Chapter 3 Chapter two

Yuji later said that she didn't like the Japanese either, except for the three handsome guys from the "Youth Team". "Then how did you guys become friends from then on?" 』I asked her curiously. "Hmm—she's very kind!" Yu Ji thought for a long time before trying to figure out the reason. "kind?Is it "personal" experience will have "personal" pain? ’ I’m still skeptical. "Don't talk nonsense. It may be because Itakura Yuko's eyes are very sincere." "sincere?Can sincerity be used to describe eyes?Will my ears look real? 』

"Oh! Anyway, I just know she is a very good girl!" At Xinjie's birthday party, Yuji also brought Itakura Yuzi to attend. So Xinjie introduced her: "Zhihong, this is a new student I met in the history department——" He pointed to a girl who hadn't stopped smiling since entering the door. She has been kneeling on the cushion, listening to everyone's conversation carefully, but never interrupting. Bright eyes, fair skin, and those two canine teeth that are almost as beautiful as vampires make her look like a person from Middle Earth. "Hai! Wa-Da-Si-Wa ITAKURA AmeKo Des, Ha-Zi-Me-Ma-Si-Te, Do-Zo, Yo-Ro-Si-Ku."

She stood up suddenly, bowed to me at a standard 90 degrees, and blocked Xinjie's words in fluent Japanese. Wow!What rice bowl cake are you talking about?It turns out that she is really a Fanbang girl! I looked at Xinjie for help, but he just raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and it was obvious that he was holding back a smile. I scratched my head, not knowing how to respond, I froze there with a stunned face—— "Sorry, I'm Yuko Itakura. It's the first time we meet, please give me your advice." She quickly changed her words, re-spoken in Chinese with a special accent, and made another 90-degree bow.

As if influenced by her, I hurriedly bowed to her nearly 90 degrees. "My name is Cai Zhihong, and it's also my first time meeting, so please give me your advice. 』 Seeing our embarrassment, Xinjie finally couldn't help laughing. "AmeKo, Zhihong is a student of the Engineering College, he is not bad, you can ask him for more help in the future." Xinjie pointed at me who was blushing, and introduced this to her who was also blushing. "Hai! Chae-sang, please take care of me in the future, A-Ri-Ga-Do." She blushed to answer, but still did not forget the 90-degree bow.

But this time, I scratched my head in embarrassment. "Chihiro, give this to AmeKo." Xinjie cut a piece of cake, pouted the corner of his mouth, and pointed in the direction of AmeKo.And turn down the volume. I can't figure out why Xinjie has a mysterious look, maybe he wants to mess with me! ? I picked up the cake in puzzlement and gave it to her. "Miss Itakura, please use it. 』 "A-Ri-Ga-Do. Chae-sang, you can just call me AmeKo." "A——A——Ame——" "Amei" for a long time, still don't know how to pronounce it next. "A-me-Ko. Ame means "rain"; Ko means "child", so my name is AmeKo."

She explained with a smile. 『AmeKo, are you still used to it in Taiwan? 』 It is reasonable to use this sentence as an opening remark, although it is not very powerful. Otherwise, why should I ask?Do you ask her why she came to Taiwan to learn Chinese? She must be tired of being asked this kind of question, and maybe it's just that she is full and has nothing to do. "Everything is fine. Taiwan is a nice place, I like it very much." "It's okay to communicate with people! ? 』 "Hmm. It's just that sometimes I can't understand Taiwanese." "In Tainan, it is indeed troublesome not to understand Taiwanese. 』

I agreed.Then I don't know what to talk about. And when AmeKo talks to me, he always looks into my eyes with a smile and listens attentively. Because I was afraid that she would not understand, I deliberately slowed down my speaking speed and removed more difficult words and sentences. It's no wonder that such a conversation is not tiring! "Chihiro, come here." Xinjie's voice timely resolved my crisis. "What's up? ’ I walked up to him and asked. "AmeKo looks good, right!?" Xinjie smiled maliciously. "You called me here just to say that? 』

"Of course not Luo! I want to give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." "what chance?Is the beneficiary of your accident insurance going to write me? 』 "Don't be boring! It's like this, AmeKo wants to find someone to teach her Chinese, and she can also teach Japanese." "so what? 』 "So it's cheap for you brat." "Please!Why are you looking for me?I don't study Japanese. 』 "Why don't you learn Japanese?" "First, I don't like Japan; second, learning Japanese is useless to me. 』 "Haven't you heard of "Don't talk nonsense"? You can't dislike learning Japanese just because you hate Japanese people!"

