Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 312: Kyoto Prefecture with Many Political Parties
All kinds of women.
Woman in various poses.
However, no matter what kind of woman she is, she is painted very well.
Even someone like Lin, who has little knowledge of painting, can tell at a glance that the painters who painted these women have excellent skills. With just a few simple strokes, they have outlined the women's charm and the voluptuousness of their bodies.
A middle-aged man was lying in the center of the room.
He had a thin figure, messy hair casually draped over his face, and seemed unkempt , but both his clothes and body were surprisingly clean - this was the first impression this middle-aged man gave Lin.
This middle-aged man lying on the tatami is painting.
What he drew was a girl in a yukata.
The girl's figure has been outlined, and the middle-aged man is coloring the girl in the painting.
There were 8 incense sticks lit next to the middle-aged man.
The special sweet smell in the air comes from these 8 incense sticks.
Because the floor of the room was covered with Ukiyo-e paintings, Lin and Asai had a hard time finding a place to stay.
After a lot of effort, the two finally came to the middle-aged man and knelt down.
After Lin and Asai sat down in front of the middle-aged man, the middle-aged man put down the paintbrush in his hand and looked at Lin and Asai.
"Go ahead." The middle-aged man didn't even ask who Lin and Asai were, "What are you two doing here?"
Lin was not in a hurry to tell Mucun that he wanted her to be handed over to the middle-aged man.
Instead, he turned his head and scanned the surroundings with an interested look, then whispered to the middle-aged man in front of him:
"I never thought I would be able to meet the famous Jinle in a place like this."
"Oh?" The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows. "You can actually recognize me as Jinle... Have you ever bought my paintings?"
After hearing the conversation between Lin and the middle-aged man, Asai raised his eyebrows.
Asai had no interest in Ukiyo-e and had never bought any Ukiyo-e.
But even Asai, who had no interest in or knowledge of Ukiyo-e, had heard of the name of "Konraku" - a painter who specialized in painting beauties, whose works were always bestsellers, and his works had always been in short supply and extremely difficult to buy.
Asai also heard that Chikara was a very mysterious person. Even those vendors who specialized in selling Ukiyo-e had never seen Chikara's appearance, and no one even knew how old he was.
"I have never bought any of your paintings." Lin shook her head gently, "But I have seen your paintings before. Your superb painting skills left a deep impression on me, so when I saw the paintings in this room, I immediately recognized you as the famous painter Jinle."
"Thank you for the compliment." The middle-aged man, or Jinle, chuckled a few times. "I'm not really famous. I'm just well-known among those customers who like paintings of beautiful women."
"Did you two come here specifically to buy paintings?"
"If you have come here specifically to buy paintings, then you can take whatever paintings you want in this room. They are given to you for free."
Jinle raised his finger and tapped the tatami beside him.
"Oh?" Asai said, "We can take whatever paintings we want in this room? Is that okay? You spent a lot of effort on these paintings, right? With your reputation as a Jinle, you should be able to sell these paintings for a lot of money, right?"
“Hehehe…” Jinle chuckled a few times, “I paint purely out of interest. Ukiyo-e painting artist is just a side job for me to kill time.”
"I'm not short of money now, so feel free to take any painting you like from this room."
"Master Jinle," Lin said softly, "We have come here with great haste only to bring you a message on behalf of Makimura Yahachi."
"Oh?" Jinle's eyes flickered slightly, "Makimura Yahachi? Is that the 'Stegosaurus' Makimura Yahachi who used to be a yogi in Kyoto?"
Lin nodded.
"What did he ask you to bring?"
"A very brief sentence - 'There is a group of people killing people all over Kyoto City. 45 people have been killed since last night. Please be careful.'"
"...I specially commissioned someone to bring a message to me, but all he brought back was a reminder for me to be careful...Hehe, he really has the style of Mucun..." After Jinle muttered like this, he laughed softly.
"We have successfully conveyed Yahachi's message, so - we will take our leave now."
"Hmm? You two are leaving?"
