Lion Boy and Drummer Girl Page 2

  He added, “I couldn’t have done it without my daughter—she was the one who saw the pretty factor in the boys. I guess it takes a teenage girl to recognise a heartthrob.”

  Jessica cut in with a diamond-bright smile, “Yes, she sounds so interesting but unfortunately, we are running out of time. Do you have any last words for our viewers? Tell us about your latest star recruit, perhaps?”

  “Ahh…” Lung San smiled. “My American import. You’ll have to wait, just like everyone else, to meet him personally when he arrives in Singapore and makes his debut next month.”

  CHAPTER 4

  BEAUTIFUL BOYS

  With a start, Ying Ying realised that she had lingered too long and needed to hurry to the next location. When she arrived, she was amused to see Dad in his offended-artist mood. He was lecturing Prome and Mercury, who stood at attention in front of him, looking ashamed. The performance was about to start, but Dad did not look like he was finished with his tirade.

  Ying Ying started a soothing, soft one-beat rhythm on the big bass drum. Its tone was so low that it was merely a throb on the outskirts of the hearing of those nearby. Dad began to calm down visibly. He checked his watch and snapped back into his shifu role.

  “Costumes on!” he ordered.

  Today’s performance was based on Governor Tan He’s military strategy against General Fan Yan, set during the North and South Dynasties circa AD 450. Legend has it that Fan Yan’s army rode into battles on elephants. Tan He was worried about the mighty elephants’ impact on his troops’ morale. His cavalry, mounted on horses, was no match for the beasts. Then he hit on a brilliant strategy. He ordered his soldiers to dress up as lions to confuse and frighten the elephants.

  The troupe was well versed in the rich history that formed the backdrop of this story, but the crowd of young girls and media hounds could not have cared less about that. All they saw were Zeus, Prome, Mercury and Apple. The boys were masked, but the girls recognised them immediately. A richly brocaded elephant (Zeus and Apple) stomped into the arena. It tossed its fearsome head and waved its mirrored tusks menacingly. Then, the jaunty lion (Prome and Mercury) strutted onstage. It took time from the upcoming battle to bat its eyelashes at some schoolgirls who were straining against the cordon and screaming in delight.

  The lion and the elephant posed dramatically and circled each other warily. The beats from the accompanying drums and cymbals worked the crowd into a frenzy. A storm of flashbulbs went off. Then the two beasts engaged in a long and furious battle in a show of kicks, balancing and rolls.

  Finally, with a thrust of its head in one direction and a karate kick in another, the lion sent the elephant cartwheeling to the floor. The elephant lay on its back, sadly and comically kicking its legs. The audience thought the performance was impeccable, and responded with thunderous applause and deafening screams.

  Well, they actually thought that Zeus, Prome, Mercury and Apple were flawless; the rest of the play could have been a disaster and they would still have cheered wholeheartedly. At one point, the lion had tripped over the elephant’s hind leg, but the audience thought it was a choreographed move and laughed. However, Ying Ying saw Dad tense up. A fumble like this could easily have resulted in an injury. She knew he would be furious at the upcoming Lions Advance.

  CHAPTER 5

  THE LION FAMILY

  After the performance, the costumes and musical instruments were carefully loaded into the truck and transported back to Lion Legends’ training hall. Away from the spotlight, Ying Ying noticed that Prome was limping.

  Lung San came into the hall and his crew of dancers and musicians snapped to attention. Lung San barked, “As you know, we will have the all-important christening ceremony for the Green Lion in a few days’ time—the lion we have scrimped and saved for. But at the rate you are going, I think I will have to sell it away! We’ve put in all this hard work, but you lack one critical thing. Tell me what it is!”

  Visibly quaking, Apple came forward. “I knocked into Prome Ge during the show. I’m sorry.”

  The lead drummer, Ares, was 20 years old and slightly more mature than the rest. “No, it was my fault. My drumming was too fast and it confused the elephant. I’m sorry.”

  “I wasn’t in my proper position either,” Prome admitted. “We need to be more coordinated.”

