Chapter 2 second quarter

It may be because the temperature has dropped, the mountains are filled with a faint fog, and the phantom light is surrounded by hazy halos. Noriko Shiihara recognized Yoshizo Takura in a bathrobe walking towards him, but they met on a narrow road, with a cliff on one side and a hillside on the other, and it was impossible to avoid it.Turning around and going back the same way, it was really annoying. She wanted to pretend to be a stranger and walk over.Suddenly, Tian Cang stopped, and seemed to be looking carefully at the Dianzi in the backlight through the dim streetlight, but due to the backlight, his appearance was not clear.She thought: "Oops!" and walked across quickly.

"Hey, isn't this Ms. Shiihara from "New Life Literature"!" Tian Cang shouted. I had no choice but to turn around, this time the positions were switched, and Tian Cang was standing in the direction of the backlight.The expression was not clear, but the voice sounded like snickering. "Sure enough, it's Miss Shiihara. I really didn't expect to meet you in Hakone!" As he spoke, he moved closer. "good evening." Dianzi had no choice but to answer.The other person's face is turned away from the light, but oneself is exposed to the light, which is inevitably frustrating.

Tanakura was shaking the sleeves of a yukata from some inn, looking relaxed and cheerful.Dianzi was restless because of the sweat all over her suit. "What's the matter? Are you here today?" Tian Cang asked while scanning the front and back roads.I want to find out if Dianzi has a companion.Tian Cang still looked like he was alone. "It's for business." Dianzi replied. "Business?" Tian Cang asked back, and immediately said: "Ah, it's Ms. Muratani's business." Tian Cang immediately said the name of Muratani Asako, and Noriko speculated from this sign that he came to Hakone because of business.But how did Tian Cang know that Ashazi was in Hakone?Dianzi naturally thought of this.

Yoshizo Takura is familiar with information about writers and artists.His job is to use this kind of information as a material to sort out relevant materials. If he finds interesting content, he will process it into revealing and interesting documentary texts and sell them to magazines. "It's really hard to come here to press the manuscript! Ah, you are going to finish school soon, so of course you have to hurry up." Tian Cang knew all this. "Ms. Muratani's manuscript is going through a lot, isn't it?" Dianzi replied vaguely.She didn't think it was necessary to answer to people outside the agency.

"This is really difficult. Shirai-kun is impatient again, so the matter may be serious, right?" While talking like this, Tian Cang pretended to have a long talk while standing up.Dianzi wanted to get rid of him earlier.Tanakura, who was wearing a bathrobe, approached step by step, and Noriko was a little scared.It looks like he drank some alcohol at the residence, and his body reeks of alcohol.He probably lives in a nearby hotel. "So, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Dianzi lowered his head slightly and said. "Wait a minute, please. Are you staying at Ms. Muratani's hotel?" he asked after catching up.

"No. In another hotel." "That's right. Ms. Muratani never lives in the same house as the editor." Dianzi walked forward, Tian Cang also followed.Noriko feels embarrassed when others seem to mistake her for a couple visiting a hot spring area. "Ms. Zaigu seems to be having a hard time writing. She hasn't written anything that stands out, and she hasn't published much." Tamakura seems to be enjoying walking with Noriko. "It's not that I'm too lazy to write, but it's actually my limited ability." Tian Cang's statement seems to have some kind of ridicule.Using the mocking tone of a so-called well-informed person.Dianzi lacks affection for this type of man.

There are only sparse street lights erected on the road, which is cold and dark.It makes people feel the distance from the brilliant lights on the distant mountains.Where does Tian Cang want to follow me?The sound of his clogs stimulated Noriko's nerves.The hotel where we were going to stay was gradually approaching, and just as we were about to say "goodbye", Tanakura said again: "Ms. Muratani never attends lectures or symposiums." Tian Cang always talked about Muratani Asazi, and it seems that he still has no intention of leaving Dianzi. "Mr. Muratani is unwilling to show up on such an occasion."

Dianzi has no choice but to say that it is his freedom to attend or not to attend lectures and symposiums.Tian Cang will make some slanderous remarks on this. "That's right. As a woman writer, you generally avoid speaking." Takura agrees to this with unexpected sincerity. "However, people are willing to attend the symposium. You can't be rigid in the lecture, you have to talk eloquently, but Muratani refuses even the symposium." He really said again. "Reading Muraya's novels, I never thought she would be so noble." Dianzi thought, it's over again.It was unbearable to be accompanied so endlessly, and she stopped.

"So, here I am," she said firmly. "Is that right?" Tian Cang was too embarrassed to go with him, so he also stopped. "Is the residence confirmed?" "Ok." "Where?" "Just ahead." Tian Cang looked forward and said, "Ah, it's Muhe. Muhe is indeed a good and quiet place." Dianzi was worried that if he answered, he would pester him endlessly, so he hurried away. Tian Cang stood there.Dianzi walked for a while and looked back, seeing the faint white of his bathrobe in the darkness.A faint mist drifted around. Dianzi's residence is not a grand hotel, it is said that it used to be someone's villa.Happily, it didn't feel like a hotel at all, and the room was very peaceful.

