[Comprehensive] Manna's Summer

10# Dixiaolu Erica

Nuliang Rikusheng was forced to go to the incense ceremony by Qingshi Qingji.

The venue and funds provided by the Shishi Family of the Qing Dynasty, and hosted by the Fengya family of the Shino-ryu, this incense ceremony is also a pathfinding stone for the Shishi Family of the Qing Dynasty to open the door to the upper class.

Although the major incense sects headed by Yujialiu declined the invitation of the Qingshi family, but there were a few incense families in Tokyo who did not have a long history. With the efforts of the Qingjiu Qingji, one of them was connected. We even invited Fute Kojiru, who has a long history and is well-known in Kyoto.

Wearing a navy blue kimono, Lu Sheng was sitting next to Kiyomizu Kiyomizu. Before the start of the incense ceremony, during the process of guests arriving one after another, he was able to chat in a low voice.Qing Ji was chattering and introducing the identities of these visitors to him.When Lu Sheng saw the girl in a beige women's suit sitting at the last seat, he couldn't help but startled.

... Kugaoi?

"Wow, the aoi from β?o? is also here. It probably represents Jiu's family." Qingji looked like he wanted to ask for an autograph, "Ah, it's a pity that it's the Xiangdaohui, otherwise I must go to ask for it." Sign it."

"My house for a long time?"

"Don't you know? The Jiuwo Consortium." Qing Shiji Qingji looked at him in surprise, "Jiuwo's ​​family is an old Chinese family. After the war, they began to devote themselves to business. They started with the steel industry and quickly became a hot big consortium. Two years It was declared bankrupt before, and was revived under the hands of the current Patriarch Jiugaguang. That Miss Jiugaoi is the sister of the Patriarch Jiugaoi. Because she is an old Chinese, she has a good relationship with these incense families. Invite people to Dixiaolu's house, it is said that the other party also betrayed this young lady's face."

"... She has a lot of friends."

Hearing Lu Sheng's ambiguous emotion, Qing Shiji Qingji showed a smug smile.

"You are wrong, Nuliang. That Miss Aoi is famously arrogant and indifferent. Most of the people sitting here are selling the face of my family behind her. Only the family of Di Xiaolu is selling Jiuwokui's own face." He reached out to Lu Sheng and pointed to the pink-haired girl at the chief's side, she was particularly conspicuous among the middle-aged people, "That is the heir of Dixiaoluliu, this time representing Dixiaolu's family Here I am, Erica Dikolu. Her other identity is more famous than this one, a former member of β?o?, erick... Lu Sheng, you must have heard of it."

"...Erick, Di Xiaolu...Erica, is it?"

Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the girl across from him.Her petite body was wrapped in Kyo Yuzen's furisode kimono, with large narcissus blooming on the pure black background, and a Nishijin woven belt with peony pattern tied into a beautiful taiko knot.A few ancient wooden hairpins coiled up her pink hair, revealing her fair and immature baby face, which is very delicate and lovely.As if noticing his gaze, she raised her eyes and smiled at him with deep dimples on her cheeks.

What Lu Sheng remembered at this time was Mana's words.

——I used to be a singer.

——Beta?o?, have you ever heard Lu Shengjun?

"β?o?... What the hell is it?"

Qingji stared at him in disbelief, and seemed about to scream—fortunately, he remembered that the consequence of doing so would be that all the Xiangdao families would blacklist the Qingshi family, so he held back anyway, He lowered his voice and questioned Lu Sheng.

"You don't know β?o??!"

"...I really don't know much about pop music and idols..."

Qingji frantically scratched his hair, causing the old lady in kimono to give him a disgusted look, but he couldn't help it, and just stared at Lu Sheng with incredulous eyes.

"You really don't know β?o?? Don't you have a TV at home? That's β?o?! The most popular idol group in the music world in the past two years! No one! Their sales have always been called the industry's top Insurmountable Wall, it has only been more than two years since their debut, and their cumulative sales have reached 200 million, and with the recently released single, it has reached 300 million."

Qing Ji took a breath and continued.

"Some time ago, the male singer named Bu Po Shang had a three-consecutive streak in which his single topped the chart for 4 consecutive weeks, hit the top with another single of his own in the fifth week, and then won the top with another single. Crown myth? That myth didn’t last long. The third single was suppressed by β?o?’s new single "Confession" in the second week on the chart. That was an overwhelming advantage. Three The sales volume is twice as high as that of the unbroken, it is simply a monster. Now the industry is rumored that artists must avoid β?o? when releasing new songs! This is the result of the β?o? band losing mana and erick successively, leaving only aoi! Then If the two of them were still there, the sales of β?o? would be tripled!"

