Empress Dowager's Favorite

"Ricchan, Sawako, I'm leaving."

At the school gate, Furuhashi waved to the two girls.

"Goodbye, Fumino."

Several girls said goodbye one after another.

Asumi has gone to an extra school.

Exams are coming, don't waste time.

"Let's go?"

Naoki looked at Fumino.

"Okay, let's go." Furuhashi tugged at her scarf, and took out a cell phone from her pocket, "Let me first check how to get there..."

"Let me check." Naoki said, "Watch out for frostbite on your hands."

"Tokyo is not as cold as Hokkaido." Furuhashi put down the phone saying, "Except for frostbite when I was little, I never had it again."

The two walked towards the train station while talking.

...

Half an hour later, the two stopped in front of an old bookstore.

"We have arrived."

Furuhashi exhaled lightly, and white water vapor floated in the air.

"This is my first time climbing a wall." Naoki said, "I still remember that."

"Liar." Furuhashi was angry "You were obviously very skilled at climbing walls to enter the school before."

It was then entering school and getting caught cleaning the pool the most, which was completely different from climbing the wall and entering someone's house!

"The door is open, come on in."

Furuhashi opened the door.

Naoki followed Furuhashi into the house, and immediately smelled the unique smell of paper and ink from old books in the air. Not as good as new books, but it can make people feel peaceful.

It was just past 5 p.m., and the setting sun was tilting in from outside the house, turning the bookstore golden.

"Very quiet." Furuhashi said softly, "After grandma left, the bookstore immediately became quiet, and I probably thought of grandma too."

Every room, if not occupied for a long time, will become deserted!

"Check the room." Naoki looked up "Do you want to check the second floor?"

The used bookstore has two floors, the lower floor is a bookstore, and the upper floor is residential.

"Hmm..." Furuhashi nodded. "Already here, let's see."

Before grandma went south for the winter, she obviously cleaned the bookstore carefully, all kinds of books were neatly laid out, and the floor was clean.

The two examined it carefully, and Furuhashi raised his hand and curled the hair beside his ear: "I don't see any sign of a stray cat... Let's go to the second floor."

"Let's go."

Naoki nodded, and the two climbed the stairs, the wooden floors creaking under their feet.

Because of the angle, the setting sun couldn't penetrate it, and the surroundings suddenly became dark.

Naoki was walking when he suddenly felt someone hug his arm, he couldn't help but turn his head, looked at Furuhashi with a tense expression, and said in a subtle tone:

"Scared of being haunted by ghosts?"

"I don't, don't talk nonsense." Furuhashi quickly denied, and approached angrily, "If it's a ghost like Hanako-chan, I won't be afraid."

The dim surroundings, the creaking floors, and this wasn't his own house, anyone who came here would be scared.

Naoki said firmly, "I thought you were worried about the floor suddenly breaking."

Furuhashi stretched out his hand and pinched lightly, puffing his cheeks: "Don't crow mouth!"

Quickly walk up.

Even though it was small, it had all the internal organs, including a bedroom, kitchen, toilet, and bathroom.

The two of them went to see the bedroom first, it was clean, no signs of chaos at all, and no strange noises could be heard.

"The bedroom is fine."

After checking the bedroom, Furuhashi waved her hand, "Go to the next room."

The next room is the kitchen.

After a simple inspection, Naoki went to the next bathroom again. Furuhashi had not come out yet, when he suddenly heard Furuhashi's frantic screams from outside.

"Fumino?"

Naoki quickly walked to the bathroom.

Furuhashi was sitting on the ground, with many knives and forks strewn around her, her hands covering her skirt tightly, looking up with tears in her eyes.

"What is it?" Naoki reached out to hug Furuhashi "Are there any wounds?"

"I…" Furuhashi shook his head, "I'm fine."

"Just now I went to the bathroom to check. I saw dust on the stove and wanted to clean it up." Furuhashi explained while holding his chest. "I opened the cupboard to get a rag but suddenly something came out of there. ..."

Naoki raised his eyebrows: "Rats?"

If it was a stray cat, it would run as far as hearing people talk, only for the mice to lurk and pretend to be dead.

"It's just a rats."

Furuhashi nodded with tears in her eyes.

Creatures like women can crush rats in terms of strength and size, but for some reason, almost all of them are afraid of rats, especially Asumi who can't even hear the rats name.

