Chapter 23 Section five

Because I went to Kyoto by the way, when Niu Yi put the fifteen-volume transcript on his horse and returned to the hermitage, it was already sunset. The atmosphere of the hermitage is very different from the last time I came back.The moment he stepped through the door, he saw a path overgrown with weeds, and there were footprints on the stones above. Feeling strange, Niu Yi hurried into the study wearing straw sandals. "Saya, Saya, where are you?" Niu Yi yelled the woman's past name, hurriedly ran through each room, and even went to Shaye's residence in the warehouse at the east end of the courtyard.There was no sign of the room being turned over at all, but Saya couldn't be seen.Just to be on the safe side, Niu Yi put his hand under the kitchen stove, the ashes were cold.

Niu Yi returned to the study room again, opened the library next door, and carefully counted the bookshelves.The valuable rare books are all unharmed.He put the paulownia box given by Nobunaga Bus in the interlayer of the wall, which was also intact.Nothing had changed, and no letters had been found torn. However, the bound manuscripts and the thick diary that I have accumulated for more than 20 years and used as creative materials are obviously skewed, have been touched by people, and the order of stacking is not consistent.What is more obvious is the Duan inkstone that I love to use.Taking advantage of the weak light, Niu Yi took it out, opened the cover and found the problem.Inside was a piece of Chinese-made boat-shaped ink that I was used to, and half a piece of Japanese-made ink.It seems that someone wrote something with ink here, and then forgot it.

(What the hell did this kind of thing?) Niuyi felt a chill down his back. He went back to the study first, and sat on the chair restlessly.At that moment, he found that the door of the small warehouse next to him had been pulled open a small crack. He was shocked, and quickly opened it to see that a woman wrapped in a reed mat rolled out like a log, her mouth was tightly gagged. "How is this going?" Niu Yi couldn't help screaming, quickly removed the stuff stuffed in the woman's mouth, and untied the rope, but the woman didn't move, as if she was dead, her face was swollen and purple, and her waist and legs had obvious trauma.He put his ear to the woman's chest, and there seemed to be a weak heartbeat.

(You can't die!) Niu Yi yelled in his heart, picked up the woman, took off her clothes, performed two or three times of CPR, and then rubbed her whole body.Even so, the woman's body was still not warm. Niu Yi simply took off his clothes and only wore a pair of pocket pants. He hugged the woman's whole body and rubbed her chest and back desperately. He could feel a little bit of coolness from the woman's body. penetrate into your body. After an unknown amount of time, in the dimly lit room, the woman in Niu Yi's arms suddenly moaned from her throat. Niu Yi gently let go of the woman and said, "Are you awake?"

The woman quickly realizes she is naked and frantically searches for clothes. "Don't worry. Look! The clothes are there. I took them off to keep your body warm." Niu Yi wanted her to grab the corner of the sackcloth that had been taken off, but for some reason, the woman tilted her face.Withdrew his hand back.Niu Yi didn't care about it, went back to the door naked, took out a bottle of red wine from the horse, uncorked the bottle, took a mouthful, and then poured mouth to mouth into the mouth of the woman lying there.The woman spit it out before she had drunk half of it.

"This is the red wine you like, which I bought from Kyoto. Drink it, drink it!" The woman desperately covered her body with the sackcloth, and nodded feebly. She tried to get up, but as soon as Niu stopped him, he took another sip of the wine, slowly held the back of the woman's head like a baby, hugged her and brought his mouth closer.The woman drank it all this time. "Are you all right?" The woman nodded slightly. "How about another drink?" This time, the woman smiled slightly. Niu Yi found a candlestick and lit it on fire.Meanwhile, the woman stood up and tried to put on her clothes, but her face was contorted, looking more painful than before.

"What's wrong with you?" "Finger... my finger was hurt." The woman answered very weakly. "Really? Then I'll help you wear it." Niu Yi walked behind the woman, helped her put on the sackcloth, and clumsily tied the belt.The woman just squatted like that, raised her fingers, and bowed deeply in a strange posture. "Your fingers hurt, why do you have to salute so formally?" "No, I feel pain." The woman replied lying on the ground, crying faintly. "pain?" "I told a big lie." "Lying again? Didn't you still laugh at me for pretending to be dumb before? As a hermit, I won't be surprised by anything anymore."

