1 Cutting the palm hard to attract ghosts to kill the dirt
"Pity... Lity..."
The call from inside the house woke up the girl kneeling outside the door. She immediately got up, opened the door, and asked Miss Endo with her head down if she had any instructions.
Sitting in front of a peek-a-boo mirror, a woman in beautiful clothes glanced to the side, with a hint of red at the corner of her eye that was particularly bright and beautiful. She looked at Lianzi and chuckled.
"Go wash your clothes." She had no intention of teasing Reiko today, but seeing that she was annoyed by the girl, she looked away and said lightly.
"yes."
Lianzi got up, went to the outer room and picked up a pile of dirty clothes, then walked down the stairs at the end of the narrow corridor, walked around the front hall, and came to the back of the house. There was a low tree there, clinging to the equally low wall, forming a shadow in the corner of the wall.
But someone was already using the well to wash clothes.
Lianzi didn't say anything. The man glanced at her and continued to wash clothes.
The girl was wearing an ordinary robe made of rough fabric. The light from the front street was dimly visible. She found a wooden basin and put the dirty clothes in her arms into it.
The cold stone reflected the cold moonlight.
"Miki will be using the well soon." The stick slapped against the clothes, making a splashing sound. The man squatting to wash clothes suddenly said, "You'd better go borrow some from next door."
Reiko's wandering thoughts returned to her senses. She was stunned for a moment, then shook her head and said softly, "Ms. Endo doesn't allow her clothes to leave the okiya."
"Oh, then you wait." The man looked back at her with empty eyes.
Their otakuya is not big and is located on the edge of the tourist area. Miss Endo is already a well-known figure in the otakuya, and the proprietress also has to please her.
Reiko hesitated for a moment, then said to the person squatting and washing clothes, "Ami, I'm going to go next door and take a look... Could you please help me look after Ms. Endo's clothes?"
"I understand." Yamei, who was washing clothes, agreed without even raising her head.
She and Reiko were children who entered the okiya at the same time, but they served different courtesans.
Although she is usually mean to Lianzi and says some cold words to her, she still regards Lianzi as a partner who can rely on each other.
In another year, the boss lady will begin to formally train them to become prostitutes... However, with Reiko's beautiful looks, the boss lady will discover her one day.
Yamei secretly went to the street and saw the beautiful and gorgeous prostitutes on the rooftops, but their faces without heavy makeup were definitely not as pretty as Lianzi. Lianzi should be able to become the most popular courtesan.
No wonder Ms. Endo always teases Reiko.
Yamei hammered her clothes, her thoughts drifting further and further away.
Lianzi, dressed in gray and inconspicuous, opened the back door and went out, but did not go to the next door. Instead, she turned a corner and stepped quickly into an alley.
A dim yellow light shone through the upstairs windows.
The girl's hair was messy, and a drizzle started to fall from the sky, hitting her body, and then getting heavier and heavier.
She gradually got soaked, but soon she was standing under a room.
Lianzi was still standing in the corner with the rain falling on her body. She listened for a moment, not knowing what she was thinking about.
It wasn't until the rain washed away the dust on her face that she made up her mind.
The sharp stone piece in her palm was stabbed into her hand, and blood began to spread.
The rain fell on her, but she seemed not to feel the pain.
If you go out of this alley, you will find the wilderness. Their house is located on the outskirts of the tourist area. If you walk a short distance outside, you will see grass everywhere.
Lianzi heard the rustling noise, frowned, and walked back.
There was a constant rustling sound, and Lianzi's steps were getting faster and faster.
She returned to the okiya, but did not enter through the back door. The landlady did not notice her coming in and was chatting and laughing with a middle-aged man in a kimono.
Reiko ran upstairs, knelt outside Miss Endo's room, and knocked on the door. There were ambiguous noises inside, so she kept knocking. Soon, Miss Endo's sharp voice rang out: "What are you doing——"
"Ms. Endo, it's raining, your clothes—"
"roll!"
Reiko's hands were covered in blood, mixed with rainwater, and she kept smearing it on the bottom of Miss Endo's door.
She stood up and took out an old handkerchief, which was also half wet. She wiped the blood off her palm and threw it in the corridor.
The girl went to the backyard again. Yamei was standing under the narrow eaves. Seeing her figure, she raised her eyebrows: "Where have you been? You are a traitor!"
Lianzi looked up and smiled slightly, as if to express her apology.
Outside, the rain was heavy and in the cold and dark environment, the malicious stains on her face were mostly washed away. Yamei looked at that beautiful face that was like a ghost in Ukiyo-e, and for a moment, the words were stuck in her throat.
But at the same time, endless jealousy follows.
She looked at Reiko, and her eyes gradually overlapped with Miss Endo's.
"Does Miki still use the well?"
"She won't come if it rains."
"I'm going to do the laundry."
“…”
Yamei's eyes followed the thin figure. Reiko picked up the wooden basin and walked to the short tree. The rain there was not as heavy, but water was still dripping.
Through the rain, the figure walked to the corner of the wall and became even more blurry.
Yamei snorted coldly, opened the back door and walked inside.
