Chapter 28 third quarter

Zhengqing recalled Karasawa Yukiho's life experience about half a month after talking with Reiko, when he accompanied his friend to the prefectural library in Nakanoshima to search for information.This friend is his partner in the ice hockey club, surnamed Yuanchi.Kakiuchi is investigating previous news reports for his report. "Haha! That's right, even at that time, I was often called to buy toilet paper." Yuanchi said in a low voice, looking at the spread out miniature copy of the newspaper.There are twelve miniature volumes on the table, one volume per month from July 1973 to June 1974.

Zhengqing looked from the side.What Kakiuchi read was a report on November 2, 1973. The content was that in the supermarket in Senri New Town, Osaka, 300 customers were crowded into the toilet paper store. It was during the oil crisis. Kakiuchi was investigating the demand for electric energy, so you must read the relevant reports at that time. "Is there also panic buying and hoarding in Tokyo?" "It seems to be. But in Tokyo, the grabbing of detergent should be more fierce than toilet paper. My cousin said that he didn't know how many times he was called to buy it."

"Oh, it's also written here that a housewife bought a cleaning agent worth 40,000 yuan in a supermarket in Tama. Could this be your relative?" Kakiuchi teased him with a smile. "Nonsense." Zhengqing replied with a smile. Zhengqing thought to herself, what was she doing at that time?He was a freshman in high school at the time, had just moved to Osaka, and was trying to adapt to the new environment. He suddenly wondered what grade Xuesui was in at that time, and calculated in his heart, it should be the fifth grade.But he couldn't imagine what she looked like in elementary school.Then, he thought of Reiko Karasawa's words: "It was an accidental death. I remember it was when Xuesui first entered primary six. It seems to be...May." She was referring to Xuesui's biological mother.Xuesui was in Primary Six...that was 1974.

Zhengqing found the May 1974 volume from the miniatures and spread it out on the table. In that month, there were events such as "The House of Representatives passed the revision of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act" and "Women advocating women's rights rallied in the House of Representatives to oppose the Amendment to the Eugenics Protection Act."There are also reports on the establishment of the Japan Consumers Union and the opening of the first store of 7-Eleven in Koto-ku, Tokyo. Zhengqing turned to the social page, and soon found a small report with the title "Gas stove extinguished in Ikuno District, Osaka City, causing one person to be poisoned and died." The content is as follows: Nishibunyo (female, 36 years old), a tenant in room 103 of Yoshida Apartment, was found collapsed in the house by the staff of the apartment property company. An ambulance was called for emergency treatment, but Ms. Nishimoto died before reaching the hospital.According to the investigation by the Ikuno Branch Bureau, when the body was found, the house was full of gas, and Ms. Nishimoto may have died of gas poisoning.The cause of the gas leak is currently being investigated. According to analysis, it is very likely that the miso soup heated on the gas stove overflowed and caused the flame to turn off, but Ms. Nishimoto did not find it.

This is it!Zhengqing is very sure.The report was almost exactly what Reiko Karasawa told him.The name of Xuesui did not appear among the witnesses, which should be handled by the newspaper based on journalistic ethics. "What are you looking at so seriously?" Yuanchi poked his head over from the side. "Oh, it's not a big deal." Zhengqing pointed to the report, saying that it happened to the tutor students. Kakiuchi was very surprised. "Oh, it even made it into the newspaper. It's not easy." "It's not about me." "But aren't you teaching that kid?"

"right." "Hmm..." Kakiuchi made a nasal sound of admiration for some unknown reason, and read the report again, "Oe, Ikuno, is near Naito's house." "Naito? Really?" "It should be right." They said that Naito was a junior in the ice hockey club, one class below Masaharu. "I'll ask Naito next time." Masaharu said while copying down the address of Yoshida's apartment from the newspaper. He didn't ask Naito about it until two weeks later.Because I am in my senior year, I no longer participate in the activities of the ice hockey club, and I rarely have the opportunity to meet my juniors.Zhengqing came to the club and started to gain weight due to lack of exercise, and wanted to exercise a little bit.

Naito is small and thin.Although it has superb skating skills, it is not heavy enough, and it is not resistant to collisions in close contact, and its strength is not too strong.But he is considerate and considerate, and knows how to take care of others, so he serves as a cadre in the society. Zhengqing found Naito while doing physical training on the playground. "Oh, that accident. I know, it happened a few years ago?" Naito nodded while wiping his sweat with a towel, "It's near my house. Although it's not next door, it's not a few steps away." "Did it become a topic in your place at that time?" Zhengqing asked.

