Human dimension reduction

The next morning, before dawn, the overly floating and noisy noise rang out. The high and low murmurs were like the constant echoes in a tank, hollow and piercing. In the last few minutes of my own peaceful sleep, I found a little bit of purity, but I found it impossible.

The little boy's sharp voice sounded at the door: "Huazhizi! Where's my breakfast? Are you trying to be lazy again! If you don't get up again, I'll whip you with a broom!"

Without waiting for any response from the girls in the room, the eight-year-old boy opened the sliding door with a pair of small eyes hanging from the end of his eyes. In many people's eyes, this is a symbol of bravery and wisdom, just like painters are painting. The eyes are deliberately raised upwards in portraits of important figures.

But in Huazhizi's eyes, Mingtai's eyes are terrifying.

The raised boy with a thick flesh and a fat body rushed in, grabbed the thin quilt on Hua Zhizi's body and was about to lift it off. The brutally developed boy didn't look like the figure that an eight-year-old should have, Hua Zhizi grasped it keenly. Quilted, although she doesn't take off her clothes when she sleeps, it doesn't mean she likes being looked at by her brother without dignity.

"I know!" Hua Zhizi couldn't bear it anymore, and didn't dare to raise his voice to scold him, so he could only endure and said, "The honey for Mr. Zhenwu has already been packed, and it is placed on the cabinet."

The two hands were in a stalemate for a long time, and the hand that fell on the quilt finally released its strength, and the footsteps rushed out of the room, Hua Zhizi buried her face in the quilt, and exhaled deeply.

Not daring to procrastinate for too long, she quickly got up and folded the quilt, and stuffed it into the only piece of furniture in the room, a small old wooden cabinet—this wooden cabinet was their mother's dowry, and was later given to the eldest Qiaozi Yong, after Qiaozi left, she came to Huazhizi's place, and she might marry her as Huazhizi's dowry in the future.

While brushing her messy hair with her hands, the girl hurried out of the room and saw the tenant walking towards her.

The man with a medium build and straight face seemed to have gotten up early, his clothes were neatly put on his body, and even the neckline was pressed flat.

Huazhizi's face suddenly flushed red with embarrassment, she was thinking wildly, from the meeting in the cellar last night to Mingtai's cursing words just now.

How much did he hear?He should have heard everything, the sound insulation effect of the house is very poor, even the footsteps can be heard clearly...

The girl's meager self-esteem was aching like never before, and she didn't have any feelings of admiration for this strange tenant. This may be the only thing to be thankful for at present.

Adhering to the tradition, Hua Zhizi lowered her head deeply and leaned against the door panel, waiting for the tenant to walk past first, even if the stairs are only one or two steps away from her, but the etiquette in this country is so unreasonable.

The man passed in front of Hua Zhizi with uniform steps, he seemed to hesitate halfway, the specific performance was that for a moment his steps stopped in front of Hua Zhizi, Hua Zhizi's heart suddenly raised, for fear that he would say Say something great.

Fortunately, the tenant didn't really want to say anything. He turned the corner and stepped down the stairs. Huazhizi let out a sigh of relief behind him, and then heard Mingtai downstairs calling her name again.

Honey House’s breakfast is extremely simple. I squeezed two handfuls of leftover rice from yesterday, added a few pickles, and served with soup with sauce. It was a meal that was enough to fill my stomach. After Mingtai finished his portion, He snatched Hanazhiko’s pickled vegetables, took the honey pot and ran out. Kichijiro always slept until the afternoon, and the new tenant went out without knowing where. Opening, I heard the buzzing and whispering in the street.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

It seems that countless small flying insects are gathered together, flying around the ears, and the wings flap too fast and connect into one piece, making a low and dull sound.

The flower branches covered their ears unbearably, the sound reminded her of the swarm of insects sinking in the honey vat, they also made the same buzzing sound, and then wriggled and climbed in the vat, giving birth to clusters of small insects Come.

After a short period of nausea and tinnitus, Hua Zhizi could hear the people's words clearly.

"...died, died again...it was A Dao who was promoted to the house, oh, what a miserable death..."

"How could such a thing... who did it..."

"It's a monster, it must be a monster... Only a monster that eats human flesh and drinks human blood can do such a thing..."

"...Then should we hire a monk or an onmyoji?..."

Chattering conversations are intertwined into a network. People who get up early and busy can't help but glance to one side while talking. Everyone's face is full of superior sympathy and pity. Occasionally Only in the numbness can he show a little worry about his own safety, but this thin worry will soon melt into sweet pity.

