Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 159

An Unexpected Journey
Holy Cross Lutheran School, Man, Chun Hin Charles - 11
Six hundred and thirteen years ago, the emperor of China was Zhu Di. He was very curious about the
places that he didn’t know about. Therefore, one day, he asked Zheng He to help him discover the world,
trade goods with other kingdoms and show them how powerful China was.
Zheng He then asked the emperor, Zhu Di, to give him a fleet of ships, food and armies. Then, he was
ready for the trip. Zhu Di said, ‘Good luck!’
Zheng He started the trip on 11 th July. He wanted to find some treasure to the east. A month later, a
typhoon blew strongly and blew away Zheng He’s army ships and food ships. These ships were lost.
There was a Japanese pirate team called ‘Skeletons’. They wanted to steal all the things in Zheng He’s fleet
because they knew that there were many expensive things. They quickly prepared their ships and weapons.
The Skeletons suddenly and quickly attacked Zheng He’s ship. They easily boarded Zheng He’s ship and
tied him up with a rope while he was sleeping. They told him to give all the things on the ship to them.
Zheng He said slowly, ‘Okay.’ Suddenly, he used his martial art skills to free himself and hurt the Skeletons.
He was able to do so because he was a martial artist.
The pirates were scared by Zheng He’s martial art because they hadn’t seen that before. They surrendered
and asked Zheng He to free them. Zheng He told them to follow him in his journey and lead him to Japan.
Some days later, they met the lost army ships and food ships again. Zheng He was thrilled.
There was a big problem just after that. The food ships sunk suddenly and they couldn’t stop them from
sinking. They starved because they couldn’t get any food. Zheng He was suddenly inspired. He said, ‘Does
anyone have some wood and pins?’ People were confused about the usage of the wood and pins, except the
leader of the Skeletons, named Yamato. He said, ‘I’ve got some here.’ Then he quickly brought out a box.
Inside were many things including wood and pins.
Zheng He said, ‘You guys are smart enough. You’ve just given me the proper tools.’ After this sentence, he
threw out his new tool and caught two fish. He repeated this action again and again for half an hour. He
then stored the thousand fish he had just caught in the storing cabins. Yamato and his partners thought, ‘It
begs belief that this mysterious man can be so fast!’
Some more days later, they arrived at Japan at night. The pirates settled Zheng He down. Then, the
Skeletons secretly went to the palace. They went inside the emperor’s bedroom and talked about how
powerful and mysterious Zheng He is. The emperor whispered to himself, ‘You are arrogant, Zheng He.
You hurt my ‘Royal Skeletons’. I need to kill you!’ Although he was extremely angry about that, he needed
to act like he was appreciating Zheng He. He said, ‘Bring me Zheng He tomorrow. I want to see how
powerful he really is.’ Yamato, his partners, all the ministers and generals around the emperor hated him
very much. They thought that Zheng He will be killed by the emperor miserably. They were thinking of
methods to save Zheng He because they didn’t want to see any sorrow caused by the emperor they hated.
The next day, Zheng He was brought into the meeting room of the palace. The emperor said, ‘You are
Zheng He? Fantastic! Come drink some deluxe wine. We need to drink happily. It’s your pleasure to come
in and see my ministers!’ A eunuch then quickly came in. When he walked past Zheng He’s back, he tried
to use a knife to chop Zheng He into two halves. Just at that moment, Zheng He grabbed his knife, sprinted
to the emperor, killed him, went back to his seat and put the knife back into the eunuch’s hand in the blink
of an eye. Everyone was frightened. No one screamed, ‘Assassins! Protect!’ They just scratched their heads
and thought about why the violent emperor they hated had been killed. After an hour, all the ministers
shouted, ‘Thank you, Zheng He!’ However, they didn’t notice that Zheng He had just gone for a minute.
Zheng He went back to the meeting room when he learned about how grateful the ministers were. The
ministers then pushed Zheng He to the seat of the emperor. Zheng He was frightened because he had sat on
the chair the old emperor sat on. When Zheng He tried to ask what happened, the ministers said, ‘You are
the emperor of Japan!’ Zheng He said, ‘I need to look around the community.’
When Zheng He walked past an old village, he found that the people there didn’t know how to grow
things to eat. Therefore, he taught the citizens in Japan how to grow crops and feed animals. Some months
later, the whole kingdom became very prosperous.