Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society (12 page)

I had known Ah Yee all my life. She came to work for us when I was less than a year old. Her own baby had died and her husband had taken another wife. Ah Yee had nursed me when I was little; she had comforted me when Mama died, and again when Big Aunt moved out last year. More than anyone else, she was the one I associated in my mind with home. As much as I wanted
to get away, I stood rooted to the stone steps, moved by the concern in her voice.

She came up to me and stroked my hair. ‘Miss Ye Xian,’ she said in a trembling, tear-laden voice. ‘Where
have
you been? I’ve been worried sick.’

I felt a terrible ache inside, part wistfulness and part yearning. Once upon a time, both she and Big Aunt called me
xiao bao bei
, my mother’s nickname for me before she died. But one day, soon after Big Aunt moved away, Niang had summoned Ah Yee into the living room and scolded her for daring to address me so intimately.

‘Who are
you
?’ I overheard Niang saying to her. ‘Just a common maid! There are millions of peasant women who would love to have your job. My daughter is not your “Precious Little Treasure”. She is your boss’s daughter whom you have been hired to serve. From now on, you call her Miss Ye Xian, do you understand? If I ever hear you calling her “Precious Little Treasure” again, I will fire you on the spot. Have I made myself absolutely clear?’

Now, as I looked at Ah Yee’s red-rimmed eyes and worried frown, I felt a lump in my throat. Instead of running away, I hung my head and stammered hoarsely, ‘Oh, Ah Yee! I… I… I don’t know where to begin!’

She clung to my arm as if I would vanish.
‘I know you haven’t been staying here. I came to look for you the night your father threw you out. Big Aunt’s flat was completely dark and no one answered the bell. Your parents expected you to come crawling home that night, begging for forgiveness. When you didn’t, they assumed you were staying with your aunt. They were too angry to look for you.

‘On Monday I phoned your school at three o’clock and asked to speak to you. Your teacher told me that you’d just left. I waited here for hours but nobody came.

‘I was too scared to say anything to your father but I could hardly sleep last night. So I came here first thing this morning hoping to find you. Have you been eating properly? Tell me! Where
have
you been?’

I didn’t know what to tell Ah Yee. The concern in her voice was genuine. It pierced my heart and I could not lie. We went inside Big Aunt’s flat and sat down on the couch. The flat was neat and silent, with the faintest fragrance of Big Aunt’s lilac-scented hand lotion.

‘You must trust me, Ah Yee,’ I said. ‘Big Aunt left last Friday to look after her godmother and will be away for some time. Meanwhile, I’m staying with some wonderful new friends. Please don’t look so alarmed! Everything is fine and I’m
perfectly safe. In fact, I’m doing important work that I can’t talk about. Go back to my parents. Tell them I’m OK. I think we’ll all be happier if I stay away.’

‘They’ll want to know where you are. So far I’ve told them nothing. They think you’ve been with your aunt all this time.’

‘My father was the one who told me to get out of his house!’ I said angrily. ‘He picked me up by the back of my uniform, threw me out and slammed the door. What is
he
complaining of? I’m merely obeying his orders!’

‘Oh, Miss Ye Xian!’ Ah Yee lamented. ‘I was buying food at the market when it happened. Otherwise I’d have died first before allowing it. How could he cast out his little daughter?’

‘Don’t cry, Ah Yee,’ I said, squeezing her hand. ‘It wasn’t
your
idea. Besides, I would never havemet Grandma Wu if they had
not
thrown me out. Anyway, I have to go now…’ I wanted to pick upj that envelope and get back to the academy.

‘You can’t leave now!’ Ah Yee protested in alarm. ‘Where are you going? How do I know you’ll be safe! What if your parents find out you’re not living here? They might go to the police and report you missing. Your photo will be in the newspapers and people will be searching for you. What a loss of face for everybody concerned! Your
family will be the laughing stock of Shanghai!’

‘Isn’t that what they want?’ I asked. ‘Why kick me out one day and take me back the next? Besides, I’m perfectly happy to be away from home.’

