Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society (4 page)

‘Was it inside the den?’ I could hardly bear to think of the baby panda losing its mother in such a brutal way.

‘No, it was lying on a pile of dead leaves a little distance away. Pandas often carry their cubs in their mouths when they search for food. The cub probably dropped out of its mother’s mouth when she was shot.’

Master Wu took a sip of tea. I was sitting on the edge of the couch hanging on to every word.

‘I carried the baby panda back in my coat to our home in Nan Tian. My mother’s neighbour is Liu Nai Nai (
), Grandma Liu. She often rescues animals and I knew she would give the panda the best chance of survival. We called the panda Mei Mei, which means Beautiful Sister. Grandma Liu and I fed her powdered milk with a baby’s bottle until she was old enough to eat bamboo leaves on her own. I taught her to turn, somersaults, climb trees and play basketball. She’s very smart. Eventually, when she was big enough, we released her into the forest. But, even now, she often visits the house, and comes to me when I call her name.’

Big Aunt placed a pot of water on the stove. I saw that she had prepared sweet sesame balls as well as anise-flavoured tea eggs. The three of us sat around her kitchen table drinking jasmine tea and eating her delicious snacks. I wanted to stay there forever.

‘Please let me stay here tonight,’ I begged.

‘I don’t want to go to Father’s house and face Niang. I’m going to miss you so much.’

‘Has it been bad?’ Big Aunt asked. She reached for my hand.

I realized my fingers were clenched.

‘Niang hates me!’ I said. ‘Everything I do is wrong. She doesn’t even call me by my name any more! It’s always “you loathsome creature” or “you disgusting troublemaker”. I just want to be with you.’

Big Aunt looked at Master Wu before turning back to me. ‘Tonight is my last night in Shanghai. I want to be with you too. Why don’t you phone your father and ask to stay with me?’

When I called, Father sounded preoccupied but agreed that I could stay. I didn’t want the night to end.

3

Abandoned and Homeless

I knew it was going to be bad as soon as I came home from school. Ah Sun (
), one of our maids, said, ‘Your Niáng wishes to see you. She is waiting in the living room.’ I had dreaded this moment all day and now it was upon me. I gritted my teeth and tried to remember what Big Aunt had said that morning.

‘You can be anybody you wish to be as long as you study hard. Knowledge is power. Don’t let anyone drag you down.
Zi qiang bu xi!
(
) Work hard and be strong always! Have faith in yourself because I’ll always believe in you.’

‘Where is Father?’ I asked Ah Sun.

‘He’s taking a nap in his bedroom.’

I took a deep breath, straightened my shoulders, and went into the living room.

‘Good afternoon, Niang.’

Niang sat on the couch, filing her bright red, perfectly manicured nails. She gave me a quick glance. Her back was stiff and her eyes hard. She reminded me of a beast of prey readying for the kill. An insistent voice in my head said, ‘Be careful!’

‘Where were you last night?’ she said sharply.

‘At my aunt’s flat.’

‘Who gave you permission?’

‘Father did. I telephoned him.’

‘Come here!’ she commanded.

I approached her gingerly, trembling with fear. Without getting up, she extended her arm and slapped my cheek. It was so hard I almost fell.

‘Why did you slap me? What did I do wrong?’

‘Shut up!’ she shrieked, slapping me again. ‘This is for staying out all night without permission!’

‘That’s not true!’ I cried. ‘I did get permission! From my father!’

‘What about me?’ she screamed. ‘Did you get permission from me? Of course not! You think I’m nobody, don’t you? You and that slut of an aunt of yours!’

‘Don’t call my aunt a slut!’

‘Who are you to tell me what to call your aunt? You miserable nuisance! I’ll call her whatever I want!’

‘If anyone is a slut,’ I said recklessly, ‘it’s you!’

This time Niang did not slap me, but placed her
cold hands around my throat. I felt her long, sharp nails digging into my neck as she squeezed with all her might. Desperate for air, I wriggled and kicked in a furious attempt to get away. I was certain that she was going to kill me. I had a crazy vision of my limp body lying in a child’s coffin, and Big Aunt’s tear-stained face. My legs began to quiver and the floor felt soft under my feet. My nostrils were filled with the terrifying fragrance of her perfume.

