on to my brush, ink-stone and ink-stick. “Where are we going?” asked sister, her simple remark
teeming with inquisitiveness. “We’re going to walk on with the seasons” father said.
And so we did. We packed everything extra and sold the house to a merchant. We walked for
days, and we stopped at places for rests. There was nearly no water. We lived on bread, and had
to cut open cacti and melt ice for water. Suddenly, “Lake Ahoy!” Ah Wang cried out with great
joy. We immediately took all we could hold and sprinted forwards towards the lake. It wasn’t an
ordinary lake as it had a crescent shape. We lived there for the rest of our lives, planting the seeds
that we obtained along our journey. We built two temples with makeshift clay bricks.
It was a dull life in the desert. There were almost no travelers “happening to pass by.” In my
spare time, I painted and painted in my little study, creating many paintings. I drew the majestic
Tian Shan mountains and scenes of the seemingly endless Gobi. I later adopted the art of poems
and wrote many poems. I created many “great works” as my father called them.
One long, dusty day, a strange traveler came across our pagodas. He was a “barbarian” or
an outcast from apparently civilised cities. Over the next few days, we learnt more about him.
Apparently, he was a great fencer and was undefeated in martial arts. I was just writing in my
study, when the barbarian appeared. “Great poems, I had a talent in these.” What? I thought he
was illiterate. He later explained. “I used to be a court scribe for the Emperor. I wrote many poems
of various styles, but one day, I offended his Majesty and I was sentenced to death three days after
today. Somehow, I was suddenly engulfed in black in my prison cell. The next thing I knew, I was
riding a camel with a nomadic tribe. I decided to travel alone, and I came across your temples.”
That made much more sense for me. I liked his personality, and we planned to escape away from
the desert to see the world and have a more fruitful life, painting and painting in our own hut. So,
that night, the barbarian and I dashed hurriedly away, started to climb the wall, when suddenly I
fell and fell and fell.
… End of tape …
