With a sudden strange tone outside the door, Dahong was so frightened that the teacup fell on the tatami mat.

The sliding door was gently pushed open, and the waitress was kneeling in the doorway, a large plate of food already placed beside her. Outside the door stood a middle-aged man in his forties and fifties, thin, white-faced, energetic, clean, with a small flat head, a pair of black-rimmed glasses framed on the bridge of his nose, and wearing a navy blue haori robe with dark red bamboo leaf patterns—one of the Japanese kimonos, which I know is one of the Japanese kimonos, usually worn by men on more formal occasions, or formal clothes worn by wealthy people when they go out.

Generally speaking, in a restaurant, it is more appropriate for ordinary chefs or small bosses to wear "work clothes", if you can also wear "Jinping" style at home, then this person who is dressed so solemnly should be Mr. Abe Tomokazu, the owner of our restaurant, and his outfit today also shows that he attaches great importance to our arrival, and even treats us not as ordinary guests, but as friends.

People who don't know much about Japanese customs don't know about this small detail, but my mother, who often traveled abroad to perform when she was young, instilled in us a lot of common sense of international social etiquette from an early age, so she naturally knew the mystery of it.

Kraft Candy eased down at this time, and quickly invited the man into the room, and the man sat down lightly on the side of the seat, while saying in awkward Chinese very embarrassed:

"Ah, I'm really sorry, according to common sense, I should be more polite to sit on my knees and order food for you, but the rheumatic pain in my knees has been committed again in the past few days, and I am afraid that kneeling for a long time will affect my work, so the taste of the food you eat will also be affected, so I can only sit like this, I'm really embarrassed, and I hope you will forgive me."

After saying that, he bowed deeply to us, this kind of grand exotic etiquette really made us feel a little flattered, everyone was at a loss for a while, and even bowed back speechlessly, kraft candy was not strange, and said: "Mr. Abe doesn't have to be so polite, these guys are all my college classmates, and they are not great characters, let's be casual, too restrained will affect the appetite for eating." But Mr. Abe, you are becoming more and more fluent in Chinese. ”

Then the kraft candy introduced us to each other a little and did not repeat it.

Mr. Abe smiled and looked around at everyone, then high-fived them three times, and two more waiters outside the door began to serve food quietly.

I have the impression that Japanese food is expensive, fancy and unfilling, and everyone has the same colorful side dishes in front of them, but each dish is only a bite.

By the time all the cold dishes are served - to be honest, I don't know if there will be any hot dishes to follow. Mr. Abe bowed again and said that today's meal for you is "kaiseki cuisine".

I also heard my mother talk about the origin of this kaiseki cuisine, saying that it originated in Japan, because the monks pay attention to pure heart and eat less, and the tea and rice are mainly light, in order to resist the stomach discomfort in winter, they hold a warm stone in their arms to resist hunger and cold.

This tradition evolved over time, and kaiseki cuisine became the "essence of lightness, simplicity, and the pursuit of the original taste of food", and like the Japanese tea ceremony, kaiseki cuisine also pursues the art of detail in utensils and presentations, which is more accurate for those of us who are used to eating and drinking in large bowls and plates than in a culture.

I was quietly admiring the seven kinds of appetizers on my plate in front of me, it was like a rainbow of red orange, yellow, green, blue, purple seven different colors, I did not identify the raw materials of each appetizer, but such as some cucumbers, sauce radish, etc. Go find the answer to this mystery on the tip of the tongue.

As I closed my eyes and tried to meditate on this taste memory, Mr. Abe, perhaps seeing my words and deeds, gently introduced: "The radish you just ate is made from white radish in Hokkaido, which was harvested in June due to the special climate there, and we flew it to Shanghai and began to soak it in homemade plum sake lees, add honey, and as for this beautiful golden color, we bought the snake chrysanthemum that bloomed in June this year from the northwest region of China, mashed the petals and mixed it with the sauce to color it."

Snake chrysanthemum is not only a beautiful flower in summer, but also a herb in your country's "Compendium of Materia Medica", which has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying and dissolving dampness in the body. This complements the effect of white radish and honey, which is not only sweet in summer, but also can be used to treat diseases such as eye redness, swelling and pain, and diarrhea caused by intestinal infection. ”

Mr. Abe then introduced six other cold dishes, all of which are made with seasonal ingredients and flowers, and all of them have pharmacological effects.

I admire Mr. Abe's natural beauty in cooking, and his subtle elegance when he speaks, as if Zen has been completely integrated with food, which is not only an art of gastronomy, but can even be regarded as a religion.

Before I could appreciate it, I saw that Da Hong on the opposite side had already swept away all the side dishes on the plate, and was wiping his mouth and nodding again and again, "It's good-looking, it's just too little, one bite at a time, and it's gone without a taste." ”

The kraft candy glanced at him disdainfully, and Da Hong knew that he was speechless, so he also lowered his head and stopped making a sound.

TJ took out his leicam8 and ate it while taking pictures, and Mr. Abe said, "It's okay to take pictures, but please don't spread it, at least please don't tell anyone where you ate, and I hope you understand." ”

TJ hurriedly explained that he just thought it looked good, and wanted to use it as a retouching material for the design in the future, and would never leak secrets.

After eating the cold dishes, we began to serve soup, hot dishes, and rice, accompanied by sake, which was still a small amount per person, but it was exquisite, fresh, and elegant for the occasion, and the most impressive thing was the "white graphite fragrance" that Mr. Abe personally cooked for us on the table.

