Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 48
The Ming Treasure Voyages
ELCHK Lutheran Academy, Man, Hilary - 12
Pirates have the talent to steal gold and use it themselves, my name is Xalian and that’s what happened to
me. When I was born, my father had no money and we were poor. Everything happened so fast but I can
tell you a little bit about what happened; so when I was 2 years old, my father left us and joined to pirates to
steal gold, they searched for many many places. Succeeded and tried to steal more; when it was my 11th
birthday, I made a wish that my dad would come back! Guess what, he did.
My dad came back with a bunch of money, almost enough for a living. I didn’t want that because all the
money he took, are all from the pirates. My father took the money because he made a deal with the pirates
that my father would give his first son or daughter to the pirates. That’s what he did, sold me to the pirates
when I was 11. That’s why I say everything went so fast.
Now, I am stealing gold as the pirates told me to because it has just been 2 years since my dad sold me to
the Ming Treasure Voyages but they treated me like one of the Ming treasure voyages! They took care of
me, gave me food and they would play with me to entertain me because at first, I didn’t know who were
they. I am happily stealing gold but something happened while going to China.
When we were celebrating how much gold we stole, the people from China saw us and wanted to fight
us. I was devastated and very frightened because I froze like a snowman. I panicked and almost had a heart
attack, pirates told me to stay on the boat, I did what I could to keep myself safe, everyone knew that giving
up was better to fight the Chinese people. I took a big risk and did something magical, none of the pirates
could have done it!
What I did was I stood up, got out of the boat… and… I got captured by the Chinese people! I blacked
out because one of the Chinese people shot me. This was the first time we failed to steal gold, even worst, I
even got questioned by the Chinese people, good thing I know Chinese! It was really scary, I was terrified
by them. They asked me a lot of questions and I explained it, let’s say that it went bad but better than
imagined because my Chinese is really bad. The pirates, that said that I can call them my family, were
waiting for me. Well for my case, I answered all these questions asked by them with one answer, I had no
idea that it would actually answer all their questions but it still did. I said: “Please help us with our poorness
for us Ming Treasure Voyages...
We sure will thank you when we get the money, if you don’t help us, I really need help with my
family… Please! Will you help us, I respect that you say no because we are not your close friends or
family… We… r..reeally nee...d yo..ur help!” That was what I really said to the Chinese people, after the Q
n A session, this is what I said to the pirates: “I was stammering all the way in Chinese, you guys don’t
know help scary that was! I am now just 15 and you guys don’t even save me and help me with my
Chinese, it’s a good thing that my real family taught me some of it only!” That was the first time I have
ever called the pirates my family, I know that they are not really but I at least need to tell the Chinese
people that I am very close to the pirates.
Now that I have been through that horrible thing, we had another problem… One of the pirates has
been killed! Not just any pirate, it’s the one pirate that has actually accepted me as his family. I remember
that he would always say: “Xalian, my boy, how will I live without you, you know my body, it stays very
strong everytime I see you, I hope you will accept yourself into pirates like us. Your father was the bravest
man when he gave you to me because he knew that his wife was a bad influence for you, I am sorry that
you got to live with your horrible mother! Staying here will give you a better life, no one will harm with
me protecting you!” I don’t get why he has to say these same words every time when I was younger, it takes
about 1 minute to say it! Now I understand a little bit why he had to say it.
We had to attend a funeral for this pirate. I will never forget how he treated me before. These are some
of the memories that I will never forget. One day, I told my fellow pirates about something; I said: “Hey Mr
pirate, I need to say something to you. I actually feel homesick. The only thing that had kept me from being