Arriving in Africa

Lu Bao P.O.V

Till now I still can't believe how in the world it did happen. I left the orient in anger against my father, the Emperor of China and I found myself in the black continent.

The men that surrounded me after I disembarked from the ship were no one else but the indomitable fighters of His Majesty the King of the Bantu people in eastern Africa.

By the way they looked, I was naturally impressed and feared for the worst but these emblematic warriors turned out to be the most welcoming and sweet human beings that could ever exist.

They were simply making fun of me by rotating around my yellow body as if I was exotic prey that they would soon cut the neck off with their sharp and poisoned daggers, and drink its blood to get even more courage to battle against any enemy that envisioned taking over the land of their ancestors.

Suddenly one of them who seemed to be the leader of the group burst out laughing at me before he was imitated by his fellows. The tension that was mounting in me like mercury began to drop and I sighed in relief so happy that my end had not come yet.

They spoke to me in their native tongue. Though I couldn't grasp a single word, I understood I was being invited to follow them wherever they were going. I walked in the middle of the fighters as they kept on telling me things that I supposed were flatteries or questions about my land, my name, my family, my age, and so on.

However, I never said a word. I was just shaking my head for yes or no answers that I wasn't sure were even right. Ultimately we arrived in the center of the village where a majestic palace was built with rocks and dry mud.

The inhabitants, men and women, came out massively to witness what the indomitable fighters had brought back home. A sixteen-year-old yellow man from an unknown land to whom they smiled radiantly and mumbled words, though incomprehensible, sounded nice and warm.

The warriors thereafter took me inside the royal palace that was sparkling and huge and comprised a main building and five dependences.

We went straight to the biggest of the houses and spotted from a distance His Majesty the King of the Bantu people, charismatically occupying his wooden giant chair draped with the freshest leopard skin and surrounded by two of the finest warriors of the Kingdom on his left and right sides.

His Majesty was in a discussion with the honorable men of the royal council when he was importuned about our arrival. At first, he sent us back and commanded that we come again later until a member of his close-knit guard slightly bent and whispered to his left ear that there was among the visitors a man of a foreign land far away from Africa and above the Indian ocean.

His Majesty's curiosity was hence aroused and he interrupted the meeting with his counselors and ordered that they bring the orient stranger before him. As I marched amidst the indomitable fighters toward the King of the Bantu people's private space, my heartbeat rate tripled and it was a miracle that I didn't faint.

His Majesty and the honorable men of the royal council almost jumped off their seats at my sight so surprised they were to see how different I was from the regular visitors of the palace.

The King of the Bantu people enjoined me to come closer, which I did immediately, leaving behind the indomitable fighters. I bowed just like I used to do before my father, the Emperor of China, and my gesture pleased the African Ruler. He said some words that were indecipherable to me but I guessed they were compliments.

Out of the blue, there was a man among the counselors of His Majesty who spoke to me in the most fluent mandarin I would have ever expected in a land so far away from China. He answered by the name of Yasir.

From that moment, the latter became my friend and my translator. He told me that the King of the Bantu people said that I was welcome to his land and I could stay as long as I wanted and he would satisfy all my desires if the ancestors allowed him to do so. Yasir went on by revealing that His Majesty had ordered that they prepare for me the most beautiful guest room of the palace and he was organizing a banquet in my honor later in the night.

And to conclude Yasir said to me that the King of the Bantu people wished that I go to have some rest before the big evening feast. I therefore bowed before His Majesty and followed two of the most gorgeous female servants that were put right away at my disposal.

These angelic creatures took me to a room as agreeable as my private apartment in the centenary imperial palace of China. I was so elated to retrieve a comfort that I had lost and was missing in my times in the streets of Beijing and Tianjin.

As the maids left the chamber, I fell on the soft bed and slumbered instantly.