"I don't "hate", I just "dislike" the Japanese, there are differences in degrees. 』 Why don't you like it?I can't tell.It should be just prejudice! ? Perhaps in addition to historical hatred, I also have jealous dissatisfaction with the economic prosperity of modern Japan. "Chihiro, I know you still have some ethnic hatred towards Japan. But the so-called "crime is not as good as his wife and children", even if a man does something wrong, his wife and children are still innocent, aren't they?" Xinjie's words are actually reasonable, but my prejudice was not formed in a day.

"She may be innocent, but that doesn't mean I can't hate her.In short, I don't want to learn the language of Japanese pirates. 』 "Let me ask you, is your Wild Wolf motorcycle made in Japan? What about the SONY radio and TV? And a CASIO computer?Instruments for scientific experiments?Which of these is not Japanese? If you have the guts, don’t use these Japanese products, and then come and emphasize to me your noble national sentiment. " Xinjie finally couldn't understand my prejudice against the Japanese and began to teach me a lesson. "This is different!Just because so many Japanese products are already used in daily life, I don't want my soul to be polluted by Japan. 』

"I hear you talking nonsense! You still learn English, don't you like being polluted by the United States?" "English is an international language!How can it be compared with Japanese.And my English is not good, so the soul is still very clean. 』 I couldn't say Xinjie, so I had to start making strong words. "Don't be pushy, just say a word!" "Actually, I don't really hate Japanese, I just don't think it's necessary to learn it. 』 "You really don't know what to do, many juniors rush to make an appointment with me, how dare you not!?" "Since so many people are rushing to ask for it, why don't you openly recruit relatives!"What's more, I'm a student of the College of Engineering, so my Chinese proficiency is not as good as that of the students of your College of Arts. 』 "You don't understand this. Suppose you want to teach addition to elementary school students. Asking college students to teach it is like "killing a chicken with a sledgehammer." If AmeKo's Chinese proficiency is like a chicken, then we students of the Faculty of Arts are nothing but choppers. So your kitchen knife is just right for you. Xinjie patted my shoulder and said with a half-smile. Sure enough, he is a student of the Faculty of Arts, even when he hurts others, he is so invisible. "Is my kitchen knife sharp enough? 』 "Of course it's Liro! And your surname is Cai, so you were born to be a kitchen knife." "But--" "Don't worry too much about it. What's more, you can speak Taiwanese too! AmeKo also wants to learn Taiwanese. Seriously, if it weren't for the fact that I don't speak Taiwanese, you wouldn't be able to pick up this off-the-shelf cheap. " "I see.You think of me because you're not up to it. 』 "Of course! If it weren't for you being my best friend, I wouldn't take care of you like this. Are you touched!?" "Okay!I promised the head office! 』 Xinjie walked up to AmeKo, pointed at me and said, "AmeKo, Zhihong's Chinese level is higher than mine, you can learn more from him." This guy!I just said that I am a kitchen knife, and he is a bull knife, and now I say that a kitchen knife is sharper than a bull knife. I really can't tell if it's a compliment or a sarcasm. "Cai Sang, I'll leave it to you from now on." AmeKo bared her canine teeth and talked excitedly, and of course her signature move appeared again. "To each other, please don't be polite. 』 Since then, AmeKo will come to my place every Tuesday and Thursday night from 7:00 to 9:00. For the first hour, I taught her Chinese; for the next hour, she taught me Japanese. My Japanese proficiency can be said to be ten-speaking and nine-skilled.In other words, know nothing about it. So she had to teach me from the beginning. But AmeKo's Chinese foundation is not bad, so I don't teach her Chinese at all, at most I teach her how to appreciate Tang poetry and Song Ci. Occasionally mixed with some Taiwanese. Therefore, my communication with AmeKo is mainly in Chinese. If Chinese is still spoken by chickens and ducks, we have to use English. Although my English is not very good, it is enough to laugh at the Japanese. I also deeply understand the truth that smiling is the common language of mankind. Because when we don't understand the meaning in each other's language, we always look at each other and smile. I remember in the first class, I asked her: "AmeKo, why is your name "Yu"?" 