The note had the word "shrine" written on it, and I thought that Mrs. Ito would understand what she meant when she saw it.

"This cherry blossom festival used to be the biggest festival in Okutamagawa Town......" Mrs. Ito was interrupted by Yingying, looked at the piece of paper, "Huh", and nodded.

“You will see tonight.” She spoke word by word in English, as if it was painful to speak in English.

Shall I see the shrine tonight? Ying Ying's heart was overjoyed, and half of her sorrow disappeared at once.

"By the way, the biggest festival in Okutamagawa right now is the Kashima Festival, which will be held at the end of next month. When the time comes, you will know that every year is a big event, very lively, and boys and girls love to participate. ”

Mrs. Ito smiled at Yingying, wrapped the finished cherry cakes one by one in perilla leaves, and placed them neatly in a resin box, and was about to take them away and put them away, when the phone in the living room rang again.

Mrs. Ito hurriedly wiped her hands on her apron and trotted to the living room to answer the phone, while Yingying stayed in the courtyard.

Ying Ying observes the courtyard of the Ito family, which is very wide, the length of three basketball courts on the long side, surrounded by a low wooden fence.

There are several huge pine trees and many flowers and plants in the courtyard, and you can see a turquoise mountain not far away.

At dinner, Yingying was always in a nervous and excited mood, and she couldn't wait to see the shrine immediately.

Finally, after dinner, she quickly helped Mrs. Ito clean up the table and chopsticks, and went upstairs very quickly to change her clothes for going out.

Mrs. Ito was waiting for her downstairs and handed her a large bag of things for Ying Ying to help with them.

"Sakura boxes, and bits and pieces of Ema, lucky bags, there are so many things, thanks to you. Mrs. Ito walked in front and said to Ying Ying, who was holding one or two large bags of wood chips.

The two walked about 8 or 9 minutes from their home, turned a familyMart convenience store with incandescent lights, and entered a slightly darkened alley.

"Here we are. Mrs. Ito said, and Yingying saw that it was a small courtyard, and in front of the courtyard stood a wooden gate about one and a half stories high.

It is not so much a wooden door as a door frame, with two other pillars on top of it, and a symbol drawn in the middle of the horizontal wood, which is not well lit at night and cannot be seen clearly.

Mrs. Ito did not enter through the main entrance, but led Yingying through the narrow part of the wooden door.

After entering, the ground has changed from a concrete floor to a gravel paved road, and there is a "creaking" sound when you walk on it.

Ying Ying saw that there was a half-human-high stone lamp standing on both sides of the road, and there was a faint light of jumping fire in it.

She looked around, and it was a boxy yard with only a few low houses.

Ying Ying watched carefully, and noticed that the shrine was surrounded by white ropes, and strips of cloth hung from the white ropes.

Mrs. Ito beckoned to her in front of a small room in the distance, and Ying Ying hurriedly walked in with her things.

When I went in, it was an ordinary office, with two desks facing each other, and a few chairs.

Leaning against the wall stand several large commercial bookshelves, some of which hold documents and other items, and some of which are stacked with packages such as clothes.

Mrs. Ito asked Ying Ying to put the large bag in her hand on a table against the wall.

"This is a shrine that our family has guarded for generations," Mrs. Ito said proudly, "Come, I'll show you around." ”

It turns out that this is the shrine! Ying Ying felt her heart beat faster.

"Crunch" clogs made a wonderfully pleasant sound as they stepped on the gravel, and Mrs. Ito gently led Yingying to a house in front of her.

Ying Ying has never seen a shrine, and she rarely even goes to a temple, so she is fresh and curious about everything.

She saw that the roof of the house was very high, in a triangle, and the eaves were very wide, and it was divided into two layers, which were stacked like the lace of a skirt, and they were all paved with quaint logs, like a wild goose spreading its wings under the night sky.

There was a wooden fence at the entrance of the house, which blocked the entrance, and Mrs. Ito stood in front of the fence with her hands folded and bowed to the depths of the house.

"My husband, Sanyou, used to help me take care of the shrine, but now that he's doing more and more things on the union side, I'm going to handle everything by myself.

There are a lot of chores, and sometimes it's really too busy......"

Mrs. Ito didn't care if Ying Ying didn't understand what she said, she just nagged.

Ying Ying saw that at the door of the fence, a very thick and thick hemp rope hung from the eaves.

Ying Ying looked along the twine, on which were two large, round copper bells.

Looking up again, there is a rectangular erected plaque with four large characters written on it: "Aoiyayama Shrine".

Ying Ying was shocked and thought: No, the shrine that Uncle Bi told me about is not called this name......

Isn't this the shrine I'm looking for? Didn't Uncle Bi say that the Ito family guards that shrine, how is it different?

So where is the Cloud Sakura Shrine?

She was a little frustrated, and she couldn't figure out what was going on, so she could only ask Uncle Bi before speaking.

That night, I went back with Mrs. Ito, and I didn't say anything all night.