Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 45

The girl was growing irritated. I really don't care, man! She was tempted to throw the bundle at him. Take your stuff
and give me the money, then go!
“But then they stopped the treasure voyages,” the man grumbled, and she was startled by his whiny tone. “Why did
they have to stop them?! I wanted to go too!”
He suddenly moved toward her, and she threw up her hands (and the forgotten bundle) in a feeble attempt at
protection. He didn’t seem to notice. Grabbing her shoulders and looking earnestly into her eyes, he said,”So that’s
why I’m starting my own. With my pa’s money and my buddies back in town, I’m going to sail out to sea! All I need
now is money to hire a doctor on the ship, and then we’re good to go-”
“Let go!” she hissed. She pushed the bundle into his face. “There’s your order. Now give me my money!”
The man froze. “Wait, you’re the drug dealer?! Xiao qing ting ?!” he exclaimed.
She raised an eyebrow. “Huh?!”
They stared at each other for a moment. Before she could open her mouth again, a cord was slipped onto her wrist.
She gaped at it. Then at him. And back at the cord again. “You-”
“Yeah, sorry,” he said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “You’d caused a bit of trouble by stealing this,” he waved the
bundle,”so the Emperor said that if I managed to catch you, he would pay me.” As the panic settled in and she writhed,
trying to get away, he kept an iron grip on the cord. “I promise you won’t get executed.”
“No!” she wailed. “You liar! Scoundrel! Cheat!” Oh, she knew she should have done a background check before
taking up the offer. She had been blinded by her greed, and look what it had cost her. I don’t want to go to jail! No!
No!
He began to drag her up the path back to town. “I’m none of those things! I'm an awesome person!” came the miffed
response, which only served to infuriate her further. She swung a kick at him, but he managed to dodge. “Hey!”
“Don’t ‘hey’ me! You’re the one who tricked me into this mess!”
“Well, Little Cricket, if only you hadn’t been naughty and-”
“It’s Dragonfly, you scrawny twat!”
As they struggled back into the outskirts of town, they received a few stares from the earlier townsfolk. She
straightened grudgingly. If I’m going to make my escape, it’ll have to be when there are less people around, she
reminded herself. Many of the people around here probably wouldn’t hesitate to help capture me if they could; there is
a bounty on my head, after all.
“My name’s Xiwang, by the way,” said the man cheerfully.
“I really don’t care,” she muttered. What was with this guy? If he really was affiliated with the Emperor, why was he
so… dense?
“My friends are waiting on the ship already,” he continued, and she wondered if he had heard her at all. “I’m just
going to deliver you to the local justice dudes-”
“- dudes? -”
“-then I’ll take the money, pluck the nearest doctor and away we’ll sail,” he announced proudly.
The girl noticed they were now walking into a quieter area. Great, she mused. All I have to do now is keep him
talking, and then bam! The blockhead will never know what hit him. “What’s so good about those voyages?”