Chapter 7 Section 6

There are six people in total.There are only two people in the same class as Zhigui, and the other four just look familiar and haven't spoken to each other. Later, I found out that it was not accidental that they came to this store, as Mr. Umemura said, "Whenever you want spicy food, go to that store."But that was before Naoki worked.Therefore, the six people seemed to be taken aback when they saw him. Surprise is surprise, but there is no return.They sat down at the largest table near the window.Chatted before ordering.All six of them had finished their exams and were just waiting to graduate, which was what they heard from their conversation.

"Those guys, have you been here before?" Zhigui asked the store manager in a low voice while putting water glasses on the tray. "No, it seems not. What's the matter?" "They are classmates in the same grade. There are only two people in a class." "Yeah." The store manager glanced at those people, and then said to Zhigui, "If you don't want to talk to them, I can go and receive them." "No! It's okay, I'll do it." Zhigui said hurriedly.I don't want to go to their table, but I don't want them to talk to the store manager. It would be bad if they leaked the incident.

Holding the poured teacup and the menu, Zhigui went to the six people.They were talking and laughing, and fell silent for a moment as if they were unhappy. "I don't know you work here," said a classmate, "Plum Village introduced you?" Zhigui hummed.The man nodded. Sessions are just that.They looked at the menu and discussed the meal among themselves.Zhigui was the same as usual, he said a few words, said hello when the order was ready, and then retreated.It feels like they are whispering something behind their backs, I can't hear the content clearly, but I can imagine it.

After a while, a classmate raised his hand and went straight to him.They order cheap and generous dishes.One person asked if there were shiitake mushrooms in the mushroom category, as if he didn't like shiitake mushrooms.Naoki told him no, and explained what kind of mushrooms there were by the way, but they seemed to only care about shiitake mushrooms and didn't listen carefully. After ordering, one of them said, "I want six more beers." "Beer?" Zhigui turned his head and glanced at the other party. "Well, draft beer, six shots. Beer first, shall we?" he asked the other five.No one objected.

Zhigui repeated the name of the dish and went to inform the kitchen.The store manager glanced at what he ordered, seemed a little embarrassed, then nodded again, but didn't say anything at the time. Probably because of the dinner time, customers came in one after another, and the shop became more chaotic than usual.Maybe it's because everyone wants to eat spicy food because of the cold weather, or maybe it's because they just got paid.Many of the guests were regulars, and Zhigui had spoken to several of them.When passing by them, the other party took the initiative to say hello, which is also a pleasure in work for Zhigui.

Those six people were still talking loudly, and most of the other guests were together, only that table looked abnormal.Due to the existence of these few people, the atmosphere in the store seemed a little different from usual. After they drank a few pints of beer, they called Zhigui over and said they wanted to drink red wine.Just ask him which red to recommend. "I don't know," he answered, "because I never drank." "What's wrong! Haven't even drunk red wine?" One person said as if making fun of him, the tone was quite strange.Zhigui remained silent.

"Ah, all right, let's take the cheapest one." Said someone who looked like a boss, not from their class.It was the private university with the highest competition rate among the six people, Naoki heard from their conversation just now. Guigui came to the back, and when he was taking the wine bottle and glass, the store manager came over. "What? They still want to drink red wine?" Naoki nodded silently.Felt like I was blaming myself. The store manager seemed to think about it, sighed, shook his head and returned to the kitchen. The six of them had no intention of going back at all. After drinking red wine, their voices became louder, as if they had drunk too much.Zhigui felt that the other guests were obviously dissatisfied.

"It's quite lively today!" A customer said when he checked out. "I'm sorry!" Zhigui apologized.It's embarrassing to say it's my classmate. Hearing the piercing laughter of the six people, finally, Zhigui walked to their table. "Sorry!" "What's the matter?" They looked up, and some of them had eyes straightened from the alcohol. "Can you be a little quieter? There are other guests." "What! Isn't there not many people?" "Everyone thought it was noisy and went back. This is not a tavern." "What are you talking about, aren't we guests?"

"I know that." I felt like there was someone behind me, but when I turned around, it was the store manager. "You have entered the university and want to celebrate. We know how you feel. Can you come here today? Some people seem to be quite drunk." When the bearded store manager said this, they became more honest for a moment, but immediately felt that they were talking about them, "What are you talking about!" One of them yelled. "There's nothing wrong with it, it's our own business that we get drunk!" Said as if turning his head to the side embarrassedly.

"Actually no, you are underage. If we are seen by the police, we will be warned. However, today, for the sake of congratulations, I heard that it is Wujima's classmate, so I deliberately didn't say anything. But you guys have gone too far , In that case, it would be disrespectful to Takeshima." "What's the disrespect for this guy?" "He can't go to college because of his family's situation. It depends on you. Think about it." Just as Zhigui thought, it's not good, and the topic turned in a bad direction.The guy who looks like the boss said:

