by Pauline Loh
By 11am, two rows of newspaper and broadcasting cameras had been set up before the stage. The heavy bass drum was rolled up. The mood grew more festive as guests took their seats. Lung San mingled with the guests and charmed them with his laidback charisma. All the Lion Legends had turned out in full force and Ricky, as the doll, danced energetically along the aisles, encouraging the audience to clap along and cheer.
With a magnificent roll of drums, Lung San led the Minister of the Arts on stage to perform the eye-dotting ritual. Once that was complete, Zeus and Apple donned the Green Lion in a single smooth movement. The audience gasped as the Green Lion exploded into action. The Northern and Southern Lions were lithe and powerful, but the Green Lion cast them all into the shade. After the new lion’s performance, the seniors from the Lion Dance Council nodded their grey heads in approval and surged forward to examine the new addition.
Now that the important part of the ceremony was over, Ying Ying could relax. She glanced around and was pleasantly surprised to see her mother seated in the back row. She approached her mum, but was puzzled to see that her mum’s eyes were focused on a spot behind her instead.
A second later, she understood why. A figure, smelling of expensive aftershave and manly sweat, swirled past her. Ricky removed his big head with a flourish in front of Nara. Ying Ying saw her mum’s eyes widen.
“You must be Aunt Nara!” he greeted gaily. “I’m Ricky, Shifu’s newest talent and Ying Ying’s best friend. I treasure your guidance and patience.”
Ying Ying sighed with annoyance. “Mum, meet the new recruit.”
Ricky chattered on. “Now I know where Ying Ying got her beauty from! And why do you look so familiar? Are you a famous Singaporean actress?”
“No, not famous,” Nara protested feebly, unable to resist smiling at the charming young man.
Ying Ying watched him suspiciously. “Ricky, don’t you have guests to entertain?” she asked pointedly.
He was reluctant to leave Ying Ying’s side, but Prome was already signalling him, so he donned his big head and whirled away with a hands-free cartwheel.
“Wow!” Nara murmured.
Ying Ying led her away from the marquee towards the car park.
“Your best friend, eh?” her mum probed.
“He’s just showing off!” Ying Ying said disgustedly.
The older woman stopped walking and turned her daughter gently to face her with serious eyes.
“Little Ying Ying, I hope you learn from my example and always remember: Don’t fall in love with a lion dancer. He will break your heart.”
CHAPTER 12
A LITTLE REPRIEVE
Uncle Jim drove Nara and Ying Ying to Sentosa in his new Audi convertible. He took one room in Ocean Suites while the ladies stayed in another. After an activity-packed day, Nara said, “Thank you, Jim. I’m tired out after all the fun! If you don’t mind, we will turn in early.”
Uncle Jim was very gracious. Back in their room, Ying Ying asked quizzically, “Why didn’t you spend the evening with Uncle Jim? I don’t mind vegging out in the room by myself.”
Nara shrugged. “I’m tired after a whole day of acting.”
“Huh?”
“Acting the part of a good girlfriend. I’m too old for that,” explained Nara, collapsing onto the bed.
Ying Ying was puzzled. “Mum, do you love Uncle Jim?”
“Love?” Nara looked startled. She looked down at the narrow gold band on her wedding finger and twisted it nervously. “I don’t know… Wouldn’t that be cheating on your father?”
“You’ve been living apart for eight years already.”
Nara sighed. “But you know me—I’m a creature of habit. Change is too much work.”
“Then why are you dating Uncle Jim if you don’t love him or plan to marry him?”
Nara looked into the mirror, checking for crow’s feet. “I want you to have a comfortable life and a good education. I wish we didn’t have to keep worrying about money.”
“You sound like you’re dating Uncle Jim for my sake. Seriously, Mum, I won’t let you do that to Uncle Jim—it’s not fair to him!” Ying Ying flopped down on the bed next to her mum and said softly, “We don’t need to depend on Uncle Jim, or even Dad! You’ve been taking care of me all these years. And I think I turned out okay!”
Nara laughed and hugged her.
