September 3, the second year of Kanzheng (1790).
Although it is already September, which should be autumn according to common sense, the sun hanging high in the sky every day and lashing the earth with its scorching rays makes it impossible to see any sign of autumn at all.
There is no air conditioning in this day and age.
Sitting in the carriage, Ogata really had the illusion that he was in a sauna.
I hope it will rain soon or get cooler - this is what Ogata and others kept repeating in their hearts every day during this period.
And today, the weather finally fulfilled the wishes of Ogata and others and became a little cooler.
The weather today is exceptionally good, with clear skies and gentle breezes.
The loose white clouds, like cotton wool, masked the already weak sunlight, making it even softer. It was often accompanied by a breeze, and the treetops, which did not show any redness at all, swayed obediently.
The branches full of green leaves were filled with soft sunlight. A little bird was standing on the treetop, shaking its tail constantly, and its shadow was clearly reflected on the country road beside it.
At this moment, the little bird seemed to hear some strange noise and turned back to look at two carriages driving slowly on the country road nearby.
The people driving the two carriages were a handsome young man and a sturdy man.
These two people were Asai and Makimura.
There were only three people who knew how to drive a horse-drawn carriage: Lin, Makimura, and Asai.
While hitching a ride with Lin and the others, Ogata also learned how to drive a horse-drawn carriage.
Ogata already had some basic knowledge of horse riding, so he quickly mastered the skills of driving a carriage.
Originally, the two carriages were driven by Lin, Makimura and Asai in turns. After Ogata learned how to drive a carriage, it became Ogata, Lin, Makimura and Asai who took turns driving.
Now it was Asai and Makimura's turn to drive. Ogata sat in the carriage driven by Makimura and chatted casually with Atachi beside him.
"Ayi, look, there is a little bird over there."
"Yeah, I saw it. It's quite big. I wonder how it tastes."
"How far are we from Miss Kinoshita and her group's base?" Atachi asked casually.
"It's not far away." Mucun, who was sitting in the driver's seat and driving the carriage, said without turning his head, "We will probably arrive this afternoon."
"It's finally here..." Atachi let out a long sigh.
At the beginning, when they got on the carriage heading to Owari, both Ogata and Atachi felt a sense of novelty.
But gradually, this sense of novelty was worn away by a series of torturous things such as the bumpy road and the hot carriage.
On the way to Owari, Ogata quietly recovered from his injuries.
After learning that they were finally arriving at the Calabash House, Lian Ogata couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.
Because the weather was very good today, Ogata and the others left the door of the carriage open, letting the cool breeze blow.
While enjoying the cool breeze blowing into the car, Ogata asked Makimura, who was driving the car, casually:
"Mucun, how are your injuries?"
"Hahahaha." Makimura laughed heartily. "I'm almost fully recovered! Brother Ogata, how about you?"
"I'm completely healed." Ogata raised his hand and tapped his chest gently.
"I thought my recovery ability was amazing enough." Makimura said, "I didn't expect that your recovery ability is even more amazing than mine, Brother Ogata."
Before leaving Kyoto, Ogata heard Asai say that Makimura's greatest strength was probably his amazing recovery ability.
Now it seems that Asai was not talking nonsense, and Makimura's recovery ability is indeed quite amazing.
The injuries on Makimura's body were no less serious than those on Ogata's, but now they have almost recovered.
Mucun said that they would be able to reach their Huluwu base this afternoon.
Around the afternoon, Ogata finally saw the small village surrounded by mountains that he had not seen for a long time.
Sticking his head out of the car window and looking at the small village ahead, Ah-Ming said:
"Is that the village you mentioned, Ayi?"
On the way to Hyakuya, Ogata briefly introduced some basic information about Hyakuya to Atachi.
For example: Lin and his friends used an abandoned mountain temple as the base of their gourd house.
At the foot of the mountain there is a village that looks very ordinary from the outside. Because the villagers have received favors from Huluwu, they have the function of Huluwu's "outpost", specifically responsible for guarding against outsiders approaching this place and providing Lin and others with some support within their ability.
After seeing two horse-drawn carriages approaching, several villagers who happened to be guarding the entrance of the village immediately became alert.
After noticing that the two people driving the car were Asai and Makimura, the wariness on the faces of the villagers immediately disappeared and was replaced by respect.
After driving the two carriages to the entrance of the village, Ogata and his party got off and handed the two carriages over to the villagers to look after.