After taking a bath, I changed into the starched bathrobe provided here, and I felt extremely refreshed.The displeasure that arose when he met Tian Cangyi San finally dissipated. Fortunately, there are not many guests in the hotel, but fortunately, there are no tourist groups.Because there is only one female guest, it is really annoying to be stared at by the male guests in the corridor and other places. The waiter who took care of Noriko's dinner was a middle-aged woman. She said kindly to Noriko: "If you want to visit during the day, the scenery from here to the vicinity of the valley is pretty good."

She also told Dianzi the terrain nearby.Dianzi also recalled the scene of hidden rocks in the river when he passed by this place. After eating, Noriko went for a walk on the road in front of the residence.The sound of water splashing down the cliff is endless.Due to the darkness, the field of vision is limited, and it is difficult to enjoy the scenery of the famous Kiga Valley. The night air was quiet and cool.The cool breath of the forest surrounded him tightly from the dark surroundings.After all, Hakone is well-deserved.Right now, Tokyo is in the midst of scorching heat, and every family is unable to sleep under mosquito nets.Dianzi thought, living in this place is really a little uneasy. This is also thanks to the blessing of traveling for the magazine.No, it may be thanks to the writer Asako Muratani.This is quite a luxurious treatment for myself.It is secluded and silent, but the horns of cars passing by on the winding mountain road can be heard. In the dark and quiet, the light of the car lights rushes across the forest.The lights of the hotels on the mountain still flickered like special glowing insects floating on the sea.Extreme silence embraces the valley. It may be because the fog is getting thicker and thicker, the surrounding is white, and the lights in the distance are fading, blending into a hazy halo.Everything is like in a dream. Dianzi felt that returning to his residence now would be a bit disappointing in the bleak night.Although a little timid alone, she still walked forward slowly.Yes, the opportunity for a person to wander in such a night scene may never be encountered again in the future.The dreamlike beauty of night mist seduced her. The 23-year-old Dianzi gradually filled her chest with a feeling that seemed to be floating in the sky: She walks forward.This road is also far away from the main road in Hakone, so there is very little car traffic.And now, even pedestrians can't see it. Dianzi strolled in the night mist.The mountains are not completely dark.Although there are distances between them, the lights on the mountain and below the mountain reflect each other.The flowing white mist makes the cold night look a little gentle. It was time to go back this way, Noriko thought as she walked forward without thinking. I don't know which way to go, the light of another hotel is approaching, isn't this back to the vicinity of Miyanoshita? Muratani Asako must be hurrying up to write that manuscript right now.In front of Dianzi's eyes, the image of fat Ashazi with oily nose, leaning over his body and writing.Sometimes I stopped writing and stroked my forehead in thought.In any case, I was really sorry to think that I was pushing her to make her work so hard, while I was walking around so leisurely. However, if I can't manage to get the manuscript back tomorrow evening, it will be difficult.Editor-in-Chief Shirai must have been waiting anxiously while brushing his hair with his hands.Thinking of this, Dianzi's fantasy was immediately interrupted, and his thoughts returned to vulgar and specific affairs.The interest in continuing to roam disappeared, and the sense of professional responsibility bound her consciousness tightly like a rope. Noriko thought, by the way, to check the progress of the manuscript, and now go to the Suginoya Hotel where Asako Muratani lives.However, she came with her husband and maid, which shows that this female writer cleverly avoided the intention of editors to come to ask for manuscripts, so Dianzi dismissed this idea.Anyway, there is still a whole night tonight, so call her from the residence at noon tomorrow. Dianzi turned around and walked back along the way he had come, when he suddenly saw two figures vaguely ahead in the night mist.Judging by the yukata she was wearing, she must be a guest of the hotel. It is not uncommon to see male and female bathers walking on this road, but what caught Noriko's attention was that the man looked like Muratani Asako's husband. Dianzi and Muratani Ryogo have met three or four times before. He is thin and tall, just in sharp contrast to his wife Ashazi, who is fat and short, and the two have completely different personalities.The wife is a talented novelist, but the husband is just a mediocre employee of a securities company.What's more interesting is that I heard that Yuko's wife is too busy, Ryogo may quit his job, maybe to write for his wife and handle various chores.In short, this is a cowardly man who objected to his wife's powerlessness. Seeing the figure of that man, Noriko concluded that it was indeed Ryogo.The size and posture are so consistent.Moreover, the Sugi House Hotel where Asako Muratani lives is nearby. However, the woman walking beside him has never been seen before.Her face was unrecognizable in the darkness, and because of the fog, it looked even more blurred. If it was Liangwu, his wife Ashazi would of course be walking side by side, but unlike