Without thinking the shopkeeper limped over to the vase Lily and Ming were hiding behind . They quickly crawled over to the next vase to hide . “ What was that ?” said the soldier hearing them crawling . “ Oh gosh ” muttered Lily . “ A rat ” replied the shopkeeper , still in shock at what was happening .
“ Kill it ” said the soldier .
“ What ?” said the startled shopkeeper .
“ I said kill it . Don ’ t disobey me or I will kill you !” said the soldier , red with fury . Lily began to shiver with fear as she stopped Ming from crying . Just at that moment a tiny rat squeezed through the floorboard . He was dead as a doormat in seconds ! It was sad for the rat and lucky for Ming and Lily . The shopkeeper gave the vase to the soldier and walked out the door .
“ Phew ” sighed the shopkeeper as he went back to his chair to continue his interrupted nap .
Lily gave a signal to Ming to get up and look for the right vase . Lily began to make a move . “ Ah hem ” Lily cleared her throat “ excuse me sir , would it be okay if me and my brother Ming bought a vase ?” said Lily summoning him from behind the large vase . The shopkeeper was grumpy about being woken again but allowed them to choose a vase .
Lily and Ming gazed around the shop in awe . The shop was filled with endless rows of blue and white vases covered with intricate designs of dragons , flowers and words meaning double happiness and longevity . Lily and Ming were only allowed one vase so they had to choose wisely .
“ How about this one ?” asked Ming pointing to a vase which had a picture of a dragon and clouds . “ Good idea , that looks like the one I was holding when we got into this mess , let ’ s have a go ”. “ Okay !” said Ming pleased with himself .
Lily began to look worried but she still tried ,
“ I wish we were in modern Shanghai ,” said Lily peering around the room , hoping that it had worked .
Suddenly Lily and Ming ’ s memories flashed before their eyes . Lily remembered the time she got her first A in class and Ming remembered when he joined his school football team . This reminded them how much they wanted to be back where they came from .
Ming noticed that they weren ' t in the same shop as they were in before . “ Lily ,” shouted Ming “ It worked , it really did !”
“ Oh there you are , my sweet kids , I ’ ve been looking for you for the past hour , never leave my side again !” said their Mum , who looked like she had been crying for the last hour .
“ I ’ m glad we found you ,” said Lily giving her Mum a big hug .
“ At Least I will get an A on my school report ,” muttered Lily to Ming as they both began to laugh .