The next day, they enjoyed themselves some more. Ying Ying said all the right things to Uncle Jim and laughed at his jokes. She could tell that her mum was pleased with her. It wasn’t hard being nice to Uncle Jim—he was a genuinely caring person.
However, before the staycation at Ocean Suites was over, she was already chafing at her forced idleness. She found her mind returning uneasily again and again to Legends’ accounts. Ricky and the Green Lion must have cost the troupe a fortune. Expenses were entered into the ancient ledger that her dad kept in his house. He had bought a computer for the hall, but still preferred to keep written accounts. The first thing I need to do when I get back is to get his ledger, Ying Ying told herself.
CHAPTER 13
THE DRUMMER GIRL
After checking out from Ocean Suites, Ying Ying took a bus to Lung San’s small flat. It should really have been called the Lion Legends’ branch office, as Lung San did as much work at home as he did at the hall. She saw that the door to her old bedroom was closed. Feeling nostalgic, she went in. She thought her dad would have converted it into a storeroom, so she was pleasantly surprised to see that it was exactly the way she had left it. Dad had even thoughtfully covered her mattress with a dust sheet.
When she was young, Ying Ying had lived with Dad after her parents had separated because her mum had not yet found a permanent place to stay. But Dad was constantly having lion dancers and martial arts brothers over, and they traipsed in and out of the house, treating it like the hall. As a young girl, Ying Ying had accepted this as the norm—until Uncle Ang.
Ying Ying’s face clouded over. She remembered the very last time she had been in there—the day she had fled to her mum’s without even packing a bag. She had not told her parents why, only that she missed her mother and wanted to live with her. Lung San had brought her belongings over to Nara’s apartment.
Tightening her lips, she hurried out and slammed the bedroom door. She took Dad’s ledger and made her way back to Legends Hall, her nerves frayed by the return of unwelcome memories. She clutched her grandmother’s heirloom hairpin in her hand throughout the bus ride. The hairpin was made of pewter, with a tip that was shaped like a lotus and inlaid with milky opals.
Instead of going straight to the Legends’ computer to update the accounts, she turned towards the music room and headed for the corner where the musical instruments were stored. She pushed aside the big bass drum and the gongs, and pulled out a smaller and more elegant flower drum. It was painted scarlet and tapered to a slim base.
Lung San had purchased the drum for Ying Ying when she was young, but she had outgrown it. However, Ying Ying regarded this drum as an important part of her childhood.
Even though she had grown up surrounded by lion dance, Ying Ying was a drummer at heart. She had fallen in love with the drum as a toddler when she had first smacked her tiny fist on the taut skin of a drum and heard its deep-throated reply. Or perhaps it was during one of the many times her parents were quarrelling, when she had put a pillow over her head and tapped out a beat on the bedframe to distract herself from the raised voices.
Ying Ying had received training in martial arts, and she channelled the skills she picked up from these activities into becoming a better drummer. From karate, she trained herself to strike the drum with precision and power. From wushu, she improved her balance and stamina. She even did weight training to strengthen her arms.
Even when she was busy with school and with the hall, drumming was never far from her mind. On stormy nights, while other girls cowered under their blankets, she sat bolt upright in bed, her arms windmilling as she thumped out
a silent counterpoint to the rolls and brilliant claps of lightning and thunder, working it all into a spontaneous choreography.
Unfortunately, life’s responsibilities got in the way. There was the hall to run, the accounts to balance, the boys to discipline, her father to keep an eye on…
Now, Ying Ying ran her palm over the drum. Then, balling her hand, she thumped it tenderly, as if saying hello.
She braced her feet and brought her drumsticks down on the flower drum. In her imagination, she summoned up a heroic cavalry riding over a vast green plain. The drum started softly, like the murmur of horses’ hooves approaching from a distance. A flurry of chaotic beats sounded a warning as a horde of unnatural horsemen on black stallions rode onto the plains to challenge the heroes. But her cavalry rode bravely into the fray.
Ying Ying’s sinews strained as she faithfully followed the anguished sounds of warfare in her imagination—the furious shouts of soldiers defying death, the terrified brays of horses ridden into the bloodstained grass. Totally immersed in her music, Ying Ying did not hear the door open and a solitary person enter to sit quietly on the floor of the music room.
