Fiction: Group 4
Fate
St. Margaret's Co-Educational English Secondary and Primary School
(Secondary Section), Del Mundo, Gillian - 14, Fiction: Group 4
uanzang spotted his grandson leave the school campus.
“Xiaoming!” Xuanzang called out. His 9-year-old grandson took notice and his face lit
up.
“Grandpa!” his grandson, Xiaoming, cried out as he ran towards his grandfather. Xuanzang embraced
him tightly, happy to see his only grandson after two years.
“How was school?” Xuanzang asked.
“It was great! Today, we learnt about the Pearl River Delta.”
“Oh?” Xuanzang could not help but reminisce about his adventures back in his halcyon days when he
first visited Macau.
Back in the late 1970s, Xuanzang always dreamt of travelling alone. Now that he was in his twenties,
his parents finally decided to give him enough money to fulfill that dream.
When Xuanzang arrived at the railway station, he wondered, where to go? He looked around and saw a
young lady.
“Excuse me,” Xuanzang said, and she turned at him.
“May I help you?” she asked nicely.
“Yes, do you have any suggestions on where to travel for Chinese New Year?”
“Well, if you’d like, take this map,” the lady said.
Xuanzang unfolded the map he was given and scanned it through. Then he spotted a suitable
destination, Macau. He heard about what one was able to do there, and it seemed quite interesting.
“The train has arrived,” the train station’s speakers blared out.
“Come on, Grandpa!” Xiaoming said. “The train might leave soon!”
He ran with haste towards the train entrance with his grandfather a few steps behind him.
Xuanzang stared outside the window of the train. Nostalgic memories flowed through his mind as the
train passed the Lisboa Hotel.
“Grandpa, what are you looking at?” Xiaoming asked with a quizzical expression. His grandfather
pointed at the hotel.
“I was just remembering the days when that hotel wasn't replete with fancy lights or decorations.”
“Really? What did it look like before?”
“Well, it definitely wasn’t twelve stories high! In fact, that hotel only had three floors when it first
opened.”
Young Xuanzang arrived at his hotel of choice. With all the stories he heard from other tourists on the
train, he thought the Lisboa Hotel was a good place to stay in. Once Xuanzang placed all his belongings in
his room, he immediately left to go sightseeing. As he left the hotel, he took a brochure next to the counter
to help lead the way.
Xuanzang took out a pen from his pocket and circled the first destination on the brochure’s map that he
would go to: the Tai Pa Village.
It read: Tai Pa village preserves a large part of Tai Pa’s history with its traditional Chinese shops and
colonial churches and temples.
Xuanzang and Xiaoming finally arrived at the Tai Pa Village and were greeted by Xiaoming’s parents,
as well as his grandmother.
“Grandma Chuntao!” Xiaoming gasped in surprise.
“Xiaoming, you have grown up so much,” Chuntao smiled.
Xiaoming gave his grandmother a kiss on the cheek, then scurried away, excited to visit the shops
around the village, while his parents wearily chased after him. On the other hand, Xuanzang and Liqin
decided to take a tranquil stroll down memory lane.
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