I'm reborn and I'm an international student again?

TBS Street Interview Record:

Housewife A choked up: "Supermarket shelves are still selling these poisonous foods! The island country's officials don't care about our lives at all!"

High school student B pointed at the vending machine and said: "Even meal replacement energy bars have been tested positive for BT toxins. How much future do we young people have left?"

Old man C waved his cane and said, "This is going to wipe out our island race!"

Kosuke Saeki still has a lot of power, and the commotion he created was much bigger than the negative news directed at him in the morning.

The netizens who had previously criticized Kosuke Saeki began to self-censor on a large scale. One netizen took a screenshot of a previous post that said "Kosuke Saeki must step down" and captioned it "I am a fool who has been deceived."

However, in the evening, a large number of news began to whitewash ABCD. A large number of online trolls began to attack Kosuke Saeki, and the two sides argued back and forth.

In the evening, Chen Xi sat cross-legged in front of the coffee table and drank wine with Kosuke Saeki.

Saori knelt beside them and poured wine and picked up food for them.

"Today I went to the research institute. Old man, you are worthy of being the leader of farmers. You come up with more ideas than me. See if my packaging method can be used..." Chen Xi told his story of the bathing crab.

After hearing this, Kosuke Saeki did not object, because there are many examples of such things in the island country, and as long as it is not too extreme, there is no problem in skirting the rules.

"Where did you get those documents? They're not really forged as people say on the Internet." Kousuke Saeki looked at Chen Xi seriously.

"How could that be? Don't be so nervous. I won't harm you. The source of this document is naturally through a special channel. Of course, you must find a reason to explain to the public. As for those whitewashing words on the Internet, they are all water armies hired by their company."

"We've exposed so many secrets, they will definitely not let it go!"

"Yes, this is probably going to be a protracted war. You have to be mentally prepared. Don't let those rats under your command catch you in any way."

"Do I need you to teach me something like this?" Kosuke Saeki glared at the young man in front of him.

Then the two of them clinked their glasses again.

ABCD is a branch in a certain country in Asia.

The four representatives from ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus who discussed cooperation with Chen Xi last time were now sitting in their chairs and looking worried.

“I just received a call from headquarters. They are very annoyed about the confidentiality of my information.” The ADM branch head opened his mouth.

"me too."

"Ah."

"Hey~"

The other three also nodded with sad faces.

"Don't sigh for now. As long as we do a good job this time, we will have atoneed for our sins." The ADM man patted the table.

Hearing this, the other three also became motivated.

"First, control the Internet trolls to whitewash ABCD, and then question those media outlets about the sources of these data. If they can't provide them, sue them for spreading rumors!"

"I think we should start with the farmers' association. The members of their association all have vested interests. As long as their interests conflict, everything will be destroyed."

"No, no, no, I think we should deal with Chen Xi first. This guy is the source of everything, and he even ripped off a large batch of our goods last time!"

"If they can get our company's confidential documents, then we can also get some documents from the Agricultural Cooperative. The Agricultural Cooperative is a huge organization with multiple industries under its umbrella. I don't believe there are no invisible people or things in it..."

The four people each had their own ideas, and for a while the meeting room was arguing heatedly.

A few days later, the island nation ushered in the New Year.

The Saeki household was also very lively at this time, and the annual New Year celebration was underway.

At five o'clock in the morning, before dawn, the cold fog was like a layer of gauze, gently covering the surface of the Chikugo River.

The air was filled with a moist earthy smell, and the outline of the century-old Saeki family's house was faintly visible in the hazy morning light. The courtyard was already crowded with people, fifty farmers wearing coarse cloth clothes and straw sandals, busy with their hands and feet.

They poured 380 kilograms of brown rice into a large steamer with a diameter of two meters. The sound of the rice rolling down was like a prelude to this morning.

