Chapter 20 Want to default on your debt?

After escaping from Tenjoyama Shrine, Juzo thanked the other three people for their help and left alone.

On the surface, he is using this action to express that although I am a ninja, my meeting with you here is purely a coincidence and I am not here for you. So now that we have worked together to escape, I chose to leave so that you can rest assured.

But in fact, Chongzang's wariness and doubts about Shuangxie, the two Central Plains people, have not been lifted, because the purpose of his trip did not achieve his failure to investigate the background and background of Sun and Huang. intention.

However, Juzang considered that Shuangxie had almost immediately seen through that he was not an ordinary person, and these two guys were also quite sophisticated in their methods and attitudes towards dealing with others. I am afraid that he would not be able to get any benefits by continuing to approach them. , so it would be wiser to hide first and withdraw first.

As for the life-saving grace, Juzo will definitely remember it, but for a "traitor general" like him, how much loyalty, righteousness, kindness and love are in his heart? It's hard to tell how heavy or light it is.

For example, if he found out that these three saviors were a threat to his current master Takeda, he didn't know what he would do at that moment.

Of course, this is just a hypothesis, and this did not happen later. In the final analysis, Shuangxie's mission to Japan only posed a threat to Sawara Kingdom, and the forces of other Sengoku daimyo. There is no conflict of interest; in fact, if the other big names know the "secret" of Sawara Kingdom, they may have to welcome Shuangxie to go there and cause trouble.

Then let’s go back to Shuangxie

After bidding farewell to Ma Shanjuzo, who claimed to be “Youzo”, Sun and Huang teamed up with Hayato and went there together Yae Township on the east side of Tianshang Mountain.

As mentioned in our previous article, the reason why Hayato went to Tenjoyama Shrine was because he received a commission from a local family named Tomita to find the missing young master of the family; although no one is there now. I found it, but I ran away this time, and the process was so dangerous. It would be a big loss if I didn't ask for rewards.

As a result, Shuangxie acted as a "witness" and cooperated with Hayato to make up a story that "Ling Gongzi has been killed by a demon in the mountains" to present the case.

Some people may want to say that if you haven’t seen anyone alive or dead, isn’t it a lie?

Yes, you are lying.

But there is no way, because it is impossible to find out this matter.

As Hayato said before, the young master of the Tomita family who was seen "entering the mountain alone at dusk" may indeed have encountered a monster, but it is also possible that he slipped and fell to his death in the mountain. He was killed, eaten by a wild beast, or harmed by a gangster

But no matter what the situation was, so many days had passed, and given the conditions at the time, what else could be found

Firstly, some elderly people in the family are quite concerned about their grandchildren, and they are indeed quite superstitious.

Secondly, the uncles of the missing young master also had to make some gestures, not wanting to appear as though they didn't care about losing someone in their family.

Thirdly, because the legend of the "shrine that should not exist" has been circulating in Yae Township for many years, and every few years there will be "someone walked into the mysterious torii and never came back." The villagers were also panicked by the eyewitness report. As a wealthy and prominent family in the village, Tomita took advantage of the disappearance of his young master and hired people to investigate the legend of the shrine. It was said that he was helping the villagers. The people have done something good, which is good for their reputation in the village.

Furthermore, although the pay for this kind of errand is high, if Hayato never returns, he won’t have to pay the balance.

Even if Hayato really completes the investigation and comes back, if the Tomita family is dissatisfied with the results he brings back, they can completely turn their backs on the spot and call Hayato a liar, and then not only refuse to pay the balance, but also give him the money. The deposit given previously was also snatched back, and Hayato was beaten out.

This was the common face of the local tyrants and evil gentry back then, and the Tomita family was not even the worst among them.

Of course, because when Hayato came back to life, he had Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai around him, so everything would not develop according to the Tomita family's expectations.

As for the three of them, they entered the Tomita family's house in the dust before lunch, as if they wanted to "have a light meal" after taking the money.

However, when the Tomita family saw that Hayato was really back, their attitudes were completely different from when they entrusted him with the task.

The three of them haven’t met their master yet. From the expressions and attitudes of the servants when they received him, Sun Huang could see some of the owner's urinary nature, and they also clearly felt that it was hard to get the money today.

Sure enough, after a while, Tomita Katsuo, the "second uncle" of the Tomita family, arrived belatedly.

Before he even sat down, he already had a slightly disgusted expression on his face, and he almost had the words "I don't want to pay" written directly on his forehead.

"Mr. Kamo, these two are..." Tomita Katsuo is nearly fifty this year. He is not polite to the young people in front of him. He doesn't say hello and just asks questions. talk.

