In the southwest of Edo, there is a three-story mansion that is inconspicuous because it is located in a remote area.
There was never a shortage of dignitaries in Edo.
Compared with the mansions of those dignitaries, this mansion seems so inconspicuous .
However, anyone who has some knowledge of the identity of the owner of this mansion knows that the owner of this mansion is no less powerful than those dignitaries in Edo.
At this moment, Lin and Genichi were staying in a room in this mansion.
Both of them had taken off their katanas and placed them on the tatami to the right of their bodies.
Lin knelt respectfully on the tatami in an extremely standard posture, with her back straight and her eyes closed, resting her mind.
Compared to Lin, Yuanyi's sitting posture was much more casual.
Genichi just sat cross-legged on the tatami in a carefree manner, yawning from time to time.
The two of them had been in this room for quite some time.
They are waiting.
Waiting for someone to come.
After waiting for an unknown amount of time, the paper sliding door of the room was finally opened.
The person who opened the paper sliding door was a young man who was kneeling on one knee beside the door.
"Ms. Kinoshita," the young man said respectfully, "Master Dongcheng is here."
After hearing what the young man said, Lin, who had just been resting with her eyes closed, slowly opened her eyes.
As the young man's announcement came to an end, footsteps were heard approaching from afar in the corridor outside the door.
The sound of footsteps moved from a far distance to the door - a middle-aged man with an extremely strong build appeared outside the opened paper sliding door.
Although this middle-aged man was wearing a black kimono, the top of the kimono was completely unzipped, revealing his upper body covered with muscles as hard as rock.
While revealing his upper body muscles, he also revealed the hideous tattoos that almost covered his entire upper body.
The middle-aged man first looked at Lin and Yuanyi in the room with a calm gaze.
After seeing Yuan Yi sitting cross-legged casually, a subtle and strange light flashed in the eyes of the middle-aged man.
After taking his eyes off Lin and Yuanyi, the middle-aged man slowly walked into the room and finally sat down cross-legged in front of Lin and Yuanyi.
After the middle-aged man entered the room, the young man who was responsible for informing Lin that "Lord Dongcheng has arrived" gently closed the paper sliding door.
The paper sliding door blocked out the light from outside, turning the room back into a secret room.
However, in addition to Lin and Yuan Yi, there was also the middle-aged man who had just entered the secret room.
"...Long time no see." Lin was the first to say to the middle-aged man, "Lord Dongcheng. You really made me and my uncle wait for so long."
"I came to look for you in the morning, but it wasn't until the afternoon that I finally saw you."
"It's been a long time since we last met." The middle-aged man whom Lin called Dongcheng smiled and said, "Ms. Kinoshita, when was the last time we met? I had almost forgotten. You even brought Mr. Kinoshita with you this time."
"Please forgive me, Ms. Kinoshita. I have a meeting with the Kanjo Bugyo this morning that I absolutely cannot cancel. I am really sorry to have kept you two waiting for so long."
"It doesn't matter. I'm not in a hurry anyway." Lin said softly, "Master Dongcheng, my uncle is here too, so for the sake of convenience, you can just call me 'Lin'."
"Call me by my name?" Dongcheng shrugged, and then said in a half-joking tone, "Then you should also call me by my name 'Daigo'. Compared to my surname, I prefer my acquaintances to call me by my name."
"Compared to the last name 'Toujo', I always thought my first name 'Daigo' sounded better."
After making some witty remarks in a joking tone, Dongcheng sat up a little straighter and put on a more serious expression than before:
"Kinoshita...ah, no, Ms. Lin, I know you are a person who likes to get straight to the point."
"And I also like to get straight to the point and don't like to say too many irrelevant greetings."
"So let's skip the small talk for now."
"Just tell me what you want to do."
"Lin, you actually brought Kinoshita-sama to Edo as well. You're definitely not here to sell rice, are you?"
"Master Tojo. I hope you can mobilize your subordinates to help me find where Shiranui's new base is located in Edo."
Seeing that Dongcheng was very straightforward in wanting to get straight to the point, Lin stopped talking nonsense and went straight to the point.
Although Dongcheng just told Lin that she could just call him by his name, after all, the title "Lord Dongcheng" had been used for such a long time that Lin couldn't change it all at once, so she simply didn't change it and continued to call the middle-aged man "Lord Dongcheng".
"Shiranui?" Dongcheng frowned slightly.