In addition to the two carriages, the villagers were also responsible for the care of Heitaro and Xuanren.
After arriving at the village, Xuanren has been looking at everything around him with great interest, looking at the place where he will work in the future.
When the villagers learned that Xuanren was the doctor brought by Lin and would work in this place, they were very happy, because they just happened to be in need of excellent village doctors.
Xuanren was treated warmly by the villagers.
As for the prisoner Heitaro, he was directly imprisoned in the dungeon in the village.
…
…
After taking care of a series of trivial matters such as "placement of the carriage" and "placement of Xuanren", Lin returned to the village entrance and found Ogata, Atachi, Makimura and others who had been waiting at the village entrance.
"Okay, let's go... huh? What are you guys talking about?"
After returning to the village entrance, Lin found Mucun and a few others gathered together, talking about something seriously.
"We are discussing how to distribute these luggages," said Asai.
Lin glanced at the luggage piled at the feet of Mucun and others, and then a look of understanding appeared on her face.
This group of people had a lot of luggage.
The pile of luggage in their Hulu House, some big and some small, totaled 16 packages.
The pile of luggage piled at the feet was so huge that the amount was really shocking. Just looking at it was visually impactful.
Lindu has already come back after dealing with those trivial matters, but Mucun and the others are still arguing about the issue of "luggage distribution".
"I remember we didn't have so much luggage before we set off. What is this thing at my feet? Who bought it?" Mucun pointed at a large cloth bag at his feet.
"That... that's a Kyoto specialty I bought." Shimada raised his hand weakly, "It's my first time in Kyoto, so I couldn't help but buy some Kyoto specialties..."
"What about this?" Mucun pointed his finger at another large cloth bag.
"I bought that." This time it was Lin who spoke up. "It contains Kyoto confectionery that I bought. I bought it especially for Jiulang and Bogong who were unable to go to Kyoto."
"What about this?" Mucun pointed to another large cloth bag, "Who bought this?"
"I bought it." Asai raised his hand.
"What is that thing you have?" Makimura asked, "Is it also a specialty of Kyoto?"
"I guess so. Master Genichi asked me to buy it." After saying that, Asai winked at Makimura.
It seemed like Makimura and Asai were in sync. After seeing Asai wink at him, Makimura immediately looked as if he understood what he meant and quickly skipped the topic.
Ogata and Atachi stood aside and listened to the argument between the people in Huluwu.
After hearing the end, Ogata couldn't help but look helpless and complained:
"You guys went to Kyoto, under the guise of 'looking for clues to the undead', to travel in a swaggering manner..."
"It seems that we did buy too many things." Lin did not refute what Ogata had just said. She just crossed her arms and said this with a serious look on her face.
"Hey, Shimada. Among us, you bought the most miscellaneous things, so you have to take responsibility and carry the pile of things you bought by yourself." Asai said.
"Huh? How can I carry so many things? Makimura-senpai, please help me!"
"Don't look at me... I've just recovered from my injury, so I don't have the ability to carry so much luggage. How about we move these luggages in two batches?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Asai said without hesitation, "You should also know that our base of Huluwu is on the mountain, right? Wouldn't it be exhausting to move it in two batches?"
"How about asking the villagers to help us transport our luggage?" Atachi, who had been listening with Ogata, put forward his own idea at this time.
Unfortunately, as soon as Ating finished speaking, Lin shook her head gently.
"It's almost time to cook dinner. Every household is very busy now. It will take a long time to move all these things up the mountain. I don't want to affect their dinner because of such trivial matters."
…
…
The bickering among these people in Huluwu seems to be endless.
Ogata, who could no longer bear it, clapped his hands vigorously, attracting everyone's attention.
"Why don't you just keep it simple and rough?" Ogata said, "Use 'rock, paper, scissors' to decide who carries how much luggage."
As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Lin and others cast puzzled glances at Ogata.
"What is 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'?" Asai asked.
At this time in Japan, there is no "rock, paper, scissors" finger-guessing game.
Ogata briefly introduced the rules of this rather simple game to Lin and the others.
After figuring out how to play, Lin and the others all showed interest.
"I see... Rock, Paper, Scissors..." Lin nodded gently, "It seems like a very fun game."
"Ittosai." Asai asked, "Is this a game from your hometown in Izumo?"
"No," Ogata said, "I created it myself."
