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A. Lunch in Suzhou

Part 1
1.
Li Dachang was in the bistro, looking at the glass doors to see if the host was arriving. The restaurant was luxuriously furnished, with teak tables and chairs, which had velvet cushions. In Singapore, each chair would probably cost $800.

But the coffee was poor, Vietnamese, and not brewed from beans, but made from instant coffee. At that moment, Starbucks was only about the open. Back home, there were coffeebean&tealeaves, pacific coffee, spinelli, coffee club, dome...

A young woman came in carrying a document case. He did not know her, but after a glance she came over to him and stretched out her hand, with a bright smile "Mr Li? I am Zhang Xiaoran. Mr Chen gives his apoligies. He has to attend to some other things, and asked me to handle this"

Her hand was soft; maybe not someone who needed to wash her own dishes.

Nice face too; there are so many pretty girls in China.

After they sat down and ordered, Xiaoran opened the case and took out the contract he needed to have that day.

"Sorry we are not so efficient; getting it to you last minute"

"No problem; any time today is fine"

Their glasses of juice came and each took a sip, while he turned a few pages of the contract.

"It looks OK? We followed the format of the samples from your side"

The format is fine, but there is a missing detail

"The concrete used must meet standard S6; right now only Singapore-Suzhou Mutual Progress Cement Company can produce it"

"But their prices..."

"That shouldnt be a problem; we will talk to them and ask them to provide favorable terms. Also, if a plant you are familiar with goes into joint venture with SSMPCC and produces S6 standard concrete, that would be fine too.

"All right then; we will make some arrangements"

He continued reading; it looks fine; they are fast learners...but here..

"We followed your normal practice; for every rainy day the completion may be delayed one day"

Sure, in Singapore rain means a thunderstorm downpour, so the worksite has to be shut down; but in Suzhou it mostly drizzles which need not affect progress, so he ought to object to this...

He looked up to say this, and found her large and limpid eyes focused on him; it shook him up.

He had seen many pretty girls after coming here, but Xiaoran surpassed them all. No woman had that kind of effect on him since the time he met Halimah.

2.
He got to know Halimah in Berkeley. She was from Kuala Lumpur, both pretty and clever, and also had a good singing voice particularly when doing Malay songs

"Fishing boat fishing boat, when are you coming home..."
"Rubber tree rubber tree, where are you hiding him…"

Her family were very much against their being together. He was Chinese, non believer, and he had a Singapore Government scholarship requiring him to return; she had originally wanted to remain in USA after finishing, but was willing to follow him to Singapore. It was her parents who were upset about this.

Only when close to the wedding day did he find out her family was very rich; they had plantations and real estate, and major shareholdings in the casino; their company also won the tender to run the lottery in four states, as good as owning machines to print money. They were way above the class of his family, several generations of civil servants. However, Halimah was actually used to a simple lifestyle, and was deeply religious. At the same time, she was open minded enough not to demand his conversion

"I know you would not really believe, and would rather you do not fake it; but the children must follow my practice"

His colleagues all brought family to Suzhou, and the Singapore Education Ministry opened primary and secondary schools in the industrial park, following exactly the same curricula as at home so that the children could merge back into their old systems upon return. There were no Malay and Islamic studies however, and his family did not join him.

Life in the industrial park was not overly dull. Gym, golf, all kinds of other interests were catered to; in the evenings there were many social functions, and companies and offices in China seem to spend great amounts of money on socializing. Also, on every occasion you find all these pretty girls...

Relationships o relationships! Just the gifts one gets every day are troublesome enough. You cant refuse them, and have to report every item to the administration people, so that the financial guys can assess its value and if you would like to keep it yourself, you just pay the amount into the official account; otherwise, you can pass the gift upstairs and let them find someone to accept it

Just the night before he was invited to a karaoke lounge; not going was out of the question, and once there you have to have a hostess to keep you company, since if the guest does not select one, the host could not do it either; the girl with him put on a real show of affection, making him feel he was still the handsome young man he once was at Berkeley. While they were happily into their drinks, he noticed that his assistant at the next compartment had disappeared, along with two girls. Oh my this guy is out of control; I guess he wont be staying long, maybe leaving without even finishing his bond.

He managed to get away reasonably early, and phoned home. His mother in law answered the phone, speaking to him in Malay as she insisted on doing with him after so many years, even though her English was fine; his wife was out - went to some function.

3.
Li Dachang was sent to Suzhou to manage the still devleoping industrial park, a rather high post for his age, because his previous boss had problems.

The project was approved by the cabinet after long deliberations, and its objective was to provide a more favorable working and living environment to singapore and foreign companies that wanted to establish operations in China, and to set an example for industrial park developments elsewhere. Suzhou was chosen instead of Shanghai because of its much lower land cost; it was later discovered that the land allocated by the city government was swampy and would be more expensive to develop. Request to switch to a similar sized plot next door was rejected, because that land had just been sold to some consortium.

The decision was to bite the bullet and proceed as originally planned. First roads had to be built and water/electricity connected; then it was found that the land next door was also being developed as an industrial park, and it could use the roads and water/electricity connections just put in; it also happened to be nearer to the city, and required less drainage.

...

Xiaoran, seated in front of him, was pretty, well spoken, and well dressed, though the buttoned up shirt just happened to leave a tiny bit of cleavage exposed, and the necklace she wore had a a green, translucent jade pendant hung below, which naturally lead your eye downwards where your imagination could roam.