"Master Tojo. You must have heard about Shiranui's cooperation with the shogunate and the relocation of their new base to Edo?"
"Hey, hey, hey, how could I not know about this kind of thing?"
"That's good to know." Lin nodded gently.
"What I'm more curious about is - what are you looking for the location of Shiranui's base for?"
"…The relationship between us in the Gourd House and Shiranui has always been quite bad."
Lin did not directly explain why she was looking for Shiranui's base, but instead said something that seemed to have nothing to do with the question that Dongcheng had just asked, as if hinting at something.
However - although she did not directly answer Dongcheng's question, Lin's words still made Dongcheng realize something instantly and he raised his eyebrows sharply.
"…It seems like you guys are planning to do something big here in Edo."
"hehe."
Dongcheng chuckled a few times.
"Miss Lin, you and Mr. Kinoshita are indeed relatives. You both like to do some very messy things."
"Looking for the location of Shiranui's base... This might be difficult."
"Although I don't have a deep understanding of Shiranui, I know that they are very persistent in keeping the location of their base secret."
"Few outsiders know the exact location of their base."
"Even for me, it's not easy to find out the location of their base."
“It may take quite a while.”
As soon as Dongcheng finished speaking, Lin said:
"It's okay, I can wait."
"Miss Lin, if you are not in a hurry, then it's easy to talk about."
"I will have my men go and investigate later."
Having said this, Dongcheng paused.
After a pause, a strange smile appeared on Dongcheng's face.
"Although I know that you, Miss Lin, can't owe money without paying, I still want to remind you, Miss Lin."
Dongcheng raised his hand and made a "money" gesture.
"Help you find the location of Shiranui's base - this is not a small favor that can be done for you casually."
“I’m definitely going to charge for it.”
"Besides, the price is not cheap."
"Don't worry about the money." Lin responded without hesitation, "This is not the first time that my 'Gulu House' and your 'Tojo House' have cooperated. Don't you know the financial strength of our 'Gulu House' and my ability to make money?"
"I, Kinoshita Lin, have plenty of money."
“Hahaha.” Dongcheng laughed heartily. “I like dealing with hearty people like you, Miss Lin.”
"Okay! I'll get all my men moving later!"
"Ms. Lin, besides helping you find the location of the base in Shiranui, is there anything else you want me to do? I will never turn down any profitable business."
"There are two more things I need your help with."
As Lin spoke, she reached into her arms, took out a neatly folded piece of paper, and then handed the paper to Dongcheng in front of her.
"First thing: Lord Dongcheng, I hope you can help me buy what is written on this paper."
Dongcheng took the paper from Lin with some doubts and unfolded it.
Dongcheng's pupils shrank slightly after moving his eyes and quickly scanning the words written on the paper:
"This is……?!"
"This is what I wanted you to buy for me, Lord Dongcheng." Lin said calmly.
"…Miss Lin, why did you buy these things?"
"Do you even need to ask?" Lin said calmly, "Of course it's used to cause trouble for Shiranui. I'm going to use it as our secret weapon against Shiranui."
When talking about the word "secret weapon", Lin emphasized the tone.
"How much do you want?" Dongcheng asked.
"I'll buy as much as you can get." Lin's answer was straightforward.
"...Ms. Lin, forgive me for being blunt - the thing you wrote on the paper is hard to get even for me."
"I know what I wrote on this paper is very difficult to get."
"But I also know your abilities, Lord Dongcheng."
At this point, a faint smile appeared on Lina's face, which had been expressionless since she entered the room.
"Master Tojo, you are the leader of Tojo-ya, the largest renxia force in Edo. You are the most powerful person in the renxia world of eastern Japan."
"Your power covers the entire Kanto and Tohoku regions, and you have connections with many high-ranking officials in the shogunate."
"The thing I wrote on the paper is only 'difficult to get' for you, not 'impossible to get'."
"Master Dongcheng, I know that you mentioned that these things are hard to get just now, but you are actually hinting that I will have to spend a lot of money."
Seeing that his little trick had been accurately seen through by Lin, Dongcheng showed no regret but grinned instead.
"Don't worry, Master Dongcheng."
Lin paused here.
After taking a deep breath, he spoke word by word:
"Like I said—what I have is money."
"Okay!" A brilliant smile appeared on Lord Dongcheng's face. "I will try my best to get you the things you wrote on this paper."