her fat figure, this was a slender woman.It seems that neither of these two people noticed Dianzi, they were talking in a low voice and walking slowly, obviously looking like a happy couple. Dianzi hurriedly turned back as if seeing something annoying.As he walked, he wondered whether that person was Ryogo Muratani.Of course, I couldn't see his face clearly just now, but his body and posture are absolutely similar, which makes people have that intuition, but it is impossible for Liangwu to walk side by side with other women so closely.A man who is so obedient to his wife would never behave so stupidly in a hot spring area where he and his wife are visiting. It seems that after all, he still admitted the wrong person.Maybe it's because of seeing similar people, so I have this illusion.Dianzi thought; maybe he was confused by the night fog? Dianzi walked quickly.She seemed to have woken up from a dream, suddenly feeling terrified of this kind of mountain road travel at night.The street lights flickered intermittently, which also made people panic.She was also worried that Tian Cang would suddenly appear here. Back at the residence, the waitress smiled and said, "Have you gone for a walk? It's foggy tonight." When Dianzi returned to her bright room, she breathed a sigh of relief.The waitress then entered the room. "Tomorrow morning, you might as well get up and have a look. The morning fog here covers the foothills and valleys, just like ink and wash landscape paintings." After she said that, she set the tea set and stepped back. Dianzi went to bed, took out the book in the travel bag, and read it. Although the content of the book was simple, he couldn't read it.She was thinking about how to get Muratani Ashazi's manuscript before tomorrow evening, but the figure of Tian Cang appeared in front of her eyes, and then she thought of the man and woman she saw under the faint light in the night mist, her mind was in a mess Make a ball. "Ms. Muratani never attends lectures or symposiums." Tian Cang's voice sounded in his ear again.Is such that.Writers who hate symposiums like this are indeed rare.Dianzi's editorial department also invited her two or three times, but she was flatly declined, and she has never heard of any lectures she attended. There may be other reasons.I don't know what Tian Cang is thinking.However, there are still a few writers who do not attend lectures and symposiums.Muratani Asako didn't want to appear on that occasion because of her personality.There is nothing surprising about this. Thinking of this, Dianzi gradually fell asleep. Noriko got up at 6 o'clock. Last night the waitress came to say good morning. "Going for a walk?" she asked.Dianzi replied, "Yes." She added, "It's very foggy this morning!" Dianzi put on her suit and walked outside.The waitress said it was okay to wear a yukata, but Noriko didn't like to appear in public in hotel clothes. This fog is indeed unusual.Probably because of the deep valley, the morning light has not yet reached here, and the thick white mist is rolling like the sea.Different from the thin fog that flowed like smoke seen last night, it completely concealed the opposite mountain peaks and valleys, appearing extremely thick. Unlike at night, Dianzi walked leisurely and easily on the road this morning.There are also guests who got up early, and several people are already walking on the road, and when they meet, they all suddenly appear in front of them like shadows.It's also kind of fun. As I walked, I felt that walking on the avenue was boring, so I stepped on a branching path.The road is obviously closed to vehicles, and even pedestrians cannot be seen.The grass and leaves are covered with dewdrops. Dianzi stepped on this path.Anyway, she thought, she would go to the main road.There is still a sea of ​​whiteness and mist ahead.As the footsteps moved forward, the path and the woods gradually emerged from the fog. Looking back, the trees disappeared into the fog again at the place where he had just walked.She felt that she was walking in a white world. Suddenly, two black figures appeared in the white screen ahead.The black shadows did not move, but stood side by side. Dianzi stared at the black shadow and stopped.The two figures seemed familiar, not only that, but the voice sounded familiar as well. There are faint shadows in the fog, one is an obese woman, and the other is a tall and thin man. ——It was the female writer Muratani Ashazi and Tiankura Yoshizo who sold the inside information to the magazine—the man's voice was hoarse and low, while the woman's voice was as high as metal percussion, it was undoubtedly Ashazi. Dianzi hurriedly left the path.She herself didn't understand why.This is because she feels a mysterious atmosphere here.It's a gut feeling. Noriko fled back to her hotel room out of breath. The same waitress brought the tea. "What's wrong with you?" she asked, frowning.Maybe it's because Dianzi's complexion is not good. "No, nothing." Dianzi said, but his heart still hasn't calmed down.Dianzi didn't understand why Muratani Asazi and Tian Cang stood side by side in the morning mist.On the other hand, I didn't understand why this matter would shake my mood so much.Maybe this is because of the movie-like husband Muratani Ryogo and the unidentified woman seen in the mist last night.That is to say, between these two pairs of characters in the mist, there is some kind of unusual connection whose details are unknown.An invisible thread links the figures of two different men and women together.