"Should that be called a topic? There are some strange rumors." "Say what?" "Well, it's not an accident, but suicide or something." "You mean, turn on the gas to kill yourself?" "Yes." After answering, Naito looked at Zhengqing, "What's wrong, senior? What's wrong?" "Well, it's actually related to people I know." He explained the reason to Naito, and Naito's eyes widened in surprise: "It turned out that the senior was teaching the children of that family. What a coincidence." "It's no coincidence for me. But, if you are more careful, why are there rumors of suicide?"

"I don't know, I don't know very well, I was only in high school at that time." Naito tilted his head, and immediately seemed to remember something, and punched his hand, "Ah! By the way, go ask the uncle there, he might know something." "Who is it?" "The real estate man who rented the parking space. He once said that the tenant killed himself because he turned on the gas in the apartment. Is he talking about that apartment?" "Property?" A thought flashed through Zhengqing's mind, "You mean the person who found the body?"

"It's him." "Can I trouble you to confirm it for me?" "Can." "Please, I want to know more about it." "it is good." In sports clubs, the young and old are orderly.The senior entrusted him with such a troublesome matter, although Naito was confused, he could only scratch his head and nod. In the evening of the next day, Masaharu sat in the front seat of the Toyota Karina driven by Naito. This was a second-hand car that Naito bought from his cousin for 300,000 yuan. "Sorry to bother you about this." "Where, I don't care, it's near my house anyway." Naito said with a pleasant expression.

