Chapter 26 Zaoyi

On the first day of the first lunar month, his son Xiuyi said: Dad also has silver hair.At that time, Shingo replied: People who live to our age sometimes add a lot of gray hair in a day.More than one day, it will turn gray in sight.Because at that time Shingo thought of Kitamoto. Speaking of Xinwu's classmates, most of them are now over sixty years old. From the time of the war until after the defeat, their fate was ill-fated, and many of them fell into poverty.The 50-year-old generation who hold high positions also fall hard, and it is difficult to stand up again once they fall. People of this age also mostly let their sons die in the war.

Beiben lost three sons.When the company's business became war service, he became a useless technician. "It is said that he plucked his gray hair in front of the mirror, and when he plucked it, he went crazy." An old friend visited Shingo at the company and talked about the rumor about Kitamoto. "Because I didn't go to work, I was in a hurry, so I pulled out my white hair to relieve boredom. At first, his family didn't take it seriously, and even thought why he should care so much... But Bei Ben squatted in the mirror every day. The place where I just plucked the day before, gray hair grew again the next day. In fact, there were already too many white hairs to pull out. As time went by, Beiben spent more time in front of the mirror. Every day The first time I didn’t see him, he must have pulled out his white hair in front of the mirror. Sometimes even if he left the mirror for a short while, he would come back in a panic and keep pulling it out.”

"Then, why hasn't the hair been pulled out?" Shingo almost laughed. "No, not kidding. It's like that. Not a single hair." Shingo finally laughed. "Look at you, you're not lying!" My friend and Shingo looked at each other, "It is said that Kitamoto pulls out his gray hair, and as he pulls it out, the white hair gradually turns white. When he pulls out one white hair, the two or three black hairs next to him turn in a blink of an eye. It turned gray again. Just like that, Beiben plucked out his white hair, while staring at himself in the mirror, his white hair became more. His eyes are indescribable. His hair has also become noticeably thinner."

Shingo suppressed a smile and asked: "If his wife doesn't speak, should he just let him unplug it?" The friend continued to say solemnly: "The remaining hair is getting less and less. It is said that the few remaining hairs are all white." "It hurts." "Did you mean when you plucked out the black hair? In order to avoid pulling out the black hair, he was very careful. He plucked out each one without pain. According to the doctor, at the end of the plucking, the scalp shrank and it hurt when you touched it. No Bleeding, red and swollen bald head. He ended up in a psychiatric hospital, where he also plucked what little hair he had left.

How terrible!Formidably stubborn.He does not want to grow old, but wants to rejuvenate himself.It is not known whether he started to pull out his gray hair because he was crazy, or he became crazy when he pulled out a lot of gray hair. " "Didn't it get better later?" "That's right. A miracle happened. The shaggy black hair grew back on the bald head." "You can really make up stories." Shingo laughed again. "It's true, man." The friend didn't laugh. "There is a saying that crazy people have no age. If we were crazy too, maybe we would get younger."

The friend looked at Shingo's head.Then he said: "I am hopeless, you guys have great hope." My friend's head is almost completely bald. "Shall I try it too?" Shingo muttered. "Pull it out, I'm afraid you don't have the enthusiasm to pull it out until there's nothing left." "No. I don't mind gray hair. I don't want my hair to turn black or even think about going crazy." "That's because your position is stable, and you can swim through the sea of ​​suffering and disaster for thousands of people." "You said it very simply, as if you were telling Kitamoto that it would be easier to dye your hair than to pluck out the inexhaustible white hair." Shingo said.