A light sheen of sweat now covered her brow. A strand of hair fell across her flushed cheek, but she did not pause to flick it away. Her face remained impassive, but inside, she fretted at her lack of practice.
Ying Ying lifted her straining arms high above her head and brought them crashing down with all her might. Having purged the land of evil, her heroes slowed down to mourn their dead. Ying Ying expressed their grief as they built their funeral pyres and said farewell to their fallen comrades.
Ying Ying slowly became aware of the other presence in the room. She turned to see Ricky with his mouth agape. Seeing that her performance had ended, he leapt up and cheered wildly.
She came to sit beside him and accepted the bottle of water he held out to her. Her thoughts returned quickly to the troupe. In the quiet of the music room, it seemed like a good time to reason with him. “Do you see the love that Zeus and Prome get from the fans? It’s because they are lion heads,” she said.
Ricky gave her a sidelong glance. “Has Shifu asked you to talk me into becoming a lion head?”
“No! I just think you’re wasting your talents as a big head doll.”
“Zeus and Prome get respect, but I get the laughs. Who do kiddies wanna take pictures with? Me.”
Ying Ying was not amused. All she saw were the dollars her dad had paid for him. She felt disappointed at Ricky’s lack of ambition.
Ricky continued, “Don’t let my clowning fool you—I’m actually on a serious mission.”
Her lip curled. “What might that be?”
“I’m gonna get me some respect for the doll. I want to change the way dolls are seen all over Asia. When I’ve done that, then maybe I’ll try some of the lion head business.” He shrugged. “Anyway, Zeus wants the role all to himself.”
“You have no competitive spirit,” she scoffed.
“Oooh,” Ricky said admiringly. He touched a fingertip to Ying Ying’s arm and blew on it as if Ying Ying had scorched him. “You’re hot when you’re all fighty.”
Ying Ying ignored him. “Anyway, I know this business—I’m the idol maker’s daughter and the Legends call me ‘Da Jie’. You still have a lot to learn. The next few days are going to be punishing. I’ve got interviews and promotions lined up just for you, so work hard.”
CHAPTER 14
THE RIVAL
A few hectic days later, Ying Ying and Ricky got ready for a street contest that Ricky had prepared a powerful routine for.
Before they left, Zeus called out, “Jie! Send my greetings to Hercules. Ask him when he’s coming to visit!”
“Hercules?” Ricky asked Zeus. “I thought it was only the Legends who get to be Olympic gods.”
Zeus laughed. “Hercules used to be one of us. He was really chubby when he was a kid, but Shifu saw past all that baby fat and knew that there was a strong man inside. So he called him Hercules. And he was right! Hercules became the best pole carrier in Singapore. He handles the flag pole like it’s a chopstick. He and Ying Jie are very close.”
Ricky looked alarmed at the thought of a potential rival.
Lung San, Ricky and Ying Ying arrived at the street contest outside a premier shopping mall. Many troupes were streaming in. Standing head and shoulders above the crowd was a handsome man with a thick neck and rippling muscles. Surrounding him was a group of girls. Two of them were fanning him in the afternoon heat, while another was holding up an umbrella to shield him from the sun. A few discreetly took selfies with him in the background.
But the strapping man ignored his fans. When he spotted Ying Ying, a warm smile lit up his face. He greeted Lung San as his uncle. “Lung Shu! Ying Ying! I was looking forward to meeting you here.”
Ricky’s eyes widened with jealousy when he saw Ying Ying smile at the newcomer. Hercules offered her a high five and the girls behind him looked miffed.
Ying Ying kept smiling, but she spoke in a soft voice that only those immediately around them could hear. “Hercules, your fans are watching. I want to walk away with my life, okay?”
Hercules sighed good-naturedly and dropped his hand.
Lung San grinned at him and thumped him affectionately on his biceps. “Hercules, you look stronger and more handsome each time we meet!”
Ricky cleared his throat noisily. Lung San turned to him and said, “Ricky! Greet Hercules, my first and best disciple!”
