Chapter 217 New Year in Iwate Prefecture: Happy New Year (14)
Xiaolian, who was concentrating on eating persimmons, suddenly seemed to remember something and said "Hmm!"
"What's wrong? Did you eat the persimmon seeds?" Watanabe Toru asked with concern.
"It's okay." Qingye Rin said, "Undigested things will be excreted from the body through the intestines, so it won't have much impact."
"You even know this? It seems that the title of Doraemon can no describe you." Toru Watanabe looked at her in surprise.
"I have never acknowledged that title, right? If you must give me a title, please come up with a cute or handsome one and report it to me."
"That's hard to say. Doraemon is the cutest and most handsome character I can think of."
"It seems that you have thought of a lot of unpleasant titles." Qingye Rin looked at Watanabe Toru and smiled gently, "Remember to show me your notebook when you return to Tokyo."
"No matter what, that's not possible." Watanabe Toru refused.
"Is it that the first page contains bad things about me?"
"……No."
Xiaolian looked up at the two of them, blinked her eyes, and finally found an opportunity to speak when Watanabe Toru was caught.
"Archer, I remember now. I came here to ask you to make rice cakes."
"Why didn't you say it earlier?" Toru Watanabe rubbed her head.
"It's all its fault. It has nothing to do with us!" Xiaolian pointed at the persimmon tree and said loudly and seriously.
"Yes, yes, it's all Persimmon's fault."
The three of them left the river and walked back to the front yard.
Everyone is working together to make the rice cake. One person rotates the hammer while another rolls the rice cake. When they get tired, they take over.
It is said that this kind of activity can gain the blessing of the gods, so everyone will participate if they have time.
"Archer, come knock twice too, you are a blessed man!"
"Okay." Toru Watanabe walked forward and took the hammer.
The hammer was raised high, with the deep blue sky of the winter morning behind it, and then it was smashed down heavily, landing on the steaming white glutinous rice ball.
Kiyono Rin was taking pictures with her cell phone, occasionally resting her hand on her chin and pondering in front of the camera, like a special correspondent from Tokyo.
"You will become smarter after eating this, and all of you will be admitted to the University of Tokyo." The auntie who was in charge of turning the rice cakes chanted these blessings.
"Tomoko, Archer himself hasn't even been admitted to the University of Tokyo!" Uncle Honma on the side laughed.
The people who were drinking sweet tea and chatting also laughed.
Xiaolian was grabbed by her mother, who wiped her mouth vigorously like removing hair from a pig. Her little body kept trying to run over here to see what the rice cake looked like after being beaten.
"Watanabe-san, can you let me try?" Kiyono Rin suddenly said.
"This?" Toru Watanabe raised the hammer in his hand.
"Well, is that okay?"
Watanabe Toru hesitated a little, but finally agreed , but he replaced the aunt who flipped the rice cakes.
He squatted beside the mortar and said to Qingye Rin, "Qingye-san, look carefully, this is where the hammer should hit."
"I know." Qingye Rin was slightly dissatisfied with his suggestion.
"Also, this beautiful round ball is my head. Please don't make any mistake about it."
"Nonsense!"
Kiyono Rin struck the hammer once, and Watanabe Toru turned the rice cake over. After making sure that his hand had retracted, she struck it again.
After playing with it for a few times, she was satisfied and in order not to waste everyone's time, she returned the hammer to the villagers.
The cooperation between the uncle and the aunt is not comparable to that of amateurs like Watanabe Toru and Kiyono Rin - they look terrified and worried about hitting the hands of the people flipping the rice cakes, but they definitely won't hit them.
"Hey yo! Hey yo!"
The men who were making rice cakes were all sweating and shouting slogans.
The rice grains became sticky, and after pounding the mortar a hundred or two times, the glutinous rice balls in the mortar were put into the prepared basin.
Next comes the work of women.
The basin was quickly moved into the house, they put the glutinous rice balls on the table, flattened them, cut them into pieces, and portions of rice cakes were made.
The house was foggy and the windows turned white.
Outside the foggy window, men were pounding the next portion of rice cake and shouting could be heard inside.
The scene was bustling and lively, driving away the chill of the winter morning.
When she got home, Qing Ye Lin sat in the kotatsu in the living room, warming herself by the fire, eating rice cakes, eating oranges, and reading;
Watanabe Toru brought a plate and sent it to Kujo Miki who was still sleeping upstairs.
Like last time, he let Kujo Miki snuggle in his arms and covered her with a quilt, leaving only her pretty and delicate little face exposed.
He put his lips to her beautiful ear and said softly:
"Meiji, the freshly made rice cakes are delicious."
"......Yeah." Kujo Miki responded in a daze.
"Look, Meiji."
Kujo Miki opened her sleepy eyes.
On Toru Watanabe's chopsticks was a piece of white rice cake that was still steaming.
She closed her eyes again.
"There's salty soybean powder, sweet white sugar, and soy sauce. Which one do you want?"
“…”
"Try a bite of each?" Watanabe Toru dipped a corner of the rice cake into soybean powder, "Ah——"
Hearing the sound of "Ah——", Kujo Miki opened her mouth and took a bite.