"Ms. Lin, you just said that in addition to asking me to find the location of Shiranui's base, you also had two requests."
"One of the requests was for me to go buy those things for you."
"What's the other request?"
"The other request will be easier for you, Lord Dongcheng." Lin said softly, "After you buy the things I wrote on the paper for me, I hope you can lend me a group of your subordinates who can use these things."
“I’m going to hire them.”
"Ha, it's indeed an easy thing to do." Dongcheng smiled, "Okay, no problem! But - hiring my subordinates also costs money."
"But to show my apology for keeping you two waiting for so long today, I will charge you a lower fee."
"Thank you very much." After saying this in a calm tone, Lin picked up the sword placed beside her and said, "We have finished discussing what we wanted to discuss, Lord Dongcheng, we will take our leave now."
"If you find the exact location of the Shiranui, or buy the things I asked you to buy, please come to the inn where I am staying to find me and my people."
Lin quickly gave the address of the hotel where they were currently staying.
"Ms. Lin, Master Kinoshita, do you need me to see you off?"
"No need." Lin said without hesitation, "Lord Dongcheng, you must still have a lot of things to do, right? So I won't bother you any more."
“Hahaha! I just like your personality, Miss Lin! Hey! Zong Bing, send Miss Lin and the others away!”
As soon as Lord Dongcheng finished speaking, a loud response came from outside the door.
The paper sliding door of the room was opened, and the person who opened the door and responded just now was the young man who first informed Lin and Yuan that "Dongcheng is here".
Led by the young man named Zong Bing, Lin and Genichi left the mansion in Dongcheng.
After leaving the mansion and walking onto a deserted path far away from the Dongcheng mansion, Yuanyi stretched hard.
"The negotiations with that guy Tojo Daigo went much more smoothly than expected." Genichi said with a smile.
"The reason why it was so smooth is because of your presence, Grandpa." Lin said calmly, "Dongcheng Daigo is a money-loving person. As long as it is a business that can make a lot of money, he will not refuse it."
"The reason why he agreed to all our requests so readily just now is because you are here, Uncle, so he dare not act rashly."
"Uncle, didn't you notice that when Tojo Daigo entered the room and saw you, his eyes changed immediately?"
"If you weren't there, I don't believe he would have kept talking to me about all sorts of things in order to get the most benefit from me."
"The reason why I brought you here is to warn Dongcheng: the 'Sword Saint' Kinoshita Genichi is also here, so don't mess around."
"I feel like I'm about to become a powerful bargaining chip for you, Xiaolin." After making a little joke, Yuan Yi asked Zhaolin, "Xiaolin, since we have successfully negotiated this mutually beneficial business with Dongcheng Daigo, what should we do now? Should we go back to the hotel and rest?"
"...No." After a moment of silence, Lin said softly, "I don't plan to go back to rest so soon."
"Although we have entrusted Tojo Daigo to assist us in finding the location of Shiranui's base, it is still unknown how long it will take him to find Shiranui's location."
"To be on the safe side, I would like to entrust a few more powerful and trustworthy people in Edo to help me find the location of Shiranui..."
After saying that, Lin turned her head and cast a questioning look at Yuanyi beside her.
"In Edo, the only reliable and powerful person I know is Tojo Daigo."
"So - Uncle, I know you have always had a wide network of contacts."
"Is there anyone in Edo who you think is trustworthy and can help us find the location of Shiranui's base?"
"Someone who is reliable and powerful enough..." Yuan Yi stroked the goatee on his chin.
After thinking for a while, Yuan Yi uttered "ah" softly.
“There really is such a person.”
"who?"
"Xiaolin, do you know the Shirobei Club in Yoshiwara?"
…
…
Edo, somewhere.
"There are so many people gathered in front." Ah-Ting, who was holding a Daifuku in his hand, chewed on it and said in a vague tone, "Ayi, let's go and see what's going on in front."
After saying that, without waiting for Ogata to reply, Atachi took the lead and walked quickly towards the crowd gathered in front.
Although it was a bit embarrassing to say this, Ogata had to admit that he and Atachi seemed to be more relaxed now.
To some extent, the two of them have become "playing mainly, searching for intelligence secondary".
However - although he has realized that he and Atachi seem to be a little too leisurely now, Ogata has no intention of correcting it.
From the time he left Kyoto until now, Ogata's nerves have almost always been on edge.
So Ogata was happy to take this opportunity to let himself and Atachi relax a little.
