Chapter 090
The next day, the gloomy weather finally improved and the rain stopped.
Qingxi, who finally returned to normal during the break, first went to see Kitani Genei. The other party was still in a coma today. After experiencing a high fever, he had been in a low fever.
After seeing the people, Qingxi found Jiro and gave Jiro the New Year's goods that were originally prepared to be sent to Ubuyashiki. She was going to go out with Tsurumaru Kuninaga to see the shop that Grandma Su and Grandpa Qin sold to her.
In fact, if the incident with Harada Shinnosuke had not happened, she would have wanted to entrust the shop to Madam Tianyin before she had thought about how to deal with it, and she would not have required her to pay rent or anything. Just like Grandma Su said, a house without people living in it will lose its popularity, and without popularity, the house will quickly age. So, her original plan was to temporarily hand over the shop to Madam Tianyin to run the business. As long as there were people living in it and the shop did not fall into disrepair, it would be fine. But later, due to various reasons, such as problems with spiritual power, eyesight, and mentality, Grandma Su and her friends' shop was put on hold.
Today, she was planning to go over and take a look and clean up at the same time.
"Hmm, Ashi?"
Hearing someone knocking on the door, Rengoku Kyojuro ran down the corridor to open the door, but he didn't expect that the person standing outside was his little friend.
He stepped back and let someone in.
Tsurumaru Kuninaga patted the basket on his back and said, "I was just about to go to the street. My master said he would bring you some New Year's goods."
"New Year's goods?" Rengoku Kyojuro's round eyes fell on the basket on Tsurumaru Kuninaga's back. The two small strands of hair on his head trembled and swayed with the shaking of his head. "Isn't this a little... early?"
There are still seven or eight days until the first snow, so it’s too early to start preparing New Year’s goods, let alone sending them.
"Because I have to go back, it would be too troublesome to ask Jiro to send it again later. I brought it with me when I came here, so I sent it early." Qingxi explained.
"Where is the kitchen? There are a lot of things. I'll let Tsurumaru take them directly there." she said.
"This way." Rengoku Kyojuro said as he walked to the front to lead the way.
When Rengoku Makijuro heard the noise and came over to see, he saw in a corner of his own kitchen two children, one large and two small, gathered in front of a backpack that was obviously not theirs, whispering to each other.
"These are sausages. If you don't want to bother cooking them, just slice them up, chop the potatoes into small pieces, add some mushrooms, season them, and cook them with rice. Then you can eat them directly.
It’s a lazy recipe. Even someone who can’t cook can finish a bowl of it just by smelling the aroma, unless the rice is burnt to the point of being inedible.”
"Really? I see."
"This is sausage. I made two flavors, one with pure meat and one with corn kernels. They taste better when grilled."
"Yeah." Although he had already seen the small skewers with the cooking methods of the ingredients on them, Rengoku Kyojuro still listened to the girl's instructions carefully.
"Salted fish tastes very salty, so I usually soak them in water for an hour or two in advance to dilute some of the salt in the fish meat...
The preparation methods for bacon and salted pork are similar... These can be stored for a long time, and it doesn't matter if you can't finish them, you can just keep them and eat them slowly.
The rest... is some homemade tofu, firm tofu, fried tofu, and vegetarian meat... Just cook the vegetarian meat the way you normally cook meat dishes, it's super delicious... But I won't give much to you, Kyojuro. You know, Mr. Beimingyu is a monk and doesn't eat meat. If he can't eat meat, then he can try the vegetarian meat. He really likes it."
"Hmm, I understand." Rengoku Kyojuro nodded, but then he asked worriedly, "Aki, is it really okay to give all this to our family? How much New Year's goods have you prepared?"
"Not bad," Qingxi said as a hand pressed on her hair. Tsurumaru Kuninaga said, "A lot. My master and I even hung two circles of meat on the eaves of the corridor of the house on Beiming Island. We also made various tofu, vegetarian meats, and more than a dozen large jars of wine. My master even got drunk several times."