Hercules, who towered over Ricky, shook his hand with a crushing grip. “The rookie! Yo! Didn’t know Hong Kongers were so short.”
Ricky was disconcerted. After what Zeus had told him, he had expected a fat boy, but Hercules turned out to be a powerfully built and charismatic man. So this was his rival!
Hercules turned back to Lung San and addressed him as Lung Shu again. Ricky blurted out, “‘Lung Shu’? Shouldn’t you call him ‘Shifu’, and not ‘Uncle’?”
Hercules and Ying Ying exchanged awkward glances. But it was Lung San who hurriedly explained, “No, Hercules is with Hot Lions. His allegiance must first be with Ang. ‘Uncle’ will do for me.”
Hercules’ team hollered at him—it was time for his performance. He excused himself to get on stage. The next half hour was majestic. The flags hearkened back to the ancient days when Chinese soldiers would sacrifice their lives in order to keep their king’s flag upright during battle.
In modern times, poles gave grandeur to any occasion. They could reach six metres in height and be as wide as a small tree. They towered above the crowd, seeming to challenge even the tall buildings flanking them. They were festooned with huge triangular or square flags that measured about eight metres across, which were emblazoned with the halls’ names in bright colours and gold thread, and weighed down with sequins and beads.
The whole ensemble of pole and flag could weigh as much as a grown man. When a breeze picked up, the challenges mounted. Pole carriers had to balance and juggle these giants. They were never to let their flags touch the floor or become entangled in nearby objects.
Of the six pole carriers demonstrating their skills, Hercules was undeniably the strongest. As Ying Ying watched him, her frown became fiercer.
“He’s not very good, is he?” Ricky asked hopefully.
“What? He’s the best! He’s so strong and agile! He is smart enough to know he is not master over the pole but its partner! He dances with the pole—look at him!”
Ying Ying continued, her voice taking on a dissatisfied tone. “We don’t have pole carriers in Lion Legends. Dad said that pole carriers are a gift from God. ‘Sheer bulk—you have to be born with it.’ Hercules was meant to be a pole carrier. And he was stolen from us!”
Ricky’s face darkened while he listened to Ying Ying. Hercules finished his act and came over to them again. Ricky glowered at him. The older boy watched him speculatively and a gleam came into his eyes.
He moved to stand beside Ying Ying—to
o close, Ricky thought. Hercules addressed Ying Ying, ignoring Ricky. “Have you told this noob how far back we go? And now that we’re adults, we should think seriously about our relationship.”
Ricky snorted. “Ying Ying’s not interested in you.”
“Camellia,” Hercules corrected. “You should call her Camellia.”
Ricky bristled. “You called her Ying Ying. I can too!”
Ying Ying snapped, “Why are we having this conversation? We have a show to put on, remember?”
CHAPTER 15
THE DOLL IS BETTER
As Lung San had explained, big head dolls were just calefare, and there was no competition category for them. Ricky was just there to support the Legends’ Green Lion. However, Ying Ying had planned their appearance carefully. Instead of aiming to win the competition, her sights were set on promoting their brand-new Green Lion and their hotshot import, Ricky.
Ricky as the doll was acting the part of General Qin Qiong, a great soldier in the Tang Dynasty who had helped Emperor Tai Zong ascend to the throne. Legend had it that General Qin kept a loyal pet lion named Huang Biao. During a particularly low period of his career, General Qin was exiled to a remote area. Still, his desire to serve his country burned in his veins, so he reluctantly gave up his beloved lion to the local garrison to help them with the war. When the captain of the garrison saw the lion, he immediately knew who its owner was and gave instructions for the exiled Qin to be brought to him with full honours. Qin and his lion were reunited and went on to help the army win a resounding victory.
In the final explosive war scene, General Ricky wielded his spear and sword with ferocity and the Green Lion owned every corner of the stage. Their coordination was perfect, as if General Ricky and the Green Lion could read each other’s minds.
The Legends did not win the competition, but as Ying Ying surveyed the photographers and videographers clustering at the foot of the stage, she knew that Ricky and the Green Lion would be amply covered in the next day’s news.