Chapter 3 Chapter two

The cigarette ash he smoked while lying on his back fell down his throat, and Aozuka took the opportunity to sit up.This is about twenty minutes after Aju and her girlfriends left for Sangtian on the mountain. Aozuka wore the hotel kimono and went out with cedar clogs.This is something that doesn't make people think he's going up the mountain.However, the manager still knew about it, and watched him off with a smile.Avoiding the manager's gaze, he turned right off the road and into the wheat field, around the back of the village. Set foot on the mountain road you often walk.It was difficult to walk in the wooden clogs, and the hem of the kimono skirt stumbled his feet, so he tucked the back of the skirt into his belt.The steep slope bends, and the mountain gets deeper and deeper.The valley on the other side sank to the bottom, and the cliffs on the opposite side had rough muscles. The oriole was singing, and the cauliflower snake crawled across the road ahead. The grass had grown very long.

Aju appeared in the old place, this tryst has become self-righteous, no need to show a smile anymore.Holding the basket in one hand, and the other grabbing Qingzhong's sleeve, they entered the narrow sidewalk in the forest. The location was also fixed, above the grass surrounded by trees. Between trysts.Qingzuka couldn't help feeling that he was being seen.The charcoal burners would come up the hill, and the loggers would come, so he was always nervous, but now he was at ease, he was used to such wild trysts. The two spent an hour together, and then Aju put on black trousers, and slapped each other's grass, which was wrapped around the shoulders and back.The back of Aju's red clothes was stained with green grass juice.

The two walked on the road and went straight down to Sangtian at the foot of the mountain, but Aju had to separate from him because she had to pick a whole basket of wild vegetables.There are many wild vegetables growing in the place Aju found, which is unknown to the other female companions.Otherwise, the time for picking wild vegetables cannot be shortened for a tryst. When they came to the place where they broke up, Aju stood looking at the valley and said: "There are people walking in that kind of place." Qingzuka also visited there. Aju said that that kind of place turned out to be a man climbing up the steep slope from the bottom of the valley, holding the bushes with his hands.The gray rock muscle is exposed on the cliff, but the place near the foot of the mountain is covered by low trees and weeds.On the highest cliff, there is a striking new green miscellaneous forest, which is connected to the cedar forest in the middle.

The man climbing among the bushes wore a black sweater, slate gray trousers, and a peaked cap of the same color.From this side, it is the back view, and because of the distance, it is hard to tell whether it is a young man or a middle-aged man.While watching, the man continued to climb, but he could see that his movements were unskilled, but he seemed very busy. From the appearance of the other party, it seems that they have descended to the bottom of the valley along the same slope, and then climbed up again.Or the feeling of walking from the foot of the mountain to the bottom of the valley, and then climbing the slope from the bottom of the valley.Anyway, the bottom of the valley is where no one needs to go, not even a path.When Aju mentioned that kind of place, she didn't just refer to the slope of the shrubs.

What are you going to do?Or what are you going to do?Qingzuka thought, during this time, the man has reached the top of the slope and disappeared into the woods. "What a strange person." (A-Ju watched him off.) "It doesn't seem like someone from here." Qingzuka said. "Perhaps a guest of some hotel." There are only five hotels in Shangshan Hot Spring, including Zhiyue Pavilion, so most of the foreign guests, Aju, know about it. "What are you doing down there?" A-ju looked at the bottom of the valley and said. In fact, it is really a useless place. There are only bushes, weeds and fallen rocks at the bottom of the valley.

"Isn't the hotel guest here to pass the time?" Aozuka could only explain that it was the boring behavior of the passengers. However, the two of them did not have much interest in this.With a sense of satisfaction, Aju went to the swamp to pick wild vegetables, and Qingzuka went down the mountain in disappointment.The hotel's clogs are much easier to go down the mountain than up the mountain. Feeling a little tired, he sat down on the road.The weather was fine, I smoked a couple of cigarettes and thought absently about the future.I don't know what will happen. The woman who caused him to squander the money has long since left. I want to turn around and worry about the police. If I go to Tokyo or Osaka, I'm afraid I won't be able to escape the eyes of the criminal police.It's better to stay in this mountain hotel and find a job, and work with Aju.However, it is not necessarily safe here, and the most important thing is that I have no intention of living here for a long time. At thirty-one years old, there is still hope.Although it is only a local newspaper, his experience as a reporter makes him still full of ambitions for the future.

After sitting for about half an hour, he felt drowsy and stood up. When he was about to walk towards the passage at the foot of the mountain, he stopped again. Qingzuka saw a man standing at the place where the mountain road connected to the village road.When he found out that this man was the man in the cap and black sweater who climbed the slope just now, Aozuka dodged and hid behind the tree.I didn't want to hide at first, but I just thought of the police, so I instinctively hid for a while. From his position, the man in the peaked cap stood facing down the mountain road.He seemed to be looking around. When he saw it for the first time, due to the distance, he couldn't see his face clearly. Now it is only about 20 meters away, and he can see clearly.It's a thin man.About forty-six or seven years old, with a high nose bridge, slightly sunken cheeks, and a fairly regular appearance.Because of the hat, the hairstyle is not clear, but it may be older.Men look younger when wearing hats.

The man once looked up at the mountain road here, so he saw his face clearly.Is a noble gentleman.After all, I came to the hot springs for vacation from the city. The man looked up to this side, probably thinking about going up the mountain road to come here, but immediately changed his mind, walked from the left, and disappeared behind the trees. After the man left, Qingzuka walked down to the place where the man was standing, stopped to look at his back, and saw that the black sweater had already reached the road between the foot of the mountain and Sangtian. Is that man a visitor to the Shangshan Hot Spring?Just now Aju said that she had never seen this person, but if it was a new arrival last night who was staying in another hotel, of course she would not know.While thinking this way, the man had already turned the road on the other side of Sangtian and disappeared... It was just that, so Qingzuka didn't feel suspicious at that time.

It was the next day that Aozuka became suspicious of the peaked cap.And maybe because I was bored on the yellowed tatami, staring at the ceiling and puffing, I suddenly remembered it. What the hell is that man doing there? —— If you are a new hot spring visitor, it is impossible to wander around the valley.Although there isn't much to see here, it's still too strange.Besides, he looks like a decent middle-aged gentleman. At first I thought it might be a botanist, but it didn't look like he was busy climbing up the slope, not even holding a blade of grass in his hand.If it were to be explained that he did not find the desired plant, his actions would be rather strange.He gives the impression of going down the slope to the valley at one point and then back up again.

—Is he looking for something in the valley? Thinking of this, Qingzuka suddenly became curious.This was also because he was bored, so he took off his kimono and changed into a sweatshirt and trousers.It is inconvenient to wear clogs to go to that place. After taking off the hotel kimono in a rare way, he borrowed a cane from the manager who was looking at him curiously, and walked towards the path beyond Kuwata.Today is not a date with Ah Ju, so don't be nervous if the manager sees it.Speaking of Aju, she will also go to pick wild vegetables with other waitresses later, right?