Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 290

“Nice poem!” I spoke respectfully. Zheng He was going to speak, but he hesitated. Lighting lit the
sky, followed by a terrifying sound of thunder that shook the Earth. The lighting was bright yet pale, leaving
sinister shadows on the walls. At that moment, I made another glance at the calligraphy and froze. It was a
hidden message from the emperor!!! “KILL HIM!”
Who is HIM? I suddenly realized that it had to be the ex-emperor, who is Zhu Di’s nephew. It
was said that the ex-emperor was immolated in the Palace before Zhu Di’s army reached the Palace.
Emperor Zhu Di did not believe this story at all. He must have thought the ex-emperor had run away. It
would be a threat to his authority as the ex-emperor was the designated emperor from Zhu Di’s father-the
First Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
I was utterly shocked! It was a big scandal and lie! The emperor’s glory voyage was a lie! I felt
betrayed, and asked Zheng He what he would do?! He stood up, slowly walked to the window. His low
murmuring spread into a wide grin. “To spread the glory of the Great Ming...”
An ear-splitting vibration shook the earth, and I tumbled down onto the floor. We arrived at a
strange island, with white sands, palm trees, and tropical green plants. I got up painfully and, as I steadied
myself, the ship seemed to lurch and topple. I tripped messily around and stumbled down the deck. Soft
sand engulfed my shoes, and I fell flat on my face. In front of me, I saw the sailors all moving away. I
stumbled quickly after them, but in only a few minutes, the shadows disappeared into the deep dark jungle
ahead. My heart tried to jump out of my chest, nausea overtook me as I begun to pick up my pace down
the shore. But straight to where the naked eye can see, all was barren except for sand, trees, and water.
Just as despair was about to drown me, a shadow passed as swift as a leopard and grappled onto my
arm. I twirled around to see the captain of the ships. “What are you doing here?” He asked me with
urgency in his tone. I noticed his sword was streaked with blood. Suddenly, my ears popped open and I
heard ominous war cries. The admiral tugged at my arm, and I practically ran after him. After a tense few
minutes, I saw the boats and lots of crew members and soldiers. We all went back to our ships. It was in
horrible conditions, multiple holes on the deck. I noticed countless sailors were wounded, with lacerations
on their shoulders, legs and arms. “What's going on?” I roared over the sea of voices. A sailor, shirt ragged,
reported back, “We were attacked by pirates. We need help!” he yelled over chaos.
I had to push through a few sailors to get to the medics. Grabbing some medicines from the
equipment room, I entered the war zone. The deck was crowded and flooded with blood. I found that the
bag I carried had a hole open, and it was heavier than usual. With a glance I saw a fist size glowing stone in
my bag, glittering. I looked around cautiously as if I were a thief. Feeling guilty, I wanted to throw away the
stone, but deep down, a voice commanded me to grasp it tightly. Courage raging in me, I grasped the relic
tightly in my hand and handed all of the requested materials plead by the sailors. A red cloak was hanging in
the distance. Zheng He shouted orders here and there, and there were people defending the pirates, taking
back goods seized from pirates. The rock slipped from my hands onto the ground. As the shimmering rock
was exposed to the bright rays of sunshine, runes were suddenly appearing as if carved onto it with a
gleaming sharp knife. The characters were unreadable, however as my fingertips traced it, I felt a shredding
heat in my arm and then engulfing my body. I tried to run and yell, but nobody heard me...
I came back skeptically from the dead. I was sitting on my chair at home in Hong Kong. Outside is
the noisy ocean dock as usual. My body writhed in agony, alarmed by what had happened. My laptop was
on, displaying on the screen, it was the history of Zheng He’s 7 voyages between 1405-1433 when he led
27,000 troops and sailors to travel over 30 countries crossing the West Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
He built friendship and traded with countries. His trip is now called the ocean route of the silk road.
Zheng He did what he believed was the right thing to do…