Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 151

New Tales of the Ming Treasure Voyages
Heep Yunn Primary School, Ho, Viann - 12
After a quick taste of his eyelids the fly hopped over to his cheek, crawled drunkenly up onto his nose, did a
little dance, and buzzed away. He opened his eyes and shut them again away from the glaring sun. His head
felt like it was going to explode from the inside, and he had no idea where he is. Wait...who is he?!
His eyes popped open and found himself in a small but warm room. He tried to sit up straight but failed. He
opened his mouth to ask for help but scared himself because his voice was so soar. "He…hello. Anyone
here? "He yelled as loud as he could.
After a few minutes, the door swung open. A tall man walked into the room, making his heart miss a beat.
The man had lots of scars on his face, showing the pain he had had before.
The man then bent down and looked at him kindly.”Hello, sir. Do you feel better now?””Much
better…may I ask who are you?”He replied.”I am Zheng He, the captain of this ship. Who are you?”
A ship? How did he even get on there? He tried to think of his name but failed.Yeah,who is he?”I…I don’t
know,””Never mind, sooner or later you will recognize that. We found you on a beach, unconscious.
Would you like to join our crew to deliver gifts to different countries?”
That would be a hard choice. He could just ask for a little amount of money and work for his life. He heard
himself said “yes” and suddenly, he became a member of this ship.
A week later, knowing that his wounds had recovered, Zheng He gave him a job to be a mate of the ship.
All he have to do every day is to take care of the fitting out of the vessel. He had a friend named Huang
Ming which is also a mate and they often talk about the voyages of their captain, Zheng He. The crew had
already went to Calicut for the first three voyages, and now the ship was sailing to Hormuz in the Persian
Gulf.
The crew enjoyed a few weeks of peace and joy although something happened that ruined it. They met a
pirate ship. He was still checking a rope hanging from the ship when Huang Ming rushed in with fear on his
face. “ Go to the deck immediately! We are under attack!” He quickly ran to the deck, surprised to see
Zheng He facing a gigantic ship with a flag of a skeleton on it.
Choiseless , Zheng He ordered the ship was turning back as fast as they could, hoping that the pirate ship
isn’t able to catch up. But the crew seemed to have bad luck. The pirate ship reached them so fast as if there
were wings on the sides of the ship. The crew are even able to see the pirates with a sword and ropes on
their hands, ready to get on the ship.
Soon the pirates got near enough to the ship to hop aboard. The crew began to fight with the pirates. The
crew has less people then the pirates, so everyone were planning to escape from the smaller ship for
emergency. He was fighting a pirate while Huang Ming called him to pack something and get on the
emergency used ship. He knocked him down and ran away to get some food and water. He was the last one
to get on the tiny boat. Zheng He quickly row the boat to an island and settled the injured people.
He was shocked at the death or lost numbers but what made him mad is that his best friend Huang Ming
didn’t make it to the island. He hates pirates now and is blood-thirsty. Zheng He had figured out that they
are now next to Hormuz, so the crew decided to ask for some camels or horses for them to travel to the
palace.
The crew had rented a group of horses to the place of Hormuz, with the emperor receiving the presents
(saved by a random member of the crew), they were given a new ship although it is not as big as the one
before. They would have to return back to China first for some new presents, than start their new voyage.
On the way back to China, he spotted something so touching he would never see twice in his life. It was a
baby shark out of breath, body floating on the sea. Its mother was still paddling round the baby’s body, not
believing that it’s children has died. After flipping the baby’s body, really seeing that it has went to heaven,
the mother looked at its baby for the one last time with teary eyes(if sharks could cry) before diving back
into the deepest part of the sea, hopeless, leaving the lonely body still floating on the sea. He was kept
staring at the baby shark until it went out of his vision.
Afterwards. he still haven’t found his memories but that is useless. He now got a group of friends and
everyday they get on an adventure on the ship, delivering gifts to other places. He had no regrets on
choosing to enter the crew.