"Her fault?" Kazama Ruri asked, "Why is it her fault?"
"I stood in the wind and rain and couldn't understand what she said, but looking at her eyes, I seemed to understand everything." Uesugoshi's voice lamented, "That was the look in her eyes that said goodbye...the eyes were full of
I feel love, but also full of reluctance and guilt.”
"Farewell?" Kazama Ruri murmured, as if he had a premonition of the tragedy that was about to happen next in Uesugi Koshi's words.
"Yes, farewell, it was a silent farewell. When she looked at me at the end, she didn't say anything, but she seemed to have said everything." Uesugoshi's voice revealed the sadness that could not be buried, "
After taking one last look at me, she raised the knife on the ramen stall's cutting board, cut her own throat, and died in front of me."
Even though Kazama Ruri had already guessed that this story would be resolved like this, the sadness in Uesugi Koshi's words, as rich and majestic as the ocean tide, still made people feel suffocated, making it difficult to breathe.
"That night, I don't know how long I stayed in the heavy rain. Looking at her body, I just felt that the rain hitting my body was like needle pricks. It was very painful and cold. I gradually became numb while standing in the rain.
, the body lost consciousness, like a cold puppet." Uesugoshi's voice gradually became hoarse, "until the family members came over and took me away from where I was, the ramen stall and the two corpses soon followed.
They were dealt with immediately. For the mafia clan, dealing with dead people is already commonplace, and their actions were quick and silent."
"From that day on, the ramen stall on the street corner suddenly disappeared from the world. No one knew where the beautiful and talkative female stall owner went, and no one knew that a woman was following her that day.
My fiancé left this world." Uesugi said in a low voice, "That night when I returned to the Snake Qihachi family, I felt like I had lost my soul. The elders of the family came up to comfort me and told me that the master of the Japanese yakuza had no need.
I fell into despair because of a woman who sold ramen, but I couldn't listen to a word I said. The elders were angry at my lack of argument. They asked someone to bring a stack of documents, which were all information about that woman's life."
"I looked through it, but couldn't read a word after reading it for a long time. The elder of the family took the information from my hand and told me directly that the woman actually didn't love her fiancé at all because that man
She doesn't seek advancement, is addicted to alcohol, and often bullies her when she's drunk, but she can't leave that man because it's his father's medical order, and she's already pregnant with that man's child." Uesugi took a deep breath.
He said slowly, "I understood after hearing this. I feel like I understand everything, the constraints of the world, the child in her belly... I think this is the reason why she can't go to France to pursue freedom, so
She can only stay on that street and set up a stall selling her ramen because she still has debts to repay and an unborn child to raise."
"What were your thoughts at that time?"
"What do I think? What can I think? There is no doubt that I love her, but after knowing the truth, I can't help but be disappointed... It's not that she's already engaged, it's not that she hid it from me, it's not that she's disappointed
She was pregnant with someone else's child." Uesugoshi said, "What I was disappointed with was... I thought she was different from other women. She was a bird that longed for freedom, but I didn't expect that in the end she was just a house sparrow.
Bound to death by the iron chains of the world."
"After knowing the truth, do you still love her?" Fengjian Liuli asked softly.
"How can love be something that disappears so easily? I lived in a haze for the whole month, like a body that had lost its soul. I no longer rejected the breeding girls arranged for me by my family. I bathed with them, and
They went to bed, and I reviewed family documents during the day. In the afternoon, I went to drink tea and watch a play with the Noh theater masters. In the evening, I had dinner with the governor and other big shots. I lived like a puppet on strings." Uesugoshi said expressionlessly,
"It wasn't until a month later that an old priest from the family secretly slipped me a letter."
"A letter?" Fengjian Liuli asked.
"Yes, I had a premonition that this letter might be related to the dead woman. I went back to my bedroom at night and kicked out all the wives my family had arranged for me. I opened the letter and read it line by line."
