"Who do you call a monkey? My name is Kinoshita Tokichiro!" When Kinoshita Tokichiro heard the word "monkey", he seemed to hear some harsh sound and rushed over angrily.
"Stay away from me, don't come here, you smell like shit and can't be wiped clean!"
"Don't come too close. It's too ugly. It'll stain my eyes! Just go back to the forest, stinky monkey!"
"What Tokichiro? It's obviously Hiyoshimaru, but Tokichiro? What kind of name does a stinky monkey have? Why do you have the nerve to use the word Miao? Your father is a peasant who picks up rags. Don't think we don't know!" The crowd immediately started to boo, and several The eldest child took the lead and ridiculed Kinoshita Tokichiro to pieces.
"My real father is a samurai, a samurai!" This suddenly hit Kinoshita Tokichiro's pain point, making him jump in anxiety.
"Your real father is a samurai, how come you are so miserable that you don't even have any decent clothes and can only set up a stall to pick up rags?" The crowd laughed again, and someone spat at Kinoshita Tokichiro, "Bah, a garbage dump. The smelly monkey in there.”
"That's because my father made me suffer in order to train me!" Kinoshita Tokichiro shouted loudly, but the children laughed disapprovingly:
"That's the same rhetoric again. Then why didn't you see your father come to pick you up?"
"Here, he came today, why didn't he come?" Kinoshita Tokichiro interrupted the children with a roar, as if he had planned it in advance, with a "I'm showing off my cards" style of "pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger" on his face. smile. He took out the silver ingot given to him by Imagawa Yoshimoto from his arms, waved it in front of the children, and said proudly: "See, this is the pocket money my father gave me!"
The children were so dumbfounded that they could not open their eyes because of the shining silver ingots in the moonlight. After being stunned for a long time, the way they looked at Kinoshita Tokichiro changed - Kinoshita Tokichiro seemed to take advantage of this look. He puffed up his chest, spread his legs, and spoke unhurriedly, imitating the accent of a samurai. He stumbled and said:
"You guys, please call me "Sir" and work as my followers from now on. When you meet me, bow to me and I will take you to eat millet. Eat every meal! My dad can eat two meals of millet every day. ! You can even have pickles for dinner! You can also eat rice three times a year!"
It seems that he is used to living a hard life, and he can't even imagine the life of big shots - he feels a bit like the emperor's golden pole.
"What? Such a large silver ingot must have been stolen from somewhere by that smelly monkey!"
"If you look at him with a sly look, it's not a good thing. He must have stolen it!"
"That's right!"
However, it was still difficult for the children to change their long-standing discrimination against Kinoshita Tokichiro. After reacting, they immediately came up with other excuses and started to criticize. Everyone coaxed Kinoshita Tokichiro's face as red as a monkey's butt: "Even if I do it again I’ve never stolen anything even though I’m poor! I’m so slanderous!”
"Come on, hand over the stolen things quickly!" an older child said hello, and the children swarmed up to grab Kinoshita Tokichiro's silver ingot. He was so frightened that he turned around and ran away, returning the same way - and almost met him Imagawa Yoshimoto and Takeda Harunobu hurriedly hid on the side of the road and continued to track under the night.
However, after the group of children left, Imagawa Yoshimoto and Takeda Harunobu discovered that Kinoshita Tokichiro did not continue on the path just now - but took another road - it seemed that the other road was the way home.
"Then why did he go there specifically just now? Why did he go there even though he knew he would meet those children who bullied him?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked Takeda Haruxin in confusion.
"To show off." Takeda Harunobu showed a knowing smile, "I am usually poor and ugly, and I am used to being bullied. After finally getting something that I can show off, I naturally have to find my place. People who have low self-esteem and are unwilling to do so Is such that."
"Why do you say that about other people's children?" Imagawa Yoshimoto complained softly.
·
The two followed the hawker from a distance to a dilapidated house beside a dry field. Kinoshita Tokichiro opened the wooden door and walked in - it seemed to be his home. The wooden door opened and closed with a squeaking sound, and a small half of the roof had even tilted seriously. The weighing beams were all resting on the wall. It was probably not long before it collapsed, but it had not been repaired. The only window on the wall has no window paper, so you can clearly see what is going on inside the house from the outside.
There was no oil lamp in the room, either because he was poor or because he had already gone to bed. But even from a distance, you can still smell the faint smell of low-quality alcohol. As soon as Kinoshita Tokichiro opened the front door, there was movement in the back room. First, a woman asked, "Why did you come back?", and then a somewhat rude male voice asked, "How much did you sell it for?"
"Okay, I admit my mistake. I was deceived. His father is indeed not sick. But it's good. As a family together, it doesn't matter if life is a little harder." Imagawa Yoshimoto smiled bitterly, and then took the photo He patted Takeda Harunobu on the shoulder and signaled that he could go back. He originally thought that Takeda Harunobu would show an expression of "I'll just say it" and ridicule him for being overflowing with compassion - but Takeda Harunobu made no move and continued to observe the developments in the hut attentively.
