Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4567 | Page 304

*sobs* Min did not have the slightest idea that his father was such a respectable person while his mother was no
different to a escort that you would find in the sinful parts of shanghai.Min wipes his tears off his cheekbones
with his pale coloured shirt and is now see through with the wetness.
‘Its alright,because your father showed us an great example to follow and to you especially so as long as you
become a good man like him despite our living situation it will lead you to a good life.’
‘really Yéye?’
‘Have faith and you will see’ replied Yéye with a gentle smile .
*Suddenly Yéye rises from his bed*
’what are you doing?!You’re still ill!’
Min realised he did not bat an eye to him and appeared be searching for something.Yéye kept on searching and
searching he looked above,left,right,below and finally after a brief moment he took out an item out from one of
the wood flanks below it did not take much strength to remove it Min was surpried as he thought he didn’t have
it in him,Yéye slowly and gently with no mistake carefully placed the mysterious item at the dinner table at first
Min thought it was a dusty pineapple but after blowing off some the dust a much clearer picture was formed.It
was an lantern,but the downside of the lantern was that it was contaminated by all types of residue including
dust,more dust and some more dust Min felt a bit queasy but carried on to listen what Yéye had to make a
speech about this lantern,he thought he was at a show and tell event.
‘When your father was 12 he made this lantern to me as a birthday present,he knew that i fonded handcrafted
items therefore he decided to make me a lantern completely made out of paper i was very pleased with his
product.But this is also the very day where i did not care for him despite of his unconditional love for me as a
father i did not do the same for him’
‘
‘what happened’ Min said with a timid tone
‘You see Min i was a man who worked very hard everyday for the family and in order to fulfill the needs for
my family i would do anything in fact i would do anything for a better living standard.Soon i was lost and it all
started from a offer that i could undoubtedly accept…’
‘What kind of offer…’
‘Do not mistake me as a awful person little one.The offer was given by a group of soldiers who went by the
name of ‘Huang Soldiers’’
*Min gasps*
‘Yes my boy it is the very group of soldiers who are going to strike Shanghai with gas and firearm but more
importantly our home is in grave danger.’
‘Then we must escape right away!’
*Yéye stops Min from packing items by grabbing him by his arm*
‘I have not completed my story but once i am finished with my story you will understand why i do not want to
leave from our home to another and live there in fear’
*Miin noticed the word fear and started to pay even more attention to the choice of words from Yéye*
’After accepting the offer given by the Huang soldiers i had to move away from shanghai and my family i was
recruited to be one of their soldiers and in return they would not harm my family and provide me with much
more capital compared to my old job,i travelled by boat,airplanes and tanks to many different places to
fight,recruit and kill but i always wrote postcards to my family but i never received any back .One day i at base
camp i was about to regroup with my group members but something else distracted me away from doing so it
was a tent which was supposedly heavily guarded but since there were no guards at the moment i decided to
enter the tent only to find out that it was filled with files,mini figurines,maps but out of all the things i first saw
this one thing caught my eye so i decided to take a look as i thought it would be no harm on doing so hence i
proceed and opened it only to find out their true motive.Apparently that very one file that i opened was the file
to a long term scheme by the Huang soldiers which included taking over china and the king for themselves i was
terrified and panicked but somehow managed to calmly place the book back to its original position.After a few
weeks i requested for and out and surprisingly the request was approved right the next day i guess they found no
purpose to keep me in anymore.I then packed my items and took a bus back home,while travelling back i had a
lot of time to think what to say to my family i constantly thought over and over again but only to find out that i
was gone for 2 years i i was ashamed at myself.As i stepped into the gates of my home i was greeted warmly by
most of my relatives but some did not greet as kindly at me maybe it was because of what i have done during the
last 2 years but the silver lining to this is that they actually recieved my letters!As i wrote one before i