Uesugoshi said, "Looking at those words, my numb heart seemed to beat again. It wasn't until something fell on the paper and soaked it that I realized that I had already burst into tears."
"What's the content of that letter?" Kazama Liuli asked.
"The letter was written by the old priest who delivered the letter to me. The main content is that the family investigated the woman's life experience a month ago and found out that she had a fiancé and was pregnant. The family was furious when they found out.
After all, the family's 'emperor' fell in love with a woman selling ramen noodles, which is beyond the control of the senior officials. Now I know that this woman is engaged and has a child in her belly. If I really take this woman back to the family
, the head of the family and the elders all felt that this was a shame to the family." Uesugoshi said, "So the family sent this old priest to negotiate with the woman."
"The old priest was quite humane. He didn't embarrass the woman, nor did he use his family's power to force her. He chatted with the woman about me. He told the woman that I was a certain big shot.
It also said that our family already knew about her and her fiancé... After the old priest said all this, he asked the woman a question." Uesugi Yue said, "The old priest asked her if she loves me."
"Then how did she answer?" Kazama Liuli couldn't help but ask.
"She was silent for a long time, and only answered one word...love." A bitter smile appeared on the corner of Uesugoshi's mouth, "It can be seen that this is her answer after breaking through her reason and restraint. Her soul is indeed
I long for freedom, but my body is tightly bound by something, making it difficult to break free."
"The old priest told her that if she really loves me, she will give up her fiancé and children, and never mention it to anyone again. As long as she can do this, she can do whatever she wants in the future, and she can become a powerful figure in Japan.
." Uesugoshi said, "Before she could think about it and answer, the old priest left a last sentence of "please take care of yourself" and left.
Kazama Liuli listened silently, without nodding or shaking his head. He believed that as a complete bystander, he was not qualified to evaluate such a long-dusted past event, whether it was good or bad, right or wrong, by those who witnessed it.
"When the old priest came to visit us for the second time, it was already three days later. When we saw him again, the woman's face was full of embarrassment. The old priest, who was good at seeing people's hearts, rolled up her sleeves and saw the scabbed wounds on her arms.
." Uesugoshi said, "The old priest inquired and learned that on the day of his first visit, the woman stayed up all night. After listening to the old priest's words, morality and sensibility fought crazily in her mind, and finally she fell asleep again.
In the early morning of the next day, she found her fiancé, who was already drunk after a night of drinking. She asked the man to cancel the engagement and promised to give her the wealth she had accumulated so far and the only remaining ramen stand.
Then came the man's scolding and a severe beating."
"Is that man unwilling to let her go?" Kazama Liuli asked.
"Yes, how could that guy who has become a loser let go of a beautiful woman and his own money tree? She still expects the woman to set up a stall for him to earn money to pay off the debt." Uesugi bit his tongue and said, "Woman
Praying to the priest, he asked the priest if he could give her some more days so that she could get rid of that man completely, but she felt that the child in her belly was innocent. The old priest sighed and said that she would be seen setting up a stall with a big belly in the future.
The family members will not allow such a woman to become the future matron of the Japanese yakuza family. The woman said that she can disappear for a while, and as long as she is given a period of time, she will definitely be able to solve the problems of her fiancé and children."
"Does she want to secretly give birth to the child and then come to you?" Kazama Ruri looked at Uesugoshi.
"Maybe, but no one expected that this conversation would be monitored by the family's senior officials." Uesugoshi raised a vein on his forehead, "When the family's senior officials learned of the woman's attitude, they were furious and sent people to monitor the woman.
He ambushed his fiancé on his way home from drinking and dropped a drug into the woman's lunch the next day."
"That kind of medicine is aimed at the child in a woman's belly, right?" Kazama Liuli guessed.
"Yes, it is a highly effective abortion pill. It was developed by the Yanliu Research Institute. The abortion rate is as high as 99.8%. After taking it, the child will be aborted within two hours," Uesugoshi said.
