Me and the Doll Girl of Zhidiao Island

Chapter 113 111. The Doll Girl in the Shrine
"There are very few people here." Jiang Yuanshen looked around.

Rusting, the trail of the wind can be caught in the corner of the line of sight, and there is only a detached and peaceful tranquility in Zhiniao Shrine.

Igarashi Tachibana always had a gentle smile on his face:
"Well, Zhiniao Shrine is not big. Except for some festivals that are very busy and will hire some assistant maidens, I usually do the cleaning here alone. Well, after all, there is no incense except for festivals, and the shrine must maintain a minimum of operations. .”

Chaokong shook his apricot voice a little higher, blushing and said with a heartbeat: "May I ask, how much is the salary of the assistant maid?"

"Well, we only recruit around the festival, usually [-] yen a day, and it's not very busy, usually six hours."

"Eight, eight thousand yen! The hourly salary over there in Niigata is only around 850. Is, this part-time maiden is so high!" Chao Kong Yaoxing opened her eyes wide in surprise.

Igarashi Tachibana tilted her head slightly and asked, "Shaking Xing, do you want to be one?"

Her question brought an unnatural silence, a stiff smile appeared on Chaokong Yaoxing's face, her small head was lowered to look to one side, her dark eyes turned left and right because of her swinging mood.

"Ah, no. Is it just me?"

Igarashi Tachibana stroked her hair, smiled slightly, and said gracefully:
"It's okay, Yaoxing is very beautiful. If you come here to be a witch, the doll god will love you very much."

Chaokong Yaoxing felt embarrassed when she said this, and couldn't help but raised her hand to pat her flushed cheek.

"I won't be pretty either"

As soon as Chaokong Yaoxing finished speaking, he lowered his head and looked at Jiang Yuanshen secretly, hoping that he could say something that would make his face blush and his heart beat.

However, Jiang Yuanshen did not notice the concern of the girl beside him, but asked Igarashi Tachibana:

"Is the Chitori Shrine enshrined as a doll god?"

"Well, yes." The eyes of Igarashi Tachibana and Jiang Yuanshen crossed each other, and suddenly realized something, "Are you here to pray for blessings?"

"It's a summer assignment assigned by the school, and I chose the one about shrines."

Igarashi Tachibana was surprised for a while, then said with a dry smile:

"This is the first time I've heard of a student writing a summer assignment about a shrine, as a high school student."

"Will it bother you?"

"No, I'm very glad that you can come, not to mention that you are my daughter's savior." Igarashi Tachibana turned sideways and said, "But please go clean yourself first, and I will take you to see the palace secretary .”

"Cleanse yourself? Are you going to take a bath?" Chaokong Yaoxing raised his arms slightly, and moved his small nose, "It smells like sweat, but it doesn't stink too much."

"In order not to be rude to the gods, you need to wash your body first, usually washing your hands and rinsing your mouth, not taking a bath." Jiang Yuanshen explained beside him.

Chaokong Yaoxing flicked her short hair shyly and said, "Sorry, I don't know much about shrines."

"Yao Xing, are you from Zhiniao Island? Don't you understand these things?" Igarashi Tachibana cast a surprised look at her.

Chao Kong shook Xing's hands lightly twisting the hem of the skirt, nodded a little depressed, and said with a wry smile:
"Even if I'm from Zhiniao Island, I don't think I'm interested in the puppets on Zhiniao Island, and the puppet god can't bring them to me."

"You can't say these things in the realm of the gods." Igarashi Tachibana raised a finger to his lips, and the gaze he cast was quite warning.

Chaokong Yaoxing's throat suddenly lost his voice, but his lips were pursed even tighter.

"Okay, come with me." Igarashi Rika started walking towards the washroom.

Jiang Yuan moved carefully to Chaokong Yaoxing, and whispered, "Do you really want to be a part-time witch here?"

His question made her feel uncomfortable, as if a fishbone was stuck in her throat.

"Can't I?"

"Yao Xing, you are so cute, you must do it."

Chaokong Yaoxing inadvertently raised his head to look at Jiang Yuanshen's face, their eyes intertwined.

The shadows extending from the trees are full of warmth, covering their figures airtightly.

The boy didn't realize that the girl was already screaming in panic, and still looked at her with gentle eyes:
"However, in the territory of God, it is better for us to speak less disrespectful words."

Chaokong Yaoxing was about to blush, but was suppressed abruptly by the second half of his sentence, and the emotions welling up in his heart were already stuck in his throat.

"Don't you think gods are selfish? My mother often comes to the shrine to add incense to the doll god, but she still didn't get happiness in the end."

Jiang Yuanshen couldn't help being so sad that he couldn't speak, and the wind mixed with the fragrance of wild flowers gently stroked Chaokong Yaoxing's cheek.