"And there are still two." Furuhashi's face was pale, "After opening the cupboard, that suddenly ran from inside, without any precautions, I was so scared that I couldn't stand still."

"One ran past me, and one..."

Naoki asked, "What happened to the other one?"

"It is nothing." Furuhashi shook his head with lingering fear, and couldn't help complaining, "The kitchen is obviously very clean, there is no food at all, why are there still rats?"

"Because rodents have a habit of hoarding food in winter." Naoki said in a low tone "For example a squirrel, and just now…"

"Stop talking." Furuhashi covered his ears with both hands, "Don't say that name in the future!"

"Wait for me outside." Naoki stroked Furuhashi's hair, "I'll clean up the kitchen."

"Um."

Furuhashi didn't dare to stay any longer, walked obediently out the door, then covered her skirt, and looked inside pitifully.

There were many kitchen utensils such as knives and forks scattered on the ground. Naoki bent down to pick them up, grouped them, and checked the other drawers. After making sure there were no rats, he closed the doors and windows.

"Let's go." Naoki walked to Fumino "Look at the other rooms."

"Um."

Having learned a lot, Furuhashi has learned to behave properly now, and she will follow Naoki's every step.

The two quickly checked the rest of the room, and nothing happened.

"It's getting dark." Naoki looked at Furuhashi "Shall we go back?"

"Um."

The two of them went downstairs together, Furuhashi locked the door and put the key in the school bag.

...

There was only the last bit of the sun setting in the sky, and a vast twilight enveloped the earth.

"When is your father coming home tonight?" Naoki asked.

"At 10 pm, dad always comes home late." Furuhashi covered her chest with her right hand "What are you going to do?"

Naoki said firmly:

"Since your dad isn't home, of course we'll be back after having dinner together."

"Hmph." Furuhashi snorted softly, and suggested, "Go eat some ramen, I haven't eaten for a long time."

"Ramens..."

Naoki could only extend his voice.

Two days ago, he ate a super large bowl of ramen noodles with Itsuki, even though it tasted good, he almost got internally injured!

"What is it?" Furuhashi tilted his head and looked up.

"It doesn't matter." Naoki said, "Let's go eat ramen."

....

There was no need to look for it on purpose, the two wandered around the street for a bit, and found a ramen restaurant after a while.

"Is it here?" Furuhashi said softly.

"Okay."

Naoki opened the curtain and stepped into the ramen restaurant, a gust of hot air rushed in, and the air was filled with the aroma of broth and ramen, which made people's index fingers move.

It was still early evening, and there weren't many customers at the ramen restaurant.

Naoki and Furuhashi walked to a corner and sat down "I'll go get a glass of water."

Taking off his scarf and handing it to Furuhashi, Naoki turned and left, pouring two glasses of ice water.

When he came back, he found that beside Furuhashi was a girl I knew very well.

Waist-length blonde hair.

A face without a smile.

And those beautiful burgundy eyes...

If not Koizumi, who else!

I get to meet you every time I eat ramen. Are you planning to eat all the ramen restaurants in Tokyo?

"I'm back." Naoki sat beside Furuhashi, and handed over the ice water, "Here."

"Thank you."

Furuhashi took his cup and turned around to chat with the girl beside her. "Did Koizumi-san come for ramen?"

As a very popular socialite, Furuhashi naturally knows Koizumi, and the two sides have had some intersections.

Naoki suddenly felt guilty.

He had only had ramen with Itsuki two days ago, and today he was with Furuhashi again, but Koizumi was by his side twice… so bastard that zhe couldn't bear to look directly at him.

Koizumi seemed to have noticed it. She passed by Furuhashi and looked at Naoki. His expression didn't change at all. It seems that in his eyes, only ramen matters the most. She didn't care about gossip at all, and said calmly:

"I heard that the ramen here has a natural taste, so I want to eat it."

The sound is good, but it's a shame that you can't hear even the slightest ups and downs.

"A taste of nature?" Furuhashi became curious "I want a copy too."

"And I." Naoki followed, "I want to try it too."

A few moments later.

Three bowls of ramen served.

"Is this the taste of nature?" Furuhashi hesitated.

Naoki looked at the naturally flavored ramen in front of him, feeling a bit missing his chopsticks.