He hurriedly raised his sight, and immediately met Xiaoran's eyes again, which disturbed him even more than when his eyes were looking down. The hand holding the contract trembled.

"Miss Zhang, I will fax the contract back to my head office, and they sometimes request minor changes."

"I am sure we can satisfy all your requirements"

"They wiil be able to make a final decision tonight or tomorrow morning"

"Wonderful; I will wait for your call; I am sure it will make me happy"

My oh my she’s good. Dachang thought of a story once told by his father: he was with an English superior, checking up on activities of of a group of leftists in Changi Prison. Someone was passing around documents in the jail, but every surprise inspection of the cells turned up nothing. Someone had been tipping them off. Careful study of the duty rosters isolated the source of the leak to within a small group of officers, and they were put under surveylance. One day a police officer was found to be standing next to the fence, with his trouser zipper open, and into his trousers a girl stretched her hand from the other side of the fence...

His father said, the leftists believed they were making a most wonderful new world, and anything that helped to achieve the goal was correct; the party's orders must be obeyed without hesitation; anyone who hemmed and hawed was not qualified to take part in creating the future.

The old man also said, our group of guys, while struggling with them to the death, also felt it was such a pity they were not on our side; people with that kind of strong will and belief were hard to find, but we had to strike them down; they were too dangerous.

4.
Their meals came. Xiaoran was wise enough to stop talking about the contract, and instead asked many questions about Singapore. She seemed to have read much background material and news on the subject, and her questions were well informed. Finally they turned to the situation of the industrial park

"The small amount of reservation among the public; that should be easy to overcome?"

"Sure; your Premier Zhu had expressed strong support, and said any problem could be solved quickly by working together; our government would not change policies just bcause of minor complaints; our Senior Minister Lee said cooperating with China is a kind of economic hitchhiking, and has great benefits"

After lunch, Xiaoran signed the bill, and asked "Is the any matter you would like me to go to your office to discuss?"

His hand started to tremble again; he would really like to say yes

His mother often said, no man in the world could be trusted; like, after his father passed away, a woman came to see them with a child; just a look at the boy told them what she had to say. The two women did not get into a row; sharp conversation, but still courteous; they did meet again afterwards

"No need; I will get in touch tomorrow"

He saw her to the outside of the lobby. A white Mercedes immediately came over, and a well built man came out of the front passenger side, opened the back door for Xiaoran to get in, gave a slight bow, closed the door, and got seated himself back front. The Merc left. As the car passed in front of Dachang, Xiaoran gave a slight node and a smile - the smile that launched a thousand ships...

As he sat in the car going back to the office, he pondered whether he should point out to the head office the difference between the rains in Singapore and Suzhou.

Part 2
1.
Li Dachang was sitting in front of his computer, looking at the thesis he brought back from Berkeley, hoping to find some unpublished parts that could be re-written as papers for publication. He had been back for almost half a year and only began be able to find some time. A new lecturer with a new course, and having to please all these students, who want effortless learning and needed everything to be provided in notes for them to memorize, it’s no piece of cake.

Back to being a poor student, after 10 years as civil servant, 10 years of marriage, was hard enough. Fortunately he had smooth progress and finished in just over 4 years, and immediately got the job offer from NUS, with a salary just somewhat less than his pay as a senior official in Suzhou. But keeping this ricebowl is no easy task either. Evaluation for tenure has to be done within six years, and those who do not pass must leave. However, if the situation gets really dire, he could always ask Halimah for help, to get her father to give him a job.

His divorce from Halimah was amicable. Neither side had an affair. It was simply that more and more he felt out of place within the Malay family. Even his mother in law, who never approved of him, did not judge him harshly, merely saying "after going to Suzhou, he forgot all the Malay he used to know", the Malay he learned from neighbour children when he was young. After 911 the situation deteriorated further. Halimah was out almost every time he phoned, doing something related to the mosque or community or school, though from time to time he found information about her in the papers or on the web.

When he left Suzhou, Xiaoran took him to dinner and asked him "Dont you feel it is such a pity? Among the Singapore officials I have met, I feel you understand us best; often, you know what I mean without my saying it"

Sure he had a clearer mind than others, but that may not be such a good thing; thinking clearly, you are more likely to disagree with what your superiors want you to do, and less able to fudge some record of success for others to see.

Sure, their first meet was over the construction contract, and on that item, she obviously hoped he would let it go to reduce pressure on her company; because he did not point out the issue to the head office, they did not ask for a change.

He met Xiaoran a few times after that enounter, and discovered that she was the daughter of the company owner, the largest construction company in Shanghai. Mr Chen was only her employee, dealing with routine matters. Whenever a problem arose, she herself came to settle it. Her father happened also to be a professor in Tongji Unversity, who got his opportunity when Shanghai first opened up. Some NUS professors went into business, but no one had success on that scale.

Xiaoran had a good impression of him, but it was nothing close to love; not even sure it was at the level of friendship. A girl like this would have a queue of highly eligible admirers. There was no chance for a divorced, over 30, poor PhD student.

2.
Someone knocked on his door, and a girl came in. Looks like from China; must be one of the MOE scholarship holders, one out of several hundred each year.

