Fiction: Group 3
An Unwanted Honour
Discovery College , Anderson, Jennifer - 12, Fiction: Group 3
un for your lives! ” Kang shouted. “The Pearl River is flooding! Everyone to your homes!”
It was too late. Xue had been sitting on the shore when he was engulfed by a huge wave
from the river.
“Help!” He cried.
Xue felt something pulling him towards the shore. It was Zhong! Zhong had bitten the back of
Xue’s shirt and pulled him from the water. Dripping, they ran to the fortune teller’s red house with its 8
stone dragons guarding the roof. The house had a chipped fence that he and Zhong could climb. Xue let
Zhong run in front of him, making sure he didn’t fall. They reached the roof, exhausted. Xue patted
Zhong’s head. It was raining, but Xue and Zhong didn’t mind. They lay, staring at the stormy sky, while
the villages ran back to their homes, trying to escape the flood of the Pearl River.
Zhong was Xue’s best friend. He never argued, but always followed Xue. Xue had been left on a
wealthy family’s doorstep as a baby. They had called him Xue, because his skin was naturally white as snow.
The family took care of him, but when their own children were born, they neglected him, so Xue ran
away. At the age of 14, Xue had found Zhong as a puppy, abandoned by an animal trader, because he was a
runt. Xue took care of him, and after a few years, Zhong grew up to be a strong and loyal dog. That was
what his name meant. Loyalty. Slowly, the exhausted duo fell asleep.
“Is he alive?” Xue woke to a man’s hand poking his face. He had been carried off the roof and laid
on the dusty village floor.
“I’m alive! Stop poking me!”
“Why were you on Sang’s roof? Why was there a dog with you? Who are you?” The man’s face
started turning red. “Did you steal anything?”
“Stop it Kang! Can’t you see he’s scared?” There was a young woman beside him.
”I didn’t steal anything!”
“Be quiet. They are coming... ” The fortune teller was standing in the corner. His eyes clouded. He started
talking in a scratchy, deep voice.
“
As the river of pearl storms the banks,
Mortals shall distress,
But there is no fear because,
A flurry of snow and loyalty,
Will prevail the pearl storm,
And fight fire with fire
”
He collapsed.
“Father! Are you all right?” the woman crouched down.
Kang looked at Xue. “What is your name?”
“Xue”
“Xue as in snow?”
“Yes...”
Kang exchanged glances with the woman. “Li Hua, he’s...”
“What am I? ” He thought for a minute. It made sense. Zhong whimpered.
“No. You people are insane! I don’t save people!”
Xue sprinted away. Zhong followed. Li Hua stared at her father’s sleeping face. “What are we going to do?”
Xue had run to the expanding Pearl River. The villagers had started calling it the Pearl Sea, for it
really was flooding as big as a lake now. He walked along the shore. Zhong bolted in front of him, and
stopped, then started to dig. When Xue caught up to him, he had unearthed an oyster shell. Xue knelt
down and opened the shell. There was a huge pearl, the size of his fist. Carefully, he held the oyster shell
without touching the pearl; he followed Zhong to the riverbank. Zhong jumped around in the water, and
“R
