HKYWA 2015 Fiction 3 to 6 - page 78

Fiction: Group 3
New Tales of the Pearl River Delta
Heep Yunn School, Lam, Kristy - 14, Fiction: Group 3
herever the river flows, the water goes. People come, people go, but gone are never the essence
of hard work and perseverance along the river of prosperity and the land of fertility.
Born and raised in Macau, like many of his age, Jim gave up school after graduating from high school and
worked in a Casino, simply because it had long been perceived as a rather profitable job. His work was
typical, not much excitement involved
the shuffling decks of cards, operating of the slots machines,
monitoring the customers, handling the bets
routine tasks. After the first year in the casino, he wondered
what if he had to do it for life, say 40 more years.
“I wanted a change,” he mumbled, eyes filled with determination. Perhaps, fate was in his hands. Perhaps, it
would be now or never.
Jim ended up quitting his casino job and started to be a chef in a traditional Chinese restaurant. He dreamt
that he could pick up cooking and start a little business. However, being a cook wasn’t as easy as he thought.
Originally, he imagined wearing a tall white hat, slicing meat as nicely and quickly as a machine, stylishly
flipping woks with the flick of my wrists. “Isn’t that what TV cooks do?” He thought. Rosy the picture
seemed, yet, in his first few weeks, he didn’t even get near the stove.
As the old saying goes, “No pain no gain.” It was sad but true: For the grain comes with pain and the grain
goes with the fame. Despite the fact that he wasn’t as well paid, he enjoyed challenges, learning from
mistakes and the satisfaction of creating some good food from scratch. Jim was determined to overcome all
of the challenges
to better his cooking skills, enjoy life in the kitchen, invent new recipes and conjure
delicious, mouth watering dishes.
Unfortunately, life doesn’t always go smooth and straight. The restaurant had to close when the land had to
be cleared up for a new casino. Rent was impossible to pay and the owner was left with no option but to lay
Jim off. Luckily, Jim had never forgotten his dream of his first bucket of gold: His first business that was to
be set under his feet; His first trail on this piece of fertile land. This was when he made the second decision
to use his savings to open up a restaurant, but not in Macau. Instead, he turned to other shimmering coast of
the river.
It took Jim another year to get the legal stuff and licenses done. After settling down, he quickly went out to
seek a location for the restaurant. It turned out to be much harder than he thought. In the end, he found a
tiny location amongst the shabby buildings of Sham Shui Po, one of the poorest districts in Hong Kong, the
size was not even close to half the area of the restaurant he previously worked for. Even though the
environment around him changed, the heart of fire, the young man with big dreams stayed the same,
insisting on selling his favourite food
dim sum.
However, business ran low for the first few months. That was when he finally doubted his choices. “Have I
been too impulsive? Should I play safe being the same old casino worker?” These questions baffled and
confused him, but there was no turning back. At that time, most of his savings were already spent on the
expenses of the restaurant and he could barely afford paying his two staff. His worries never vanished
especially when he was left alone as his two staff resigned. There were periods of depression and pessimistic
thoughts when Jim sat in his empty restaurant in sorrow. However, when he reminisced his past, sitting on
poker tables in casinos, he realized that he was already fortunate to have restaurants, be able to commit to
something he truly loved.
“There will never be success without trying.” Jim thought as he started to try cutting costs, lowering selling
prices, handing out leaflets. He aimed at staying modest, friendly and warm, with making customers happy
as his main goal. Despite the changes in the neighbourhood, his aspiration never wavered. Though Jim was
greatly challenged financially and wearied physically, he never gave up. He didn’t mind waking up early,
W
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