$5

Hiya friend! My name is Zhu! I know it looks a little hard to say, but it’s pronounced like “Zoo”! I really like gardening; I grow my own veggies, but my neighbour Belial - a rotten, wicked cat - likes to sneak up on me when I’m harvesting. That’s partly why I don’t like cats. They can be so...mean and selfish. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met kind cats before, like Farrah, my other neighbour.

Growing up, my family was really poor. Begging for scraps and money on the street. Sometimes my siblings and I were forced to busk on the streets too...singing, dancing, and drawing in hopes of receiving a measly dollar or two. When my parents talked about their lives before they had us it always made me feel guilty for existing; they used to be rich, eat at fancy restaurants with the finest cheese and wine in the world. But have eight children really does eat up your income. Shoulda thought of that before you humped my mother into oblivion and poverty, dad.  

I finally managed to get on my feet when I was seventeen by getting a job on a nearby farm. My small hands and high energy made me great at harvesting and planting vegetables. The man who owned the farm told me I was a natural, and that he was surprised I’d never done any gardening before. At last, I was going to leave that life of poverty behind. 

Now, I earn my money as a landscaper, being paid to tend to other people’s gardens. I make decent money with that, but it’s not enough to support me fully, so I also work as a public bus driver in the cold seasons. I’m the only mouse in my building, and I always get picked on by cats like Belial and Ribbontail the black cat twins. Luckily for me, Farrah always stands up for me; we actually have a little community garden together on the roof of our building!

Here’s some fun facts about me!: I’m 3.2 ft tall, a 19 year old Libra, vegetarian, lesbian, child of divorced parents...ahem. I can fit into pretty much any small space, I love flowers and gardening, big animals like elephants scare the life out of me, I can speak three languages - English, Japanese, and French - and I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada!

Well, it was nice meeting you! Have a wonderful day!