Kikuchiyo sat silently with the other warriors in front of the fire pit to have dinner. It seemed that the anger in his heart had not dissipated, but it did not hinder his appetite at all.
Kikuchiyo has a strong physique, and his appetite is not to be underestimated. A piece of rice popped out of a large pottery bowl, a mouthful of salted wild vegetables, a mouthful of mushroom soup, almost no chewing, he swallowed the bowl of rice in three or two times, and then stretched out his hand
He motioned to Liji, who was waiting for everyone, to serve the meal.
Although the others are not as extensive as Kikuchiyo, their speed is not slow either.
After all, steaming rice and mushroom soup are not foods that wandering warriors like them can often eat. Cold rice balls and multigrain cakes are their daily life, and even going hungry is a common thing.
In sharp contrast to Kikuchiyo is Sorayama Ichiyo, a small black pottery bowl that cannot be said to be exquisite but quite simple, a plate of prunes, a plate of pickled radish, a plate of pickled fish, and the same bowl of mushroom soup. Of course, it is different from other samurai.
What's more, miso is added to his soup.
More than that, the biggest difference is: what he eats is polished rice! The crystal-clear rice grains exude a clear light in the swaying firelight. Compared with the dark yellow brown rice in other samurai bowls, it is simply a work of art.
Sorayama Kazuha knelt down on the floor and straightened his body. He picked up a small bowl with his left hand. He only picked up a handful of rice grains with the tip of the chopsticks in his right hand at a time. He closed his lips and slowly chewed it and swallowed it. When picking up vegetables, he put down the rice bowl and used his left hand.
Holding the sleeve of your right wrist, pick up the dish accurately and put it into your mouth.
No matter how many times they have dinner with Sorayama Kazuha, masters Kanbei and Katsushiro are always attracted by Sorayama Kazuha's extremely elegant dining temperament. In their hearts, even the noble ministers who serve the emperor in Kyoto are also attracted by it.
But that's it.
But what they never expected was that Kazuha Sorayama would never eat this kind of food, which they regarded as comparable to a daimyo's recipe, if it wasn't for physiological needs.
The tongue and stomach that have been nourished by thirty years of abundant food are completely unable to adapt to today's crude food.
I think back then, even if he ate the lunch box prepared by his wife Maki, it contained at least a dozen exquisite dishes, as well as delicious snacks and juices.
Now it was extremely painful to eat these pickled vegetables with only salt and no other seasonings. So he had no reason or desire to wolf down the food. He could only force himself to make the ritual sense of tasting kaiseki cuisine to reduce his anxiety.
Dislike of the food itself.
Kikuchiyo had already finished half of his second bowl of rice, and his swallowing speed finally slowed down a little.
When he raised his head and sipped the mushroom soup, he saw the abundant food on the empty mountain and the admiring expressions of the warriors, and a sudden anger arose in his heart.
He was ostracized and teased by the samurai everywhere, and he had just experienced an extremely annoying incident that happened at noon, and he finally couldn't help but explode.
He slammed the empty soup bowl onto the floor, pulled out his legs that were sitting cross-legged and stood up abruptly. He pointed at Kazuyo Sorayama and looked at Liji and yelled: "Hey! Why does that guy named Kazuyo Sorayama eat?
What he eats is polished rice, what he drinks is miso, and what he enjoys is dried fish, but we only have brown rice and boiled mushrooms in water. Isn’t he a step above us?”
The peaceful dining time was rudely interrupted by Kikuchiyo. Kanbei frowned and said: "Sit down Kikuchiyo! How can Lord Sorayama compare? He..."
"What I eat is purchased with my own money, and what you eat is provided by farmers, how about it?" Kazuyo Sorayama interrupted Kanbei's words and said slowly. He does things by himself and does not need others to explain to him.
Kikuchiyo thought of various reasons for Sorayama Kazuha, but he did not expect this situation. When did the samurai become so generous that instead of accepting any benefits from the farmers, they offered to help with their own money?
[No, this guy must be lying to himself] Kikuchiyo is extremely sure, because absolutely no wolf feeds sheep with his own flesh and blood! "You lied!" Kikuchiyo was furious: "Do you think you are the lord of this village, huh?
?!How can it be repaired? Don’t laugh at me to death, you despicable guy..."
Before Kikuchiyo could finish speaking, two pieces of small gold had already rubbed against the tip of his nose and fell onto the open lapel of his arms. He took out the gold and held it in his hand blankly, completely unaware of what Kazuyo Kuyama did.
Kazuyo Sorayama wiped the corner of his mouth with a piece of white cloth: "If you dislike your poor food, yes, these two pieces of gold are enough for you to live here until the end of the war. Take it and give it to the farmers to help you improve your food.