"Sir, I would like to find a student called Zhang Xiaotiao; where would she be having class?"

"Which year is she in?"

"She came in 2004, now in year 4"

"Year 4 students can choose their own courses; they are hard to find; what do you want to find her for?"

"I am her reader; would like her to autograph this book for me"

He looked at the book; it had a black cover, with a girl's face below and a flower above, but the flower looks like an axe chopping down on the girl's head, while the girl's mouth was painted very red so it looked like bleeding; weird post modern stuff.

"Are you a student here?"

"No I am here for two weeks on a training programme; since I know she's here, I want to use the chance to contact her"

He entered zhangxt into the department's search software, and immediately a webpage came up, showing the covers of several books, each having the girl's photo plus a somewhat scary scene.

"Right right; all these were written by her. These photos are all she"

An authoress in Year 4, about 22 years old. Today's girls are weird, writing stuff like this, and so much of it, and a star-chasing fan from so far away. Do I send her to enquire at the office? They definitely would not give out student information to a stranger, so why waste her time. I could get the information, but I cant give it out just like that.

"I tell you what. leave the book here with your phone number; I will find her to sign it and you can come back to get it"

3.
Phoned a couple of times with no answer. Maybe at a class and didnt take the phone with her.

Incomprehensible; so much time to do writing while studying our courses; who says we have a heavy workload?

Since she's on a scholarship, she will have to work here for six years. wont have so much time to write books.

That girl's eyes look like Xiaoran's.

Not the same; Xiaoran's eyes, even when she's pleading, had confidence behind it; that girl's eyes are full of melancholy

Just putting on expression for the photo shoot

He looked at the book: two eyes above a mouth so red as if it is bleeding; a flower above chopping down like an axe...

He looked at his thesis again, but could not understand what his own writing said

A web search of Zhang Xiaotiao returned several thousand hits: The Maiden Authoress; Most talented of the post 80s generation; Expressing the depression of the youth; Amalgamation of east and west; interview on sina.com; book autographing sessions in Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao...

This is madness. Why did she come here? Four years of computer science degree; six years of work, constant overtime to finish products for delivery; to install new software, to patch up system...

I guess it is common in Asian countries; not enough opportunities in humanities so students come to science and technology

….

Phoned again the next day and some other girl took the call "She is still asleep; I will tell her when she gets up"

Still asleep? Waiting for the prince to come and kiss her before getting up?

Wonder if Xiaoran has married her prince on white horse

4.
Zhang Xiaotiao came after noon; now he could get back to that star-chasing fan.

Doesnt look like our student at all; even in Business and Law Faculties, few students would be dressed like that.

But she looks pallid, not just because of a late night, too much stress

Eyes a bit like Xiaoran, but no expression, not even melancholy; it is as if the axe-flower on the book cover had already fallen one her..fallen. fallen...

When she put down the signed book and turned to leave, he could not help opening his mouth

"Miss Zhang: if later you need help about something, you could come to me"

She went out; no sure whether she heard, but never mind; not sure I can help myself right now

He turned towards the computer, again to see if the thesis has parts that could be published.

Part 3
1
Li Dachang was reading his student's research report; still quite green, but there are some promising bits.

Back from Berkeley for almost a year already, and his progress at work was not too bad. A nearly 40 year old man could not keep up with the younger guys, not just because of lower energy level, but also becauses differences in thinking processes. When he first returned to Berkeley, his old professors poured out a pile of grievances "Most of the work being done by the younger generation is just rubbish" Research, like clothes design, has fashions, and the old man did not like it.

10 years earlier, his professor urged him not to return to Singapore and stay on for PhD instead "Your government grabs so many good students to work for it, what a waste of talent; here only dummies work for the government" "this bond system; here only criminals have bond" He just understood so little about our system. By returning to work with him before his retirement, and doing quite well, Dachang made the old man very happy.

2.
Some one was knocking. It turned out to be Zhang Xiaotiao, this time dressed like a student, but still not quite the same, say her ring is a bit oversize, and the stone on it appears to be amethest, not glass.

"Miss Zhang; it's been a long time; do sit down"

Havnt seen her for half a year; maybe she had been rushing; her face was slightly flushed, not pale like last time, and her eyes were brighter

"Professor Li, last time you said I could come to you for help.."

"Sure; got problem with your studies?"

"No; my grades are not so good, but I am OK with just a plain pass; I want to ask you about what to do afterwards"

"If you need referees for job applications, this is just a formality; you can just write any name"

"Also not what I came for. I saw that you translated some poems of Li Shangyin, I would like to ask you to help translate my writing"

3.
He studied some Tang poetry in high school, because of examination requirements, not getting much of an impression in consequence. In Suzhou he went to bookshops occasionally, glanced at poem collections, and once saw

相见时难别亦难，东风无力百花残。
春蚕到死丝方尽，蜡炬成灰泪始干。

春心莫共花争发，一寸相思一寸灰

which turned his thoughts towards Xiaoran, and the Halimah he used to know, but it was only futile thought.

In Berkeley work was heavy, but there were still times of idleness. Being several years older than other students, social gatherings were not much fun. Further, all those ABCs, whenever they hear he's singaporean, would say "Your country is so authoritarian; there is no democracy" "you get wacked on the bottom for doing something wrong; so backward".