"To be honest, Genbei, who sells writing brushes, sent me here... I used to be a ninja." "I know you're a ninja, but why did Genbei send you here? Aren't you a ninja from the Maeno family?" "I did serve Maeno-sama. After my lord's seppuku, the women were torn apart, and I was taken in by Genbei. A close minister of Changyasu-sama, Noda Kiyosuke, was a client of Genbei. Under his introduction, Genbei sent I took it." "Are you talking about Mr. Chang Yuan?" For a moment, Niu Yi felt relieved.After Changkang's death, Noda Kiyosuke was prohibited from following seppuku, and was forced to return to his hometown, Qianye Village, to build a thatched hermitage, praying for the peace of the tribe, and calling himself "Changyuan".That man and Niu Yi had similar temperaments, and he was one of the lucky few survivors of the Maeno clan.

"But it's very strange. What are you going to steal from me, a reclusive old man?" Niu Yi unknowingly began to cross-examine. The woman tremblingly replied, "It's not stealing, but copying." "Oh, you're a copyist ninja? I haven't heard of it. You like books?" "Yes. My father who died was a calligrapher who once wrote military records. He taught me to write since I was five years old. I am good at shorthand just like my father." "Really? I don't know. So, you've been in the library here?" "Yes." The woman lowered her head.

"How did the door lock open?" "Genbei tried to break it open." The woman is weak.The door locks of the Qingchang period were simple in structure and could be easily opened without much skill. "I don't have many books, what exactly do you want to copy?" "It's not copying your book collection, but the "Nobunaga Ji" written by you this time, my lord." "What? You said "Xinchang Ji"?" Niu Yidun felt the blood on his face disappear, "This is terrible. When I was not at home this time, I did put the second and third drafts of "Xinchang Ji" stayed."

