Chapter 38: The Gone Zen Monastery and the Child

"What kind of important person is he? He even needs a sorcerer to escort him?" Gojo Satoru raised his voice, his glass-like eyes slightly drooped.

"Teacher Yemo didn't go into detail." Xia Yujie shook his head and replied, "He just briefly said that there was such a thing - the specific details will have to wait until we return."

"Maybe Mr. Yemo is looking for an excuse to call us back quickly. He doesn't want us to fool around here." Gojo Satoru hummed and put his sunglasses back in place.

"Anyway, since Mr. Yegae said so, let's go back early." Xia Yujie said, "Mr. Yegae never sent emails specially before, maybe this time he really has something to do."

Gojo Satoru sat carelessly on the right side of Geto Kagome, crossing his legs: "Okay, okay. As long as it's not a rotten orange--"

"…It's probably not a high-ranking official. And they wouldn't dare to let you escort them." Xia Yujie complained in a low voice, "If it's a mission to escort a high-ranking official, you might be more dangerous than the enemy."

"No matter what, the people we're escorting are definitely weaklings." Gojo Satoru said lazily, puffing up his face in annoyance. "It's really tiring to take care of those weaklings."

Xia Yujie's expression changed slightly. He paused for a second, but finally said calmly: "We are sorcerers. We exist to protect the weak. This is our responsibility."

"Here we go again, Jie," Gojo Satoru rolled his eyes. He didn't like behaviors that added meaning to the techniques, just like the various moral constraints imposed on him by his elders at home when he was a child.

He covered his left ear with one hand and waved his other hand, "Stop, stop, stop. I hate so-called serious talk the most. I've heard too much of this kind of stuff - I want to vomit."

"...Don't talk like that, Wu." Xia Yujie frowned slightly.

"Huh? So you were the one who brought it up first." Gojo Satoru put down his hand.

The atmosphere became a little tense.

At this moment, Jiang Lai, who had been standing quietly by the side, suddenly said, "By the way, will the Zen master be dissatisfied with your one-sided crushing training this morning? Do you want to prepare other methods?"

"Unsatisfied?" Gojo Satoru raised his eyebrows and spread his hands. "There's nothing we can do about it. The gap is too big—"

After thinking for a few seconds, Xia Yujie said, "Well, maybe we do need to think of a few more ways to deal with it... After all, we have accepted a paid mission. Anyway, let's just discuss it briefly, Satoru."

"That's fine. I'm free anyway." Gojo Satoru tilted his head slightly and agreed to his friend's suggestion.

The topic turned to training methods. The boy with the ball-shaped hair and the boy with white hair started chatting with each other. The tense atmosphere disappeared in a few breaths.

The two of them were close friends, and it was common for high school boys to quarrel with each other, but there was never any so-called overnight grudge.

The conflicts can be put aside in an instant, and the unrestrained teenagers are full of energy and energy.

Jiang Lai simply changed the topic and adjusted the atmosphere, leaving the conversation to Gojo Satoru and Kagome Geto.

I regained my composure and fell into deep thought.

Although the email did not give detailed instructions, such an important escort mission, and the fact that Mr. Ye Moth personally urged us to do it, plus the time being in late spring or early summer—

Jiang Lai speculated in his mind that it was most likely a stellar plasma event.

In the original novel, the astral plasma incident was a very significant turning point.

The millennium sorcerer [Tengen], who is closely related to the protection of the sorcery world, is immortal because of his sorcery, but he will age, so he needs to change his body from time to time. The body that is chosen for assimilation is called the Star Plasma Body.

In this incident, Gojo Satoru and Geto Summer Oil were chosen to escort the Star Plasma Body.

The star plasma body Tenuchi Riko is still a junior high school girl, so the few people of similar age and lively personality quickly became familiar with each other. In the end, Geto even told Tenuchi Riko that if she regretted and did not want to be assimilated, she could choose to go home, and he and Gojo would protect her.

When Tenuchi Riko was about to respond with a tearful smile, a bullet shot through her head - the executor was none other than Fushiguro Shijiro, who was hired by the Bankei Cult to kill the Star Plasma Body.

The Bandei Cult is a religious group composed of ordinary people. Ordinary people are the weak non-magicians whom Geto Suguru should protect according to his judgment standards. However, this series of events caused Geto Suguru to waver in his heart.

In short, in this incident, the astral body died and could not be assimilated, Gojo Satoru learned the reversal technique in a critical moment, Fushiguro Shige told Gojo about Kei before his death, and Geto Suguru witnessed the darkness of ordinary people.

However, according to the content I searched before in the future timeline, it seems that Tenuchi Riko in the new series did not die? Jiang Lai thought silently. Instead, she disappeared with her life or death unknown... There should be some secret story here.

