Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 155

New Tales of the Ming Treasure Voyages
Heep Yunn Primary School, Shek, Chloe - 11
‘Grandma, I’m studying about the Tales of the Ming Treasure Voyage, and you revise with me?’
‘Of course, actually I can tell you the details about it.’
‘What?How! It happened over six hundred years ago, you couldn’t possibly be that old!’
‘Hush, my child. Don’t ask, you will find out soon…’
‘I was a young girl back then, a few lucky ones were chosen to embark on the voyage, and I was among
those few. Although I was just a mere scrubbing girl at start, I would never ever forget the beautiful sights I
saw.’
‘Cool! Hey, Grandma,did you meet any buckling pirates?’
‘Yes,I did, my darling. Ah, I remember the first time I met pirates, we had just started sailing, just after a
week, mangy pirates attempted to steal our loot. When I saw them, I screamed and screamed at the top of
my lungs. Well, that was a huge mistake, the pirate king found me and took me hostage. But suddenly, a
burst of energy burst through me and, boom! I was a half-demon and I took down the pirates single
handed. That was when the crew found out I was not a mere mortal, even I at that time, I didn’t know
what happened,I got promoted to a general immediately, and every time, I faced danger, I transformed into
a powerful creature, like a half wolf, a demon wolf hybrid, just to name a few, I just couldn’t understand
why. But all I knew was I couldn’t die and I was practically immortal.’
‘That is soooo awesome! What countries did you go to?’
‘Oh, we went a lot of countries. When we went to India to give them gifts from the Emperor, I still
remember the gleaming white temples, the beautiful sunset, making all the temples red and orange, alas so
beautiful. But one day, a precious artifact went missing, the Narciuss Star, and a very suspicious man blamed
us for it, we got threatened and we were chased out with super sharp spears. And we went to Africa, I was
starting to control my transformation, and I could communicate with different animals by transforming into
that species of animal. The Africans were very welcoming hosts, we spent a great deal of time there,
therefore by communicating with different animals, I was able to find out more information about different
animals. But again, another precious artifact went missing again, then I saw the same sneaky man blaming us
for stealing the Oriana Star. I couldn’t hold it back any more, I transformed into a demon and grabbed him
by his collar, I asked him,”What do you have against us, why do you keep blaming us for stealing the
artifacts?” he said,” I, I was sent by an anonymous person to mess up your trip.” “ But why?”I asked,” Why
did you just steal these Stars, not any other artifacts?”” I don’t know, Master just told me to steal these
Stars…” In the end, these two artifacts were found in the house he was staying in. We explained to the
Africans and Indians, our friendship was mended and the man was put into African jail which is very very
strict.’
‘That is so cool, Grandma!’
‘Yes. And then, one day I received a letter with a lightning bolt on it, and it said that I was the goddess of
transformation and I was invited to go to Mount Olympus Academy. I considered it for awhile, but I
decided to go after I finish the voyages, and then the people on my crew found out that I was a goddess.
They all congratulated me except for one girl, Zoey,who was my neighbour in my hometown. When she
crept into my room secretly, I felt that something was wrong…’
‘What happened, Grandma?’
‘Ah, I will tell you. I followed her into the room, and hid next to the closet, watching her closely. Zoey
headed towards my table beside my bed. And then, she took out a packet of powder and sprinkled it into
my medicine. When she turned around to leave, I blocked her way, and I asked her,” What is in that
packet?” She stuttered,”Uh, it’s none of your business!” I said,”Actually, it is my business because you just
put it in my medicine, so yeah, it is totally my business.” She finally confessed, “I was putting poison into
your medicine.” I was aghast, I asked her,”Why, why did you want me to die?” She said,”I thought it was
unfair, you got everything ,you became a general and a goddess and everyone likes you. All I am is a
sweeping girl.” I told her,” All you had to do was ask me, I would have gladly shared my power with you
and now I will of course forgive you.” And then I forgave her and this incident was forgiven and forgotten.
After all, there is a saying,” Forgive forget “ isn’t there.’
‘Grandma, I think we’re getting off course. Although I want to know, am I a god?’
‘Well, technically, you are a demi-god, I remember that you were proclaimed the god of technology.’
‘That is awesome!’
‘Now, kiddo. Let’s just stick to your textbook or else you’ll be studying till midnight. I’ll tell you more
after you finish your studying. Now let me see… Hey, your textbooks are wrong! It should be…’