Chapter 13 first quarter

"Three, four—jump!" With the driver's yell, the taxi bounced vigorously.Only I, who was sitting in the passenger seat, prepared in advance and pressed the luggage tightly on my lap. Masa's rectangular leather bag hit the headrest of my seat hard, and Rin's handbag hit the driver's head directly. "Hey, sir, you are already familiar with the way." The driver with short gray hair touched the top of his head and said to me with a smile.Rin kept apologizing in the back seat. "it's okay no problem." The taxi was driving on a road with poor road conditions, and the wheels rolled over many small stones.This was November 30th—two days after Zhenbei decided to go to Ruixiang's room, at three o'clock in the afternoon.

"There are almost no vehicles on this road, so the government is too lazy to spend money on repairs. Mugong is not a tourist attraction. When you want to go to the urban area behind the mountain, you usually go around the road at the bottom of the mountain. Only the car going to Ruixiangfang will pass here. —Ah, I seem to have said those words last time too.” I did hear the same thing last time. "A few years ago, I planned to build a tunnel for this mountain, but it turned out that the economic benefits were not good, and the work was stopped halfway. I only dug a little in front and then stopped. Isn't it too much?"

The driver finished his last sentence in a tone like a kabuki actor, and then opened his mouth and laughed alone. "Mr. Daowei, have you contacted the people in Ruixiangfang?" Rin asked. "Well, I asked them again through my cousin-in-law, no matter what, let me go to interview again, and promised not to affect their work. The owner of Songyue also agreed, I believe there should be no problem—ah , By the way, Mabe, I almost forgot to tell you, in a sense, the owner of Songyue should be your strong enemy." "Strong enemy—what does this sentence mean?" "You'll know it when you see him."

I don't know if Mabei knows it, but in the matter of being mistaken for a woman when they meet for the first time, Mabei and Songyue should be evenly matched.Because Zhenbei's neutral appearance also reminds people of European and American female stars.Because he was often mistaken for a woman, so when I was a student, I secretly called him "Sister Ono" to tease him.Of course, half of it was out of jealousy. "Ah, the owner of Songyue House occasionally calls my car." The driver interjected proudly while controlling the steering wheel with one hand, "He always takes the car from Ruixiangfang to Station S."

"Station? So he can take the tram too." From the way he stood in front of the workbench in white overalls, it was hard to imagine him riding a tram. "He often takes the tram. Although he only takes my car about once a month, I heard from other colleagues that he seems to go to the station every two weeks. I don't know where he takes the tram. He didn't open a workshop. The car should be a private matter." At this time, there was a loud noise in the distance.I looked out through the windshield, and found many black shadows gathered in a certain place in the fir forest ahead, which turned out to be flocks of crows.It has a deeper cry than the crow heard at the Tokyo garbage dump, and its appearance is subtly different.

"Ah, maybe it's a fox." The driver muttered under his breath.I thought at once that people in this part of the world called crows foxes, but it turned out that wasn't the case. "There are a lot of crows in this area. Whenever they find dead animals, they gather like this. It's—ah, it's a fox." A taxi passes by.As expected, among the countless crows, there was a black-red object, half buried under the leaves.A small piece of fur that was exposed did indeed look like a fox. "If you come from Tokyo, you should seldom see that kind of crow, right? The crows in the city are big-billed crows, with a wide beak, and they make a quacking sound when they call; the crows in this area are all small-billed crows. Get up and make a croak, croak—oooh, right here."

The taxi turned left at the entrance of the Chinese fir forest, and after driving for about a minute, the magnificent Jianren Temple fence appeared.I glanced at the black pines on both sides of the entrance, and found a crow parked among the leaves. The taxi pulled up in a gravel parking lot. "Call my car on the way back, please." The driver handed the business card to Rin along with the money in change. "Teacher Daowei, I'm waiting for you." When I got out of the car, I heard a very energetic voice.Maya Nogata, in overalls, ran over from the paint drying room next to the workshop with a big smile on her face.

"Ah, so she is Kitami's rival." Mabi obviously misunderstood, but luckily Rin didn't hear it. "Maya, long time no see. How are you?" The driver poked his head out of the driver's seat and asked. "Didn't I just see him a few days ago, next time I will go to see Fudo Myoko again." "Okay, okay, please, see you another day." After watching the taxi go away, we introduced ourselves to each other.As discussed before, Mabi introduced himself as a researcher of folk Buddha statues, and Rin was his assistant. "It's a dream come true to visit the famous Ruixiang House, Kitami, isn't it?"

