bookbashuk Page 252
Page 252
Ah Qing reached out her hand, and sure enough, it was her.
"Ah Qing, look at your hands. It's no wonder your makeup is ruined after you put it on."
"Tomorrow, you and Aji will come with me to deal with that group of young masters and nobles. I'll buy you some good food then."
“Great! I’d love to be takoyaki. But, Miss, you don’t have to be so formal. Just take us with you. We are your guardian spirits. Although we didn’t go there with you, it’s our duty to follow you.”
Risa Tani smiled sweetly.
“This has nothing to do with duty. Aqing and Aji are not just guardian spirits, they are also my friends, so I definitely need to ask for your opinions.”
Ah Qing said confidently, "Miss's opinion is our opinion, don't you think so, Ah Ji?"
Feng Zejian didn't react in time.
"what?"
"You agree, what are you thinking?"
"Ah, yes, we are Miss Risa's dogs."
Aqing raised her jade foot and kicked Feng Zejian.
"I am the umbrella, you are the dog."
Feng Zejian's pupils contracted slightly. "I'm such a dog."
Aqing's lips curled up in a smile.
"If you're not, then am I? Woof?"
Feng Zejian then realized that he had transmigrated into the body of a dog.
Aqing transformed into a green umbrella, which still bore the oil paint of her makeup.
Feng Zejian was somewhat bewildered.
"How can I transform? I don't know how."
Risa walked over to Kazesawa and kissed him on the cheek. Kazesawa blushed, and then something strange happened.
Kazema felt that he had shrunk and that Risa had grown taller. He was held in Risa's arms and walked to the mirror.
The reflection in the mirror looks exactly like a dog, a Shiba Inu.
Feng Zejian narrowed his eyes lewdly. Since it was a dog, he would have to do something inhuman.
So, Kazema snuggled closer to Risa.
What bad intentions could a dog possibly have? It just wants to be close to its owner.
Kazema noticed a red plum blossom birthmark on the upper left chest of Risa Tani.
Risa Tani whispered in Kazesawa's ear.
“I know you’re not Aji, and I don’t know how you got here, but you shouldn’t be here. However, if it’s you, perhaps you can save Aqing.”
Feng Zejian was stunned for a moment, his dog eyes widening. Perhaps it was too comfortable in Gu Lisha's arms, because Feng Zejian felt a little sleepy and fell asleep.
Aji's memories also flooded into Feng Zejian's mind.
Shiba Inu, strictly speaking, is a native dog. It is a breed that has only become popular in recent years and is not a pet of wealthy people. Aji was a small dog that was abandoned when its original owner moved away, and Aqing was also abandoned in a garbage dump with a hole in its body. It opened a blue umbrella and it just happened to be raining heavily.
The stray puppy and the abandoned, leaky umbrella came together at this moment. Aji took shelter under the umbrella. Although the umbrella was leaky, it was not completely exposed, and there was still a place for Aji to avoid the rain.
The rain stopped, and Aji continued his aimless wandering life.
After walking a distance, Aji looked back at the green umbrella that had sheltered him from the rain in the garbage heap. It was now closed and leaning quietly against the wall.
As they walked on, Aji felt something was missing.
Aji ran back, carrying Aqing in his mouth, and went from being a stray dog to a stray dog and an umbrella.
The dog and the umbrella traveled to many places, and kind people fed them. They even saw Aji carrying Aqing and made a rope on the umbrella handle for Aqing to put around its neck.
When it rains, Aqing will open her umbrella to shield Aji from the rain.
Aji and Aqing spent spring, summer, and autumn together, but winter came, and this winter was exceptionally cold.
Aqing held up an umbrella, trying to ward off the cold for Aji with her frail body, but it was ultimately a drop in the ocean, and the wind and snow made her own body even more broken.
Chapter 320 The Fall of Risa Tani
Ji bit Aqing tightly, knowing he wouldn't survive the winter. He held Aqing close, warming her with his last bit of body heat.
Aqing also poured her remaining spiritual power into Aji's body, attempting to keep it in this world a little longer.
Perhaps it was a blessing from heaven, but as Risa's mother walked down the street with young Risa, Risa noticed Aji, who was dying in the alley, and Aqing, whom Aji was holding in his arms.
As if by fate, Risa let go of her mother's hand and walked towards Aji and Aqing with her small feet on the snow.
Risa held Aji and Aqing in her arms, and after that, Aji and Aqing had a home and got through the difficult winter.
Young Risa Tani replaced Aqing's umbrella with a clean and complete one, polished the ribs, and regularly bathed Aji.
Ao was originally a tsukumogami, but under Risa's careful protection, her spiritual power grew stronger.
Aji was originally just an ordinary Shiba Inu, but when he was on the verge of death, he received Ao's spiritual power and is now considered a tsukumogami. The dog and the umbrella have grown stronger under Risa's care.
When they learned that Risa was about to leave her hometown and travel across the ocean, they all transformed into human form.
Risa Tani wasn't too surprised and accepted the situation quite naturally.
Risa made a promise to Aji and Aqing that she would return after completing her studies.
Aqing and Aji waited in this house day after day.
As a Shiba Inu, Aji has access to more information than Aqing.
Risa Tani's family situation is not simple either.
Risa Tani's father was a wealthy gentleman who was neither particularly high nor low in status.
They bow and scrape to those above them, but hold their heads high to those below them.
Risa Tani's father's achievements today are largely due to his wife's sacrifice, not his own abilities.