A few four- and five-year-old children with bamboo baskets in their arms ran out chasing each other. They wanted to go to the avenue where the nobles walked to pick up the cow dung left by the bullock carts.

When passing Huazhizi, several little boys stopped and pushed each other, and greeted Huazhizi with a smile.

"I heard them saying Ah Dao..." Hua Zhizi is very popular with children, because she always has a sweet smell of honey.

"A Dao is dead!" With their innocent eyes wide open, the children scrambled to talk about this important event worth discussing, proud of being able to talk to Hua Zhizi.

"The one who died last night turned into a thin piece of skin like the previous few people, with small holes all over his body. It's disgusting."

"Eh, eh?!" Hua Zhizi let out a few meaningless exclamations, watching the children push each other and run away, emptied their eyes and didn't know what they were thinking.

That's really scary, there's only one piece of skin left... But, but if this is the case, won't it rot?Just like the specimens I saw before... the beautiful butterflies and insects were made into specimens, and then they were kept at their best forever.

The specimen is a new thing, which is not available in this country. The blond and blue-eyed barbarian from the far side of the ocean came here because of the shipwreck, which caused quite a stir at the time. He had a butterfly specimen on his body. Qiaozi once took her to see it. However, I heard that the barbarian was brought into the imperial palace to meet His Majesty the Emperor, and the butterfly that flew into eternity was also left in front of the Ouchi Imperial Palace.

At that time, there was a wave of making specimens in Kyoto, which also came from Ouchi. The nobles in the harem began to make beautiful grass flowers into sticks and clip them in paper to preserve their blooming beauty.

Huazhizi and Qiaozi tried to do it a few times, but the results were not satisfactory. The townhouse is narrow and damp. Whether it is flowers, plants or butterflies, they will soon rot and give off a bad smell. The only successful one was also taken away by Mingtai who happened to meet It's broken.

A Dao's death once again caused waves in the town, and her strange and strange death made people in the neighborhood panic. However, although people muttered about finding monks or onmyojis to exorcise evil spirits, no one put it into practice.

Whether it is a monk, an onmyoji, or a maiden or priest in a shrine, it is impossible for any capable Taoist to help for free. If it is free... then it is a member of the rural sex temple. Most of them are cheating and abducting people to make a living. The people in the town are not so good at knowing whether a liar is a liar or not. They just simply don't have time to find free Taoists.

So two days after A Dao's death, the town regained its superficial calm. Hua Zhizi got up early every day to prepare breakfast, and was the last one in the evening to go to bed after cleaning up the shop. Life was considered peaceful.

Until Mingtai came back and told Jijiro that Master Jinya had the idea of ​​taking concubines again.

These days, even Master Jinya is not living well. Of course, this is also because he is only the lowest nobleman.

Mr. Jinya has four wives and concubines in total. A few days ago, one of his concubines got seriously ill and died. Mr. Jinya had the idea of ​​marrying another concubine. As the eldest son's companion, Ming Tai was also the first person to know the news one.

"This is a good opportunity," Jijiro said with a strange light on his face reddened by the smell of alcohol, and there was a faint stench in the tattered clothes that exposed his chest, "Qiaozi missed this good opportunity, but Hua Zhizi Just the right age!"

The man sat cross-legged and touched the top of his son's head with one hand. He was elated by the news and couldn't help but fantasize about the glory after success: "That's a nobleman. If Hua Zhizi can give birth to the child of Master Jinya, maybe we If you can still have a surname in the future, you will be able to live the life of a master..."

"Huazhizi is 15 years old this year, which is the best age to be a wife. She is very attractive to men, and she has such beautiful hair." The man stared at his daughter with cold and intoxicated eyes, as if he was shy Customers look at a product that is not satisfactory, while picking out the defects of the product, while secretly proud that they have found a good thing that is still satisfactory.

The selected products knelt on the edge of the light circle of the oil lamp, and the dim yellow light swayed and plated on the long black hair, as if golden yellow honey was flowing slowly on the hair strands, and every soft and luxuriant hair was stained with The uniform and beautiful golden color, the kind of floating golden luxury and majesty, enveloped the ordinary girl in a beautiful halo.

Mingtai looked critically at his sister with the same eyes as his father. He was not yet old enough to be called a man, but as a descendant of a merchant, the blood inherited from his father had already taught him how to weigh the value of goods.