He did not think about re-marrying - the shadows of Halimah and Xiaoran laid heavily on his heart, and when he did meet some girl from mainland china, taiwan, hongkong, malaysia, even singapore, once they heard he planned to go home afterwards, and had a divorced wife and two children, would pay little more attention to him.

Once he thought about Li Shangyin's poems, so found a volume to read; they seem to provide him with some sympathy. Then he also read some commentary, about how deep the meanings were and how near impossible it was to translate them, which rather provoked him into trying to meet the challenge:

It is hard to meet; it is hard to part
The east wind is weak, the flowers die
With the spring silkworm's death, threads end
When candlesticks turn to ashes, teardrops dry

Let not the spring heart bloom with flowers
For every inch of love, every inch of dust

which seemed not bad at all. So he put some of these on his webpage with a few introductory words, then forgot about it

Now that he had been reminded, he glanced at Zhang Xiaotiao's book, and found its elegant use of words a little along the style of Li Shangyin.

4.
"Translate? You are publishing an English version? Is there a market?"

"I am doing a website to introduce the New Chinese Literature to the overseas audience, and will use my own material first, but after 4 years here I have not learnt to write good English. I hope you can help me. I cannot pay translation fees right now but hope I can do it in the future"

"Dont you need to find a job? And you also write books; you still have so much time?"

"The computer jobs I dont want to do, and wont be able to; I can earn enough book royalty to support myself. Doing an educational website should satisfy the six year work requirement."

Her eyes are like Xiaoran's, but in the look there is less confidence, and more melancholy.

Last time she came as an author to autograph a book for her reader, a girl dressed up as a worldly woman; today she returns to being a girl, a girl that needs a teacher's support and cultivation.

Whenever he saw Xiaoran, he saw a smart, capable woman, who learnt early about how to use her beauty and sex appeal to help overcome obstacles, but he could feel that deep inside her, there was still a girl, well protected from the start, still waiting for her prince on white horse, something that arouses men's feelings.

There is no prince on white horse in life; like his mother often said, no man could be trusted, and waiting for the prince on white horse could only produce disappointment, but if a girl does not dream of a prince on white horse, she would not be like a girl.

Busy, sure, but not so busy that he could not spare a few hours a week to do something else and have a bit a variety in life.

"Sure; hope the website is a success"

He thought of the book cover; a flower above chopping down on the girl's face like an axe, and the girl's mouth red as if bleeding. Today I pluck the flower and stem the bleeding, but I do not know what axe will be flung at the girl tomorrow.

Zhang Xiaotiao took out a manuscript from her pack "Could you start with this one?" Opening it he read the title "Revelations, by St John of Singapore"...

He spent the next few days reading it; besides the main observations on Chinese and Jewish mythology, there were also some humorous parts:

Conversation With a Living Buddha
In the interest of press balance, after our interview with the atheist Marx, we talked to one of the well known religious leaders of our time, Mr Li of Fa Lun Gong.
We: let's start with your main thesis, that we can improve our life by breathing exercises.
He: that's obvious; if you stop breathing, you die; if you can breath forever, you live forever; bad breathing gives bad life; good breathing good life.
We: is that why breathing can save us from the end of the world?

He: sure; if the world ends, we all stop breathing; but if breathing continues, then the world has not ended.
We: since the world will end, do you plan to give away all your money?
He: no, but people have been giving money to me.
We: why would a living buddha need money?
He: you can promote many good causes with money.
We: such as?
He: I have started Wan Lo Gong, to help beautiful women of the world find husbands; we guarantee success.
We: now that's impressive; can I join?
He: sorry; members must be below 29 years in age, height between 5'2" and 5'6", and pass a good looks and nice personality test; I dont think you qualify...
We: I also heard about Shou Xing Gong; is that another one of your societies?
He: oh yes; join and you'll live forever.
We: what do members have to do to achieve this, besides breathing forever?
He: eat forever; we have different branches like Tom Yum Gong, Mi Tian Gong and Mo Yum Gong...
We: but Mi Tian Gong? that means in Mandarin... (throws up on the Living Buddha, which brings the interview to an end)

Hairy Potter and the Golden Chamberpot
Once upon a time there was a boy with long hair who learned to do pottery; people called him Hairy Potter. He was most proficient in making and repairing chamberpots.
As you know, chamberpots are used to hold urine, and urine contains salt and is corrosive. If you use base metals like copper or iron, the pots would soon rust and develop holes. This is why Hairy Potter invented the golden chamberpot: Gold does not rust, and his chamberpots lasted a lifetime. In fact, they can be passed from generation to generation, and were family heirlooms.
Soon, it became fashionable to collect antique chamberpots, and to study how their designs evolved over the centuries since Hairy Potter first invented them. You immediately notice a difference in the shape after a bi-sexual version was developed - previously, chamberpots were only used by women, because the men were able to go out at night and pass urine in the street, and did not require internally deployed chamberpots like women needed. However, after the invention of beer, men often developed an urgent need to pass urine at night, too hurried (and too drunk) to go out to do it. The bisexual version of the chamberpot also reduced road deaths, since men concentrating on the effort of passing in the
street were often knocked down by passing carriages and horse riders.
Not long ago, scientists were able to invent new types of material that are equally corrosion resistent but lighter weight and less expensive than gold. This has made chamberpots, whether unisex or single sex,
accessible to the masses. Even people who can afford golden chamberpots now prefer to buy ceramic or acrylic based products.
Recently, there was a new institute named after Hairy Potter established in Singapore, to study consumer behaviour with chamberpots and related products. It shows the vital place chamberpots hold in modern society.

