Chapter 108: First Meeting

Look up to heaven.

On a rainy Saturday, walk through the streets with your umbrella and never end.

Your palms are as warm as flames, and we don't squint and don't look at each other. Your long hair is scattered over my shoulders, with the scent of osmanthus flowers. Your breath is on the side of my neck, with the sweet smell of mead.

You say that the sound of the rain drops is nice.

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Hiroshi Toyama rushed into the roadside ramen shop from the heavy rain, put the leather bag to keep out the rain next to his seat, and asked the owner for a bottle of sake and a large bowl of tonkotsu ramen. He hadn't eaten at noon and had no work, which made his stomach twitch a little. He wasn't sure if it was because of his stomach ailments or because of his mental anxiety, and his internal organs seemed to be twisted together or curled up in a ball. This symptom only happened when he stayed up late before, but now, he has made it a normal part of his life. Toyama took out a bottle of stomach medicine from his bag, poured a tablet out of it, and swallowed it with sake.

The light wine was still wine, which made his stomach feel a little more comfortable. He couldn't drink too much, he thought, there was another one to try in the afternoon, and he took out the job advertisement cut from the newspaper in his purse and confirmed the address of the troupe again.

It is now the spring of 1965, and after the Second World War, Japan has just breathed a sigh of relief from its post-war reconstruction. After a long period of hard life, the streets are bustling again. The economy began to recover, all sorts of trendy novelties began to appear, and entertainment, including theater imported from the West, quickly entered the popular consciousness after localization.

Yuanshan was disassembling the chopsticks, the curtain behind him was lifted, and a man with the wind and rain outside walked in, and then sat next to Yuanshan.

"The best wine." The man stretched out his hands and folded them on the table. The accent was a little strange, and Yuan Shan glanced at it, and then noticed that the man had a strange dusty temperament, like a character who had stepped down from the stage. His hands were white and slender, his nails were clean and neat, as if he had never done a job before, and his wrists were thin but felt powerful. Looking further up, the man was dressed in a tall black uniform, with a black navy hat on his head, and his unusually long hair hung down from the side, covering part of his cheeks. What a beautiful man, Toyama thought to himself, and then turned his gaze back to concentrating on the ramen in front of him.

The man next door brought up the wine, which was sweet potato roast, which could be regarded as a strong liquor. Instead of mixing a cup with some water like the usual Japanese, the other party poured the bottle directly into his mouth.

"The wine is still good in my hometown, do you say?"

It took more than ten seconds for Yuan Shan to be sure that the other party was talking to him, and he didn't know what to say, so he had to hum.

Seemingly not caring about Yuanshan's reaction at all, this strangely handsome man just began to tell the story on his own, as if he had only come here to tell Yuanshan his story. It's like a person who has stepped down from the stage, Toyama thought.

"When I was a child, my mother used to make her own wine from the wine she bought on the street. With bayberry, soak a large vat every year. Then when we eat, sometimes we scoop a bowl of wine and drink it. The wine that has been soaked in bayberry is much warmer, and even children can drink it. One day I wanted to drink, but my mother wouldn't let me drink, so I cried and fussed, and at last she couldn't resist me, so she had to pour me a small glass. And then my sister was clamoring for a drink, and she was always like that, I wanted to share half of everything, and of course, I always gave it to her. My mother said that boys could drink it, but girls couldn't drink it, and she kept staring at me. When the mother turned around, she snatched it and choked on it......"

This man's voice is very magnetic, although it is a child's trivial matter when he was a child, but Yuan Shan listens to it a little fascinatingly. He rested his chopsticks sideways on the noodle bowl, then poured himself another glass of sake and poured it all into his mouth. It's true that it's not as good as the wine of my hometown...... Yuanshan felt a little bitter in his mouth, what did he come to the big city for? Obviously, your hometown is more suitable for you, is it just to get ahead? Look at what I look like now, I am twenty-three years old, more than five years after graduating from high school, I was just laid off from my job, looking for work everywhere, just to make a living, just to find a decent job in a place, such as a sound engineer in a theater...... is getting farther and farther away from the ideal, and can only survive on the money sent from his hometown...... It's disgusting, like a shameless parasite.

"This gentleman, there is a saying in our hometown, meeting is fate, let me invite you to have a drink."

When the man next door pushed the wine bottle over, Yuanshan hesitated for half a second, but he didn't refuse.

An hour later, Toyama walked out of the ramen restaurant and made a phone call to his mother back home. He hugged the microphone and cried. He decided to return to his hometown immediately to inherit the family business. Because of the excitement and the alcohol, he didn't notice that the most unfortunate job advertisement in his purse that he didn't try his luck had disappeared.

At this moment, Su Jing sat in the ramen restaurant, asked for a plate of yokan for dim sum, and then pulled out the job advertisement from his sleeve.

[We are looking for experienced staff who are familiar with audio equipment and competent sound production.] Salary is negotiable. Contact: Flying Theater Troupe, Chief Director, Yusaku Shigemori]

"That's good for you, Mr. Hiroshi Toyama." Su Jing tied a piece of yokan with a bamboo skewer and put it in his mouth.

In the afternoon, Su Jing came to the venue rented by the Flying Theater, which is now renamed the Flying Grand Theater.

He was greeted by a middle-aged and capable lady who was immediately placed in a small reception room after he showed the advertisement, and the director kindly and measuredly reminded him that the director, Mr. Shigemori, was rehearsing and that he should wait.

After the lady made him a cup of tea and exited the reception room, Su Jing stood up and opened the door to the reception room lightly. He listened slightly to the sounds in the hallway, then walked towards the loudest place.

The theater of the sixties of the last century has some atmosphere of the old times. Su Jing's fingers ran over the posters on the wall, and the impressionist oil painting depicted a pale, long-haired girl wrapped in a black dress, with no words on it, only the logo of the Flying Theater Company printed underneath.

The front is the performance hall, Su Jing guessed that he was standing outside the entrance of the audience, he gently pushed open the door of the theater hall, and then he saw a stage, and the men and women on the stage.

Because it's not time to perform, the people in the troupe are busy rehearsing. Su Jing's eyes swept over one person after another on the stage, and under the reflection of the lights, these young people—all about twenty years old—each of them was full of youthful vitality. A man in a hat, with a horn in his hand, sat in the first row of the auditorium, watching intently as the people on stage rehearsed.

Standing in the center of the stage was a small man who was imitating a speech that was probably a political celebrity, and his expression was very comic, like someone who was born to perform a play. Standing next to him was a young man with a baby face, who didn't say a word, just made exaggerated body language movements with the imitation show of the little man. These two people are exaggerated and serious, one talks endlessly and the other does not say a word, and the comedic effect caused by them together can be doubled. It can be seen that the people who seem to be directors at the bottom are also very satisfied.

Su Jing's gaze continued to sweep over, and there was a group of young actors sitting around him, and his gaze stopped on the figure of one of them. It was a young woman of about eighteen or nineteen years old, with long black hair, beautiful features, and a very gentle feeling. Compared to her companions, it feels like she stands out from the crowd. It's not that her appearance is too stunning, but that she has a gentle temperament that is a little out of place with others. After all, most of the people here are young and active teenagers, and her performance is a little too calm.

At this time, the conversation seemed to shift to the woman, and the actors were clamoring with whistles and cheers, and then the crowd applauded rhythmically.

Amid the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd, the young woman sitting on the ground stood up with some embarrassment and stood in the center of the stage. The director, who was sitting in front, raised the bullhorn and said with a smile:

"Put on a show for us, Sadako!"