Ogata decided to tell a small, insignificant lie.
"This game is very suitable for playing while drinking." Mucun looked thoughtful, "Whoever loses has to drink a glass or something like that."
Ogata really wanted to praise Makimura as a "genius" for figuring out the correct way to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" so quickly...
"Okay." Lin said seriously, "Then let's play rock-paper-scissors to decide who will carry all our luggage."
Ogata and Atachi did not participate in the game because they both had their own luggage to carry.
That is the pile of gunpowder, ironware and other items that Atachi commissioned Fuma to get for her in Kyoto.
Not only were there a lot of stuff, but they were also heavy, leaving Ogata and Atachi no energy left to help Lin and the others move the luggage.
Lin and her friends’ luggage consisted of 16 packages of varying sizes.
After a brief discussion, they decided on the rules of the game: play 16 rounds, and the loser of each round will carry a bag.
Lin, Makimura, Asai, and Shimada formed a circle, raised their hands high, and then shouted loudly as Ogata had taught them just now -
"Rock, Scissors, Paper!"
…
…
About half an hour later——
"'Rock, Paper, Scissors'...is not fun at all!"
After throwing all the luggage at her feet, Lin held onto the base of their Hulu House, which was the gate pillar of the abandoned ancient temple, and roared like this while sweating profusely...
Just now, Ogata saw a miracle.
Ogata originally thought that if they used "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to decide who carried how much luggage, in the end everyone would carry about the same amount of luggage, the only difference being that one person might have more or less.
Then a miracle happened...
Lin lost 8 of the 16 rounds of finger-guessing...
According to the rules they had drawn up, Lin had to carry 8 of their 16 bags...
After the game of finger-guessing ended, the scene was very awkward for a while.
Mucun and the others did not expect that Lin would be so weak in the game of finger-guessing, so after it was over they all said that the game did not count.
But Lin said: A person should keep his word.
So one person carried 8 bags and started climbing...
He successfully carried half of their luggage up to Hulu House by himself.
"My lord." Mucun said to Lin sincerely with a serious look on his face, "You have worked hard."
Just now when they were climbing the mountain, Mucun and the others stepped forward and offered to help Lin share some of the luggage, but they were all rejected by Lin who insisted on "keeping her word."
"That's enough." Lin said as she pushed open the temple gate in front of her. "Just eight bags of luggage won't tire me to death... huh?"
As soon as Lin pushed open the door of the temple, a look of intense surprise appeared on her face.
Not only Lin, but also Makimura, Asai and others, as well as Ogata who had been a guest at Huluwu once, all had faces full of surprise at this moment.
Ogata remembered clearly when he had just escaped from Butterfly Island and came to visit Calabash House - Lin and the others used an abandoned temple as their base.
Therefore, this base of Huluwu is full of old and dilapidated things.
But at this moment, the scene before Ogata's eyes was completely different from Ogata's impression that "everywhere he looked, there were old and dilapidated houses."
Looking inside through the wide-open temple gate, all the buildings in the temple appear to have been renovated.
Not only have they been renovated, but each house also has signs of being completely repainted.
"...My lord, is this our home?" Mucun poked Lin beside him with his elbow.
"..."Lin was speechless at this time.
"Huh?" Ating, who had never been to Huluwu before, was surprised "Isn't this your home?"
Just now, when the temple gate was pushed open and he saw the beautiful buildings, Ating let out a small exclamation.
"It seems a little different from the home I remembered..." Lin whispered.
"Hey, look." Shimada suddenly raised his hand and pointed forward, "Is there smoke over there?"
Thick smoke was continuously billowing from the location Shimada pointed to.
"It seems to be a kitchen over there. Are Mamiya and Genichirō cooking?" asked Makimura.
"It should be." Asai responded without hesitation.
“Eh? But… it seems too early to eat now…” Shimada raised his head and looked at the sky which was just slightly dark. “As far as I remember, Mamiya-senpai and Genichirō are used to eating dinner after it gets completely dark…”
"Um..." Ogata's voice suddenly interrupted, "Is the smoke over there... getting thicker and darker...?"
Everyone: “…”
After hearing Ogata's reminder, everyone fell silent, quietly looking at the smoke not far away that seemed to be getting thicker and darker.
After a moment of silence, panic suddenly broke out among the crowd.
"Hurry! Go get me some water!" Lin's face was full of fear.