"Who told his brother to be a murderer? There's no way!" "What?" The store manager turned his head towards the man.Naoki wanted to close his eyes. "The robbery murderer stabbed the old lady to death! It would be strange if the younger brother of such a person went to college like a normal person." The store manager looked at Naoki with an unexpected expression, and he lowered his head. "Alright! Alright!" One of the students in the same class stood up, "Let's go back, it's almost done." The person who seemed to be the boss also felt that he had probably said it, and stood up without saying anything. There is a heavy atmosphere in the store.The guests also stopped talking, they must have heard the conversation just now.Moreover, judging from Naoki's appearance, knowing what those high school students said may not be a lie. The store manager didn't say anything, and started to clean up the tables that those people had used. "Let me do it." Zhigui said. "It's okay, you can rest inside!" the store manager said without looking at Zhigui. As a result, Zhigui stayed in the back room until the door was closed.He wanted to help others wash the dishes in the kitchen, but other people also looked confused, so he didn't help. After closing the door, Zhigui was preparing to go back, the store manager greeted him, and the two sat face to face at the innermost table. "Is what you just said true?" the store manager asked.Zhigui could also see that he was reluctant to ask these questions. He nodded and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry!" The store manager snorted and folded his hands on his chest. "It was Plum Village... Teacher Plum Village told you to do this?" "Well. It's better to keep some things in the world hidden..." The store manager twisted his beard with his hands. "However, some things can probably be kept hidden forever, and some can't? Maybe it's a short-term job?" Did you say these words to Mr. Umemura, or to yourself?He didn't know Zhigui, so he said it again, "I'm sorry!" "What's going on, can you tell me in detail?" Naoki gave an overview of the incident and what happened after that.The manager listened, his face became more gloomy.After listening, he hummed again in a low voice. "If you told me from the beginning, you can think of a way. Maybe something like today won't happen." The store manager blamed, still the same as before, I don't know who he was talking to. "That..." Naoki asked cautiously, "Should I still be fired?" The store manager's face became ugly, "No one said such a thing!" "So, can I still come here tomorrow?" Of course.Naoki looked forward to this.But the store manager didn't answer at that time. "Let me think about it first. Takeshima-kun is doing a good job here and is responsible for the work. What about lying? I think doing this kind of work requires mutual trust, don't you think so?" "I think so too." Zhigui could only say so.But the answer is that I still feel that there is a little difference, and I have such a question.The store manager's words are correct, but I feel that there is a deviation in nature.But such words cannot be said. Let's do that for now.That's all for what he said that day, Naoki didn't let go of his uneasiness. Probably the store manager is shaking in his heart, between his sincerity as a manager and his sense of justice as a person.When those people were making a fuss, there were still a few regular customers in the restaurant, and Zhigui's secret would be known to everyone sooner or later, and it would have a bad impact on the image of the restaurant, which was predictable.However, despite this, the store manager is not the kind of cold person, unwilling to simply let go, and even has some sympathy. Naoki continued working in the shop without any conclusion.It turned out that the agreement was at the end of March, and even if we worked hard, there would be less than a month left.Naoki thinks that maybe this is how he feels the expiration. However, things have changed.The regular customers still come as usual, but they obviously talk less in the store, and there is no scene of greeting and laughing with the staff in the store. And there is such a thing.One day, two regular customers ate here.Probably because of drinking wine, he talked a lot.At first we talked about politics and baseball, but then we started talking about what happened in the society that day. It was a man who took drugs and stabbed a child to death in a park. "This society really can't help it. They didn't provoke their children at all, and they were killed by these guys. These guys should be executed!" said a guest. So another guest immediately lowered his voice and hurriedly said: "Hey, stop talking about this, here." The person who was said didn't understand what he meant for a moment, but looking at the other person's eyes, he quickly understood what he said.He stopped the subject immediately.Then the conversation between the two never got lively again. Naoki realizes that his existence has brought a lot of trouble to the store.Of course the guests were not malicious.They have their own ideas and try not to upset anyone.Don't talk about murders in this store, don't talk about family relatives, don't talk about trials, mystery novels, and try to avoid talking to the shop assistants, because just not talking to "him" will make people feel strangeness.There are presumably various other taboos enacted, not enjoying foreign-style meals in a state of complete relaxation at all. Zhigui thought, who would want to go to such a store?It was only a matter of time before the guests gradually left the restaurant. On the first Friday in March, he told the store manager of his intention to resign.He didn't explain the reason, he didn't think it was necessary.He thought he might be detained, but the store manager didn't say anything like that. "The result still gave you a bad impression, very sorry!" "Bad impression...thank you for hiring me to work here!" "What should I do in the future? Did you find a job?" "Look for it, it's not a big problem." "Really, it would be good if that's the case!" The store manager nodded as if relieved.It must be relieved in the sense of multiple clocks. Although it is not a big problem to find a job, in fact, there is no goal at all.Zhigui looked at the job advertisements in the newspapers he picked up, and applied for them one by one, as long as he could get paid for any job. The last job I found was as a temporary worker in a company's staff canteen to clean up leftovers.The salary is not much, but the rotten smell of leftovers seems to permeate into the body, which is unbearable. Teacher Meicun seems to be helping to find employment units after graduation. Almost all of Naoki's high school students continue their studies. It should not be difficult for the teacher to find employment units.But after asking several companies every day, I always showed a embarrassed look.It may also be a matter of being late, but the main obstacle is Naoki's situation. I received Gangzhi's letter at such a difficult time.There will be a graduation ceremony in two days.Naoki was a little surprised that he didn't expect to receive letters from the detention center.On the corner of the letter paper and the envelope, there is a small blue cherry blossom stamp, which means that the content has been checked, and Naoki didn't know it at the time. Naoki: How are you? The verdict is imminent.According to the lawyer, he will probably spend fifteen years in prison, and there is no other way. There are many things I want to tell you, but I can't, sorry!Do you have any plans to visit?I want to ask you something, I have a lot to say, and I want to ask you something.Like how about graduating from high school?I'm always thinking about it, please.