Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 180

Rita
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I woke in the middle of the night, and went to get myself some snacks. Scurrying to the kitchen, I went to
get some corn. Chow and Ma slept peacefully on the little room beside the kitchen. I finished the corn as
silently as possible, and headed back to our little 'chamber'.
The next day, the boat reached Pahang. Chow, the intellectual, put some herbs to make the others able to
see us. Then he introduced us at breakfast. 'These are the Lees, they're brothers who cook. I've been training
them and they should be cooking well.'
Funny how girls cannot go on these trips.
The remark went and we scurried back to the kitchen. With Ma, the four of us formed the kitchen with me
and Rita chopping and slicing all over it. Interesting how teenagers then cooked so well.
It was night soon and Ma and Chow continued to spice up the journeys of Captain Zheng.
'It was the first journey. We stopped at Liujiagang honouring the goddess of journeys. Then we sailed to
Java. The barley there was beautifully grown in patches of land and gold, all the people smiled and were
most welcoming.' Said Ma, smiling at the thought. 'But then, Alagakkonara was another story.' Chow
continued the story. ' Alagakkonara people were really hostile! They just had arrows flying everywhere and
wars being fought so we went away. Chen was the real fight. This pirate was totally owning the seas back
then. Captain Zheng actually bought gifts as token of peace to prevent wars and to negotiate the pacification
of the seas but the wicked guy planned to kill us off. And get the silk and gold, of course. Captain Zheng
fought magnificently, winning our total trust and respect.' 'And also some fear too,' Ma added. 'The guy
killed 5000 pirates and burnt 10 or so ships. He was so great, young and strong. That's how us Mings
became the king of the seas.' Back in our bedroom, I was lying down with thought. Why kill so many
people while you can make friends? Why are there wars when there actually can be peace? And when did
China become King of the Seas?
Scurrying to the board because I just couldn't sleep, I saw Ma on the board at the left, and Scarlet watching
the stars with Chow, looking sleepy. Walking towards Ma, I almost gave him a heart attack. 'Explain to me
more trips.' I asked, trying to find a better position to lie on and see the stars. 'Heh,' he smirked. 'Someone's
liking the stories.' 'Shut up.' I grumbled. 'So about the second voyage, the main aim was to reach peace
between Java and Ming. The Java kings were strong and were the only kingdom that could balance the
Ming navy. So forcefully we had to reach peace, right? The story was that Java kings had once killed 170
Chinese ambassadors from Ming. And even that was a mistake, the king thought they were his rivals from
East Java.
Java was forced to give money for compensation or war would be inflicted. After finishing compensation,
still ships would be used to supervise them...' I was sound asleep.
Scarlett
********************
The orange sun woke me. Drool was lying on my face, which I cleared up immediately. Seeing Rita also on
the deck, I woke her and dragged her to the head of the ship, smirking when I saw she was lying beside Ma,
probably listening to stories last night.
We were wondering how we'd get back home these weeks. On the deck, as we admired the waters, we
thought. Rita asked if we'd go to other places and touch something. By that thought, I started to find
anything that was related to the ship. There was still time for a story about the journey. Finding the storage
for books, I headed to the 'library' with Rita.