Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 336

Cantonesia
Ying Wa Primary School, Ho, Shing Tsun - 11
In the year 2023, Chris was rummaging through the files on his desk, desperate to
find the papers he had to do in overtime. Looks like he would have to work four
more hours, he thought. Suddenly, his boss called him into his office.
When he reluctantly stepped in, the American anthem blasted in his ears. His boss offered him a
seat, and he sat down.
“You must really like our country, boss.”
“Yes…Do you know why I called you here?”
“No…” Chris braced himself for a lot of shouting.
“The truth is…I would like to give you a task…again. This time, you need to travel to Cantonesia
(or better known as the Greater Bay Area) and do some research. You would need to sightsee a bit, so I
think this trip will be quite relaxing.
The reason I chose you is because you’re so efficient.”
Yeah, right… Well, I don’t have a choice, Chris thought. “I’ll do it, and I’ll try to return in 10
days.”
“Thank you for your agreement.”
After 16 hours of gruesome flying, he arrived in Hong Kong. He was only staying 16 hours of
gruesome flying, he arrived in Hong Kong. He was only staying there for a while, so he tried to look
around a bit.
He had done some research and heard that Cantonesia was one of the best mega cities in the whole
world, but what he imagined before compared to this was like a poverty-stricken village in an isolated area!
There were at least a
hundred brands he had never seen before, and there were a dozen “cloudscrapers” – true to their name.
Chris also saw that all the cars there didn’t have a single exhaust pipe – it seems like the Chinese didn’t
forget environmental protection. He smiled to himself – both proud and jealous. That was a note he had to
take.
For the next few days, he mostly travelled around, taking notes of the new
mega city Cantonesia. For example, he had written Dongguan as “the highest
quality technology hub I have ever seen and is hard not to believe it as the
scene of a science fiction movie”. He had also written Macau as “the heart and
worldwide hub for tourism and has some theme parks ten times better than Disney
World. The legalism of gambling has also given a highlight to the place.”
But what interested him the most was the offices in Guangzhou. The first thing he could describe
the place with when he first entered was “roomy and spacious”. The cubicles had a really decent size (and
by decent, he meant large enough to stretch their legs and have a good space to move). And yet, there were
twenty of them! As the CEO introduced the employees and facilities, Chris noticed that every single one of
them had a smile on their faces, and compared to his own office, this was a great miracle. He only saw
frowning faces and scowls everywhere when he went at work. As he squeezed inside his tiny cubicle, a
mountain of files was waiting for him. But here, the work was neatly stacked in piles.
He thought, was this work situation because of skill or quality? He asked the CEO to lend him a
spacious cubicle, and after a day of hard work, he had done triple the work compared to the others.
Chris smirked. He finally could stand up to his boss. He could move out of that inhumane work
space and actually have some freedom. In his mind, he was more than ecstatic.
He couldn’t wait to go off the airport and report to his boss. He practically flew up the stairs and
burst into the office. The American Anthem was totally ignored.
“Who gave you permission to BURST IN MY OFFICE?!”
“Boss, I have finished my reports on the Greater Bay Ar —”
“CHRIS, PLEASE! ANSWER MY QUESTION!”
“Erm…”
“NO ONE! I’ll give you ONE more chance to redeem your hiring, and if you fail, YOU’RE
FIRED!”