"Gotta admit bad luck! When I had finished freshening up, I said to Boris: 'Brother, please find me a sampan!' ’”

Boris couldn't help but smile when he saw that I still wanted to go out for a walk. So he beckoned in the wind and rain, and summoned a small coffin made of white wood (a small wooden boat that could only allow one person to lie down), driven by two yellow children who were naked and rocking in the rain, and rushed to us at once on the sea. When the thing got closer, I jumped on it. Then a rocking child opened for me a trapboard that looked like a mousetrap, and I slipped in, stretching myself straight on a mat that was called the sampan's 'cabin'. ”

"In this floating coffin, I just had room to lie down, and it was very clean, and the new pine planks were white. The rain was pounding on the top cover, and I couldn't get it at all. I sailed in this box and made my way into the city. One wave made it shake, another wave jolted it with bad intentions, and on several occasions it almost capsized. Looking out through the cracks in my mousetrap, I could glimpse from below and upwards two little men to whom my destiny depended: children of eight or ten years of age at most, but already muscular, like real (but small) men; Dexterous, like a veteran accustomed to his life at sea. ”

"They shouted loudly, probably to the shore! Sure enough, from the trapboard that had just been opened, I saw the gray slate of the pier right in front of me. So I got out of the coffin and stood up; For the first time in my life, I set foot on Japanese soil. ”

"The rain is getting heavier and heavier, and the rain hits the eyes, pricking people's hearts, and it is very uncomfortable."

"As soon as I came ashore, a dozen or so monsters jumped up in front of me and shouted around me. Get in my way. Through the rainstorm that obstructed the view, it was difficult to determine what it was at first, like a kind of humanoid hedgehog, each pulling a large, black object, one of which had a large umbrella open over my head, and the ribs were very dense. The curved rods are varnished. They all smiled at me, flattering faces with a look of anticipation. ”

"I've been told: it's just some rickshaw puller stealing business in front of me. However, when I first arrived, I was still taken aback by the sudden attack and the Japanese reception. These rickshaw pullers and wheelbarrows to earn a living, charging by the hour or by the distance, just like our public carriages. ”

"They rolled up their trousers high, and their bare legs were all wet today. Their heads were hidden in large hats shaped like lampshades, and they were draped in straw robes. The tops of the grass were all propped up outside, like the thorns of a porcupine, as if they had draped the roof of a hut over their bodies. They kept smiling and waiting for my choice. ”

"I didn't have the chance to know any of them, so I randomly boarded the chauffeur's car that opened my umbrella. He pulled down the canopy for me, very low, and spread a tarpaulin over my lap up to my eyes. Then he came up to me and asked me what I said in Japanese. The thought must be, 'Where are you going?' Mr! So I replied in Japanese: 'Go to Jikeien, friend!' ’”

"I was like a parrot and answered his question with three Japanese characters that I had memorized in mind, and I was amazed that the sound of these words actually conveyed a certain meaning and was understandable. So we set off immediately. He leaned over and ran forward, and I was pulled by him. Along the way, I was hunking in his light car, and I was covered in a tarpaulin, as if I had been put in a box. We both had been doused with rain, splashing water and mud on the muddy dirt road. ”

"'Go to Jiqing Garden!' I said it so naturally that I was taken aback when I heard it. This means that I don't know anything about Japanese stuff as I think I am. I was taught by some friends who had returned from this mysterious empire in the East. I learned a lot of things. This auspicious garden is a tea house, an upscale meeting place. When I got there, I could ask about a Noda-kun who was both a translator and a guy who was secretly doing 'that kind of business'. If things go well, tonight I might be introduced to the Japanese girl assigned to me by mysterious fate...... It was this thought that lifted my spirits along the way, and my coachman and I, one dragging the other, ran out of breath in the pouring rain......"

