We took the 9:00 AM bus to Kyoto. Along the way, Ru Xue and Li Mazi 

chatted and laughed

i

n the back seats. They were so noisy that I couldn’t concentrat

e.

 I reminded them a few times to mind their images and not shame Chinese people. Since it was an early bus, many people were sleeping. 

Ru Xue pouted. “There isn’t a no-talking sign on this bus. Why 

can't I

 talk?” 

“Don’t you see that there are many office workers 

who are sleeping

?” I asked. 

“Well, 

they can sleep, and

 I can talk. What’s the matter…” 

Xiao Gao chimed in

,

 “It’s different 

here than

 in China. The public areas here are relatively quiet. It’s good to keep your voice low.”

Ru Xue 

finally

 calmed down. 

I 

realized that

many things were different here

. Japanese people respected social order a lot. They lined up when they 

got

 on public transportation

, and t

hey sorted their garbage well. In our country, the government ha

d

 always tried to encourage people to do the same, but the majority of 

the population

 d

idn’t

 have such good awareness. For example, public toilets in Japan 

were

 perfectly clean

, while t

he 

ones

 in China 

were

 dirty and stinky.  

I grew up with the notion that 

Japanese 

people

 were ruthless

, but

w

hen I came here, I realized that the

y

 were

well-educated. 

China had a long 

history and a lot of resources. A

fter the Reform, the economy skyrocketed. 

We were able to get

 rich

 quickly

, but more and more social drawbacks occurred. People got money, but their 

mindset didn’t change

. I thought these social practices were good things we 

could

 learn from our 

neighbors.

My 

thoughts

 wandered back to

 what

 h

appened 

last night. Saito was 

the

 leader of a loan shark group. Perhaps that bald uncle had owed him 

a huge sum of money,

 and he happened to know a monster. 

Perhaps he 

begged that monster to help him finish Saito off. 

However

, that fox spirit seemed to 

possess great power

. Why did it 

submit

 to an ordinary man? 

The bus service had a snack bar

, and I wanted to buy some as

 I felt hungry. However, Xiao Gao told me not to buy snacks now and save my 

appetite

 to eat kaiseki meals. 

It was only forty kilometers from Osaka to Kyoto. We arrived 

in

 one hour. 

Just like

 yesterday

, we got 

off the bus, 

checked into

 a hotel

, went 

to the downtown area by noon, 

and visited

 a famous kaiseki restaurant for lunch. 

The Japanese kaiseki meals 

were 

exquisitely prepared. However, it

 was 

strange that they wanted to focus on the 

c

olor, aroma, and meaning

 of the dishes. I couldn’t understand what they meant by ‘meaning.’

Anyway, a

lthough the kaiseki dishes didn’t taste bad, I thought it wasn’t as delicious as a 

spicy

 Chinese hot pot. 

After lunch, we went to the pedestrian zone. Xiao Gao was our guide. “Kyoto is an ancient city with a long history. There are many temples, shrines, and cultural sites here. The structure of this city 

is based on

 Changan City in China

, and i

t 

was 

the capital of Japan for quite a long time through a few dynasties. 

Its

 current position is 

similar to

 Nanjing in China.” 

T

he atmosphere of Kyoto was completely different from Osaka. Ancient structures were well-preserved

, and

the people

 living here seemed to have a more leisure life. The streets were narrow and there weren’t many reinforced concrete buildings. As a whole, this city didn’t 

look modern

 at all. 

Yin Xinyue said, “This place is nice. I want to live here 

when I’m old

.” 

Xiao Gao said, “It’s very complicated to immigrate to Japan. Not to mention the long procedure, bu

t 

when you come to Japan, you wi

ll 

have to change your name…” 

Ru Xue laughed. “Oh, you need to have a Japanese name. Sister Yin, you can be called Yamamoto Yuexin

. B

rother, you can be Tanaka Jiulin.” 

“

That

 doesn’t sound nice at all! I don’t want to move to Japan

.

” I shook my head. 

Ru Xue soon found something interesting. It was a theatre. A handsome man wearing ancient clothes was delivering fliers. He looked like a cosplayer. Ru Xue 

went

 to take 

a

 photo with the man

, and s

he came back with a flyer. 

“What does it read?” Ru Xue showed the flyer to Xiao Gao. 