It's already late at night.
Even if you are sightseeing, it becomes much quieter in the second half of the night.
Until a scream broke the silence in this marginal area.
Then there were several screams, chaotic footsteps, and crashing sounds.
The rain was so heavy that the commotion here could not be heard from further away.
Reiko was standing under the short tree. Miss Endo's clothes were still in the wooden basin, soaked in water, but the water was a little turbid. Water dripped through the leaves and also splashed into the wooden basin.
A faint smell of blood spread everywhere.
Can she stay out of it?
It seems not.
The monster was stronger than she had expected. Just by listening to the commotion in the house, she could imagine the tragedy inside. She had just locked the back door, so those people could only leave through the front hall.
The house was not big and had few windows. A group of people were huddled together to escape, it was simply a paradise for monsters.
Lianzi was still thinking and counting the time, but the house suddenly became quieter, and the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard muffled. The girl turned around and stared at the second floor of the house.
There was a window there as well, but it was barred so no one could escape through that side.
The rain gradually thinned, and she could see clearly that a dark shadow was approaching, and then the whole body of the monster was smashed out, and the railing was easily destroyed and broke into two pieces.
Immediately afterwards, a slender figure appeared in front of the window.
He lowered his eyes and glanced at the girl standing in the backyard, looking up at him panickedly.
Soon he went down to the second floor with the long knife in his hand and was about to leave in three or two steps.
The monster should have tried to escape, but suddenly it rushed into the backyard and headed straight for Lianzi. The young man's eyes flashed, and the long knife in his hand was even faster, cutting the remaining rainwater in half. Before the monster was about to touch Lianzi, the tip of the knife suddenly slashed across the monster's neck.
Smelly blood splattered everywhere. The knife was so sharp that it chopped off the head of the humanoid monster without any hesitation, just like a drop of water falling into a river, silently.
...That's amazing.
Lianzi turned sideways and looked at the monster lying on the ground with its head and body separated. The strange green skin and hideous face were reflected in her eyes.
"Ah, what is this?" The girl turned her head, with water droplets on her eyelashes. She didn't know if it was from the rain just now or tears of fear.
Her voice trembled, her face was pale, and her rain-soaked clothes outlined her thin body.
The young man raised his arm and swiftly sheathed the knife. He watched the cannibal on the ground gradually turn into filth, then turned back to look at the panicked girl.
"It's a ghost." He answered the girl's question, but there was no further explanation.
"Ghost? But I heard that ghosts have no form." The girl continued to ask.
Young man: "This is a cannibal."
There is still no follow-up, as if it is a game of question and answer.
Lianzi was not discouraged at all. Her face was expressionless as she glanced fearfully at the second floor. There were still voices in the house, but they were accompanied by crying. She asked, "Are the boss lady and the others injured?"
The young man thought about it and just nodded.
Although I had long suspected that there were evil spirits hiding in Youguo, this was the first time it appeared.
"Someone died?" Lianzi said this boldly.
The young man still nodded.
"Sir, are you a passing samurai?"
This time the young man didn't nod again, but simply said, "I am a swordsman."
"Sir, can you take me with you?"
He stopped talking.
The rain had stopped and the moon emerged from the clouds again. The cold moonlight fell on the girl in front. Her body was trembling slightly, probably because she was getting sick from the rain.
The black hair stuck to the little face, and the beautiful and delicate features were out of place here. What really made people unable to take their eyes away were the pair of light green eyes that were shining with a faint light.
Her lips, still with a trace of blood color left on them, opened and closed as she sobbed, saying how the boss's wife had abused her and that she couldn't live any longer.
You can’t just bring people back to headquarters.
Tomioka Giyu thought.
He was thinking in his mind with no expression on his face. Lianzi watched him and felt more and more uneasy.
But that was only for a moment.
After she finished speaking, she was sure that the person in front of her was unmoved. She raised her pale fingers and wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes. Her voice was soft, but she forced herself to be brave.
"I know this is very difficult for you, sir, but I am very happy that you are willing to listen to me..."
She was about to continue speaking when a chill came over her and she couldn't help sneezing.
There was a panic on her face for a moment, and Reiko covered the lower half of her face, lowered her eyes, and her eyelashes trembled wildly several times. She hid the anxiety in her eyes and wondered if the sneeze just now made her face look ugly.
This short sneeze brought Giyu Tomioka back to his senses.
He finally found a reason.
The cannibal just now was clearly afraid of his Sun Blade and was about to escape, but suddenly turned back and attacked the girl with a greedy look on his face.
Is she of rare blood?
"Okay." The young man nodded.
Lianzi raised her eyes blankly: What?
But the young man wearing a half dark red and half plaid haori had turned around.
"Let's go."
He said.
The filth of the cannibal at his feet dissipated.
Lianzi lowered her hand from covering her lips and gritted her teeth slightly.
How can this person use a knife so quickly when his reaction is so slow?
【Author’s words】
I wrote the description of Rei's appearance based on the Japanese "mono no aware"
Fragile, but beautiful enough
A future geisha who was born in the red-light district and was bullied
But the story is still beautiful
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