"Yes." Lin nodded gently, picked up the katana placed on the tatami on the right, and slowly stood up. "As I said just now - we came here this time just to help Yahachi bring a message to you."
"Now that the mission is accomplished, there is naturally no reason for us to stay here any longer."
"Is that so... Then you two can go slowly. I won't see you off."
After saying that, Jinle picked up the paintbrush again and continued to paint with full concentration.
…
…
After Lin and Asai left Jinle's mansion one after another, Asai turned back and looked at Jinle's mansion for a few times, muttering softly:
"I didn't expect that Mucun actually knew the painter Jinle... and from the tone Jinle used when he talked about Mucun just now, it seems that the two of them are very familiar with each other."
"Yahachi was born and raised in Kyoto, and worked as a yoriki in Kyoto for five years. It's perfectly normal for him to have made some strange friends in Kyoto," Lin said casually.
"...Speaking of which." After a moment of silence, Asai asked Lin, "Lord, do you know why Makimura gave up being the Yoriki of Kyoto and left Kyoto?"
"I'm not sure." Lin said without hesitation, "I'm not interested in other people's past."
"Makimura often tells us about his life before and during his time as Yoriki," Asai said, "but he has always been very secretive about why he gave up the prestigious position of Yoriki in Kyoto."
"Yabachi is unwilling to tell me about it, which means that his history is not something he can actively talk about with others." Lin's tone became more serious, "So I respect Yabachi's choice. As long as Yabachi doesn't take the initiative to talk about it, I won't take the initiative to ask."
"Compared to Yahachi's past, I am more concerned about Yahachi's present and future."
"Hey! Have you seen the person on this wanted poster?"
At this moment, a loud shout suddenly came from behind Lin and Asai, calling out to them .
Lin and the other person looked back in the direction of the voice and saw that the people who called them were five young men who were not very old.
These five young men did not carry the weapons that were required of police officers: ten-handed rifles, so it was obvious at a glance that these five people were not police officers.
The leader of the five young men was holding Ogata's wanted warrant in his hand. After calling out to Lin and Asai, he immediately handed the wanted warrant in his hand to Lin and Asai for them to read.
Lin simply glanced at the wanted poster, then shook her head and said in a deep voice:
“No.”
In order to hide her identity, Lin always dressed like a man and deliberately lowered her voice when speaking, using a very neutral voice that was neither male nor female.
Not only that, in order to prevent people from recognizing her as the "Buddha's enemy" based on the swords at her waist, Lin specially wrapped the handles and scabbards of her katana "Yanma" and wakizashi "Furikishin" with cloth.
After Lin finished speaking, Asai beside him immediately shook his head and said:
"Neither have I."
"I see... Sorry to bother you then."
Seeing that they could not get any clues from Lin and Asai, the five young men did not show any frustration. They put away the wanted warrants in their hands, then passed by Lin and Asai and walked in the completely opposite direction.
After walking a few steps, the five young men stopped another person and asked him if he had seen the face on the wanted poster.
Lin and Asai were not in a hurry to continue on their way, but turned back and glanced at the five young men.
"…It seems that the story about 'disciples from the six major sword schools came out to help the officers capture Ittosai' is true." Asai whispered to Lin beside him, "These five people should be disciples from the six major sword schools."
Just now, Lin and Asai heard the rumor from passers-by that "the six major sword halls are also involved in the capture of Ogata."
It was not until now, after seeing with their own eyes the disciples of the six major sword halls holding Ogata's wanted poster and asking people everywhere if they had seen the face on the wanted poster, that Lin and Asai were convinced that this must be true.
Lin nodded gently and said:
"Let's go."
…
…
Lin and Asai walked straight towards the hotel where they were staying.
When Lin and the others separated from Makimura and Shimada and went their separate ways, they made an agreement that after Lin and Asai finished delivering Makimura's message, they would return to the hotel where they were staying.
As soon as they walked back to the door of the hotel, Lin and Asai saw a familiar figure standing in front of the hotel, panting.
It’s Shimada.