』 She said her father named her Yuzi because she was born on a rainy day. I see. So those born on a sunny day are called Haruko?The one born when it snows is called Xuezi? So those born on a typhoon day are called Fengzi? It seems that the Japanese are also very confused when choosing names. She said she loved rainy days so much because of it. Part of the reason why I chose to come to Taiwan instead of the mainland was because Taiwan is rainy. She said that she also has a great affinity with rainy days. Even when taking college and university exams in Japan, there were rainy days. "So, I did well on the test." She smiled softly, not forgetting to show those two pointed canine teeth. Later, I really wanted to tell AmeKo that the winter in Tainan is rainless. If you expect rain, you should go to Taipei. Let's put it this way, if winter rain in Taipei is as common as everyday food, then winter rain in Tainan will be as precious as shark's fin and abalone. But I never told AmeKo, rather than fearing that she would be disappointed, it would be better to say that I was afraid that she would disappoint me by transferring to Taipei to study. The place where AmeKo lives is only two streets away from me, which is pretty close. She has two roommates, Wada Naomi and Inoue Rena, both students studying in Japan. Hetian is plump and has a dark complexion. It is said that he often went to the beach to tan after coming to Taiwan. Because Wada's hometown is in the Kanto region of Japan, the real summer in a year is only two months at most. No wonder she likes the hot climate of southern Taiwan so much. The corners of Inoue's eyes are raised, and his cheekbones are high, giving him a Korean look. Wada's boyfriend is an overseas Chinese student in Hong Kong. As for Inoue, I heard that her boyfriend is in Japan. In fact, my impression of the Japanese is very stereotyped. It seems unreasonable to say that it is an "impression", because before I met AmeKo, I had never had any contact with Japanese people. All information about Japan or Japanese people comes from TV books, comics or other people's opinions. The Japanese are diligent, law-abiding, united, orderly, lustful yet treacherous, deceiving good but fearing evil, inferior and arrogant. That's what I've been told by snippets or rather inaccurate information. And Japanese women are the best spokespersons for suppleness. God said that if someone hits you on the right cheek, you have to let him hit you on the other cheek. But I heard that Japanese women are even more exaggerated. In addition to asking you to slap the left cheek, she will also ask if your hand hurts. Maybe it's not Japanese women who are exaggerating, but that I would believe such a thing and then let it become a stereotype of me. Luckily, the Japanese also have stereotypes about the Chinese, so I don't have to blame myself too much. The Japanese think that the Chinese are dirty, chaotic, selfish, love money, have mustaches, and braids, and are treacherous and evil. This is a common characteristic of Chinese in the Japanese cartoons I have read. It seems that "treacherous" seems to be a common point between the Chinese and the Japanese. Therefore, when I first met AmeKo, I deepened my stereotype of Japanese girls. Because she is always soft and submissive, and she always smiles a little shyly when she speaks. But then I got to know Wada Naomi and Inoue Rena again, which completely reversed my stereotype. It was a Christmas Eve party and Yu Ji invited He Tian, ​​Inoue and AmeKo to celebrate. After three cups of rose red, Wada and Inoue began to sing loudly and recklessly. Fortunately, it is winter, otherwise I really think they will have the urge to strip. "Fortunately" is the adjective I use, but the adjective Chen Yingzhang uses is "unfortunately". In order to be AmeKo's Chinese teacher and AmeKo's Japanese student, I specially bought a square table. It is one meter square and only about forty centimeters high, just like a Japanese-style table commonly seen on TV. During class, AmeKo was on my left, and I was on her right. I was on the right and she was on the left, just in line with the traffic rules of both countries. Every time I take the kneeling posture for class, the blood circulation in the lower body is not good, which always makes my legs numb. AmeKo taught me how to kneel and sit several times, but I still couldn't learn it. I once asked AmeKo whether sitting on knees is the culprit for the Japanese not growing tall? "Cai Sang, what a man compares is ambition and heart, not height! Like Toyotomi Hideyoshi is very short." AmeKo's answer made me admire and surprise. "awesome!You really are my teacher. 