Lu Sheng was very surprised.

"Is it that powerful?"

"Of course." Qing Ji signaled Lu Sheng to look at Erica Di Xiaolu, "Don't look at her so small, she was nicknamed a subwoofer back then, and not only the bass is thick and amazing, but also the soprano and mezzo-soprano. Singing very well. It’s a pity that half a year ago, my voice was ruined, and I had to quit β?o?. After losing mana, I lost erick. The fans at that time didn’t know how sad they were. Fortunately, aoi still persisted and kept the sales. At the previous level, the lady who has been in my family for a long time is amazing."

Lu Sheng stopped his eyes on Kuwo Aoi, his eyes were deep.

"It's amazing."

Qingji was about to say something, but the master finally walked in and took a seat on the main seat, so he had no choice but to keep silent—after the incense ceremony officially started, whispering is forbidden.

The owner is a middle-aged woman with an unattractive appearance, the second daughter-in-law of the head of the Shino Ryuhogaya family.She sat in the first seat and bowed slightly to everyone.

"The way of incense lies in cleanliness, tranquility, harmony, and silence. The focus is on pleasant feelings and nourishing nature. Today, I will use agarwood as the base of the 'group incense', and share it with you. It is early summer, and I should have used calamus incense, but Today's meeting is held in the bamboo garden, surrounded by green bamboos, it would be frustrating to use the incense of calamus. How about using the incense from bamboo, what do you think?"

The old man on the second from her left clapped her hands and looked approving.

"That's right, Mrs. Fenggu is really elegant."

The master smiled, and turned to Erika Futekoji who had been bowing her head.

"I don't know what Miss Dixiaolu thinks?"

The girl blinked her eyes when she heard the words, as if she didn't understand the deep meaning of the master's words at all, showing an innocent and sweet smile.

"Erica thinks it's very good." She curved her big round eyes, with sweet dimples on her cheeks, "Father has always praised Shino-ryu's skills, so Erica has always wanted to see it with her own eyes. It was great to be invited today."

The master choked, and his face changed slightly.Kanto and Kansai in Japan have always been quite dirty, and the schools of incense in Kyoto and Tokyo are even more difficult to deal with.Fute Koji-ryu has a long history and looms as the leader in Kyoto, while the Shino-ryu in Tokyo has always regarded it as an enemy.The heir of Dixiaoluliu now looks like an innocent child, which makes it seem that she, the master, has no tolerance for others.

So I had no choice but to quickly change the subject and start the fragrance test.

The so-called Taketori no Incense is an incense game made with the allusions of the Taketori Monogatari.Light two kinds of incense first, and judge whether they are "Princess Le House" or "Old Man".Then identify five kinds of incense including "Lewu Princess" and "Old Man". When lighting one incense, let the guests judge whether it is "Princess" or "Old Man" or other incense.

"Originally, every time you smell a kind of incense, you should answer yes or no, so as to eliminate the decision. But today, there are several guests here who are new to incense, so let's change this rule." The host said with a smile, "Wait until After smelling all five kinds of incense, I will ask the attendants to distribute the incense sticks, and then everyone will write their answers on the incense sticks, and finally announce the name of the person who answered correctly, how about it?"

Everyone has no objection.

The host first lights the two types of incense representing the "old man" and "princess", and let the guests smell them first, and then proceed to the formal incense-smelling session.

"First incense, light it."

The master takes the spices out of the sachet and uses the sachet instead of the incense plate. This is the biggest difference between the Shino style and other schools.Shino Ruben was born as a samurai and advocates simplicity.Erica watched the other party's skillful and fluent movements intently, showing admiration from time to time.As the fragrant wood is heated over a fire on the silver leaf, the fragrance gradually diffuses.Erica closed her eyes slightly, quietly savoring the fragrance in the air.

"Second incense, light it."

It is already quite hot in Tokyo in mid-May, and the incense room is naturally a bit stuffy, but the rules of the incense ceremony are not to use fans, let alone open the door to attract wind. Lu Sheng changed his posture unnaturally, suppressing himself to open his clothes Treat yourself to a fanciful sleep.In order to distract his attention, he quietly observed the expressions of the people around him.Just in time, Erika took the incense burner from the person next to her, put it horizontally on her left hand, turned it counterclockwise, covered it with her right hand, and leaned over to sniff lightly.Her movements are very graceful, and it can be seen that she has undergone rigorous training.After smelling it three times, she opened her eyes and showed a charming smile.

