Volume 3 Hello, Eri Chapter 263 Father and Brother (I)
"He's still as tough as ever..." Genjiro sighed softly, and then suddenly changed the subject, "Is he here at Genji Heavy Industries today? Take me to see him. I have something very important to report."
"It seems that the family has a routine small meeting today. Mr. Masamune should be there. I will take you there right away!"
The captain of the guard followed Yuan Zhinv respectfully towards the airtight door. He swiped his security card through the card slot, and the airtight door opened. He stood aside and bowed in an invitation gesture.
Yuan Zhinv held the spider knife with her right hand. Her thumb could feel the cloth tape specially wrapped around the handle to increase friction so that the blade would not slip out of her hand. The old cloth tape was rough and cut her hand, as if telling the story of the time the owner had spent with it.
I really didn't expect that Spider Cut would come to him in such a special way. To be honest, Genjiro once thought that she would never see this knife again. There is a saying that goes, "Once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of ropes for ten years." Most people who have been hurt will not be willing to look back and see the thing that hurt them.
But Gen. Chitose was different. He even had some expectations. When he saw the spider cut, it was like seeing Gen. Chisei holding the knife. They had never met in all these years. It was Gen. Chitose who had been observing Gen. Chisei in the dark, relying on spies. All the information about Gen. Chisei was delivered to Gen. Chitose's desk like running water. He liked to see his brother holding the knife. That would bring him back to the rainy night many years ago. The first evil ghost killed by the righteous boy Gen. Chisei was his younger brother. His hesitation, his sadness, and his tears together formed a story that neither of them would forget that night.
When they were very young, Minamoto Chisei and Minamoto Chijo lived together in a family in the countryside of Kadori. The owner was a man who drank all day and made a living by taking in foster children. Those who came to him were usually illegitimate children who were not allowed to see the light of day. The adults who sent their children to him would also give them generous living expenses and rewards, so those children usually lived a good life.
But Yuan Zhisheng and Yuan Zhinu are different. They don’t know who their parents are. They only know that they are fostered here. Their adoptive father doesn’t like them and always complains that the child support is not enough after he gets drunk.
Every weekend at the end of the month or when the seasons change, the families of the illegitimate children would go into the mountains to see their suffering children, and the adoptive father would also hang out with his alcoholic friends.
The brothers didn't like any of them, except for one, a middle-aged man who often went to the mountains to spend the weekends. He called himself Tachibana Masamune, liked the air in the mountains, and came here to practice yoga. He dressed like an office worker and was polite to everyone.
Tachibana Masashi taught the brothers to practice yoga, some swordsmanship, and told them stories from outside the mountain. Every time he came, he would bring two bottles of Coke for the brothers, and he would sit aside and drink sake silently.
Because of their adoptive father, the two brothers had a natural resistance to alcohol, and they thought that those who loved to drink were bastards like their adoptive father, who liked to act crazy under the influence of alcohol and beat and scold people at every turn. But Masamune Tachibana was different. He always drank with a strange atmosphere, mostly at sunrise, and took the two brothers to climb more than ten kilometers of mountain roads, from midnight to early morning. When everyone was thirsty and out of breath at the end of the climb, they just reached the top of the mountain, and Masamune Tachibana took out Coke and sake from his bag and distributed them. Everyone clinked bottles together, facing the sunlight, pinched their waists with one hand, tilted their heads back and gulped down big gulps.
The two brothers felt that Tachibana Masamune was their father, otherwise there was no need for him to be so nice to them, but they never asked about this topic. There was no lyrical talk or repeated questioning between the men, until one day they were willing to put this matter that they had known for a long time on the table, and then they would sit cross-legged at the table and talk about it.
The change came when some rumors reached his ears. He heard people in the town say that Masamune Tachibana was mixed up in the underworld. At first, he didn't believe it, but one day he saw the tattoo on Masamune's wrist. He immediately rejected Masamune Tachibana. That day, he refused Masamune's Coke and sunrise, ran all the way home, opened the door, and said loudly to him that we can't mix with Masamune Tachibana anymore. We are friends of justice and we must fight against the evil underworld to the end!
