This is the First Step (1)
The refugee camp within the Clear Breeze City had always remained a dark and dank environment. Lying upon the large damp communal bed, the elderly and young children curled themselves up tightly to hug their knees.
It was right in the middle of the scorching summer and the room’s door was left ajar. The wind blowing in from outside through the door brought in waves of heat into the crowded room, turning the entire place into a steamer, making it highly unbearable. Under the stifling heat, quite a number of the children suffered from heat stroke and the woman who had no one else to rely on could only use water to try to bring the children’s temperature down.
Suddenly, a jarring bout of someone striking a gong outside the refugee camp sounded, the clamour spreading into the still silence within the camp. The refugees who had been hiding inside the rooms started to walk out in puzzlement and they saw upon the narrow street in front, a notice that had been pasted on the wall. A man holding the bronze gong was striking it continuously, driving all of them to gather around and see.
The things that were written upon the notice and what was being announced in a loud voice by the man made everyone inside to become aware of an astounding piece of news!
It was not known which kind hearted person had actually cleared out a large plot of land in the northern part of the city for all of them to move into. What was even more shocking was that there was no charge of any kind and they provided three meals a day, completely free for them to live in and eat at!
Once that piece of news was released, the refugee camp was instantly turned into a wave of frenzy, many of them reserving their suspicions and only half believing in it. It was really hard for them to believe that there would really be someone who would not seek anything in return for such a deed, by providing them with a place to stay and even giving them three meals a day on top of that.
Some people maintained a suspicious attitude towards it, thinking that there were other motives behind it and refused to shift out from the hovel.
It was those ladies with young children who were moved by the prospect but it wasn’t because they were just being naive but because their children really would not survive the scorching summer in that dark and damp room that was like a steamer where the young children would not be able to get any rest. They decided that they could no longer continue to to live in that place.
Those ladies picked up their children in their arms determined to at least give the other place a try and went towards the city’s north. There, they saw many highly novel loft units and the man in charge of the loft building lead them inside the building and immediately arranged a room for them.
Looking at the clean and neat rooms, and seeing the blue sky with white clouds outside the window, the ladies just could not believe their own eyes. Before they came, they had only harboured helplessness from having no other way out and had not expected the place to be any much better than the refugee camp from before. But having really made the trip here, they realized that the reality was that things here were so much better that they had thought before!
Before they had even woken up from their delight and surprise, hot and steaming food was brought into their rooms. When the fragrant aroma of the food spread through the air, the ladies suddenly began crying out in delight!
The refugees camp burst into a flurry of activity!
Ever since the first batch of ladies had gone to the little lofts in the city’s north and came back to the camp with red rimmed eyes, the news had immediately spread like wildfire, speedily reaching every single corner of the refugee camp. More and more people quickly picked up their sparse belongings and went in groups towards the northern part of the city. They really wanted to know whether that place was truly as great as those people had claimed.
And every single one person who came to the little lofts in the northern part of the city, did not ever return to stay a single day at the refugee camp. They merely relayed the news excitedly and then ran off, to tell more of the refugees about just how great the northern part of the city really was…..
Jun Wu Xie stood at the window of a little loft upon the second level to look down at the constant stream of refugees rushing here and her eyes glinted with a smile.
This particular loft unit was one that she had prepared for herself and the interior design was different from the other units in the loft, which served as her temporary abode here in the Clear Breeze City.
