We took the 9:00 AM bus to Kyoto. Along the way, Ru Xue and Li Mazichatted and laughedin the back seats. They were so noisy that I couldn’t concentrate.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. Whycan't Italk?”

“Don’t you see that there are many office workerswho are sleeping?” I asked.

“Well,they can sleep, andI can talk. What’s the matter…”magic

Xiao Gao chimed in,“It’s differenthere thanin China. The public areas here are relatively quiet. It’s good to keep your voice low.”

Ru Xuefinallycalmed down.

Irealized thatmany things were different here. Japanese people respected social order a lot. They lined up when theygoton public transportation, and they sorted their garbage well. In our country, the government hadalways tried to encourage people to do the same, but the majority ofthe populationdidn’thave such good awareness. For example, public toilets in Japanwereperfectly clean, while theonesin Chinaweredirty and stinky.

I grew up with the notion thatJapanesepeoplewere ruthless, butwhen I came here, I realized that theywerewell-educated.

China had a longhistory and a lot of resources. After the Reform, the economy skyrocketed.We were able to getrichquickly, but more and more social drawbacks occurred. People got money, but theirmindset didn’t change. I thought these social practices were good things wecouldlearn from ourneighbors.

Mythoughtswandered back towhathappenedlast night. Saito wastheleader of a loan shark group. Perhaps that bald uncle had owed hima huge sum of money,and he happened to know a monster.Perhaps hebegged that monster to help him finish Saito off.

However, that fox spirit seemed topossess great power. Why did itsubmitto an ordinary man?

The bus service had a snack bar, and I wanted to buy some asI felt hungry. However, Xiao Gao told me not to buy snacks now and save myappetiteto eat kaiseki meals.

It was only forty kilometers from Osaka to Kyoto. We arrivedinone hour.Just likeyesterday, we gotoff the bus,checked intoa hotel, wentto the downtown area by noon,and visiteda famous kaiseki restaurant for lunch.

The Japanese kaiseki mealswereexquisitely prepared. However, itwasstrange that they wanted to focus on thecolor, aroma, and meaningof the dishes. I couldn’t understand what they meant by ‘meaning.’Anyway, although the kaiseki dishes didn’t taste bad, I thought it wasn’t as delicious as aspicyChinese 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 cityis based onChangan City in China, and itwasthe capital of Japan for quite a long time through a few dynasties.Itscurrent position issimilar toNanjing in China.”

The atmosphere of Kyoto was completely different from Osaka. Ancient structures were well-preserved, andthe peopleliving 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’tlook modernat all.

Yin Xinyue said, “This place is nice. I want to live herewhen I’m old.”

Xiao Gao said, “It’s very complicated to immigrate to Japan. Not to mention the long procedure, butwhen you come to Japan, you willhave to change your name…”

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

“Thatdoesn’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 Xuewentto takeaphoto with the man, and she came back with a flyer.

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

“It seems to be theAbe no Seimeishow.”

“Abe no Seimeiwas the most famous Onmyoji in Japan, right?” I asked.

“Right,Abe no Seimeiwas the greatest Onmyoji of all time. He subdued countless ghosts during his life. There are so many legends about him. Itis saidthatAbe no Seimei’s mother was a nine-tailed fox.” Xiao Gao nodded.

“Why do Japanese people like fox spiritsso much?” asked Ru Xue.

“In Japan, fox spirits are categorized as domestic foxes, wild foxes, fantasy foxes, heavenly foxes,and more. Infolklore, fantasy foxes are the farmer guardians. They protect the fields. They are similar to the God ofEarthin China. People worship them a lot. The heavenly foxes aregodlikeexistences. In the legend, Tamamo no Maeis the onlyheavenly 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, Xiqi’s army overthrewthe brutal Shang Dynasty.While fleeingfrom JiangZiya’s pursuit, Daji came to Japanand turnedinto the peerless beauty, Tamamo no Mae. She successfully charmed the emperor of Japan, becoming hisconcubine.Being seducedby Tamamo no Mae, the emperor neglected his courtand sankinto drinking, playing, and watchingbeautiful dancers. Eventually, the courtiers started tohavedoubts, so they decided to invite the OnmyojiAbe no Seimeito subdue the monster.”

He continued,“Tamamo no Mae was killed after a furious fight withAbe no Seimei. Before she died, she condensed her resentful energy into amurderousstone ball. This ball could absorb the energy from the wandering soulswithin aradius of several hundred miles. Tamamo no Mae could use this energy to rebuild her body.Abe no Seimeiknew he couldn’t kill the fox spirit, so he 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 noone has ever verified it.”

I turned and didn’t see Chuyi. He was standing in front of the small theatre, gazing at the poster ofAbe no Seimei.

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

“This is aclassical Japanese drama, probably a kabukidrama. Let alone Chinese people who don’t know Japanese, I’m a translatorandcan’tunderstand it thatwell. It’s similartoan American going to watch Chinese Huangmei opera.Theywon’tunderstand what’s going on…”

I understood Chuyi’s mood. Although we had different cultures,Abe no Seimeiwas someone who worked in the same field. Moreover,he was a godlike character!

It was rare to see him interested in something, soIdecided to go with himwhile Xiao Gaoand theothers went shopping. We would reunite after the show. Everybody agreedtomy suggestion.

We bought two tickets and chose two seats near the stage. After a while, the light dimmed. Slowly, the curtains pulled aside, and anactorwearing a kimonoand maskwalked onthe 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 withjust the rightstage effects.As forthe story ofthedrama…

Ididn’t understand anything!

After thirty minutes, I couldn’tbear itanymore. My eyelids were so heavyasthe melodic foreign languageplayedin my ears. Chuyi sat in the darkand looked veryfocused. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I had to pull myself togetherand tryto watch the show.

After a while, Ireally reached my limit. I nudged Chuyand asked,“Do you want to go out for some fresh air?”

Suddenly, Chuyi straightened his back. I was surprisedand asked,“Sincewhen did you fallasleep?”

“I didn’t. Iwaswatching the drama.”

He was lying!Weburst out laughing. Eventually,he waved his hand. “All right, we should go!”