And Fushiguro Shijiro, just like in the original novel, should have died in this incident.

Because the future is set, it cannot be changed. Jiang Lai thought calmly. In addition, the future Fushiguro Shijiro did not know him, so the past self probably did not participate in this incident.

...So, are we going to jump the timeline before this?

Jiang Lai's face behind the fox mask was filled with thoughts. After a round of reasoning, he lowered his head slightly and looked at his phone (book)——

There is no countdown in the upper right corner yet.

I don't know when the next jump will happen. Jiang Lai rubbed the back of the phone with his fingertips, guessing. It should be before the astral plasma incident.

At this time, the opened mobile phone page showed that there was a new message in the group, so Jiang Lai clicked on it.

[#又在工作过的镜鏡#: Look, Jiang Lai! These are all your peripherals (pictures) (pictures) and they are quite popular]

[#好运來臨#:? Did the official release so many? I thought there were only blind boxes hhh]

[#Seriously doing scientific research Zhao#: The official has released blind boxes and standees. The rest are fan-made fan-made fan-made works. Some of these are drawn by me and I found a factory to start a group.]

[#Good Luck Comes#: ...development in all aspects (respectful), thank you for your hard work, Xiao Zhao.]

[#Serious researcher Zhao#: It’s not hard. If you have the initiative in your own hands, you won’t be hurt by blind boxes anymore.]

The harm of blind boxes...? Jiang Lai blinked, guessing that the other party might have drawn many times but still didn't get what he wanted. Luck is still quite mysterious.

Then, he glanced at the backpack that Matsuda Jinpei had distributed in the group, which was covered with badges and acrylic pendants. After struggling to identify it for a few seconds, he hesitated for a moment and typed a reply:

[#Good Luck Lai Lin#: Come to think of it, this backpack you gave out, Matsuda, seems a little familiar?]

[#大貓的貓胡子#: It's normal to feel familiar with it, because this is the bag he usually carries to work, and you've seen it before.]

[#Good Luck Lai Lin#: The bag you carry to work? ? (The dog’s head is shocked and numbed by lightning.jpg)]

[#又在工作过的镜菡#: Hey, what's up? It's normal to have some personal decorations, and this is not for publicity! ! ]

[#秋名山车神#: After Xiao Zhenping filled his bag with badges and pendants, everyone in the Explosion Division knew that Xiao Zhenping was following comics, and that he was the sole supporter of Gojo Rai (Liu Hai Xiaogou laughed.jpg)]

[#大貓的貓胡子#: In fact, it should be more than just the virgin group who know this. Matsuda pushes his sunglasses with one hand, exuding a full-on aura, and walks in with this bag with several circles of badges and pendants jingling on it in the other hand - most people will focus on this scene.]

"..." Jiang Lai tried to imagine it for a second, but couldn't.

[#又在工作过的镜菡#: So now you know how much effort I have put into improving Jiang Lai's popularity! When you come back, you have to treat me to a good meal @好运萊臨]

[#Serious about doing scientific research#: I also worked hard. For example, I put a picture of Brother Jiang Lai on the door.]

[#Good Luck Comes#:?]

Stick it on the door? Jiang Lai frowned, thinking that this was not a simple matter.

[#Serious about doing scientific research#: Just put your full-body poster on the double-door door of the research institute. Then tell others that it is auspicious, warding off evil and bringing good luck.]

Jiang Lai: ...What kind of couplet-pasting method is this? ! SOS, "My family's efforts made me a science door god"! !

And putting posters on the door... I feel a little embarrassed for some reason.

At this moment, he was extremely glad that he was wearing a mask on his face, which could conceal the difficulty in his sublimated thoughts and continue to maintain the image of a mysterious demon.

Just at this moment, a voice suddenly came from the side calling him: "Lai! Hey, Gojo Lai!"

Jiang Lai's heart skipped a beat, he pulled himself out of the group chat and turned to look over.

Gojo Satoru, who was one person away from him, moved forward and looked at him from the side.

The white-haired boy's eyes first fell on Jiang Lai's book. He put his index finger on his chin, blinked and asked, "Why do you always poke at your book? There's nothing on it."

Jiang Lai paused for a fraction of a second, then calmly replied: "As I said before, this book has spirituality, so - I am massaging it."

The formal answer sounded quite sincere.

Gojo Satoru: “…I feel like I’m lying.”

"When have I ever really lied to you?" Jiang Lai's eyebrows twisted and he said, "What's the matter? You called me just because you're curious about this matter?"

"Oh, that's not the case. I just asked you about this book." Gojo Satoru raised his eyes and said, "I heard from Jay that Naoya came to you for trouble?"

