Chapter 18 first quarter

In my dim consciousness, I heard the slight sound of the sliding door opening and closing, and the warm light shone on my face. I opened my eyes and found that Mabi was looking out through the gap in the sliding door.He turned his head and looked down at me, narrowed his eyes, and said inarticulately, "Ao'an." "Good morning, why are you brushing your teeth in the room?" "Because I changed clothes for Jianai." "—Because Kitami-san is changing clothes? So you can't go to the bathroom?" I sat cross-legged on the quilt, yawned and stretched.

"It's great that nothing happened last night. Since Kitami-san was scared, I was a little worried—" "Good morning." Just talking about Rin, Rin came back.Judging by her complexion, she should have slept well last night.Maybe it was sharing a room with two big men to make her feel at ease.I suddenly remembered the words "fighting poison with poison". After the three of us washed up, we walked to the restaurant together.The tangy aroma of miso soup is reassuring. Auntie Yi, who was washing dishes behind the curtain, turned off the tap as soon as she saw us and greeted us kindly.

"Sit whatever you want, I'll prepare breakfast for you right away." We sat at a table by the window, and Rin poured tea for everyone from the hot water in the water bottle. "Do you want a large bowl, a medium bowl, or a small bowl for your rice?" Aunt Yi asked from behind the curtain. "You'd better ask for a small bowl." I suggested in a low voice, and they followed my advice.After a while, the rice that Aunt Yi brought out from inside was indeed what everyone thought was a medium or large bowl. "Aunt Himenoki, did you come here when Mr. Chirazawa was still around?"

Zhen Bei asked, Auntie Yi wiped her hands with a rag, her gaze drifted in mid-air. "Mr. Niozawa? I haven't heard this name for a long time." "The Thousand-armed Avalokitesvara statue in the storage place is really amazing, so I became interested in the Buddhist artist who carved that statue. What kind of person is Mr. Nirazawa?" "He's a bit of a weird guy. He's fair and handsome. He's a little thin and looks weak, but sometimes he loses his temper suddenly. It should be said to be grumpy, no, and it's not—emotional instability , um, it doesn't seem quite right."

Aunt Yi thought for a long time, and finally concluded: "Anyway, that's the kind of artist's temper." Mabi stirred the natto and continued the topic pretending to be absent-minded. "He should be regarded as a very skilled Buddha statue maker. No wonder the owner of Songyue appreciates him so much." "That's right, the owner of Songyue really cares about Mr. Yuze, it can be said that he loves him very much." Aunt Yi felt exactly the same as Father Tang Jianmu.However, she has more to say. "Matsutsuki's homeowner and Mrs. Mio regard Mr. Chirosawa as their own son."

"Mrs. Mio?" Mabi asked back. Auntie immediately showed a "terrible" expression, but then said, "Anyway, it's okay to say, Mrs. Mio is the wife of the owner of Songyue." "Huh? I heard from Mr. Tang Jianmu last time that the owner of Songyue is single—" I asked, and Auntie Yi nodded slightly. "Yes, he's single now, but—" "Oh, that's it." It turned out that he was divorced. "Mrs. Mio is the only daughter of a small Buddhist workshop in Nara—she married the owner of Matsutsuki for about two years, and then went back to Nara."

I was a little concerned about this matter, and casually asked the reason for the divorce, but Auntie Yi didn't seem to know. "They seem to be in a good relationship—however, emotional matters are not something that others can understand." After Aunt Yi finished speaking with emotion, she raised her index finger in front of her lips: "You can't say what you just said." "By the way, about Mr. Jiuze's works—" Zhenbei resumed the topic, "The statue of Avalokitesvara and the works in the room where we sleep, as well as the statue of King Wushu Samoming in the small temple, are all his works." Was it carved?"

"Wushu Samo—oh, you mean that. I also like the Huotou God who was placed in the toilet before the dormitory was rebuilt. I can't help admiring every time I go to the toilet. He is young and carved Such a great Buddha statue." "Have you heard Mr. Tang Jianmu mention the split head of the Buddha statue?" "Didn't it crack last year? Mr. Tang Jianmu is very concerned about this matter—however, cracks in wooden statues are common, especially the wood used in the Buddha statue is osmanthus wood that is easy to crack." At this time, Aunt Yi suddenly lowered her voice.

"Fortunately, he was no longer here when the Buddha statue was cracked. Because Mr. Jiu Ze likes this Buddha statue of the fire-headed god very much." "Is that so?—Did he say so?" asked Jinbei. Auntie Yi shook her head and said, "Mr. Jiu Ze is not the kind of person who can express his inner thoughts, but I can see it." Aunt Yi touched her cheek with her fat fingers. "Sometimes he would go to the toilet in the middle of the night, and he wouldn't come out for a long time. I think he must be admiring his own work, because why does it take so long to go to the toilet? The toilet is next to the exit from here, so I know It’s very clear. Especially in the middle of the night, there is no sound from other rooms—even though it’s midnight, it’s not too late, and I go back to my room at about ten o’clock every day.”

"It's so interesting, the Buddha statue master carefully appreciates his works in the toilet..." Zhenbei stopped the chopsticks in his hand, looked up at Aunt Yi and asked, "—how long?" "Huh? Well, it's been a long time, about thirty minutes to an hour." "Spent thirty minutes to an hour in the toilet?" "Of course, because the Buddha statue cannot be moved when placed there." "This—seems a bit unusual, doesn't it?" "Will it? If it's a well-carved Buddha statue, I won't get tired of watching it for hours."

