"GET UP! IT'S TIME TO START EARNING!"
The loud shouting around the courtyard had woken up the entire group of children with the exception of little Wu. He had not slept, he had spent the entire night running across imaginary scenarios is his head, what if old man Zhang was also corrupt or what if this backfired and that bastard Lin decided to amputate one his arms?
The kids slowly got up and started exiting the courtyard, Wu was just about to leave when the blind kid from yesterday bumped into him.
"I'm so sowwy, please forgive me." the child quickly apologized profusely while slightly bowing.
"Forget about it kid, follow me." Zhishi Wu commanded and led her into the alley he had woken up in yesterday, he had never noticed before but this kid, didn't seem to be like the rest of the children, well for one she had silver colored hair, compared to the common black and Zhishi's own brown colored hair it definitely didn't suit the surroundings, regardless once something had piqued his curiosity he could not let it go.
"Your name." He asked quietly as he looked at the child whose head was tilted to the side indicating her undivided attention all the while her unsettling white pupils stared at him as if she could actually see.
"Hanyi, I have no lass name and I am 8 yeahs old." the blind girl answered quickly and almost started to bounce up and down showcasing an excitement for Zhishi Wu's response.
"I am Zhishi Wu, Listen closely I'll keep this quick and concise." he leaned in to whisper and protect the contents of the conversation.
"What is a concise?" the girl had a airheaded expression and a slight frown.
"I'm so stupid." Zhishi Wu face palmed and realized that he had forgotten he was speaking to an 8-year-old. He put his hands on her shoulders and tried to explain in simpler terms.
"I want to leave Mr Lin's house and go to a better place, to leave I need your help to look and act pitif- act a little sad in front of an old man, your appearance is one that would make people more likely to help." he said in a slow and well thought out way.
"But, what will you give me if I listen, my mom aways said never do anything for fwee." the girl spoke with a steadfast expression this time.
Little wu looked at the girl and fell deep in thought, there was no knowledge he could offer to convince her, an 8-year-old child would hardly be interested in arithmetic.
"Alright, if we manage to pull off this plan, I'll convince the old man to take you with us, but if he doesn't agree it's not my fault, ok kid?"
Hanyi let out a slight smile "okay." she answered and continued to stand there and wait for further instructions.
"Good, good follow me." Zhishi Wu started to walk towards the morning ration line.
….
Over by the ration cart two soldiers were stationed and responsible for distributing the rations for the morning. "Next." one of them would say and the other would hand the piece of bread over and allow the person to drink a ladle of water.
Down the road from the cart at the opposite end from the line a carriage pulled by horses was slowly approaching.
"Seriously you don't have time to do these things personally, it's also beneath you to personally visit these slums, it doesn't fit into the image a boss should have." said a woman inside the carriage.
She looked like an ancient version of a middle aged modern secretary on earth, complete with glasses, black hair tied into a bun, a neatly kept notebook, wearing a Chinese dress with a floral pattern and the signature stressed look due to her boss's actions.
"Relax, I need this one day out of the week to see the outside world, staying in that office gets so boring, besides the slums have great potential, it's important to evaluate its status regularly, after all, he who has the hearts of the people has the heart of the king himself." said the man that could only be known as old man Zhang, or in present company boss zhang
The old man didn't exactly have a stereotypical appearance, a recently trimmed beard that had been lined up as well as hair that had also been freshly trimmed, the aura he gave off was of someone extremely prim and proper, although his build seemed more like the build of a mercenary or laborer of sorts the opposite of a frail merchant. This was all topped off by a black robe decorated with golden embroidery indicating his wealth.
"Boss you should really watch what you say, some people may consider that treason." the woman said with a sigh, this seemed to be behaviour that she had learned to put up with.
"Relax little Lan, I'm obviously exaggerating, although you can't deny the validity of my statement." The old man answered half jokingly.
Just as the secretary was about to reply, the driver of the carriage spoke up "we have arrived boss."
Boss Zhang stepped out of the carriage accompanied by his secretary Lan and walked towards the soldiers. The two soldiers who had been joking around earlier stood up straight and looked like the king himself had arrived.
"So men, any issues I should be aware of, how goes the distribution?"