With one desperate effort, I opened my mouth wide, pulled wildly at her hair, and sank my teeth into her bare arm. She released her chokehold with a yelp of pain and stared at her arm. I felt something warm and wet trickling down my chin. Gasping for air, I wiped my streaming nose with the back of my hand. Bright red blood smeared across my wrist. Her slaps had caused my nose to bleed.

My legs were shaking so violently I could hardly stand. I could not believe what I had done. In a trembling voice, I stammered, ‘I’m sorry I bit you. Please forgive me! I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just that I couldn’t breathe.’

She did not look at me as she pronounced the dreadful words. ‘Since you are not happy here, then get out! I’m going to tell your father that you behaved like a wild dog! You don’t belong in this house!’

She went upstairs. The silence was ominous. Then my father rushed downstairs in a cold fury.

‘How dare you bite your mother?’ he demanded.

When I tried to explain that I was defending myself, he refused to listen. ‘Obviously you’re not happy living here,’ he said coldly.

‘She called Big Aunt a slut!’

‘Did you or did you not bite her?’

‘She was choking me to death!’

‘You are the child and she is your Niang! She has every right to punish you in whatever way she wishes.’

‘Even if she kills me?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous! Of course she’s not going to kill you! She has your welfare at heart at all times. After all, she’s your Niang.’

Then I said something awful. I was so tired of her malice and his hypocrisy. But even as the words came bursting out of my mouth, I knew that my life was doomed. ‘You and I both know she is not my Niang. She hates me! No, Father! She is not my Niang and has never been my Niang! She is just your New Woman!’

‘How dare you! Get out of my house this minute! Get out and never come back!’ He was in such a rage that he grabbed the back of my school uniform and lifted me off the floor as if I were a kitten. Then he marched to the back
door, dumped me outside and slammed the door behind me.

On the streets of Shanghai, Japanese soldiers were everywhere, in their belted uniforms and peaked caps, their bayonets flashing. I saw a headline on a news-stand as I walked by: ‘USA and Britain cowering under the might of Japan and Germany’. The war seemed close in a way I’d not experienced before. Now I was on the streets, too, unprotected and on my own like thousands of homeless refugees. What would become of me?

I shivered. My winter school uniform was made of thick navy-blue wool, but I had neither a coat nor a sweater. Everyone had somewhere to go. I started to panic.

Suddenly there was a commotion. Two Japanese soldiers were attacking a paper boy, kicking, slapping and abusing him verbally for not bowing as they walked by. The terrified boy begged for mercy and the soldiers eventually swaggered off after kicking down his stand and scattering what was left to the wind. Like the other bystanders, I could only watch in fear and silence, keeping my eyes down. The front page of a copy of
China Daily
landed at my feet. Another headline proclaimed: ‘A Second Pearl Harbor? British forces collapse in Singapore after only one day of fighting.’

Motor cars, trams, pedicabs, rickshaws and bicycles whizzed by. I was caught up in the life of the street, but belonged nowhere. A father and daughter dressed in rags crouched on the pavement. Around the child’s neck was a sign: ‘FOR SALE! My name is Luo Ying. I am eight years old.’ For a second our eyes met and the girl thrust her thin dirty hands into my face. I pulled away and ran down an alley, the blood pounding in my ears. Had the world gone mad?

Without thinking about where I was going, I ended up outside Big Aunt’s flat. How could Father have done this to me, his daughter? And Mama - why did she have to die? I couldn’t see through my tears. How fast fortune changes! Yesterday, I was still the lucky child enjoying an acrobatic show in the park…

Acrobatic show! I remembered the card given to me by the boy acrobat. I plunged my hand into my pocket, dizzy with relief.

LONG XIA HUI

Dragon Society of Wandering Knights

Martial Arts Academy

Plaza in Du Mei Gardens

and

2200 Avenue Petain, Shanghai

We help the oppressed and downtrodden.

We show the Too (way) to those who are lost.

Martial Arts. Judo. Karate. Boxing. Kickboxing. Acrobatics.

Chinese classics. Poetry. Calligraphy. Brush Painting. Music.