Chapter 6 first quarter

Kana Kana Kana—— Mu Chan started calling.Ah Hui snapped back to his senses and raised his eyes to look out.Behind the wall is Lord Sakakibara's mansion, and the cicadas are singing in the lush forest surrounding the mansion. The western sky has been covered with a layer of faint twilight. Kana, Kana, Kana, only one weakly barked.Even so, it was the first cicada song heard this year.Before you know it, summer is over and autumn is approaching. It is obvious that the clothes should be mended, but there is no progress.I don't know how long I've been sitting there in a daze?Ah Hui flicked her forehead with her fingertips, alerting herself.

What needs to be mended is a short jacket dyed dark blue, with the two white characters "Zhiban" blank on the back, which is the business name passed down from generation to generation by Master Banjiro.The vine pattern around the cuffs is also imprinted.Sakichi often let twigs catch on his sleeves and tear the pattern.He himself said that this was due to some wrong arm movements when climbing trees and using large pruning shears. "The master often corrects me, but I can't change it forever." The torn part of the right sleeve was only half repaired, and the hand stopped.Ah Hui sat down again, poked the needle point into her hair, and hurriedly continued.Such a little needlework had to be finished before sunset.

Before going out, Zuoji explained that Lord Sasaki's residence will be completed tonight, and he must accompany his master to attend, and he will not be able to return until late at night.Ah Hui said "Be careful on the road" and sent Zuoji out, and Zuoji also responded, "Then I'm going out." The two people also had smiles on their faces and their voices were equally cheerful. However, there are falsehoods in them.Ah Hui deeply realized that in fact, both of them were aware of this falsehood, and tried their best to conceal it from each other. When did this suffocating cycle start?Where did it start?When the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, they become a couple.Although it was a small wedding attended only by close relatives and friends, everyone who came to watch the ceremony rejoiced for them and wished them happiness.Not to mention, both are hopeful about the new lives that are about to unfold in front of them.

In less than half a year, what went wrong for us to become like this?Ah Hui sewed tightly stitch by stitch, but felt that her eyes were getting darker.Mu Chan's sad cry added a bit of desolation. The first time I met Saki was ten years ago.Ah Hui's family opened a teahouse by the famous Fudo Waterfall in Wangzi'an Village, and he came to visit Ah Hui's cousin Ami. Ah Hui still remembers very clearly that a tall, thin young man lowered his head and stammered: I am currently working as an apprentice at the house of a master flower carpenter, and I was first allowed to return home on the helper’s rest day, but I am homeless I came here, wanting to meet Ami, whom the master of the house had mentioned before, and whom I have always wanted to meet.If it is inconvenient, I will pretend to be a tourist and leave, please forgive my presumptuousness.

Sakichi Tai Ahui was eight years old and was eighteen at the time.Ah Hui is ten years old, and Ah Mi is only three years old. They are still ignorant children. Even if people who join the house come, they don't understand anything.Therefore, the introverted Sakichi is mainly accompanied by Ah Hui's parents, and Ah Hui peeps behind the screen. Ami's biological father is a rich man named Soemon, who opened a shop called Minaya in Tsukiji, the busiest place in Edo, and his mother is Ahui's aunt, who used to serve tea in a teahouse in Asakusa.In addition to Ami, Soemon also has many illegitimate children.The aunt passed away shortly after giving birth to Ami, and Ami was adopted by Ahui's family. The two have always been brothers and sisters.

Couwu sends a lot of money to Ah Hui's parents every month.On the first day of every month, the clerk in the store delivered them, but the other party never stayed for a long time, gave the money, and left after saying a set of polite but formal greetings, without even entering the house to sit.Therefore, Ah Hui and her parents hardly feel the shadow of the house above Ami's head on weekdays, and they can live as usual. However, even though Sakichi was polite that day, he clearly visited under the name of Minato.He said that he was the son of the niece of Soemon Minatoya, called Soemon the master, and said embarrassingly: The master confessed that Ami and I are also blood relatives, and he wanted me to treat Ami as a younger sister who came out late , take good care of.

Ah Hui's parents were very impressed and fell in love with Zuoji immediately, but Ah Hui found it boring.Pretending to be a ten-year-old girl to be strong and aggressive, she felt that this man was really shameless, so he forced his way to the door, and couldn't help feeling angry. In fact, this is also a ten-year-old girl's jealousy towards Ami, now that I think about it, I can't understand it.Zoji looked at the young Ami with such warm eyes, the colors of the toys he brought to Ami were so bright, and the exquisitely packaged snacks looked so delicious.All of this made her feel dissatisfied.Therefore, at the suggestion of his parents, he went to the backyard to talk to Ami who was feeding the chickens, and then happily chased after the flock of chickens, Ahui couldn't bear it anymore, and walked out with his shoes on.