"After we discussed the training method, Satoru asked me why Naoya was looking here all the time." Kagome put a fist to his lips and coughed, "I gave a simple answer."

"Did that guy bother you?" Gojo Satoru continued, "Did you beat him up?"

"Just a small warning." Jiang Lai said with a smile, "It's okay, don't worry about him."

"[A small warning] What is it?" The white-haired boy raised his eyebrows.

“總之教訓過了。其實對他這種人，還是直接無視更合适一些。”江萊輕描淡寫略過，接着将話題過渡到另一點，“對了，我還遇到了兩個小女孩。”

趁着這個時機，江萊把禪院真希和禪院真依的事情告知了面前的兩人。

聽着江萊的敘述，夏油傑眉頭略蹙，浮着幾分對禪院家的厭惡，又略帶幾分遲疑想說什麽。

而在他開口之前，五條悟先非常直接地說話了：“既然如此，把她倆帶到高專就好了。”

“話雖如此。在高專的話，誰來照顧？”江萊說，“而且直接把她們從家族裏帶走，恐怕是不行的吧，禪院家不會同意。”

在禪院真希和真依的問題上，江萊提前考慮了許多。他內心明鏡一般看出，即便禪院家并不重視二人，但也不會輕易放手。

封建大家族壓榨人的利益直到最後一滴。真希和真依在他們的利益計算中，還有着未來服侍他人、政治聯姻的價值，不可能直接空手放人。

當時和兩小只約好偏院樹下相見，江萊是想直接帶她們走的。但後來一想，這樣後續禪院家肯定會找高專麻煩，恐怕不行。

“如果送到高專的話，或許可以交給夜蛾老師照顧。他有一堆咒骸，對孩子大概也是有耐心的。”夏油傑回想了一下，慢慢說，“但禪院家的問題，恐怕确實有點難辦。”

“怎麽了嘛，我出面就是了！”五條悟推起自己的墨鏡，露出桀骜不馴的蒼天之瞳，“沒什麽難題。”

“……不，悟。這牽扯到一個家族，還是不能這麽草率。”夏油傑揉了揉太陽穴，說，“而且惹了麻煩，夜蛾老師也會很頭疼的。大吵大鬧并不能解決一切問題。”

“誰說我要大吵大鬧了？”五條悟挑了挑眉，“我說的是[我出面]。”

夏油傑有些意外，他問：“那你打算怎麽做？真要和禪院家長老團談判的話，你可玩不過那些家夥。”

“我不和那些老東西聊。”五條悟哼聲道，他放下墨鏡，目視前方道，“這個家族還是有正常人的。我來的次數不多，但看得明白。”

面前白發少年難得有如此正經的話語姿态，聲音略沉之時，聽起來倒是頗為靠譜。

江萊眨了眨眼，腦海中浮現出猜測：難得的正常人……難道五條悟指的是禪院直毘人？

禪院直毘人，禪院家現任家主。

原著裏，禪院真希當年離家出走去高專，他并沒有阻攔。在真希說出歷練後要回來當家主的話語後，直毘人也沒有否決，而是哈哈大笑着說會給予同樣的考驗。涉谷事變中，還救過禪院真希一命。

他尊敬強者但是不欺淩弱者，也并不歧視女性，在這個封建大家族裏算是最開明的長者。

——只是，一人的力量不足以改變一個家族，即便這人是家主。

許多決策都不是一人可以決定的，而是在長老團手中來回滾、在利益團體間互相撕扯後，才勉勉強強敲定的、各方妥協後的答案。

不過，身為家主，禪院直毘人還是有一些決定權在身上的。禪院真希和禪院真依的事情，若是找他，說不定真的可行。江萊想着。

面前，吊兒郎當的白發少年也從座椅上起來了：“總之，我去和那個老頭子聊聊去，你們就等我的好消息吧。”

他唇角揚起，尾音上揚，話語間充滿信心。少年的青春意氣揮灑飛揚。

——

不知道五條悟具體是怎麽和禪院直毘人聊的。總之，最後幾天的訓練結束後，禪院直毘人在晨會的會客室說出了要把禪院真希和真依送到高專的決定。

當時在場的禪院家的人俱是震驚無比，并紛紛提出反對意見。

留着兩撇翹起長胡子的禪院直毘人擺擺手，道：“不能全部一窩蹲在家族中，總得有人出去看看。那就放這兩個女娃娃出去嘛——還是說，你們想讓自己的孩子出去？”