The firewood was neatly stacked. These special woods were specially transported from the deep forest of Mount Aso in Kumamoto. It is said that burning them can awaken the blessings of the gods. Each piece of firewood was carefully placed in place. When it burned, it exuded a faint pine fragrance mixed with the fragrance of glutinous rice, which gradually spread in the courtyard.

The cost of burning wood is not cheap. For every ton burned, 200 million Sakura coins must be donated to the local shrine as "spiritual energy compensation."

No one cares whether the money is worth it or not. After all, in an island country, tradition and belief are always above everything else.

As smoke from cooking rose, the three century-old stone mortars in the center of the courtyard were also arranged.

Two young farmers wearing scarlet jackets came lightly, holding freshly steamed glutinous rice in their hands and pouring it down.

The crystal clear rice grains piled up into a small hill in the stone mortar. The steaming hot air instantly rose into a ten-foot-high white pillar in the cold air, like a bridge connecting heaven and earth.

The clan leader, Kosuke Saeki, walked over holding the chestnut wood pestle left by his ancestors. His coarse cloth gloves stained with rice husks were visible under his black patterned robe and haori, and he was followed by a group of young and strong men.

"Hey!"

A hoarse and powerful horn sounded throughout the courtyard, marking the official start of the rice cake making ceremony.

Thirty-six men were divided into three rows, with turbans on their heads and huge wooden mallets in their hands, ready to go. Each of these mallets weighed hundreds of taels, and felt like a thousand-pound burden in their hands, but they seemed to be able to handle it with ease.

The shimenawa ropes in the corner of the courtyard swayed slightly in the morning breeze, and the Inari god tablets brought back from Kurume Shrine last night hung quietly on the eaves, as if silently watching this grand ceremony on earth.

The sound of the bangzi was as rapid as a rainstorm, and every strike seemed to be responding to the expectations of the gods.

The peasant women gathered around and began to spread the sifted glutinous rice flour on the bamboo strips with gentle and smooth movements.

The white-haired old lady gently tested the temperature of the glutinous rice with her index finger dipped in rice paste, and nodded slightly after confirming that it was correct.

In a moment, the fragrance of rice cake spread, and the whole courtyard seemed immersed in this visual and olfactory feast.

"Control your strength well!" Kousuke Saeki suddenly snatched the wooden hammer from the young man next to him. The veins on his arms looked like the lines of rice ears in the morning light.

The pestle head weighing twenty strings of coins broke through the white mist and accurately struck the round moon-shaped core of the rice cake.

The women hummed "The Pestle Song" as they turned the hot rice balls over. Every impact created sparkling rays of light in the air still wet with morning dew.

Ten Bizen-yaki pottery jars in the backyard were bubbling with steam. An old gardener, hunched over, was stirring amber-colored miso with a cedar stick. In the ancient kiln tea bowl presented by a six-year-old child, there were rice ears made with this year's new maltose. This special sweet wine had to be tasted by the elders of the Agricultural Cooperative Council before it could be poured into the large jar with cloud dragon pattern for sacrifice.

"Look at our rice cakes this year!" A woman holding up the rice cakes suddenly sped up her pace. The golden and shiny dumplings in the ceramic mortar were already emitting a glassy luster.

Young men wrapped in raw indigo work clothes carried a cypress mortar embedded with snail shells. Inside was fermenting ancient wine that had been buried deep underground during last year's autumn harvest. The unsealed earthy smell mixed with the aroma of wine attracted the black cranes raised in the shrine to stop on the tile roof.

Under a temporary bamboo shed in the southeast corner, ten girls were kneading early spring wild vegetables and kintoku beans into rice cakes. Children were frolicking and pushing a treasure ship made of straw into the rice warehouse. A half-grown child was holding a cocoon-shaped cake hammer and imprinting cherry blossoms, a symbol of a good harvest, on the rice cakes.

In a guest room.

