Chapter 64 Chapter 06 Dead End

Atong stopped his sewing hand: "Who?" "Which one is it?" When I opened the paper door, there was no one outside.Ah Tong knew that it was his own illusion, and the feeling of loneliness surged into his heart again.The dress in her hand is just short of the collar, but she has no intention of doing it anymore. She muttered to herself: "I thought it was Jotaro!" Still unwilling to give up, she looked at the door.As long as there is a slight movement, it is thought that Jotaro is back looking for him. This is located under the three-year slope. Although the town is a bit of a mess, the roadsides are lined with bushes and fields, dotted with blooming camellias and plum blossoms.

The detached house that A Tong lives in is also surrounded by flowers and trees, and there is a 100-square-meter vegetable garden in front of the house.Directly opposite the vegetable garden was the hotel kitchen, which was busy and noisy from morning till night.In short, this detached house is also owned by the hotel, and the morning and evening meals are delivered from the opposite kitchen. Now Ashanpo has gone out.If she comes to Kyoto, she will definitely stay in this hotel.And in the hotel, this detached house is her favorite.At this moment, a woman in the kitchen opposite the vegetable garden called out:

"Miss Atong, it's time for dinner, can you deliver the meal?" Atong recovered from his contemplation: "Ah! It's time to eat! Wait for grandma to come back to eat together, and then bring it over!" The woman in the kitchen said again: "Before going out, the old woman told me that she will return late today, maybe in the evening." "I'm not too hungry yet, so I won't eat Chinese food." "You always don't eat, let me bring you some food!" At this time, a burst of firewood smoke drifted in, swallowing the plum tree in the vegetable garden and the house opposite.

There are several pottery kilns in this area, and during the pottery firing days, there is always thick smoke in the vicinity.But after the thick smoke dissipated, the sky in early spring looked extraordinarily bright. The neighing of horses and the voices of people visiting Kiyomizu Temple are often heard from the main road.The news of Musashi's defeat of Yoshioka also spread among these chaotic voices. Atong was overjoyed, and the figure of Musashi immediately appeared in front of his eyes.She thought to herself: "Jotaro must have gone to Rendaiji Temple to watch the martial arts competition. If Jotaro comes here, he will know the details."

Therefore, she eagerly awaits Jotaro's arrival. However, Jotaro never appeared.It has been more than 20 days since Wutiaoqiao broke up.Sometimes she thinks: "Even if he comes here, he doesn't know that I'm staying in this hotel... No, probably not! I told him that if he lived in the slope for three years, he would be able to ask from door to door!" She thought again: "Will he catch a cold and get sick, and lie in bed to rest?" But Atong didn't believe that Jotaro would lie in bed with a cold.Maybe he is flying a kite leisurely under the early spring sky!Thinking of this, Artong couldn't help feeling angry.

Then again, maybe Jotaro would think: "A Tong is not far from here, she should come to me. Besides, she has been coming to Karasuma's house to thank her." Maybe he thought so, waiting for Ah Tong to go to the Karasuma mansion! It's not that Atong didn't think of this, but from her point of view, it is extremely easy for Jotaro to come here, but it is more difficult to go to the official residence by himself.Not only that, no matter where she wants to go, she has to seek the consent of Ashanpo. Ashanpo is not here today, isn't it a good time to go out?People who don't understand the situation may think so.But the old woman was not careless.She had told the hotel concierge to keep an eye out for Atong.As long as she walked to the door and watched, someone would casually ask from the main house:

"Miss Atong, where are you going?" Besides, from Sannianpo to the border of Qingshui, many people know Ashanpo.Last year, she single-handedly challenged Musashi near Shimizu.The bearers and porters who witnessed the incident at that time all said: "That old woman is really tough!" "She's amazing!" "She left her home for revenge." It was not long after this incident that the old woman became very popular and respected by all.The people in the hotel respected her even more, so there was only one sentence from A Shan: "Please keep an eye on that woman for me, lest she escape in my absence."

The people at the hotel were of course loyal to her account. In any case, it is absolutely impossible for A Tong to go out without authorization.The letter must also be delivered through the people in the hotel.So she can only wait for Jotaro's arrival. "..." She retreated behind the door and began sewing again.It is also the travel outfit that Ashan wants to modify. At this time, there was a figure on the paper door—— A strange woman's voice came from outside: "Huh? I got it wrong." The man seemed to have walked into this alley from the main road, and entered the vegetable garden and the side room without authorization.

Atong poked his head out of the paper door as if nothing had happened.The woman was standing under the plum tree in the vegetable garden.Seeing Atong, he lowered his head in embarrassment. "Excuse me, is this a hotel? There is a hotel lantern hanging at the entrance of the alley, so I came in." The woman looked embarrassed and a little bewildered. A Tong forgot to answer her question, just looked at the woman from head to toe.Her strange gaze made this dead-end woman even more flustered. "Where is this?" The woman looked at the surrounding roofs, and then at the plum tree next to her.