The Legacy of Dracula
Traditions are valuable. Wisdoms of the past generations come down in order to provide guidance to later lives.
Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula as he is later known, was a Transylvanian nobleman. He loved to have blood in his diet, especially the blood of young maidens. Every night of his life, he went around the Central European
countryside, looking for fresh supplies. Frequently, he would jump into other people's houses, in order to bite the necks of the girls whose blood he liked.
Today a Dane called St Nicholas, also known as Santa Claus, carries on this tradition of country roaming and house entering. He too is very fond of the young. However, living in a scientific age, he is more concerned with hygiene. Instead of engaging in close bodily contact and unsupervised blood transfusion,
he only hands out presents and greetings, but the blood-loving tradition of Dracula is preserved in the colour of Santa's suit.
A native of Holland, known as the Flying Dutchman, inherits the romantic spirit of Dracula. He searches around the four seas for his lost love, operating under the notion that salvation will come to him only when he finds love. In addition to his possession of modern shipbuilding and navigation technologies, his
replacement of the concrete entity of "blood" by the more abstract concept of "love", reflects an important advance in human thinking.
However, it was the Chinese who developed Dracula's world view in the most practical directions. They discovered good ways of preparing blood for gourmet cusine. One first adds salt and vinegar to blood and gives it time to set, after which it may be sliced like soft bean curd and added to a variety of dishes. The famous Szechuan Sour and Chilli Soup, for example, contains blood as an essential ingredient.
Perhaps China should export Sour and Chilli Soup to Romania. It could find a very profitable market there. Hu Jintao would be pleased about the success of economic liberalization.
Such a pity Dracula did not live to see all this progress and advance. Being a frequent user of contaminated blood, he died of AIDS, right at the dawn of the century of enlightenment. R.I.P.

.....

Mythology lives on, even in Singapore!

B. The Merlion
Part1
1.
Li Dachang, Zhang Xiaotiao and a few friends were having dinner in the coffeeshop of 1 Fulleton Hotel, celebrating his 45 year birthday, also celebrating his getting tenure a short while ago.

At 45 years old, he had just attained the position others usually get in the 30s, hardly an example of career success. He was also still a divorced man without a family to go home to. As he reminisced, he thought of his rocky career path, with the quick rise to the high government post in Suzhou, back to being a student, then starting at the bottom of the academic career, to today's associate professorship, of his loving relationship with Halimah followed by the drifting apart, his crossing of paths with Xiaoran, and his pleasant collaboration over several years with Xiaotiao, now sitting beside him.

Their website, while not generating much income, at least achieved its basic objectives. It not only attracted students from overseas universities that run courses on new Chinese Literature to read website material and buy books, but also had the effect of raising the profile of Xiaotiao in the Chinese literary circle, for in addition to being a well known figure in the circle itself, she also achieved a level of international recognition. Even middle ranked US universities would have some of her books, with Dachang's translated versions, in their libraries. Further, it was the general opinion that his translations were freeflowing and refined enough to match the quality of Xiaotiao's Chinese originals; in fact, there are places where the English version, being briefer, reads more crisply. Not long ago, there were even reporters coming to ask for his opinions on the idea of creating a new new Chinese literature that combines features of Chinese and Western writings, making it most suitable for Chinese society in the age of openness...

Through the years, he had been acting protectively towards Xiaotiao like an older brother, not just out of appreciation of her talent, but also because, initially at least, he had the fear that the various scary bits in Xiaotiao's writings reflected a dark corner of her personality, which might one day burst out. Like in one story, a girl killed her father and used his blood to paint her mouth, because a handsome boy told her her lips were too pale and she would look beautiful if the lips were redder.

Dachang was not actually afraid that Xiaotiao would kill him to get his blood, but he wanted to know why she liked to write stuff like this. he also wondered whether the parts in her stories where the heroine runs away but then for various reasons returns to where she escaped from. indicate Xiaotiao's feeling of being imprisoned in her situation without ability to escape; then there are also those bits about a girl losing virginity, and the description seemed always to be about bleeding and pain...

Others say that she must have been hurt by some boyfriend, or followed some cult, but he doubted this; he felt Xiaotiao was just a young girl trying to act like an worldly adult, and her personal experiences were limited. Some of her books' scenes of innocent love seem real, but even those may be second hand from her friends; he started laughing when he saw a passage where the girl was having a meal of pork blood noodle, and the boy was talking about his vision of becoming a pork blood noodle seller so that he could give her a treat every day. She seemed to know little about life's real complexities.

For example, in Singapore the episode ought to have taken place in a sushi shop, with the chef kneading riceballs and slicing fish, handing out the sushi pieces to the couple, and the girl shows admiration for the chef's skills while the boy expresses his vision...But Dachang's story has a rather deflating ending: when a sushi chef produce the bills, he takes into consideration how much a customer has eaten and the cost of the material, but also whether he/she made good conversation with the chef; since the couple only had eyes for each other, the chef charged them rather highly.