"What the hell! Chinese people usually stay at home and sleep soundly during New Year's Day, but these Japanese people are messing around before daybreak. It's so noisy!" Chen Xi covered his ears with his hands and tossed and turned in the quilt.

After ten minutes, he couldn't fall asleep anymore, so he just sat up.

In order not to affect Saori's reputation, he could only sleep in the guest room next door.

Fortunately, Saori’s bedroom is not far from here, so the two can meet secretly at night.

Soon, the door of the guest room was pushed open.

Saori rubbed her sleepy eyes and walked over, then fell into his arms. "Is it too noisy? Can't you sleep?"

"Yes, it's like this every year." The girl spoke softly with her eyes closed.

"Forget it, let's get up and take a look. I've never seen the New Year in the countryside of the island country." Chen Xi woke Saori up.

More than ten minutes later, in the square of the Saeki family's old house.

"You're here, come and help! China also makes rice cakes. I've been to Ningbo before. People there eat rice cakes every New Year." Kousuke Saeki wiped the sweat from his forehead when he saw Chen Xi.

When Chen Xi took over the pestle covered with glutinous rice flour, thin ice that had formed on the pine branches last night was falling under the eaves. Six stone mortars formed a circle in the morning mist. Saeki Kosuke took off his haori to expose his right shoulder, and his bronze back showed the texture of a mountain.

Several young men from the Saeki family were looking at the Chinese youth with teasing eyes.

In their opinion, making rice cakes is only available in island countries, and people in cities don't know how to do it now. The young man in front of them has fair skin and doesn't look like a good farmer.

Although Chen Xi performed brilliantly in the sword fighting competition at the last celebration, it does not mean that he can do farm work.

"Your waist should be heavier than a Hokkaido pony, and your elbows should be hooked into the crescent shape of a rice ear." Kosuke Saeki instructed from the side. This is the formula used by the Saeki family to teach people how to make rice cakes.

The young men nearby laughed in suppressed laughter. When Chen Xi took the wooden pestle, the sound of the clappers in the entire courtyard suddenly stopped.

Chen Xi clasped the handle with ten fingers, which was scorched by the years, and unconsciously performed the three-body posture of Xingyiquan. The memories of being trained by the instructor in Huaguang suddenly awakened, and the power of waist and horse went straight to the top of the head along the tailbone.

"boom!"

The afterimage of the pestle head drew a full moon in the steam, and the rice cake, which should have taken three heavy blows to be pounded evenly, turned jade-colored with the first blow. The glutinous rice flour dropped from the sieve in the hands of the onlookers, turning into the first drifting snow.

"Have you ever made rice cakes before?" Kosuke Saeki was stunned.

In his opinion, only the old men in Ningbo City, China, who have inherited the technique of making rice cakes for a century, can compare with the secret "Nine Beats of Rice Ears" of the Saeki family.

The young men who were laughing just now stood there with their mouths open, the handle of the hammer slipped through their fingers and almost hit their insteps.

The six-year-old child suddenly shook the auspicious rice ears strung with copper bells, and the vermilion ropes on the eaves moved without wind, filtering the morning light into fine gold foil that sprinkled on Chen Xi's shoulders.

"Isn't it just making rice cakes? How difficult can it be?" Chen Xi touched his nose with his thumb in a cocky manner.

"Hmph!" Upon hearing this, Kousuke Saeki didn't say much, but just snorted coldly.

Saori was secretly cheering for her boyfriend on the side.

This is the Saeki family. As the eldest daughter of the family, I still have to pretend to be decent in front of my family members.

The girl who usually laughs and jokes suddenly turns into a cold and aloof young lady.

"Don't tell me there's some secret technique involved in making rice cakes. When I watch your Japanese movies, I see that everything is related to the secret technique. Throwing darts is shuriken, and water escape is using some small props to cross the river..." Chen Xi said while making rice cakes.

"..." Hearing this, Kosuke Saeki didn't know what to say. He had been learning how to make rice cakes for nearly a month anyway.