"That's right." "I hope it can be helpful to your research, but I can't cause trouble for the people in the workshop." We chatted and walked towards the workshop. "You can visit as you like, but you must be accompanied when you visit the workshop and stepped kiln. If you want to see the paint drying room, just tell me, and Aunt Sanban Ji will take care of it." Aunt Ji—it turned out to be the 'Aunt Yi Po'. "This time the three of you sleep in the same room, is that okay?" "Yes, it's absolutely fine. Sorry to cause you a lot of trouble."

I bowed to Maya.He was kicked out in that way last time, and immediately asked to visit the workshop. According to Shinobi, Maya tried his best and asked Songyue repeatedly, and Songyue nodded in agreement. "Don't worry about this kind of thing. If there are writers to collect materials, it may increase the popularity of the workshop. Of course, the real name should not be mentioned in the novel." "Yeah, if you mention your real name, I'm afraid..." I was perfunctory casually, feeling a dull pain in my heart.Because the purpose of this visit has nothing to do with the source of the novel.

The scene of the studio has hardly changed from what I saw during my recent visit.Homeowner Matsutsuki stood on this side of the workbench, facing the thin Torii Shinta and the fair-skinned, glasses-wearing Nisewa Ryoji.They were all so engrossed in carving wood chips that no one noticed us walking in. "Master, the visitor has arrived." Maya yelled, and the three of them raised their heads suddenly at the same time.Rin who was standing next to me sighed when she saw Matsuzuki turning her head. "This is Mr. Daowei who came last time, this is—" "My name is Rin Kitami, please give me your advice." Rin bowed respectfully. "Then, this is—" "My name is Zhenbei, Jibei Zhenbei's Zhenbei." After Mabi finished speaking quickly as if reciting a spell, he held out a hand to Matsuzuki.They were so busy, I was worried that they would be impatient, but Songyue unexpectedly put the carving knife on the workbench, stood up and shook hands with Zhenbei. "I'm Matsuzuki, the owner of the house. Please give me your advice. They are Torii, Wei Ze, and Okajima. Michio-san should already be very familiar with the gardener, Mr. Karamaki." "Ah, yes, he took good care of me last time." Okajima, who disappeared before, seems to have returned safely.Where did he go and what did he do? "Because of the lack of manpower, there is no way to entertain well, so you take your time to visit." Songyue smiled and bowed to us leisurely. However-- Songyue really has an incredible characteristic, not because he is very feminine, but something more specific—— However, at the time I still couldn't figure out what it was. "I'm going to work too." Maya turned to look at us. "—Ah, the toilet is outside, please use it when you need it. Just now I told Mr. Tang Jianmu that Mr. Daowei will come, so you can ask him to show you around." Maya bowed to us, chatted with Songyue for two or three words about work, then walked out of the workshop and ran to the drying room next door. "Oh, so this is the rumored little amulet—" Mabe looked at the workbench with his head and cried out excitedly. "I can give you one if you like." Songyue picked up a small amulet and handed it to Zhenbei.Zhenbei took it over, held it in front of his eyes and looked at it carefully. "Wow, the carving is so delicate, the eleven faces are carved so carefully." "This workshop has been famous for making eleven-faced Kannon since the opening of the workshop." "I've heard that, in fact, I also like the Eleven-faced Guanyin, especially the bold composition carved in the early ninth century—" "Mabei, there is a storage place behind, which is a place where many Buddha statues are placed, let's go there and have a look." I was worried about affecting their work, so before Songyue got angry, I quickly took Zhenbei away from the scene.Rin also left the studio with us. Walking into the inner wooden door, a familiar scene appeared in front of you—large, medium and small Buddha statues, Buddha statues, Buddha statues.Since my last visit, there seems to have been some shipments and new works completed, and the Buddha statues are slightly different from last time, but still surprisingly large.Zhenbei was also frightened by the Buddha statue in front of him. As soon as he entered the room, he stopped and sighed softly deep in his throat.Rin covered his mouth with his hand and let out a long sigh, and I myself was shocked by the sight again. "It's spectacular, Doo-wow, unbelievable. Putting Tawenten and Bishamonten together, it's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the same time." Zhenbei said these inexplicable words, his eyes were bright, and he walked back and forth among the Buddha statues.After a while, he finally saw the