‘If you don’t care about losing face for your parents, what about the people who took you in? Do you want to cause
them
trouble? Your Niang was saying yesterday that if your aunt doesn’t let you go when your father sends for you, he’ll sue her for kidnapping.’

Ah Yee’s warning stopped me cold. The last thing I wanted was for the police to descend on the Martial Arts Academy. A shudder went through me as I imagined the Kempeitei at Grandma Wu’s door.

‘You’re right.’ I was thinking fast. ‘My friends must never come to harm because of me!’

‘So the safest thing is to come home now, Miss Ye Xian. Tell your parents you’ve been staying at your aunt’s flat. Eat humble pie and apologize! I’ll protect you. Your father misses you and so do I.’

‘No, I have a better idea. I’ll write a letter of apology to my parents for you to deliver. Tell them you saw me here this morning and that I’ve been living here for the last four days. Don’t tell them she is away. Let them think I’m with her. Niang
will like it very much if you tell her that I looked terrible. The more she thinks I want to go home, the more she won’t want me back.’

Ah Yee wrung her hands, but I was impatient. ‘There’s something I need to do first. Wait here. I won’t be a minute.’

I dashed into Big Aunt’s bedroom and closed the door. Her safe was a specially designed clothes hanger that she kept in her closet. Every time I had a good report card, she would take me into her bedroom, close the door, remove the hanger with her worn winter jacket, put the jacket on, and place the hanger on her bed. Together, we would turn the combination lock built into the hanger. Three turns to the right to 18. Two turns to the left to 12. Then three more turns to the right to 15.

‘Open up! Magic hanger!’ I would shout. And the two halves would come apart to reveal its hollow interior. She would place my report card with the others underneath her jewels, as if my grades were also precious gems impossible to replace.

I was almost in tears as I carried out our ritual by myself. This time, I had no report card. In place of my aunt,
I
was the one who wore her familiar padded jacket. It made me very homesick. The hanger opened easily. Inside, I saw her diamond watch, her jade bangle, her pearl earrings and her
gold necklace. There were also a few old, faded letters, some foreign money and a small, unsealed envelope that contained a list of numbers and addresses but no names. Stuck in the bottom to one side, I came across the stack of old report cards from my school.

Although I had been expecting to see them, a pang went through me. I knew I needed to leave, but I could not resist taking off the rubber band and flipping through the cards. Kindergarten – special certificate for reading ioo books. First grade – award in creative writing. Second grade – honours in arithmetic! Third grade…

Knock! Knock! I almost jumped out of my skin. Then I heard Ah Yee’s voice. ‘Are you almost finished, Miss Ye Xian?’

‘Yes! I’m sorry!’

I picked up the envelope, shoved the cards back, closed the hanger, twisted the lock randomly a few times, rehung the jacket on top and placed it back among the row of clothes in her closet. Big Aunt’s faint perfume of lilac was everywhere. Did she miss me too? I stuck the envelope, my clean clothes and a thick cardigan in the bag I’d brought, and went into the sitting room. Ah Yee had laid out writing paper, envelope and pen for me to write to my parents.

This was what I wrote:

Dear Father and Niang
,

I am very sorry that I made you unhappy last Friday. I should have told both of you that I was spending the night at Big Aunt’s fiat when I phoned on Thursday afternoon. I apologize for my rudeness to you, Mang, and for biting you
.

I go to school every day as usual. However, I miss Ah Yee’s cooking and the comforts of home. Big Aunt has only one bedroom and I have to sleep on the floor
.

Please tell Ah Yee to let me know when I can come home
.

Your daughter

Xian

I read the letter out loud to Ah Yee. She knew a few characters but had difficulty reading books or newspapers. ‘Don’t look so worried!’ I said to her. ‘I’m staying with Grandma Wu at the Martial Arts Academy and learning kung fu. The address is 2200 Avenue Petain. Big Aunt knows where I am. She approves because I’m learning a lot. It’s very important that you don’t tell my parents anything!’

