“We’re having porridge today? That’s disgusting, you know that?” Complained Dong Dong
who hated porridge more than anything else.
“Would you rather starve?” Asked Minwei.
“Nope, I will have the porridge.” Mumbled Dong Dong. After dinner they got out their sleeping
bags and went to sleep.
In the morning, Dong Dong woke up and realized he woke up last. He saw his friends eating
their breakfast while playing “rock scissor paper.”
“Why didn’t you guys wake me up?” Asked Dong Dong angrily.
“Because we couldn’t, you wouldn’t wake up no matter how hard we tried, you wouldn’t even
budge.” Answered Minwei.
“Time to go!” Said Liang Liang after breakfast so the children packed up as quickly as possible
and started to go to Dunhuang.
The children walked and walked until it was dark. As the night fell, they only had the star of
the desert to guide them. The star of the desert was a star brighter than all the others. Legend said
that the star of the desert guided people to where they wanted to go. Looking up at the bright star
over the desert, the children somehow felt protected.
Finally, the children were at Dunhuang’s gateway. It was almost dawn so they decided to wait for
the gate to open while looking up at the star of the desert. They could see the star growing fainter as
the sun rose. It reminded them of the time when they were little, playing with their parents.
“You know what? I think we went too far. Our parents were nice to us, we should go back
now.” Said Minwei as if it was a good idea. The others heartily agreed that they had gone too far
and decided to go back.
Meanwhile, their parents desperately waited and waited hoping that their children would come
back. All of a sudden, they heard a scuffle just outside their tent. Minwei’s mum went to see what
it was. She found Minwei, Dong Dong and Liang Liang waiting by the tent. She pulled them all in
and hugged them as tightly as a bear. She then ran to the other parents to tell the news. Once they
saw their children, they grew very exited. They played games, drew pictures, sang desert songs
and had a feast for the children. The children told the parents tales of their adventure.
The next day the parents taught the children how to steal from the merchants going on the
Silk Road. Now the children felt as if they were at home, not just any home but a real home.