."
There was no teasing or ridicule towards Kikuchiyo in the hoarse voice, but he just made a decision very plainly. Although Kazuyo Sorayama knew that this was a huge offense to a samurai, he made it directly without any hesitation in his heart.
took action.
If Kikuchiyo proposed a competition with Sorayama Kazuha, he would be able to train Kikuchiyo's martial arts by the way; if Kikuchiyo quietly escaped with the gold medal, Sorayama Kazuha would have "only" lost a little property.
In his opinion, his martial arts inheritance is worth many times more than this small piece of gold. Being able to see a person's humanity at such a small price, Sorayama Kazuyo thinks that he has earned it.
If this happened to any orthodox samurai here, he would definitely challenge Kazuyo Sorayama to a duel or commit suicide by disembowelment in front of everyone to rectify his reputation as a samurai.
And Kikuchiyo, a fake samurai who has only used copper coins since childhood, holds a huge sum of money that he has never imagined in his life, and one can imagine his inner struggle.
However, he did not hesitate for too long. The anger in his heart finally defeated the "little" greed. Kikuchiyo threw the gold in his hand to the floor and shouted: "How can I be a greedy person?"
!”
He turned around and walked out of the house. But just as he rushed out of the door and before he stepped on his straw sandals, he turned around again, picked up the rice bowl with half of the rice left, raised his head arrogantly and snorted at the warriors, as if he had no regard for himself.
Hesitating and sticking to his heart, he was infinitely proud of resisting greed, and then walked out with his rice in a swagger.
All the samurai in the room were stunned by Kikuchiyo's actions, especially the proud expression on his face when he took the meal away at the end. Everyone couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that the mushroom soup hanging on the fire pit was tumbling more happily.
stand up.
"I envy him very much." The samurai stopped laughing and looked at Gorobei curiously. They didn't know what there was about Kikuchiyo that was worthy of envy. Gorobei sighed with a smile: "I haven't seen such a pure person in a long time.
."
"Well, in fact, he is very suitable for learning swordsmanship, even though he is not young anymore," Sorayama Kazuyo said leisurely. Jiuzang was shocked, and seemed to be touched in his heart. He put down his chopsticks and fell into deep thought.
Kanbei picked up the gold medal, handed it to Tokichi next to him, and motioned him to return it to Sorayama Kazuha. But Sorayama Kazuha didn't even look at it, but stared at Kanbei and said: "I have never eaten brown rice in my life.
, you can’t eat this kind of thing unless you have to, do you believe it?”
All the samurai exclaimed: What kind of wealthy family did Ichiyo Sorayama come from to be able to earn ** rice! A small daimyo with a territory of 100,000 dan seems to be nothing more than this!
Kazuyo Sorayama continued: "But I don't want to eat alone, so from the next meal on, everyone will eat the same food as me."
"This is inappropriate! Mr. Sorayama, we are employed by farmers, and we will never..." Kanbei still wanted to refuse.
But Kazuyo Sorayama waved his hand to stop him and said, "Let me ask you, Kanbei, what are you doing in this village?"
"Resist the bandits and rescue the villagers." Kanbei returned.
"Okay, let me ask again, even if we win this war, who can guarantee that he will survive intact?" Kazuyo Sorayama's tone was quite serious.
No one said anything to the warriors. In this kind of eight-to-thirty war, it was great luck that the entire army could not be wiped out. There was no other way but to fight to the death, how could one guarantee one's life.
Seeing that no one answered, Kazuyo Sorayama continued: "As a warrior, since you have given up life and death, why should you care about trivial things."
Sorayama Kazuha poured all the miso soup in the bowl and the dried fish in the plate into the steaming mushroom soup, stirred the spoon and said: "I hope we are eight samurai instead of eight samurai!"
The unconventional approach of Kazuha Sorayama, who has a cold personality, not only did not make the samurai feel insulted, but also boosted their morale. Of course, Kazuha Sorayama, who was regarded as a great nobleman by everyone, did this to share joys and sorrows regardless of status. If an ordinary samurai dared to do this,
It is estimated that the possibility of a fight is far greater than accepting this kind of kindness.
Kanbei smiled bitterly and touched his gray hair without further expressing his objection. This has become his signature move.
Hayashida Heihachi took out a bowl of soup from the pot, took a bite of the dried fish in the soup happily and said: "Master Sorayama, I think it is better not to include Kikuchiyo, otherwise with this guy's appetite, all the polished rice he consumes can be bought.
It’s a bandit.”
Everyone laughed again, Kazuyo Sorayama also sat in the circle of people, everyone continued to enjoy this extraordinary dinner, and for the first time they were full of determination to win against the bandits.