Fortune-telling * Elegance

Although the three of them wanted to get to the base as soon as possible, the baby's crying was driving them crazy.

There happened to be a river right in front of them, so they made do on the spot and decided to check the baby's diapers.

After hurriedly unwrapping the baby, a stench exploded out, and the three of them leaned back simultaneously, their faces contorted in agony.

"See! I told you I had pooped!" Zhen covered her nose, her voice muffled.

Enma's face turned green. "This stinks horribly! How can a newborn baby have such power!"

Luotai was also getting impatient. "Are you guys even capable?! That's not how you tie a loincloth! You have to fold a clean cloth first, then put it in..."

"You make it sound so easy! You can't even tie a knot!" Enma roared.

Luotai shut up; he really didn't know how.

The three people hurriedly changed the baby into a clean cloth, but they didn't know how to secure it properly. So they could only forcibly wrap the baby up completely with the cloth to ensure that the loincloth could perform its intended function.

The baby seemed to have cried itself out and quieted down with sobs, but its little face was still scrunched up, as if it were ready to start a second round at any moment.

Enma felt that changing a baby's diaper was more tiring than dealing with twenty merchants. "Well, when we get to the base, let's leave the child there. The child's fine anyway; we just need to find his mother."

She held him in her arms, patting him gently, "We want to go to her ourselves with the child. Why would she come with us if there's no child?"

"But now we know what happened, right? It wasn't her who abandoned the child; someone else threw it away when she wasn't looking," Enma said. "Now that we know the whole story, we can just put the child aside and focus on finding the mother. There's no need to carry such a burden."

"But..." Zhen lowered her head, looking at the little face in her arms, red and rosy from crying, "Seeing her own baby, Mommy should be happier, right?"

"I have to say, you really are..." Enma sighed, looking at Zhen's pleading expression, and rubbed his temples. "Fine, fine, you decide."

Upon hearing this, Luotai said, "Then let's go to the stronghold and find a wet nurse to learn some baby care skills. Otherwise, with just the three of us, I'm afraid we won't be able to stay quietly until we find him a mother."

As Luotai was about to climb up the riverbank, he suddenly saw an old woman in a gray-green kimono sitting a few steps ahead of him by the bridge arch.

She sat there, carrying a cloth bag on her back and leaning on a bamboo cane, watching them with a kind of inexplicably comforting kindness in her eyes.

Luotai hesitated for a moment, Earth Flow possessed and asked, "Grandma, could you please do me a favor?"

The old woman looked up at him with a smile, "What's wrong, young man?"

Luotai scratched his head and said, "We found a baby, and he's crying a lot right now. We'd like to find someone experienced to help take care of him."

The old woman waved her hand. "Take care of a child? I'm too old to even take care of my own grandson, let alone a child you picked up." She paused, then suddenly said, "However, I can read fortunes. Would you like me to tell your horoscope?"

Luotai's expression was strange, but he let the old man have his way.

The old woman walked up to him, squinted at him for a moment, and slowly said, "You're still uneasy, aren't you? Even with the help of a benefactor, you still don't believe this street can truly provide you and your mother with a decent life."

Luotai was taken aback, then nodded emphatically, "Yes, just as you said."

"You're smart and capable, and hard work will pay off," the old woman said gently. "Listen carefully, now that you've returned to the main road from the side path, never turn back. When faced with temptations of profit, clearly refuse them, understand?"

Luotai seemed to understand something and whispered, "Thank you, Grandma."

Enma that the old woman had convinced Luotai with just a few words, Yan Zhen came over and pointed to herself, saying, "Grandma, could you let me take a look too?"

The old woman turned to look at him, stared at him for a while, and said with a smile, "You are destined to have benefactors. As long as you don't narrow your own path in this life, you will live a smooth life."

"But you have one flaw: you're too impulsive. If someone smiles at you, you open your heart completely. Let me give you some advice."

"One should not show understanding to those who harbor hatred."

Enma frowned. "Why should I understand? Hatred is bad in itself, what's the point of understanding it?"

The old woman shook her head and said nothing more.

She looked at Zhen one last time. Zhen was bowing her head, gently rocking the swaddled baby, and only after a while did she raise her head to meet the old woman's gaze.

The old woman got up, walked over to her, and said gently, "Little girl."