"They are my assistants, Edo-kun and Kameda-kun." At this time, Hayato was naturally at peace with Sun Huangtong, and gave them their false names.

"Please give me more advice." Sun and Huang also pretended to nod to each other.

"Oh" Tomita Katsuo ignored them and just raised his eyebrows and said to Hayato, "When you came last time, you didn't say you had any assistants."

"Ah, because I just came here to accept the commission before, it's more convenient for me to be alone." Hayato's words were already prepared, "And this morningWe had just come down from the mountain, and they were both witnesses of the trip, so it was more appropriate to come together and talk. "

"Well" Tomita Katsuo groaned, then frowned and said, "At first we thought Mr. Kamo was handling this matter alone, but this is different from what was promised."

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Ladies and gentlemen, this is called finding trouble for nothing. Normally, under the premise that the remuneration remains unchanged, you have taken advantage of the extra manpower. However, Tomita Katsuo had planned to default on the debt, so you added Even if you are married, he will pick your fault.

“When I accepted the commission, you and several other elders in the family only asked me to go to Tianshang Mountain to investigate the rumored shrine and the whereabouts of the fifth young master. , there are no requirements for other details, and I don’t think I have violated any agreement. " Hayato replied calmly.

"Haha, I didn't remember clearly." Tomita Katsuo saw that the other party responded fluently, and it was really not easy to find fault with the other party for "two more people to help". It was too easy to start, so he casually made a haha ​​and blurted it out. After a short pause, he immediately changed the subject and asked, "So, what are the results of sir's investigation?"

Hayato pretended to think about it for a while, and then calmed down. The voice replied, "The three of us went deep into the mountain last night and found that there is indeed a shrine on the mountain where many monsters are entrenched. Unfortunately, after a series of fierce battles, we only found the ghost of the fifth young master deep in the shrine. I think he has been dead for many days. , we were surrounded by demons and transformed them into Buddhas, and finally escaped with great difficulty. This is roughly what happened. "

"Oh" Hearing such a reply, Tomita Katsuo became excited, "You really saw Goro's ghost"

"Yes. "Hayato was talking nonsense without changing his face or beating his heart.

"Then let me ask you, what kind of clothes is he wearing and what kind of hair is he combing?" Tomita Katsuo asked again.

"Mr. Tomita, the ghosts all wear white clothes with disheveled hair. In addition, they also wear a triangular turban on their heads, and they have no feet. " Hayato answered the other party's question with this universal answer almost without thinking.

After hearing this, the muscles on Tomita Katsuo's face twitched slightly, obviously a little annoyed, but he remained tense. Stopping, he suppressed his anger and asked, "Since the ghosts all dress the same, can you really be sure that the person you have saved is Wulang?"

His question is correct. In that era without photos, it was difficult to identify people. It’s a problem in itself

“Yes. "But Hayato answered with confidence.

"How to be sure?" Tomita Katsuo asked.

"I asked him what his name was, and he said his name was Tomita Goro. "Hayato gave another simple answer that the other party couldn't verify at all but seemed to be fine.

"Mr. Kamo, let me ask you, what does Goro like to eat? What is his nickname? Why did you go into the mountains that day?" Katsuo Tomita was not discouraged. He followed the opponent's statement of "talking to a ghost" and asked again.

"Mr. Tomita, I just said"Well, the environment we were in at that time was very dangerous. How could I have the leisure to ask him these questions?" Hayato replied, "Of course I quickly liberated him and left, otherwise the three of us would have died in this There. "

"How can you be sure that the ghost is Goro? He said he was it?" Tomita Katsuo finally became a little anxious.

"Mr. Tomita, name He said it himself. I didn't ask him if he was Goro Tomita. I only asked who he was. He said he was Goro Tomita. Then I asked him when he died, and he said not long ago. , if you can say that he is not Goro, do you mean to say that another ten-year-old young man named Goro Tomita happened to die there a few days ago?" Since Hayato wants Liar, the logic is undoubtedly very smooth, although these logics are based on the magician's nonsense, "Or, you think everyone is dead, you still have to pretend to be someone else? But that's not the case." It's possible, because he is just an ordinary ghost, not an evil spirit. Ghosts are not like humans and they cannot lie. "

"Bang" After hearing this, Tomita Katsuo no longer planned to act anymore. He pierced the last layer of window paper, showed an evil look on his face, and said loudly, "I have said so much. , it’s nothing more than your one-sided words, just to get away with it, do you think I, Tomita Katsuo, am a fool?”

When he said the last few words of this sentence, he was almost yelling.