  Lung San snorted. “Coordination is all very well for fighter pilots and brain surgeons. But in lion dance, that’s not enough! When a lion lifts his front foot, the whole troupe must shift their weight. When a lion gets an itch, everyone must scratch! You don’t need coordination—you need to mind meld. And we are going to go away and learn how.”

  “Lions Advance!” the boys yelled in unison. They whooped.

  Lions Advance was an intensive three-day training camp that was usually held at the training hall of a lion dance troupe in Johor. Although the programme would be filled with backbreaking practice, the boys loved it because they would get to compete, show off, play games and stay up late.

  Lung San motioned for his disciples to calm down. “Yes, yes. Immediately after I collect our newest member, we will drive to Layang Layang and you’d better be prepared for lots of hard work, cuts and bruises!”

  The boys grinned. They were at the age when injuries were medals.

  CHAPTER 6

  THE NEW LION

  The next morning, Ying Ying headed to the airport to collect their latest recruit. Since she wasn’t one of Lion Legends’ faces, she could leave the house in a plain tee-shirt and jeans, and without makeup. She scraped her hair back into a messy ponytail and slid in her favourite hairpin. In the taxi, she flipped through the recruit’s portfolio.

  Name: Ricky Kang Min Wu

  Birthday:July 28

  Age: 18

  Height: 174 cm

  Weight:65 kg

  Education:High School Diploma (Distinction)

  Father: Owner and CEO of Golden Fishery

  Pte Ltd, Hong Kong

  Mother: Homemaker; Chairperson of

  Tsim Sha Tsui Rotary Club

  (Hong Kong); President of Women’s

  Circle (YWCA, Los Angeles)

  Talents:B-boy, hip-hop, fashion and

  stand-up comedy

  Self-portrait:Warm, engaging and lucky person

  with a sharp sense of fashion

  So, he comes from a rich family, she thought. Dad must have paid a hefty sum for this recruit.

  Born in Hong Kong, Ricky had studied in the USA. He had training in wushu, kong shou dao and other martial arts. But it seemed that his favourite activity was breakdancing, and he had taken part in several street competitions. He started doing lion dance not long ago, performing as a big head doll and lion head while he was in LA. She didn’t know why Dad was so interested in him. Dad was not one for foreign talent, and had always believed that local boys would rise to the occasion if you had faith in them.

  Not all the Legends will welcome this newbie, Ying Ying grimaced. For months, Apple had been begging Shifu to promote him to lion head, but now that coveted position would go to an outsider.

  Ricky’s arrival was meant to be low-key. It would give Lung San time to orientate him before his official debut the month after the Green Lion christening ceremony. But Ying Ying was astonished when she saw a crowd of about 50 people at the airport. Jessica and her Leopop News camera crew were there. She recognised a magazine writer. The rest were female fans in their teens. How had they found out about Ricky Kang?

  With the finely honed senses of a manager, she inserted herself into the group and eavesdropped.

  “I saw Ricky at last year’s Golden Horse performance in Hong Kong Theatre and fell in love with him stra-a-ightaway. Do you follow him on Instagram?” a girl with a heavy Cantonese accent asked her friend.

  They had to be expatriates from Hong Kong and China, Ying Ying realised. Maybe she would not have to work so hard to make him popular. I hope he’s worth the money Dad paid for him, she thought sour
ly.

  The girls suddenly started screaming. Ying Ying craned her neck and caught a glimpse of a well-sculpted young god, dressed in a white tee and skinny jeans, strutting out of the baggage claim area. Calvin Klein sunglasses sat atop a Wolf cap that was set jauntily on attractive bangs. A leather designer bag hung casually from one shoulder, and in his other hand was a boxy steel case. He flashed a grin at the crowd and Ying Ying noted his flawless white teeth.

  I’d better watch that Prome and Mercury don’t maul this pretty boy, she thought, acknowledging that the looks of this foreign talent would cast that of her protégés into the shade.

