Chinese Cinderella (7 page)

‘Where are you?’ Father asked in an even voice, quite calmly; and, suddenly, with a pang, I realised that nobody had missed me. They didn’t even know I wasn’t home.

‘I’m in a restaurant. I got lost when I tried to walk home from school.’

‘Let me speak to the proprietor. You stay right there and I’ll come and pick you up.’

Soon afterwards, Father arrived and drove me home in his big black Buick. Traffic was light and he drove in silence. When we arrived, he patted me on my head. ‘Next time you go anywhere for the first time,’ he admonished as he handed me a map of Shanghai from the glove compartment of his car, ‘read this map and find where you are and where you wish to go. This way you’ll never get lost again.’

That’s exactly what I’ll do, I thought to myself. After dinner, I’m going to ask Big Brother to teach me how to read this map. With Aunt Baba still in Tianjin, there’s obviously nobody looking out for me. I’ll just have to find my own way.

Chapter Seven

Family Reunion

B
ig Brother told me that Ye Ye, Aunt Baba, Third Brother and Little Sister were scheduled to arrive in Shanghai on the last Sunday in October. I started counting the days. Little Sister had been separated from her mother Niang since she was only six months old. Now she was almost two and Aunt Baba mentioned in her last letter that Little Sister was starting to jabber away in Mandarin with a strong Tianjin accent. How adorable!

On the morning of their arrival, Father and the chauffeur met them at the station. I was overjoyed to see my beloved Aunt Baba and Ye Ye again. Third Brother looked taller and thinner but Little Sister had changed the most. Aunt Baba had dressed her in pretty pink silk trousers with a matching jacket and pink cloth shoes. Her hair was neatly combed into two little beribboned plaits which stood up on each side, bobbing as she walked. She looked like a big doll with her large round eyes and chubby pink cheeks, rushing around the sitting‐room, examining the dishes of candy, melon seeds, peanuts, ginger slices and salted plums laid out on the coffee table, and then running back to Aunt Baba. All of us beckoned to her and vied for her attention as she teased us by half advancing and then quickly retreating to Aunt Baba’s side.

Repeatedly, Niang signalled her baby to come to her. But, to Little Sister, her mother was a stranger and she ignored her. Niang was dressed in a dark‐brown Parisian silk dress, with dangling pearl earrings and a string of large pearls around her neck. Five metres away, I could still smell the cloying, fragrant aroma of her perfume.

Trying to help, Aunt Baba unwrapped a piece of candy and waved it. Little Sister ran eagerly towards our aunt. Aunt Baba handed the candy to Niang, who waved it back and forth, attempting to entice her daughter to go to her. Rejecting the bribe and becoming annoyed, Little Sister ran to the candy dish instead and tipped its contents onto the carpet.

Growing visibly impatient, Niang approached Little Sister while we scrambled to pick up the candies. ‘Bad girl!’ four‐year‐old Fourth Brother screamed at his baby sister.

‘You shouldn’t have done that!’ Big Sister added in a stern voice, trying to curry favour with Niang. The rest of us remained silent.

‘Don’t want you!’ Little Sister said directly to Niang in a distinct voice. ‘Don’t like you. Go away!’

Surprised and hurt, Niang bent down to pick up her baby, who was wriggling and resisting with all her might. An unnatural hush fell upon the room. All eyes were on them as mother and daughter struggled. Little Sister was now howling at the top of her voice while tears rolled down her little cheeks. ‘Don’t want you!’ she repeated loudly. ‘Aunt Baba! Aunt Baba! Tell her to go away!
Go away!
’

No one said a word as Niang carried her weeping and kicking child to place her firmly on the couch next to her. Little Sister was pushing blindly against her mother’s neck and face, now red and contorted with frustration. ‘
Keep still!
’ Niang screamed futilely, again and again, in a piercing voice. In the mêlée, the string holding her pearls broke and the precious gems tumbled one by one, rolling across the carpet, onto the wooden floor.

This proved simply too much for Niang. Thoroughly exasperated, she gave a stinging slap across her baby’s face. Little Sister only cried louder. Deliberately and viciously, Niang now set about beating her daughter in earnest. Her blows landed indiscriminately on Little Sister’s ears, cheeks, neck and head. Everyone cowered as the punishment went on and on. The grown‐ups avoided looking at each other while we children shrank into our seats.

I couldn’t understand why Father, Ye Ye and Aunt Baba were making no attempt to stop the assault. Why wasn’t anyone objecting? I wanted to run away but dared not move. I knew I should remain silent but words choked me and I felt compelled to spit them out. Finally I could bear it no longer. Quaking with terror, I blurted out, ‘Don’t beat her any more. She is only a baby!’

My protest seemed to halt Niang in the midst of her frenzy. Little Sister’s screams also simmered down to a whimper. Niang glared at me. Her large, prominent eyes appeared to be popping out of their orbits with fury. ‘How
dare
you!’ she hissed. For a few seconds, I was fearful she was going to pounce on me instead. Across the room, Aunt Baba gave me a warning look and a slight shake of her head to say no more.

In those few moments, we had understood everything. Not only about Niang, but also about all the grown‐ups. Now that Nai Nai was dead, there was no doubt who was in charge.

Fuming with rage, Niang slowly extended her right arm and pointed her index finger at me. I felt panic‐stricken and saw only my stepmother’s long, red, polished and perfectly manicured fingernail aimed straight at me. Then I heard her words, loaded with malice, which made my heart jump and the hair stand up on the back of my neck. ‘Get out!’ she snarled in a cold, distinctive voice. ‘I shall never forgive you! Never! Never! Never! You’d better watch out from now on! You will
pay
for your arrogance!’

