The Legend of Tokyo Taoist

Chapter 304 The beginning of the new year
New Year's Day comes right after Christmas. Since Japan adopted the Western calendar during the Meiji Restoration, the term "New Year" naturally changed to this day. Like the Chinese New Year, these days are considered the most important holidays in Japan.

Because there was no one at home and Qian Xiaoyi was also free, this year Inuyama Heita simply invited Qian Xiaoyi to spend New Year's Day with him.

On the night of December 31st, in the Inuyama family's apartment, a pile of snacks and oranges were placed on the table in front of the TV. Inuyama Heita and Qian Xiaoyi were both curled up in the kotatsu, eating snacks and watching the Red and White Songs Contest on TV.

"It feels like the White Team won again this year~" Inuyama Heita exclaimed while peeling an orange and watching TV.

Qian Xiaoyi lay on his side on the ground, propped up his head and watched TV, his lower body curled up in the warm quilt, and yawned out of boredom.

The Red and White Songs Contest currently being broadcast on TV is, in a sense, of a similar status to his Spring Festival Gala. It is basically a program watched by the entire nation. Even if you don't watch it, you have to turn on the TV to listen to it. The content of the program is to invite male and female singers to form two teams of different genders, and then sing PK, and finally the winner is decided by voting.

However, just like the Spring Festival Gala over there, this program was extremely popular when it was first broadcast, and then became a traditional New Year program. However, it became more and more boring later on, and up to now, the ratings have plummeted from 80% in the first session to more than 30%, and fewer and fewer people are watching.

Qian Xiaoyi could understand the feelings of the Japanese people. At least he felt sleepy after watching it. This thing was not as good as the Spring Festival Gala. After all, excluding those "dumpling-making" language programs, the Spring Festival Gala also had many other forms of performances, which were much richer than the Red and White Songs Festival.

"So boring." Qian Xiaoyi scratched his butt. He basically didn't know the stars singing on TV, so he didn't have any fan filter.

"Indeed." Inuyama Heita agreed while eating potato chips.

"It feels even more boring than when I was there." Ajian complained.

So the three of them watched the show while complaining, and celebrated the New Year with the ringing of the new year bell coming from TV.

Early in the morning on New Year's Day, Inuyama Heita took out the New Year's dishes he had bought from the supermarket and filled the table with a wide variety of them.

But that's all there is to it.

Although the food on the table looked rich and colorful, each portion was only two bites long and was all cold.

To Qian Xiaoyi, who comes from a country of gourmet cuisine with eight major cuisines, these New Year dishes, as a New Year tradition similar to the New Year's Eve dinner, are quite shabby.

"Can't you just have a couple of bites of something hot?" Qian Xiaoyi sighed.

"No." Inuyama Heita ate with gusto: "This is tradition."

"Yes, yes." Ah Jian was enjoying the incense offerings and said, "This is already very sumptuous, isn't it?"

Seeing Ah Jian and Bai Hu fighting over the two pitiful prawns on the tribute plate, Qian Xiaoyi sneered disdainfully and said, "In another month, when the Spring Festival comes, I will take you to see an authentic New Year's Eve dinner. Then you will know what a sumptuous feast is."

Sometimes Qian Xiaoyi really admires these Japanese people who eat cold food every day. For example, they don’t even heat up the bento and rice balls they bring to the office or school, because they are afraid that the smell will disturb others. But will this really not cause problems for their stomachs? Qian Xiaoyi can’t stand it anyway.

After eating two more bites, Qian Xiaoyi lost his appetite. Instead of eating these rich cold foods early in the morning, he would rather cook a bowl of white porridge, add some pickles, and slurp it down. Wouldn't it be delicious?

"You are such a picky eater! This won't do, Brother Yi." Ah Jian said in a mean way, "Children who are picky eaters won't grow tall. Eat quickly."

Inuyama Heita also said, "We will have cooked vegetables and rice cakes to eat in the evening. Let's deal with them now, otherwise we will be hungry in the afternoon."

"嘤~" the white fox also taught.

Qian Xiaoyi complained: "Are you a weird family of three?" After eating the New Year dishes, Qian Xiaoyi curled up in the kotatsu with nothing to do. The New Year in a big city like Tokyo made him feel extremely bored. At least in his hometown he could go out and blow up cow dung and set off fireworks with the kids in the nearby villages, or go to temple fairs and the like. But here there was nothing nearby. Many shops were closed as everyone had gone out to celebrate the New Year.

Because of the Chinese New Year, there was nothing to do either on the commission or at WTV. After being busy for more than a month, Qian Xiaoyi was a little uncomfortable with the sudden free time.

"Ding dong~"

The doorbell rang and Inuyama Heita hurried to open the door.

"Happy New Year~"

The people from the Supernatural Club appeared at the door in kimonos. Inuyama Heita was surprised and asked, "Huh? Why are all of you here?"

Kawasaki laughed and said, "What are you talking about? On the first day of the new year, of course we have to go to the shrine to worship. By the way, Mr. Qian is here with you, right? Just now when we passed by the office to visit, we found that no one was there."

"Well, I invited him to my home to celebrate the New Year this year," said Inuyama Heita.

"That's great!" Kawasaki said, "Let's go to Asakusa Shrine to worship together."

"Me? Going to the shrine to worship?" Qian Xiaoyi came to the entrance and happened to hear Kawasaki's words. He said with a strange expression: "Are you sure I won't mess things up when I get there?"

After all, he is a regular Taoist priest. Although he is a cognitive Taoist and does not believe in gods, he will pretend to be a Taoist priest in the Taoist temple. But even so, he will not worship other gods.

"Uh...it seems so..." Kawasaki was a little embarrassed. He had forgotten about this. After all, Qian Xiaoyi did not shave his head and wear a monk's robe, nor did he wear a cross on his body, so sometimes he would forget that Qian Xiaoyi was still a religious person.

Ono Haruna said, "Eh~ What's the matter? It's a tourist attraction anyway. Many foreigners visit there. You can just stroll around even if you don't want to pay homage."

Suzuki said, "Won't it be boring to stay at home alone during the New Year?"

"So... that's true." Qian Xiaoyi nodded: "Then I'll be a tourist for once... Wait, who is this?"

He suddenly noticed a girl behind the crowd who looked familiar but whose name he couldn't remember.

"Hate it, Mr. Qian." The girl said shyly, "It's me, Yui Maeda."

Qian Xiaoyi was surprised and asked, "How did you become like this?"

The girl in front of him had lost a lot of weight compared to a month ago. With a little makeup on, he almost didn't recognize her. Now he could no longer call her a fat girl, but only a cute girl who was slightly plump.

"I have tried my best this month." Xiao Maeda Yui said proudly: "Everyone exercises with me every day. The effect is good, right?"

Qian Xiaoyi encouraged: "Hey, not bad, keep it up like this."

"If you're going out, wait for me. I'll go change my clothes." Inuyama Heita hurried back to the room, put on a slightly larger black kimono, and said, "Let's go."

There is another chapter in the afternoon



(End of this chapter)