"Isn't this completely groundless?"

Qingdeng frowned.

"What evidence is there to prove that Kikuchi Sensui has an affair with Aden?"

The old man shrugged.

"Of course there is no evidence."

"All the Ardennes are dead. Even if you want to find evidence, you can't find it, right?"

"But what does this mean?"

"I have lived for fifty-seven years. Although most of my life has been spent in confusion, I have been fortunate enough to realize a few simple philosophies of life after seeing too many ups and downs in the world. For example - ordinary people like

A vulgar, tasteless story."

"My wife fell in love with a young termite-killing master," and my sister eloped with her husband. People are so disgusted with such stories that are both tasteless and vulgar... Wow! Don't mention how emotional they are.

Interested!"

"When I see a murderer, I immediately think of killing for love, immediately thinking of transference, immediately thinking of incest, immediately thinking of having an affair with my sister-in-law... Ordinary people can always have endless reveries on this level."

"Even if it is something that is not true, it can still be conveyed to you with both nose and eyes."

"What's more, before Aden was killed, her relationship with Kikuchi was indeed quite good. Without Kikuchi's coordination, she would have been kicked out on the street by Aqi - this would only make the busybodies think

Lian Lian."

This is true... Qingdeng thought to himself.

Throughout the ages, no matter when or where, people generally say "Sister-in-law, come here~", "Brother-in-law, don't do this~", "Madam, you don't want your husband to know about this, right? So I beg you.

~" and so on. The tauren were silent after reading it, and the pure love warriors were in love with the curious stories that made them cry.

Take Aoshinobu as an example - after he rose to fame and became a celebrity in Edo, all kinds of bizarre rumors about him have been endless.

For example, some people say that he is gay, and the evidence is that he hangs out with Kondo, Hijikata and others all day long.

Another example is the rumor that he is a lecherous scumbag and has affairs with multiple women - this is the rumor that Qingdeng hates the most!

Given the people's temperament that they don't take things too seriously when watching the excitement, and the greater the excitement, the more excited they get... It's not surprising that there are rumors like "Kikuchi Sensui and Aden are having an affair" that are completely unsupported by evidence.

thing.

"I'm not familiar with Kikuchi, so I don't know if he is the kind of beast who likes to do unethical things."

The old man took a puff of cigarette and continued.

"But to be honest, I personally think that the theory that 'Kikuchi and Aden had an affair' is completely groundless and cannot withstand any scrutiny."

"But...what use is my personal opinion?"

"In short, after Arden's death, rumors have been circulating that 'Aqi killed her own sister in order to avenge the loss of her husband.'"

"Gradually, everyone's evaluation of Kikuchi and his family... became increasingly unpleasant."

"Kikuchi was dismissed as a 'scumbag who can't take care of his lower body.'"

"Ardern was dismissed as a 'slut who meddles in other people's homes'."

"And Aqi was also dismissed as a 'evil woman who behaves in extreme ways'."

"Ah, that's right, I almost forgot to say that."

"Although all kinds of evidence point to Aqi as the murderer, Kikuchi has always insisted that the person who killed Aden was not Aqi. There was someone else who killed Aden, and Aqi was framed."

"In order to prove that he was not lying, Kikuchi even went to the execution office to report to the official, asking the official of the 'three times' to re-investigate the case thoroughly and clear Aqi and Aden's innocence."

As soon as the old man finished speaking, Qingdeng raised his eyebrows.

"Reporter...Old man, can you tell me the details of Kikuchi's report?"

The old man looked embarrassed.

Suddenly, his face was filled with apology:

"Um...Master Samurai, I'm sorry, I don't know the details."

"I only know that after Kikuchi went to report to the police, there was indeed a man named Tachibana... whose name I don't remember, Sadachi came back to Tongxin to take over the case and restart the investigation."

"However, Kikuchi and the mayor's joint investigation into the case seemed to have come to nothing in the end."

