Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 451

Life in Old Shanghai
St Stephen's College Preparatory School, Kong, Catrina – 12
A
long time ago, during the Song Dynasty, a poor family of Sung lived near the countryside. The parents
worked as a fisherman and a farmer. The daughter, Lin, and son, Bo, didn’t go to school unfortunately,
because their parents were too poor to pay for the school fees.
Mr. Sung, the fisherman went fishing every day, but never caught the amount of fish he wanted to sell in the
market. He always went home sadly with only a few yuan. Mrs. Sung was a young, kind farmer who worked
really hard in the fields growing and picking fresh cucumbers. She didn’t get the income she wanted either, so
every day the Sungs went home with the leftovers plus a little yuan. Bo was very good at creating games to play
with his sister Lin. Lin instead was interested in nature and always helped her dear mother to grow plants. Bo and
Lin were both very obedient and helped their parents with their work.
One day, while their parents were out selling their products, Bo came up with a game called hide-and-seek.
While Lin was hiding, she saw a wonderful little pile of seeds. She completely forgot to hide and ran to Bo instead,
shouting, “Bo, Bo! I found a little pile of seeds on the floor! Come and look, Bo!” Her brother turned around so
happily he nearly fell into the Chang Jiang river. They excitedly gathered up the pile of seeds and put them in Bo’s
cap. When their parents came back, they happily showed the seeds to their mother; Mrs. Sung took the seeds and
planted near the fields.
Days passed by, the seeds were grown healthily and carefully by Mrs. Sung and Lin. The seeds turned into sprouts,
and then grew until they were tall and mighty. The next day, Lin again went to look at the tree. Her mother was
harvesting the cucumbers. Lin asked, “Do we have to harvest the tree’s fluffy stuff?” For once, her mother was
astonished at what Lin had asked, so she quickly told Lin to harvest the fluffy things and store them in a box. For
the first time in her whole life, she got to go to the market with her mother and father. When they arrived and put
up their stall, loads of people rushed up to them. In a few minutes, all their goods were gone so they could leave
early. They were very happy and Lin told Bo about how the people rushed to their stall and how their products
vanished in a blink of an eye. Bo was very happy to hear it too.
One day in the early morning, Mrs. Sung was growing plants and Mr. Sung was fishing nearby. Suddenly, the
sound of trumpets blared and The Sung froze. Mrs. Sung and Mr. Sung thought they were in trouble. Lin and BO
was scared and hid behind their own planted willow tree. At last, Mr. Sung stepped forward and addressed the
emperor’s guards. The guards said, “We need Miss Lin Sung and her mother please, we would like to take them to
the Emperor Sung’s castle.” By the willow tree, Bo pushed his sister forward and whispered, “Go. Sis, go! You
can do it, show them what to do!” Lin took a deep breath and climbed out and into the opening. They went in
the emperor’s carriage and set off to the castle. When they arrived, they bowed when their eyes met those of the
powerful Emperor Song.
They chatted for a while, until Emperor Song said, “Well, Well, I believe you should be crowned Queen and be
rich!” Before Mrs. Sung could say anything, Lin piped up, “We would love to, but we are used to our daily lives.
So being rich or crowned Queen is not what we are supposed to take. Mr. Sung nodded. The Emperor was
touched by Lin’s words and promised them at least a great fortune. Mrs. Sung and Lin thanked him gratefully and
walked home.
Mrs. Sung said, “My dear, you did it well, good choice.”
“Thank you, but really, if we were crowned Queens, what about father and Bo? We can’t make them Emperor as
Emperor Sung is still alive.”