Chapter 206 New Year in Iwate Prefecture: Their Differences and Similarities (3)
After walking a short uphill cement road, you will see the Watanabe family's front yard.
This is a piece of mud land that looks very solid, so solid that even in rainy weather there is not much mud.
On this land stands a very ordinary two-story wooden house in the shape of an "L".
It looks quite old, and is considered a rare traditional island building nowadays.
"You two, this is my home."
The three of them stood at the end of the cement road, just one step away from entering the dirt vestibule.
Qingye Rin looked around the house, the black bricks and tiles, and the silver-white TV satellite dish on the second-floor windowsill.
Potted plants that will not die in winter are placed at the door of the house and in front of the eaves. Rather than being potted plants, they are more like unknown plants that were found in the mountains and dug up and brought back.
"Is that the Honda Syaoran you were talking about?" Miki Kujo looked at the warehouse on the left side of the house.
The warehouse had no door and contained farm tools and a red motorcycle.
There was a cargo box on the back seat of the motorcycle, and the gaps between the tires were covered with mud.
"I'll take you for a ride when I have time." Watanabe Toru boasted.
Miki Kujo glared at him helplessly.
"Do you have a driver's license?" asked Qingye Rin curiously.
You can only take a motorcycle license test at the age of 16.
After they turned sixteen, they stayed together almost all day, so it was impossible for Toru Watanabe to have time to get a driver's license.
But she believed that taking the motorcycle test was a very simple thing for Toru Watanabe. If he was really determined to do it, it would be enough to make use of the morning time before school.
Watanabe Toru smiled confidently at her: "In Mizawa Village, I do have one."
That is no.
"Okay, okay, let's ignore the motorcycle and go in." Toru Watanabe was the first to step into the lobby.
Two beautiful girls followed closely behind, pulling suitcases.
"I don't see the car, so my dad should not be at home." As he said that, Toru Watanabe opened the wooden door with one hand without using the key.
In front of me is a wooden corridor.
There is a wooden sliding door on each side of the corridor, and at the end is the staircase leading to the second floor.
Qingye Rin looked to the left, which led to the eaves corridor, at the end of which was a small house representing the horizontal line below the "L" shape.
Could it be the kitchen... She was just guessing when she heard Watanabe Toru shouting.
"Mom, I'm back!"
"Come in when you come back!" A female voice came from the wooden door on the left side of the corridor.
"No! There's too much luggage, come and help!"
The wooden door opened and Watanabe Eda walked out.
When she saw the two people beside her son, she was stunned for a moment.
Toru Watanabe smiled happily at his mother and introduced her with a little pride.
"This is my girlfriend, Kujo Miki."
"Hello, Aunt Zhi, I'm Toru's girlfriend, Kujo Miki." Kujo Miki bowed gracefully.
"Hello, Miki." Watanabe E had only heard this way of greeting in TV dramas.
"You've met this person, Kiyono Rin." Watanabe Toru continued to introduce, "My friend and enemy. She and Miki grew up together."
"Hello, Auntie." Qingye Rin greeted in the normal way.
"It's Xiaolin," Watanabe's mother laughed, "Come on, come in."
She took three pairs of slippers from the shoe cabinet, one pair for Toru Watanabe and two pairs for guests who came to visit her.
Kiyono Rin nodded politely in thanks.
Kujo Miki glanced at the slippers, then stared at the pair in front of Watanabe Toru: "Is this yours?"
"Well, you wear mine and I'll wear yours."
Miki Kujo nodded and changed into Toru Watanabe's slippers.
Mother Watanabe glanced at Kujo Miki and said with a smile, "Come in quickly."
The three of them put their luggage at the door and followed Watanabe's mother into the room she had just come out of.
This is a living room with a wide open space, which is luxuriously large for ordinary people living in Tokyo.
There is a cabinet in the corner of the living room, and on the cabinet there is a TV that looks very thin and high-end, but is actually very cheap, with only 1333×768 pixels.
There was a variety show playing on TV: a popular idol came to Iwate Prefecture for a trip and introduced various delicacies with exaggerated expressions.
There is a floor hearth in the middle of the living room. The principle is the same as that of a kotatsu, but there is a hole under the table so you can put your feet directly in without having to kneel.
There was also a tinplate wood-burning stove in the living room, on which were placed drying orange peels.
The faint smell of ripe orange in the room came from there.
"Please sit down, I'll peel some fruit for you." Watanabe's mother said, standing at the door of the living room.
"I'll help." Kiyono Rin, who had just walked into the living room, turned around and walked back to Watanabe Eda.
"No, Rin, you should rest well. You must be tired coming here from Tokyo."
Qing Ye Lin thought for a moment and said, "Okay, thank you, Auntie."
"You're welcome." Watanabe's mother laughed happily twice, and then instructed Watanabe Toru, "Little Toru, you treat them well."
"I know."
Watanabe's mother went to the kitchen.
