Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society by Adeline Yen Mah Read Free Book Online Page B

like a big wet rubber ball, and she was trembling all over. The fish hook was stuck inside her back. I had to plunge my knife into the wound and cut into the muscle to get it out. There was so much blood that I had to stuff my jacket against the wound to stop the flow. I counted to a hundred until the oozing stopped altogether.’
    I was entranced by the story. ‘Where’s the dolphin now? Is she still near Nan Tian?’
    ‘She comes and goes as she pleases,’ said Marat. ‘But David and I spent the whole of last summer playing with her. She‘d appear whenever we went out on a boat, following us like a dog. We named her Ling Lingand knew it was the same dolphin because of the scar on her back. You‘ll have to meet her one day, CC.’
    ‘I feel useless!’ I said. ‘All of you know so much! I‘ve never seen a real dolphin, and don’t evenknow how to swim! I don’t think there’s anything I can do to help the society.’
    Grandma Wu must have overheard because she said, ‘You can help, CC, in many ways. Everyone is different. David is a fast thinker, Marat is a planner, Sam is intuitive. You, CC, are creative and have a love of words. Do you like to read?’
    ‘Yes!’ I exclaimed. ‘I love to read. How did you know?’
    ‘Because you have a book in your hands whenever I see you. What are you reading now?’
    ‘It’s a recipe book I took from the shelf here,’ I said, blushing. ‘I want to learn how to cook.’
    ‘How about writing something for my Sunday newsletter? Don’t look so surprised. We have Sunday school at my academy every week with almost one hundred students.’
    ‘I’d love to! Oh, thank you, Grandma Wu!’ I felt so lucky to have this chance to write about anything I wished. There were things I could say with a pen that were impossible to express out loud.
    After lunch, Grandma Wu announced that she was going to give us a sewing lesson. The boys rolled their eyes and groaned with dismay.
    ‘This is as important as your kung fu practice!’ said Grandma Wu sternly. ‘You need to be prepared. When you are on a mission, you will need clothes to keep you invisible.’ She rolled out someblack material and we spent the rest of the day sewing outfits with many pockets to conceal items like maps, money, food and water bottles. There were four special buttons, one for each of us. They looked like ordinary buttons and resembled the others, but each was really a tiny compass.
    That night I dreamt that I was back home again. Big Aunt lived with us and everything was wonderful. I was no longer an only child, but had three older brothers who played lots of games with me. As we played, I knew they cared for me just as much as I cared for them – we were a team. But I kept losing because they were more athletic and brainy. I knew I couldn’t compete. Big Aunt put her arms around me and said, ‘Learn from your brothers and be proud of them! Brothers and sisters should be like shou zu (), hands and feet on the same body.’
    I woke up in a sweat, desperate to go back to my magnificent dream. I wanted to hold on to it but it was gone. At that moment, I missed my aunt unbearably. I wondered if she was dreaming about me at the same instant I was dreaming about her.
    By nine o’clock the next morning, Grandma Wu’s studio was full of children, ranging in age from seven to fourteen, with many more boys thangirls. I looked around anxiously, wondering if there was anyone I knew. It would have been highly embarrassing to meet any of my schoolmates or friends. I stayed close to the three boys and sneaked glances at the children, who all looked well-dressed and prosperous.
    ‘Where do these students come from?’ I asked Sam, who was standing next to me.
    ‘These are all fee-paying students whose parents want them to learn kung fu and Chinese studies on Sundays,’ Sam whispered. ‘Most of them go to missionary schools during the week, where lessons are taught in English, French or German. There used to be