Any mark" you call out to your brother who is perch on a small roof top.

"Absolutely" there was no disguiseing the happiness in his voice

"Who is he " you climbed up to see and was surprised to see the saffron robed monk who was no older than ten. He has a set of paint brush and a large pad with which he took pictures.

"Do you see it?" Shang ask as he pointed at the huge coin pouchs.

Yes you reply and I can smell more on him

So do we get it

You ignore shang's question and quickly ran and grapped the monk pad . However before you could take a step forward a sudden force struck you to your knees and when you took a look at you knees it was blue.

You look up from your wounds to the scholar and instead of malicious eyes you see him opening a medicine pot with care which he gentlely placed before you while he received his pad back.

You brother seeing this as his chance quickly leaps from his post, grabs the coin pouch and take off . The monk who was quite fast quickly set out in pursuit. Even though you could not join in the chase(for limping reasons) you quickly move to stand in a point that allows you a front row to the thrilling cat and mice that your brother and the monk played. Eventually the agile and crafty monk caught up with your brother who once again proved his uncanny intelligence.

This you bore witness to as the monk turned back to leave with his coin pouch, the ant master and some of his appeared behind him with clubs.

"Welcome to our humble home o child of nobility. Do you have any accomodations preferences?" He sneered

Rather than reply, the monk's eyes took a dangerous glint and he expertly got into a martial stance.

Despite this the ant master rushed forward with his club but before he could even move to strike, the monk leaped forward and gave his stomach a firece punch that put paid to all his effort as well as to what little food he had eaten.

His friends who were angry at this did not have time to react as the warrior monk leaped into the air and came down on the first with a flying kick. As for the second, even though he managed to swing his club, it was swiftly kicked out of his hands and a strike to the back of the knees and a follow up to the neck quickly put him at the monk's mercy.

All throughout the fight you sharp eyes noticed that the monk sought to end things quickly so he made no wasted move. Every move he had made had struck exactly where he had intended them to with devastating effects.

After the men were beaten, contrary to all your expectations the monk gently helped the ant master to his feet and respectful ka-towed before him.

"Are the master here?" The ant master could only nod still surprised at change of attitude "my name is liu XIE. I wish to paint the bitter truth of louyang. Would you let me paint you and your people?"

You were not sure if it was his respectful tone of voice or his generous offering of all his coins but before long you all were slowly escorting him back to the hill to show him (a highborn stranger) how you lived