"The third incense, light it."

By the time he smelled the third fragrance, Lu Sheng had already started to feel a little dizzy.After passing the censer to the next guest, he secretly took a few deep breaths, the scent filling his nasal cavity and trachea made him very uncomfortable.As a layman who doesn't understand the way of incense, he really doesn't understand how the guests around him can still show such intoxicated expressions.He raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, but when he raised his head, he met Erica's gaze. The girl blinked at him, put her hand on the corner of her lips, tilted her head slightly in a thinking posture, broad His cuffs just covered his nose.Lu Sheng understood, took advantage of this movement to take a breath, and then felt a little better.Erica smiled, rolled her eyes, and lowered her sleeves—after all, she came from a family of incense and Taoism, and this little scent couldn't do anything to her.

..................................................................

After five rounds, all five kinds of incense wood have been burned.A dense aroma filled the room.The host signaled the attendants to pass out the incense sticks, and asked the guests to write their answers on the paper. Lu Sheng, who was dizzy from the third incense, couldn't tell which was which, so he wrote two random words. submit.

"Everyone seems to think that the second incense is an old man, and the fifth incense is a princess." The owner smiled and took out a note, and turned to Erica, "It seems that only Miss Di Xiaolu thinks that the third incense is an old man. May I ask why?"

Erika Dixiaolu was not afraid of being asked this question suddenly, she just blinked her eyes in surprise.She tilted her head and thought for a while, showing a sweet smile.

"The first fragrance is Cunmendoro. Its strong fragrance will numb the nose, and the second fragrance is very similar to the third fragrance. Under the influence of Cunmendoro, it is easy to be mistaken." Two girls The dimples on his cheeks sank sweetly, "Is the incense used by the old man Zuzenro? It is really a very high-quality incense wood. When it first came out, it was very similar to Jialuo, but the fragrance of Zuzenra would fade later. And the second The second fragrance is Jialuo. Under the influence of Cunmendoro, the taste of Jialuo will become a little weak in the nasal cavity, so it is a mistake with the third fragrance, Zuo Zenuo. Erica believes that the third fragrance is the It's an old man. May I ask Mrs. Fenggu, is Erika's answer correct?"

(Note: Indomonro, Zuozengluo, and Jialuo are all types of agarwood.)

The master was silent for a long time, sighed deeply, and nodded.

"Young people are awesome...Miss Dixiaolu really deserves to be the successor of Dixiaoluliu."

Erica smiled calmly.However, Lu Sheng saw with excellent eyesight that her hands were hidden in her sleeves, and she made a V quietly.

***

After the incense session came to an end, Lu Sheng decided to go out to relax his nose. After standing in the bamboo garden and taking a few deep breaths of fresh air, Lu Sheng finally looked better.

"……saved……"

The scent of agarwood can waft dozens of meters away. With the opening of the incense room, the scent gradually wafts into the courtyard. Lu Sheng was almost overwhelmed by the scent. When he was in the corridor, he heard the angry voice of the previous owner.

"It's just a little girl who isn't even qualified for 'Jie Chuan'. She wasted her studies and spent two years making fun of people on TV. I thought it would be easy to deal with, but I didn't expect... I didn't expect it!" The woman She patted the railing angrily, and she couldn't see her demeanor at the incense meeting, "It's so difficult to deal with!"

"How many people from Dixiaolu's family are easy to deal with?" An old voice sounded later, it was the old man who answered the woman at the incense meeting before, "This little girl is quite capable, you should be more careful A little bit, Mrs. Fenggu."

"I thought that girl would not be difficult to deal with." The woman's voice was resentful, "I left home and went to Tokyo to study for three years, and also worked as a messy idol for two years. I only returned to Dixiaolu's house half a year ago. Thinking that no matter how capable the Dixiaolu family is, they will not be able to lift a trash within half a year? Who knows...they really have that ability."

"If Dixiaolu's family were so easy to deal with, Dixiaoluliu would have been defeated long ago. Do you think that his family's reputation is all based on the one who is entrusted by his family?"

"I……"

The woman wanted to answer something, but a cold female voice suddenly broke in.

"I'm really sorry that it's something that makes people laugh on TV, Mrs. Fenggu."

"Jiu, Miss Jiu?" The woman's voice sounded a little panicked, "You, why are you..."

