Chapter 18 Regretful Parting

  "Sorry!" Oshima Michiko bowed with tears. "You won't accept me, just because I'm Japanese, your enemy? You hate me?"

  Oshima Michiko's apology brings Ruth out of her sentimental reverie, and this childish problem makes Ruth laugh away from sadness.

  "People who are hated don't suffer, but those who hate will eventually be covered in scars. However, some people have committed too many sins and shouldn't escape the retribution they deserve," Ruth said with a hint of eeriness. "As for you, little fool! You weren't even born during the War of Resistance against Japan, what does this have to do with you?"

  After Ruth told the story that had been pent up in her heart for decades, she felt much lighter and suddenly became a little more intimate with the woman who had been quietly listening to her.

  "Can you still accept me?" asked Oshima Michiko pleadingly.

  Ruth hesitated for a moment, looked at the plum blossoms on the hanging scroll in the middle of the hall, and those fallen red petals seemed like blood and fire, which made him feel startled. He thought of his parents' will again: "Xia'er died for the hometown and the elderly, Xue'er should keep her chastity for Xia'er!" Firmly said: "Sorry, there is no place in my heart for anyone else!"

  "Is she pretty?" asked Oshima Michiko tentatively.

  "You've seen it!" Ruth's expression suddenly turned stern.

  "What did I just see? No way! I'm not hallucinating!" Seeing Rutsu's sudden change in expression, Oshima Michiko was bewildered.

  Ruth didn't make a sound, but her face turned pale as iron.

  "What are you talking about! I've never seen it before! I really haven't!" said Oshima Michiko in a flurry of denial.

  "Her face twisted, almost spitting out the words from between her teeth: 'She-is-the-woman-in-your-album's-last-picture!'"

  Ah! Oshima Michiko was stunned. She had secretly flipped through the album and seen the last two yellowed photos, although they were not clear, but she could still vaguely make out that the woman with her hands and feet tied up in big characters was slender and pitiful.

  "No!" she said. "You must be mistaken, those are clearly two women. One is a young woman and the other is a middle-aged woman!"

  "That middle-aged woman is her mother, my aunt and mother-in-law!" Ruth spat out the words.

  Good heavens! Ohno Michiko felt her blood rushing to her face, burning hot and swelling. Was it the shame of what the Japanese devils had done back then? Or was it Ruth's words that reminded him of a scene deep in his memory? The dimly lit basement, the lecherous old man, she and her already crazy mother, bound by ropes, naked... A wave of sadness rose from her heart, she felt empty inside. It seemed as if today's encounter was arranged by heaven for her to atone for this man's sins.

  "Shixia Jun, can you grant me a request?" said Oshima Michiko with a sorrowful tone.

  Ruth Xia calmed down. "Please speak!"

  Oshima Michiko slowly unbuttoned her fox fur coat, revealing a white cheongsam with red plum blossoms underneath, which accentuated her slender figure. The cheongsam seemed to be quite old, but it still looked bright and new. A branch of plum blossoms stretched out from the edge of the collar, its dry and sturdy texture exuding an air of elegance and refinement. On the branch, some flowers were budding, some were blooming, and others were in full bloom, with light and shadow intermingling, creating a vivid and lifelike scene.

  Ruth was stunned, as if she had traveled through time and space. This wedding dress, he was too familiar with it, it was a custom-made Suzhou embroidery fabric by Ruihui's aunt, that unique pattern, the ingenious "double-sided embroidery" made the bright red plum blossoms and black thin branches stand out on the embroidered surface. It was both an embroidery and a sculpture, a wedding dress carefully prepared by Auntie for Meixia. 40 years ago, he saw his bride wear this wedding dress, 40 years later, a woman wearing this wedding dress appeared in front of him, he was a bit dazed, wondering whether it was Oshima Michiko or his beloved Meijie!

  "How did you get this cheongsam?" Ruth asked loudly, panting for breath.

  "It was Mr. Yamada who gave it to me, he said he likes me wearing this dress and that...he says I look the most beautiful like this...so, I also want to give you my most beautiful self, let me be your comfort woman, make up for past wrongs," Oshima Michiko said with a sorrowful tone, slowly unbuttoning her cheongsam, revealing a snowy white inside - she wasn't wearing anything underneath.

