Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 2

Brett’s Diary
Open it to Unleash My Secret!
Bishop Hall Jubilee School, Wong, Wilson - 16
29 Oct 2101
Monday
I went to school at 7 am as usual. Something extraordinary happened! The government has proposed a fund for filming
a documentary about the Ming Dynasty. The most attractive part is the $100,000 award!! I want to use the money to
buy the intriguing iPhone XXXXS, but I still haven’t figured out how to make a top-notch video. Can Mr Diary give
me some hints???
4 Nov 2101
Saturday
Oh my god!!! Eddy’s dad is inventing the time machine. And Eddy is going to join the competition with me. Maybe I
can use the time machine? Should I do that? Eddy said he will bring me to his father’s lab tomorrow. Let see what I can
do tomorrow :> See ya!
P.S. Mom reminds me to take the tote bag if I want to go anywhere.
5 Nov 2101/10 July 1405
Sunday/Monday
Today was truly the highs and lows of my life!!
Eddy and I went to his father’s lab as planned. We both entered the time machine and it was activated instantly, but it
was going to nuts that we didn’t have any control over it. As we were entering into a very dark mysterious void, the
weightlessness was undeniably a luxury in one’s life.
The machine was soon rebooted with the help of the robot called Keith. The designated time period, for us, was the
1400s. How coincidental!!! We wanted the theme of the documentary to be the Ming Treasure Voyages. The time
machine accelerated beyond the speed of light and the time showed that we were travelling back to historical times!! I
never thought I would be able to do this!! How exciting!
After the torture of turbulence and dizziness, we landed in Nanjing of the year 1405. The first thing that hit me while I
was still fighting against the urge to vomit was the stench which reminded me of the bad conditions of my own
neighbourhood... Straight to the point. Keith told us that we had two choices. Either we helped Admiral Zheng He to
return to Nanjing safely, or we had to stay in the Ming Dynasty for the rest of our life. Of course, we chose the former,
but I had not the faintest clue of what’s going on. Keith disappeared like a spirit at a blistering speed. We only got our
tote bags with us. We were in a crowd of strangers speaking unfamiliar languages, wearing weird clothing and looking
eccentric. What should I do?????? Can Mr Diary give me some ideas?
11 July 1405
Tuesday
What’s happening?? Why is everything out of my control? There are surprises every day!!
It was with great effort that we finally figured out what language these people are using. That’s the old-fashioned
Cantonese, our mother language. I have read books before that Cantonese was one of the official languages of the Ming
Dynasty. But it’s perfectly reasonable that we only understand some of the words they use as the language has become
very different after 700 years.
We enlisted in the navy for the expeditionary voyage. Actually, we were one of the tallest among the applicants. It’s
surprising that nobody was suspicious of us. We take precaution though. We avoid speaking to strangers and when we
can’t understand what was said, we observe other people and follow the crowd. Of course we take recordings as well,
and use the translation function on our phone to make sense of things that we cannot understand during the day.