"Just strolling around, but I heard very interesting remarks." The high-heeled shoes made a sharp sound on the ground, and the girl approached step by step, with an imposing manner, "You seem to be quite critical of my profession."

"...I was just saying she—"

"Don't forget, Erika Futekoji, she used to be my teammate." The voice of the high heels stopped, and the voice of the clogs retreated a few times messily, "And, if I'm being honest, your level of fragrance, It’s far inferior to Erica. At least she’s never done something like this to intentionally disturb guests’ sense of smell with an inch door.”

The girl even sneered.

"...You are quite ashamed to use such an infamous method."

The woman was anxious, said "you you you" a few times, and finally walked away.The old man laughed a few times in embarrassment, and didn't know what to say, so he coughed a few times to bid farewell to Kugaoi, and left in embarrassment without waiting for an answer.

For a moment, Kugaoi was the only one in the corridor.With the sound of the lighter being turned on, the smell of burning tobacco filled the air.

"How long do you want to hide?"

Lu Sheng was startled, and moved subconsciously. Before he walked out, another girl's voice sounded from behind the corridor.

"I was discovered by Aoi sauce..." Accompanied by the sound of shaking flowers and leaves, and the sound of clogs clinking on the ground, Erica smirked as she approached, "Hehehe... Aoi sauce is amazing!"

"……call."

Jiugaoi took a deep breath, stretched out her hand and grabbed Erica's face, the pink-haired girl cried out in pain, she didn't have the heart to make a cruel move, but just twisted and let go.

"Why didn't you come out just now, just to hear that woman criticize you so much?"

"Anyway, what she said is right... It hurts, hurts! Kui Jiang, don't pinch your face!"

"Sooner or later, I will be pissed off by you..." Aoi took a deep breath, "You are so heartless, I don't know what it will be like to be bullied by others when I go to Kyoto. Wait, the smell of smoke on you You won't still be entangled with that man, will you?"

There was a little smile in Erica's voice, a little lazy.

"Well... I lived with him before."

"That man is not a good person at all, why haven't you broken up with him after you went to Kyoto?" Aoi's voice was a little anxious, "You don't really want to spend your whole life with such a bastard, do you!?"

"Forever...I never thought about it." Erica lay on the railing, her voice was soft, "Qiaojiang is very good to Erica. So before he treats Erica badly, Erica still I don't want to leave him."

"..." Jiu Wokui was out of breath, her voice became cold, "Forget it, I don't care about you."

The wind blew across the corridor, brushing Erica's sleeves, and it took a long time before she opened her mouth again.

"Hey, what's the matter with Aoi-chan looking for me?" There was a sweet smile in her voice, "I just persuaded my father to come to Tokyo when I heard Aoi-chan looking for me."

Kugaoi took a step towards her, the sound of high-heeled shoes flustered and hurried.

"...Erika, can you come back?" Her voice was low, with a hint of pleading, "Since I left because of psychogenic loss of voice... If you can speak, then you should be able to sing too—— "

"No, Aoi-chan." Erica's voice was still sweet and extremely calm, "I can't sing. I have no choice but to sing on the stage without Mana-chan."

Aoi lowered her head, and after a while, she suddenly let out a sobbing laugh.

"...Erika, you're so cunning." She stretched out her hand and grabbed Erika's sleeve, "Can I do it? Can I do it? You don't even know that Kaoru can do it." What...you don't even know! I can't stand it, Erika! Singing alone on a stage without Mana and you...I can't stand it!!!"

Aoi's high-pitched voice finally showed a bit of crying, she slowly slipped and fell to the ground, her fingers tugged on Erica's sleeve, and she made a strange sound when she slid down.It's like begging.

"I want to run away too...I want to run away too! Erika!" She covered her face and cried, "But I can't... After you leave, β?o? I will be left alone Ah... if I leave too, our dream... will really end."

So no matter what, you can't escape.

If you don't want β?o? to disappear...if you don't want your dream to end...if you don't want the memories shared by the three of them to end like this...

Can only continue to stay on this stage.

To stay in this .

Erika turned around slowly, squatted down slowly, and embraced Aoi in her arms.

"I'm sorry, Aoi Sauce." Her voice was so sad and guilty, "I... can't sing anymore. I can't sing anymore."

"So, Erika, you... are too cunning." Aoi's voice was trembling, so desperate, "In this way, I... have nowhere to escape."

But Erika still could only say sorry.Sorry over and over again.

"Sorry. Aoi sauce. Sorry."

"—I can't sing anymore."