"In short, Kikuchi is a soft-spoken person. Although he has always insisted that Aqi and Aden are innocent, no one pays attention to him at all."

"Time flies... Kikuchi probably realized that he was doing useless work. He gradually calmed down and stopped arguing with others."

"Then, he became what he is now - sitting in the house drinking all day long. When he had no money to buy alcohol, he pawned the valuable things in the house. When there was nothing left to sell, and when there was nothing left to pawn, he

Go borrow money, borrow money.”

"Oh, Kikuchi...is considered useless."

"What a pity. Just because of an innocent disaster, a high-spirited private school teacher fell into a drunkard."

"Kikuchi is still young. If he can cheer up, he might as well start over."

The old man twitched the corner of his mouth and showed a look of regret that was half a smile but not a smile.

"It's a pity... I see his current moral character, and I'm afraid it's impossible for him to regain his strength..."

…

After Qingdeng waved goodbye to the old man, he walked straight along the road pointed by the old man.

After a while, a grocery store that was full of historical charm at best and very shabby at worst came into Qingdeng's sight.

Qingdeng opened the door and stepped into the store. A dark-skinned middle-aged man dressed as a shopkeeper greeted him with a warm smile.

"Hey! Master Samurai, what do you want?"

"Do you have any wine? Just sake."

"Of course there is wine! Sir, how much wine do you want? As for sake, we have a multi-pack of sake and a three-pack of sake."

[One combination = 180 ml]

"Just a bottle of sake in a pack will be fine."

"Okay! Please wait a moment!"

The shopkeeper quickly got into the depth of the container.

At this time, Qingdeng suddenly found three middle-aged men in simple clothes sitting in a small open space not far from the grocery store.

They each held a bottle of sake in their hands and drank freely while chatting. Even from a distance, the sound of them blowing water could be clearly heard.

"Your Majesty! Come! The wine you want!"

The shopkeeper returned to Qingteng with a bottle of sake.

Qingdeng took the bottle and weighed it a few times, thoughtfully.

"...Excuse me, can you give me three more bottles of sake?"

"Three bottles? Okay! No problem! Not to mention three bottles, sir, even if you want thirty bottles, I have the goods!"

…

After Qingdeng left the grocery store, he did not immediately turn back the way he came. Instead, he took the drinks he had just bought and strode towards the three old men not far away.

"Excuse me, do you have time now?"

The old men were all stunned. After realizing that Qingdeng was speaking to them, they immediately turned their faces blankly and stared at Qingdeng warily.

"Don't be nervous. As you can see, I don't have any ill intentions. I just have some questions to ask you and will only take up a little bit of your time."

After saying that, Ayoto placed the three bottles of sake he had just bought from the grocery store in front of the three old men.

Looking at the drinks set out by Qingdeng, the three old men suddenly swallowed in unison.

"We have time! We have time! We don't have much else, but we have so much time!"

One of the old men took the three bottles of sake handed over by Qingnobo into his arms, as if he was afraid that Qingnobo would regret it.

"Master Samurai, what do you want to ask? Just ask! Our three brothers will definitely tell you everything you know!"

"Well, my question is very simple. First of all, are you all residents of Haramachi?"

"Well! Yes, yes! We all grew up here!"

"Okay, then do you know Kikuchi Sensui?"

"Kikuchi Sensui? You know! You know! Of course you know! That boy is a celebrity here!"

"I heard that Kikuchi Sensui's wife is a murderer. Is this true?"

"Ah, there is such a thing. I remember it seemed to be a long time ago. At that time, the mess in Kikuchi's family was really big!"

"Oh! After hearing what you said, I remembered - that Kikuchi Sensui is nothing! He had an affair with his sister-in-law and made his wife go crazy and kill people."

"Yeah, it's terrible. Sure enough, men still have to take care of their lower body."

"Kill your own sister with your own hands, and then commit suicide... Kikuchi's wife is also a strong and cruel person..."
To be continued...