The Treasure of Lei Fong Wu

Chapter Seven

The skeleton framework for the new Mission House was starting to take shape in the heart of Meridian City. Book had helped the nine brothers who had come here to found the mission to raise the supporting walls, and now the monks and the volunteers from the community were assisting in hammering in supports and preparing the walls. When it was complete, this church complex would feed the hungry and clothe the naked. And provide spiritual sustenance to all who required it.

Meridian City was a slum, the nearly lawless compost heap of humanity that had been born of Epiphany’s long journey into world-hood. It wasn’t the worst slum Book had seen, not by a long shot. Compared with some, this place looked like a bustling metropolis of commerce and community. The streets were reasonably clean, the buildings reasonably secure, and there was food in the market. He did see members of the local Tong prowling around – which probably accounted for the low crime rate, as the Triads disliked independents working their established territory – but apart from that he hadn’t noticed any blatant wrongdoing.

The people of Meridian City were mostly Sinic Buddhists, with some confirmed Tao Chiang Taoists mixed in. A temple devoted to each of the religions stood in the square across the street from the Mission. But there were enough Christians to justify a church, and enough suffering to justify a mission, and his Order had never been afraid to send missionaries into areas not known for their hospitality.

Not that they had been poorly treated. Quite the contrary. The saffron-robed, shaven headed monks from the Sacred Tripitika Temple across the way had even come by to offer their labor in raising the walls, and the bearded Taoist priests had collected alms to feed the crews and recruited workers, in a rare display of interfaith cooperation. In Book’s experience, the minority Taoists in Sinic communities considered Buddhism a flawed and foreign religion – despite its pra