Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 1-2 | Page 107

New Journeys to the West
Beacon Hill School, Yang, Sera - 9
“A
re we there yet?” whined Sun Wukong. It has been 3 weeks after they had started their
journey to get the Buddhist sacred text. So far they didn’t have anything interesting yet.
“It hasn’t even been half the journey, so stop complaining!” the monk impatiently said.
Xuan Zhang had no idea what to do with this mischievous monkey he had saved under a big mountain.
Now he almost wished that he had not done such thing!
Thinking about mountains, he realized one important thing he had forgotten along the journey. “Now, tell
me again. Why were you under a mountain?” he asked. His memory was horrible indeed. When he heard
no reply, Xuan Zhang turned around to Sun Wukong. Or, at least where he was supposed to be. Sun
Wukong was nowhere in sight.
Xuan Zhang looked everywhere, desperately. Suddenly, he heard a cry from the sky, and a monkey dived
from the nearest cliff right beside Xuan Zhang. The monkey shrieked when it saw where it was heading to.
Xuan Zhang stood rooted to the ground, petrified as the monkey itself came barreling towards him. Closer
and closer it got, till it was only a meter away from Xuan Zhang
Xuan Zhang was ready to run, but his legs didn’t seem to work. He made a silent decision inside his head
that he was going to catch this monkey. When this monkey was only an inch or so away from Xuan Zhang,
he saw that the monkey was no ordinary monkey. It was Sun Wukong! A stem of anger burst inside Xuan
Zhang. But he didn’t have enough time to think about that. Sun Wukong was already on him, as Xuan
Zhang fell on the floor, he felt his bone crack.
Later on that day, a fat pig, Bajie, jogged along the side of the road. He spotted Xuan Zhang lying on a moss
bed, while a worried Sun Wukong sitting at the edge of a rock, biting his nails. Bajie hurried to them, with
its belly wobbling madly.
“What’s da problem?” He asked in a weird accent. Sun Wukong shook his head. And out of the blue, he
started crying. The piggy put his arms around the monkey. “Tell me wat happening.” He said as kindly as
he possibly could. Sun Wukong told him the sad story.
Suddenly, Bajie clapped his hands with glee. Sun Wukong looked at him as though he was insane. The pig
said “I know a palacee nearby. There live a queen and keeng, who are soch good hosts.” Sun Wukong
barely understood the big pig. “Mee name is Bajie, by the woy.” He said, as he helped Sun Wukong and
the unconscious monk up the horse.
The palace was bigger than Sun Wukong’s imagined. A loud trumpet fanfare blew across the courtyard as
they entered the throne room. Sun Wukong peeked from his fingers and was relieved to see that they were
not pigs. They were peacocks!
Sun Wukong looked around the throne room in amazement. The enormous window was covered in a very
heavy purple velvet curtain. The maids were all wearing white silk aprons. The servants, as the queen’s
ordered, put the old horse into a stable with other well trained beasts, and they carried Xuan Zhang on a
stretcher.