Chapter 2

With the center of the camp threatening to become a dirt reservoir, I follow a pathway that looks less likely to drag you to a mud-filled grave. It leads me alongside some farm buildings, a short distance away from the main hub of camp activity at the checkpoint or the border.

I pause to peek through a crack in the wooden structure. The buildings appear to have been repurposed as basic living quarters for more of the chairman troops. Tamenglong farmers must either have fled or now reside in the town itself. Ripe scents of hastily dug latrines waft in the damp air.

As I move on to pass between two abandoned tall buildings a figure steps out of the shadows. "You. Give me everything you have."

My would-be assailant had a bad figure. Rainwater runs through thin straggles of hair and drips off a drawn, malnourished face, pimples all over. He wields a stub of a knife and waves it in the general direction of my leather bag .

This is ridiculous. I push past this pathetic thief. I knock the mugger, by hitting directly at his face, he lay low,unconscious . And after a few seconds another armed man appear he is in better shape compared to the first guy.
I shake my head and start walking toward the armed man.
He appears to waver for a moment, then lunges at me with a yell. The knife swipe is unconvincing, and i give the fm attacker a quick move. His shoulder strikes the building wall, and he crumples on the soaking ground with a sad moan.

Casting a glance over my shoulder to make sure he's not attempting to get up and try again. And having a sense of humanity I droped 3 packet of instant maggi,and i head on for the chairman den.

I arrive at chairman Meiriang fancy building and I'm accosted by two guards. Unlike the locals in the lower parts of the camp, these soldiers are well equipped with fine equipment,one is holding a shotgun,and other guy is holding an Akm. I present them with my letter of summons.

"Seems to check out," the man says, turning to his colleague. "Keep an eye on them, I'll tell the chairman"

After a short wait, the first soldier returns and beckons me inside.
Chairman Meiriang leans over a large wooden table, his palms flat against the grain. Graying hair and a curated beard frame a face with pointed features. Scrolls, charts, and a silver tray with the remains of a meal rest on the table's surface.

"Ah, you're here. I do appreciate it when people arrive on command."

I felt that a swift attendance would be the most fruitful."
"In the sense that I do not have cause to discipline me, correct," he says.

Meiriang shuffles some papers around and motions to an empty chair. "Now, sit down and take that damn mask off."

I take the seat as instructed and remove my mask.
Traditionalist, I see," Meiriang says.

I hold my mask in my lap as the chairman continues. "I know you doctors or cleaner or professional have diverting personal connections to those awful facial decorations. So, out of curiosity, how did you come by that? Do keep it brief. Don't make me regret this."

I tell him that,I studied medicine at the University of Dailong, I explain that each teaching department within the university had its own iconography. Medicine was no exception. I wear the crow printed mask in honor of the exceptional training received there.

"As I suspected," chairman Meiriang says, "your blathering is not a patch on the story of how my family obtained this fine coat of arms." He circles a hand in the direction of the huge embroidered cock hovering behind his shoulder.

Requiring no further prompt, he launches into the saga of how the first chairman, then merely a commander of a small unit of cavalry, lifted the siege of chuiluan, with a timely charge. Foes were routed, heroes were toasted, and the Minister awarded MEIRIANG the first, with the title of chairman for his swift actions that day.

I'm sure...