The facilities in the old bookstore are also a little old, but they don't look old, but they have the taste of time.

Chen Wenwen walked through the middle of a row of bookshelves and pulled out a book.

The book is very old, and the pages have a yellowish color that gives off a characteristic smell.

Books have a taste, Chen Wenwen has always felt so.

It's not the ink fragrance that ordinary people say, Chen Wenwen smells something else in the book.

For example, the difference between a new book and an old one.

The new book gives people freshness and yearning, hiding the unknown and expectation.

The smell of old books makes people fascinated, the book is filled with an intoxicating fragrance, like an ancient tree, mottled with clear annual rings, and the vicissitudes of life imprint a rich past.

The books in this bookstore have been the same as this bookstore, and they have been through a long time, with the fragrance of cherry blossoms and maple leaves in the books.

The manager is a kind old man with gray hair, and according to him, the shop has been handed down from his grandfather's generation, and the history beyond is unknowable.

In the past, the bookstore was doing very well, and the children in the town would come to buy comics drawn by the great writers in the city, such as "Doraemon" and "Astro Boy", but now the young people in the town have gone to the city, and the bookstore is much colder.

The manager's son and grandson are also in Tokyo, and occasionally during vacations, the son and daughter-in-law will bring their grandson back to stay for a while, and they discuss bringing the store manager to live in Tokyo, but the store manager refuses.

For him, this bookstore is his home, where he was born, grew up, got married, and had children...... He deserves to die here.

The store manager saw Chen Wenwen and the others, and a kind smile appeared on his face, he said that there are few young people in the town anymore, and the old people in the town are also constantly dying, maybe one day, Shikatori Town will disappear from this world.

Chen Wenwen silently listened to the old man's babbling and did not respond.

It's not that she can't understand the old man's words, as an honor student in Shilan Middle School, being proficient in several foreign languages is the foundation of the foundation, even Lu Mingfei, who has never learned and has no skills, has a foreign language level of IELTS 6, not to mention Chen Wenwen, who is a literary specialty.

Moreover, the students of Shilan Middle School basically have backgrounds, and Chen Wenwen's father is a diplomat, so Chen Wenwen's talent for language is full.

She could understand, but she didn't know how to respond.

She knew that the old man just regarded himself as a son or grandson who couldn't come back a few times a year, as a sustenance of feelings, and these words should not have been said to her as a passing tourist, but the old man was so lonely that he used her as an outlet for catharsis when he had nowhere to get rid of it.

She listened to the old man as she placed a few books of her choice on the counter.

One copy of "Manyoshu", one copy of "Rashomon", one copy of "Yin Dou's Dancing Girl", and one copy of "The Tale of Genji".

"The Tale of Genji" ......"

The old man slowly wrapped these books with oiled paper, which was the technique in bookstores a long time ago, similar to the current plastic sealing, when there was no heat shrink film, so some bookstores will choose to use this way to make moisture-proof treatment for books, which is a relatively old process.

The old man said while wrapping the bag: "It's quite a coincidence, my bookstore has not had customers for a long time, and not only did two young people come here today, but you both bought "The Tale of Genji", do you say it's a coincidence?" ”

"Is there anyone else coming to buy The Tale of Genji today?"

The old man bundled the wrapped books and handed them to Chen Wenwen: "I came this morning because there are few customers in the store, especially young people, and the young man is very good-looking, so I am more impressed." ”

"Yes." Chen Wenwen held the book in her arms, "Then we are quite fateful." ”

"yes." The old man nodded happily, "The young man used to be from the town, and as soon as he came in, he called out my name, and asked me if it was almost time for the deer sacrifice recently, and I felt that he was very familiar, but I couldn't remember who he was...... Oops, I'm old, I can't remember......"

"Deer fetch sacrifice?"

When she came, Chen Wenwen also saw the busy people on the road, but she never thought about the festival.

The old man nodded, and pointed to the mountain behind him, from which he could faintly see the red torii: "The shrine on Mt. Katori enshrines the deer spirit of Mt. Katori, who can bless the town from being attacked by wild beasts, from being harmed by natural disasters, and bless the children who travel far away from being safe and sound." ”

Chen Wenwen glanced at the mountain from afar: "Can I go to the shrine to have a look?" ”

The old man nodded: "That young man should also be at the shrine on the mountain, if you meet him, help me ask the name of the child, may the deer spirit bless you." ”

"May the deer spirit bless you."

Chen Wenwen said goodbye to the old store manager, followed the direction pointed out by the old store manager, and walked towards the back mountain.