Gradually he came to appreciate that Xiaotiao's wrtings were actually pictures painted in words, pictures that grab attention with their scary content, but the scary parts, like the witches and monsters of fairy tales, do no great harm. When the prince appears, Snowwhile immediately spits out the poisoned apple in her throat. Further, there were seven dwarfs taking care of her coffin, clearing away bushes and grasses to keep a path open for the prince to easily ride his horse to her side, and her coffin was made of glass so that he could immediately see how beautiful she was.The prince in sleeping beauty, however, had worse luck: he had to kill a dragon and clear away all the vegetation around the castle to open a path, so he would have been rather tired by the time he reached the princess, and even then he would have to wipe away some cobwebs from her face before he could see whether her beauty was worthy of his kiss...

Of course, the sleep beauty story is saying, a girl need to find her loving man before she turns into a woman, and to get the girl, the man has to pass tests of loyalty and stamina; but in today's world, this is almost ridiculous; the modern girl does not want to be a girl; she rushes to turn into a woman and has no patience to wait, in fact waiting may cost her opportunities because the world changes so fast. As for loyalty and stamina, Dachang felt he was well qualified, but few people seemed to appreciate that; Halimah once appreciated it, but then?

The life's demons do not evaoporate when the sun rises, nor are they defeated by shouting slogans and talking morality. The usefulness of slogans lies in that people can follow them to develop a social machinery that suppress human defects and enhance merits, but slogans are easily heard, whereas producing a social machinery is hard work, and even when one has been put into place, it is not always easy to agree on its benefits, since whatever machinery one invents would cause inconvenience to at least some people.

2.
"Mr Li"

Dachang turned to find Zhang Xiaoran coming towards him.

"Miss Zhang!"

"I didnt know you came back to Singapore; I thought you stayed in USA"

"And you? here for a visit?"

"Oh I have been here several years; my husband is with Shanghai Development Bank; he was sent here to manage the Singapore branch"

"Come, let me introduce you. This is Zhang Xiaotiao; she's a writer"

"Oh what a coincidence meeting both of you; I read your books a few years ago; let me introduce my husband to you" she waved at two people sitting at another table; her husband was almost Dachang's age, tall and square jawed, by looks scion of some high official's family; he brought along his daughter, about 5 years old, with Xiaoran's looks but a squarer face.

"My husband Xie Xuebin, daughter Yueran; Yueyue this is the Auntie Zhang who wrote that sunflower story, a lucky chance we happen to run into her; this is Uncle Li; we met in Suzhou"

"Hi Auntie Zhang; Uncle Li"

It is customery to give a child a present when meeting it the first time; Dachang took from his pocket a little drum pendant carved from Burma jade, which he found earlier that day in the flea market, where he went to pass the time and find something to entertain himself with, by now putting together a collection of old Chinese jade and Burmese feicui; old jade is not suitable as child's' gift - there are people who say stuff dug from the ground have ghostly associations; feicui objects are newly made so there is no problem

"Here Yueyue, uncle has a present for you"

"Eh..isnt this a bit high class for a kid?"

"No this is everyday stuff; the jade is only a little green and not very translucent; just something form the flea market"

"All right then; Yueyue say thank you"

"Thank you Uncle Li"

Now in her thirties, Xiaoran had put on weight and dressed more conservatively, but still looked beautiful, though a little pallid in complexion. Hearing it was his birthday and he just got tenure, she congratulated him warmly. After a little conversation, they each paid their bills and left.

3.
A few days later, Dachang took some small pieces of jade to a jeweller near 1 Fulleton, asking to have them set into a Merlion; in the flea market, one could frequently find odd bits of precious stones. Accumulated over time, one could have a pile whose shapes and sizes could just make up some object as a whole.

Coming out of the shop, he happened to run into Xiaoran and Yueyue again, who had been shopping in the mall and were still looking around carrying their packages. "Another lucky encounter; let's have coffee; how about where we met last time." Getting to the coffeeshop, he ordered a latte, Yueyue wanted a hot chocolate, while Xiaoran only ordered Chinese tea: "Doctor's orders, neither coffee nor ceylon tea". Through the glass wall of the coffeeshop, they could see the big Merlion next to the shore spewing water into the sea.

They talked about this and that, and then was talking about his website with Xiaotiao; as Yueyue listened, she suddenly asked "Does Auntie Zhang have stories about the Merlion?"

"Eh..she did not write about the Merlion in her books, but she must have heard some stories; I will ask her next time"

"I liked her story about a sunflower turning into a woman to look for a painter; Mom told it to me; Could the Merlion turn into a person?"

"She wrote about a fish turning into a person; so I guess there can be something like this about the Merlion"

"Was it a very very old story?"

"Oh, Auntie Zhang's stories were all her own, so could not be very old" This seemed to disappoint Yueyue a little. but the Merlion was not an old legend; it was a symbolic object invented by Signapore Tourism Board. If anyone tells you an ancient Merlion story, it would just be made up publicity mateiral.

"We will be returning to Shanghai soon; there are a lot of personnel movements in the bank"

Actually, he read in the newspapers that the bank had some problem with bad debts and improperly made loans. Maybe Xiaoran's poor complexion had something to do with her husband's job.