Chen Xi is not some self-taught master, but his grandfather’s hometown is Ningbo.

Although I have never met my grandfather, I have gone to Yongcheng to visit Chenxu before.

People there eat all kinds of glutinous rice foods during the Chinese New Year, and rice cakes are no exception.

He was curious and had played these as a child, so he was so skilled at it.

"Well, not bad! You are worthy of being my future husband." Saori next to her raised her head seriously, as proud as a swan.

Chen Xi couldn't help but complain in his heart: I let you act cool during the day, let's see if you can still act cool at night!

"Why is your method a little different from the way we make rice cakes?" A young man from the Saeki family who had previously laughed at Chen Xi asked in a mixture of English and Sakura language.

"Why, you want to learn? Then I'll teach you!"

"Yeah." The young man didn't feel embarrassed at all, but nodded.

This is how the Japanese are, they like to learn from the strong.

"Then you have to start by learning Chinese martial arts...it will take a long time."

“How long will it take to learn?”

"About twenty years!"

"Ah? Aren't you only in your twenties this year?"

"Yes, I have been practicing since I was in the womb!"

"..."

After making the rice cakes, Chen Xi went to the toilet to pee, but when he came out, someone called him.

"Hey, have you seen the news this time?" Ise Sogetsu leaned against the wall, folded his arms and asked in English.

"Oh, it's you. I was just planning to look for you, but I haven't seen you for a few days." Chen Xi glanced at the other person.

"Looking for me?" Ise Cangyue was stunned when he heard that.

"Of course, what on earth do you want to do! You always appear in front of my wife for no apparent reason. Are you trying to do something bad? There are so many perverted men in your island country. You want to stalk me, right..." Chen Xi stepped forward with his hands on his hips, his tone somewhat unfriendly.

"I don't know what you are talking about! This time the internet is in an uproar and the clan leader has been pushed to the forefront. It's all your fault in the final analysis!" Ise Cangyue responded bluntly.

"It's none of my business. I saw that you islanders were in trouble, so I sent you relief supplies out of kindness. You ungrateful bastard, you ate my food and still scolded me!"

"Don't think you are great just because you have the support of the young lady. She was just deceived by your sweet words. The clan leader loves her daughter so much that she can only be led by you. I know what you are thinking. You just want to control the agriculture of the island country..."

"Stupid X, I think you have ulterior motives. I have never seen anyone voluntarily run to be someone's adopted son. This is simply like being someone's dog. You must have great ambitions to endure such humiliation. Tell me, what exactly do you want to do by coming to the Saeki family?"

"You..." Ise Cangyue became furious when he heard that, but he calmed down after a moment and turned away without saying a word.

Looking at the other party's strange behavior, Chen Xi shrugged.

There must be something seriously wrong with this guy. A normal person would have taken action after hearing what he just said.

He is so patient, could he be a ninja?
In the evening, preparations for the celebration are complete and it is time to celebrate.

Unlike the last celebration, this one was a private celebration for the Saeki family, and the atmosphere was cheerful and warm.

Just as Chen Xi was drinking a little wine and admiring his girlfriend who was wearing a kimono and acting very serious on the stage, a performance suddenly began on the stage.

This is a display by the young man of the Saeki family, because the patriarch is usually very busy and he can never be seen.

In order to secure a good future for themselves, the young people of these ethnic groups will try their best to show their strengths during the celebrations.

After hearing the introduction of Shimizu who was sitting next to him, Chen Xi also wanted to show his strengths, but he could not show his strengths to outsiders and could only show them in front of Saori.

"Do you want to go up and demonstrate?" Qingshui clinked glasses with him. He had been in frequent contact with Tian Zhongyou over the past year, and he could speak Chinese quite fluently.

"No, I'm not an exhibitionist."

"Ok?"

While the two were chatting, the people on the stage had already started their performance. (End of this chapter)