Kiyono Rin sat down in the fireplace and sighed comfortably.
The length of time she spent in the car and the distance she walked were equivalent to the amount of exercise she normally gets in a week.
"Meiji, please sit down too." Watanabe Toru called out.
Kujo Miki glanced at the bedding on the hearth and said with a bit of disdain: "You want me to get into something that has been used by so many people?"
Sometimes there are women in the village who like to come and chat with Watanabe's mother, but this has nothing to do with country people or city people. Kujo Miki despises everyone.
Watanabe Toru was used to her cleanliness and suggested, "There should be new bedding at home, and then I'll get you a cushion?"
"The cushions need new ones, too."
"Seat cushion...are there any new ones..." Watanabe Toru had no hope.
Kujo Miki glanced at him and said, "If you don't have any, take the one from your room."
"Yes, wait for me."
Watanabe Toru walked out of the living room and went upstairs to the second floor.
In the living room, Qing Ye Lin chuckled and said to Kujo Miki: "I'm afraid that if you do this, Watanabe's parents will hate you."
"So what?" Kujo Miki didn't care. "Do you want me to accommodate them? The only one I like is Watanabe Toru. On the contrary, you are pretending to be a good girl. What do you want to do?"
"It's just basic etiquette as a guest. You are so rude, Miss Kujo."
"It's my habit to not use a quilt that has been used by others . How can this be considered impolite?"
"In someone else's house..."
"Are you quarreling so soon?" Watanabe Toru walked in with a blanket and a cushion. "You two have a really good relationship."
The two ignored him.
When Watanabe's mother came in with a plate of fruit, she was stunned for a moment when she saw the newly changed bedding and the cushion under Kujo Miki's butt.
"I'm sorry, we only have the simplest fruits at home." She pretended nothing had happened and put the plate in the middle of the table.
There were only grapes, oranges, and cut apples on the plate.
Apples are the fruit that Watanabe's mother usually eats.
She heard from somewhere that eating apples can beautify the skin, so sometimes she only eats apples for dinner in order to lose weight.
The grapes were bought for Watanabe Toru who came back today.
As for oranges, there are a few orange trees on the hill, you can pick them at will, but they are very sweet.
"That's enough. We are the ones who disturbed you." Qingye Rin bowed slightly.
Miki Kujo nodded, agreeing with what Kiyono Rin said.
Watanabe Toru took an orange and peeled it while saying, "Mom, Meiji and Kiyono will stay to celebrate the New Year together. Please help them clean up their room."
After saying this, he suddenly seemed to remember something and added:
"By the way, Meiji can just sleep in my room. She's such a germaphobe that she's almost insane."
Kujo Miki was in the pit under the table, kicking Watanabe Toru with her foot: "I'm not the one with a mental illness."
She glanced at Qingye Rin.
Kiyono Rin was leisurely eating an apple with a toothpick.
"You want to sleep in the same room?" Watanabe's mother looked at her son and Kujo Miki in surprise.
"No." Watanabe Toru swallowed the juicy orange in his mouth, "Help me clean up another room."
"Is that so?" Mother Watanabe nodded as if she was relieved. "Then I'll go now. Xiaotetsu, you treat Xiaolin and Miki well."
"Excuse me, Auntie."
"Thanks."
After his mother left, Watanabe Toru pondered and said, "What should I ask you to do... play games?"
"Do you have a game console or computer at home?" asked Miki Kujo with a little surprise.
"There are no computers, but there are game consoles."
Toru Watanabe put down the half-eaten orange, stood up and walked to the TV, and took out the Famicom and a pile of game cards from the cabinet.
“Just a little old,” he said.
"Not only is it old, it's also outdated," added Miki Kujo.
"Classics never go out of style!" Toru Watanabe said in a clear and loud voice.
He connected the Famicom to the TV and plugged in the controller.
The cord of the handle is very long, so you can play it while sitting on a fireplace - this is a remnant of the period when Watanabe Toru was afraid of the cold.
"What to play? An exciting game of Red Fortress or Tank Battle?"
"No, let's play this." Miki Kujo picked up the "Squirrel War" card.
"……All right."
Watanabe Toru chose a cooperative game because he wanted the two of them to build a good relationship, but as long as they can play games together, their relationship may also improve.
With great expectations, Toru Watanabe blew on the game card and then inserted it into the card slot of the Famicom.
The quality of the game console and game cards is very good. After so many years, they still run smoothly without any problems.
If there are still problems, you can only use the trump card - licking.
He handed the handle to the two beautiful girls sitting in the fireplace.
I haven't played the game, but I still know the simplest operations.
When her squirrel took the lead, Kujo Miki, who deliberately lagged behind, lifted the box and knocked her unconscious.
That’s not all, Kujo Miki’s squirrel ran over, picked up Kiyono Rin, and carried her all the way.
Noticing that Qing Ye Lin was being held up and unable to move, he frowned slightly.
