Chapter 15 Chapter Fourteen

If Mr. Mei Qi just waved his hand lightly at that time and stopped discussing the topic of his father's disappearance, it would be Holmes who was at a loss, because he found out later that he did have a little vague impression of this name ( He thought, or maybe it was because he was already familiar with the surname Mei Qi that he had such an illusion?).So, on the second night of their trip, sitting in a tavern in Yamaguchi over fish and sake, he asked again about Meiqi's father.His first question made Mei Qi stare at him for a long time: "Why are you asking me this now?" "Because I really can't control my curiosity anymore, sorry."

"Really?" "I'm afraid it's true." Afterwards, all the questions Holmes asked were seriously answered, and as the wine in Mei Qi's hand was drank and the glass was filled again and again, Mei Qi also showed more and more intense emotions.Before both of them were drunk, sometimes Mei Qi would stop suddenly while talking, unable to finish what she wanted to say.For a while, he just clutched his glass tightly and stared at Holmes in despair.Soon, he said nothing.Finally, it was Holmes who helped him to his feet, helped him off the wine table, and walked back unsteadily to his respective rooms.The next morning, as they toured the three nearby villages and temples, neither of them brought up the conversation of the previous night.

The third day of the trip was the most exciting day of Holmes' entire journey.Although both he and Mei Qi still felt a little unwell after a hangover, both of them were in high spirits, and that day was also a beautiful spring day.They sat on the bus, bumping on the country roads, chatting all over the place, and the atmosphere was natural and relaxed.They talked about England, about beekeeping, about the war, and about their respective travels in their youth.Holmes was surprised to find that Maggie had been to Los Angeles, and even shook hands with Chaplin; and Maggie also listened with great interest to the stories of Holmes' travels in Tibet, as well as his visit to Lhasa and his experience of spending several days with the Dalai Lama .

The friendly and easy exchange lasted all morning and into the afternoon, and then they went to a village fair (Holmes bought a very perfect short sword as a letter opener) and saw in another village A very special holiday celebration.As the brigade of priests, musicians, and locals dressed up as devils paraded through the streets, the two couldn't stop whispering.They saw men holding up male phalluses made of wood, women holding smaller carved wooden phalluses wrapped in red paper, and onlookers reaching out to touch the tops of wooden phalluses, asking the gods to bless their children to grow up healthy.

"Very interesting," commented Holmes. "I knew you'd find it interesting," said Mr. Mayge. Holmes smiled shyly. "My friend, I think you are more interested than I am." "Maybe you're right." Mei Qi agreed, and he also smiled and stretched out his hand, touching an oncoming wood carving with his fingertips. The rest of the night was the same as before, another tavern, dinners, rounds of sake, cigarettes and cigars, more questions about Matsuda.Holmes's questions changed from broad to more specific, and since Meggie could not know everything about her father, his answers were often uncertain, even just a shrug, or "I don't know".Meggie is not averse to Holmes' inquisitive questions, even if they bring up memories of his unhappy childhood and his concerns about his mother's grief: "She destroyed a lot of things, almost everything my father touched. She set fire to the house twice and tried to get me to commit suicide with her - she wanted us to go into the sea and drown, she thought it was revenge for my father's mistakes."

"Then I think your mother must not like me very much—I've felt it before, and she can't hide her dislike for me." "Yes, she doesn't like you, but to be honest, she doesn't like anyone, so don't think she's targeting you in particular. She never admits Kensui Lang, and she doesn't like my lifestyle: I have never been married , but lived with a partner. She blamed it on our father for abandoning us. She believed that a boy would never grow into a real man without his father's teaching." "Didn't she think I played a key role in your father's decision to abandon you?"

"Yes, she thought so." "Oh, so her dislike is aimed at me, isn't it? I hope you don't feel the same way she does." "No, not at all. My mother and I are very different people, and I have nothing against you. Let me be frank, you are my hero and my new friend." "You flatter me so much," said Holmes, raising his glass. "To my new friend—" Throughout the night, Mei Qi had a trusting and focused expression on her face.In fact, Holmes felt that there was a kind of belief conveyed in that expression: when Meggie talked about her father, he believed that the retired detective before him could bring some new information about his father's disappearance, or at least on this issue. Provide some insight.But it didn't take long for him to realize that Holmes didn't have any thoughts, so his expression gradually changed, becoming a little sad, even gloomy.He was sullen and scowling, and he berated the waitress when she accidentally spilled fresh sake on their table.

