work and the good news is no one has noticed any funny business going on in the museum.
Tonight the sky is an endless, murky blue. The scent of honeysuckle fills the open air. I am piling stones
and bricks onto the half- fallen castle wall. The sound of digging and crutching burbles away in the night.
Thousands of Terracotta soldiers are reconstructing the Great Wall, and it is the most astonishing thing I never
thought I would see. The Great Wall is starting to come into shape, but I still have the feeling that something is
missing.
‘
There you are, Patricia,’ Joseph says, his eyes twinkling at me. ‘You seem a little distracted tonight,
what’s up?’ We’ve been talking a lot these two weeks since the silence of night is unbearable.
‘
Is it just me or do you think that the Great Wall lacks some spirit? It seems like a shade of sadness has
been cast over the Great Wall…’
‘
No wonder you feel like that. This place once teemed with a number of workers, soldiers and prisoners;
they all put their efforts to building this. But the long working hours and tough working conditions worked
many people to death, and the building of the Great Wall was once a nightmare to the people at that time. There
are even rumors that people are buried under the Great Wall…’
‘
Gosh. It seems so creepy!’ I tremble at the thought of it and a crazy idea suddenly occurs to me. ‘Hey,
I’ve got an idea!’ I wink at Joseph.
The Great Wall has always been referred to as the astuteness and tenacity of the Chinese. It is also known
as the Guardian of Sadness because of all the souls that have been sacrificed during the building process. I’d
been thinking to coat a shade of color to the Great Wall, and by coating, I mean painting… I figured if we could
paint the vibrant images of the construction process, perhaps we could honor the people who had died and add
some energy to this place. Wouldn’t it be wonderful when people looked down from the spacecraft, and what
they saw was no longer a plain dragon, but instead, a dragon dotted with colors and bliss, and this could be the
sign of China!
A week later, I am grabbing hold of my brush, but this time, I’m not examining the Terracotta Army, but
I’m dipping it into a can of yellow paint. It leaves a yellow trail of color as I trace the brush along a line of
pencil sketch, portraying other small figures of human beings. With more and more people being drawn, the
image of workers building the Great Wall is becoming more vibrant; there’s even a moment when I thought I
was standing in the past and gazing at them. This feeling is amazing. I can just stay here and paint for hours and
hours. I close my eyes and let the feeling lap my mind.
‘
Hey, can I ask you something?’ Joseph comes over to stand beside me.
‘
Sure.’ I reply with my eyes shut.
‘
Did you ever regret doing this? With all the construction work and your day job, you barely have time to
sleep! Yet, you just help us without asking any returns.’
“
Well, to be honest, at first I did. I kept wondering why was I involved in this, but then I thought, you
guys didn’t ask for it either. So, after some time, I got used to this ‘packed schedule’ and even found joy in it. I
mean, look at all of this; we gave life to the Great Wall! The graphics, the wall, we made it ourselves. Before
this, I always believed that I had explored many things in this world, which was why I loved my job so much,
but now I realize that there’re so many things I don’t know. How about you? Did you regret doing this?”
‘
You know why I never questioned the reason why QinShiHuang summoned us? That’s because I have
faith in my country, my master. It’s my job to protect it, to ensure its future, because it’s what a good soldier
should do back in our times. I never regretted doing this and I’m glad to see that the Great Wall is being restored
with a mask of happiness. It’s not long till we finish rebuilding it; I guess that’s when my mission will finally be
accomplished.’ He says feebly.
‘
Hey, let’s cheers,’ I hold up my can of coke. ‘To us,’ I say, hoping to lighten the mood, even when I
know that the day we finish our job would be the day we say goodbye.
‘
To us and the rebuilding of Great Wall!’ he touches his can with mine.
I feel numb. It has finally come to an end. Keeping my head down, I walk down the steep stairs that I had
been walking down for the last month. It’s never easy saying goodbye, especially when you’re clear that you’ll
never be able to see them again. But time flies and tonight is our last night here at the Great Wall. The soldiers
and I silently pack up our things and take one last glance at this place. It is so much different from the day we
first arrived here. Besides restoring its outlook back to its old shape, it is now covered in a number of color
patches. Looking up to the sky, I can almost see the reflection of a spectrum of colors. We did it. Not only did
we save the Great Wall, but we have crafted a new leaf of the Great Wall as well. On our way back to the
museum, no one dare to make a sound, as if the sound of words would hurt like a blade, but there’s something
that we could never avoid. By the time we reach the museum, Joseph helps me get down off the back of the
horse as usual.
‘
Thank you.’ he says. ‘For everything you’ve done for us.’