CHAPTER 8: PURPLE POX

Xing rushed to her grandmother, where she continued to hear her wailing.

“Gran Mama, what’s wrong?” Xing said, holding her grandmother’s bony hand.

“Oh, it’s awful!” she wailed. “It is the worst!”

“What?”

“Look,” she went to the kitchen and opened the cupboard doors, they were empty. “We are almost out of food!”

“Won’t the town just give us more food?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. The food and this house were a reward for your bravery, they might not give us new food. Oh no!” She smacked her cheeks in horror. “What if they move us out?” She twirled dramatically before falling atop a chair. “Poverty makes me old!”

“D-Don’t worry, Gran Mama!” Xing said, trying to calm the old woman down. “I’ll get us more food!”

She sighed and patted her hand. “You are such a good child, Xing.”

Xing went out immediately to one of the farmyards. The maize was being collected. On a carriage drawn by a mule. She walked slowly behind the carriage. Whenever bits of maize would fall off, she would quickly scoop them up and place them in her bag. She only was able to get a handful of maize before they reached their storehouse.

She sighed to herself, looking at the maize in her palm. She scratched her arm as she tried to think up of a plan.

“Well well, isn’t it the hero of the town!”

Xing turned to the man who said that. He was old, think with long greying hair. The man looked familiar but she could not exactly remember where she knew him from.

He could read the confusion on her face and smiled. There was something Xing did not trust in that smile. “Don’t tell me you forgotten about one of the councillors of the town already.”

Her eyes widened as she remembered the man. He was one of the three council members. “Oh! Councillor!” she said, scratching her arm.

“Councillor Shilong,” he said with a smile. “Seems the Purple Pox have you.” He said, grabbing her arm roughly and holding it up. Sure enough, a purple dot had appeared on her skin.

“This again?” she said in annoyance. “I always get it.”

He saw the maize clutched in her hand and he let her go. “I see you’re back to collecting stray maize. I suspect the food in the house is finished?”

Xing frowned and nodded. “Yes.” She hesitated. “Do… Do we get more?”

The man smiled sadly and shook his head no. “That was a once off, my dear.”

Xing looked down to the maize in her hand.

“I could help you though.”

She looked up at him.

“I could give you money, a few silver coins he said.”

“Really?” she said in excitement.

“Yes, should keep you and your grandmother good for a few more weeks.”

“Oh, thank you Shilong Sir!”

“Of course, you will have to give me something in return.”

“I-I have nothing to give.” Xing said, her excitement vanishing.

“Oh, I think you do.” He said, his voice growing lower with each word. He leaned closer to her. She could smell tobacco from his person. “I want the sword you found.”

“The sword? But I told you that I don’t know where it is.” She said, stepping back away from her.

He smiled again but this one seemed more forced. “Come now girl, we searched for the sword you used, down the old well, around the where the battle took place. I also asked the soldiers and Kage Shun, most of them also lost track of the sword but one of them is sure you took the sword home with you.”

”That’s-That’s nonsense!” she said. “I don’t know where the sword is.”

“Well, when you find it, when you’re hungry enough, bring it to me and I’ll pay you handsomely for it.”

Xing continued to back away. “Uh… I really don’t know where it is but I’ll keep that in mind. Bye!” she took off in a sprint.

When she got back home she rushed to the bedroom where she pulled the sword out.

“IT’S ABOUT TIME YOU PULL ME OUT! WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THE WHOLE DAY. WE’RE SUPPOSE TO BE TRAINING!”

“I know. I know. But I have problems.”

“I KNOW AND ONE OF THEM IS YOUR WEAK SPIRIT ENERGY!”

“Yeah! Yeah!” she said, rolling her eyes. “Other than that. We don’t have food.”

“So?” Dong said. “Go out and hunt!”

“Hunt? I’m a girl! I can’t hunt.”

“Says who?” Dong said. “I’ve seen some great female hunters.”

She sighed. “I’m not strong enough for that.” She scratched her arm. “And this dumb Purple Pox is an annoyance!”

“Purple Pox?” Dong said. “Ah that! That’s bad.”

“No its not,” she peeled the sleeve of her dress back to see the purple dot. “I always get them this time of year. It should clear out in a month or so.”