Tachibana Masamune didn't mind, and he still visited every week, always bringing some small gifts. As soon as Tachibana Masamune left, Minamoto Chisei would throw those things into the trash can . Tachibana Masamune gradually noticed the change in Minamoto Chisei's attitude, and secretly asked Minamoto Chisei about it. Minamoto Chisei didn't follow her brother's teachings. He didn't have such a strong sense of justice and good and evil in his heart, so he told her everything. Tachibana Masamune was silent for a long time after listening to Minamoto Chisei's words. It was the first time that Minamoto Chisei saw this man smoking a cigarette in front of him.
Tachibana Masamune stopped coming to the town, and soon the brothers' lives ran into problems, with their adoptive father claiming that he no longer had the money to support them and would not send them again. The family adopted a new child at this time, a girl, and the adults behind them were rich and had social status, but for some unspeakable reason it was inconvenient to raise the girl at home, so they could only send her here for foster care temporarily, and she would go abroad to study in two years.
The adoptive father then threw the brothers' belongings out the door the day after the girl came. He said that if people knew that the family had adopted two boys, the girl's family would worry that the girl would be hurt. The young man was at the age when he would get aroused even by seeing the hole in the faucet, and he was full of energy.
Yuan Zhisheng didn't say anything, Yuan Zhinu cried miserably, he helped his brother pack up his things silently and took them to school, where they lived in the basement of the school gymnasium. The school teachers knew their situation and acquiesced to this behavior, and also helped them to conceal it from the school.
Every night the brothers sat on their horses and looked out the window. Under the night sky, the mountains were vast and boundless. Occasionally, they would think of the time when Masamune Tachibana was still alive.
The eve of the graduation ceremony is the last day at school. After tomorrow, Yuan Zhisheng and Yuan Zhinu will no longer be students of this school, and they certainly have no right to continue staying here. The teacher informed them of this situation with regret, which means that they will have to find a new place after leaving school tomorrow.
Late at night, there was a knock on the door in the basement. Gen Chisheng got up to open the door, and outside the door was Tachibana Masamune, dressed in a neat suit.
Gen Chisei slammed the door shut without a second thought, but Tachibana Masamune grabbed the door frame. The heavy iron door crushed his hand bones and his skin turned blue and bled, but he remained calm and grabbed the door frame with his backhand and forcibly pried the iron door open to get in.
The door closed behind him, and Tachibana Masamune stood tall to block the door. It was not until this moment that Gen Chisei looked up at the man and realized that he was so tall. It was just that when they climbed the mountain together in the past, he always spoke with a hunched back and in a very intimate manner, and there was no sense of oppression at all. But now, he was as majestic as a Vajra Buddha statue, and his resolute face was intimidating without anger.
He looked around the small basement. This was where the two brothers had lived for the past two years. The stove was right next to the bed. Clothes were placed on the chair, bedside, and even on the desk because there was no space for clothes. Although the daily necessities were messy, they were still neatly arranged. Otherwise, cockroaches would be born in such a place sooner or later. As for the bathroom, they had to go outside. There was a pool in the gymnasium. They had to climb three flights of stairs to go to the toilet or get water.
"Are you willing to live in a place like this for the rest of your life?" asked Tachibana Masamune.
"What does it have to do with you? The big shots in the underworld would not care about the bugs in the sewer, right?" Yuan Zhisheng said coldly.
"You can make a living by your own hands. You don't have to care about yourself, but what about the people around you?" Tachibana Masamune raised his chin.
At that time, Yuan Zhinu was hiding in bed, pulling the quilt and looking at the two people who were arguing with each other. This age is the time when they are growing up, but in the past two years, the two brothers often have not had enough food, and all their money depends on teachers and classmates for help, plus some part-time jobs after class, but that little salary is completely a drop in the bucket. The expenses in the countryside are not as high as those in big cities, and they are often so sleepy that they can't even straighten their backs the next day.
Yuan Zhisheng managed to hold on with his perseverance and his grades were actually among the best, but it was not the same for Yuan Zhinu. He was born with a poor absorption system and had become extremely thin in the past two years. His face, which originally looked like a girl, now looked even more girlish. His calves exposed from under the bed sheets were as slender as green willows and had an unhealthy paleness.