"Yes," Zhen replied.

"To you, I only have one thing to say: a person's true value is not measured by comparison with others."

I blinked, completely bewildered as to why she was saying that.

The old woman smiled and said, "You must believe in yourself. What others think of you is their business."

Although Zhen found it strange, she still nodded and obediently thanked him.

The three bid farewell to the mother-in-law and resumed their search for the missing person.

And the old woman? She smiled, and in a flash, she transformed back into Mokushō.

Just as he was about to leave and continue following the three men, there was a sudden commotion on the bridge.

"Sorry to bother you..."

Izuna stood at the gate. The gate was wide open, and he could see inside the courtyard.

Sōichi's courtyard was decorated very elegantly.

A gravel path winds its way to the eaves, with low Stone Lanterns covered in moss on both sides, nestled among the maple leaves. The maple leaves are still green, but one can imagine what a beautiful sight this place will be in autumn.

An old pine tree stands quietly in the corner. It's not the right season yet, and its branches are bare, but they are pruned with great skill, like the blank spaces in a splashed-ink painting.

The gatekeeper, who was squatting under the eaves wiping a copper basin, heard a commotion outside the courtyard gate, looked up and saw a group of uninvited guests, and his face immediately darkened.

He put the copper basin aside, got up and walked quickly to the door. His gaze swept over Izuna, then looked at the people behind him, his tone clearly wary.

"Who are you gentlemen? What brings you here?"

Meeting the doorman's gaze, Izuna said calmly, "There is a woman who wishes to see Mr. Sōichi."

After saying that, he turned to the side, making way for the figure behind him.

The gatekeeper glanced at him and froze on the spot. His expression first turned to astonishment, then to an indescribable surge of ecstasy.

He actually bypassed Izuna and grabbed Yūko's hand.

"Miss Yūko! It really is you! You've finally arrived!" The doorman's voice was urgent and loud. "Just now you were loitering by the wall outside the door. I thought you were some kind of beggar and was even wondering whether I should go and chase you away. It's you! I was so blind, please don't be angry, Miss!"

As he spoke, he released his grip, bent over so low that his forehead almost touched the ground, and looked incredibly earnest.

Yūko was flustered by this situation and could only whisper, "I'm fine, please don't be like this. It's my fault for not daring to come in."

The gatekeeper repeatedly said, "Miss, please come in, please come in. The master just asked about you, saying that if you return, he should be informed immediately. Please don't leave again, I'll go and inform him right away!"

As he spoke, he suddenly remembered that there were still people standing next to him, and said somewhat embarrassedly to Izuna and the other two, "You gentlemen are here to see Miss Yūko off, right? Please come in and have Sōichi."

Izuna nodded. "Then I'll have to trouble you."

The gatekeeper responded happily, his steps light as if he had oil on his feet, and he quickly slipped into the inner courtyard.

The courtyard gate was half-open, and the wind blew through the eaves, making the copper bells tinkle.

Yūko was still standing at the door, seemingly in a daze.

Madara and Tobirama discreetly surveyed the layout of the courtyard, while Hashirama, with his hands behind his back, looked around and whispered to Izuna, "This place is not bad."

"Right? It looks like a great place." Izuna smiled.

The group was led to a side room and seated.

Sōichi did not show up immediately, but sent someone to tell them that he was busy with some miscellaneous matters and asked them to rest for a while. His tone was extremely polite.

They even sent over expensive snacks and tea, and had someone take Yūko to change her clothes, as if they were afraid that they would feel they hadn't been hospitable enough and would get up and leave at any moment.

After Yūko left, Tobirama glanced at Izuna and asked, "Aren't you going to explain what happened earlier?"

"What is it?" Izuna was savoring some pastries.

"Why did you say those things when Yūko was about to jump into the river?" Tobirama said. "You could have persuaded her to come down much more gently. Instead, you said things like 'nice breasts, nice butt' to a woman who was about to commit suicide. Anyone who heard that would think you were a lecher."

Izuna stuffed a pastry into his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and then mumbled, "Because she didn't ask for help."

Tobirama frowned slightly.

"She didn't hesitate for even a moment; she was about to jump."

"On a bridge with heavy foot traffic, none of us realized she was going to jump into the river."

"If someone has already decided to die, they won't listen to you saying 'Don't be sad' or 'It will get better.'"

