The Qiliu Society

In the great wilderness of Qianzhou, refugees band together to form the Qiliu Society, relying on gourd contracts to support thousands of lives, yet clinging to life through the old rules of the wretched beggars, which demand the abuse of children.

Ashi, the son of a down-and-out scholar, is trapped among them. Clever and courageous, he makes good use of his wits and cannot bear to see the cruelty continue, so he resolves to abolish the evil rules. He joins forces with the blind scholar-beggar Asui and Scarface Seven, a patrolman tormented by his conscience, to introduce a system of food for work. Their confrontation with Chief Pole Chen splits the Qiliu Society.

Famine sweeps through the prefectural city, while the authorities watch with hostile intent. Ashi leads a group of refugees far away to reclaim a desolate wasteland, enduring one calamity after another in search of a new life.

There is no perfect way to do good in this world, and both factions hold to their own means of survival. Smoke rises from the wasteland, and at last they find a way to live without harming their own kind.