After he calmed down, he felt from the bottom of his heart that he was very arrogant a few seconds ago.

Then, she pursed her lips in dissatisfaction, and complained in the realm of God:

"The gods are a bunch of cheapskates who can only listen, but can't do it."

As soon as she finished speaking, she shook her short black hair and walked quickly towards Igarashi Tachibana. Every time she took a step, her tight and healthy legs stood out under the skirt.

The washbasin is very simple, that is, there is a pool for washing hands under the pavilion, and on both sides are the guardian beasts of the shrine, Koma Inu.

The water in the pool is clean and clear, and you can even see the uneven shape of the stone wall at the bottom of the pool.

Hanging from a pole is an aluminum confession that spells out how to wash your hands in case someone dips their hands directly into the sink.

It's just washing your hands and rinsing your mouth, but there are five steps in just the steps.

"It's so troublesome," Yao Xing complained in a very low voice to the sky.

Jiang Yuanshen picked up the wooden spoon and washed his left hand.

The moment when the clear water infiltrates the skin, can you feel the cool comfort from it, just like soaking through the pores and reaching the inside of the body.

It is mountain spring water.

Then wash the right hand again, hold the spoon with the washed right hand, pick up the water with the left hand, and rinse your mouth.

Wash your left hand again.

Finally, place the spoon vertically, rinse the wooden spoon handle with the remaining water in the spoon, and put it back in place.

"Xiao Shen, do you often wash your body?" Zhaokong Yaoxing asked in surprise seeing his skillful movements.

Although this sentence is a bit strange, Jiang Yuanshen still said:

"I learned it in Tokyo."

"Oh"

Chaokong Yaoxing lowered his eyebrows in some trouble, then picked up the wooden spoon and began to wash himself.

Because it was the first time, she was very nervous, her face tensed into a ball, lest she would make a joke in front of the two of them.

Especially Tachibana Igarashi next to him, whose eyes that were originally gentle, turned sharp at this moment.

——I wouldn't just put my hand in and wash it.
When the program was over and the wooden spoon was put back upright, Chaokong Yaoxing's expression finally eased, but fortunately there was no joke.

"Miss Lihua, can we go in now?" Jiang Yuanshen asked.

"Well, I'm not very busy today, I'll show you the stolen paper."

"Stealing paper?" Chaokong Yaoxing frowned.

"Yao Xing, you are obviously from Zhiniao Island, why don't you know what you should know?"

Igarashi Tachibana rubbed her temples with a particularly painful headache and said,

"Igarashi is my husband. He is also the priest of the shrine. He knows many things. I think this will be very helpful for your summer homework. Maybe it will make your homework the most eye-catching presence in the school. "

Seeing Igarashi Tachibana's generous help, Jiang Yuan Shen just wanted to thank him, but from the corner of his eyes, he passed through the approach and glimpsed a figure.

A maiden who looked like a young girl was standing in front of the building door, looking at the three of them.

It's just that unlike Igarashi Tachibana, she wears a flower hairpin on her head, and even the broom in her hand is made of palm skin.

What surprised Jiang Yuanshen even more was that she was wearing a puppet mask on her face.

Because the distance is too far, it doesn't even look real.

When Jiang Yuanshen closed his eyes again, the puppet girl was nowhere to be seen, leaving a building door empty.

He thought it was the other shrine maidens in Zhidiao Shrine, but he recalled what Igarashi Tachibana said in his mind that she is the only shrine maiden in Zhidiao Shrine now.

"Miss Tachibana, you are the only priestess in this shrine, right?"

"Huh? Yes." Igarashi Tachibana didn't understand why he asked again, "I'm the only one now, what's the matter?"

Jiang Yuanshen frowned in confusion and said, "But, I seem to have seen another witch?"

"Where?" Zhaokong said.

"At the gate of the building, it's gone now." Jiang Yuanshen pointed to the closed gate of the building.

The sense of disobedience brought by the puppet girl is like a grain of sand hidden deep in the rice grains, which is hard to detect.

Igarashi Tachibana said with a habitual smile:
"It's my daughter Huasha. After my husband finishes teaching her homework, she often likes to run around the shrine in a priestess costume."

Jiang Yuanshen nodded without saying a word, but always felt a little unnatural, because she didn't behave like a little girl who just ran around.

Igarashi Tachibana walked to the door of the building, and opened with a light push of his legs.

Jiang Yuanshen and Chaokong Yaoxing followed, and what came into view was a worship hall, and on the lanterns on both sides, the two big characters "Young Puppet" were written in thick black ink.

"I have money with me, do you want to try it?" He said to Chaokong who was beside him.

".Row."

