Chapter 101 Chapter 11 The Skylark

Jotaro thought he knew where the hotel was, so he ran back without thinking. "Ah! Wrong way." It was only then that Jotaro realized that he might have gone wrong, and looked back and forth, left and right. "I didn't seem to have walked through here when I came here!" He was sure he was going the wrong way. Near here is a samurai street centered on old stone walls.The stone wall was occupied by the army of another country before, and it was dilapidated. Lord Okubo Chang'an, who is in charge of this place, repaired part of it and lived in it. This place is very different from the flat cities that were popular after the Warring States Period, and is extremely ancient.Just like the stone walls in the era of local tyrants, there is no moat.Therefore the city walls cannot be seen.There is no Tang Bridge, only a mountain wall.

"Ah, is anyone here?" The stone wall of a samurai residence happened to be next to where Jotaro was standing. On the other side were fields and mud. The end of the mud and fields rose suddenly, and it was a precipitous forest. There are neither roads nor stone steps here, maybe this is the back door of Shicheng!Even so, just now Jotaro saw someone hanging down a rope and descending from the mountain wall full of bushes. The front end of the rope is hung on the mountain wall with an iron hook.The man slid right to the end of the rope, tiptoeing for rocks or roots.After standing still, swing the rope from below to remove the iron hook.Then the rope hangs down and slides down.

Finally, the figure came to the edge of the fields and mountains, and hid itself in the weeds. "what is that?" Jotaro was so curious that he even forgot that he had strayed away from the hotel. "..." However, no matter how wide his eyes were, he couldn't see any movement. Because of this, his curiosity made him not want to leave. He hid in the shade of the street and waited.He even felt that the figure would walk across the field and come to him. His expectations were not disappointed.After a while, the man really came over from the ridge. "It turned out to be a firewood picker!"

Some people often climb dangerous cliffs in the dark to steal firewood in other people's mountains.Jotaro felt that such a person would be too boring.But what appeared in front of him surprised him even more.Now, his curiosity had passed beyond the stage of satisfaction, into terror and trembling. The figure walking up the road from the ridge of the field did not know that the small figure of Jotaro was hiding behind the trunk of the tree, and passed by Jotaro leisurely.At that time, Jotaro almost cried out. Because that person is Mr. Narai Daizo who Jotaro has been following. Jotaro thought again:

"No, I must have read the wrong person." Jotaro couldn't believe his eyes and dismissed the thought just now. After dispelling the idea, he believed that he must have misjudged the person.Because judging from the back that was gradually walking away, the man covered his face with a black scarf, wore black pants and socks, and was dressed in light and heavy clothes. Moreover, he was carrying a heavy load on his back. Looking at his strong shoulders and waist, how could he look like Mr. Narai Daizo in his fifties? The figure who had just passed by walked uphill from the road to the left.

Although Jotaro had no other thoughts, he unconsciously followed behind. No matter what, he had to find the way back to the hotel, but there was no one to ask the way, so he followed the man blankly, maybe he could see the lights of the city after a short walk. However, as soon as the man reached the path, he placed his heavy load by the signpost and looked at the inscription on the stone. "Huh?...Strange...It still looks like Mr. Dazang." Jotaro felt more and more strange.This time he decided to find out.The man had already climbed up the hill, and Jotaro went to the road sign and glanced at the inscription, which read:

"Ah, it's the pine tree!" The branches and leaves of pine trees can also be seen from the bottom of the hillside.Jotaro followed quietly, and saw that the previous man was already sitting on the root of a tree, smoking a cigarette. "It seems that Mr. Dazang is right." Jotaro muttered to himself. Because few countrymen or businessmen at that time could afford cigarettes.Tobacco was brought into Japan by the southern barbarians and is expensive. Even in the capital, only the rich can smoke. Not only is it expensive, but the Japanese are not used to smoking. Some people get dizzy or foam at the mouth when they smoke. So even though it is delicious, everyone still thinks it is a kind of potion.

Therefore, a lord with more than 600,000 stones like Itahou in Oshu, I heard that he likes to smoke, according to his diary records: It's not that Jotaro knows about this, but he knows that not many people can afford cigarettes.And Jotaro also saw that Narai Daizo often smoked with a clay pipe.Mr. Dazou was the richest man in Kiso, so Jotaro didn't find it strange at all when he smoked.But now looking at the fireworks under the pine tree in the first mound like fireflies, Jotaro felt both suspicious and terrified. "What is he doing?" Jotaro took the risk and unknowingly crawled into the shadows near the man.