What I promised the day before, my junior did it right away.He called the real estate agent who introduced him to the parking space to confirm whether the other party was a witness to the gas poisoning case five years ago.The other party said that the person who found the body was not him, but his son, who is currently running another store in Shenjiangqiao.Shenjiang Bridge is located in Dongcheng District, north of Ikuno District.The note that copied the other party's phone number and drew a sketch is now in Zhengqing's hands. "Senior Nakamichi is really serious. It's because he understands the life experience of the tutor students, which is helpful for teaching, right? When I was working part-time, I really couldn't do it to this level." Naito said admiringly.Seeing how he explained it himself, Zhengqing was noncommittal. In fact, he didn't understand why he did it.Of course, he knew he was strongly attracted to Xuesui, but that wasn't why he wanted to know everything about her.As far as he was concerned, he didn't think the past mattered at all. He thought, probably because he couldn't understand her.Even though they were close enough to touch each other, close enough to talk, there were times when she suddenly seemed unreachable to him.He didn't understand why, and he became anxious because of it. Naito chatted with him from time to time, talking about the new members who joined this year. "Everyone's level is not much better. There are very few experienced people, so this winter is the key." Naito, who values ​​the team's performance more than his own credits, has a slightly dignified face. Tagawa Real Estate Fukaebashi Store is located on the first road at the turn of Shirokando Chuo Avenue, just beside the Takaida Interchange on the Higashi-Osaka Line of the Hanshin Expressway.In the store, a thin man was filling out documents at a desk, but there seemed to be no other employees.The thin man saw them and said, "Welcome, are you looking for an apartment?" He obviously thought they were looking for a house. Naito explained to him that they came to inquire about the accident at Yoshida's apartment. "I asked the uncle at the Ikuno store, and he said that it was the store manager who encountered the accident." "Oh, that's right." The thin man's vigilant eyes alternated between the faces of the two young men, "It's been so long, why do you still ask this?" "When the body was discovered, there was a girl there, right?" Zhengqing said, "A girl named Xuesui, her surname was Xiben at that time...isn't that right?" "Yes, it's the Nishimoto family. Are you a relative of Nishimoto?" "Student Xuesui is my student." "Student? Oh, so you are the school teacher." The thin man nodded as if suddenly enlightened, and looked at Zhengqing again, "Such a young teacher!" "It's a tutor." "Teacher? Got it." There was a look of contempt in his eyes, "Where is that child now? Her mother is dead, so she has no one to rely on?" "She was adopted by a relative, a family named Tang Ze." "Oh." The thin man didn't seem to be interested in the last name, "How is she? I haven't seen her since." "Very good, now I'm a sophomore in high school." "It's already this big." The thin man took one out of the soft seven-star cigarette case and held it in his mouth.Seeing this, Zhengqing thought to herself, I didn't expect him to be very fashionable.This kind of cigarette was launched more than two years ago. Although the taste is generally considered to be bad, it is very popular among young people who like the new and dislike the old.More than half of Zhengqing's friends gave up the old Seven Stars and switched to this one. "How did she tell you about this?" The thin man asked after taking a puff of cigarette.When he saw that the other party was younger than him, his tone became rude. "She said she received a lot of help from Mr. Tagawa." This is of course a lie, he never mentioned it to Xuesui.How could he bear to touch her sore spot? "Hey, it can't be said to be helpful! At that time, I was scared to death." It seems that he is Tagawa.He leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head, and then described in detail the scene when he found the Western Bronze body, probably just because he had nothing to do.Zhengqing was also able to grasp the outline of the whole accident. "Compared to when the body was found, what happened later was more troublesome. The police came to ask questions." Ta Chuan frowned. "What are you asking?" "What happened when I entered the house. I said that I didn't touch other places except for opening the window and turning off the main gas switch. I don't know what they were dissatisfied with. They also asked me if I touched the pot and whether the entrance was really locked. Really convinced them." "What's wrong with the pot?" "I don't know either. They said that if miso soup came out, the surroundings of the pot should be dirtier. That is to say, the fact is that the soup that came out turned off the fire, so what can be done?" Listening to Tagawa's words, Zhengqing imagined the situation at that time in her heart.He himself once accidentally let the boiling hot water in the pot bubble out when cooking instant noodles.Then the sides of the pan do get dirty. "Having said that, being adopted by a family that can afford a tutor is a good thing for her in terms of the result. Living with that kind of mother, she probably only has to suffer." "What's wrong with her mother?" "I don't know, but life must be very hard. I used to work in places like udon noodle shops, and I was barely able to pay the rent, and there were still outstanding debts!" ​​Tagawa puffed smoke into the sky. "That's it." "Maybe it's because life is so hard. The girl named Xuesui is surprisingly calm. When she found her mother's body, she didn't even shed a tear. I was shocked." "Oh..." Zhengqing was quite surprised, and looked back at Tianchuan.Lizi told him that Xuesui cried loudly at Wendai's funeral. "At that point, some people thought it might have been a suicide, right?" Naito interjected. "Ah, that's right." "That is how the matter?" "Several things seem to suggest it would make more sense. But I've heard it from a policeman who's been running around looking for me." "Sounds right?" "What are they? It's been a long time, and I've forgotten." Tagawa pressed his temples, but soon raised his head, "Ah, right. Mrs. Nishimoto took cold medicine." "Cold medicine? What's in it?" "It's not the usual amount. Judging from the empty medicine bag, it seems that it is more than five times the normal amount. I remember they said that the body was sent for autopsy, and it turned out that I really ate that much." "It's more than five times... that's really strange." "That's why the police wondered if it was to help sleep. Isn't there a way to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills and turning on gas? They wondered if it was because sleeping pills were hard to buy, so they used cold medicine instead." "Instead of sleeping pills..." "It seems that I drank a lot. I heard that there are three empty glasses of sake in the trash can. It is said that the wife hardly drinks alcohol at ordinary times, so she only drank it to sleep, right?" "Well." "Ah, by the way, there are windows." Perhaps because of the gradual recovery of memory, Tagawa opened up the chatterbox. "window?" "Some people think it's weird that the room is locked tightly. The kitchen where they live doesn't have an exhaust fan, and the window should be open when cooking." Zhengqing nodded when she heard the words, it was true. "However," he said, "it's also possible that you forgot to open it." "That's right," Tagawa nodded. "This is not strong evidence for suicide. The same goes for cold medicine and sake in a glass. Other explanations are also plausible. What's more, there is that child as a witness." "The kid means..." "Snow Sui." "What evidence?" "She didn't say anything special, just confirmed that her mother has a cold, and that her mother occasionally drinks sake when she feels cold." "Ok." "The criminal police said that even if you take medicine for a cold, the amount of medicine is too strange, but what she wants to do after taking so much medicine can only be known by asking the deceased. Besides, why do you want to commit suicide? It popped up? Because of this, the case was closed as an accident." "Do the police have any questions about pot?" "God knows. It doesn't matter anyway, right?" Tian Chuan put out his cigarette in the ashtray, "The police said that if they found out thirty minutes earlier, maybe they could be saved. Whether it was suicide or an accident, she was doomed to die." As soon as he finished speaking, someone came in from behind Zhengqing and the others. They were a middle-aged man and woman. "Welcome!" Tian Chuan looked at the guests and greeted them with a friendly smile of a businessman on his face.Zhengqing knew that he would not pay any attention to her anymore, so she gave Naito a wink and left together.