Ah Yee nodded but clung to my arm, still reluctant to let me go. To reassure her, I read her Big Aunt’s letter. Finally, she sighed and released her hold.

‘Take good care of yourself!’ she said. ‘Ah Yee
won’t be there to look after you or cook what you like to eat. I always
knew
you’d grow up and leave one day. But you’re only twelve years old! Are you sure you’re going to be all right?’

As I let Ah Yee out of the flat, I said to her, ‘I think my father wants me back but Niang certainly doesn’t. Please, Ah Yee, let me stay at the academy for as long as possible. Whatever you do, don’t tell them where I am. I want to learn lots and lots of kung fu. Besides, I’m really, really happy there.’

9

Life at the Martial Arts Academy

During the rickshaw ride back to the academy, Iwas nervous and tense. In my mind, the envelopein my school bag took on the character of astick of dynamite about to explode. It was afterseven o’clock and there was a lot of traffic on thestreets. A truckload of Japanese soldiers in helmetsj rumbled by. One of them was holding a large Japanese flag, with its red rising sun against a sea of white. Further on I saw a policeman searching a bespectacled young man dressed in a long Chinese robe. The man stood motionless while being shoved around, holding his bicycle awkwardly with one hand. Beneath his broad-brimmed hat, his face was completely blank. I wondered what he had done to arouse the policeman’s suspicion, and began to sweat fiercely despite the chilly morning air. I felt scared even though I hardly
knew what I had done wrong. Was I leading a double life?

I was so relieved to reach the academy safely that I almost fell on Grandma Wu when she opened the door and helped me take my bag inside.

‘Come in quickly!’ she said. ‘I’ve been waiting for you. Did you find it?’

‘Yes!’

‘Excellent! Come with me!’

In the security of her bedroom, I handed her the envelope from Big Aunt’s safe. She took a fresh piece of paper and copied a few numbers down.

‘Please ask David to come here,’ she said. ‘I need him to run an errand. I have some letters to send off by pigeon post and have no time for anything else this morning.’

I found David alone in his room playing his flute. ‘Grandma Wu wants you,’ I said. ‘Where are the others?’

‘They left a few minutes ago. Grandma Wu gave us money to buy breakfast from the street vendor today. I’ve been waiting for you to come back. Let’s join them there after we see Grandma Wu.’

Back in her bedroom, Grandma Wu handed David the paper with the code numbers she had just copied and said solemnly, ‘Please pass this to 0211 at once. Say nothing.
Be careful!
’

So just when I thought I was safe, we were
back outside among the crowds, with a cold wind whipping up leaves and rubbish. I pulled my thick cardigan more firmly about my shoulders. Marat and Sam were joking with the noodle vendor on the corner.

‘This guy’s always here at the crack of dawn,’ David said to me. ‘When I’m up early, I see him walking past with his portable kitchen dangling from a bamboo pole perched on his shoulder.’

The bamboo pole was now on the ground. A stove with a boiler on top was bubbling away at one end. At the other end was a wooden cupboard with a dozen small drawers filled to the brim with noodles, rice, flour, dumpling skins, ground pork, diced shrimp, herbs, spices, chopped vegetables, bean curd, bamboo shoots and various condiments. My stomach rumbled in anticipation.

‘Five large flatbreads with deep-fried dough-sticks and five cups of soya milk, please,’ said Marat.

The noodle vendor nodded quickly and placed five sticks of twisted dough into the bubbling hot oil. The delicious smell of frying dough filled the air. He ladled hot soya milk into Marat’s thermos flask, then wrapped a large flatbread around each doughstick, securing the sandwiches with toothpicks, and packing the whole lot into five large sheets of newspaper.

‘There you are! Nice and hot! Fifty cents! Run home and eat your breakfast!’

‘It’s my treat!’ David interrupted, just as Marat was about to pay. David took some money out of his pocket and gave it to the noodle vendor.

While we walked away we heard his sing-song voice: ‘Large flatbreads! Deep-fried doughsticks! Hot soya milk!’