, "You will know what happened next. The man who was engaged to the woman was killed by someone from the top of the family. The body was dumped on the ramen stall, and the head was thrown into the boiling pot and rolled. At the same time, her innocent
She also lost her child, and her spirit was on the verge of collapse. Until the moment she saw me in front of the ramen stall, her last inner defense collapsed instantly. Her morality and sensibility tortured her at the same time. She finally gave me a
His eyes were full of guilt and love, and then he committed suicide in front of me with all the shortcomings and regrets in his life."
After listening, Kazama Liuli was silent for a long time, and then said softly: "It's full of regrets... It's really a story full of sadness and sadness."
"Who says it's not?" Uesugoshi sighed, stirring the turbid noodle pot, "This incident has always been a thorn in my life, a regret that has never been resolved."
"Ever since this incident happened, I have always harbored resentment towards my family. This resentment has been in my heart for a long time. It was not until thirteen years after I took over that I learned about my mother.
It all came out in an instant." Uesugoshi said, "I burned down the family's old shrine, killed the family elders and priests, and also killed thirteen of my wives in the family. I defected from the
The family is here."
"Is that why you inherited that woman's ramen stall just to make up for the shortcomings in your heart?" Kazama Ruri asked softly.
"It's not about making up for it or regretting it." Uesugoshi said softly, "You think I'm making up for my regrets. An old friend of mine thought that I was escaping from the past by becoming a ramen chef, but in fact I never thought about it.
I was trying to escape without thinking of making amends, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen the location of the ramen stall in the backstreet of Tokyo University so close to Jakikihachi’s house.”
"Over the years, every time I make ramen, I remind myself not to forget the wrong things I did when I was young, and the old friends I regretted when I was young." Uesugoshi said, "It has been like this for decades, and I will spend the rest of my life.
I will distribute my remaining goodwill in every noodle soup and serve it to those who cannot find sustenance late at night. I hope they will not feel that the night in this city is too cold."
"Although you have done wrong things, you are a kind person, and those ridiculous past events... are not all your fault." Kazama Ruri said to Uesugoshi, "At least in my opinion, you are now
Very good, you are not stingy about sharing your warmth with others."
"My child, I'm very happy to hear your praise, but it can't cover up the mistakes I made and the things I did when I was young." Uesugoshi looked at Kazama Ruri, "I heard Lu Mingfei say
, don’t you always find lonely girls, ask them to buy you a glass of wine, and then spend the whole night with them? You are not stingy about sharing your warmth with others, which shows that you are also a kind-hearted person from the bottom of your heart.
people."
"Did Lu Mingfei still tell you this?" Fengjian Liuli was stunned, as if she didn't expect that Lu Mingfei had already shared his past years with his father.
"So, little girl, compared to the ridiculous things I did when I was young, those bad thoughts you have towards Eri are nothing, because you still have a chance, and you still have time to make up for Eri."
Uesugi Yue patted Kazama Ruri's shoulder, "So you don't need to feel too guilty, and you don't need to care about the bad things you did under Herzog's temptation. Use practical actions to cherish the people around you."
Li Yi is a very kind person, even if he knows that you had bad thoughts towards her before, you don’t have to take this matter as a thorn in your heart."
Kazama Liuli was silent for a while, and then nodded silently.
Suddenly, Uesugoshi and Kazama Ruri heard footsteps approaching from far away in the heavy rain outside the ramen stall.
One hand opened the curtain of the yatai cart, and a figure walked into the ramen stall from the wind and rain outside, and slowly sat beside Kazama Ruri.
"Did I miss any wonderful stories?" The visitor shook off the rainwater on the umbrella and gently placed it in the corner.
The visitor looked at Kazama Ruri and then at Uesugoshi, with a faint smile on his face... The visitor was none other than Lu Mingfei, who had just arrived at Master Yue's ramen stall from Gaotian.
"I'll tell my son about his father's romantic affair when he was young. What does it have to do with you? Stop gossiping!" Uesugi glared at Lu Mingfei fiercely.