So when the servants and slaves who had been waiting around the house heard this, they immediately understood and opened the sliding doors on both sides of the Japanese-style room. Yi Xie and Huang Donglai were surrounded.

"Mr. Futian" This time, it was Huang Donglai who spoke, "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean?" Futian. Katsuo sneered, "You swindlers colluded and made up a set of lies, just to come here to defraud money. I guess you haven't even gone into the mountains, and you said you saw Goro in a shrine full of monsters." Ghost, who would believe it?"

After Tomita Katsuo said this sentence, Sun Yixie's expression suddenly changed, and his instinct to "use the heart of a villain to judge the belly of other villains" was like an alarm. It rang in his mind.

At this moment, Brother Sun felt strongly from Tomita Katsuo's demeanor and tone that the other party was worried about "the three of them have not seen the ghost of Tomita Goro in the shrine." This matter is extremely certain, and this state of insistence, and even a little angry at their nonsense, is no longer the behavior of someone who "exposed the lie with his own wisdom" or "purely wants to default on the debt", but more like It was the reaction of someone who "already knew the truth".

Sun Yixie's guess was indeed correct. The real culprit behind the disappearance of Tomita Goro was Tomita Katsuo.

The current head of the Tomita family is Tomita Katsuo’s brother. This head had several children in the past, but they all died. Now, only Goro is the only son left. Apart from Goro, the other sons of the Tomita familyThe next generation will be the children of Katsuo Tomita, the second uncle, and another third uncle.

Most of the third uncle’s children are young, the oldest is only fifteen years old, while several of Tomita Katsuo’s children are adults and older than Goro. Then one day Goro Now that he's gone, it's clear who has the most say in the family.

Therefore, Tomita Katsuo has already wanted to get rid of Goro, his nephew who will be an adult in one or two years.

In the past, when the master was still in good health, Tomita Katsuo did not dare to act recklessly, but half a year ago the master contracted lung disease and has been bedridden since then. He has watched his brother's condition not improve in the past six months. , and his health was getting worse, Tomita Katsuo felt that the time had come; if his brother burped one day and passed the position of head of the family to Goro, it would only be more difficult and more conspicuous to take action at that time.

So, a few days ago, Tomita Katsuo found a good moment, tricked his nephew Goro into the mountains, attacked him from behind, killed him, and then threw the body directly into the valley. When he came back, he Another villager was bribed and an eyewitness testimony of "witnessing Wu Lang entering the mountain alone at dusk" was prepared in advance for emergencies.

Goro stayed out all night that night, and there were many anxious people in Tomita’s family, but Tomita Katsuo said, “You are a ten-year-old boy, and if you can lose him, maybe he is with a girl from some family.” "We secretly slept together" and other excuses, and various mediation efforts with other elders in the family and his bedridden brother delayed the investigation for several days.

A few days later, someone asked about the so-called "going into the mountains alone" information

Just then, Hayato was passing through Yae Township, and he gave some to the tavern owner in the village. Money, ask the boss to help him keep his mouth open, and pay attention to whether there are any commissions that Onmyoji can accept in the countryside.

As soon as the elders of the Tomita family heard that there was an Onmyoji in the town, they went to Tomita Katsuo to discuss whether they could hire this mage to check on Goro, because they suspected that Goro might He was seduced by the monster in that "legendary shrine".

Tomita Katsuo has been thinking about it for so many days. Not to mention that it is difficult to find the body thrown into the valley. Even if it is found, it will probably be eaten by wild animals by now, and no evidence will be left. Next, and I didn't mislead them in that direction. These old guys only used the excuse of "going into the mountains alone at dusk" to think about the mysterious and strange way. This is a good thing.

In this way, Tomita Katsuo followed the wishes of the elders of the Tomita family and sent people to invite Hayato back to the mansion. He really received Hayato as if he were an "Onmyoji-sama". He also offered a rather high price and entrusted Hayato with a trip to the shrine.

Of course, while doing this, the Tomita family also publicized in the village how they spent money "for the benefit of all villagers."

Originally, as long as Tomita Katsuo paid the balance today, accepted Hayato's statement in full, and conveyed it to the elders in the family, the matter would be over, even if there were still people in the family who doubted him. , this is groundless and canWhat to say

But Tomita Katsuo is not only a bad person, but also a small business. He even wants to save the final payment, and will not give it if he can; because according to his idea, Tomita The family's money will soon be all his money, how heartbreaking it is to spend it

But what he didn't expect was that just because he didn't want to pay a sum of money that he should have paid, Go get rid of these three "liars" in front of you, they are going to be bad.

End of this chapter

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