“It seems to be the 

Abe no Seimei

 show.” 

“

Abe no Seimei

 was the most famous Onmyoji in Japan, right?” I asked. 

“Right, 

Abe no Seimei

 was the greatest Onmyoji of all time. He subdued countless ghosts during his life. There are so many legends about him. It 

is said

 that 

Abe no Seimei

’s mother was a nine-tailed fox.” Xiao Gao nodded.  

“Why do Japanese people like fox spirits 

so much

?” asked Ru Xue. 

“In Japan, fox spirits are categorized as domestic foxes, wild foxes, fantasy foxes, heavenly foxe

s,

and more

. In 

folklore

, fantasy foxes are the farmer guardians. They protect the fields. They are similar to the God of 

Earth

 in China. People worship them a lot. The heavenly foxes are 

godlike

 existence

s

. In the legend, Tamamo no Mae 

is the only

 heavenly fox,” explained Xiao Gao. 

“Tamamo no Mae was Daji in China, right?” I asked. 

“

That seems to be the case

. After the great war of the Investiture of the Gods, Xi

q

i’s army overthr

ew

 the brutal Shang Dynasty. 

While fleeing

 from Jiang 

Ziya

’s pursuit, Daji came to Japan

 and turned 

into the peerless beauty, Tamamo no Mae. She successfully charmed the emperor of Japan

, becoming his

 concubine. 

Being seduced

 by Tamamo no Mae, the emperor neglected his court

 and sank 

into drinking

, playing, and watching 

beautiful dancers. Eventually, the courtiers started to 

have

 doubts

, so t

hey decided to invite the Onmyoji 

Abe no Seimei

 to subdue the monster.

”

He continued, 

“Tamamo no Mae was killed after a furious fight with 

Abe no Seimei

. Before she died, she condensed her resentful energy into a 

murderous

 stone ball. This ball could absorb the energy from the wandering souls 

within a

 radius of several hundred miles. Tamamo no Mae could use this energy to rebuild her body. 

Abe no Seimei

 knew he couldn’t kill the fox spirit

, so h

e sealed her in a place no one knows…”  

Xiao Gao’s story surprised us.

Ru Xue asked, “Those legends are just fabricated, right?” 

Xiao Gao smiled

.

 “It’s just a legend

, so no

 one has ever verified it.” 

I turned and didn’t see Chuyi. He was standing in front of the small theatre, gazing at the poster of 

Abe no Seimei

. 

He turned to me. “I want to watch the show.” 

“

This is a

 classical Japanese drama

, probably a kabuki

 drama. Let alone Chinese people who don’t know Japanese, I’m a translator 

and

can’t

 understand it that 

well

. It’s similar 

to

 an American going to watch Chinese Huangmei opera. 

They

won’t

 understand what

’s going on

…” 

I understood Chuyi’s mood. Although we had different cultures, 

Abe no Seimei

was someone who worked in the same field

. Moreover, 

he was a godlike character

! 

It was rare to see him interested in something

, so

 I 

decided to go with him

 while Xiao Gao 

and the

others went shopping

. We would reunite after the show. Everybody agreed 

to

 my suggestion. 

We bought two tickets and chose two seats near the stage. After a while, the light dimmed. Slowly, the curtains pulled aside

, and an

 actor 

wearing a kimono

 and mask

 walked on

 the stage. The audience clapped then quieted down to enjoy the show. 

The entire drama was around two hours long. The actors sang very well, and the performance was nice with 

just the right

 stage effects. 

As for

 the story of 

the

 drama… 

I 

didn’t understand anything

! 

After thirty minutes, I couldn’t 

bear it

 anymore. My eyelids were so heavy 

as

 the melodic foreign language 

played

 in my ears. Chuyi sat in the dark

 and looked very

 focused. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I had to pull myself together

 and try 

to watch the show. 

After a while, I 

really reached my limit

. I nudged Chuy

 and asked,

 “Do you want to go out for some fresh air?” 

Suddenly, Chuyi straightened his back. I was surprised

 and asked,

 “Since 

when did you fall 

asleep?” 

“I didn’t. I

 was

 watching the drama.”

He was lying! 

We

 burst out laughing. Eventually, 

h

e waved his hand. “All right, we should go!”