Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 61

The New Tales of the Ming Treasure Voyages: Life - Fair or
Unfair?
Good Hope School, Leung, Zoe - 13
I am a freshman, a very, very fresh one. I am average, not too good nor too bad. I am not number
one in combat, but the Emperor made his decision. To strengthen the bond with the isolated countries, our
majesty called for a fleet of the youngest and strongest men in China. And here I am, fresh and young,
sailing along in the patterned fleet of ships with so many other men on the voyage to faraway western lands.
The man leading us is the famous Zheng He (鄭和), who was directly appointed by the emperor, brave and
strong.
Panic, fear, and horror. The unknown lied in front of us. Indeed, we had trained day and night to
defend ourselves from our enemies. But everyone knew that the sea was never safe and calm. Tsunamis,
whirlpools, and storms. There had never been one who could ever travel without them, nor had anyone
ever gone out of them alive or conscious. Those uncertainties, hazardous and disastrous. But there is no way
back now, we have already stepped onto a road of no return.
A freshman’s life is not simple. This morning I woke up early and there were loads of work lining
up to be treated by me: cleaning the deck, taking shift on observing, turning the hulk, raising the sails and all
sorts of nasty tiring work. Our daily route seemed so dull while our general sat on the highest deck the
whole day, leisurely, watching the flow of the current as the sun rose up from the mountains till it sank into
the horizon. Life is different between us, it is unfair.
Every night, when work is not yet done, our general, along with all the highest chief, go down to
the dining room to enjoy their luxurious and rich dinner. In the meantime, little peasants like me
unwillingly stay up all night to work, to feel the hunger, and to dream how one day we might become one
of those leaders. When we finally get our work done, it is midnight and the end of another day. We have
our healthy but cheap dinner in our cabins, rest for about three hours, and get back to work again in the
wake of the rising sun. It is again a boring new day while they are still snoring peacefully on their
comfortable bed. Life is very unfair.
Then came a stormy night. The ship churned along the huge waves aimlessly, our ships were going
up and down vigorously, and we feared that our ships would drown. Fortunately, none of us had seasickness
after all that harsh training. Waves reached to a height over 3 metres and hit our deck with a “flash”. In no
time, the salty seawater had drowned our deck and by then, the deck was flooding all over. After that, the
captain cried in a loud voice to cover the sound of the storm, “All men on board, flush the water and turn
the hulk.” His cry woke me up from my peaceful sleep. Immediately, I rushed up the deck along with all
others. With a sweaty body we continued, under the force of the howling wind, cleaning the mess the
disaster had ‘kindly’ given to us. Since the volume of water one bucket can contain is little, the amount of
flood hardly seemed to change. At last, we ended up being scolded and punished by the captain. All that we
know is that our generals were sitting in their rooms safe and sound, totally dry and warm. Life is so unfair.
And sometimes we would meet a gang of terrible pirates in the middle of the ocean. Pirates were
usually travelling the sea to find gold and treasures. At once we knew, to protect the valuables on our ship, a
fight was about to begin. With the order of our general Zheng, every single one of us got into a deadly fight
with the pirates, using all our might to sacrifice our life for our country, even if we had no particular
experience in combat. Our general always stayed at the end of the line, yelling out encouraging words:
“Fight with all your might, you can do it!” and “Go, go and go.” but letting alone his own hands free from
fight. No matter win or lose, there were always plenty of deaths and injuries, it was not pleasurable to see
friendly pals of mines, dying because of the fight. The fight was over, pulling along our hurt body, we
returned to our daily routine of work. Nevertheless, he who is on top of us just sit in the sick bay and await
the team of doctors to treat his minor injuries. Life is extremely unfair.
One day, I was taking morning shift on observing. Suddenly, there was something fresh green and
solid. What a surprise, It was an island! Excited of my discovery, I cried out to the others, “Ahoy, captain!
Ahoy, shipmates! So far so long, we finally had our first discovery!” “Yo!!!” Everyone shouted in glory.
Elated of my discovery, I thought I would have a rise of job or an action of praise by the General. However,
I got nothing and had to work nonstop. In my heart, I knew every goal we achieved was counted as a goal