Rengoku Kyojuro showed a look of disapproval after hearing this. "Forget about the other things, Ah Xi, you are a child now, don't drink too much."
Thinking about the last time she was able to sleep for an entire afternoon even after drinking plum wine, Rengoku Kyojuro had already labeled her as someone who couldn't drink alcohol.
After a pause, he said a little frustratedly: "Axi, if you were still here, and you were making New Year's goods, Chijuro and I could come over to help."
"Kyojuro, don't listen to Tsurumaru." Qingxi said unhappily, pulling the hand off his head. "Tsurumaru just wants to be lazy, so he said that to you."
In the kitchen, three people were chattering loudly, while outside the kitchen, Rengoku Makijuro was thinking about something.
Should I pretend to come in or pretend not to know and leave?
Because, at this moment, no matter whether he goes in or not, he believes that the only adult inside is definitely aware of his existence.
Recalling what he overheard his youngest son and his wife talking about his eldest son yesterday, Rengoku Makijuro didn't know what expression to show on his face.
In a trance, Rengoku Makijuro felt that Qingxi might be here to defeat him.
Her wife loves her, her youngest son treats her like a sister, and her eldest son rushes to the clinic whenever he knows she's in trouble. He doesn't even tell his family about anything on his mind, but instead rushes to someone else to confide in her... What kind of situation is this? It's like the son she raised isn't her own, but someone else's.
Because of this little awkwardness, Rengoku Makijuro turned around and left. He missed his wife and needed comfort.
...Of course, I hope Senjuro is not with Ruka now. As a father, he naturally needs to maintain his dignified image in front of his children.
In the kitchen, Tsurumaru Kuninaga's golden pupils glanced towards the kitchen door, then slowly retracted their eyes and continued to laugh with the two little ones.
Rengoku Kyojuro put away his things and was about to take them into the house to sit down, but was rejected by Qingxi.
"Um, Aki, are you guys going out?" asked Rengoku Kyojuro.
Qingxi nodded, "Well, I plan to go to Grandma Su and Grandpa Qin's shop to take a look and clean it up."
Rengoku Kyojuro said, "I'll go with you."
After saying this, he said, "Wait a moment, I'll go talk to my mother," and then he ran away.
In the kitchen, Qingxi and Tsurumaru Kuninaga looked at each other. He left them in his own kitchen. It was unclear whether he should be said to be magnanimous or forgiving.
Qingxi: "Let's go wait for him in the front yard."
The two of them didn't walk fast, so when they arrived at the gate of Rengoku Mansion, Rengoku Kyojuro was already running towards them. Not only him, but Rengoku Chijuro was also following beside him.
"Sister Aki, Mr. Tsurumaru." Rengoku Chijuro called out to people politely as soon as he came up.
Who can tolerate such a well-behaved boy?
So the good boy was killed by two hands touching his head.
Qingxi was not in a hurry. The four of them chatted as they slowly walked to Grandma Su and Grandpa Qin's shop. No, now it should be said that it was her shop.
Grandma Su and Grandpa Qin later hired someone to reinstall the door of their shop. The original sliding door was changed to a Western-style glass wooden door through which you can see what's going on inside the house.
The key was inserted into the keyhole and the four people went in one after another. However, they were soon shocked to see that the shelves and chairs inside the door had been overturned.
It goes without saying that the shop has been robbed.
Tsurumaru Kuninaga was about to walk inside and take a look, but as soon as he raised his foot, he was stopped by Qingxi.
Qingxi said calmly, "Don't move. Protect the evidence. Let's retreat and call the police."
Tsurumaru Kuninaga understood immediately. He glanced at the shoe prints closest to him and said, "Two adults and... two children."
Qingxi had an idea in mind.
After the four people entered the shop, they immediately walked out, which made the owners of the surrounding shops who saw them enter feel concerned.
They are all old neighbors here. Everyone knows the situation of old man Zhiye's family. Now Zhiye and his wife have even sold the shop to avoid their son who is addicted to gambling. So the people who came here today are all people who bought his shop.