Auntie Yi said, tilting her head slightly. At this time, the ringtone of the mobile phone came from a distance. "Oh, it's finally here." Mabe put down his chopsticks and hurried out of the restaurant.I watched his back and asked Rin, "Who is calling?" "I don't know, I haven't heard the teacher mention..." At this time, a huge colorful object appeared outside the window. "Ah, it's the abbot of Ci'an." The abbot of Ci'an, who came from the back of the dormitory, seemed to notice that we were in the dining room, and immediately changed direction and walked towards us.Rin stood up and opened the window next to the table.Cold air blew in, followed by the sound of heavy clogs.We greeted him one after another. The abbot of Ci'an shook his bald head, with many wrinkles at the end of his eyes. "Good morning, did you sleep well last night?" Rin shrugged his shoulders from the cold winter air and replied, "Very well, I slept soundly—are you going to the workshop now?" "Yes, later, I will go to the temple in Kyoto with the owner of Songyue to bring back the Buddha statue." The abbot of Ji'an made a gesture of lifting a heavy object with both hands, and I bit my pickled radish and poked my head out beside Rin. "Is it the Guanyin from yesterday? It's the one whose left hand fell off." "So you know, yes, it's the Avalokitesvara. I have to bring it back here for repairs. I'm already busy enough making small amulets, but it's really raining overnight." The work of the Buddha-making workshop does not seem to be just bowing down to make Buddha statues, and the maintenance work afterwards is also very busy. "The owner of Songyue seems to have a special relationship with Avalokitesvara Zhunzhi..." I couldn't understand the words that the abbot of Ci'an blurted out. "What does special fate mean?" "It's Mrs. Meixu's—" At this point, the abbot of Ci'an shook his head, "It's not important, the monk can't talk too much." Rin and I glanced at each other, tilting our heads in confusion.What is the relationship between the woman who divorced Songyue and the Avalokitesvara who dropped her left hand? "Then I'm off to work." When the abbot of Ci'an turned around and was about to leave, I suddenly thought of something. "By the way, Abbot of Ci'an, why do you want to bring the Buddha statue back together?" The abbot of Ci'an turned around and looked at me and replied, "Because you want to move the soul, you have to do the opposite of entering the soul." "Remove the soul that entered before?" Rin asked without thinking, the abbot of Ci'an twisted his mouth, and his eyes became a little cross-eyed. "Removing out—in a word, it is to turn the Buddha statue back into an 'object with the shape of a Buddha statue'. When repairing a Buddha statue, you must first do this, and then disassemble and repair it—after that, you have to re-enter the soul." There are many scruples about Buddha statues that have entered the soul, so they cannot be disassembled or glued at will. "Theoretically, the abbot of that monastery should do the work, but he seemed to be furious because the Buddha statue we delivered was defective. The other party said that he was so angry that he threw away the dropped left hand as burnable garbage. " There is such a goddamn abbot! "That's why the abbot of Ci'an has to go with him. It's really hard." The abbot of Ci'an said, "It's really worthy of my master's departure." He smiled even more happily.I just remembered that today is December. "Then I'm leaving, and say hello to Mr. Mabi for me." The abbot of Ci'an gracefully bowed deeply and then left, gradually moving away with his huge back shaking. "Where is the abbot of Ci'an going?" Zhenbei came back. After I briefly explained the situation, he didn't seem to be very interested. He just said "Oh" and sat down. "Really, who is calling?" At this time, Auntie Yi put three small dishes on the table. "Boiled Kyoto vegetables." "Kyoto Vegetables—oh, so this is Kyoto Vegetables." "It's Mr. Sakuragawa from Omi Transportation. It's the driver who brought us here." "Oh, it's that gray-haired driver—what's your business with the taxi driver?" "I called him last night and asked him to investigate something for me." "What's up?" "From the night of November 22nd to the next morning, is there a taxi coming to this workshop to pick up Mr. Okajima?" It turned out to be like this.In this way, he could ask the driver where Okajima went that day. "--The results of it?" "There is no taxi here to pick up Mr. Okajima. Not only that day, but for a while, Omi Traffic has not sent a car to pick up Mr. Okajima at Ruixiangfang. More importantly, there are no taxi companies in this area that can call a taxi Only Omi Traffic—” "So, this means that Mr. Okajima has not left here." Mabi poured natto on the rice and replied, "Maybe. It could also be that on the night of the 22nd, someone came here to pick him up in a car other than a taxi, or maybe Okajima wanted to use his Walking down the mountain. In short, it is still impossible to determine, but listening to what the old house owner of Songyue said yesterday..." After saying this, Zhenbei stopped and snorted lightly. ——In that case, Satoshi might— —is no longer alive— "Aunt Himegi." Zhenbei called out, and Aunt Yi poked her head out from behind the curtain. "The old owner lives in the room behind the dormitory? Can we bother him?" "I think it's better not to," Auntie Yi shook her head immediately, "The old house owner hates others to disturb him. I never go in except for delivering food and cleaning." "Really? Then we can only talk to him when he just came out like yesterday..." "I'm afraid it's also very difficult, because the old homeowner seldom comes out. I often tell him to stay in the room all day and be careful not to become a corpse (mu-ku-rO)." Hearing her bold speech, I couldn't help opening my mouth. "The old owner's body is still very strong. Although he has lost a little weight, it cannot be said that he is a corpse—" Aunt Yi was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing. "You misunderstood, no matter what I do, it is impossible to say such a thing. I am not talking about a corpse. The gopher in Tamba dialect is also pronounced mu-ku-rO. In the north of Kyoto where I was born, everyone called it that." After a moment of silence, I asked Aunt Yi: "——What I just said, please never tell anyone." If someone finds out that I describe the old homeowner as a corpse, I'm afraid I will be kicked out again.

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