  Flashbulbs went off and the newswoman Jessica swung into action. She wiggled her way through the crowd till she was next to Ricky. Her crew followed. Ying Ying saw her eyes widen appreciatively at Ricky’s gorgeous looks.

  Ricky spotted the camera and smiled toothily at Jessica. He accepted a hug from her. Ying Ying suppressed a flash of annoyance and…something else, but she wasn’t sure what.

  Jessica burbled, “Ricky! I’m Jessica from Leopop News. Wow, you’re really eye candy—a candy lion! Why have you chosen Singapore as your new home?”

  “Hi everybodyyy!” He waved at the camera. “I’m Ricky Kang. Coming to Singapore, the home of the Lion Wave, is a dream come true for me. It’s an honour to be recruited by Lung San Shifu! I intend to stay for a long, long time. Friends?” He smiled winningly and flashed a peace sign with a beringed hand.

  Ying Ying was impressed by his public relations smarts. In his short greeting, he had managed to promote his name and new troupe, and projected an image of himself as being both humble and enthusiastic.

  Jessica asked a few more questions and wrapped up the quick interview. Ying Ying had to muscle her way into the human knot that was forming quickly around Ricky. She and Ricky were almost the same height. He was not very tall, but his perfectly proportioned body made him appear so.

  “Excuse me, Ricky. I’m Camellia, your escort from Lion Legends. Shall we get you back to the hall so you can rest and freshen up?”

  As she was speaking, Ricky’s jaw had dropped open slowly. He turned his chocolate brown eyes towards her, and his boyish smirk became a warm smile. Ying Ying suddenly became very conscious of her bare face and simple tee. She could tell that he was admiring her from head to toe.

  “Wow, you’re pre-e-tty!” he said.

  Ying Ying’s heart skipped a beat. My goodness, he’s a smooth operator. She gave herself a mental shake—it’s just PR talk! Don’t take it seriously.

  CHAPTER 7

  A DEN OF LIONS

  In the taxi, Ying Ying sat in the front passenger seat to make room for Ricky, his luggage and steel case in the back. Ricky leant forward, his arms resting on her chair, and continued to bombard her with his charm and inquisitive questions until the taxi driver had to sternly remind him to put on his seatbelt.

  Ying Ying’s heart had, by then, calmed down. She reminded herself that she was immune to flower boys after having worked with Zeus and the gang. Beneath the sizzling attractiveness is just another human being, just as petty, competitive and calculative as everyone else.

  When they arrived at Legends Hall, Ying Ying’s first thought was to usher Ricky straight to Dad’s office, but she saw him pause to take in the architecture. Ying Ying had grown up in the hall and had never given it a second glance, except perhaps during spring-cleaning days. She was suddenly conscious of how dilapidated it was.

  “Legends Hall looks just like my home! So, this is why my dad designed our house like that—to look like his hall in Singapore!” Ricky said with surprise.

  Legends Hall had originally been a family villa. Lung San’s shifu had bought and expanded it over the years according to the troupe’s needs. It had become a hodgepodge of old and new structures.

  The simple metal gate was flanked by twin stone lion sculptures. Ricky stared at them with admiration. He started reciting in Chinese:

  The heads are carved of wood,

  The tails are woven with thread.

  Pupils are flecked with gold

  And teeth capped with silver.

  They wave fur costumes

  And flap their ears

  As if from across the drifting sands

  Ten thousand miles away.

  (From Jonathan Tucker, The Silk Road: China and the Karakorum Highway, A Travel Companion (London: I. B. Tauris, 2015), 148.)

  Ying Ying looked at him in surprise. Ricky’s expression was wistful, as if he longed for the glory days of the 6th century BC, when the first lion dancers had travelled the Silk Road to China to be presented before the emperor.

  “You sound…Chinese,” Ying Ying said.

  “I am Chinese,” Ricky responded, puzzled.

  “What I meant was, you look so westernised, but you just recited that in perfect Mandarin.”

  “That’s my dad’s influence. My Chinese roots and Western upbringing are the best parts of me…like how this place evolved to become the capital of the lion wave.” Ricky gestured at Legends Hall with real appreciation.