"Hair dyeing is just a cover up. If we have the idea of ​​​​covering up the truth, we will not have a miracle like Kitamoto." friend said. "But, didn't you say that Beiben has passed away? Even if there is a miracle like you said, the hair turns black, and the youth is rejuvenated..." "Did you go to the funeral?" "I didn't know it at the time. I only heard about it after the war was over and life was a little more stable. Even if I knew, the air raids were the most frequent at that time, so I probably wouldn't have gone to Tokyo." "Unnatural miracles don't last long. Bei Benba's gray hair may be a rebellion against the passing of age and the fate of decline. However, lifespan seems to be another matter. Although the hair turns black, the lifespan cannot be extended Maybe it's the opposite. It took a lot of energy to grow black hair after white hair, and maybe it shortened my lifespan. However, Kitamoto's desperate adventure is not irrelevant to us. "The friend shook his head and came to a conclusion.His head was crowned, and the hair on the side was like a curtain.

"Recently, everyone I met had pale hair. During the war, the hair of people like me was not very gray, but after the war, it became noticeably grayer." Shingo said. Shingo didn't fully believe his wife's words, and only listened to them as fueled rumors. However, the news of Kitamoto's death was also heard from others.This is absolutely true. After the friend left, Xinwu recalled the words just now by himself, and a strange psychological activity occurred.If Kitamoto's death is a fact, then the fact that his white hair turned black before his death is probably also a fact.If it is true that he grew black hair, then it is probably also true that he was crazy before he grew black hair.If it is a fact that he was insane, then it is probably also a fact that he shaved all his hair before he became insane.If it was true that he had pulled out his hair, it must have been true that he had seen it turn gray when he looked in the mirror.From this point of view, isn’t what your friend said true?

Shingo shuddered. "I forgot to ask him what Bei Ben looked like when he died. Was his hair black or white?" Shingo said so and smiled.Neither the words nor the laughter came out, only he could hear it. Even if what my friend said is true and not exaggerated, it still has a tone of mocking Beiben.Shingo always finds it unpleasant for an old man to talk about the rumors of the deceased so frivolously and cruelly. Among Shingo's classmates, the ones who died in an unusual way were this Kitamoto and Mizuta.Mizuta took the young woman to a hot spring hotel, where she died forever.At the end of last year, someone asked Shingo to buy Mizuta's relic Noh mask.He recruited Eiko Tanizaki to the company because of Kitamoto.

Mizuta died after the war, and Shingo could go to his funeral.Kitamoto died during the air raid, which I heard later.When Hideko Tanizaki came to the company with a letter of introduction from Kitamoto's daughter, Shingo knew that Kitamoto's family members had been evacuated to Gifu County and had stayed there. Yingzi said that she was a classmate of Beiben's daughter.However, when Kitamoto's daughter introduced such a classmate to the company to apply for a job, Shingo felt very abrupt.Shingo had never met Kitamoto's daughter.Eiko said she had not seen Kitamoto's daughter during the war either.Shingo felt that these two girls were a bit frivolous.If Kitamoto's daughter discussed the matter with Kitamoto's wife and thought of Shingo, it would be good if she wrote the letter herself.

Shingo felt no responsibility for the letter of introduction issued by Kitamoto's daughter. As soon as Xinwu saw Yingzi who had been introduced, he felt that she had a thin physique and seemed like a frivolous girl. However, Shingo still hired Yingzi and arranged for her in his office.Yingzi has been working for three years. Three years passed quickly.Later, Xinwu thought again: How could Yingzi continue to stay?In the past three years, even if Yingzi went dancing with Xiuyi, it was nothing, but she even went in and out of Xiuyi's mistress's house.Shingo even asked Eiko as a guide to visit the woman's house. Recently, Yingzi has been very distressed by this matter, and seems to be tired of the company. Shingo did not talk to Yingzi about Beiben.Yingzi probably didn't know that his friend's father died after going crazy.Perhaps the friendship between them has not yet reached the level where each other can visit each other's family at will. In the past, Shingo thought Eiko was a frivolous girl.However, judging from the fact that she took the blame and resigned, Shingo felt that Eiko also had some conscience and kindness.Because she is not married yet, this kind of conscience and kindness makes people feel very pure.