This Japanese Story Is Not Too Cold

"Then I'll go back now, and that's pretty much it for you guys."

Kitagawa Rin stopped, steadied his travel shoulder bag, and said to Kitagawa Temple and Kitagawa Eri behind him.

She had just picked up the ticket, and now she had to go to the security check, so Kitagawa Temple and Kitagawa Eri could only be sent here.

"Mom Rin!" Kitagawa Eri hugged Kitagawa Rin and rubbed her chest with her little head: "I will miss you! Have a safe journey!"

"Yes." Kitagawa Rin touched Kitagawa Eri's head, and then looked at Kitagawa Temple: "Tera, remember to take good care of Eri. You two are brothers and sisters, so you can't let her be wronged."

Regarding Kitagawa Rin's words, Kitagawaji replied expressionlessly: "No one can bully Eri except me."

Cough cough cough cough——

What does ‘except me’ mean?

Kitagawa Rin coughed several times, and then opened his mouth angrily: "You can't bully Eri either!"

Beichuanji didn't seem to care about her words at all, and just said without changing his expression: "Have a nice trip."

"..." Kitagawa Rin shook his head helplessly: "Forget it."

Her voice paused, with some reluctance in her tone:

"Then I'm going, Tera, Eri."

"Um."

Accompanied by the responses from his children, Kitagawa Rin no longer hesitated and turned around and walked towards the security checkpoint.

Watching her disappear at the security checkpoint, Kitagawa Temple also patted Kitagawa Eri and said calmly: "Eri. I've called a taxi for you. You can take the money and go home first."

Saying that, Kitagawaji gave Kitagawa Eri a few bills.

"Uh... Brother Si, are you going to do something?"

Kitagawa Eri looked at Kitagawa Temple's movements with confusion.

"I have something to deal with, so I can't accompany you home."

Kitagawa Temple passed this topic vaguely, obviously not wanting to explain to Kitagawa Eri.

However, Kitagawa Eri has long been used to Kitagawaji going out for various things, so she was sensible and didn’t ask anything. She just nodded vigorously and said:

"Brother Si, you must come back early."

"Will do."

Kitagawa Temple waved goodbye to Kitagawa Eri temporarily without any change in his expression.

After watching her get into the car, Kitagawaji breathed out and turned to look behind him.

Before he knew it, there were two or three men in suits standing behind him.

The leader of the men in suits walked up and said in a respectful tone:

"Mr. Beichuan, please come this way. We will take you to the first place first."

Beichuan Temple did not hesitate, simply responded, and then followed behind them.

...

This is a small restaurant. To be more precise, it is more like a small, narrow restaurant. Its table settings are not exquisite, but the shiny tabletop can also make people see the passion of the owner of this restaurant. Attentive.

The dining table is divided into seven tables, each table is enough to accommodate four people. Since it is not yet time for the office workers to eat, the entire restaurant seems empty.

A middle-aged woman wearing a navy blue waiter's apron and a white towel wrapped around her head was busy between the tables and chairs, wiping the already tidy tabletop over and over again with the rag in her hand.

In this situation, Kitagawaji entered the restaurant alone.

The welcoming bell rang, and the middle-aged woman in a navy blue apron raised her head and gave a standard fake smile to please guests: "Welcome."

"Yes." Beichuanji simply responded and found a corner to sit down.

The middle-aged woman trotted to the counter, washed her hands and quickly wiped away the water stains on her palms, then picked up the menu and hot towel and came to Kitagawaji.

The whole process only lasts fifteen seconds, and it can be seen that middle-aged women often do this kind of thing.

"Please use this." The woman placed the hot towel in front of Beichuan Temple.

Then she opened the menu and showed the contents to Beichuan Temple.

This can be considered a very considerate service.

Kitagawaji wiped her hands with a hot towel, and then looked at the menu in her hand.

Pork stew with mashed potatoes...fried tempura...chazuke rice...

The content on this menu is very simple, and most of them are home-cooked dishes that are easy to make.

For these dishes, Beichuan Temple only glanced at them, and finally stopped at a dish on the menu.

Vegetarian stir-fried wild vegetables.

Seeing Beichuanji stop and look at this dish, the middle-aged waitress next to him also said in time: "The customers are really discerning. It is the time when wild vegetables are ripe recently. My husband also wanted to get these wild vegetables. It took a lot of effort.”

In Japan, wild vegetables are actually quite popular among the public. After all, these nutritious wild vegetables have been decreasing in the process of modern urbanization, and there are many people who want to eat them.

