As for Aping, she knew her boundaries too. After cooking the rice, she went home to eat her own millet, buckwheat, and beans, but she was still quite happy—Harano not only gave her money for daily groceries, but also handed over all the fabric to her, asking her to help make clothes for the four of them, and while she was at it, to make a few pairs of big shorts and quilts for him and Meng Ziqi. The leftover fabric and cotton would be her processing fee; whether she wanted to sell it or use it herself was up to her.
When he bought the fabric, Harano had calculated everything carefully. Aping was sure to profit from it, which, in a sense, also counted as building goodwill and paying rent.
After dinner, Tao Liulang and Jing Qilang were already so stuffed they couldn't move. Each of them had eaten at least three jin of rice, and that was only because Harano noticed something was off and intervened in time—otherwise, these two half-grown boys might just have eaten themselves to death.
After making sure the two of them weren't going to suffer from overeating, Harano told them to go home and sleep. But Tao Liulang and Jing Qilang looked at each other—Harano's place was their home now, where else could they go to sleep?
They planned to sleep in the dirt room, but Harano had to copy down the Barefoot Doctor's Manual from his phone that night, and it wouldn't do to have anyone in the house. In the end, they had no choice but to sleep in the cowshed with the donkey—Yayoi's family didn't have a cow, but they did have a cowshed; after all, every year the village rented cattle, and the cows were usually kept at their house, so they needed a shabby shed to shield the cattle from the elements.
It was kind of cold, but with straw piled up, and the chance to cuddle the donkey for warmth, it ought to be manageable.
After Yayoi finished helping him wash up and left, Harano took a light breath, turned around, and took out the electric stick from his hiking backpack. He quietly checked the battery level, and the gentle smile that usually hung on his face slowly faded, becoming calm and expressionless, his gaze gradually growing deeper.
Don't enter a house alone, don't peer into a well as a pair, don't lift a beam as a trio—so says the old proverb.
If you go out by yourself, never let someone call you into a house right away. Once indoors, the lighting shifts suddenly, your vision blurs, and it's hard to cover your blind spots—making it the easiest time for someone to hit you over the head or stab you;
If there are two of you, don't look down a well together. If you lean in to look and the other person grabs your legs and tips you down, not even heaven itself could save you;
Three people shouldn't lift heavy objects together. If the ones on either side harbor ill intentions and let go all of a sudden, you'll end up paralyzed if not dead, left at their mercy.
The prime minister's watchword is caution; when venturing out, careful steps keep you safe for a thousand years.
Harano had a tough childhood. His alcoholic father treated him terribly and often fought with outsiders. As a kid, he was often forced to deal with victims coming to demand compensation, and he got nothing but cold words and disgusted looks from relatives when asking for help—not to mention the unfairness he suffered for no reason. Even his uncle only sent him to study in Japan to get him away from all that misery, hoping he wouldn't ruin his life.
So, he'd seen the darker side of human nature—he was no naive little lamb.
Of course, there was another reason: the "Samurai Hunts" during Japan's Warring States period were quite infamous. Plenty of famous samurai met their end, beaten to death with manure forks by villagers after being caught alone. Who was to say it wouldn't happen to him?
He'd always been wary of Jiulang's family, too. Last night, he didn't dare eat until Yayoi tasted the food first and nothing happened. Now, since he'd gotten his hands on a little money—not a lot, maybe not enough to kill over, but there had been cases in modern Japan of people robbing gas stations and killing clerks for just a few thousand yen. Who could say people weren't the same back in the old days?
Never seek to harm others, but never forget to guard against them—especially since he was carrying two lives now!
Whether he could stay long here—it all depended on tonight.
In a world in chaos, you had to pass one trial after another!