"Hey!" Ah Hui recalled himself when he called Zuoji to stop: he raised his chin, put his hands on his hips, and looked savage. "Don't feed my chickens casually, okay? Chickens can't be fed randomly." Sakichi still had the expression on his face when he looked at Ami and smiled, and suddenly turned his head towards Ahui, raising his thick eyebrows in surprise. "Ah, I'm so sorry." Ami took his hand and said, "This is my sister!" "Really? That's Ah Hui." Furious, Ah Hui snatched the sieve containing the chicken feed from Ah Mi, and the miscellaneous grain feed spilled all over the floor.

"Oh, sister, really, how could this be possible!" Ami shouted loudly as she bounced back and avoided. "My sister feeds the chickens indiscriminately." "Ami, go get the broom." Ahui stared at Zuoji and ordered ferociously. "It was my sister who spilled it, and my sister will get it herself!" "you go!" Ah Hui's harsh words made Ah Mi flinch a little, and Saji immediately smoothed things over: "In that case, let me do the cleaning. Borrow the broom." Ah Hui pushed back Saki who wanted to go through the backyard. "Ami, go get the broom!"

Ami looked like she was about to cry.This child is like this, crying at every turn.Ah Hui's anger was getting bigger and bigger, and she didn't understand why she had no reason to get so angry, she felt a little guilty for a while, and couldn't control herself. "Not yet!" Ah Hui stomped her feet and roared, Ami burst into tears and ran home. The tall and thin Sakichi touched his thin chin with one hand, and looked at Hui timidly.Ah Hui still tried her best to put on a disgusted expression. "You're a housekeeper, aren't you?" "Eh? Ah, um, yeah."