"Send another pot of honey to Jinya-sama, let Hua Zhizi deliver it, please Jinya-sama take good care of your younger brother," Kichijiro said meaningfully, "Be more gentle and dignified, so that Jinya-sama will like you .”

"If Qiaozi hadn't run away, she would have been able to marry Lord Jinya last year." Kichijiro still couldn't help himself to bring up the eldest daughter's disobedience.

"...It doesn't matter if Qiaozi doesn't want to, Huazhizi is definitely willing, isn't it?" Mingtai said in a child's high-pitched voice, her eyes fixed on Huazhizi, and there was a weird expression on her plump face. The smile is very similar to the expression of the doll placed on the counter of the shop.

"Hey, Huazhizi, what do you think?"

Kichijiro belatedly remembered to ask his daughter's opinion, so he asked the central figure of the topic in a rough voice.

The girl who was asked bowed her head obediently, showing the back of her neck to her father and younger brother, silently expressing her gentle obedience.

Hua Zhizi's fate was decided in this way.

There was neither joy nor sadness on the girl's face, she calmly accepted this reality.

In the dead of night, Hua Zhizi quietly climbed up to the roof, sat on the tiles, and hugged her knees carefully. She looked at the moon with a thoughtful expression, and in her black eyes, she was dancing. Unknown, cold and weird emotions, the corners of the mouth are slightly raised, like a smile that can't help but break out of its skin.

But in the next second, her smile had to be withdrawn.

Another person appeared on the roof. The new tenant named Yamahara Ono came up and looked at her in surprise.

"Miss Huazhizi."

The tenant was silent for a while and greeted.

The two of them didn't move or speak. After a long while, Shan Yuan turned his body slightly, as if he was going to leave here. Hua Zhizi suddenly couldn't contain some strange desire, and said: "Hey..."

"Yes?" Shan Yuan stopped and turned to look at her.

"You said that you served the Great General when you were in Edo." Hua Zhizi brought up an irrelevant topic.

Yamahara thought for a while: "Yes, but it's just doing very superficial chores. After all, it's impossible for a person like me to get close to the general."

"What's that like?" Hua Zhizi asked, realizing that his question was a little vague, so he added, "Are there many servants in the general's mansion? I heard that the wives of the general never do their own work. There are also many beautiful clothes and jewelry, and gold ornaments in their hair."

"There are a lot of servants, there are hundreds of people serving the general, there are also countless handymen and servants, the ladies live in the big backyard, there are several maids who just groom and adjust their hair, There are also those who specialize in managing clothes and jewelry, and the wives only need to sit in the room every day to enjoy the flowers and recite poems, and the general often sends them rare things.”

Yamahara said that he was just a humble handyman, but he told the details that he should not know as his identity.

But Huazhizi didn't pay attention to this small problem, she listened to Shanyuan's words with ecstasy, and the tiny light floated in her eyes: "It's really... an amazing life..."

The girl murmured: "I am married to Master Jinya, can I be such a wife?"

She indulged her imagination, and was about to sink into the dream that she had imagined countless times, but she heard the man's plain denial: "Is it the wife of Mr. Jinwu? That's not necessarily the case."

Hua Zhizi's smile tightened, and facing the girl's eyes with unknown meaning, Shan Yuan said slowly: "Although he is a nobleman, the annual salary of Jinya-sama is very low, even though he has extra income, it is impossible To live the life of a great general is at best to be a little richer than ordinary people, especially since there are so many nobles in Kyoto, and the number of Jinya nobles is beyond count.”

"There may be a few servants in the family, but they have to take care of the whole family, and the concubine also serves as the wife's maid, ah...but it is true that most of the work is not done by yourself, and many poor families are still very willing to send The daughter was married."

Shan Yuan realized that something was wrong halfway through his speech, and dryly comforted Hua Zhizi a few words, but there was no ups and downs on his face from the beginning to the end.

Hua Zhizi's eyes slowly widened when she heard this, Shanyuan's words broke her long-standing view of the world, and she realized in a daze that not all nobles lived the life she imagined.

"But how could this be? Isn't he a nobleman?" Hua Zhizi asked in disbelief.

Yamahara decided to look at her, as if he had discovered something interesting, a faint smile flashed past: "Nobles... also have ranks, Miss Hua Zhizi wants to marry the general and the minister. Even though the general hasn’t married yet, he won’t be entering Beijing until next month, when is Miss Hua Zhizi’s wedding?”

This time the girl didn't answer any more, she left a silent back, Shan Yuan smiled nonchalantly, turned her head and left the roof.