When Izuna said this, he didn't look at Tobirama, as if he felt that saying this was not a good thing, and avoided everyone's gaze.

When a person wants to die, only one thing remains in their mind: ending it all. All the sounds from the outside world are like being blocked by a layer of water, unable to penetrate. The gentler you are, the more she thinks you're just saying nice things. If you try to reason with her, she'll just feel that nobody in this world understands her.

"So you just complimented her on her looks?" Ban suddenly asked.

"Yes." Izuna nodded. "She wants to die because she feels her life has no value anymore. At this point, we have to give her some value. But the most important thing is to be unreasonable and make her unsure how to respond. We can't let her activate her automatic avoidance behavior. We have to intimidate her. Once she's intimidated, if she hesitates for even half a second, she won't want to die so much."

After Izuna finished speaking, he picked up a pastry from the plate, took a bite out of half of it, and puffed out his cheeks slightly, like a squirrel intently storing food.

The other three didn't respond.

Only the faint sound of chewing and the soft tinkling of the copper bells under the eaves swaying in the wind remained in the side hall.

Why is Izuna so skilled? This was the question that popped into the minds of all three of them at the same time.

How can someone know so much about suicide? They must have either seen it or experienced it firsthand.

Has he ever advised others? Or... has he been advised himself/herself?

The thought of the second possibility made all three of them feel a sinking feeling.

Madara recalled the subtle details that Izuna had shown.

He never talks about his own world. When others ask, he laughs and changes the subject or says he doesn't remember the past.

Every time he made a mistake, he would cover it up with an expression that said, "That's not true."

Before fighting Isshiki, Madara could think that Isshiki didn't trust anything about this side and was unwilling to open up easily. He thought that with time, Isshiki would naturally open up.

Looking back now, perhaps it wasn't that I was unwilling, but rather that I dared not.

What if that world has ended? What if Hashirama, Madara, Tobirama, and many more people from that other world are no longer there?

Such memories can be overwhelming.

In the past, did Izuna ever sit by a river at some point, contemplating ending it all?

Was his later love for socializing and making friends also because he knew how terrible loneliness could be?

Tobirama hesitated for a moment, then asked, "You... have done this before?"

Izuna looked at him. "What?"

Tobirama paused for two seconds, seeing that Izuna was genuinely confused, and slowly swallowed his original words, "Persuade people. Like before, pull the person who's about to jump into the river down from the railing."

Izuna let out an "Ah," and casually replied, "No, it's my first time."

He took a bite of his pastry and mumbled, "I just used it because I'd seen similar news reports about rescue techniques before."

Izuna reminisced about his middle school days.

Who didn't think about how to die painlessly when they were in high school? Even if you're not depressed, you might be driven crazy by homework that requires you to do until the early hours of the morning.

Coupled with the sentimentality caused by adolescent hormones and the age-old and ever-popular underworld culture, death seems to have become a cool thing.

Even someone as cheerful as Izuna would ponder one thing.

How to die gracefully, elegantly, and painlessly.

Izuna had investigated the suicide attempt, and then... the push notifications showed him a bunch of videos on how to persuade someone about to jump off a building to stay alive.

Well, since he was already there, and thinking that he might need it someday, Izuna observed everything one by one.

I never expected it would actually come in handy.

Although it's in another world.

So why did I get crushed by a truck that overturned on its side...? I was just walking on the side of the road...

Izuna recalled his death... it seemed like he had just opened and closed his eyes and was transported to this world.

Were the goods so heavy that they were destroyed instantly, causing brain damage...?

Um...

Izuna fell into deep thought.

Have I fulfilled my wish to die without pain? Although it's neither dignified nor elegant.

He was completely oblivious to the somber atmosphere around him.

When Yūko returned to the side hall, this was the scene she saw:

Izuna was intently finishing the last piece of dessert on his plate; Hashirama had his Hashirama downcast, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the rim of his cup; Madara was silent, his face somber; Tobirama had his arms crossed, his brows furrowed tightly, as if he were pondering some enormous problem.

The air between the three of them felt heavy, like the clouds pressing down on their heads before a storm.

Yūko stood in the doorway, nervously twisting her sleeves. After a moment's hesitation, she asked softly, "Um... did something happen?"