He finally saw it. After the man finished smoking leisurely, he stood up, took off his black clothes, and took off his face towel.Jotaro saw that face clearly.That's right, it is Narai Daizo. Dazang stuffed the black cloth covering his face around his waist and walked around the roots of the pine tree.After that, he took out a round shovel out of nowhere in his hand. "..." Mr. Dazou used the spade as a crutch, and stood there looking out into the night.At this time, Jotaro also noticed that this hill was just between the town and the inn street, and there were many stone walls or residential areas of houses.

"Ok!" Dazang nodded.Then forcefully lift a stone on the north side of the pine root, and start digging the soil under the stone with a round shovel. Ozo, wielding a round shovel, concentrated on digging. Before long, a cave about a person's height was dug.He pulled out the black face towel around his waist to wipe his sweat. "...?" Hiding behind the weeds and stones, Jotaro watched all this with eyes wide like a statue.Although he was sure that that person was really Dazou, he was completely different from the Narai Daizo he knew.He suddenly felt that there seemed to be two Narai Daizos in the world.

"……All right……" Da Zang jumped into the cave, only showing his head. He stomped hard on the bottom of the cave. Jotaro thought, if Dazo wanted to bury himself alive, he had to stop him.But don't worry about it.Because he saw Dazang crawling out of the cave, dragging the heavy package under the pine tree to the cave, and untied the hemp rope of the package. Jotaro thought it was a small cloth bag, but it turned out to be a leather vest.The leather vest was covered by a curtain-like cloth.It was full of gold ingots, an astonishing number.Dazang poured gold into the hole with halved bamboo slices, like a flowing gold river, there are several in total. At first he thought that there was only this gold, but he untied his belt and shook out dozens of coins such as Qingda's head hidden in his abdomen and all over his body.He pocketed the coins with his hands, wrapped the gold ingots on the ground with a leather vest, and kicked it into the hole like burying a dog corpse. Then cover with soil. Tamp down the soil with your feet. And he moved the stone back to its place.And in order to cover up the newly turned soil, he found some dead wood and branches to cover it, and he returned to his usual Narai Daizo's attire. He tied the straw sandals and leggings he had taken off with a round shovel, and threw them into the weeds where there were few people.Then I put on my clothes, with an alms bag similar to that used by monks hanging on my chest, and even changed the straw sandals. "Ah! I'm exhausted." After speaking, he walked quickly down the hill to the other side of the hill. Jotaro then stepped on the gold that had just been buried, and it was impossible to tell that it had just been buried.He looked at the land as he looked at the palm of a magician. "By the way, if I don't rush back first, Mr. Dazang will definitely be suspicious." Seeing the lights in the city, Jotaro already knew his way home.He chose a different direction from Mr. Dazang, and ran down the mountain like a gust of wind. After returning to the hotel, he climbed to the second floor as if nothing had happened.He quickly got into his room, but luckily Mr. Dazang hadn't come back yet. All I saw was the servant assistant sitting under the light, leaning against the suitcase alone, falling asleep drooling. "Hey, Asuke, you're going to catch a cold!" Jotaro deliberately shook him awake. "Ah! So it's Jota..." Sueichi rubbed his eyes. "It's so late, where are you going, and you don't report to the master." "what are you talking about?" Jotaro packs garlic. "I've been back a long time ago. How can you know if I'm here when you're asleep?" "Liar, didn't you drag the prostitute from the corner house outside? You can lie at such a young age, let's see what you will do in the future!" Not long after. The voice of Mr. Narai Daizo came: "I am back." Then, he opened the door and walked in. No matter how fast we go, we are still twelve miles away from Edo.If you want to reach Edo before dark, you have to go early in the morning. The group of Kadoya left Hachioji before dawn, while Narai Daizo and the others ate breakfast leisurely. "Let's go!" The sun was shining when they left the hotel. The manservant who picked the suitcase and Jotaro followed Ozou according to the rules, but today Jotaro always felt a little awkward with Mr. Ozoo because of what happened last night. "Chengtai!" Dazang looked back at Jota's frowning