First of all, take out the fresh Jiwei shrimp from the wooden barrel, after pumping out the tendons and intestines, bake them back and forth on the hot end inkstone on one side, then sprinkle with clear salt, roll seaweed powder, and then stack them on a fan-shaped bone china chassis, each plate of seven shrimps, like a living thing, is a Chinese painting fan.

At this time, I had already admired Mr. Abe's artistic attainments and culinary creativity, and I praised it again and again: "Qi Baishi's seven shrimp picture!" It's so similar! It's so similar! ”

Mr. Abe saw that I said the subtlety of this dish, and bowed to me very unexpectedly, and said: "Thank you so much, I greatly admire the late painter Qi Baishi of your country, his ink painting is simple and smart, he is a rare genius in the painting world, but it is a pity that the contemptible people did not have the opportunity to meet him, and the creation of this dish is also a sign of my memory and respect for him." I have invited many people to eat this dish in the past ten years, but the person who can see its origin, sir, is the first one. I'm so satisfied! ”

Maybe it was the kraft candy that he had always seen Mr. Abe's reserved and calm side, and when he saw him showing rare excitement, he exaggerated and said: "Mr. Abe doesn't know, this Mr. Zang Daozen, known as Zang Daguanren in the rivers and lakes, is not only proficient in Xiaoqin, chess, calligraphy and painting, but also has a good grasp of Tang poetry and Song Ci, and the most absolute thing is that he is young, but he is a famous numerology expert in Shencheng, fortune telling, fortune telling and feng shui, extremely accurate!" ”

Da Hong said inexplicably at this time: "I used to be suspicious, but he could still talk to the dead man last night, I was really convinced." ”

As soon as these words came out, I was pulled back from my appreciation of Zen food, and everyone else looked at each other, and the atmosphere became solemn again. I didn't know what to say for a while, so I lowered my head and took out the Xiangfei folding fan from my bag and pretended to fan it to cool off.

Mr. Abe also noticed that there was some coldness, so he asked if you still needed to eat, and everyone was gone at this time, so he beckoned the waiter to withdraw the table. According to the kaiseki ritual, the final ritual is to order tea.

The waiter brought a small red clay stove and put on a handmade pig iron kettle from southern Japan, I saw that the bread pulp of the pot was red and rusty, and I couldn't guess its age, but looking at the decoration of its body, it should be hand-forged.

The first was to satisfy curiosity, and the second was to break the silence in the house at this time, so he asked, "Mr. Abe, this handmade pig iron kettle seems to be some years old, so it must be a family heirloom, right?" ”

Mr. Abe was surprised by my question, and said that he did not think that I had studied the Japanese southern iron kettle, and said that this iron kettle was indeed a family heirloom, made at the end of the Edo period, and has been passed down from generation to generation for a century and a half, and that the spring water brewed from it contains a lot of iron, so it has a hint of sweetness, which is very suitable for today's tea.

Not surprisingly, today's tea is still related to the season - rush bamboo leaf tea, decoction with rush grass and fresh green bamboo leaves, the tea soup is clear, the taste is sweet, and it is also a good drink for detoxification and diuretic.

Everyone began to taste the tea bowl handed by Mr. Abe, and I found that since I recognized the "white graphite-scented" shrimp earlier, Mr. Abe's every delivery of food started with me, which showed that he had treated me as a guest.

Just as I was looking down at the pale green tea, I heard Mr. Abe say, "What do you mean when you said before, Mr. Zang -- oh no -- Mr. Zang could talk to a dead man last night?" Can you tell me about it? ”

Everyone looked at me, and I thought that there was no end to this matter anyway, and it didn't matter if Mr. Abe wanted to know, so he nodded yes. So Kraft Candy asked Ah Qing to open the notebook, and while putting the video, he told the events of last night again.

Mr. Abe did not appear to be surprised when he heard this—a person like him, who has seen the world, should be able to remain calm about everything.

He just closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then smiled at me and said, "Zang Daguanren is really an unusual person, I know several onmyoji in Japan, and I often hear them talk about things like seeing deceased people. In my opinion, your dead friend should have a strong will to come to you, and maybe there are still a lot of reluctant things that have not been put down, so he will go out of his body so quickly......"

I thought of the embarrassed look on the old loach's face when he finally said goodbye at the bar, and remembered that he said that "once you sit down, I'm afraid you will be delayed too much time", and I suddenly felt that Mr. Abe's "there are still a lot of things that I can't give up" should indeed mean something.

"Too much time is delayed", what time is delayed? You don't have to rush to reincarnation, do you? Could it be that since saying goodbye to me, the bardo body of the old loach has gone somewhere else? Do you have to deal with other things, which is why you say "too much time"?

A series of question marks appeared in my mind, but at this time, it was not easy to find the old loach and ask clearly, although I also knew how to attract souls, and helped guests to summon the spirits of relatives and friends who died in a foreign land or hospital to settle down in the spiritual position, but this was only an ideological ritual, and I had never met with real spirits.

What's more, when I arrived at the hospital this time, the bodies had already been moved into the morgue, and I didn't even have time to help me on the spot, and now I don't know where the old loach's bardo body is wandering.

Mr. Abe saw that we were all thinking about each other, so he got up and said goodbye and said that it was inconvenient to disturb and let us continue to drink tea and chat here, and after he opened the sliding door, he seemed to suddenly think of something, and turned to me and said, "Zang Daguanren, the shop wants to hold a couplet event during the Obon Festival in mid-August, if you are lucky, please come here to help with a few couplets?" ”

Before I could reply, he smiled and closed the sliding door and left.