Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 21

Saving My Father
Chinese International School, Marsh, Megan - 8
Isn’t it ironic that I’m literally fighting against pirates and my own father? And yet the whole reason I joined
this treasure fleet was to get away from the pirates and what they did to my family……
Just to let you know, my father didn’t want to be a pirate! He had no choice but to work for Chen Zuyi as
he had to repay a debt. His bakery business had failed so suddenly he found himself feeding pirates. This
brought shame on our family so the rest of us left Guangdong and went north looking for work.
After 12 days of walking, we arrived in Nanjing. We had been told that there were jobs there because
Emperor Ha Gao was constructing The Ming Treasure Fleet. Over one hundred ships needed to be built for
trading, making international voyages and expanding the community.
My father had taught me well when he owned the bakery. I was an excellent cook - especially with making
sweet pastries. So I found work in the shipbuilders cafeteria while my brother worked in the shipyard. We
worked hard and when the fleet was finished, my brother and I were lucky enough to gain jobs on the fleet.
In fact, on the Admiral’s very own ship!
Admiral Xui Mai had travelled a long way from the palace to the shipyard to inspect the ships. When he
arrived, the chefs were summoned to cook the finest dish for him. I decided to make the admiral a slightly
spicy slow-cook lamb rack with an extra dessert on the side. It was a citrus tutti frutti jelly. He absolutely
loved my dish and he offered me a job on the voyage. My brother got a job too - working on deck. My
brother and I decided not to tell anyone that our father was working for the notorious pirate, Chen Zuyi. It
was too risky.
The Admiral always enjoyed my pastries and encouraged me to be creative. He really supported me and
eventually promoted me to be Head Pastry Chef. I think he saw something of himself in me as he used to a
be poor boy until war came and he had to fight. He fought so hard that the emperor promoted him and
eventually he became an admiral.
We visited many cities on our voyage. These included Champa, Java, and Malacca. We gave gifts to the
people in every city we visited. For example, we gave porcelain, calligraphy scrolls, and copper coins. We
too got many gifts in return. We even got given exotic animals - including a giraffe.
Our route home took us through the Malaccan Strait which was a shortcut. Many pirates lurked around
here because many merchants used this passage way to go to their destination.
On our way we met Chen Zuyi’s fleet and we did not expect an ambush attack from Chen Zuyi. Admiral
Xui Mai was quick to start planning the attack strategy. I told him I had heard that the pirate was paranoid
about sticky sweet stuff. I suggested to make a dough bomb filled with sticky corn honey slime with food
colouring.
Our fleet started attacking Chen’s boats with the dough bomb.The minute it landed on them, the bombs
splattered all over oozing out the most stickiest green slime.
One bomb crashed onto Chen Zuyi’s face. He stumbled backwards as liquid burst all over his body. He
screamed as he tasted the sweet corn honey and turned green with anger!! It was terribly sticky and awfully
sweet but quickly hardened. He was stuck and could not move.
The other pirates hated these sticky sweet bombs too…. except for my dad. While the other pirates were
powerless, he was surprised by the sweet bomb strategy. It felt familiar because he was reminded of his
daughter who used to make sweet bombs during her childhood.
The pirates struggled, unable to move. After another round of attack and they finally surrendered. We
locked the pirates in the dungeon. My father was one of them. He wondered if this could be the work of his
sweet lovely well missed daughter. Would he ever see her again? And I needed to start thinking of a plan to
save my father.