He's just a teenager. Isn't there something a little weird about the configuration of two kids and one adult?
Especially since they came out right after they went in.
Qingxi noticed that some neighbors were looking at them, but she didn't care. She signaled Tsurumaru Kuninaga to go to the police station, and then the three of them waited there.
After Tsurumaru Kuninaga left, Qingxi felt that standing there was rather silly. Seeing the owner of the pastry shop next door move the frying pan to the door to fry croquettes to attract passersby to buy them at this time of year, she pulled up an owl with one hand, and when they both gave her puzzled looks, she said, "Let's go buy some croquettes."
When Tsurumaru Kuninaga brought the police over, Qingxi was already eating croquettes with two owls, one big and one small. When she saw them coming, she walked forward and gave one to Tsurumaru Kuninaga first, and then she generously gave one to each of the two policemen who came over.
"Could you please come over, Mr. Policeman? It's cold. I need a pancake to warm my hands."
The two policemen had received small gifts before, but they had never received anything from a girl as small as the one in front of them, and the girl spoke such beautiful words in a soft and sweet tone that made people feel that she was really bothering them.
Looking at the croquettes in their hands, they thought that they were not valuable, so they had no intention of returning them.
The two men rewrapped the croquettes and put them into their uniform pockets, then walked back into the shop under the guidance of Tsurumaru Kuninaga.
Tsurumaru Kuninaga: "We didn't really want to buy this shop before. The two elderly people who own the shop are good people. You can tell that by asking the neighbors. It's just that their son and daughter-in-law are not very good people. Moreover, they are avoiding us and want to sell the shop. We are also very worried that they will blackmail us after we buy it.
But my child is kind-hearted, and she's been trying to persuade me for a long time... Girls are cute and well-behaved, and when they act like a spoiled child, you can't really do anything about it." Tsurumaru Kuninaga gave the two police officers a look that said, "So I bought it anyway. But since it was a girl, it was hers, so I asked someone to put the shop in her name... Because she's young, my child hasn't thought about opening anything, and we adults are busy, so we haven't decided what to do with the shop yet. And today, when I had some free time and wanted to come over to check it out, I discovered it's been robbed."
As Tsurumaru Kuninaga spoke, he pointed out the shoe prints left by his friends in the dust to the two policemen, and then pointed out the shoe prints left by several thieves.
Qingxi Shishishi said, "I asked the owner when I bought the croquettes just now. I heard that Grandpa Shino's son, daughter-in-law and their children come over every once in a while to check on us. Are those two smaller shoe prints from children? Could they have come here secretly at night?"
Some words are not suitable for an adult like Tsurumaru Kuninaga to say, but it doesn't matter if she, a child, says them.
Even if what she said now was wrong, she could still get away with saying, "You're just a kid, what do you know? You're just talking nonsense."
However, she didn't expect that the name Grandpa Qin used here was Morishita Shino, a completely Japanese name.
As she spoke, her tone became worried. "There are goods worth more than two hundred yuan in the warehouse at the back. I don't know if they have been taken away..."
Seeing the two policemen's eyes fall on him, Tsurumaru Kuninaga explained, "Well, because I'm busy, and then I saw that there weren't many things in the warehouse, so after I bought the shop, I thought I would temporarily put the things here and come back to take them away when I'm free."
The two policemen were speechless. The goods were worth more than two hundred yuan, which was almost half a year's salary for them. How could this adult be so careless?
Do you think you have too much money to spend?
"Take us to the warehouse first." said a policeman.
Tsurumaru Kuninaga led the way as instructed, and the group of six walked around the traces left by the thieves and headed towards the backyard.
The lock on the warehouse door was smashed to the ground, and the wooden door was also open. Qingxi didn't even need to get the key.
Standing at the door, you can see the messy footprints on the ground inside.
Qingxi: Oh wow.
Thanks to the thief for seeing the empty warehouse and thinking of going in to take a look. Now, the warehouse looks more like it has been visited by someone.
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