Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4567 | Page 303

Cryptic Puzzle Of The Paper Lantern
St. Margaret's Co-Educational English Secondary and Primary School (Secondary Section), Limbu, Mausam - 15
A
dreadful dim and foggy day in the whereabouts of Shanghai, where light rays barely pass through
the thick dark clouds resulting with a small radius of tube like light on the city, streets filled with
roaring noises from hawkers yelling out to people about what they are selling, their products vary from food to
daily necessities. To the uncommon folk around the area these noises may sound rather distressing and one may
have a difficult time distinguishing the place from a zoo. At the moment Shanghai is ruled by an lousy emperor
named ‘Ching’ who claims to be the chosen one and sent to Earth by god to teach god’s way of thinking and
morals, but to whom ever serves under his ‘royalty’ knows the truth that all he does is eat, sleep and indulge with
lovely young ladies, whilst feeding off the poor farmers and villagers who work hard every day just to have a
meal with their family. And in one of these unfortunate villagers in the poor area of Shanghai was a 11 year old
boy named ‘Min.’
Now Min is a boy who lives with his grandfather in a small cottage left behind by his parents who used
to live there. Every day, Min would wake up exactly half and hour before the sun makes it appearance and go to
work. Min’s work does not challenge his physical abilities, but rather his intelligence. He works at a Bun Stall
and known to be the youngest hawker, but all Min needs to do is to see which type of bun is more popular at
that certain time. For example, people in the summer enjoy meat related buns while in the winter they prefer
beans. Min is also accompanied by a middle aged woman whose appearance is very appealing to the opposite
gender, leading to more male customers which Mins’s intelligence certainly catches attention. The Bun Stall sells
buns that are dripping with different types of filling such as minced pork/chicken,egg and beans. On a good day
the stall would usually have 3-4 buns left out of 25 but when the weather is not doing a favour to the business
they wouldn’t sell any of those delicious buns. It may sound terrible, but with every bun left, Min can take it
back home and feed himself and his grandfather, therefore his job is an major contributor to his wellbeing.
After a tiring day at the stall, Min returned home with some leftover buns and walked happily back home, but
his happiness was cut short as he found out that his grandfather looked ill and was moaning in agony
‘What happened Yéye?’ Min asked anxiously.
‘My time has come Min,but don’t be discouraged you still have a very long way to go.But before i rest in the
arms of god i want to tell you … something.’
Min takes a huge gulp down his throat and pumps him chest out to feel confident
‘Tell me Yéye what is it that you want to tell me?’
‘It was a long long time ago before you were born,shanghai was still a beautiful city where everybody in China
knew about and would come for the entertainment and luxury at this time i was working in a popular restaurant
where there would be a full house of customers everyday.Your father was a very smart boy just like you and it
paid off when he became older,he worked in the business stream and worked with white people before he
realised it he was rich!And he met your mother….
*Min interrupts Yéye*
‘So where are they Yéye?’
Yéye frowns upon the question that min asked but proceeds with the question
‘Min you're a big boy now and you must understand that your parents loved you very much and that they would
go to great lengths to protect you.’
‘So how did they die?’Min asked with a soft tone while fighting back the tears crawling down his cheek bone
Min was too smart and Yéye couldn't hide the truth from him anymore.
*sighs*’your father,my son,was killed by an army of soldiers who go by the name of “the Huang Soldiers’ they
are a group of soldiers who believe in their own strength and that shanghai's manpower could rule the whole
world at that period.It was only after a few days later that we heard that your father passed away as he was very
far away from home we were in deep grief,he didnt deserve to die,he was a good boy who would visit me 5 time
a week *sobs* but your mother ran away with all the fortune left behind by your father and only left this cottage
which was used for their holiday.’