"Isn't it a relative of Master Kouwu? You're not a servant, but a relative of the Grand Master, so you're amazing, right?" "I'm nothing special..." "Then what are you doing at my house? Come to show off your power? To see how my parents are thankful for the house, aren't you?" Facing the aggressive Ah Hui, Sakichi's reaction was unexpected.he laughed. "It turns out Ah Hui is angry." After all, Ah Hui was a ten-year-old girl, she was speechless for a while after being told the truth to her face. "I'm sorry, but I didn't mean to make Ah Hui and my uncles and aunts feel uncomfortable. I really just wanted to see Ah Mi." This gentle statement made Ah Hui immediately discouraged. She didn't know why she suddenly wanted to cry, but she still mustered up her strength and pouted bitterly. "What, it's obviously just relying on the fame of the house to show off its prestige." Sakichi, who was just an adult, seemed to be deeply hurt by the words of Hui, who was only a child, and his eyes darkened.Only then did Ah Hui realize that what she thought she was punching was a hard object, but unexpectedly that object was far more fragile than imagined.This is a common mistake made by competitive children, but it is much better than adults when they realize that they are wrong and immediately show it on their faces. Ah Hui's face turned blue.Seeing her appearance, even though Sakichi was only half an adult, he remembered that he was much older than the girl in front of him, so he immediately restrained his expression. "Sorry." He knelt down so that his eyes were at the same height as Ah Hui, and apologized again. "Master often scolds me, saying that I am careless and reckless. It is true. It is natural that Ah Hui does not welcome me, because Ah Mi is Ah Hui's baby sister. I came here suddenly, no wonder you are angry." Ah Hui knew that if she spoke at this time, tears would immediately fall, so she gritted her teeth and looked at the ground.The flock of chickens was noisy and gathered towards the spilled feed. "I promise I won't come again. Also, I didn't come to take Ami away, I didn't want her to leave this house, absolutely not. In fact, I didn't come here at the request of the master of the house. It has nothing to do with the house. I really am myself I wanted to. Because I don’t have any parents or siblings, Ami and Ami can barely be considered as blood relatives, I feel very close, I just want to meet once.” Ah Hui never thought that Zuoji was here to take away Ah Mi, and never worried about it.And she was so angry that she even had the thought of "it would be great if there was no Ami".Now I understand that it is delicious. As a result, things ended like this.Ah Hui left an indescribable bitter taste in his mouth.Sakichi apologized to Hui and went into the house, then left. Ami burst into tears, blaming her sister for bullying others. Ah Hui was called into the house by her parents and was scolded severely.She bowed her head stubbornly. "Zoji is a member of the family! But you are no different from others? Why are you so ignorant!" When her mother scolded her so harshly, Ah Hui retorted: "The guy named Zuoji said he wasn't sent by the house, and it has nothing to do with the house!" Mother slapped Ah Hui across the face. "How can someone talk about this kind of thing! Don't talk about anything else, he is honest and polite, he is clearly a good person, and we even accepted a gift, how can you speak evil words?" That night, Ah Hui hid under the quilt without eating. Her father came to her, patted her on the head through the quilt, and said gently: "You're not as young as Ami, and you're getting more and more sensible. I think you're starting to think about things on your own. Dad knows why you're upset, so don't be angry anymore. It's not like you at all." Ah Hui didn't make a sound, she shrank back and listened to her father's words. "However, although you are slowly becoming sensible, half of your heart is still a child, and you don't understand some things in detail. It's just that this shop in the house—no, there are many things in the house in the house that are not humane. That young man, Sakichi, is also living with these difficulties. This is probably the reason why he is so mature despite being a baby." Sakichi's background was very lonely, his father continued teaching. "He has no parents, no home, and no siblings. The small house seems to be his backing, but it is not a place that the child can rely on with peace of mind." Hearing his father call Saoji "that child", the grown-up Saochi in Ah Hui's memory suddenly looked like a helpless little orphan. "So Dad can understand how he wants to see Ami. Besides, Chauwu is actually worried about Ami, and it is true that he asked Zuoji to come to the prince to see Ami. Without a mother, it seems that there is only Ami, so I feel very sympathetic to your sister." Ah Hui poked her head out from under the quilt, and found her father's gentle face and those squinting eyes that seemed to be smiling at any time. Immediately, he felt much more relaxed, and his frozen face softened, Ah Hui just wanted to act like a baby to his father. "Here, Daddy." "What's up?" "In that case, why didn't the house adopt Ami?" "You'd rather Ami go to the small house?" "Nah……" "Isn't that all right?" As the father said, he patted Ah Hui's stomach through the quilt. "Couchu didn't adopt Ami because of the difficulties I just mentioned. Like Zuoji who is alone, they have similar backgrounds. Isn't Zuoji just like Ami's brother? So Dad has told him that he can come anytime he wants to see Ami .” Ah Hui reflected for a while, and expressed her thoughts: "However, I said very bad things to him, and he will not come again." "what did you say?" "I said he was trying to show off his prestige by taking part in the house." "You are really eloquent." "……Sorry." It doesn't matter, my father smiled softly. "In any case, Zoji will have to wait until next year's helper's holiday to be free. The apprentices who have not yet graduated from the master and must live and eat with the master will be disciplined as strictly as the shop assistants, and I don't know how many years it will take to become a master." "Will he forget what I said during this time?" "I will never forget it. But during this year, Dad will always go to the city to do business. At that time, Dad will go to him and ask him to come again." Father looked at Ah Hui. "Tell him, by the way, that you're sorry for saying something you shouldn't have said to him. That'll be all right." That year, from spring to summer, when sweeping the fallen leaves in autumn and stepping on the frost in winter, Ah Hui would think of Sakichi from time to time.Since he is Ami's elder brother, he is also his own elder brother.The next time I see him, I must apologize to him, and I must behave myself... However, Sakichi did not come to visit on the helper's holiday the following year. It wasn't until the next month that the people who sent money here as usual in the couch room told them that they didn't know the reason why Zuoji didn't come.It turned out that Sakichi accidentally