  Ruth rushed up, grabbed Oshima Michiko's hand, and wouldn't let her continue to untie it. She tightly hugged her in her arms and let out a mournful howl like an injured beast. More than 40 years of longing and loneliness, accompanied by tears like a burst dam, gushed out, falling drop by drop on the cheongsam. He tightly grasped the cheongsam, this familiar wedding dress, his heart shattered. Xiaojie, what humiliation and suffering you have endured!

  Oshima Michiko couldn't understand what he was crying about, but she had never seen a man cry like that before. She only felt the scorching heat on her neck, and she knew it was the scorching tears of the man holding her tightly. Especially for such an elegant and reserved man. Her own tears were also falling like strings of pearls, whether it was sadness, regret, sympathy or guilt, she couldn't tell either.

  Time seems to have frozen.

  Suddenly, a "beep beep" car horn sounded outside the door. Yu Xin Yuan had arrived.

  Ruth gently pushed away Oshima Michiko, choking with sobs: "Michiko, you should go back! I won't see you off, have a smooth journey!"

  Meizhi quietly tidied up her cheongsam, put on her coat, and bid a sorrowful farewell to Ruth. This time, she didn't perform the traditional Japanese bow, but instead knelt at Ruth's feet and kowtowed three times.

  Ruth gently lifted her up and kissed her forehead lightly, "Go!"

  Oshima Michiko reluctantly left the dormitory, and as the car disappeared into the depths of the plum forest, Ruth Xiao stood at the door watching her leave. The tall figure stood still, as if it had lost its soul, lost its heart... When she couldn't see it anymore, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, his eyes turned black, and he slowly sat down while holding onto the door frame.

  What appeared before his eyes was the scene of Mei sister waving goodbye to him with a reluctant expression.

  Three days later, a package arrived at the hostel with Jiayou's Chinese characters: Received by Sī Xiūn

  Lü Sī Xiá opened it and saw that it was the plum blossom cheongsam he was most familiar with, with tears still on it. Lü Sī Xiá's heart ached, and he buried his head in the cheongsam, which still had a faint body scent, was it Xiā Jiě's or Dà Dǎo Měi Zhì Zǐ's? In his heart, these two people gradually overlapped a bit.

  Underneath the cheongsam was a password album with a small piece of paper attached: 800224.

  Ruth understood that this was the day when Mutsuko Oshima and he would part ways, apparently Mutsuko had reset her password. Opening the album, except for the last few blank pages, there were no others, Mutsuko wanted to give him everything of hers.

  Many days later, Lu Si Xiao and Yu Xin Yuan attended a meeting together. During a break in the meeting, Lu Si Xiao recounted to Yu Xin Yuan what Oshima Michiko had told him that day.

  "It's all over!" Yu Xin shouted loudly.

  Ruth was taken aback.

  "It seems that Oshima Yoshiko also has a motive for murder, harboring resentment for a long time and having the best opportunity to approach Yamada Jiro, it's entirely possible that she would find an opportunity to kill him! It's all over, letting Oshima Yoshiko get away is like releasing a tiger back into the mountains! It seems that solving this case will be a distant prospect..."

  Ruth was amused by Xin Yuan's words and burst out laughing: "Xin Yuan, you! In your eyes, everyone is a suspect. How could a weak woman like Oshima Michiko possibly knock down a strong man like Yamada Jiro with one punch?"

  "Could it be a fatal punch?" A bright light flashed through Yuxin's mind, "Si Xia, are you saying that the mortal wound on Yamada Jiro's chest might have been caused by a fist? I didn't think of that!" Yuxin seemed to have an epiphany.

  "I was just kidding, don't take it seriously," Ruth returned to her calm demeanor, "I hope I didn't affect your train of thought on the case!"

  "You're just being fooled by Oshima Michiko, trying every means to excuse her. If she's really the culprit, then you're an accomplice too, I won't show any favoritism, and I won't let you off either." Yu Xin Yuan said with a smile to Lu Si Xiao.

  "Get out of here!" Ruth pushed him with her shoulder.

  "What's with the big fuss? I've hit your weak spot."

  Two people walked out together laughing.