"Hey! Shimada! Do you have anything that can hold water among these Kyoto specialties you bought?!" Asai opened the cloth bags filled with Shimada's Kyoto specialties without saying a word.
"Idiot! It's faster to find a bucket of water inside the temple!" Mucun yelled as he rushed into the temple.
"A-Ming! Let's go! Let's follow Makimura to find a bucket!"
"good!"
"Eh?" Shimada, who was a little slow to react and hadn't realized what was happening, tilted his head and said, "Aren't Mamiya-senpai and Genichi cooking over there?"
Lin: "If you keep doing that you'll become a meal! That's on fire!!"
…
…
"So..." Mamiya cast a suspicious look at the people in front of him who were holding various containers filled with water, "What on earth are you doing?"
Just now, everyone was holding various containers filled with water and rushing towards the place where the smoke was coming out.
After being "instructed" by Lin, Shimada finally realized how bad the thing had happened, and hurriedly joined the army looking for a container to hold water.
Among the pile of Kyoto specialties that Shimada bought, there were actually a few things that were very suitable for holding water.
Shimada, Asai and Lin randomly took three of the largest containers, filled them with water from the stream outside the temple, and ran straight to the place where the smoke was coming from.
As they rushed towards the smoking area, the three of them happened to meet Ogata, Atachi and Makimura, who had found the buckets and filled them with water.
The group rushed towards the smoking area with great momentum.
When they got closer, they found that the smoke was coming from the back of the kitchen.
After walking around the kitchen and coming to the back, they saw Mamiya and Genichirō sitting leisurely on the side.
In front of Mamiya and Genichi was a large ball of fire.
This huge fire was burning something and emitting a strange smell.
Ogata and the others looked at Mamiya and Genichi...
Mamiya and Genichi also looked at Ogata and the others...
"I should ask you!" Lin, with a relieved look on her face, shouted angrily, "What are you doing? I almost thought there was a fire!"
"We are burning garbage." The person who answered was Genichi.
Ogata and the others looked at the huge ball of fire in front of Mamiya and Genichi.
The fire was burning all sorts of random things.
Wood, paper, a large mass of unknown objects that cannot be named... there is everything.
"So they're burning garbage." Ogata also breathed a sigh of relief, "No wonder the smoke is so black and thick..."
Ogata was also shocked when he saw the thick smoke just now.
It is a dry time now, and there are wooden buildings and forests all around.
Once the fire spreads, it's no joke.
Seeing that it was just a false alarm, everyone angrily poured the water in their containers onto the ground beside them.
"My lord, everyone, welcome back." Mamiya smiled gently at everyone, "You also brought back two old acquaintances... Ogata-kun, Ms. Atachi, long time no see."
Ogata knew that Genichi didn't know Atachi, so he took the initiative to introduce Atachi to Genichi.
As soon as Ogata finished introducing Atachi to Genichi, Lin crossed her arms and asked Mamiya:
"Mamiya, explain to me - what happened to our house? Did you hire a craftsman to renovate it?"
"Why would I do such a waste of money?" Mamiya waved his hand, "I renovated our house by myself."
"Are you a renovator?" Ogata's eyes widened.
"Well, because I was so bored while waiting for you to come back from Kyoto, I had nothing to do, so I renovated our house by myself and painted the faded areas with new colors."
"You can also do carpentry work?" Ating looked surprised.
“I once studied carpentry in the Yamato area.”
"None of our houses need major repairs, and even a layman like me can easily do the repair work."
"I just finished renovating the house a few days ago. After I finished the renovation, I had nothing to do, so I did a big cleaning."
"Because you were all gone for a while, many places are covered with dust, leaves, dead insects, and all kinds of garbage such as discarded wood that I didn't use when renovating the house."
Mamiya nodded towards the big fire next to him.
“These are the garbage I cleared out today.”
Having said this, Mamiya paused as if he remembered something.
"Come to think of it - it seems to be almost time for dinner now."
Mamiya continued.
"My lord, and Ogata-kun, you must be tired after all the journey back here."
"You guys should go and have a rest now."
"Leave to me to cook tonight's dinner."
After saying this, without waiting for anyone to respond, Mamiya bowed slightly and walked straight towards the kitchen.
Looking at Mamiya's back as he left, Atachi suddenly spoke to Ogata beside her in a low :
"Mamiya is so strong..."
"Yes." Ogata nodded solemnly, "I feel the same as you..."