fell from a tree and was injured while climbing a tree before the helper's holiday. "Is it badly hurt?" "It's not serious. It's not life-threatening. It's just that I broke my leg and couldn't walk." Ami is very sorry.In Ah Hui's view, what she regrets is not Saji himself, but the gift he prepared.Ah Hui himself felt lonely and regretful for Sakichi's inability to visit. "Please tell him that when he is able to walk again, he will come to the prince's Fufu Waterfall and heal his feet quickly. Fudo Waterfall is famous for curing all kinds of diseases. Please come here. You don't have to be polite when the time comes, just stay here with us. " The envoy who was sent away by his father entrusted him with a message. According to Zuoji's personality, no matter how graciously his father invites him, he will not just come to bother him like this. Even Ah Hui understands this.Maybe he won't come to our house again—so Ah Hui secretly made up his mind: In this case, let me go to worship the god Fufu on his behalf, and ask the gods to bless his injury to heal quickly and leave no deformity. Therefore, Ah Hui frequently visited the main hall of Fudojin from the teahouse in Menzen Town.Because I am still young, I can't go out as soon as I say I go out, and I can't go there every day, at most once every three to five days.I was also embarrassed to tell my parents that I was visiting the shrine for Sakichi, and it was even more inconvenient to keep it from them. When the plum blossoms were gone and the cherry blossom buds swelled, Sakichi came to the prince. Afterwards, Ah Hui found out that her father had already guessed the reason why she couldn't worship the gods, and he also conveyed the matter to Zuoji through the people sent by the house every month.The father said to Zuoji like this: Although Ah Hui is a child, but he feels sorry for treating you badly, and desperately atones for his sins, so you should have two younger sisters in the prince, and come to see them again. Zuoji stayed at Ah Hui's house for half a month, and Chong Waterfall healed his foot.When he returned to his master's house, the previous estrangement had already vanished, and he got along very well with Ah Hui and Ah Mi. "Next year's helper holiday, I will come again." Zoji left with a lame foot, and Ahui and Ami waved goodbye to him side by side. Ah Hui thought to himself that although the three of them were not ordinary brothers and sisters, they were indeed brothers and sisters.Because even if they can only meet each other on the helper's rest day every year, the three of them are still friendly. Soon, Zuoji was twenty years old, and finally got the master's approval to become a teacher. From an apprentice who lived and boarded with the master, he became a flower and carpenter who lived and worked alone.And with the footsteps of young people, the prince can easily go back and forth on the same day. In this way, let alone once a year, he can visit every three months, so the three of them are getting closer and closer.The young Ami grew up by five or six years, from a child to a seven or eight-year-old girl, and gradually became Sakichi's real brother. On the other hand, Ah Hui, who is also getting older and has transformed from a girl to a young girl, has also begun to be talked about going to the Wu family to help her learn etiquette.Ah Hui's mother had long hoped that Ah Hui could be a servant in a certain family with strict etiquette and ethics, instead of being a girl who only knows how to work in a teahouse, so the matter was quickly arranged. During the job change at the age of fifteen, Hui had to leave the prince's house and work as a servant in the main house of a famous family in Kio Izaka for a period of three years.For a girl from the Edo outskirts of the prince, this is a unique and good family.Thanks to the mediation of the head of An Village, this matter was facilitated. Even so, Ah Hui secretly felt sad regardless of her happy mother.Three years is so long for a fifteen-year-old girl.During these three years, not to mention the loneliness of parting from parents and Ami, let alone seeing Sakichi at all. At this time, Ah Hui's feelings for Zuoji have developed into a faint love. As soon as he informed Zuoji that he had finished talking about the help, he rushed to visit Ah Hui before he left home. "Ah Hui will definitely miss home for a while, and Ami who stays at home will also feel lonely because her sister is not around." Ah Hui didn't speak.To practice her needlework, she went out to the well-lit porch and sewed on old handkerchiefs. "Ami won't be lonely." After a while she whispered back. "With Zoji brother coming to see her, she will definitely not be lonely." Zoji smiled and said, "Thank you. However, I can't come here often." "are you busy?" "It's not long since I was a teacher, and I can barely make ends meet." Ah Hui let out an oh.This "oh", in Ah Hui, there are mixed flavors, too mixed to distinguish the original flavor, but Zuoji seems to be unaware of it. "In this case, let's write a letter!" Zoji said happily. "I can also practice calligraphy by the way." "Writing to Ami? That's fine. In this way, Ami will also learn to read letters! She can't do it now, that child hates going to school." "So that's the case. But, Ah Hui's handwriting is very good, right? I heard Dad mention it." Zuo Ji has now called Ah Hui's father "Daddy". "Because I like to go to school. My mother said that I can learn Chinese characters when I help out at the master's house." "Ah Hui, I don't know if I can write letters back from my master's house? Also, can I receive letters from my master?" Ah Hui's eyes widened, she hadn't thought about such a thing at all. "have no idea." "It would be great if it was possible. In this way, through Ami, the three of us can communicate together, isn't it? It must be very interesting." What this means is that Sakichi will write letters home, not only to Ami, but also to Ahui. "It would be great if it was possible." Ah Hui also echoed. "I will work hard to get the master to allow me to correspond with my family." "yes." "But, brother, how are you going to deliver the letter? By someone in the house?" Zoji tilted his head, thinking for some reason with a smile. "That's fine if you want to, but there may be other ways." He said that he picked up a little crow just the day before yesterday. "Its foot is injured, but I think it will be fine soon after taking care of it. Crows are not easy to raise, and I don't know if they are willing to get close to people, but if it is done well, maybe you can ask the crow to deliver a message." How is this possible!Ah Hui couldn't help laughing.But Zuoji said sternly, that he had heard about the anecdotes in military novels about using wild pigeons or crows to transmit important ciphertexts, so it must work. "Daddy said that some military discipline novels are deceptive." "Really? However, it should be somewhat true." Ah Hui covered her mouth and laughed out loud. "Brother, did you name the little crow yet?" "Take it." Zoji smiled happily. "It's always cooing, so I call it Kankuro."