——

Lu Mingfei followed the winding mountain road all the way up, flanked by forests that had not yet fully lost their leaves, and the occasional birdsong could be heard skimming across the sky.

After passing through the torii gate, there is a long approach road, which is much easier to walk, and it is a realization of the gods from here, so the floor tiles are specially laid so that there are no potholes like the previous mountain road.

Walking up the stairs and coming to the end of the road, Lu Mingfei finally saw the appearance of this Shitori Shrine.

The shrine is as old as the town, and it still retains the Japanese-style roof of the past, and there are shrine dogs (similar to stone lions) on both sides of the shrine, and there is a sailor's house on the right hand side for hand purification.

Across the worship hall is a small Japanese-style garden with the Suesha and the Tsukisha on both sides of the garden, and in front of the courtyard is the main hall, which houses a living deer statue.

On both sides of the main hall are two sacred trees, the leaves of the one on the left have already fallen, and Lu Mingfei is not a Tibetan fox who likes to study water monkeys, so naturally he can't recognize what kind of breed this is at a glance.

The one on the right is recognizable, it's a red maple.

The leaves fluttered in the wind like flickering fire.

But what is more attractive is not the tree, but the young man holding a book under the tree.

The handsome boy stood in the thin sunlight, a white shirt and a black suit, with crisp straight hair, and a book encapsulated in oil-paper in his arms.

The wind blew the hem of his clothes, and the young man seemed to sense that Lu Mingfei was coming, and turned around to brush him.

He stood in the sunlight and smiled slightly, like a harmless boy from the neighbor's family, no, maybe because he was too delicate, Lu Mingfei even thought he was a female high school student in men's clothes.

But no one can deny his beauty, a person who is so clear water, but reflects infinite brilliance in the sun.

But Lu Mingfei felt a little awkward.

He felt the pressure on this infinitely beautiful teenager, as if he had become a domestic teddy facing the beast, and if he was not careful, he would have his throat torn apart by the beast.

To be reasonable, he had only seen this kind of pressure in Boss Gu, even Senior Brother Chu couldn't give him this feeling, if it weren't for the warm and beautiful scene in front of him, then Lu Mingfei might not be able to help but speak.

Of course, not for the sake of hard fighting, but for the sake of escape.

It's not that he doesn't believe in Lu Mingze's strength, he understands that as long as he and Lu Mingze continue to trade, then he can realize all his wishes, even Boss Gu is not his opponent, Su Xiaoqiao and Chen Wenwen are also at his fingertips, but because of this, he is even more jealous and afraid of Lu Mingze's existence.

Gu Bei taught him that anything you get will be marked with a price in fate.

So he is now very reluctant to trade with Lu Mingze.

And if he didn't trade with Lu Mingze, he would definitely not be able to beat him, he still had self-knowledge about himself.

So running is the best choice.

The two stood in the courtyard of the shrine for a while, and Lu Mingfei finally sensed that something was wrong, and the other party saluted him, so he should return the salute.

He was in a hurry for a while and said, "Hi? ”

The young man was stunned for a moment, then covered his mouth and laughed.

His smile is like a hundred flowers blooming, warm as spring.

Lu Mingfei's heart was half cold, and when he was thinking about how to escape, there was another sound of footsteps from the worship hall.

The two looked back and found a girl holding a book.

Chen Wenwen.

"Lu Mingfei? You're here too. Chen Wenwen stroked her windswept hair.

Lu Mingfei laughed dryly: "Ahahahaha, yes, what a coincidence, why are you here, president?" ”

Chen Wenwen turned her head to look at the young man, she was also shocked by the other party's appearance, stabilized her mood, and she also saw the oily book in the other party's hand: "Did you buy it from the bookstore in the town?" The Tale of Genji? ”

The young man looked at the book in his hand, and then saw the book in Chen Wenwen's arms: "You are talking about old Saito's shop, where did you also buy the book?" ”

Chen Wenwen nodded: "The old store manager said, let me ask you what your name is." ”

The young man smiled: "Yes, old Saito doesn't remember me anymore......"

Why are you still talking!?

Lu Mingfei on the other side watched the two of them chatting, and his heart was cold, for fear that this young man would burst out and tear himself and Chen Wenwen to pieces, although Chen Wenwen rejected his confession, but they asked themselves, even if it is the fat Xu family brothers standing here or Zhao Menghua who has always been unable to get along with him, Lu Mingfei probably wants to be saved, not to mention Chen Wenwen, who is not too big a holiday, and occasionally takes care of Lu Mingfei.