What Tachibana Masamune said undoubtedly touched Minamoto Chisei's bottom line. As an older brother, it was undoubtedly a shame to let his younger brother endure this kind of life with him. He was unwilling to look back at Minamoto Chisei, but just stared at Tachibana Masamune stiffly, full of evil spirit. He wanted to rush over and beat up this arrogant man to vent his anger, but he knew he couldn't do it.
"Men are born to protect what they cherish. If you can't even do that, you are not a Japanese man."
Tachibana Masamune took out two bottles of Coke from his bag and put them on the chair. He put a card under the Coke and turned to leave. Minamoto Chisei stood in front of the door for a long time without looking back, but Minamoto Chisei took out the card and took a look at the words on it. Tachibana Masamune was indeed a gangster, and a cadre in the gang. They would have their own business cards and office addresses like a company.
When Yuan Zhinu woke up the next day, he did not see Yuan Zhisheng by his pillow, but he did not have time to look for him as he had to attend the graduation ceremony first.
My brother did not show up at the ceremony. That period was like a year for Yuan Zhinu. After the ceremony, he rushed to his part-time job to find Yuan Zhisheng. At this time, several black Mercedes-Benz drove into the country road and headed straight for the school gate, and parked neatly in front of the auditorium. Groups of men in black got off the cars and stood against the wall in the last row of the crowd. The leading man found Yuan Zhinu in the crowd of people who were curious and frightened, and invited him out. Then there was a chorus of hi and bows.
From that day on, Yuan Zhinu had a home. The man in black invited her to his new home, which was a rare duplex villa in the town, with a separate garden and parking lot. It was said that it was a vacation home bought by an entrepreneur in the countryside, but now it belonged to him.
From the man in black, Gen Chijo learned that Gen Chisei left Kadori after he fell asleep last night, and rode his teacher's bicycle through muddy puddles. In order to get to Tokyo as quickly as possible, he rode for a whole night, and only boarded the Shinkansen when the main line started operating in the daytime, arriving in Tokyo at noon.
The moment Minamoto Chisei appeared in front of Tachibana Masamune, the convoy that had been arranged in Kadori set off. The house and all matters had been handed over yesterday. Whether to go to heaven or hell was only up to Minamoto Chisei's thought.
Yuan Zhinu understood that Yuan Zhisheng had bought him favorable conditions at the cost of himself. Men are born to protect what they cherish, and for Yuan Zhisheng, there is only one thing he cares about most in his life , and that is his own younger brother.
A few days later, an email was sent from Tokyo to the villa in Kadori. It was from Gen Chisheng. In the letter, Gen Chisheng warned his brother not to worry about him, because it was his own choice, and he should just let his brother study in Kadori with peace of mind. All the difficulties in life would be solved by others. He might not achieve anything in his life, but as long as he could give his brother a bright future and let him study at the University of Tokyo, it would be the perfect ending.
Yuan Zhisheng has always known that Yuan Zhinv is smarter than him, and her grades are not as good as his because Yuan Zhinv always works too long in the farmland or convenience stores for her daily salary, often working until late at night. The next day, she often can't resist taking a nap in class, and even if she tries her best, she can't last more than a few minutes. If she had normal conditions, Yuan Zhinv's achievements would only be higher than his. He can't let his brother's future be ruined because of his stubbornness and impulsiveness, even if the price is to join the underworld he doesn't like.
The two brothers have not seen each other since then. Genjiro followed his brother's teachings in Kadori, and his grades began to improve by leaps and bounds. Every time his report card was sent to Tokyo, he would always stand out with nearly full marks.
A few years later, the brothers have all reached the age to enter university, but recently the mountain town of Kadori has been in turmoil. Not only has the decline of the Kadori Shrine and the earthquake caused many twists and turns here, but a series of serial murders have shocked the entire Japanese police community.
In just three months, thirteen girls disappeared in the town. Some of the disappearances were bizarre. There was an alley with no side roads and high walls without windows on both sides. The classmates saw the girl walk into the alley from one side, but she did not come out from the other side. When they went to look for her, she was gone. In less than two minutes, only her shoulder bag and hairband were left in the alley, as if she was made of soap bubbles, which broke and disappeared into thin air as she walked.
