The girl, whose name was Rosa, had found the riddle on a piece of paper behind her bookshelf at home,
which turned out to be a secret staircase leading to different rooms in her house. She had found ‘a brick that
reads’, a brick with a person reading carved on top of it. There was a mechanical thistle hidden on the side of it.
Rosa had turned the thistle in a circle two times when the brick opened up the bottom part of it. There, Rosa saw
a parchment. She had only took out the parchment when the ground underneath her crumbled and she fell into
the bottomless pit where the Treasurers found her. Rosa took the piece of parchment out of her pocket and read
it. Her eyes lit up as she scanned the parchment briefly. It was a clue to the next brick! She quickly read the
parchment out to the Treasurers:
At the eye of the dragon,
Dancers dance the ancient dance.
One of them collapses,
And she exists there to this day.
“
The eye of the dragon? What does that mean? Where is that place?” the Treasurers were confused.
Taylor thought hard. “Oh! Could it be the first or second part of the Great Wall? The Great Wall is like a dragon,
and the first few parts are his eyes! Am I right, Rosa?” Taylor said. Rosa nodded. “I think that’s where the
parchment is trying to say. You are smart to think of that so quickly!” she said. “Come on, let’s get a move on,
Treasurers!” “All for one and one for all!” they chorused and off they went to find out the true history of China.
“
Phew! After two days of motorcycle rides, we have finally arrived! Now to look for a brick that
dances.” said Liam. “I have found it! Although...I am not really that sure if it really is the brick that dances. It is
raining now, so it seems as if the carving on the brick is really dancing,” Peony called to the others. They all ran
to have a look. Sure enough, the carving on the brick was like a person dancing. They found the mechanical
thistle under the brick. They turned it in a circle three times till the hidden compartment sprung out, revealing
another parchment inside the compartment. They took the parchment out of the compartment. Then they heard a
rumbling sound from underneath them. “Watch out!” Rosa cried. They jumped away just as the ground they
were kneeling on crumbled and was substituted by another bottomless pit. “Phew! That was a close call!”
Victoria let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, but let’s read the parchment now. I want to get this thing finished as soon
as possible. Rosa, read it out, please,” said Louis. “Okay,” Rosa replied and cleared her throat. Then she began
to read:
At the tail of the dragon,
There’s a truth waiting to be found.
The fate of the country,
Lies in the last piece of parchment’s hands.
“
The tail of the dragon must be the end of the Great Wall! Let’s go!” Harry said. But Nadine stopped
him. “How are we going to get there? It’ll take ages to get there by motorcycles,” she protested. “Don’t worry!
We are going by helicopter, Nadine,” said Rosa calmly, as she called someone on her mobile. “Hello? Uncle
Jim? Is James here? I want to talk to him. Okay, thanks a bunch, Uncle Jim! ......Hi James! How are you? I’m
fine, thanks! Are you free now? Oh, I see, I just wanted to ask if you could fly us to the end of the Great Wall.
Really? Oh, thank you! We’re at the first part of the Great Wall now. How long do you need to get here? Oh,
okay, see you later! Bye! Thanks again!”
A few minutes later, a helicopter came into view. They scrambled in the helicopter, and within a few
hours they got to their destination. They got off the helicopter, and after they said thank you to the pilot for
flying them to their destination, they went straight to find the brick that speaks. Nadine found it, and they found
the thistle on top of the brick held by the carving of a person speaking. They turned it in a circle so many times
they felt dizzy when not one, but two whole bricks opened up, revealing a huge treasure chest with a padlock.
Everyone stared at it in awe. After a moment, Taylor yanked on it. The lock was so old it crumbled in her hands.
They held their breath as they opened up the treasure chest, bursting with anxiety to find out what was behind
the nice, caring and generous first emperor. Inside the treasure box were heaps and heaps of treasure with
another parchment sitting on top. Rosa took the treasure chest out of the hole after she checked there was
nobody there. It was getting dark, and the sun was sinking down the sky, down the horizon. The Treasurers and
Rosa quickly got back to the helicopter, and as they lifted off, they started to read the parchment inside the
treasure chest:
A long long time ago, the first emperor unified China. He had thought he was the greatest person in
China. He was violent to his people. He could capture and kill over 100 innocent people every day and didn’t
think it is wrong! He didn’t like the scholars who stood up to him. So he buried all the scholars and burned their
books one day. As for the Great Wall, he forced his people to build it. The people weren’t happy with it. They
weren’t happy at all. They were furious at him. A lot of people were killed building the Great Wall. After the
emperor died, the people rebelled. They overturned the dynasty. And that was the end of the Qin dynasty.