"Ah! The plum blossoms are so beautiful!" She raised her blushing face, pretending to be absorbed in watching. correct!I saw her at Wujo Bridge! Atong remembered, and was afraid of admitting the wrong person, so he kept trying to recall his memories—she was the woman who was crying on Musashi's chest by the railing of the bridge on the morning of the first day of the first lunar month.The other party probably doesn't know about it?But Atong couldn't forget this matter. Since that day, she has been brooding over this woman, just like facing an old enemy. The woman in the kitchen seemed to have reported this to the counter, so the shopkeeper walked around to the alley from the front.

"This female guest officer, do you want to stay?" Zhu Shi's eyes were a little flustered. "Yes, where is the hotel?" "It's at the entrance just now, which is the turn on the right side of the alley." "Ah! It's facing the street!" "Although it faces the street, it is very quiet." "The entrance and exit of the hotel are not very conspicuous. I looked for it and saw a lantern hanging in the corner of the alley. I thought the hotel was behind, so I found this place." Zhu Shi explained while looking at the house where Atong was standing.asked: "Is this the wing room?" "Yes, it's the wing of the building in front." "It's better here... It's quiet and private." "There are nice rooms over there in the main house too." "The shopkeeper! The person who lives here happens to be a female guest... May I also live here?" "However, there is an old woman who is not easy to get along with living here, so..." "It does not matter, I do not mind." "We'll wait for the old woman to come back later, and we'll ask her if she wants to live together." "I'll go to the room over there to rest before she comes back!" "This way, please. You will certainly like the room over there." Zhu Shi followed the people of the hotel and went around to the main hall. "..." As a result, Ah Tong didn't say anything, she regretted why she didn't ask the woman just now?Maybe this is my unwanted personality.She fell into deep thought alone: ​​What is the relationship between that woman and Musashi just now?Even if it's just asking about it. Atong saw them at Wutiao Bridge, and the two talked for a long time, and it seemed that they were by no means ordinary friends.Because the woman cried later, Musashi still hugged her shoulders! "She didn't just do this to Musashi..." Ah Tong tries to disprove his jealous guess.But since that day, she has suffered an inexplicable amount of pain in her heart. "She is more beautiful than myself." "She has a better chance of getting close to Musashi than herself." "She is more talented than herself, and she can subtly capture a man's heart." Before that, she only thought of Musashi and herself.But suddenly, Ah Tong reflected on the world of the same sex, and felt sad for his own weakness. "I'm not pretty enough." "No talent." "It also has nothing to do with Musashi." Compared with most women in the general society, she feels that hope is always slipping by her side, and she is just holding an unintentional dream.Recently, she has not been able to use the courage to overcome the storm when she climbed the thousand-year-old cedar at Qibao Temple. The only thing that lives in her heart is the cowardice that squatted behind the bullock cart on the Wutiao Bridge that morning. "I really need Jotaro's help!" Atong thought: This may be because when I climbed the thousand-year-old cedar, I still had a bit of the same innocent heart as Jotaro! She thought of the complicated mood of being alone and worrying recently, maybe it meant that the girl's pure heart had left her.Thinking of this, tears filled my eyes and dripped on the clothes I sewed. "Are you in the room? Ah Tong, why don't you light the lamp?" The sky had already darkened at some point, Ashanpo who came back from the outside asked. "You are back! I will light the lamp at once." The old woman cast a cold glance at Atong who was walking towards the small room, and then sat down on the tatami. After lighting the lamp, A Tong asked: "Grandma, are you tired? Where have you been today?" "Is there even a need to ask?" A Shan deliberately said in a stern tone: "I'm going to find my son Matahachi and find out about Musashi's whereabouts." "Let me massage your feet." "My feet are not that tired. It may be due to the weather. My shoulders have been stiff for four or five days. If you want, you can massage my shoulders." As long as the two sides talk, A Shan will be like this.Ah Tong thought to himself that it would be better for him to be patient until his grandmother finds Youba and makes a conclusion about the past.Therefore, he quietly went around behind the old woman, massaged and said: "The shoulders are really hard, will it be difficult to breathe?" "When I walk, I occasionally feel stuffy in my chest. After all, I'm getting old, maybe I'll have a stroke one day and be bedridden!" "You are still very tough, young people are not as energetic as you! Don't say such depressing words." "But even Uncle Quan, who is so cheerful, doesn't just walk away. The change of life is like a dream.... As long as I think of Musashi, I will be full of energy. As long as I want to compete with Musashi, I will be happy. It makes me so excited that I can't lose to anyone." "Grandma... Brother Musashi is not such a bad person...Grandma, you are