Then, on their final journey, the pair would spend often long periods of contemplation, punctuated only by puffs of cigarette smoke.On the train to Shimonoseki, Mr. Mei Qi was busy writing something in his red diary, while Holmes was full of thoughts about Matsuda—he was staring out the window, following a steep road A meandering river in the mountains.Sometimes the train would pass by country cottages, and in front of each house there would be a twenty-gallon bucket by the river (Maggie had told him earlier that the writing on the bucket meant "fireproof water").Along the way Holmes saw many small villages and the towering mountains behind them.He imagined that if he could climb to the top of a high mountain, what a spectacular scenery he would be able to see—the valleys, villages, cities in the distance, and even the entire inland sea.

As Holmes admired the picturesque scenery, he pondered over what Meggie had said about his father.He gradually formed a basic impression of the missing man in his mind - he was like a ghost from the past: thin face, tall, haggard face should be different, with Meiji The goatee was the favorite of intellectuals in the period.A government diplomat, he was one of Japan's most prominent foreign ministers before stepping down prematurely due to scandal.He was also an enigmatic figure, known for his logical thinking and eloquence, and his deep knowledge of international policy.Among his many achievements, the most famous is his book on the Sino-Japanese War, written during his sojourn in London, detailing Japan's secretive foreign policy before the war broke out.

Matsuda was naturally ambitious, and his political ambitions came to the fore during the Meiji Restoration, when he entered government work against the objections of his parents.Since he has nothing to do with any of the four pro-Western parties, he is considered an outsider, but because of his outstanding ability, several districts eventually asked him to be the district mayor.During his tenure, he made his first trip to London in 1870.After resigning from the post of district mayor, he was elected to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was expanding rapidly at the time. Later, because he was dissatisfied with the party's control of the government, he participated in a conspiracy to overthrow the party and was discovered, which led to his originally bright future. It came to an abrupt end after three years.The failure of treason led to a long prison sentence, but he did not give up behind bars, but continued to do important work, such as translating Jeremy Bentham's "Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation" into Japanese.

After being released from prison, Matsuda married his then-young wife and gave birth to two more sons.At the same time, he has been traveling abroad for many years, frequently in and out of Japan, making London his home in Europe, and making frequent trips to Berlin and Vienna.It was also a long period of study for him, and his main interest was the constitution.While he is widely believed to have a deep understanding of the Western world, he always believed in an absolute monarchy. "You make no mistake," said Mr. Mayge, on the second evening of Holmes' questioning, "my father believed in a single, absolute power to govern the people, and I think that is why he preferred the English Not because of America. I also think it's his stubborn beliefs that make him lose the patience necessary to be a successful politician, let alone a good father, a good husband." "Do you think he stayed in London until his death?" "Probably so." "Did you never visit him when you were at school in London?" "I did, but not for long - I found it impossible for me to find him. To be honest, I didn't try too hard to find him. At the time, I was young, I had a new life, I had new friends, and I wasn't in a hurry. I wanted to find someone who had abandoned us a long time ago. In the end, I deliberately stopped looking for his whereabouts, thinking that such a decision would set me free. After all, he was no longer in the same world as me at that time, and we It has long been a stranger." But Mr. Mei Qi also admitted that after decades passed, he began to regret his decision.Because he was fifty-four now—only five years younger than his father was when he and his father had last seen each other—he felt a growing emptiness inside him, a huge black hole that his father's disappearance had left in him.More importantly, he firmly believed that there must have been a similar void in his father's heart, which was the trauma of never seeing his family again.After his father passed away, this dark and empty wound somehow found its way into his son's heart, and as he grew older, it eventually became an unresolved knot that often confused and depressed him. "In other words, you don't just want to know the answer for your mother's sake?" Holmes asked, his tone suddenly tinged with confusion and exhaustion. "Yes, I think you're right." Mei Qi answered somewhat desperately. "You are actually looking for the truth for yourself, right? In other words, for yourself, you have to find out the truth of the matter." "Yes." Mei Qi answered after pondering for a moment, staring at the sake glass in his hand. Then, he looked at Holmes again, "Then, what is the truth? How did you find out the truth? How did you solve it? What about those mysteries?" He fixed his eyes on Holmes, hoping that these questions would be a definite starting point.If Holmes can answer, then maybe his father's disappearance and his childhood pain can be solved one by one. But Holmes was silent, as if lost in thought; and his expression of brooding as he sat there aroused both hope and pain in Meggie.There is no doubt that Holmes is searching in his vast memory bank. The details about Matsuda's abandonment of family and country are like a file folder, hidden deep in the forgotten cabinet. immeasurably important information.Soon, Holmes closed his eyes (but Meggie was sure that the old detective's thoughts had gone deep into the darkest corner of the filing cabinet), and then there was a slight snoring that was hard to detect.