Fiction: Group 2
New Tales of the Pearl River Delta
Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School (Primary), Wong, Charlotte-11, Fiction: Group 2
nce upon a time, in Ancient China, there was a small village that was near the Pearl River Delta.
It was a minor village. As most of its inhabitants were poor, the rich overlooked them. The Wen
family was especially overlooked because they were rude tricksters. Even worse, they were proud
of their bad reputation!
However, there was one exception. It was a young man named Wen-Zhu who was the
youngest of eight brothers. His family always jeered at him for his behaviour and considered him to be a
disgrace, but to everyone else, he was a miracle.
One day, a Dao-Shi (Chinese magician) came to Wen-Zhu’s village. As he was of higher
rank, all other villagers had to kneel before him. Unlike the other rich people, the Dao-Shi – who was
named Ming-Li - was kind-hearted. On the day Ming-Li arrived being carried aloft on his sedan chair as
though on a cloud, every villager knelt before him, except the Wen family. As Wen-Zhu knelt down to
show his respect, the other members of the family called him bad names. Seeing this strange sight, Ming-Li
commanded the sedan chair to be stopped and politely asked a villager as to the nature of the situation. The
villager replied, “My Lord, this should be where the Wen family should pay you respect, but everyone in
this family is rude and ignorant, except for Wen-Zhu, who you see kneeling before you now.” Ming-Li
was amazed by Wen-Zhu’s behaviour and told him, “Meet me at the Temple of Guan-Yu by sundown.”
Upon hearing this, the other family members were astounded and increased their hatred to him. Their
feelings simmered deep down and blackened their hearts further.
At sundown, Wen-Zhu went to the temple to wait for Ming-Li. He waited until the
moon and stars shone in the sky as though he was glimpsing the floor of heaven itself. But still, Ming-Li
didn’t come. Actually, Ming-Li was right behind him, but invisible. He thought to himself,
Wen-Zhu has
passed the test of patience. I must start the second test now!
Then, he turned himself into one of his
brothers, and said to Wen-Zhu, “Hey! Why are you still waiting here? Its nightfall and you’ll be the
laughing stock of the village tomorrow if you don’t go home now!” Wen-Zhu replied, “I am tired but I
need to respect him. Even if he was of equal rank, I would still come because promises must be fulfilled!”
Ming-Li changed back into his original form immediately and Wen-Zhu’s face turned pale. Ming-Li then
told him, “You have passed the test of patience and influence, so I will give you the magic paintbrush. As a
keeper of the paintbrush, you will have great luck! But if this paintbrush gets stolen by others, you will have
awful luck, and the person who has it will have great luck. To command it, use your mind to think of the
object you want to draw. It will lead your hand and your drawing will become real.” After saying this,
Ming-Li shimmered like a thousand diamonds, faded away and then disappeared.
Unbeknown to Wen-Zhu, his father, Wen-Kai, had heard their conversation, and was
jealous of his good luck. When Wen-Kai arrived home, he secretly told his wife about the magic
paintbrush. They quickly made a plan and decided to let Wen-Zhu try out the paintbrush to see if its
powers were real.
That night, Wen-Zhu was commanded to prepare dinner. He took the magic paintbrush to
the kitchen and drew lavish foods and drinks. Wen-Kai, being a clever soul, had made a peephole, and saw
how he drew all the food with the correct steps. Next, Wen-Ni took a sleeping potion and put it in his
drink, to make him sleep soundly for the night. Indeed, the potion did its job, and Wen-Zhu slept early
that night. Soon after sleeping, his parents sneakily took the magic paintbrush, and changed it to a normal
paintbrush. The next morning, his parents forbade him to make breakfast, to prevent him from finding out
that he had a fake paintbrush. So, like Ming-Li said, as Wen-Zhu was the keeper of the magic paintbrush,
he would endure bad luck when he lost the paintbrush. On that day, lots of unlucky things happened to
Wen-Zhu. For example, a bird defecated on his head; he was tripped over by his father, and was cruelly
tricked by his brothers. On the other hand, Wen-Ni and Wen-Kai had lots of great luck! They thieved and
tricked many villagers, and even got one million dollars by finding a special heirloom belonging to a rich
official! Being the clever person he was, Wen-Zhu quickly realized somebody had stolen his magic
paintbrush. He asked other villagers about who had good luck, and the reply was only his parents had good
luck in thieving from others. Furious, he rushed back home to confront his parents, but his parents wouldn’t
budge and give back the paintbrush. Wen-Zhu pleaded Wen-Kai again, but instead he roared at him, and
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