Tokyo: The life of a literary giant begins with home self-defense!

Chapter 198 Cucumber Falls into My Mouth 5
Gold spots fell on people's faces.

It looks like floating light and shadows, or like fireflies dancing in the mountains.

We climbed the mountain yesterday and slept a little late. When Longchuan Che woke up, Songzhi Muzi was playing with his cell phone in his arms.
-
mother--
Life in Tokyo is good.
-
I went to the aquarium last week, and this week I was at Mt. Takao. I went to see you and dad during the Golden Week.
-
Don't miss or worry.

The other person's fingers tapped, creating sparks of longing on the screen.

Ryukawa Tetsu rested his chin on the other's head and said in a still not very clear voice:
“Going abroad during the Golden Week?”

The sunlight shone in through the gaps in the wooden door, and the pine branches felt warm and soft when I hugged them.

Embrace it and you will feel safe; hold it and you will feel warm.

The sudden sound startled Songzhi Muzi. She quietly moved two steps forward and said with a blush.

"Yes, they won't be back during the Golden Week, so I'll go see them."

“Brazil, it’s so far away.”

The morning sun was clean, and there was a fresh feeling of mountains and jungles at the tip of the nose. Longchuan Che caught the escaped person again and said in a daze.

'Bad Archer.'

With the other person pressing against her waist, Songzhi Muzi's face turned bright red. She calmed down and continued:
"Golden Week is ten days long."

Japan's Golden Week begins on April 27th. My girlfriend's family is abroad. Ryukawa Toru hugged her, thought about it, and then nodded softly.

If he sleeps with his girlfriend every day, Longchuan Che cannot guarantee that he will be able to get up and exercise.

The other person felt warm like a little sun. Long Chuan Che hugged her for a while and fell asleep again. He didn't wake up until eight or nine o'clock.

The morning breeze blows away the morning mist, and the mountain air takes away the turbidity in the lungs.

When Longchuan Che came back from running, there were already people rushing to Yaowang Temple.

Yaowang Temple is the territory of Monk Hongping.

It was led by literary giants, hosted by the Haiku Association, and Kodansha also contributed money and effort.

For a while, the bells of Yaowang Temple kept ringing, and there were constant sounds of distinguished guests ringing the bells.

"The bells of Horyuji Temple ring, and persimmons enter my mouth."

After coming back from jogging outside, Ryukawa Tetsu stood in front of Nioumon and exclaimed in admiration as he watched the pedestrians walking in one after another.

This poetry reading not only involves the largest publishing house in the country, but also the largest Akutagawa Prize-winning work to be announced.

The people who came were all well-known figures. From the perspective of the literary world, the event was much more grand than the last Youth Awards.

“It doesn’t seem to be appropriate.”

The eldest lady also went running in the mountains with Longchuan Tetsu.

At this time, the girl wiped the sweat from her face and stood at the door of Nioumon, watching everyone walk in.

Niomon is the mountain gate in Buddhism. It represents the three liberations in Buddhism, namely the gate of emptiness, the gate of no form, and the gate of no action. Through the Niomon, one can help all living beings to break through the ego and achieve spiritual liberation.

The eldest lady watched these important figures walk in and looked at Longchuan Che with a smile.

The girl's inappropriateness refers to the haiku "The bells ring in Horyu-ji Temple, and persimmons enter my mouth." This is one of the 400 haiku published by Ryukawa Tetsu in the magazine "Masaga Shirabe". It is a haiku describing the feeling of autumn.

Autumn had arrived when I was eating persimmons, and the sound of bells could be heard from Horyuji Temple. These few words could describe the deepening of autumn and the passing of time, but this is not appropriate for now.

"Don't be so rigid."

Longchuan Che casually pulled at the grass.

One good thing about Mt. Takao is that it has abundant vegetation and is full of spiritual energy.

Longchuan Che just pulled a cucumber.

The cucumber was small, a spring variety. Longchuan Che handed it to the eldest lady.

It was almost noon and the two of them were feeling a little dry in the mouth after just coming back from a run. The eldest lady thought for a moment and broke off half of the snack from Longchuan Che's hand.

The cucumber is crispy and sweet, and there is a small yellow flower on top.

Longchuan Che had nothing to do so he chatted with the eldest lady at the mountain gate.

"If you eat cucumbers in winter, you will have the scent of spring in your mouth."

Longchuan Che asked the eldest lady while biting the cucumber with a crunching sound.

"Do you know where this sentence comes from?" Longchuan Che's memory was unexpectedly good. The eldest lady rolled her eyes and looked at Longchuan Che before answering.

"Chekhov's 'The Lady with the Dog'."

"You know all this?" Long Chuan Che was surprised. This was considered a rather niche book and he only came across it by chance.

Chekhov, a Russian critical realist writer and playwright, is known as one of the "three greatest short story writers in the world" along with French writer Maupassant and American writer O. Henry. He is also one of the founders of modern world drama in the 20th century.

"The Lady with the Puppy" is one of his many short stories.

'You are not old, but you have seen a lot.'

Longchuan Che chewed two bites of cucumber and continued:
"The cucumbers here are the same as my persimmons."

"Cucumbers represent spring, and persimmons represent autumn." The eldest lady looked at Longchuan Che with a smile.
"The whole world is going to be swallowed into your mouth?"

Longchuan Che is probably the most arrogant peer that the eldest lady has ever met. He compares the visiting literati to the aging autumn, and the new spring will be spit out from his mouth.

"Sometimes I really suspect that you have the ability to read my mind. You always guess what I'm thinking."

Longchuan Che ate the cucumber until only a small section was left, and threw it into the grass.

Green and refreshing, cucumbers really do taste like spring.

"Where's Muzi?"

The girl didn't answer Longchuan Tetsu's whisper and stood at the gate of Yakuoji Temple to rest. Imamura Natsuko looked around.

Today, Longchuan Che was the only one who came to call her, the girl didn't come.

The eldest lady narrowed her eyes and looked at Longchuan Che with an expression as if to ask what did you do last night.

"She said she was afraid that if she came we would chase her again."

Longchuan Tetsu shrugged.

This morning would have been a good opportunity for a competition, but it seemed like Muzi was too lazy to play with this little rookie.

Just like when they were climbing the mountain last night, the two of them clearly couldn't catch up with her but they still didn't let her stop.

The feeling of making her use all her strength to see how big the gap is.

The consequence of seeing how big the gap was was that both of them felt sore today. Miss Matsueda didn't want to go through it again, so she went down the mountain at night to help them walk.

"Tsk, this arrogant woman."

Feeling that she was being looked down upon, Natsuko Imamura raised her eyebrows.

The girl, like Ryukawa Tetsu, has her own little pride and always feels that one day she will be able to surpass Matsueda Muko in physical fitness.

"Arrogant indeed."

Longchuan Che nodded and said seriously.

After resting for a while outside, I walked into the mountain gate. Many people were signing in at the Master Hall to enter.

The Yaowang Temple Poetry Festival is by invitation only, and you cannot get in unless you have a name.

"Hey, hey, you two."

The two were about to go to their room when they were stopped by someone.

The man had the Kodansha logo on his body and looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Yaowang Temple is not open to the public today. Please come back another day."

Longchuan Che and the other person were too young, and those who came were all experienced veterans in the literary world.

The two were stopped by tourists on the spot.

Longchuan Che searched up and down and was about to say, "I live inside."

"Hey, isn't this the Longchuan teachers? Are you giving up your duties as judges and coming to Yaowang Temple to relax?"

Longchuan Che turned his head.

My colleagues from Kodansha, Ichiro Oobi and others were also there.

(End of this chapter)