Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

"Pfft! Cough cough cough..." Ezaki seemed to have choked on some drink.

Xiuming continued, "Your butt is the most perky, no one can compare..."

"Pick me up at the port in three days." Jiang Qi spoke very quickly, followed by a dial tone: beep beep beep—

Who should I call next? Ayako... didn't write down the landline number of the hotel she was staying at.

The driver next to him hesitated, his face full of concern, his eyes saying: "They've been talking for two and a half hours already, please be gentle, phone calls are expensive..."

Time flies, it's almost midnight.

Xiuming returned the phone to the driver and then went into the courtyard.

This courtyard is really nice, with a rockery covered in moss, a pond full of lotus leaves, and red fish swimming in it.

The door to the large room faced a wide-open space where seven or eight monks were drinking water and resting, having temporarily stopped their rituals.

The old man's coffin was placed in the middle of the open space, with the coffin lid open. The body was made up and dressed in a burial shroud with many small white flowers.

Funakawa Yoshiko knelt beside the coffin, covering her eyes with a white handkerchief, and sobbing softly.

Her voice was hoarse. Since attacking the pachinko parlor in Kabukicho Ichiban-gai last night, she had only drunk a few sips of water and hadn't eaten a single grain of rice.

She must be so heartbroken because of something like this, she can't even cry anymore.

Following his usual practice of comforting others, Hideaki walked over to Funakawa Yoshiko, then took out the red bean rice ball he had hidden in his pocket and whispered, "I swallowed this rice ball and then spat it out. Do you want some?"

Anyway, I can't go into the kitchen anymore, what if the older women think I haven't eaten enough?

"You're kidding me, give it to me right now." Funakawa Yoshiko's eyes turned green. As she spoke, she snatched it away, swallowed it, her face suddenly stiffened, and then she covered her mouth, lay on the ground, and continued to cry according to custom.

"Saliva smells bad, doesn't it?"

Funakawa Yoshiko's crying grew louder.

In mid-May, it was quite hot under the midday sun for a long time, and now that I've eaten and drunk my fill, I'm starting to feel sleepy.

Kenichiro was still receiving the villagers, acting very dutifully and carefully trying to maintain a good image in their eyes.

Based on this situation, Kenichiro will be the busiest person, and probably won't have time to deal with anything else.

Hideaki then gave the noon lockout opportunity to Funakawa Yoshiko.

After all, she's a bit petty. Besides the issue of swallowing rice balls earlier, there's also the issue of the "good review" reward. It's been a long time since she's received any new skills, and she misses them.

[Sometime during the next 12 hours, Funakawa Yoshiko secretly concocted a bottle of pepper spray.]

[For some time over the next 12 hours, Funakawa Yoshiko is alone with Masataka Okita's corpse.]

[For some time over the next 12 hours, Yoshiko Funakawa fell into a coma next to the coffin due to low blood sugar.]

Was she starving? Is nobody paying attention to her?

Xiuming raised an eyebrow and glanced around the courtyard again; it seemed that this was indeed the case.

From the beginning until now, I've only gone to her side to offer my condolences. The other villagers who came to mourn her almost all avoided her, even as if they were "avoiding her like the plague."

She's a widow now, so surely everyone thinks she's the one who brought her bad luck to her death?

Afraid of being afflicted with bad luck.

Speaking of the chili water she made, could it be revenge on me? Probably not, since I even gave her rice balls. It was probably to keep Kenichiro in check.

Never mind, I'll go to sleep first. There's still plenty of time.

Afterwards, Xiuming walked on the wooden floor, through the large wooden house with open front and back, and into the backyard.

They were truly a wealthy family; their backyard was quite large, with a well and a small cucumber garden.

Hideaki randomly found an empty room that looked like a bedroom, pulled the floral quilt from the tatami mat over his head, set his alarm for 6 p.m., listened to the faint sobbing of Funakawa Yoshiko outside, and went to sleep.

I've never felt so relaxed since I came into this world.

The thought of being able to sleep all day tomorrow made me feel happy.

Perhaps it's because it's far from the hustle and bustle of the city and has a relaxed rural atmosphere.

The atmosphere here is wonderful; everyone is warm and talkative, unlike the cold, aloof office workers in the city.

Tomorrow we'll go to the rice paddies to catch fish, play in the mud, and roll around to relax.

"Mr. Miyamoto, wake up, Mr. Miyamoto!"

Xiuming opened his eyes groggily, and the imposing and powerful face of the driver came into view.

It was 5:30 pm, and I had only slept for five and a half hours. It was quiet outside the room.

"what happened?"

Xiuming rubbed his eyes and sat up, realizing that his clothes were half off. He vaguely remembered taking them off himself when he felt uncomfortable while sleeping...

If I could sleep for another half hour, I might as well take it off. Xiuming's mind was still hazy. With this thought, she took it off and crawled into bed.

The driver's rugged face stiffened. He placed his mobile phone on the tatami mat, took a small step back, and said, "Your wife called..."

Just as Hideaki reached for the mobile phone, the driver continued, "Mr. Miyamoto, you only have five minutes. Please get to the point. I need to drive Kenichiro back to Tokyo tonight."

"Leaving tonight?" Xiuming instantly sobered up and asked, "Aren't you going to keep vigil and bury him?"

"The matter at Tokyo headquarters is urgent and cannot be delayed. Team Leader Kenichiro is already waiting in the car, please answer the phone quickly!"

The driver clearly didn't want to say anything more and gestured for Xiuming to answer the phone quickly.

Currently, Hideaki's identity is that of Kenichiro's good friend, which means he is also the good friend of his team leader, so he has to treat him with utmost respect.