Chapter Eight

Tram Fare

T
hough Father sent us to expensive missionary schools, he and Niang instituted an austerity programme to teach us the ‘value of money’. To begin with, we were given no pocket‐money whatsoever, not even the tram fare. We had nothing to wear except our school uniforms. Big Sister and I were ordered to keep our hair‐cuts short, straight and old‐fashioned. For my three brothers, it was much worse. Their heads were shaved bald in the style of Buddhist monks, and they were teased mercilessly by their peers.

My school was one and a half miles from home and situated immediately adjacent to Big Sister’s. The number 8 tram ran directly from door to door. St John’s Academy was three miles away and could be reached by the same number 8 tram travelling in the opposite direction.

When Ye Ye first arrived in Shanghai, we begged him for money and he gave us our tram fare to go to school. Two months later, Ye Ye had spent all his money and he brought up the subject one evening. Dinner was almost over and everyone was eating fruit when Aunt Baba mentioned that she had decided to go back to work as a bank teller at Grand Aunt’s bank. (Grand Aunt was the highly successful younger sister of Ye Ye. Many years before, she had founded the Women’s Bank of Shanghai and had become fabulously rich.) This was probably Aunt Baba’s way of reminding Father that she and Ye Ye had run out of money for their daily needs. We were all holding our breath on their behalf.

Father and Niang looked annoyed. ‘You don’t need to work like a commoner,’ Father said. ‘You have everything you need here. Besides, Ye Ye enjoys your companionship at home. If either of you need money, why don’t you come to us and ask? I’ve told you both before that if I’m busy or in the office, all you have to do is speak to Jeanne (Niang) here and she’ll give it to you.’

How is this possible? I asked myself. Where is Ye Ye’s own money? Is he no longer head of our family? Why is he suddenly and mysteriously dependent on Father and Niang for pocket‐money? It made me cringe to think of my gentle and dignified grandfather begging for pocket‐money from my haughty stepmother.

‘You are both so generous and employ so many servants that I find little I can do to help,’ Aunt Baba replied politely. ‘The children are away all day at school. Going out to work every day will get me out of the house and give me something to do.’

Father now appealed to Ye Ye. ‘What do you think? Won’t you miss her?’

‘Let her work if that’s what she enjoys,’ Ye Ye answered. ‘She likes to spend her salary on playing mah‐jong and buying treats for the children. By the way, I meant to mention this to you before. The children should be given a regular weekly allowance.’

‘What for?’ Father asked, turning to us. ‘Hasn’t everything been provided for you?’

‘Well, for one thing,’ replied Big Sister, speaking on behalf of all of us, ‘we need the tram fare daily to go to school.’

‘Tram fare?’ Niang interjected sharply. ‘Who told you you could ride the tram? Why can’t you walk? Exercise is good for you.’

‘It’s so far to walk to St John’s. By the time we get there, it’ll be time to turn around and go home again,’ Big Brother said.

‘Nonsense!’ Father exclaimed. ‘Walking is good for growing children like you.’

‘I loathe walking!’ Big Brother grumbled. ‘Especially first thing in the morning.’

‘How dare you contradict your father!’ Niang threatened. ‘If he orders you to walk to school, then it’s your duty to obey him. Do you hear?’

We were cowed into silence and looked towards Ye Ye, expecting him to come to our defence; but he kept his eyes on his plate and went on peeling his apple. Big Sister suddenly took the plunge. ‘Ye Ye has always given us pocket‐money. We’re used to going to school by tram. Nobody in my class walks to school. Most of my classmates are driven there in private cars.’

Niang became enraged. ‘Your father works so hard to support everyone under this roof,’ she exclaimed in a loud, angry voice, shooting a quick glance at Ye Ye and Aunt Baba. ‘How sneaky you all are to get money from Ye Ye without your father’s knowledge! We send you to expensive schools so you’ll grow up correctly. We certainly don’t want you to be coddled into becoming idle layabouts. From now on, all of you are forbidden to go behind our backs to trouble Ye Ye or Aunt Baba for money. Do you hear?’

Though her remarks were addressed to us, they were obviously meant for Ye Ye and Aunt Baba as well. She paused briefly and then continued, ‘We’re not saying you’re never to ride the tram again. We merely want you to acknowledge your errors in the past. Admit you’ve been wrong. Promise you’ll change for the better. Come to us and apologise. Tell us from now on you will behave differently. We’ll only give you the tram fare if you’re truly contrite.’

The room was completely still. The only sound I heard was that of Ye Ye chomping on his apple. Surely he was going to say something to put Niang in her place! The maids hustled around with hot moist towels for us to wipe our fingers and mouths. Then Niang spoke again in a sugary tone, looking directly at Ye Ye with a smile, ‘These tangerines are so juicy and sweet. Here, do have one! Let me peel it for you.’

At first, we were all mad! The whole tram‐fare issue was obviously tied up somehow with the establishment of a new hierarchy within our family. Now that Nai Nai was dead, was Niang going to take over? We told each other we would always be loyal to Ye Ye. If necessary, we intended to walk to school forever (or at least until graduation) to show our allegiance to him.

Ten days later, I spotted Big Sister getting off the tram at the stop closest to our lane. Though she ignored me and I dared not say anything to her, she had obviously given in.

My three brothers held out week after week. St John’s was so far from home! The weather turned cold and nasty. They were getting up in the dark and returning home exhausted. One after another, they gradually knuckled under.

Though Ye Ye and Aunt Baba both kept urging me to go downstairs and beg for my tram fare, I just couldn’t do it. Why? I hardly knew myself. Something to do with loyalty, fair play, and a sense of obligation. I did not discuss this with anyone, not even my Aunt Baba. I simply couldn’t force myself to go to Niang and admit that I (and therefore my Ye Ye) had erred in the past. Besides, it just didn’t seem right to betray him, especially when I had begged for the money from him in the first place.