statue of Avalokitesvara on the wooden frame, and shouted, "So it's this one!" This thousand-handed Avalokitesvara, which I saw again a week later, is enveloped in a strange atmosphere—it seems that the strange atmosphere that can be touched as long as I stretch out my hand is surrounding us, and I can't help but think of it as a "ghost".The fact that Ryuzo Nirazawa's last work was returned for unknown reasons twenty years ago may have deepened my impression.Under the calm expression, there is a crazy and cruel monster hidden—— "Oh, you're here again." A huge Bodhidharma statue in purple and yellow cassock came from the workshop, "You are really enthusiastic." The abbot of Ji'an said to me with a smile, then glanced at Mabi and Rin, and finally turned his gaze back to me with a question mark on his face. "Ah, let me introduce to you—" I introduced Mabi and Rin to the abbot of Jian, and the abbot of Jian slowly straightened the folds of white silk that hung around his neck, and bowed his big bald head deeply towards them. "I am Ci'an of Ruixiang Temple." He has a steady demeanor and a deep voice, but the strange features concentrated in the center of the face really don't match his serious attitude. "I heard you mentioned at the end of the sermon. You must be too busy to enter the soul of all the small amulets and the Buddha statues in this room by yourself." "Only this period is relatively busy. Today also started early in the morning. I just left the table to go to the toilet... If there is a toilet in the workshop, this kind of trouble will not happen..." The second half of the sentence became his soliloquy, and then he smiled at Rin: "Excuse me, can you let me go?" "Ah, I'm so sorry." Rin moved around, and the abbot of Ci'an walked slowly to the corner of the room, where there was a bamboo basket containing small amulets.The abbot of Ci'an sat upright with his back facing us, lit a stick of incense, and began to chant sutras.With his left palm upright in front of his face, he picked up a small amulet from the bamboo basket with his right hand, lifted it over his head, and put it into another bamboo basket next to him.Although the steps are the same as the last time I saw it, the speed is much faster and more rhythmic, like a fisherwoman peeling sea melon seeds. "Teacher, what is the soul?" Rin asked Mabi in a low voice. "It is consecration, turning the statue with the shape of a Bodhisattva into a Buddha statue." It seems that Zhenbei didn't explain it very thoroughly. "It is reasonable to say that the statues will be consecrated after they are sent from the Buddha-making workshop to the temple-but the small amulets cannot do this, so they will be consecrated in advance." While chanting sutras, the abbot of Ci'an raised his right hand and made an OK gesture.He probably wanted to say "that's right". At that moment, the phone rang in the workshop.Someone answered the phone and spoke in a low and gloomy manner.It seems that Torii answered the phone.He began to speak softly, but halfway through he became very flustered. "Yes... oh, yes... Uh, can you wait a moment? ——Master, the temple in Kyoto called to complain, saying that one of the hands of the Yosaki Kannon that was sent earlier fell off." "hand?" "Yes, the wrist is broken. It happens to be the left hand holding the axe, and the floor is also badly damaged—uh, what should I do?" "I'll listen, you go on with your work—hello?" I lowered my voice and said to Mabe: "It turns out that the hands of Buddha statues will also fall off." "He said just now that it was made of yoseki, not a piece of wood, so it was glued together after the various parts were carved—maybe it was not glued firmly when sticking the wrist." "Teacher, what kind of Guanyin is Zhunzhi Guanyin?" "How—ah, it happens to be here." Zhenbei pointed to the corner of the room, which was on the right side of the thousand-armed Avalokitesvara, in the middle of a shelf lined with many small Buddha statues. "This is Avalokitesvara, who can bless and give birth to children. It is also called the mother of Buddha, which means the mother of all Bodhisattvas. There are a total of eighteen hands, but there are no Buddha statues with palms together. Is it rare to see? There are two pairs The above hands, but there is no image of Avalokitesvara with clasped hands, it should be Avalokitesvara." I remembered that when I came to this room last time, I saw a large wooden statue—the shape of the Buddha statue was the same as the one in front of me. At that time, Tang Jianmu’s father also said that the statue was about to be sent to a temple in Kyoto—— "It turned out that the hand of the Buddha statue fell off..." I was worried that they would think I had tampered with my visit and started to get a little uneasy.

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