』I clapped my hands and applauded. "I'm just talking casually." AmeKo was a little embarrassed. "No, you are quite right.The Chinese always like to laugh at the height of the Japanese, but they forget that in the eyes of Westerners, the Chinese will also be laughed at for their height. 』 "It is also said that the Japanese are like a pendulum, swinging between a sense of superiority and a sense of inferiority.Aren't the Chinese? 』 I kept talking, forgot AmeKo's nationality, and ignored AmeKo's expression. "Cai Sang, you—do you not like the Japanese very much?" AmeKo asked cautiously. "Why do you ask such a question? 』I actually feel guilty. "Because I found that some students in the class didn't seem to be very friendly to me." "Really? 』 "Yeah." AmeKo lowered his head aggrievedly. "I was confused at first, but after I studied modern Chinese history, I realized why." AmeKo paused, then continued, "But Japanese history books are really far behind Taiwan's." "What does your book say? 』 "Japanese books usually emphasize that Japan is too small and too crowded, and cannot survive without troops. Or that the establishment of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" is actually to unite weak and small Asian nations to resist Western invasion. Otherwise, they will be helpless. Saying that waging war is the ambition of a few warlords has nothing to do with the Emperor or the Japanese people.” "I have always believed that Japan was the victim of World War II, not the perpetrator. Because we only emphasized the tragedy of Tokyo being bombed by US planes and the hell on earth caused by the two atomic bombs." As if innocent, AmeKo muttered to himself: "I will feel a little guilty when I face those classmates who are not very friendly to me." Although I am very dissatisfied with the escapism in Japanese books, but I I couldn't bear AmeKo's expression even more.I even feel a little guilty because I once equated Japan with AmeKo.Then equate aggression and brutality with Japan. "Don't think wildly, even if Japan really invaded China, it might not have anything to do with Taiwan. 』 "Why? Isn't Taiwan part of China?" "Is that right? ’ I smiled wryly: ‘Frankly speaking, I don’t know whether Taiwan is part of China.When I say that I am Chinese, people say that I don’t value the land where I grew up; and when I say that I am Taiwanese, people say that I have forgotten my ancestors and don’t know where to drink.A simple name, but it must carry a heavy burden. 』 "What about you?" "It's very simple.I just said that I am a Taiwanese of Chinese descent, so I shouldn't be scolded like this!Hahaha--" "Taiwanese of Chinese descent? It's a fun name." AmeKo laughed, and seemed unable to hear the dryness in my laughter. "Sometimes I envy Hong Kong people.Because even though the British flag is flying on the land of Hong Kong, even if they hate the CCP regime and discriminate against people in mainland China, they are justified when they call themselves Chinese, and they take it for granted when they call themselves Hong Kong people. 』 "It seems to be far away.Is it Japanese class or Chinese class now? 』 "It's already Japanese class." AmeKo looked at his watch and said with a smile. "So what will ITAKURA-san do today? 』 "Cai Sang, should I choose a Japanese name first?" AmeKo suddenly suggested. I thought about it, and finally shook my head. "Sorry.I don't take Japanese names, I insist. 』 I think she probably doesn't understand the meaning of "persistence", so she just looked at me with wide eyes and puzzled. How should I explain it to her?Do you tell her that I am an extreme nationalist? Forget it, this distant and seemingly invisible hatred is hard to explain. Although I already know that it is unfair to pass on the prejudice against the Japanese to AmeKo, but I still cling to the last trace of dignity of the ancient and stubborn nation. 『AmeKo, let me help you choose a Chinese name! 』 In order to avoid embarrassment and to avoid AmeKo being misunderstood, it was my turn to suggest this. "Hai! Chae-sang, please forgive me. Do-Zo!" The Chinese spoken by AmeKo is sometimes a bit convoluted. "Since you like rain, let's call it Xiaoyu. It sounds like rain."May I? 』 I couldn't think of a better name for a while, so I imitated her father's name. And since Yuzi's "zi" has no great meaning, Xiaoyu's "little" shouldn't be too special. "Little rain—um—light rain—" AmeKo tilted his head, thinking carefully. "Hai! Wa-Da-Si-Wa Xiaoyu Des, Ha-Zi-Me-Ma-Si-Te, Do-Zo, Yo-Ro-Si-Ku." She suddenly stood up very excitedly, then bowed 90 degrees to me, and said with a smile. We all seemed to think of the embarrassment when we met for the first time, and couldn't help laughing at the same time. "AmeKo, how should I pronounce my name in Japanese? 