There was a soft sound of a man turning over in the house, and then he shouted drunkenly: "Say! How much did you sell for today, you beast?"
Calling his son a beast? How could anyone be so abusive? ——Imagawa Yoshimoto secretly complained, and suddenly realized that Kinoshita Tokichiro's family was not much happier than Imagawa Yoshimoto, who had been "almost widowed" since childhood.
"I didn't... didn't make any money..." Kinoshita Tokichiro's trembling voice came from the house.
After a loud slap, Kinoshita Tokichiro was knocked to the ground. The woman screamed in surprise and seemed to be helping her son up, and the man's curses followed: "Useless thing, the meal I gave you is really in vain!"
After a few curses, the man picked up the sewing kit scattered on the ground and took a look at it in the moonlight. He immediately realized something was wrong and shouted angrily: "Why is there a needle missing? Where did it go?" You didn’t sell it for a penny but lost the needle instead?”
Imagawa Yoshimoto came to his senses - the young man's book of needles was in his arms. But why didn’t Kinoshita Tokichiro tell his father about his encounter with the noble man? Do you want to hide the money and use it as private money? What could he, such a young child, do with such valuable silver ingots?
Kinoshita Tokichiro hesitated without answering, and the sound of beatings came again, mixed with the mother's persuasion and the cry of another child who was awakened - but Kinoshita Tokichiro remained silent - until a crisp " "Clang" sound sounded.
The silver ingot he had hidden in his arms was knocked to the ground.
"What is this? Huh?" The man bent down, picked up the silver ingot that fell on the ground, looked at the moonlight, and his eyes immediately straightened. After a moment of ecstasy, what followed immediately was rage, and he kicked Kinoshita Tokichiro violently:
"Okay, now that you know how to hide the money, I give you a piece of shit like you a free meal every day. Without me, you would have starved to death. Why don't you still cheat and fool around here without me?"
"Give me back the money!" Kinoshita Tokichiro rushed forward regardless, trying to take back the silver ingot, but was kicked to the ground again.
"You still dare to hide money? Let's see if you dare next time!"
The man carried him one kick after another, but Kinoshita Tokichiro finally couldn't bear it any longer and shouted in a high-pitched voice:
"Who needs you? I can't live without you? I will never go back to this broken home again!"
After roaring, the wooden door was suddenly pushed open, and Kinoshita Tokichiro rushed out of the door barefoot, running towards the wilderness in the distance without looking back.
"Follow me!" Takeda Harunobu pulled Imagawa Yoshimoto forward without saying a word, without giving Imagawa Yoshimoto a chance to discuss.
"You are particularly nosy today." Imagawa Yoshimoto was completely confused and sighed incomprehensibly, "Why do you seem to be a different person?"
"Can't you see, this kid is a rare talent, I will definitely include him in the retainer group." Takeda Harunobu excitedly geared up, so excited that he even walked briskly.
"Do you want to hear the truth? I can't tell. But let it go, there's really nothing you can do about it..." Looking at his companion's misbehavior, Imagawa Yoshimoto could only smile bitterly.
·
The two of them chased Kinoshita Tokichiro all the way around in twists and turns under the moonlight, and finally understood where his destination was - a pile of barren graves filled with shallow graves, most of which didn't even have tombstones. It’s no wonder that ordinary people these days have little consumption in their lives. They only spend a lot of money on weddings and funerals - but the price of a good coffin and a good grave is not something ordinary families can afford. Kinoshita Tokichiro’s The family has no money now.
Kinoshita Tokichiro used the faint moonlight to stumble and touch a grave. His knees went weak and he knelt down. Then he began to cry loudly:
"Dad...Dad...I'm useless, I can't even build a decent grave for you. I finally met a good person and gave you some money. I thought I would buy you a coffin tomorrow to make you look good. Let’s bury it again so that the neighbors can look down on our family…but the money was robbed by that bastard who killed us a thousand times!”
It seems that the biological father died of illness, and the mother remarried and gave birth to a younger son. Naturally, the adoptive father did not want to see this eldest son who was not his own. Not even his own family wanted to see him, so naturally he did not get a good look in front of the villagers; and he was a bit ugly. His face will make him the target of ridicule and bullying - Imagawa Yoshimoto has roughly guessed Kinoshita Tokichiro's life experience.
"Let's go, I'll give the little monkey some money and buy a coffin for his father. That's enough to win over people's hearts and recruit him into my service." Takeda Harunobu touched the silver coins in his arms and confidently told Imagawa Yoshimoto road.
"It's a good thing, at least it can save the child from hunger and cold." Although Imagawa Yoshimoto was slightly dissatisfied with Takeda Harunobu's wording and motives, he still felt that this was a kind deed.
However, when Takeda Harunobu stepped forward with one foot, his body froze. After a moment, he quickly turned his head and glared at a straw shed on the way the two of them came - there were several faint figures flashing past.