expression. "what happened to you?" "Ok……" "Is something wrong?" "nothing." "You seem depressed today." "Yes... To be honest, if I follow you all the time, I don't know when I will find my master. So I want to break up with uncle and go find it by myself... I'm afraid you won't agree!" Dazang replied without hesitation: "Of course not." Jotaro wanted to be the same as before, holding Dazou's hand to make a foolish request, but suddenly withdrew his hand. "why?" His heart was pounding. "Take a break!" After Dazang finished speaking, he sat on the grass in Musashino and waved to Suichi, who was picking out the suitcases, to go first. "Uncle, I want to find Master as soon as possible, so I think it's better to go alone." "I said no." With a troubled expression on his face, Dazang took out the clay pipe and smoked one puff at a time. "You will become my son today." It was such a big deal that Jotaro was taken aback.But Mr. Dazou smiled so much that Jotaro thought he was joking. "I don't want to. I don't like being an uncle's son." "why?" "Uncle, you are from the city, but I want to be a warrior." "I, Narai Daizo, seriously, am not from the city. I will definitely make you a great samurai. You can be my adopted son!" Dazo seems serious, and Jotaro is a little uneasy. "Why did uncle suddenly bring up such a thing?" When he asked, Dazou suddenly grabbed Jotaro's hand and pulled him over.Hugging him tightly with both hands, she brought her mouth close to Jotaro's ear and whispered: "You saw it! Little Maotou." "Oh?" "You saw it all, didn't you?" "Look... what do you see?" "What I did last night." "..." "Why peek!" "..." "Why peek at other people's secrets!" "I'm sorry! Uncle. I'm sorry! I will never tell anyone." "Don't be so loud. You've seen it, and I won't scold you. The condition is that you want to be my son. If you don't agree, although you look cute, I still have to kill you. How? Which one do you choose ?” Taro thought to himself, maybe he would really be killed.For the first time in his life he felt such terror. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I don't want to be killed, I don't want to die." Jotaro struggled gently in Dazo's hands like a pinched skylark.Because he was worried that if he fought hard, he might be crushed to death immediately. Even so, Dazou's hand was not strong enough to crush Jotaro's heart.He gently hugged Jotaro onto his lap. "So you're going to be my son!" Leaning his tangled beard against Jotaro's cheek, he asked. The beard stabbed Jotaro in great pain. Although his movements were slow, the strength of his hand was intimidating.The adult's unique body odor made Jotaro feel uncomfortable all over. Jotaro didn't understand why he was so helpless.I have encountered more dangerous things before, and every time I am in danger, Jotaro will go forward bravely and face the challenge.But now he is helpless like a baby.Can't make a sound, can't reach out, can't escape from Dazang's lap. "Which one, which one do you choose?" "..." "Are you going to be my son, or be killed?" "..." "Hey! Say it quickly." "..." Jotaro was forced to cry.He rubbed his eyes with dirty hands, and even the tears were black.Dark tears streamed down the sides of his nose. "Why are you crying? Aren't you happy to be my son? If you want to be a warrior, that would be great. I will make you the greatest warrior." "But……" "But what?" "..." "Speak clearly." "Uncle, you are..." "How about it?" "But……" "You are really impatient. A man should speak up when he has something to say." "But... Uncle, your business is to be a thief." If Dazang lets go, Jotaro will definitely take the opportunity to escape.However, Dazang's knees are like an abyss, from which he cannot escape. "a ha ha ha!" Jotaro cried until his back twitched.Dazang slapped him on the back with a "bang": "Is that why you don't want to be my son?" "……Ok!" Jotaro nodded, Dazo patted him on the shoulder again, smiled and said: "Maybe I'm a thief in the world, but I'm not the same as ordinary thieves who exploit the poor or break into empty houses. Look at Ieyasu, Hideyoshi, and Nobunaga, aren't they all robbers who deprive the world? As long as you follow me and keep your eyes open, in the future You will understand." "So, uncle, you are no longer a thief." "I wouldn't do that kind of business—I've got big ambitions!" With Jotaro's level of understanding, it seems impossible to answer in detail. Dazo lifted Jotaro off his lap. "Come on! Don't cry. Get on the road, you are my son from today on. I will love you. Likewise, don't tell anyone what happened last night. If you tell, I will tell you Take your head off!"