』 "Cai Nian Sai, Chi Nian Chi, Hong Nian KoWu. So Sai-Chi-KoWu." Cai Nian Sai?It is very similar to the pronunciation of "shit" in Taiwanese. Unexpectedly, "Cai" sounds ugly in Taiwanese, ugly in Mandarin, and even more terrifying in Japanese. "Hi! Wa-Da-Si-Wa Sai-Chi-KoWu Des, Ha-Zi-Me-Ma-Si-Te, Do-Zo, Yo-Ro-Si-Ku. 』There is no injustice, so this time it is my turn to bow 90 degrees to her. AmeKo smiled happily again. And I suddenly found that I really like to see those two canine teeth that she showed when she smiled. Gradually, I fell in love with AmeKo. To save two words, I mean I love taking AmeKo's classes. She was very serious when she was a student, and even more serious when she was a teacher. Sometimes I really want to tell her that all I need is hiragana and normal conversation. However, AmeKo's concentration and care during the lectures forced me to concentrate on the Japanese class. "Wa-Da-Si-Wa Sei-Ko-Wu-Dai-Ka-Ku No Ka-Ku-Sei. 』 AmeKo asked me to read "I am a student of Chenggong University" again. "Cai Sang, you have to pronounce Ga-Ku for "learning". Ga is a voiced sound and cannot be pronounced as Ka-Ku." AmeKo pronounced the sound of Ga exaggeratedly with the shape of her mouth, just showing her canine teeth. "I know why I can't read Ga well, because I don't have canine teeth. 』 "Hehe, you have to concentrate in class, don't joke around." "Did you know? I teach Japanese in Osaka dialect, which is different from Tokyo dialect." "yes?I understand.Then what I teach you is Taiwanese with a Taiwanese accent. 』 "I'm telling you the truth, Ne. So you have to remember that you are learning Japanese with an Osaka dialect!" AmeKo explained it very seriously, as if it was something that should not be sloppy. Even told me that people in Osaka say thank you O-Ki-Ni, not A-Ri-Ga-Do. In fact, as long as there are Japanese people who can understand the Japanese I speak, I will laugh, who cares about the accent! Being AmeKo's teacher is also very fun, because she often asks many difficult questions to communicate. "Cai Sang, what is lychee?" AmeKo knew that Yang Guifei likes lychee the most, so she asked me. "A kind of fruit!" ’ Otherwise, what else can I say? "What does it look like? What is it called in English?" "It's not the lychee production season, so I can't treat you to it."As for English, it may be called milk chicken. 』 "milk chicken?" "You chicken! 』 I thought it was funny, regardless of AmeKo's dazed face, laughing contentedly. "And what about "castration"?" "To die means to die. 』 "No, no, I mean this "castrate"—" AmeKo wrote down on the paper. "This one!Hmm - kind of hard to say. 』 "Really? Does it mean "the situation is over"?" 『Hahaha——Yes, yes, yes.After the trend is gone, the general trend is indeed gone. 』 Compared with Mr. Itakura, I, Mr. Cai, should really be ashamed. Although Yuzi is in Tainan, the winter in Tainan is not rainy because of this. Tainan's dry and warm winter is the main reason I like Tainan, but now I'm looking forward to the rain. Just like AmeKo. It was not until a Tuesday morning at the end of November that the sky began to rain. When AmeKo came to class that day, he was carrying a red backpack, which made me wonder. I remember that I was teaching her Li Shangyin's "Night Rain Sending North": "——Why cut the candles in the west window together, but talk about the rainy night in Bashan. 』 Although my window faced north, not the west window, it was raining outside the window right now. Like a hound hearing the sound, AmeKo jumped up and went straight to the window. "Man-Zai! Man-Zai! (Long Live)" AmeKo raised her hands high, feeling a little excited, like a little girl who received a Barbie doll. "Mo-Mo-Ta-Ro-san, Mo-Mo-Ta-Ro-san—" AmeKo started singing, clapping while singing. 『Ahem—AmeKo, it's class time. 』 "Really?" AmeKo put her watch in front of me: "It's 8:1, it's my turn to be the teacher. Man-Zai! Man-Zai!" There is no way, the situation is stronger than people, so I had to take out the Japanese reader. "We don't have class today. I'll teach you how to sing Japanese songs. Just teach me the "Momotaro" I sang just now." "However, today I have a strong desire to learn about the application of Japanese verbs, and I look forward to hearing the teacher's teachings. 』 I didn't want to learn Japanese songs, so I had to pretend that I really wanted to go to class. "Cai Sang, you really like to joke, how can you work so hard. Hehehe——" AmeKo saw that I was dragging my feet, and giggled again: "Singing Japanese songs is of great help to learning Japanese, which is called "teaching through entertainment." "That's what you call self-serving. 』 "Hehe——" AmeKo sat back at the table: "I'll sing something, and you sing along. This song is very simple and easy to learn."