But fortunately, although the young man put a lot of pressure on Lu Mingfei, he didn't seem to have the intention of killing, his eyes contained a heartbreaking melancholy, but he still had a smile on his face: "If old Saito asks, you can tell him, my name is Liuli." ”

"Ruri Kazama."

——

A hot spring inn chartered by the Literary Society.

The black Humvee stopped at the door of the hotel, two teenagers and a girl got out of the car, the one in the lead was wrapped in a black coat, and there was a badge with a pattern of the half-decayed world tree pinned to his chest, and the teenager in the back looked like a hanger, and his body was a T-shirt with Lelouch printed on this year's fire, and the girl hid behind the teenager, grabbed the boy's arm with one hand, revealing a small head, and blinked her eyes and secretly looked into the hotel.

The corner of Gen Zhisheng's eyes twitched, and Sakura was sitting in the driver's seat of the Hummer, his shoulders shrugged, obviously holding back his smile.

The proprietress of the hotel ran out in a rage and knelt down in front of Gen Zhisheng: "Miyamoto Ayako Miyamoto, I have seen the young master." ”

Yuan Zhisheng helped the other party up: "It's been a long time, Aunt Ayako." ”

Miyamoto Ayako stood up, she behaved differently from the descendants of the family who saw Yuan Zhisheng and threw herself to the ground, her kneeling was more like a formal thing, belonging to the process, Yuan Zhisheng helped her up, and she slapped Yuan Zhisheng's arm: "It's been four or five years, you kid has also grown into a man." ”

"It's been many years."

Yuan Zhisheng and Miyamoto Ayako chatted for a while, but they didn't mean to introduce Gu Bei and the others to the other party, but just said that they would let Miyamoto Ayako arrange a few rooms for a few people, as well as a place to park.

Miyamoto Ayako didn't ask much, even if she was born in the snake family, even if she was just a peripheral member, she knew that the less she knew about some things, the better, Yuan Zhisheng didn't say it, she didn't ask, this is the way to save her life.

A few people walked around the hotel and chatted.

"It's a misfortune that you're here, I just received a group of guests in the morning, and gave them some good rooms, it's a group of students, it looks like they're coming for a school trip or club training, I heard that it's still from the Celestial Empire, and their president's little girl's Japanese is very good, a pure Tokyo accent, I didn't hear it at first that it was from the Celestial Empire, but the Japanese level of the rest of the people in their team is not very good, the best one to speak is a young man, it is said that this young man has traveled to Japan before, so he can order Japanese……”

Miyamoto Ayako is more or less a little chattering, or she is just unusually enthusiastic about familiar people, such as Gen Zhisheng.

As for Gu Bei and Eriyi, she just chatted a few words, and then turned the topic back to Yuan Zhisheng.

There should also be a part of this because Eri Yi was too withdrawn, causing Miyamoto Ayako not to recognize the famous head of the Uesugi family, otherwise this aunt may have to kneel again at this time.

"Aunt Ayako, I see that the town is very lively, is there any activity?"

"Oh, you haven't come back for so long, you even forgot to take the deer for the sacrifice?"

Shikatori Sacrifice ......

A word that is both familiar and unfamiliar.

A word he didn't want to recall.

He stabbed the knife and buried all the memories with the name, but the dead man would always chase him into his dreams like a ghost.

Now, he's back in the middle of his memory, and everything in his dreams seems to have caught up with him again.

"Shikatori Sacrifice...... Is it this time? ”

"Of course, you forgot? The Shikatori Festival is held twice a year, once when the cherry blossoms are in bloom and once when the leaves are red, and I remember when you were a kid you loved it, and you used to help the shrine maidens sell Ema ......."

The memory of the dead seemed to have a resurgence of the trend, and Gen Zhisheng interrupted Miyamoto Ayako: "Aunt Ayako, that's all in the past. ”

Ayako Miyamoto paused: "yes, it's all in the past...... Are you going to visit the shrine in the future? Arisugawa's child is still working at the shrine, aren't you going to meet her? ”

Sakura's ears moved, as if she heard something that people cared about.

Gu Bei's ears also moved, and he smelled the smell of gossip.

Eriyi's ears also moved, and after being with Gu Bei for a long time, Eriyi also learned the correct way to eat melons.

Yuan Zhisheng shook his head: "No need, we have other things to do." ”

As he spoke, regardless of Gu Bei and Eri Yi's disappointed expressions, they took the key from Miyamoto Ayako and pulled Gu Bei back to the room.

Eri and Sakura are in the same room.