Before Lin and Asai could ask Shimada what happened, Shimada noticed that Lin and Asai had returned and immediately rushed towards them:
"My Lord! Asai-senpai!"
"Sorry, Katsurokuro, I kept you waiting." Lin was the first to apologize to Shimada, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. Do you have something to talk to us about? Where is Yahachi?"
Shimada shook his head.
"No, I just ran back."
"My Lord! Something big has happened!"
Lin noticed that Shimada was now very flustered, frowned slightly, and said to Shimada in a calm tone: "Don't panic."
Lin untied the bamboo tube hanging around his waist and threw it towards Shimada in front of her.
"You've been running all the way here, your throat must be dry, right? I can hear your voice is hoarse. Drink some water to moisten your throat first."
“Yes, yes!”
Shimada quickly unscrewed the mouth of the tube and gulped the water in the bamboo tube into his mouth.
"Don't be in a hurry." Lin still said to Shimada in a calm tone, "Drink slowly."
Shimada put down the bamboo tube only after he had almost finished drinking all the water in it.
Listening to Lin's calm tone, Shimada was involuntarily affected by it, and his originally panicked heart gradually calmed down.
After his panicked heart calmed down, Shimada told Lin in a concise and detailed manner what he and Makimura had just experienced.
…
…
"I'm sorry... Lord..."
After explaining to Lin and Asai what had happened, Shimada lowered his head, not daring to look at their faces again.
In fact, his face was full of annoyance and regret.
"I really am... so bad... Not only did I fail to rescue Senior Mucun from those officials, I also failed to catch that bald guy..."
After saying that, Shimada closed his eyes tightly, ready to be scolded by Lin and Asai.
However - the imagined rebuke did not come.
Shimada only felt a warm little hand on his shoulder.
Shimada slowly opened his eyes and raised his head - it was Lin's hand.
"The Kyoto officials attacked you and Makimura. You are not injured, right?" Lin asked.
"No..." Shimada shook his head. "It seems that the officials are only targeting Makimura."
"I'm glad you're not hurt. Thank you for coming here to report the news."
After saying that, Lin put down her hand that was on Shimada's shoulder, turned sideways, and glanced at Asai beside her.
"Shinaemon, Katsurokuro, let's go."
Lin raised the Yama and Zhen Guishen at her waist, and her eyes flashed with cold light.
"Let's... go get Yahachi back!"
…
…
In Kyoto, in the teahouse where Kamiyama and Hasegawa were staying——
At this moment, there was one more person in the teahouse besides Kamiyama and Hasegawa .
This person was Shenshan's assistant who had come specially to report the news to Shenshan.
The news that Kamiyama's assistant came to report to Kamiyama was very brief - Makimura Yahachi was arrested by Abe Riri's men, and Makimura Yahachi was currently imprisoned.
“…I understand.” Shenshan waved his hand, signaling his assistant to leave first.
After the assistant left, Hasegawa, who was sitting opposite the sacred mountain, said in a deep voice:
"…Did that Abe Riri have any grudges against you or Makimura Yahachi?"
Hasegawa did not know much about the factional struggles in Kyoto Prefecture, but based on his years of experience in Edo, Hasegawa could vaguely guess why Abe Riri wanted to capture Makimura for no reason.
“I guess so…” Kamiyama sighed, “That bastard Abe Riri…”
Just then, a noisy sound was heard outside the teahouse.
Wow!
The door of the teahouse was pulled all the way down in one go.
An extremely handsome young man, leading a young man with a noble air and excellent temperament, strode into the teahouse.
Both Kamiyama and Hasegawa were familiar with these two young men.
Just now, Mucun led these two young men to this teahouse to reach a cooperation with Shenshan.
Looking at the two young men striding towards them, Shenshan did not show any panic.
Because he had already anticipated that if they were arrested by the officials in Mucun, his companions would not just sit there and do nothing.
The handsome young man in the lead strode up to Kamiyama and Hasegawa, and questioned Kamiyama bluntly:
"Master Shenshan, can you explain to us why Mucun was captured by the officials?"