他這話一出，大部分人不做聲了。

在他們心中，出去危機四伏、風餐露宿的，自然不如讓自家孩子留在秩序井然的禪院家享受好。

既然如此，送那倆人出去也行。培植好了，是兩枚在外的棋子，培養不好、意外死在外面了，也不心疼。腐朽的老家夥們轉念一想，如此在心中計量着。反正是兩個沒什麽價值的女子而已。

心中這樣物化衡量着真希和真依的價值，他們表面還得道貌岸然地強調兩句：

“出去歷練一下也好，但得每周報信回來，向長輩問禮彙報。這是基本的禮儀規範，也讓我們确認下二者的安全。”

五條悟聞言不屑地嘁了一聲，但在身邊夏油傑的無聲的示意下，最終并未開口嘲諷，只是擡了擡傲慢的藍眸，滿是對眼前這些人面獸心家夥們的蔑視。

會議臨近結束，禪院直毘人讓家仆去把兩小只帶到會客室這邊。

收到通知的禪院真希和禪院真依跟着家仆們，一路被領來時，還有些緊張，小臉發白。

戴着妖狐面具的江萊這次沒挨着五條悟坐，而是恰巧靠在入門那邊的牆上。

在兩小只到來的時候，他略微偏頭。雖未言語，但見到熟悉“妖怪”的真希和真依，仍然放松了許多。

她們拘謹地踏着小碎步，往江萊身邊靠了靠。

“行了行了，結束語就不用說那麽多了，大清早的本來就困。”等兩小只來了，五條悟便打斷對面長老團冗長的發言稿，話語輕巧道，“而且我們還有事——沒空聽你們唠叨。”

“……太無禮了，五條！”禪院家長老拍桌道。

白發少年毫不在意，他悠哉地開始吹口哨，一番全然無視的樣子，氣得禪院家長老吹胡子瞪眼。

旁邊，夏油傑标準眯眯眼狐貍顏表情，話語好似禮貌：“真是抱歉，不過實在是因為你們的發言太過無聊，且沒什麽意義……哦、當然，我們不是故意不聽的。”

丸子頭少年笑着說：“不好意思，但我們的确有事。馬上還有下一個任務要趕，恕我們無法聽完會議全程了。”

“什……”長老團還想出口反駁幾句。

而禪院直毘人順着這通話語，提前揮揮手道：“好了，既然他們有事，會議就提前結束吧。”

禪院真希和真依兩只小豆丁全程都有些蒙蔽，還沒太理解發生了什麽。

接着，長老團把她們叫過去，面色嚴肅和她們交代些什麽事情，兩小只基本上也都沒有聽清……

不過，大概也不重要吧。兩小只想。

在冗長複雜的句子中，她們只聽清了一點——那就是她們可以出去了，去的地方是東京咒術高專。

東京和京都隔得有點遠，但聽見這個消息，禪院真希并無離鄉的怯意，反而內心滿是驚喜和激動。

妹妹真依原本有些膽怯，但在自家姐姐真希的陪伴下，也收攏了懼意。

最後往外走的時候，藏青色大妖略微在兩小只身邊停步，主動伸出手，掌心向上。

禪院真希一手牽着妹妹真依，另一手猶豫了下，最終還是放到了大妖怪的手心中。

他們一路向外走。來時是黃昏，去時是清晨。

踏出禪院家大門的時候，禪院真希還有些恍惚——她不敢相信就這麽和妹妹走出了那間牢籠。

清晨陽光和爽，拂過臉頰的風還帶有露水的潮濕，夾雜林間獨有的草木之香。

白發少年單手攬着丸子頭少年，勾肩搭背地悠哉前行，兩人嘻嘻哈哈笑鬧着，青春的活力洋溢着。

藏青色和服的身影走在那兩人身後，有耐心地略微放緩腳步，照顧着兩只小不點的步速。

前方，五條悟注意到江萊不在身邊，本想回頭催促一聲，看見正在努力加快步伐的兩小只，話語又咽了回去。

他撓撓頭，看似随意道：“不用急慢點走，我還不想那麽快去坐車。這周圍景色不錯，欣賞下也行。”

夏油傑同樣回眸笑了下，溫和問：“你們兩位走得累嗎？要不要我召喚只咒靈出來，帶着你們？”

妹妹真依有些緊張地搖了搖頭。禪院真希開口：“不用了……謝謝。我們走路就可以。”

禪院真希不戴咒具眼鏡看不見咒靈。此刻，她也不想坐在咒靈身上。

離開禪院家的路，她想用自己的雙腿走。

在狐貍面具大妖溫暖的牽引下，禪院真希拉着妹妹，頭也不回地往前走。

走出一段距離後，她忍不住又向後望了眼。

影影綽綽的禪院家建築群，如同潮水般向後退卻，就像是噩夢中逐漸遠去的吃人大嘴。