"There are indeed two versions of "Nobunaga Ji"?" "There were many erroneous records in the second draft, and I wanted to throw it away for a long time. Although the third draft is the original copy dedicated to Fushimi Taiko, it has also been changed a lot there, and it is beyond recognition. If you copy the copy at home Too bad. Several different "Nobunaga Ji" have been handed down to later generations, as the author, I am ashamed." Niu Yi gritted his teeth in hatred. "Genbei also knew this, so he asked me to copy two versions. He said that this would be a valuable historical material for future collectors." "Are you kidding me? Genbei this guy. Is he trying to list the deficiencies in my manuscript one by one to please the troublemakers of later generations?" Niu Yi stood up involuntarily, feeling dizzy and staggering. "Sorry." The woman shrank her body into a ball, and her voice became weaker. "Genbei, since when did you think of doing such a lawless thing?" "When you were still living in Fushimi, my lord. He spent money to buy the waste manuscript paper that you discarded from the old woman who boiled water and cooked rice, and found some content of "Nobunaga Ji"." "That old woman would do such a thing? How ungrateful." When the old woman died suddenly, she still had some extra money with her.Now, Niu Yi finally understood the reason.The reason why she chased Tenma was probably instigated by Genbei.Even Niu Yi himself was surprised that he was so negligent. "Then, you copied it obediently..." "Yes, he threatened - if you don't obey, you will inform the government that I am a remnant ninja from the Maeno family. So I can only obey Genbei. But I am scared, very scared, and I don't know when you will come back, my lord The reason why I lost weight was not because of you, my lord, nor because of the Taige lord's pursuit, but because I was forced to copy it day and night. I lied to you not once, but twice. I really don't know how to tell you You should apologize." The woman begins to sob. "I didn't know that you were his lackey, and I was completely confused by your beauty." Niu Yi laughed at himself.Hearing this sentence, the woman's expression changed. "Pretty? You speak too much, my lord!" The woman's voice trembled and she kept crying. "It's not beauty. What is it? That night, why did you take the initiative to throw yourself into your arms? Tell me!" Anger welled up in his heart, and Niu Yi couldn't control the tone of his voice. "That is……" "You copied my book, feel sorry for it, and want to atone for your crime? But I believe it, I'm an old man, I'm confused, right?" What Niu Yi wanted to say was——I didn't feel sorry for myself until now, and I didn't want to cry. "No, no, no." The woman shook her head desperately. "What's the matter? Otherwise, you see me, an old man, who has lost hope of writing, and express sympathy and pity?" "No." "why?" "I don't know. At that time, I just wanted to fall into your arms and be hugged by you. Otherwise, as a woman, in this world, I would never meet someone like an adult who made me want to fall into my arms. That's how I feel. It's not a lie." Tears kept streaming down the woman's cheeks. "Okay, okay. I get it, I get it." Niu didn't even want to say anything. "I want to say, my lord, you still..." "Didn't I say I know?" The woman twisted and continued to cry.Niu Yi wanted to comfort her, so he knelt down and grabbed her hand.The woman screamed involuntarily. "pain!" "By the way, your fingers hurt. Let me see!" Niu Yi grabbed both of the woman's wrists and told her to spread her hands, only to see that the two ring fingers were weak, "What's going on? It was cruel. Both ring fingers were bent. The root of the finger is bulging, this is no ordinary fracture!" "Yeah." The woman nodded, crying. "You were raped by Genbei?" "No. I didn't let him. If it happened, I would bite my tongue and kill myself like my mother." Niu Yi felt that this woman would indeed do this.The woman was bound so tightly that she almost died.Fingers really hurt too.It would be too dangerous if she was in collusion with Genbei.Niu Yi felt that there was something hidden in it. "Since you copied it obediently, why did he break off your fingers and tie you up in the reed mat? I don't understand this." "I'll tell you." The woman wiped her tears with her sleeve.Tried to sit upright, but staggered.She couldn't put her fingers on the ground.Niu Yi had to hug her again, lying in Niu Yi's arms, the woman looked up at him. "The first volume..." "What? You mean the first volume? Even the first volume was copied?" Niu Yi couldn't help moaning. "Yes. At first, I copied two versions of "Nobunaga Ji". Genbei seemed satisfied and went back to Kiyosu. However, he seemed to have read the content on the way and returned soon. Just right It was the second day of your third visit to Fushimi. He blamed me——this "Nobunaga Ji" omitted the content describing the first half of Nobunaga's life, what happened! Of course, I pretended not to know, but Genbei searched around in your library and found the "First Volume". I can't hide it anymore." "Is that so? I did keep a copy of the first volume at home. You copied it and gave it to Genbei?" "No. I heard you said that there is only this manuscript, and you want to keep it with you, and you didn't even sell it to Mr. Taige. So I think you take it very seriously, so you refuse to copy it." "How did Genbei do it?" "I was so angry that I had to copy it. He said that if I didn't obey, I would break my fingers and make me unable to hold a brush again." "I didn't know Genbei was such a man. But since he wanted it so much, why didn't he copy it himself?" "For many years. Genbei has been copying books, but he suffered from severe hand spasms and can no longer write." "Didn't he bring anyone?" "The second time he came, he was alone." "So, the first volume was not confiscated?" Niu Yi felt that it was somewhat of a relief, but the woman's next words were disappointing. "Well, I was tied into a reed mat like this and thrown into a small warehouse. It's not very clear." "Where are the servants and servants who come to work in the house?" "My lord, I gave them a holiday when you were not at home. So, they didn't know about this incident." "So, Genbei copied it himself with his convulsed hands? Good boy, you wait for me, I must take it back. However, I have to treat you first. It may be a bit late, but I I know a thing or two about osteosynthesis. I'll treat you right away, and you sit there. But my method is rough, and I've done it for samurai on the battlefield before. It hurts, and you have to be prepared. Okay?" "OK." The woman nodded slightly, and some anger returned to her face. "First of all, I will tear off the sleeves of my clothes and stuff them into your mouth. If I bite my tongue during the treatment, it will be difficult to handle." in front of her. "You sit in front of the table and stretch out your finger. After I pull out the ring finger, I have to press it back straight and embed it in. Then, I will apply family heirloom ointment on the back of your hand and fix it with a splint. The treatment process is like this Yes, during this process, all men will scream. So you cry, but during the treatment, never pull your hand back, don't run away from me. If you run away, your fingers can't be cured. By the way , just in case, or like this..." Niu Yi brought a bundle of hemp rope from the warehouse, put one end of it in his mouth, and then tied up the two people who were facing each other across the table, and tied them tightly.Just like that, after making the woman unable to move, Niu Yi pressed her wrist hard. "Then I'll start. If it hurts, just cry. It's okay." The woman nodded slightly.Because of the severe pain, the woman lay on the table, shaking her shoulders and moaning.