When they reached the place where there was a cactus, Kujo Miki threw her onto it.
Although Rin Kiyono lost more blood, she regained her freedom and learned some skills. She lifted the box and smashed it at Miki Kujo.
How could Kujo Miki not be prepared? She hid in the box and neutralized the attack.
Then there is climbing of electric poles.
The two of them threw each other, trying to throw each other down.
If you can't do anything to each other, try to run faster. If the slow person falls behind and falls out of the game screen, health will also be deducted.
A game, killing with a borrowed knife, robbing while the fire is burning, watching the fire from the other side of the river, running away, turning the tables, pulling the ladder up after climbing up the roof...all the thirty-six strategies except the beauty trap are used.
After a while, Watanabe came back.
"Xiao Lin, I'm sorry, one of the bedrooms is actually moldy. Can you and Miki sleep in Toru's room together?"
"Wouldn't it be better if it got moldy?" Miki Kujo said to Rin Kiyono with a sneer.
"What?" Watanabe's mother was stunned.
"She's joking." Watanabe Toru explained, "Let Kiyono-san and Miki sleep together."
"I'm fine." Qingye Rin nodded.
Miki Kujo didn't say anything, and what she said just now was indeed just a mockery.
Of course, it would be best if Kiyono Rin was angry and slept in that room out of spite or went back to Tokyo.
"I'm going to town to buy some food. Xiao Che, you take care of them both!"
"I know. Mom, you've said this three times today. Are you underestimating your son's memory? I'm the best in the country, the smartest first-year high school student in the entire island nation."
"You kid!" Watanabe wanted to scold him, but he couldn't help but smile.
"Be careful on the road."
"Well, I'm leaving."
After Watanabe Eda left, Watanabe Toru went to the door and helped the two carry the suitcases upstairs.
The three of them walked up the wooden stairs with a clanging sound, went up to the second floor, and came to Watanabe Toru's room.
Miki Kujo was not interested in the downstairs, but when she got here, she looked around carefully.
The space is also very large, more than enough to sleep two people.
There was no bed, but two mats had been laid out on the tatami.
There was a kotatsu without a heater, and a cheap alarm clock on the bare table.
There is a handmade bookshelf against the wall, and as far as the eye can see, it is full of textbooks, exercise books and notebooks.
Miki Kujo looked carefully and found some cheap paperback books, magazines that were five or six years out of date, as well as plastic airplanes and cheap clay figures from capsule toys in the corners of the bookshelf.
The room has a window that overlooks the front yard, the terraced fields in the distance, and the mountains.
Miki Kujo imagines Toru Watanabe when he was in elementary school.
A well-behaved little boy sat on the tatami, trying hard to put together a paper airplane.
Imagine Toru Watanabe in junior high school.
A serious teenager was reading diligently at the table in the middle of the night, and when he got tired he looked out the window at the scenery.
Warm spring, hot summer, autumn days, winter nights, one year, two years, he grew up slowly in this simple room, and then appeared in front of him.
"It's okay." Miki Kujo said with her arms crossed.
"It is an honor for this room to receive such a decent evaluation from you, Miki," said Toru Watanabe with a smile.
In Tokyo, even members-only restaurants are considered "crappy places" by Kujo Miki.
I just don’t know whether what Kujo Miki said was true or not, maybe she was just being polite.
Kiyono Rin walked to the bookshelf and flipped through Watanabe Toru's previous study materials, which were filled with lines of notes and summaries of wrong questions.
Although it is only junior high school and a small part of high school knowledge, if you want to get into Shenchuan, most junior high school teachers can't do it, let alone rely on students to learn on their own.
"Which bed is yours?" asked Miki Kujo, looking at the two beds.
"This one." Toru Watanabe pointed to the one far away from the window.
Kujo Miki nodded.
After putting down their luggage, Toru Watanabe took the two of them around the house.
"How is it? Are you a little disappointed?" asked Toru Watanabe.
"I think it's great." said Rin Kiyono.
"You think it's good? Tell me, what's good about it?"
Although Toru Watanabe does not dislike his own family and will get angry when others say bad things about it, he is still very clear about whether it is really good or not.
Apart from the fact that the land is cheap and free and it is large enough, it has almost no advantages.
"There are beautiful carvings on the glass, the sink is clean, the tiles inside are beautifully colored, and the curtains are patched with cherry blossom patterns. I feel the bond between the Watanabe family and this house. It is deeply loved by you."
If Kujo Miki hadn't come, Watanabe Toru would have said, "Kiyono-san, is this another way you want me to love you?"
"Miji, what do you think?" Toru Watanabe asked his girlfriend.
"A shabby house."
“…It’s indeed a dilapidated house.”
"But," Kujo Miki glanced at a pillar with inscriptions measuring Watanabe Toru's height from childhood to adulthood, "after all, it's where you grew up. Even though it's shabby, it's not unpleasant."
"...Well, I don't hate it here either." Toru Watanabe looked at the old house.