  Ying Ying looked at her hall with fresh eyes as she led Ricky through a small porch, beyond the stone lions, that was occupied by the troupe lorry. The lobby was actually the living room of the villa, and a door led from it directly into a quaint open-air indoor courtyard that was the Legends’ main training area.

  Farther inside the villa, one bedroom had been converted into an office that Lung San and Ying Ying shared, and another into a reflection room that was guarded by a smaller pair of twin lions. Ricky paused beside them. “This room must be special,” he guessed.

  The kitchen and dining area had been combined into a spacious and airy room where the boys had their meals at long wooden tables. Tacked onto the outer walls of the small villa were newer buildings housing gyms, dance studios, sound studios and conference rooms. After Ying Ying had given Ricky the tour, they went into the office.

  “Ricky, my boy!” Lung San came forward and hugged Ricky. Ying Ying was surprised. Her father seldom hugged his disciples. “Did you know that your father and I trained under the same shifu? How did you get to be so much better-looking than your father?”

  “I take after my mum,” Ricky grinned.

  Lung San ushered Ricky to the sofa and asked him about his parents and his home in Hong Kong. Then the older man eagerly started telling him about his plans for Ricky’s role in Lion Legends.

  “I’m glad you arrived before our Lions Advance. You’ll get to bond with the crew before your debut. After you return from the advance, Ying Ying—you must call her Camellia—has some press conferences and photo shoots lined up for you. You will be famous! And then…”

  “Why must I call her Camellia?” Ricky cut in.

  “Eh?” Lung San said. He was not used to being interrupted by his disciples.

  “How come you call her Ying Ying, but I have to call her Camellia?”

  “Because I am her father, and your shifu, so you will do as I say!”

  Ricky nodded respectfully, but Ying Ying noticed that he did not look intimidated.

  Lung San continued, “By the time she is done promoting you, you should be all settled in. Then I will begin training you for the role of lion head. I watched the clip your father sent me. You are not fantastic, but you hadn’t met Lung Shifu then.”

  Ricky interrupted again. “Thanks for your compliments, Shifu. I am really flattered, but you know I perform best as the big head doll. I feel I have not fully explored all the potential of the doll.” He lounged on the sofa and smiled as he spoke.

  Lung San sputtered. “Big head doll? They are calefare, bit actors inserted into performances to get a few laughs.”

  In a hall full of testosterone, Ying Ying was used to playing mediator. “Ricky, you need to speak to your elders with more respect. Please stand at attention when Shifu is teaching.”

  Ricky saw Ying Ying’s stern look and stood up straight.

  Lung San calmed down. “Zeus, our fi
rst lion head, is starting university soon and will be spending less time here. You need to take over his role. You are small and agile, and will partner well with Apple.”

  Ying Ying felt a stab of guilt when she thought of her little brother’s disappointment. A fresh wave of resentment against the usurping Ricky rose in her heart.

  Her dad was explaining as patiently as he could, “Don’t you know that lion heads are at the top of the hierarchy in a troupe? Skilled lion heads are sought after by all troupes, not just in Singapore, but overseas.”

  “But working as a doll is stated in my contract,” Ricky spread his hands and shrugged as if to say, So there!

  CHAPTER 8

  LIONS ADVANCE

  Lung San and Ricky’s discussion had reached a stalemate. Lung San blustered and fumed but Ricky remained polite…and stubborn. But the members of the troupe had started arriving with their bags and gear, and Lung San would have to continue his talk with Ricky later. It was time to set off for the Lions Advance.

  The mood became merry as the boys, Lung San and Ying Ying all piled into the bus to travel to Johor. The icebreaker games started in the bus. Members were partnered randomly and each pair had to work together to fulfil missions. Ricky and Apple were paired; Apple was younger than Ricky by three years, but he was so transparently hostile to his partner that Ying Ying felt embarrassed by his childish behaviour. Because Apple refused to cooperate with Ricky, the pair came in last in the game.