The soldier standing on the right quickly replied "No boss Zhang, there was a slight altercation with someone trying to forcefully get more rations but we took care of him immediately."
following this he quickly pulled out a scroll which recorded all distribution of rations within the last week and handed it to the boss.
The old man opened the scroll and started to read through it quietly, the soldiers held their breath hoping that they had not messed up their calculations anywhere. When suddenly someone called out behind them.
"The ration system is corrupt I must demand justice!" this was none other than Zhishi Wu and his little partner in crime Hanyi who stood beside him quietly.
Boss Zhang stared at them with a slightly surprised expression and before he could speak secretary Lan spoke up "Watch your tone child, such an accusation made even as a joke may cost your life."
"It is not a empty accusation please hear me out." he replied quickly and explained the situation about their rations being stolen by the bastard Lin.
"Just look at this poor blind girl, look at how thin her arms are, she could be the same age as your granddaughter old man, can't you do something about this." he smoothly shifted the attention onto Hanyi who was doing her best to seem as sad, frail and weak as possible.
"Hahaha, I got to hand it to you kid this was kind of entertaining, and it's true I could probably send these men over to Mr.Lin's residence and persecute him, but." the slight smile faded from the old man's face and his expression turned inquisitive.
"Why should I help you kids, there's no profit in it for me, I would give out the same rations regardless. It's just effort from my end with no return." this left Zhishi Wu speechless, but it was only for a second.
"You're right, right now we're just kids, kids much like how criminals are innocent till proven guilty appear useless till proven useful, so could I humbly ask if there's any error with the arithmetic within the scroll?"
The grin that the old man had reappeared he seemed to understand what Zhishi Wu was getting at and he took another quick glance at the scroll before looking over at the guards with a disappointed expression.
He turned his head back in Zhishi Wu's direction and replied "If I was to distribute 15 sets of bread and each set contained 22 pieces how many pieces of bread would have been distributed?"
Zhishi Wu grinned before replying almost instantly "330 pieces of bread, would have been distributed."
This time all the adults close enough to hear the answer were shocked at the speed of the reply and no one there could actually confirm the validity of the answer other than boss Zhang and secretary Lan who was standing there in awe.
Boss Zhang quickly asked "how many sets that contain 18 pieces of bread are needed to distribute 5000 pieces of bread to 17 different slums equally?"
This time the reply wasn't instant but it still came quickly "around 277 sets and there would be around 16 sets distributed to each slum."
"There's no way you're a kid from the slums, who's your teacher?" secretary Lan asked with a dumbstruck expression.
"Believe it or not miss I am self taught." he replied with a shrug of his shoulders and a glint of arrogance within his eyes before turning his head towards Boss Zhang, who was looking at him with a questioning gaze.
"Do you know about the concept of algebra?" this seemed to be the final question boss zhang was going to ask.
"No but I am eager to learn." Obviously he knew of algebra but it would have been too unbelievable for a child, even a genius to have that kind of knowledge, he needed to appear smart enough to seem talented but he did not want to look like a monster.
"To be wise beyond one's years is a sign of great things to come, but to be too wise beyond one's years is more of a plague than a blessing, it seems like fortune has smiled upon you kid, speak what do you really want?"
Little Wu let a little smirk slip and quickly replied "I would like the chance to become a merchant, I would like to ask the exalted boss zhang to allow this lowly one and this child to accompany him within the inner city."
This was the point in which he had used every card he had, including even flattery to ensure that Old man Zhang did not reject his proposal.
Boss zhang stroked his chin slightly before answering "I can agree to taking you but what would I gain from taking this child, especially since she is blind, I don't see any upside or profit here."
Zhishi Wu had to think very quickly for this and it took him a little while to reply even longer than it had taken him to answer the second question. "She is not useful currently, and I have no benefit in taking her along, but my intuition tells me her origins are not simple."
"Very well." Old man zhang signaled them to follow him into the cart, the interior of the carriage was incredibly luxurious adorned with a purple color scheme all around and seats woven with fine silk.
"Although I have agreed to take you to the city the one who will ultimately decide your case is the council the sits in charge of the chamber of commerce, my words alone cannot vouch for you."
Zhishi Wu sat upon the carriage which was slowly moving towards the capital and started to gaze off into the distance, the vast flatlands on the left of the beaten path, the veil of unusual trees on the right.