Shiwei Hall, the main room—
"Please have so tea..."
As Abi handed two freshly brewed cups of hot tea to Anthony and Elodie, her eyes couldn’t help but glance at their faces.
Anthony, awkwardly kneeling on the floor, smiled and thanked Abi, "Thank you."
Elodie, sitting beside Anthony, also bowed politely to thank Abi.
After nodding in acknowledgnt to the thanks from the grandfather and granddaughter, Abi quickly exited the main room with the tea tray in hand.
Outside the main room, Abi saw Zhouzhu, Kondo, and Chokata standing in the hallway.
"Auntie," Chokata asked in a lowered voice, "What color are those two people’s eyes?"
"Blue." Abi, looking as if she had just escaped from a dragon’s lair, nodded seriously with a solemn expression, "Their eyes are a deep sapphire blue."
Hearing this, Chokata hurriedly pressed his eyes to the crack of the sliding paper door of the main room: "So Westerners really don’t have black eyes..."
Zhouzhu and Kondo, with expressions full of curiosity, also pressed their eyes close to the door crack, trying to get a good look at Anthony and Elodie through it.
Kondo’s family had never seen Westerners up close, making it hard for them to suppress the curiosity in their eyes.
"Don’t just stand here," Abi frowned as she shooed Chokata and the others away, "Gathering outside the main room and peeking at people through the door cracks is so impolite. Move along now."
Inside the main room, as Abi was driving Chokata and others away, Aoto had already begun conversing with Anthony and Elodie.
"Mr. Angoulê, Miss Angoulê, long ti no see. Have you been feeling better recently?" Aoto smiled politely as he made small talk.
To hide their Western identity, Anthony and Elodie were wearing kimonos.
Today’s Elodie brought a new sense of freshness to Aoto—because she was wearing a white and yellow kimono that he had never seen her wear before.
Perhaps because Elodie’s hair color was light blonde, Aoto felt that the yellow kimono suited her quite well.
Other than her clothes, Elodie hadn’t changed from the one Aoto rembered—the one with beautiful golden hair braided into a plait draping over her right shoulder, with "air bangs" neatly sweeping over her smooth forehead, and her eyes sparkling with lively energy.
Indeed, it had been quite a long ti since he last saw this grandfather and granddaughter duo, having not seen them since returning to Edo at the end of January.
"Mr. Tachibana, thank you for your concern." Anthony gave Aoto a smile tinged with gratitude, "Both my granddaughter and I have almost fully recovered."
Though Anthony’s Japanese wasn’t fluent, he skillfully used various honorifics and humble words.
During the "Snowy Night Chaos," after being severely frightened and witnessing that horrific scene with dismbered limbs scattered everywhere, both Anthony and Elodie developed "post-traumatic stress disorder."
Even after returning to Edo and parting with this grandfather and granddaughter, the two of them were still in a very dispirited state.
Now, over a month later, the ntal state of this grandfather and granddaughter duo seed to have significantly recovered, especially Elodie, whose eyes had regained their liveliness.
It seed like they truly had moved beyond the "psychological trauma."
Aoto had quite a liking for Anthony, the grandfather.
It wasn’t just because Anthony bore a striking resemblance to Colonel Sanders, making him appear endearingly kind.
More so, it was because of his extrely gentle and polite nature, making interactions and conversations with him very comforting.
After exchanging so pleasantries with Anthony, the conversation gradually shifted to the main topic—Anthony began discussing the purpose of their sudden visit that evening.
The reason for their unexpected visit was quite simple—to properly thank Aoto, who rescued them during that snowy night.
Anthony expressed that they had long wanted to co and express their thanks in person, but due to the poor ntal state of himself and Elodie, they had kept postponing the visit.
After their ntal state significantly improved over the last couple of days due to prolonged rest, Anthony imdiately inquired with the officials about Aoto’s current residence and, without hesitation, brought Elodie along to express their gratitude to Aoto personally.
"Mr. Tachibana. We are truly sorry." Elodie, deftly placing her hands folded on her knees, gracefully and properly bowed, giving a flawless Japanese bow, "We took a whole month before coming to thank you."
"Ah, it’s no problem at all," Aoto quickly waved his hand, signaling Elodie to sit up straight, "I don’t mind at all."
Anthony had co with generous gifts.
Indeed, as a successful international rchant able to travel across the seas to Japan for business, Anthony’s financial ans were astonishing.
After he and Elodie solemnly bowed to Aoto to express their gratitude, he directly handed Aoto a large brocade box containing 120 taels of gold...
The enormous gratitude gift left Aoto feeling a bit overwheld with surprise.
Facing the brocade box full of gleaming Large Gold Coins presented by Anthony, Aoto first made a formal acknowledgnt of gratitude, then said to Anthony, with a tone of slight resignation:
"Mr. Angoulê, you really didn’t have to co all the way here just to thank ."
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