Yes, he rose to power by offering his wife as a concubine.
Risa's mother was already in poor health, and after all this ordeal, she passed away when Risa was just a teenager.
Risa Tani's departure was also partly due to her mother.
During the time that Risa was away, Aji and Aqing worked hard to learn human knowledge and behavior. They had no problem with behavior, but they lacked a foundation in knowledge and always stumbled along. Aqing was particularly proud of 11*11, which was the limit of her arithmetic skills; she couldn't do anything higher.
Aji, on the other hand, couldn't do math at all.
After digesting all of this, Fengzejian, now transformed into Aji, gradually woke up.
Risa was already meeting with the young master arranged by her father.
Aside from being rich, Feng Zejian really couldn't see what was so good about them.
He also discovered that he had become a complete bystander, and was no longer even from Aji's perspective.
Did I break free so quickly?
On that day, Risa met with five people.
He's either a middle-aged man in his forties whose body has been ruined by alcohol and women, a fat man who could be a sumo wrestler, or a thug who doesn't look like a good person at all.
There were some decent ones, but for Risa Tani, it was just a formality; she had her own things to do.
As witnessed by Kazesawa, Risa Tani began her career here.
In order to sever ties with her family, Risa Tani borrowed her deceased mother's original surname and adopted the stage name Risa Iwama.
Together with his junior classmates who had traveled from overseas, he formed a troupe and began touring all over Japan.
Although they are all young, they are all highly skilled, trained by renowned masters, and most importantly, they are ambitious and hardworking.
This also destined them to succeed.
Aqing and Aji witnessed Gu Lisha become a famous actress.
However, the family situation was not good. The stable family business relied on his wife's contributions, but without her, everything would be exposed.
The Hyuga family gradually declined, especially after Risa's father's new lover swindled him out of most of his wealth, and the child in her womb wasn't even his.
Risa Tani had already repaid him many times over the money her father had spent on her.
During this period, both sides tacitly avoided contact. In fact, it was mainly because her father's side of the matter was not a good thing to talk about, so her father never mentioned it.
Risa Tani worked hard for seven or eight years and became a star, and her father started to curry favor and exploit her.
At this time, the Hyuga family had already declined under her father's leadership.
And the tragedy began from there. Risa's father, in his capacity as a father, started to play the emotional card, not only demanding money, but also trying to marry Risa off to a powerful person, so that she could repeat her mother's path.
Risa Tani would never agree to that, and immediately launched into a tirade against her father.
Her father, however, came prepared and immediately tied up Risa Tani.
They also detained Aji, who was traveling with them.
Risa's father knew that Aji was strange, and he also knew that Risa always fed Aji pastries, so he added some ingredients to the pastries.
Risa was kidnapped and taken to the home of a powerful person. In the end, unable to bear the humiliation, Risa committed suicide by hitting her head against a wall.
Upon waking up and witnessing this scene, Aji went mad, transforming into a ferocious giant dog that tore the nobleman and Risa's father to pieces. In the end, he was eliminated by the combined efforts of the Onmyoji.
Aji should have died immediately, but it still insisted on walking to Risa's body, turning into a puppy and snuggling in Risa's arms before dying.
Ah Qing, who stayed at the theater, was so devastated by the news that she suffered a mental breakdown.
In just one night, the two people who were most important to him died.
Aqing began to have a distorted self-perception. She started to impersonate Gu Lisha, but she still felt that Aji was still there.
Because of Risa's death, the opera troupe disbanded, and its members scattered like birds and beasts, leaving only Ao behind.
Afterwards, the opera troupe moved to many different places, and Aqing could still be seen performing alone.
Self-blame, sadness, regret, and remorse—from the very beginning with an abandoned umbrella to relying on Aji for survival, encountering their deity during the most difficult winter, enduring a long wait for the deity's return, witnessing the deity's glory, and finally suddenly losing the two most important people in their lives.
Without a doubt, in this tragedy, those who survived suffered the most.
Kazema recalled Risa Tani's last words.
As Feng Zejian regained consciousness, a melodious opera tune played. He looked around and found that the space, which had originally housed only two people, was now filled with skeletons and mummies.
The Twelve Nights beside her had disappeared, while on the stage, the Twelve Nights was dancing gracefully under a green umbrella, her face painted with greasepaint, her hands gesturing in orchid fingers, and her mouth uttering operatic tunes.
Feng Zejian watched quietly. He dared not make any rash moves now. Twelve Nights was under control, and he didn't know what would happen if he forcibly interrupted it.
Having experienced Aji's first-person perspective, Kazema's feelings at this moment are complex.
Chapter 321 What is 11*11?
Looking at Aoko, who was playing Tani Risa on stage, and recalling what had just happened, her eyes involuntarily welled up with tears.
At that moment, Aqing's voice rang in Feng Zejian's ears.
"Sir, why are you crying? Is it because I didn't sing well?"
Feng Zejian shook his head.
"It's good, but it's missing something."
"Oh? I would like to ask you, where am I lacking?"
"No matter how closely a painting is copied, it is never the original and can never become the original."
Aqing was stunned; her emotions had clearly changed.
"Guest, what are you saying? I don't understand."
Feng Zejian took a deep breath.
"Then let me put it bluntly: you are not Risa Tani, no matter how well you imitate her, you can never become Risa Tani."
As Aqing possessed him, Twelve Nights' eyes gradually darkened, and his emotions began to surge.
"You're talking nonsense. I have always been Risa Tani. You are not a guest of the opera, and you are not welcome here."