What's This Again
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Having dreamt about too many things at night that he hadn’t thought about for a very long time, it was rare that Yang Chen wanted to sleep for a while more after waking up. However, since he was on a trip and had to visit tourist attractions with his female colleagues in the morning, he lazily brushed his teeth before going downstairs for breakfast.
He sat beside Liu Mingyu and the others in a sluggish manner before looking at the women who were eating Japanese grilled fish early in the morning, while Yang Chen himself didn’t have the appetite to eat.
After drinking two bowls of miso soup, Yang Chen didn’t continue to eat anything else.
“What happened to you? You’re normally the one who eats the most. I didn’t expect you to only drink soup today,” Zhao Hongyan said out of curiosity.
Yang Chen naturally wouldn’t tell the truth. He touched his belly which wasn’t hungry at all before saying, “I received too large of an impact yesterday for going to the market with you guys. I don’t have much appetite now.”
“How is it related to you going to the market with us? Don’t try to come up with an excuse to get away with it, we still want to go there tonight,” Zhang Cai said as she violently stuffed a sausage into her oily mouth.
Yang Chen rolled his eyes. I shouldn’t have provoked them earlier!
Their morning schedule was to visit Sensoji Temple in Tokyo. It was the oldest temple in Japan, with a history of close to seven hundred years. Numerous tourists and residents would visit the place to pray for blessings every year.
Japanese temples weren’t to worship a particular god. It could be an item, or even a plant. Everything they felt had a soul could have a temple built for it. As a result, Japanese temples had always been strange.
However, Yang Chen wasn’t very interested in these. He was more energized by the fact that Makedon reported back with An Xin’s whereabouts.
Makedon sent a report to him via the internet regarding An Xin’s situation.
It only took Yang Chen a brief glance before he felt it was funny. No wonder An Zaihuan caught An Xin to Japan, so Liu clan is behind this.
Through Makedon’s investigation, it was known that Liu family seemed to have lost their patience on waiting for An Xin to willingly return home. Under Liu Kangbai’s instigation, Liu Yun directly chose to hold a grand wedding in Otaru, Hokkaido.
By then, many representatives from various families would come to Otaru, boarding the passenger ship of Liu clan to attend the wedding.
An Xin got caught by An Zaihuan and forced to get married with Liu Yun no matter how much she was unwilling to do so.
Yang Chen looked at the date, it would come in a week’s time. It seemed like he couldn’t finish the trip with his female colleagues. Although quitting the trip midway was rude, wouldn’t Liu Yun be pleased if An Xin really became his bride?
Yang Chen reckoned that An Xin would feel disheartened towards life at that time. Based on her crazy and reckless behavior, it was possible for her to commit suicide.
Yang Chen immediately sent an email to Makedon, to let him send his men to watch An Xin, so that nothing bad would happen to her. Regarding how he was going to deal with the wedding carefully arranged by Liu clan, Yang Chen wasn’t worried at all.
The higher you climb, the harder you fall. I’ll let you be happy for a few more days.
After having breakfast, Kawanako who got judged from behind by the women happily brought them out to their first destination.
Walking past Thunder Gate of Sensoji Temple, various food stalls and shops selling traditional Japanese crafts could be seen on both sides. Lots of tourists were attracted to this place. The group of women had a look here and there before quickly going their own ways as they had fun.
[TL note: Thunder Gate (Kaminarimon) is the entrance gate of Sensoji Temple.]
Kawanako briefly gave an explanation for a short while before letting everyone walk around as they pleased. She asked them to gather by the bus when it was time.
Yang Chen didn’t expect to go shopping with women this early in the morning. How could he endure such act? After visiting a few shops, he pretended he was hungry and bought a bunch of takoyakis before running to a spot at the stairs where there weren’t many people and eating away.
Liu Mingyu and the other ladies violently rolled their eyes at Yang Chen as they felt dissatisfied, but couldn’t do anything to this thick-skinned fellow at the same time.
Other men would do anything to stick with these beautiful women, but this fellow acted like he was fed poison when he was asked to walk with them.
Yang Chen leisurely leaned against the stone wall as he chewed some traditional local snacks which didn’t taste any exceptional while looking at all kinds of tourists around.
Quite a number of local Japanese came there to pray. Since the new year was almost here, many Japanese came wearing kimonos and clogs to sincerely ask for sacred lots.
[TL note: O-mikuji is the specific name of this act.]
After asking for sacred lots, they could proceed to the wall at Sensoji Temple where Chinese poetries were hung. Different poetries signified different meanings. After reading the Japanese translation, the locals would know whether they were getting good luck or not in the coming year.
If the luck would be terrible, they’d leave the lot inside the temple and pray for the misfortune to leave.
All of these weren’t something the female colleagues were concerned about. Although Yang Chen used to visit Japan often so he knew a lot about this place, he was too lazy to say anything. It was rather weird after all. It would be difficult for him to explain if people asked more questions.
After finishing all the snacks he bought, Yang Chen planned to throw the paper bag into a nearby dustbin. However, at the crowded area in front of him, a figure passed by from the corner of his sight…
It was a huge crowd who had finished praying and were leaving the place. The emergence of the figure was actually tough to be noticed. However to Yang Chen, even if this figure appeared at the tip of an iceberg, an immensely intense reaction would take place!
It was the same blue off-shoulder dress he saw yesterday night, and the same long, black hair. The difference was there was a pink ribbon tied behind her long hair, revealing a Japanese style.