“Tell me, in all those times did you ever steam with a poisonous substance?”

“What are you saying?”

“You can’t steam while you have Purple Pox.” Dong said. “Though Purple Pox is usually harmless, if you exasperate it with poison, it will prove to be deadly.”

“So I won’t steam until it’s cleared out?” she said in excitement.

“We don’t have a month to wait for that.” Dong said. “You will have to create an ointment to treat it. Should help clear it out in a day.”

“Yes, and this should be a good opportunity too, cause we are out of ingredients to create the green steam.”

“Joy.” She nervously said.

Meixing dove behind a tree and peeked out. The wild goat walked by and stopped. It looked to the side and Meixing dove back behind the tree. The goat moved on.

“Stupid goat.” She said to herself. “Where do I go now, Dong?”

“Keep heading west.”

She continued walking on. She found a bush of blue flowers.

“Pick these flowers out.”

She did as she was instructed.

“These will be the main ingredient of the ointment that will be mixed in with the other ingredients you’ve collected already.”

“Great, could you please tell me when that dumb goat will be coming?” She said. “I suspect you’re not warning me about it because you enjoy seeing me sweat.”

“I resent that accusation!”

She walked back to town. “Now back to hunger.” She said when she saw the cluster of buildings ahead.

“I’ve been thinking, you said Purple Pox season had set in for the town, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then why not sell the ointment to cure others of their Purple Pox? You could make some money.”

“Really? Would it work though?” she said, scratching her head.

“Of course it will! You’re talking to a business genius.”

“I thought you were a cultivation genius.”

“I’m just a genius! All round!”

“Well your idea could work.” She said. “I’ll try it. But first I need to test that it actually works.”

Dong guided her through creating the blue ointment that she applied all over her skin. The next morning, she was surprised to see the Purple Pox had vanished. As soon as she saw the results, she went back to the forest and collected bags of the blue flower and some more of the ingredients. She spent the day mixing them. Later she sold the ointment in the middle of town, promising their money back if it did not get rid of the Purple Pox in 3 days.

As the ointment was proving to be more effective, many more people began buying it, making her a lot of money.

Meixing was reaching the end of the day of selling her ointment. She saw a young girl who was pacing up and down. She would walk closer and then seemingly decide against it and walk away before repeating the process over and over. Finally, she walked up to Meixing’s table.

“H-Hello Miss.” A small girl said, nervously fidgeting with her hands.

“Hello! You want to but some ointment?” Meixing said.

“N-No, Ma’am. I have a favour to ask.”

“Yes?” Meixing frowned in confusion.

“M-My dad has the Purple Pox bad.” She said, looking at the ground. “For some reason, its worse than normal. Could you help by giving me some of your medicine and I promise, I’ll find a way to pay you back. I’m not sure how but I’ll…”

Meixing presented the ointment to her. “Don’t worry.” She said. “You don’t have to pay me back. I hope your father gets back.”

The girl smiled, her eyes shining with tears as she took the ointment and held it close to her heart. “Thank you Miss.”

“Call me Meixing.”

“Thank you, Miss Meixing!” the girl said before running off.

Meixing smiled as she began packing her wares away.

“That was very nice of you.”

“Councillor Shilong!” she said to the man.

The man had one of the ointment in his hand. “Interesting product you have here.”

“Thanks!”

He smiled one of those fake smiles. “I guess you no longer need my money for food.”

“I think I should be okay.” She said, flashing her own fake smile.

“Well, you’re still young.” He said, bouncing the bottle ointment in his hand. “There’s more things to worry about other than food. Keep that in mind. You never know what someone can take away from you.” He said as he walked away, still bouncing the ointment.

Meixing walked home, her hands filled with food. She stopped when she saw her grandmother lying down on the ground in front of her house with all her belongings lying all around them.

“Gran Mama?” she said, running to her. “What’s going on?”

“They-They chased me out. Said we overstayed our welcome.” The old woman looked dazed.

Meixing looked around and sighed in relief when she saw a bag of maize on the floor, next to their other food supplies that she had been buying. “Did they take anything else?”

“Yes,” the old woman said. “They also took that sword you keep wrapped up under the bed.”

Meixing’s eyes widened.