"That's really hard work." Beichuanji nodded, with a slight movement in his expression: "Then let's have a potato stew and stir-fried wild vegetables, and a side of rice."

"Okay." The middle-aged woman recorded it, then ran to the kitchen and called out.

Not long after, steaming hot potato stew and stir-fried wild vegetables were served.

"Please use it." The middle-aged waitress stretched out her hand and said.

After she said this, she turned around and went about her own business.

But before she could do anything, she heard the click of a camera from behind.

Secretly photographed?

The middle-aged waitress turned back subconsciously.

I saw Beichuan Temple holding his mobile phone in his hand and taking a photo of the stir-fried wild vegetables in front of him.

What are you doing?

She blinked incomprehensively, and then realized that this was a bit rude. She lowered her head and tried to continue her work pretending not to care.

But what the middle-aged waitress didn't expect was that her moment of confusion was captured by this calm-looking customer.

The other party simply said: "I took this photo for my sister to see. If taking photos is not allowed in the store, please allow me to apologize."

"Ah... there is no such thing." The middle-aged waitress waved her hand sheepishly: "Customers please do as they please."

This time the other person didn't answer. He just moved his head up and down with subtle movements, then picked up the chopsticks and started eating.

For a moment, the only sounds left in the small restaurant were the subtle sounds of chewing and the collision of chopsticks and porcelain bowls.

The atmosphere... seems a little awkward.

This is a bit inappropriate no matter how you look at it.

Maybe her behavior will drive away a potential repeat customer.

This made the middle-aged waitress stop and try to liven up the atmosphere: "I'm sorry, guest, does your sister prefer to eat wild vegetables? That's why you took pictures..."

In the eyes of the middle-aged waitress, this was just nonsense to liven up the atmosphere.

If the other party's sister doesn't like wild vegetables, why would he bother taking pictures of wild vegetables?

But things happened beyond the waiter's expectation.

Beichuan Temple shook his head and said while swallowing the wild vegetables in his mouth: "She doesn't like eating wild vegetables."

Um? !

Then why take photos...?

If it was just to liven up the atmosphere just now, the waiter now really has the urge to ask the other party.

But it would definitely not be appropriate to directly ask someone about her sister's personal affairs, so the middle-aged waitress just laughed and did not answer.

Although she didn't ask, it didn't mean Beichuanji didn't answer.

After taking a simple bite of the meal, Beichuanji said in a calm voice:

"She always said that mountain vegetables are bitter, but I wanted her to eat them, so I took pictures to show her."

"This is really..." the waitress opened her mouth, and a trace of nostalgia flashed subconsciously in her eyes: "It's exactly like me... No, it's exactly the same as a kid I know."

"Is that so? I wonder what kind of child that is?"

Beichuan Temple asked at the right time.

"..." The waitress's movement of wiping the tabletop stopped for a moment, but soon returned to its original state. She lowered her head and wiped the tabletop while sighing softly.

"That is a very strong child. Although she doesn't like to eat mountain vegetables, every time I cook it for her, she will always eat up all the vegetables. Afterwards... she will also tell me that the taste of mountain vegetables is too bitter. But she finished it every time."

Kitagawaji stopped the chopsticks in his hand and made an expression like a qualified listener.

Under the hint of Beichuanji's actions, the middle-aged waitress just said with a worried expression: "I'm sorry for that child. I'm really sorry for her."

She sighed deeply.

"That's right."

Beichuan Temple nodded thoughtfully.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I suddenly said something strange to the guest."

The middle-aged waitress forced a smile and continued: "Since the customer wants to cook wild vegetables for his family, then why not do this? We still have some wild vegetables left to sell, and we will sell them at market prices. Guest, take part."

"...Okay." Beichuanji put down his chopsticks and responded.

"Then guest, please wait a moment."

The other party hurriedly put away the bucket and then walked to the kitchen.

When she appeared in Beichuan Temple's sight again, she was already holding a plastic bag of wild vegetables in her hand.

Every kind of wild vegetable is stuffed inside, and it seems that the other party has also considered it in detail.

"Sorry for the trouble." Beichuanji, who had almost eaten, took out the meal money and food money and handed them to the other party, thanking him.

"You're welcome, you're welcome." The middle-aged waitress put on a fake smile to face the guests: "Guest, please go on your way and welcome to visit next time."

Regarding her statement, Beichuan Temple also said with the same tone:

"There will be a next time."