The hot rice cake is wrapped in soybean powder, it is very fragrant and delicious.
"Another sugar flavor?"
Miki Kujo nodded, and her eyes were completely opened.
However, she had no intention of eating by herself and still curled up in Watanabe Toru's arms like a baby.
"Xiao Meiji, ah——"
If she had woken up normally and Watanabe Toru dared to call her like that, she would definitely stuff her stockings into his mouth while he exclaimed “Ah——”.
But now... I just woke up and have no energy, so I won't bother with him.
She took a bite of the rice cake covered in sugar.
It's sticky and sweet, and has a unique flavor compared to the salty taste.
"The following is the sauce..."
As he was speaking, Kujo Miki knocked his chest with her head.
"What's wrong?" he asked, looking down.
Miki Kujo pouted.
"So naughty." Watanabe Toru pecked her soft lips, "Okay, here's the soy sauce, come on."
"I asked you to take the hair out of your mouth." Kujo Miki spoke each word with full of helplessness and anger.
"So that's what you mean."
Watanabe Toru put down his chopsticks and picked the hair away from her lips.
"Is this freshly made rice cake?" asked Miki Kujo.
"Well, I just got it back. Kiyono also went there and tried it twice. I was so scared that I almost had to wear a helmet." Watanabe Toru said with a smile.
"She went there too?"
“The whole village is there.”
Kujo Miki sneered, her hands under the quilt wrapped around Watanabe Toru's side: "On the way there and back?"
"She scolded me."
"Are you scolding me? You two are having fun flirting with each other, right?"
"Meiji, don't worry." Watanabe Toru fed her a mouthful of rice cake, "Although I have some instinctive thoughts of doing something to both of you, what you think in your heart and what you actually do are two different things."
The flesh on the side of the abdomen was pinched.
Watanabe continued:
"It's like 'I planned a lot for tomorrow today, but ended up playing with my phone tomorrow'. Similar things happen all the time... My example doesn't seem to be appropriate. Anyway, I won't do that."
"So what do you actually plan to do?"
"Of course I'll marry you. Qingye and I are just friends, but..."
"But what?"
"I want you to be friends again, too."
"Impossible." Kujo Miki said without thinking, and then changed to a lazy tone, "Soybean powder."
Toru Watanabe dipped rice cake in soybean powder and fed it to her.
"Qingye looks down on other people of the same sex except you. Only you can be her friend, no one else can do that."
This sentence applies just as well if you replace 'Kiyano' with 'Miji' - considering Kujo Miji's proud personality, Watanabe Toru didn't say it.
"It's impossible, sugar."
"What's impossible? You didn't like eating white sugar before, but after trying it, you felt it was okay, right?" said Toru Watanabe.
"I don't want to eat anymore." Miki Kujo closed her eyes and leaned in his arms, ready to sleep.
"Okay, okay, I'm wrong, I'm wrong, it's impossible, come on, Meiji, my Meiji, open your mouth, ah——"
Kujo Miki dodged: "No sugar."
"White sugar is innocent. It's about to cry."
Watanabe Toru handed the rice cake dipped in sugar to her mouth.
Miki Kujo dodged twice, but finally had no choice but to eat it.
I thought it was unpalatable, but after trying it, it tasted surprisingly good.
Time passed day by day, sometimes leisurely, sometimes busy, and soon it was New Year's Eve.
Watanabe's mother has been busy in the kitchen wearing an apron since the morning, preparing tomorrow's New Year's dinner.
In the evening, according to the island custom, she cooked soba noodles for everyone.
"There's nothing special in the village, so just make do with what you have," she said to the two young ladies.
In fact, the stuff is quite rich.
Half an egg, golden tempura shrimp, green chopped green onions, dark green seaweed shreds, and home-raised rice field ducks.
All kinds of colors and hues are spread on the hot buckwheat noodles. Just looking at them gives you a sense of richness.
The five of them started eating with slurps.
"The noodle soup is just the right thickness, which makes people relax. Most importantly, it tastes like my mother's." Toru Watanabe took a sip of the soup with satisfaction.
"What does mom's taste mean?" Miki Kujo took the spoon in her left hand and the cake in her right hand, eating in small bites.
"Your mother..."
"Um?"
"My mother, too."
"Um."
Watanabe's mother couldn't help but laugh when she heard this, and Watanabe's father slurped the noodles, and he even put natto in the noodles.
Watanabe Toru says:
"Meiji, you didn't grow up eating your mother's cooking, so you don't have this feeling. When I was in Tokyo, what I missed most was the food my mother cooked."
"The dishes cooked by Auntie retain the original flavor of the ingredients to the greatest extent. I really like this cooking style." Qingye Rin nodded.
"Then eat more tomorrow, Rin. I have been cooking for many years." Watanabe's mother said happily.
On the side, Miki Kujo was eating noodles by herself.
She had no intention of being polite and well-behaved to please Watanabe's parents.
Watanabe Toru drank the last mouthful of soup and sighed contentedly, "This is what it feels like to be approaching the New Year."