wrong!" "Humph……" A Shan asked A Tong to rub his shoulders. "Really? To you, he is the man you abandoned and became obsessed with! I said he was bad just now, but I'm so sorry!" "Oh! That's not what I meant." "Don't you admit it? Compared to Matahachi, isn't Musashi cuter? I think it's more practical to explain everything clearly." "..." "If you can meet Yatahachi, my old woman will stand among you. After explaining to Youhachi what you want, you and grandma will be like passers-by. You can run to Musashi's arms, and maybe you will talk about our mother and son." bad words!" "Why do you think so? Grandma, Atong is not such a girl. I always keep this sentence in mind." "Young girls nowadays can really speak, and they speak so nicely! My old woman is an upright person, and she speaks without embellishment at all. If you become Musashi's wife, then you and I will be enemies... Heh, heh , Heh! Massaging your enemy’s shoulders is not a good feeling, is it?” "..." "You must have endured this hardship because you wanted to be with Musashi. If you think so, there is nothing you can't bear." "..." "why are you crying?" "I didn't cry." "So, what's dripping on my collar?" "...Sorry, unknowingly..." "Hey! It feels like a bug is crawling. It's really uncomfortable. Can you push harder...don't cry and just think about Musashi!" In the vegetable garden in front of the door, the light of a lantern appeared.Probably the lady from the hotel brought dinner again. "Excuse me, is this the room of Mr. Benbu Tian's Lingtang?" Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a monk standing at the door. On the lantern in his hand read: Otowa-san Kiyomizu Temple. "I am a member of Zi'an Hall." The monk put the lantern aside and took out a letter from his pocket: "I don't quite know what's going on. In the evening, there was a young ronin who was dressed thinly and looked extremely cold. He kept looking into the inner hall. He also asked, "Have you seen a person from Zuozhou recently?" Grandma came to worship? I replied: She often comes. So, he borrowed a pen and wrote this letter. He also said that if you see that grandma, please give this to her. After finishing speaking, I left. I happened to be going to Wujo for shopping, so I dropped by." "That's really great, thank you for your hard work." Grandma is very good at socializing, and immediately took out the cushions to greet the guests, but the monk who delivered the letter left immediately. "How strange!" Grandma opened the letter under the lamp.After reading the letter, his face changed drastically.Presumably the content of the letter must have strongly shocked Grandma's heart. "A Tong!" "I'm here." Atong answered by the fireplace in the corner of the small room. "There's no need to make tea, the members of Zi'an Hall have already left." "Ah? Already gone! Then, grandma, why don't you have a drink!" "Did you bring it to me because no one is drinking it? My stomach is not filled with leftover tea! It doesn't matter if you don't drink this kind of tea, but you are ready to go out immediately." "Ah? Where are you going? Do you want me to go with you?" "Maybe tonight you can tell what you've been looking forward to day and night!" "Ah... So, that letter was written by Mynah!" "Don't worry about it so much, you just have to follow me quietly." "Then I'll go to the hotel kitchen and ask them to bring the dinner over as soon as possible." "Have you eaten yet?" "Because I have to wait for grandma to come back before eating together." "It's really hard work! I went out in the morning, and you haven't eaten yet? I ordered Nara tea meal outside, and settled the Chinese food and dinner together. You just have to eat some pickled rice." "yes." "It's probably going to be cold at night on Mt. Otowa! Have you sewn your coat yet?" "The one with the narrow sleeves is almost finished." "I didn't ask you about the narrow-sleeved one, just take out the coat. Have you washed the socks yet? The straw sandals are a little loose. Go and ask the hotel staff to buy me a new pair of straw sandals." Grandma talked non-stop, constantly urging A Tong to do things.Atong didn't even have time to answer. I don't know why Atong has no resistance to Grandma's words.Grandma didn't speak, just staring at Atong was enough to make her hair stand on end. A Tong straightened the straw sandals and said: "Grandma, you can go out now, and I will go with you too." As Tong said, he went out first. "Have you got the lantern?" "No……" "What a careless girl! Are you going to let me, an old woman, climb Mount Otowa in the dark? Go borrow it from the hotel." "I didn't think of that. Going right now." Atong simply didn't have time to take care of himself. I heard from my grandma that I was going to the deep mountain of Otowa Mountain. Where exactly are we going? Ah Tong thought that if he asked such a thing, he would be scolded again, so he quietly walked ahead with a lamp and climbed up the three-year slope. Even so, her heart was jumping with joy.The letter just now must have been written by Youba.If this is the case, the things that I had agreed with my grandmother before should be resolved tonight.No matter how much you don't like it, no matter how sad you are, just be patient. After talking about the matter, Mr. Karasuma will have to find Jotaro tonight. The three-year slope is the slope of patience.A Tong looked at the rocky and uneven road and walked forward.