Riko's call wasn't urgent; she just told Hideaki to "eat well and sleep well" here and not to worry about things at home.

In addition, Daisuke sent thirty-five male and female employees, who were assigned to various branches. However, since the branches were still under renovation, they were temporarily assigned to the 28th floor.

Although the 28th floor was not completely renovated, it was ready for use, and then Misako gave them standardized training.

Riko also praised Misako for being very capable, and then asked Misako to say something. Misako mumbled "Eat well and sleep well" before handing the phone to Chieko.

Chieko asked a seemingly random question: "Hideaki-kun, what kind of teacher's uniform do you prefer?"

“Of course it has to show off your figure,” Hideaki thought Chieko wanted to play games with him when he got back, and continued, “A low-cut neckline, the kind where the buttons pop open when you breathe, and the underwear has to be the same style as Ezaki's…”

Before Xiuming could finish speaking, two car horns sounded outside the room.

"Mr. Miyamoto, it's time! I'm so sorry!" The driver snatched the cell phone, hurriedly hung up, and scrambled out of the room, not forgetting to turn back and shout, "I'm so sorry, please forgive me!!!"

Chapter 157 Rainy Night Story

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the sun on the western mountaintop was partially obscured by dark red, gold-edged clouds, and flocks of crows disappeared into the forest.

The air was filled with a sea-scented dampness; it looked like it was going to rain tonight.

Xiuming pondered for another half hour, intending to sleep a little longer, but suddenly remembered the three pieces of intelligence he had locked onto. He decided to send some food to Funakawa Yoshiko, lest she faint from hunger in the mourning hall.

Now, besides that corpse, it seems like only she and I are left in this house.

It's going to rain tonight, with thunder and lightning, and the thought of her falling unconscious while guarding a corpse is terrifying.

Xiuming went into the kitchen and stood there for a long time before he came to his senses: there was nothing left.

Could it be that Kenichiro doesn't plan to go back to his hometown and has distributed everything to the villagers?

It's not just the food; there also seems to be a lot less pots, pans, and dishes.

If it weren't for the lingering smell of cooking from earlier in the day in the kitchen, I would have thought my daytime experience was an illusion.

It's starting to get a little scary...

Xiuming ran to the vegetable garden he had cleared in the backyard and picked a few small cucumbers, all of them top-quality cucumbers with thorns all over and flowers on top.

I picked out a better-looking one, plucked off all the thorns and the little yellow flower at the top, crunched it as I went into the big house.

The front yard outside the house was quiet, with white paper money scattered on the ground, as well as the straw mats and carpets that had been used to receive villagers during the day, but now they were deserted.

The old man's coffin had been carried into the mourning hall next door, where there was an altar, a portrait of the deceased, and a small incense burner with three sticks of incense burning.

Funakawa Yoshiko knelt on a small straw mat next to the coffin, her back to the door.

She was still wearing that black kimono, with a white sash tightly tied around her waist, and her long, black hair was styled into a high bun on top of her head.

It was just dusk, and the room was still dark. The overall gray and white color scheme, combined with the somewhat eerie atmosphere, made her figure look much more haggard, perhaps from hunger.

She was still drooping her head, swaying unsteadily, and dozing off intermittently.

"I picked two cucumbers for you, would you like some?"

Xiuming tossed two cucumbers onto her lap, saying, "There's nothing else to eat in the kitchen, so let's use cucumbers instead!"

"ah!!!"

Funakawa Yoshiko suddenly screamed, startling Hideaki. Before he could react, Funakawa Yoshiko grabbed a water glass next to her and splashed it on Hideaki's face with a "splash".

A pungent, spicy smell; it hurts! It hurts so much it irritates my eyes.

It turned out to be dried chili water made by scalding with hot water.

"Holy shit, you're insane."

Xiuming spat out the dried chili pepper in his mouth, threw the half-eaten cucumber at Funakawa Miko's head, rubbed his eyes and ran out of the house, rushed to the well in the backyard, drew a bucket of water and kept washing his eyes.

Inside the room, Funakawa Yoshiko was stunned for a long time before she came to her senses.

At lunchtime, Kenichiro told the villagers that there was an urgent matter in Tokyo that couldn't be delayed, and that his stepmother could take care of things at home.

When Masataka Okimaki married Yoshiko Funakawa as a "lucky marriage," Kenichiro was against it and even threatened to sever their father-son relationship. Everyone in the village knew about it.

Kenichiro's act of returning his father's body to the village has earned him the reputation of a "filial son" and the sympathy and understanding of most of the villagers.

He's in a hurry to leave now, probably because he doesn't want to see this "little stepmother." Of course, the villagers don't want to see her either.

Afterwards, Kenichiro said he would never return to this "sad place" again. He then distributed the things his family no longer needed and asked the village elders to help his "stepmother" bury his father. He said he would come back to burn paper money on the anniversary of the death or when he had time.

After Kenichiro left, the villagers also left one after another, not forgetting to whisper sarcastic remarks about Funakawa Yoshiko as a "femme fatale" and a "husband-killer" before departing...

Even Funakawa Yoshiko's parents joined in the mockery, saying things like "all they care about is money" and "they value money over conscience"...

Funakawa Yoshiko's hometown is also here, next to Naraha Village, which is the town where the entire town was relocated to evacuate after the nuclear accident. Many villagers contracted radiation sickness.

She thought she was the only one left in the house, and that Xiuming had left long ago.

I was having a nightmare when suddenly two cucumbers were thrown at me. Anyone would scream in fright.