On the TV in the corner, NHK TV was broadcasting the "Island Country Spring Festival Gala" "Red and White Songs Contest".
After Sayuri Ishikawa sang "Amagi Koshie" in her 42nd year, LiSA made her debut.
"Now that I know why I have become strong, take me with you and move forward."
The song of "Red Lotus" is passionate and uplifting.
Qingye Rin took a sip of the soup and let out a sigh: "The soup warms the whole body from the stomach, which is very suitable for the cold New Year's Eve."
Toru Watanabe stared at the TV.
The camera zoomed in, and LiSA's open mouth took up almost half of the screen.
"By the way," he turned around and looked at the two young ladies who were slowly eating noodles, "Do you want to go to the New Year's shrine?"
"Is there a shrine nearby?" Qingye Rin asked curiously.
These days, she was full of energy and walked almost all over the village.
"There used to be one, but it's been abandoned now," Toru Watanabe replied. "The New Year's visit I'm talking about is the shrine in town."
"That's great." Father Watanabe said, "I'll drive you there."
"Do you want to have a drink with your friends from the freight company ?" Watanabe's mother said unhappily.
"No, there's no way I could drink and drive."
"Are you going or not?" Watanabe Toru asked the two young ladies.
"Will it be too troublesome?" Qingno Rin looked at Watanabe's father.
"It's okay, it's okay." Watanabe's father waved his hand quickly, "Although I don't drink, I also want to chat with those guys."
"Thank you, Uncle Watanabe." Qingye Rin nodded slightly.
Miki Kujo remained silent.
Watanabe Toru held her hand holding the spoon and asked her, "Will you come with me?"
Miki Kujo shook off his hand and continued eating noodles, which showed her agreement.
As they were about to leave, Seiko Matsuda appeared in a white pagoda skirt.
The four of them got into the Watanabe family's kcar - the price of which was not even as much as the skirt that Kujo Miki wore for one day and then threw away.
The eldest daughter sat in the back seat, while Toru Watanabe sat in the passenger seat.
The small car was driving in the unique night of the countryside.
"Woo Fairy Girl~" Toru Watanabe knocked on the car window armrest and sang the song that Seiko Matsuda had just sung.
"Shut up." The two young ladies said at the same time.
"Hmm." Watanabe Toru coughed lightly.
In the driver's seat, Watanabe's father glanced at his son.
Even though my father is henpecked, how can I tolerate this?
"Ah, pork fat bones, bring them to the marinade, you let me wash the eggs~~"
In other people's ears, Toru Watanabe's "Gurenge" is like this - to the point where even the island language can't be spoken well.
The two young ladies at the back shouted to shut up again, but Toru Watanabe sang even louder.
"Don't make me suffer, just make a bag and make some noodles quickly——"
He sang more and more confidently and louder and louder. The two young ladies frowned and looked at each other.
At this moment, the two of them were in sync and had the same idea:
Sew Watanabe Toru's mouth shut.
The two people who realized this phenomenon turned their faces away from each other and looked at the night outside the window.
Watanabe's father reached out and pressed the passenger window .
The cold wind blew back and even Watanabe Toru's hair was blown up.
"It's so cold! Dad, what are you doing!?"
"It's so ugly." Watanabe's father said lightly, holding the steering wheel.
"Even you dislike me?! I'm your son!"
The two young ladies in the back seat with stern faces laughed out loud at the same time, and their shoulders couldn't help but tremble.
Occasionally, street lights appear on the road, and they flow into the darkness as quickly as streams of light, but the brilliant Milky Way above our heads is always there, no matter it is day or night.
When we arrived in the town and got off the car, we saw the bonfire in the shrine.
Sparks were flying, and from a distance it looked like rain and fog.
As soon as Watanabe's father got off the car, he went to see his co-worker and told Watanabe Toru to call him when he returned.
In the biting cold wind, the two beautiful girls wrapped themselves tightly in their clothes, and Watanabe Toru put his hands in his pockets.
The three of them climbed the stone steps, entered the ancient mountain gate, and came to the campfire.
The shrine staff were distributing free sweet tea. Watanabe Toru saw that the cups were disposable paper cups, so he went up and asked for three cups.
Miki Kujo supported her right hand with her left hand, and held a paper cup in her right hand. Not to mention her expensive clothes, her demeanor and appearance alone showed her extraordinary temperament.
"Thank you." Qingye Rin took the paper cup and held it with both hands.
She was still a little afraid of the cold, and after drinking drugged miso soup for a few days, the effect was not that obvious.
The three of them stood by the campfire drinking sweet tea. Opposite the campfire were crowded stalls.
Soon, the countdown bell rang.
"Another year is coming to an end." Toru Watanabe looked at the sparks rising from the bonfire.
Neither of the two young ladies spoke, but their cheeks, dyed red by the firelight, showed that they were undoubtedly thinking about something.
Perhaps, we are recalling this incredible, unprecedented year and imagining what the coming year will be like.
"Happy New Year." The moment the bell stopped ringing, Watanabe Toru said to the two of them with a smile.
"Happy New Year." They both responded at the same time.
