E Nv Ah Chu - Ungly Tea Egg(credit to asianfanatics)cter br QQ & kher2...ooo..kher...wo ni shang yi...
Ah Chu, like anyone else, has a proper name. It's Yin Chu Chu. But if you now have the image of a breathtaking or even pitiful person, then you can't be more wrong.
She was actually rather beautiful, with pretty features, tall stature, and doesn't look like she would laugh or talk too loudly, just like You Jin Hui [a actress] in an idol drama. Ah Chu, however, was in fact more like another character You Jin Hui played in another drama, who was more noisy and rude (??).
Ah Chu had a good friend named Gui Wa (directly translates as Ghost Doll sweat.gif). One day, both of them were on the basketball court eating ice-cream, and for some unknown reason, Gui Wa stared at her, before calling her "Ah Chu Horse! (?? Literal translation for #39532"
Ah Chu rolled her eyes. "What on earth are you talking about?"
Gui Wa said, very seriously. "Look at you, no matter how good your martial arts is, you"ll always be a girl."
"Ah Chu Horse" was, of course, not a very respectful title, and thus, Ah Chu stood up, swung her leg around, and kicked her. "Are you looking to die!?" From senior high to university, Gui Wa had always been on the basketball team, and hence, she was nearly as tall as Yao Ming. With a 'smack' sound, Ah Chu's leg connected with her nose, and blood started flowing out of her nose.
"Ah Chu Horse sounds quite nice" Gui Wa said, shocked, making no move to stem the flow of blood from her nose. Ah Chu noted her sincerity, and remembered the actor acting [in some medical drama], and for some odd reason, cheered up. She kicked Gui Wa again, to convey the meaning that "I can't kick you to death now, maybe we'll see later."
Ah Chu's mother had grown up reading Chiong Yao's (a famous Chinese novelist) novels, and when she was pregnant, she read a book in which there was a girl named "Chu Chu", and admired her very much. Naturally, she ended up calling her daughter "Chu Chu" too.
However, Ah Chu had natural curly hair, and grew very fast during puberty, making it seem like she was not fated to have the kind of life the "Chu Chu" in the book had.
In reality, Ah Chu was the apple of her parent's eyes, and spent a lot of effort on her. They sent her for ballet lessons when she was four, and piano lessons when she was five. However, tragically for her parents, she became obsessed with Jet Li when she was six, and started to imitate his martial arts ever since.
Her parents had no choice, and sent her to learn karate, and to their surprise, she excelled at it, and started bringing home martial arts trophies from a young age.
Yes, Ah Chu had once been a refined and privileged girl, with good food and clothes, expensive piano, dance leotards , and a tutor. Her good life, which her classmates living in her neighbourhood envied, came to an end when she was ten years old.
The Yin Family's clothes factory was situated in Tai Nan region. One night, for some unknown reason, a fire broke out in the factory.
The fire engines came too slowly. Ah Chu's parents, with a few workers, ran into the burning building to salvage whatever they could, but never made it out…
The fire started, the fire was put out. Things were burnt, people died.
Everything happened so fast, that it did not even disturb Ah Chu, who had been sleeping at home.
Just like that, when she woke up, everything she was familiar with, everything she had possessed and took for granted, were all gone.
Even so many years after the accident, when Ah Chu thought back to that fateful night, she still found it unreal, just like a dream. However, she didn't know if love her parents bestowed on her was also a dream? Or, was every just a dream she could not wake up from?
"If only I had not slept so soundly, if only I had gone to the site of the fire, I would not have let all this happen." All these "if only", affected Ah Chu's personality from then on.
From then on, she had to struggle with fate, and struggle to survive. This made her become someone who was rather uncouth, and did not like to bow down others.
The ten-year old Ah Chu was sent to Taipei to live with her grandfather, her only living relative left.
Her grandfather did not have a single black hair on his whole head, but the skin on his face was smooth and did not have any wrinkles.
That was the first time Ah Chu had seen her grandfather. The grief and suddenness of losing both parents, and the unfamiliar new environment, made her strangely silent as she started her new life.
Her grandfather ran a convenience store, which was neither too big, nor too small, and for the past few decades, the signboard, with the four big words of 'want to buy, but don't buy' had never changed.
Unlike other people, her grandfather doesn't open chain stores, and in the district where chain stores like 7-eleven, this made his convenience store more unique (??).
"How does the store owner look like? Can I have a discount on this item? How long is the store open for every day? All this questions, I like to decide the answers myself. Why should I open a store, and let others manage it for me?" This was what Yin Tian Zhen always says.
The truth is, his store was very well-stocked, with prices slightly lower than that of other places. Hence, old and new customers had never lessened before. In his store, (description of decorations in store, not very sure how to translate sweat.gif)
"A feng shui master has looked over this store before, so I will allow no one to change the decoration," he said.
Maybe it was because of the feng shui, or maybe because Yin Tian Zhen looked stupid and clumsy, but was very loving, Ah Chu grew up successfully and well.
When she reached high school, she grew to 170 cm overnight, and from then on, the basketball court and swimming pool became her second home.
Add on the fact that she excelled in her studies, when she walked in school, it always seemed as if there was rush of wind following her footsteps. All the teachers and students in the school did not dare to provoke her. Some subject teachers did not teach very well, and their lessons were dull. When this happened, she would slam her books, and walk out of the room rudely with a basketball. The teacher could only tremble, and looking after her departing figure sighing.
However, the fierce Ah Chu was very popular. Boys were her teammates/comrades on the basketball court, while girls would imagine her to be Ling Qing Xia (an actress) from "Dong Fang Bu Bai". Whether it was worship, or admiration, though, it was not clear.
Gui Wa was her neighbour, and fought with Ah Chu since young. They then successfully became the best of friends.
Gui Wa was not very smart, but had a good personality, which complemented Ah Chu well. Like Ah Chu, she had a few other friends who were equally fit and active, and hence usually hang out at Ah Chu's store, chatting while drinking soft drinks from the fridge. Of course, she was fair, and always charged them for the drinks like she would for other customers.
(pic credit to label)
