c2 (1/2)
Chapter 2
“No matter what, I won’t give the sacred egg to you!” Athena* remained unyielding, with her head up high and her long hair flowing behind her.
*[Athena is from the cartoon, Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac). “The story follows five mystical warriors called the “Saints”, or “Knights” in some adaptations) who fight empowered by a mystical energy called “Cosmo” . The Saints have sworn to defend the reincarnation of the Greek G.o.ddess Athena in her battle against other Olympian G.o.ds who want to dominate Earth.” (Wiki)]
Yu Zhou Zhou’s version of Athena was currently holding the ‘sacred egg’ to her chest- a white egg stolen from the kitchen.
She spent a long time finding a white egg from the basket of brown eggs. Although there was a little chicken p.o.o.p stuck to it, but she earnestly washed it clean. White eggs were more grandeur than brown eggs she thought.
In Yu Zhou Zhou’s dictionary, if she wanted something to seem grandeur, she only needed to add on the word ‘sacred’. For instance, sacred water…sacred egg.
In her mind, on the handsome devil’s face flashed an expression of being unable to endure, “Athena, don’t force me to harm you……”
It was a summer’s night. Outside the window, crickets chirped happily in the gra.s.s. Mama Yu wasn’t back yet so Yu Zhou Zhou was home alone. She didn’t open the lights, instead, she played out her tragicomedy in the dimness of the room.
In Yu Zhou Zhou’s script, the Demon King had long stopped being purely evil. In the cartoon*, the handsome Demon King who fell in love with Athena yet could not have her and finally was forced at the sacred temple to let out the water bit by bit to drown the G.o.ddess- Poseidon, made her blush and her heart beat faster without realising.
*[ In this story arc, Athena “offers to be locked inside the main pillar in Poseidon’s Undersea Temple while it fills with water that would have otherwise flooded the Earth” (Wiki)]
Facing the Demon King, she blushed but inside, she told herself firmly again and again: No, the one I love is Seiya.
Plus, those saints who died like this to protect me, isn’t it because they all love me?
Yu Zhou Zhou’s version of Athena put her hands on her face, suddenly, because of this dilemma of feelings, she felt a sense of fear.
She had understood from a very small age that love was a very scary thing that was hard to deal with- even though she didn’t know what love exactly was.
Mama Yu had gone to take care of grandma, leaving her in this single story house on the outskirts of town. The house was temporarily rented after they relocated. It was very simple and crude with only one room. The kitchen was shared between the few families and the toilet was a communal one outside. It was dirty and stinky and scary, Yu Zhou Zhou never dared to go alone.
She really wanted to live at grandma’s house. Grandma’s house was an apartment building in the city, it was within the living quarters of a university.* She liked grandma’s little house, it was her little stage. She only had to stand on the stage to feel charged with inspiration.
*[Alongside students, local residents can also live in what is called the ‘family zone’ (living quarters) of universities, basically living on land belonging to the university.]
However, third uncle and little uncle also lived in grandma’s house. There was seven people living in four rooms and one living room, so there was no room for her and her mom.
But, the outstanding G.o.ddess Athena didn’t care about disgusting environments. The damp room grew mould which was too horrible to look at, but she didn’t have to open the light- when it was pitch black, there were no boundaries in the room. One moment, it was a splendid and magnificent temple, the next, it was a dim and gloomy prison room. Sometimes, it was a holy and pure snow mountain and a grand and tranquil lake……
Your stage was as big as your heart- when she understood this, China Central Television had not even been named CCTV yet.
Yu Zhou Zhou stood on the floor without moving. However, she could hear the imaginary sound of water flowing- yes, Poseidon was incessantly letting water in to the temple. Currently, it had not reached her ankle yet but she couldn’t move a step because she had been locked.
Athena held the sacred egg lightly, anxiously thinking of those talented saints.
No matter how bad the scenario, a hero will always come, they definitely will.
Every girl is Athena, as long as we don’t give up.
Just as she was thinking, she suddenly heard someone outside the window shout, “Yu Zhou Zhou!”
Her hand trembled in fright, and the egg in her hand hit the corner of the table. Immediately after, she could feel a cold and sticky liquid flow down her middle and index fingers.
She was in trouble, what was she going to do?
The voice outside the window didn’t stop at all.
“Yu Zhou Zhou, Yu Zhou Zhou, you’re at home right? You’re ignoring me again!”
Hearing the young and timid voice, she immediately knew that it was Ben Ben.
Although his voice wasn’t very loud, as soon as he started shouting, there was no end to it. Yu Zhou Zhou was currently panicking over how to deal with the cracked ‘sacred egg’ and had no time to reply.
“Yu Zhou Zhou, Yu-“
“Stop shouting! I’m in trouble!”
Many, many years later, when Yu Zhou Zhou thought back to the premature end of that white egg, she would remain puzzled- it was only an egg, why was she so terrified as though the sky was falling?
She took out the key from the drawer and put it around her neck. Then, she walked out the door, her hands still shakily holding that egg. With every step she took, a little bit of egg white would spill out, making her hands all slimy.
“What happened?” Ben Ben curiously came over.
“The sacred……egg cracked.”
“Then just throw it away.”
……Yeah, why didn’t she just destroy the evidence? She gave a shameful laugh. However, she didn’t know how to deal with the egg white on her hands. In that period, there was pretty much no such thing as tissues. She didn’t dare rub it on her hands so out of desperation, she rubbed it on her face.
She’d just wash her face later.
Unfortunately, the seemingly small egg had so much egg white. After she rubbed it on her little face, she still had quite a lot on her fingers. Yu Zhou Zhou stared at her hands for a few seconds then resolutely reached out- and rubbed it on Ben Ben’s face.
“What are you doing?!”
“I’m borrowing a place to rub it on.” She seemed to be naturally devious.
Ben Ben’s face turned red. Moths lingered under the orange lightbulb outside the door. The light was so dim that his face couldn’t be seen clearly so Yu Zhou Zhou naturally could not see his blus.h.i.+ng yet also unwilling expression. She could only see a pair of especially bright eyes.
It seemed like that lonely star that shone in the West.