He quickly disappeared from the store entrance with the plastic bag of wild vegetables, leaving only the middle-aged waitress with a fake smile on her face standing there.

The middle-aged waitress stood for a while before weakly sitting down on the dining chair next to her.

Her expression was filled with nostalgia and a hint of self-blame, which finally turned into a faint sigh.

She raised her hand and took out a pendant from her pocket.

With a click, the pendant was opened, and the contents were revealed in front of the middle-aged waitress.

That's a color photo.

The photo has become somewhat oxidized and yellowed, and there are even signs of being torn off at the edges.

In the photo is a little girl with braids wearing a red and white cotton-padded jacket with a very bright smile.

She smiled at the camera, as if she was living in a particularly happy family.

Looking at the little girl with braids, the middle-aged waitress laughed.

Different from the fake smile when she faced the guests just now, this time she smiled particularly happily, and her eyebrows were full of memories.

But while she was smiling, she couldn't help crying.

She clutched the pendant tightly, her voice trembling:

"I'm sorry, Xiangli."

"Really sorry."

"I should have died six years ago."

But I survived shamelessly and gained happiness.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she clenched the pendant tightly with both hands.

The middle-aged waitress, formerly known as Kamdai Kasumi, is Kamdai Kaori's mother.

After handing over Kamishiro Kaori to the Inagaki family for adoption six years ago, she actually had the intention to die... No, to be precise, she had already had the idea of ​​committing suicide a long time ago.

Being subjected to endless domestic violence, there is no bright light on the road ahead. All that accompanies me every day is pain and the man's angry curses——

At that time...Kamidai Kasumi already wanted to commit suicide.

But the birth and growth of Kamishiro Kaori... unexpectedly gave up her thoughts of committing suicide.

Looking at my daughter's smile every day, I feel like I can persevere.

But that man didn't even let such a young child go, and the domestic violence situation didn't ease, and even got worse.

Every few days, Kamidai Kasumi would be covered in bruises, and the little Kamidai Kaori also suffered from this.

But even so, Kamishiro Kaori insists on giving herself the most beautiful smile every day.

Kamishiro Kasumi was saved by this smile.

This was also the reason why Kamishiro Kaori was handed over to the Inagaki family for adoption.

She didn't want her daughter to continue to suffer with her.

Similarly, Kamishiro Kasumi had already made her decision.

Six years ago...she committed suicide after leaving Kamishiro Kaori.

But in the process of implementing her idea, an unexpected news reached her ears.

Kamishiro Kaori died unexpectedly in a car accident.

This caused Kamidai Kasumi, who was exhausted physically and mentally, to suffer endless blows. She turned into a walking zombie. The beatings that the man gave her every day were nothing compared to the pain in her heart.

Under such circumstances, Kamdai Kasumi accidentally met the owner of this restaurant while working part-time.

That is also her current husband.

With the help of her current husband, Kamishiro Kasumi broke away from her stalking ex-husband and formed a new family with him.

This is undoubtedly a happy ending for her.

But what about Jindai Xiangli?

Kamishiro Kasumi looked at the pendant in his hand and sobbed in a low voice with a particularly unsatisfactory look.

The welcome bell rang again.

"Excuse me, is there anyone?" Standing at the door was an office worker who had just gotten off work, saying hello with a confused expression.

"Ah - I'm sorry, I'm here! Do you need anything?" Kamishiro Kasumi wiped her tears carelessly, stood up, and waved to the office worker.

"Hmm..." The office worker scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "Someone just gave this to me and said he wanted me to help pass it on to the owner of this store."

As he said this, he took out a card from his pocket.

The cards were in tatters and looked like they were bought casually from a street stall.

But it was this card that made Kamishiro Kasumi look shocked.

One hundred people, one song... This is Kamdai Kaori's favorite one hundred people, one song card.

This is also Kamdai Kasumi’s fifth birthday gift to Kamdai Kaori.

"Excuse me, who gave this card to your guest?"

"Ah, there was a young man carrying a plastic bag outside just now..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Kamishiro Kasumi ran out the door.

Holding the singing card in his hand, he looked around.

Under the darkened night, no one could be seen.

"...Pear."

Kamishiro Kasumi held the kata tightly.

on her head.

A star hangs high.

It's shining brightly.

Thank you for your 10,000 starting coin reward for opening the door! Thank you so much! Thanks to Yun Ailan and Bantian Qingzhou for the reward! Thank you so much!