Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 108

Months had gone by until we had finally made it to Jalalabad city , we were getting closer and closer to India . As we began to approach the city , monkey said : “ Maybe we should go in disguise since we are outlaws now ”. We all thought it was a great idea and began to think of possible disguises when we finished it was almost impossible to tell that we were our former selves . When we finally mustered up the courage to go into the city , no one even noticed us . Flyers and posters were everywhere , with our faces with a wanted sign and a grant if we ever got caught .
“ Are you kidding me ?” said Monkey “ How come I am worth a thousand yuan less than the talking pig ? “ It ' s because I am more valuable than you ” Pig replied proudly “ But you ’ re a pig , I ’ ve done way worse things than you ” Monkey exclaimed , “ You know where I got my stick ?” “ The junkyard ?” said Pig laughing at his own joke . “ My stick was one of the columns of the Dragon Kings Kingdom ” Monkey yelled . Everyone gasped , Monkey looked around , not realizing that people were overhearing their argument . “ He ’ s the Monkey King ?”, “ That ' s not possible ”, “ And that ' s they talking pig !”, were just some of the chatter in the crowd . It took them some time to realize what was going on and by that time I and my gang were already a mile outside of the village .
“ Well thanks for blowing our cover Monkey ” I shouted , “ You ’ ve ruined our plan and now we have nothing to eat and drink , thanks to you !” For the rest of the night , everyone remained silent , I could slowly feel the tension between me and the Monkey King rise .
The next day , as we were walking down a stone-paved road , we say a poor homeless girl by the side of the road selling apples . With kindness in my values , I decided to go to the girl and buy a couple of apples . I reached into my pocket and took out all the cash I had left , I stared at my hands in my hands were five rusted bronze coins and two silver coins . “ Thirty yen ,” I thought to myself , “ Have I already spent so much ?”. I took one of the bronze coins ,“ How many apples can I get with five yen ?” I said . “ Sir , five yen would get you seven apples ,” she said back . “ Then I would like to have four apples please ” “ Sure thing ” She replied as she reached behind and when she turned around she had four beautiful apples that sparkled in the sunlight . Then she reached into her pocket for change . “ No , no , you keep the change ,” I said gesturing for her to stop . “ Wow thank you kind sir ” she replied blushing . “ Don ’ t you worry about it , it seems like you needed it ” Later on we continued walking , soon we were in the middle of a field , a herd of horses pranced by , the view was almost fictional . Then , unexpectedly one of the baby horses tripped and it fell flat on the ground and it couldn ’ t stand up . Seeing that , its mum stopped prancing and tried to help it stand up . After a few tries , it seemed like the horse would never stand up again , so its mum decided to separate from the herd and stay with its foal . The moment was so emotional that the monkey king burst into tears . I could see that Yulong was rather down , so I decided to ask what was wrong “ What wrong Yulong , you feeling ok ?” “ Oh , it ' s just that after seeing what the horse did , I feel kind of homesick ” he replied “ Then why don ’ t you go home , I think that we would be able to handle most of the challenges that come our way ” “ You sure ?” “ Yeah , and I can always call for you if we ever need more firepower ” So I told everyone that Yulong had decided to take some time off and spend some time with his family .
A few months later , we had finally arrived . The Badami Cave Temples look even more impressive in person . I wasn ’ t the only one that felt relieved that after around four years of traveling we had finally made it to the temple . As we neared the temple I began to feel very excited , ideas filled my head , ideas of what wisdom the scripts might hold within them . At the same time , I began to wonder what made the scripts much more sacred than the scripts back at home . As we reached the temple more and more guards appeared , then I started to realize how special and separate the scripts really were . When we entered the main temple , King Pulakeshin II greeted us kindly and congratulated us on making the trip to India . I began to tell him about my reasons for coming to India and what I was hoping to see after making it to India . “ So may we be allowed to see the sacred scripts your highness ?” “ Certainly Xuanzang , you deserve to see it ” He replied “ Wait , how do you know my name ?”