The biggest feature of this bowl of ramen is the abundance of vegetables, too many to fit in the bowl, and lots of them oozing out!

One could already see the shredded cabbage, a large pile of bean sprouts, and grated carrots... so green one couldn't even see the color of the ramen underneath.

It's not a natural taste, it's definitely a big bowl of vegetables!

"Taste it first." Furuhashi forced a smile "Maybe it tastes good."

Impossible.

Those green bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, and grated carrots looked like they were raw, and too much to soak into the soup underneath, no wonder they tasted so good.

"I heard that you should eat a little first, then stir in the vegetables and ramen…"

While Koizumi was explaining, she picked up chopsticks and started to stir, but his movements were decidedly awkward.

"Let me do it."

Naoki brought Furuhashi ramen, pressed down lightly with chopsticks, then started to stir.

It was a bit difficult at first, and was worried that the vegetables might fall out of the bowl, but Naoki's right hand was steady enough, and he quickly mixed the vegetables into the ramen without spilling the broth.

"Jiiii—"

Koizumi stopped his chopsticks, opened his eyes wide, and stared at Naoki without blinking.

Furuhashi understood Koizumi's expectation with the blink of an eye, and said:

"Asakawa-san, can you help Koizumi-san mix the ramen?"

Naoki sighed: "Leave it to me."

A few moments later.

"Ittadakimasu."

Naoki picked up his chopsticks and bit into his ramen, which smelled like bean sprouts and cabbage.

"I suddenly thought of a dish." Naoki thought to himself, "High class way to eat bean sprouts."

"What dish?"

Furuhashi turned his head curiously.

"It is said that after Empress Dowager Cixi grew old, her speech deteriorated and she could not eat fish, so a cook from the imperial dining room came over with dishes." Naoki narrated, "Choose a thick and well-proportioned mung bean sprout, pinch the head and tail, then use a bamboo stick, carefully make a hole in the middle."

"Then cut the chicken into very thin mince, and wet cotton threads. The wet cotton thread is passed through the needle, and the needle is passed through the bean sprouts, and the meat paste is inserted into the bean sprouts. This is the so-called silver tooth."

"There is a way to eat bean sprouts?" Furuhashi didn't believe it, and couldn't help complaining, "Eating a plate of bean sprouts will tire the chef to death!"

"This is not an exaggeration. It is too slow to go it alone, and much quicker to divide the work and work together." Naoki looked at Furuhashi "Do you want to try it?"

Furuhashi showed doubt upon hearing those words.

A special dish she had never heard of…certainly she was curious as to what it tasted like.

Koizumi turned his head without blinking, There was clear hope in his eyes.

Don't show curiosity and want to eat, a troublesome dish, if you want to eat it, make it yourself!

"Forget it." Furuhashi shook his head and said, "That sounds really troublesome, and too troublesome to look at."

"Now we can simplify the steps." Naoki said, "The most troublesome cotton thread can be replaced with a syringe, and the efficiency can be greatly improved."

Furuhashi was surprised: "Is it still possible?"

Times are advancing, and there are simpler methods, and there is no need to choose complicated and difficult ways to deal with them.

"I want to eat." Koizumi raised his hand and said.

"Don't you just like ramen?" Naoki raised his eyebrows.

Koizumi: "You can soak the bean sprouts in the ramen."

"Wait until Sunday, you guys can call Rizu and Sawako together." Naoki looked at Furuhashi, "You three are sprouting bean sprouts, and I will cook."

"That is too bluffing!"

....

The ramen is finished.

"Koizumi-san, I'm leaving."

Furuhashi waved at the girl.

"Goodbye."

Koizumi still had no expression, so she answered and turned around to leave.

Naoki pulled the scarf: "Let's go to the train station."

The two got on the train and went home separately.

...

At 9pm, Naoki was about to take a shower when his phone vibrated softly.

Turning to look at the phone, it was a message from Furuhashi.

"Asakawa-san, are you free now?"

"Free."

Naoki picked up his phone to answer.

"Could you come to my house?"

Naoki directly dials Furuhashi's phone:

"What is wrong?"

"I was tidying up the room at grandma's house before, and I was scared of rats and falling on the ground." Furuhashi hesitated "The second one ran under the skirt... Then I took a shower and found a wound on my leg..."