She didn't seem to be very willing, but she didn't want to blow Jiang Yuanshen's heart either.

Just as the two were about to go forward and put money into the charity box in the wooden grid, Jiang Yuanshen saw the doll girl again.

She was on the side of the worship hall, leaning out and looking at him, pinching the corners tightly with her small, white fingers, so hard that the blood in the nails was squeezed out, leaving nothing white.

Even though she couldn't see her expression, she could feel that she seemed anxious.

The sun was in full bloom, her figure was very clear, and her intuition told Jiang Yuanshen that this was not an illusion, there was indeed a witch.

"Little Shen?" Chaokong's voice of shaking an apricot sounded, bringing Jiang Yuanshen back to his senses.

However, the puppet girl disappeared again.

"and many more."

After Jiang Yuanshen dropped these words, he quickly walked towards the corner of the worship hall under Chaokong Yaoxing's confused gaze.

However, when we arrived there, all we saw was a high wall, with tree branches protruding lazily lying on the wall, and various cleaning debris in the corners.

The summer wind blew past, bringing with it a hint of coolness in the mountains, and the drooping branches and leaves trembled slightly, making a rustling sound.

"What are you doing?"

Jiang Yuanshen's mouth opened slightly like a goldfish, opening and closing meaninglessly, his neck seemed to be twisted by someone.

"What's wrong?" Chaokong Yaoxing followed, and when he saw the scene in front of him clearly, he was even more troubled.

The brain seems to have been smeared with a thick layer of paint, and thinking has become viscous.

"I think I saw someone," he said.

"Who?"

"Don't know, but personally."

"."

Chaokong Yaoxing looked at Jiang Yuanshen in astonishment. She wanted to believe what he said unconditionally, but there was no way anyone could exist in this place.

"Maybe some kid sneaked in to play tricks, such as Huasha?"

His expression was surprisingly serious, so Chaokong Yaoxing had to be cautious in his words and deeds, lest he say the wrong thing, and the relationship between the two would be thorny.

At this moment, a man's exclamation came from behind.

"Tachibana! Tachibana!"

A man with half-rim glasses came out of the worship hall in a panic, and walked towards Igarashi Tachibana quickly.

"What's wrong?" Igarashi Tachibana immediately tightened his face when he saw his panicked look.

"The time when I went to drink saliva is gone! I thought she went to the bathroom, but after half an hour she still hasn't come back. I'm so worried!"

Seeing this, Igarashi Tachibana's expression eased a lot, and he sighed and said:
"Hey, this kid always likes to run around. I guess he went down the mountain to play with other kids again, and he will come back."

"Can you rest assured? Why do you have to put on an indifferent attitude? Last time you didn't take good care of her, she almost died in the earthquake!"

"What do you mean? Are you burying me now with the past? Are you blaming me now with a good father's attitude?"

"I, I am also for the affairs of the shrine. I am the only son of the Igarashi family. Of course, the shrine must be protected."

"Am I not your only wife?"

".sorry."

Igarashi Tachibana's choking back immediately made Igarashi's face turn red when he stole the paper, and he bowed his head gloomyly to admit his mistake, his eyes wandering.

When it finally fell on Jiang Yuanshen and Chaokong Yaoxing, it seemed that his family affairs had been discovered, which made his face turn even redder.

Probably because of the half-rimmed glasses, Igarashi's blushing looks very contrasting.

"Okay, little brother Jiang Yuan has seen Huasha just now, and now she is running around in the shrine wearing a priestess costume."

Igarashi Tachibana saw him panicked, but the corner of his mouth raised a smile and said,

"Don't worry about it anymore. It's not good for your health. Huasha is a child who is very good at learning lessons."

"Jiang Yuan?" Igarashi was taken aback for a moment, then quickly walked towards Jiang Yuanshen, held his hand, and said sincerely, "You are Jiang Yuanshen? Thank you very much, really thank you!"

"Should be."

Igarashi stole the paper but shook his head, the words weaved a transparent truth:
"There is no should or should not, Huasha is just a stranger to you, saving at the price of death is enough to shock the world and be admired by all."

After hearing his words, Chaokong Yaoxing's chest rose and fell slightly, and then he let out a big sigh.

Compared with sadness, it was a pale sigh that could make people feel the accumulation of fatigue deep in her body.

"It would be great if Xiao Shen could get rid of this habit." Chaokong Yaoxing said with a wry smile.

Jiang Yuanshen pretended to be nonchalant about this, and said, "I saw a witch wearing a mask just now, it may be Huasha."

"Mask? What kind of mask? Huasha doesn't like wearing masks." Igarashi frowned slightly.

Jiang Yuanshen felt as cold as a piano key on his fingertips.

(End of this chapter)