rad**;

Surrounded by close friends, with white clouds outside the window, at an altitude of 30,000 feet, anyone can relax.

Wei Yue ordered a cocktail from the flight attendant, then toasted Duanmu Ci, "To meet friends above the clouds and raise a glass, even the bitter wine can evoke a sense of Taoist immortality. Duanmu, drink to victory!"

"Cheers!" Duanmu Ci raised his cup and drank. "To truly appreciate the Taoist realm, one must see the celestial palaces above the floating clouds, where peaches ripen only once every nine thousand years. If such peaches truly exist, I would gladly become a refined thief and steal them to share with you, so that we may enjoy the blessings of living as long as the sun and moon." In truth, he could achieve immortality without eating peaches, but he hoped that his friend could as well.

Fortunately, this was first class, with few seats and not many passengers. Otherwise, if other passengers had overheard this strange conversation between the two, they would have suspected that they were mentally ill. No normal person talks like that.

However, neither of these two people are normal.

Duanmu Ci put down his wine glass. “It seems you have a very loyal and capable retainer. Not only did he serve you in the shortest time, but he was also willing to help you hide from the family’s spies and cover for you so that you could enter the country smoothly without alerting the family. Such a loyal retainer deserves to be given important responsibilities. However, by doing so, he has undoubtedly disobeyed the orders of your father, who is also the current head of the family. Aren’t you worried that he will be punished?”

“When I came of age, Takenaka Shigeharu was ordered to become my retainer. From then on, his loyalty shifted from his family to me. He would betray his family for my orders, let alone something as trivial as this,” Wei Yue said. “Serving his lord and dying for him—that is his righteousness! No one can blame him. Even if my father knew, he could only say yes against his will and dare not punish him openly. This is the loyalty of the Japanese, which is probably different from that of the Chinese.”

Duanmu Ci nodded in understanding. In Chinese thought, "All land under heaven belongs to the emperor, and all people within the realm are his subjects," meaning the entire world belongs to the emperor, and loyalty to the emperor is paramount; the bond between ruler and subject is more important than the bond between father and son. However, the Japanese view in this regard is remarkably similar to medieval Europe: "My vassal's vassal is not my vassal," advocating for personal loyalty.

It's difficult to say which ideology is better, because they arose from different environments—this is an inevitable trend. In ancient China after the Qin Dynasty, the land was unified, and the monarch's authority was absolute, making the advocacy of exclusive loyalty to the individual monarch a natural cultural and moral imperative. In contrast, medieval Europe and Japan, with its numerous fiefdoms and feudal lords, saw the monarch's power decentralize, making the advocacy of loyalty to a single family or clan, rather than a single nation, more appropriate.

In fact, wasn't the same true in China during the Spring and Autumn Period? Assassins, driven by loyalty to their lords, would strike like comets swooping down on the moon or rainbows piercing the sun, earning the praise of Sima Qian, who wrote a biography for them. Scholars would serve various states, willing to attack their own homelands to repay the kindness of their lords. Therefore, this can only be attributed to the influence of environment on culture; in reality, there is no inherent superiority or inferiority among them.

“I haven’t been to Tokyo in a long time. The last time I came was to Senso-ji Temple with you. You have to be my tour guide.”

"What are you saying? Actually, when you came to Japan last time, I noticed that you seemed very familiar with the streets of Tokyo. Wasn't that your first time in Japan?" Wei Yue suddenly asked.

"I visited Japan once in 1964. At that time, the Tokyo subway sarin attack happened, which caused a great sensation, so it left a deep impression on me."

“Heisei 7, which is 1995.” Wei Yue calculated for a moment, then asked in confusion, “Duanmu-kun was still young then, right? He came to Japan?”

Duanmu Ci remained expressionless. "I came with my father to investigate Japan's investment environment."

"Oh." Wei Yue had no suspicions.

...

...

Although the flights between Tokyo and Kaisan are international, the actual travel time is only 3 hours, which is shorter than some domestic flights, such as the 4-hour flight from Harbin to Chengdu.

This demonstrates the vastness of China's territory and its close, geographically intertwined border with Japan—a distance so great that even a journey from morning till night is insufficient to describe it. If, in the future, relations between the two countries were to change, then...

Tokyo's Haneda International Airport was built in 1938. After World War II, it was taken over by the U.S. military on the orders of General MacArthur. At that time, Duanmu Ci, as one of the U.S. military's economic advisors, once landed here on a military plane, and of course, no one dared to check his passport. Now, times have changed, and he has returned here.

When it came time to check passports in the immigration hall, Duanmu Ci passed through calmly. However, when it was Wei Yue's turn, he became a little nervous because he was unsure if Wei Yue could get through smoothly. Duanmu Ci was worried that as soon as the airport staff saw Wei Yue's passport, they would immediately notify the higher-ups and take him away to wait for the Genji to "claim" him.

“Sir, your surname is Yuan.” The pretty girl handling immigration held Wei Yue’s passport in her hand. “That’s really an ancient surname. My neighbor, Mr. Takenaka, used to have a client with the surname Yuan.” As she spoke, she stamped the passport with her hand.

Mr. Takenaka must be Takenaka Shigeharu, a retainer of Wei Yue who had taken care of everything for him. This girl must be a spy he planted, definitely one of his own. Duanmu Ci and Wei Yue bowed to her as a sign of respect, and then left without further ado.

The girl stared at their backs, a little infatuated. Even though she worked here and saw countless handsome men of all kinds every day, in her opinion, these two men were extremely good-looking and had exceptionally outstanding charisma. They were the kind of men who could make a living just by their looks. It was just a pity that they were a bit too far away.

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