During the cold winter, who else would be dressed in this loose clothing which gave off coldness just by taking a glance?!
Yang Chen was no longer concerned with throwing away the trash in his hand. Quickly, he rushed towards the crowd beneath. Since there were way too many people, it took him some time squeezing through the crowd as he knocked a few people. When Yang Chen arrived at the place where the figure appeared, he once again lost sight of the person.
Yang Chen quickly searched the surroundings. There were countless heads, but none of them belonged to the figure earlier…
Yang Chen forcefully threw the trash in his hand onto the ground. Ignoring the disdainful gazes from the people around, he walked towards the exit of the temple gloomily.
It could be an illusion if it was my first time seeing it. Then how did I manage to see her the second time?!
Yang Chen suddenly felt like God was playing a huge joke on him, but this joke wasn’t funny at all.
It was just like a jar of miscellaneous flavors was rolling in his heart. The different kinds of sourness and bitterness made Yang Chen feel the urge to shout towards the sky, but he still managed to refrain himself from doing so at last.
When Yang Chen returned to the tourist bus, Kawanako wanted to greet him. However, she saw that Yang Chen looked incredibly frightening, so she immediately kept her mouth shut.
When he got back into the bus, the group of ladies hadn’t returned yet.
Yang chen shut his eyes as the figure he saw earlier emerged in his mind. His heart tightly contracted before a violent pain came about, as if it was twitching.
Seventeen… Seventeen… Is it possible that it’s you… Are you really still in this world?
If it was really you, why did you avoid me? If you want to avoid me, why would you appear in front of me twice?
After almost half an hour, Yang Chen recovered to his usual condition when the ladies returned to the bus. He was lying on his seat and yawning. This situation made the tour guide Kawanako feel extremely puzzled.
The afternoon schedule was planned at the last minute. The group of ladies weren’t interested in modern skyscrapers, and were only concerned with cosmetology and shopping. As a result, they decided to cancel their plan to visit the Tokyo Tower and head to Kanagawa instead which required a 30-minute car journey to visit their well-known Yugawara Onsen.
When the ladies talked about the hot spring hotel and tatami, they couldn’t close their mouths in the bus.
Liu Mingyu chatted with them for a while before noticing that something was wrong with Yang Chen. As she felt rather worried, she asked, “Why are you so inactive, are you sick?”
Yang Chen smiled faintly. “It’s fine, it’s just that I can’t mix into the topics you guys are talking about, so I feel quite down.”
“That’s for sure,” Liu Mingyu said with a bright smile. “You’re not a woman, you won’t be able to understand how we feel.”
“Yeah… I really don’t,” Yang Chen muttered.
After having lunch at a famous barbeque shop, they came to Yugawara Onsen in Kanagawa Prefecture via a two-hour bus journey.
They entered the slightly old hot spring hotel with a wooden structure. There were old folks all around working as servers, but they had a light makeup on their faces. Just like young servers, they welcomed Yang Chen and the others inside smilingly.
Zhang Cai who had a straightforward personality pouted as she complained, “The Japanese are so unethical. They’re letting so many old people work as servers. Have the young people all died? What should I do? I feel so embarrassed when these old people serve me.”
“It’s not that the old people have all died. Japan has a serious issue on population ageing, and the young people aren’t good in spending effort to be servers. You’ll get used to it once you experience more of these. Even the western developed countries do this,” Yang Chen explained.
Zhang Cai nodded as if she understood what Yang Chen was talking about. “But it’s still awkward.”
Since it was more appropriate to go to the hot spring at home and they’d gotten tired after sitting in the bus for so long, they followed the servers to their booked rooms.
When they arrived at the guest area, a vending machine placed by the walkway attracted everyone’s attention.
It was because the packaging of the products inside the vending machine evidently showed adult content. It displayed a strong man and a woman dressed in revealing clothing…
“Hey, what’s this again…” Zhang Cai asked as she blushed after pulling Yang Chen’s sleeve.
The other ladies wanted to know as well, but they were too shy to ask. So they were all staring at Yang Chen as they awaited the answer.
Although Yang Chen was thick-skinned, he really felt shy when he was faced with this kind of situation. He explained, “After you put a one-thousand-yen note inside, you’ll be given a card. The card’s number can be used on the television in your room. After you key in the number, you can get access to that kind of channels.”
What was ‘that kind of channels’? This didn’t have to be explained as the ladies all understood. Japan was extremely developed in that industry. Adult channels were of course often seen. A thousand yen could buy 24 hours of access, it definitely wasn’t expensive.
The other ladies looked serious as they acted like nothing happened.
Yang Chen touched his nose before he coincidentally noticed Liu Mingyu’s shy look. Suddenly, heat surged from his lower body.
“I’ll look for you tonight,” Yang Chen whispered beside Liu Mingyu’s ear.
Liu Mingyu made sure that nobody was looking before she stared at Yang Chen angrily. “I’m in the same room with Hongyan, don’t think of doing anything dumb!”
“Little Yu’er, you’re too cruel. Can’t I at least get it once?” Yang Chen smiled bitterly.
Liu Mingyu bit her lips. She had the intention as well. Softly, she said, “Then I’ll wait for Hongyan to fall asleep before I go and look for you…”
Yang Chen chuckled, as if he was a fox that successfully pulled off a play. “Remember to wash yourself nice and smooth in the hot spring. I’ll be waiting for you.”