"Tomorrow is sunday, and Xiaotiao, her boyfriend and I are walking up the hill; why dont you join us; then Yueyue can ask Xiaotiao to tell her stories"

"Eh..my husband is too busy; as for me..actually I have some heart problems so going up the hill is out for me; why dont we do this, you guys take Yueyue along, and I will stay down below"

The next morning was very hot, and walking uphill would be tough going; as they went up, Xiaotiao led Yueyue by the hand, and first told the story she already heard about the sunflower, then the one about the mermaid, then made up a story about fish going to look for lion, which sort of accounted for the Merlion. As they came down, Yueyuen said she was tired, so they carried her in turn. Before long she was asleep.

When they reach carpark they found Xiaoran leaning against her car, panting a little. "I was a bit early coming back here, so walked around a little, but the up and down paths were a bit much for my condition; I so envy you healthy people."

Xiaoran left with Yueyue in her car, and the three of them followed a little behind. After just a short while, they saw Xiaoran's car starting to meander on the road.

"Oh God, I think she passed out on the wheel"

"What should we do? what.."

While they were saying this, the car bumped into a tree at the side of the road and stopped. The speed was not high so maybe they would suffer no serious injury, but it was hard to see their conditions because the airbags in the car had deployed and covered both of them.

The ambulance came and they followed it to the hospital. Yueyue only had concussion and some scratches, but Xiaoran could not be saved; she was not badly injured, but had a heartattack after she fainted and her car hit the tree; resuscetation efforts were unsuccessful.

4.
"It was my fault; if I hadnt asked her to come this would not have happened"

"Nonsense; if I didnt have stories to tell, Yueyue would not have come on the walk; so was I to blame too?”

Xiaotiao was qutie right; he felt a bit better. They looked at Yueyue lying there in coma with tubes stuck into her; poor 5 year old girl.

Yueyue regained consciousness the next day, and stayed in hospital a few days longer. They visited her every day, and Xiaotiao told her a lot of stories. After Yueyue was discharged, Xiaotiao visited her many times, and took her around to various places in Singapore which she had not been to before, to give her the chance to see them before returning to Shanghai.

After a few weeks like this, one late afternoon Xiaotiao came to see him in his office: "There is something I need your opinion about"

Xiaitiwo's tone was grave, and Dachange looked at her in surprise; however, she was looking down at the table.

"Yueyue's father would like me to marry him"

"Really..eh..do you..do you love him?"

"I wrote many stories, but I dont know what love is"

"Let me ask something simpler: would you enjoy sleeping with him every day?"

"Oh you men are always thinking of it; isnt sexless marriage quite in fashion? Yueyue needs a mother."

"No so simple; you remember the toothpaste tubes that used to be made of tin?"

"What has that got to do with it?"

"According to surveys, men like to squeeze toothpaste from the end of the tube, rolling the end up so while the toothpaste is used up, the tube gets shorter, but always stays full; women like to squeeze the tube in the middle"

"Are you OK?"

"Many couples quarrel because of different ways of squeezing toothpaste; and the toilet seat: - women like it down; men like it up; many couples quarrel over that too"

"So you mean it is hard to live together; I understand that, but it's not just married couples who have that problem right?"

"Married couples would build up a lot of tension over little things, but all that usually goes away after they have an intimate session in bed. Without sex, things dont work so well"

"Isnt there a Chinese saying 'best couples treat each other like guests'"

"The guys who say that probably have many concubines and rarely see their wives"

"Now there you go agian"

"Dont be so sure; I have only slept with one woman all my life; my needs are modest"

Xiaotiao had been looking down at the table throughout the conversation, but this jerked her head up

"You mean...since your divorce 10 years ago..."

"Right; so you shouldnt think men think of it all the time; the reason for needing sex is not that simple"

"But I feel so sorry for Yueyue"

"I know; do you plan to have children yourself?"

Xiaotiao had a start..quite so, almost 30 and the girl had not thought about the issue before.

"What's the connection?"

"You love Yueyue very much now; when you have your own child, would this change? Can you be sure you will treat them equally?"

"So you advise me against marrying him?"

"Not necessarily, but these are crucial questions and you need to have clear thoughts about them"

5.
They were at the airport seeing Xie Xuebin and Yueyue off on their way back to Shanghai; Xiaotiao's boyfriend did not come. She bent down to hug Yueyue, both were crying.

"Antie Zhang; you must remember to come see me..."

"Yueyue I will come; not sure when though" Shaking hands with Xie Xuebin she said "Give me some more time to think"

Dachang took out the Merlion that just came back from the jeweller and put it around Yueyue's neck "Yueyue, he will keep you company for us, OK?"

They drove away from Changi Airport, passing through ECP, Shears Bridge.. Over some distance, they could see the Merlion spewing water into the sea...

Part 2
1.
"Why, over all these years, you never showed interest in me?" Xiaotiao asked Dachang.

"I always treated you like a little sister who need care and protection"

"So I am asking, why only as a sister?"

"I..I dont know"

"Because I am too plain?"

"Not at all; you have lovely eyes"

"Because they look like Xiaoran's"

"Eh..."

"You know, long ago I noticed that, sometimes when you look at my eyes, a specially soft and sentimental expression would come to your face; I didnt understand why, till I met Xiaoran that night, and realized you were thinking of her"

"...."

"When I saw you look at her at night, I immediately knew you could not forget her over all these years; after she left, you suddenly started to look much older"

"...."

"I am not trying to compete with her, but can you be nicer to me?"