"Oh! On this day, through the cracks left by the tarpaulin, from under the water-dripping canopy of my car, I finally got a glimpse of the strange Japan! A gloomy, mud-drenched, almost flooded Japan. Houses, livestock, people, all these things that I used to know only from pictures, from pictures on the sky blue or pink background of the fans and porcelain, but in real life appeared to me pitifully under the dark sky, with umbrellas and shoes on their soles, and with their clothes lifted. ”

"Sometimes, the rain is so heavy that I have to cover as much as I can. In the noise and shaking, I became numb and almost completely forgot what country I was in. There were holes in the canopy, allowing some thin water to pour on my back, reminding me that this was my first trip to Tokyo. At the risk of pouring water, I looked out with curiosity: we were running down a bleak, gloomy alley (there were thousands of them, like a labyrinth), and the water from the roofs cascaded like a cascade onto the shiny paving stones. The rain drew gray shadows in the air, blurring everything. Sometimes, we staggered past a lady with her legs wrapped in a skirt and stepping on high clogs, staggering like a figure carrying a skirt on a screen and holding a paper umbrella. Sometimes we pass by the door of a pagoda, and the stone monsters crouching in the water are grimacing at me. ”

"It's a big place, this Tokyo! We've been running for almost an hour, and it doesn't seem like we're at the end of the race. At this time, I came to the plain, on the side of the mooring, but I didn't expect that in the valley, there was such a large open plain. ”

"Ahh It's impossible for me to tell where I am, which direction we're just running. I left my whole thing up to the coachman and luck to take care of it. ”

"What a marvelous man, my coachman! I've seen porters in Shanghai, but this one is completely different. Whenever I remove the tarpaulin and want to see something, it goes without saying that he is always the first to enter the picture. His bare legs were yellowish-brown. Muscular, running with one leg in front and one behind, mud splashing everywhere, his hedgehog-like back, bowed in the rain. Can the people who saw this chicken-like cart passing by guess that there was a Russian who was looking for a wife? ……”

"Finally. My guard of honor stopped, and the driver smiled, carefully lowering my canopy to prevent the rain from pouring into my neck again. The flooding has stopped, and it will not rain anymore. I hadn't seen his face until this time, it turned out that he was different and quite handsome. This young man in his thirties, with frank eyes, lively demeanor and vigorous ......"

"It's at the foot of a steep mountain. We must have passed through the city. Most likely in the suburbs, in the countryside. It looked like I had to get out of the car and walk, and now I had to climb up a path that was almost steep. Around us, there were suburban huts, sheltered by garden walls, bamboo hedges that were too high; They are not visible from the outside. This verdant mountain is so high that it wears us out. The low clouds pressed down on our heads, like a canopy that was about to confine us in this strange corner. It's true. We can't see the distance or the vista at all, as if to better draw attention to all the details of this small piece of muddy, wet Japan interior in front of us. The land color of this country is red. I don't know much about the grass and flowers on the side of the road. However, there were some flowers in the fence that were similar to ours, and I recognized tartars, sunflowers, and other Russian flowers in the garden. The smell was mixed in the air. The aroma of plants and the earth was mixed with something else, as if the smell of dried fish and frankincense was mixed together, probably emanating from a person's dwelling. No one has passed by here. Residents, the interior of the house, daily life. Nothing is exposed. ”

"The coachman parked the cart under a tree and joined me up the steep path, our feet slipping on the red dirt."

"'Are we really going to Jiqing Garden?' I asked, unsure to find out if I was being understood. ”

"'Yes, yes.' The coachman replied, 'It's up there, it'll be there soon.' ’”

"The path turned a corner, narrow, and dark, with a cliff on one side, covered with wet ferns. On the other side, there is a large wooden house with a terrible appearance, with almost no doors and windows. My driver stopped right here. ”

"What, this gloomy house is Jiqing Garden? He said yes, and he looked very sure. We knocked on a door, and it immediately slid through the slot and opened. The two short and ridiculous women who showed up were already half-aged, but they still had extravagant hopes, which could be seen immediately. Their clothes matched those painted on the porcelain vases, and their hands and feet were the size of children. ”

"As soon as they saw me, they fell on their knees, their noses touching the floor. Yes! Oh my God, what's wrong with them? Oh, nothing, it's just a solemn way of saluting. I wasn't used to it, so I saw them stand up, take off my shoes (no one had ever walked into a Japanese house with shoes on), rub them on my trouser legs, and touch my shoulders to see if they got wet. ”

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