"You mean I am still not nice enough?"

"There is something I need your help on"

"what?"

"I want to have a baby, your baby"

2.
In the 6 odd years Dachang had known Xiaotiao, he had seen no sign of interest in marriage and kids; she had a couple of boyfriends, but the relationships never seemed to go anywhere. However, after Xiaoran's death her dormant maternal instinct suddenly bursted out, and she seriously considered marrying Xie Xuebin, but after Yueyue and her dad went back to Shanghai, both sides cooled off after passing their phase of shock and loss. Yueyue had amah and grandparents in Shanghai, so there was no shortage of people helping to take care of her. After a couple of months Xiaotiao and Dachang went to Shanghai to visit her, and found things quite stable, so Xiaotiao came back feeling comfortable about the matter. However, she broke up with her boyfriend all the same.

"After all the events, I really felt nothing at all towards him, and he was rather relieved about it; he had always been a little afraid of me"

Actually, most guys would be afraid of an authoress who wrote books like hers; the question is how much they understand, how much they appreciate.

"Since I wont be Yueyue's mother, I want to have my own child"

"Do you mean you want to marry me?"

"No; you love Xiaoran; I am only a sister to you"

"Then go find someone who loves you"

"There is no one, and if there was someone, I doubt I would love him"

"So pessimistic?"

"Read my books, then you know whether I am pessmistic"

"Then go get artificial insemination at the clinic"

"Also no; I want my child to have a father, a good father"

"High opinion of me; I can go and donate sperms"

"No need for the trouble; just take me home with you; today is my ovulation day; better chance for pregnancy"

3.
He looked at Xiaotiao "This is ridiculous"

"I dont think so; it is simple and convenient, and free"

"I am not a machine..."

"You have been helping me for so long; now I need even more help from you, and I am sure it is within your ability"

"Let me think about this first"

"If I miss today's chance, I have to wait another month. There's not much time left for me"

He looked at Xiaotiao again, and found her looking at him with entreating eyes, eyes just like Xiaoran's...

When they reached his home, Xiaotiao simply led him to his bedroom, took off her clothes and laid down on the bed. He wanted to laugh, first because the situation was just too weird, and also because he was rather nervous, having not had sex for years. As he sat down on the side of the bed, he was still telling himself to take it slowly and let Xiaotiao have time to relax. Then she said "I know it hurts a lot the first time, but I am not afraid"

"You mean...you are still a virgin?"

"Yah but dont worry about me; I want to have your child; I want..."

But he could see the fear and pain in her eyes as he entered her, and found her face covered in tears as he finished. Seeing his look of remorse, Xiaotiao giggled "Actually you made me very happy; I am glad to give my first time to you". He wanted to kiss away her tears like in love stories, but she evaded his attempt, turned her face and wipe it on the pillow. He felt tired and fell asleep. By the time he woke up, Xiaotiao had left, leaving behind a note "Thanks for everything"

For several days he did not see her, and phone calls were not answered. Just as he began to get worried, an email came from her "I am fine; no need to worry", followed by a similar mail a couple of days later; this went on for more than two weeks, then suddenly she phoned "I am at Shanghai Airport; we are boarding soon; would you pick me up in about 5 hours at Changi? I will explain everything after arrival"

When she came out, Yueyue was with her, still wearing the Merlion on her neck.

4.
The three of them went to his home. After having something to eat and putting Yueyue to bed, he asked Xiaotiao what happened.

"The bank was investigating Mr Xie's handling of business in Singapore. There is chance he would go to jail"

"He did not look like a corrupt official to me"

"Other people did things, and said he was part of it. Upstairs may not believe his explanation"

"But is it actually necessary to move Yueyue here just because of this?"

"The problem is Yueyue has a lot of money, passed from her Grandpa to her mom; her dad was concerned about the possibility of confiscation, so he transferred all her trust fund to here, and I am now her trustee."

"So you have been busy for more than two weeks doing all this?"

"And finding her a school, getting a visa"

"Is it your idea that she will stay here first, and move in with you after you change to a bigger place?"

Xiaotiao gave him a strange look "No..I want to marry you, and the three of us, actually the four of us, will live together"

"You mean.."

"I am pregnant..used the test kit twice, positive both times"

"..."

"We can have a sexless marriage if you prefer, but I know you will surely want to help look after Xiaoran's child and your own child"

5.
Their friends and colleagues were not shocked by the news; it often happens that two people would one day discover what they were looking for right under their noses; but they had a surprise when they saw Yueyue with them at the registry.

As days went by, Xiaotiao's bulge became easily visible. During dinner, Yueyue suddenly asked "Auntie Zhang, you remember the day mom died you told me a story about a fish that changed into a lion?"

"Sure. he kept the fish's tail though"

"I think the merlion prefers to be a person; could you write another story about merlion turning into person?"

"OK; let me think about it"

Yueyue took out a piece of paper from her schoolbag "I drew this today" In the picture she was standing next to a chair, Dachang was behind her, and Xiaotiao was seated; in her stomach there was a merlion "The merlion becoming person"

After Yueyue went to bed, Xiaotiao sat down at the computer, and began to write the story of merlion turning into person.

Four part series sinazen.com/chinamyths sinazen.com/prehistory sinazen.com/middlehistory sinazen.com/singaporemythwriter

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