However, although the two of them were leisurely, they did not neglect much in their intelligence gathering work.
After experiencing the small incident of "Yoshiwara Doshin and Ueyu Hide catching the scum who ran away with the debt" at noon, and filling their stomachs at the sushi restaurant, the two successfully collected a new piece of information related to "Gozen Trial" in the afternoon:
Only the first place winner of the civil and military tests of the "Imperial Examination" can receive a prize. The prize for the first place winner of both the civil and military tests is 100 taels.
100 taels - this was a sum that was enough to attract ronin who had had enough of the poor life, as well as samurai from poor families.
With such a high amount of prize money, it is natural that it attracts many warriors who are short of money.
The reason why the system is set up so that only the first place can get the bonus is to motivate everyone to win the first place.
If it is set up so that the top 3 or top 5 places all get prize money, it will easily lead many people to have this idea: there are prize money to be won for other places anyway, so it doesn’t matter even if I don’t get first place.
As far as Ogata knew - although only one person could win the prize in both the literary and martial arts examinations, there were still a huge number of people who signed up for this "Imperial Examination".
It can be seen how amazing the temptation of this 100 taels bonus is.
Those who have confidence in their knowledge hope to get the 100 taels of silver that come with first place in the literary examination.
Those who have confidence in their martial arts skills are eager to get the 100 taels of silver for winning the first place in the martial arts test.
There are also some people who are confident in their knowledge and martial arts, and want to pocket all the 100 taels of silver from the first place in both the literary and martial arts examinations.
At the same time, there are also some people who are not interested in money and participate in this test just to compete with the masters.
The "Imperial Trial" thus gathered a large number of people of all kinds.
…
…
Ogata followed Atachi and ran quickly towards the crowd in front.
After reaching the outermost edge of the crowd, the two raised their heads and looked inside the crowd.
At the innermost part of the crowd, there was a sedan chair.
Everyone gathered around the sedan chair.
The sedan stopped in front of a magnificent mansion.
Several warriors dressed as guards stood guard around the sedan chair, preventing the onlookers from getting close to it.
Looking at the sedan chair, Ogata muttered:
"A double waist sedan chair... It seems that the person sitting in this sedan chair is from the Wu family..."
The Japanese sedan chair is also called "jialong".
People of different classes can use different sedan chairs.
The double waist sedan chair is a sedan chair that only samurai can use.
"What are you all doing here?" Ah-Ming turned around and asked an old man next to her, "Is there some important person sitting in that carriage? Why are you all looking at this carriage?"
"There's no important person sitting in that carriage," the uncle replied. "Do you see that big house?"
The carriage stopped in front of the gate of a magnificent mansion, and the big tree nodded towards the mansion.
"This is the home of a hatamoto samurai with a salary of 7,000 koku."
"The eldest son of this family married the eldest daughter of another hatamoto samurai family."
"Today is the day for these two families to hold their wedding."
"The bride is sitting in the carriage."
After listening to the uncle's explanation, a look of strong interest appeared on Ating's face.
He quickly turned his gaze and focused on the sedan chair, waiting with the people around him for the bride to come out of the sedan chair.
A hint of curiosity also appeared on Ogata's face at this time.
It has been more than a year since he came to the Edo period, but he has never seen a wedding of that era.
There are three main types of weddings in ancient Japan: weddings before Shinto, weddings before Buddha, and weddings before people.
There are many differences between these 3 types of weddings.
The biggest difference is that the Shinto wedding is held in a shrine, the Buddhist wedding is held in front of a Buddha statue, and the human wedding is held in the groom's home.
Compared with the wedding ceremony in front of gods and the wedding ceremony in front of Buddha, the process of the wedding ceremony in front of people is much simpler.
The sedan chair that the bride was riding in stopped in front of the groom's house - it was obviously a public wedding.
As everyone expected, a warrior standing next to the sedan finally opened the door.
A young woman in immaculate white attire slowly walked out of the sedan through the opened door.
Shiromuku - wedding dress worn by ancient Japanese women.
Since ancient times, the Japanese have believed that white is the color of sunshine and is sacred.
The white color of the white wuzui represents cleanliness and purity, and also means that after entering the husband's house, the house can be dyed into various colors, making it easy to integrate into the husband's family.
The bride had light makeup on her face, and with the white wedding dress on her body, she looked extremely beautiful.
After the bride came out of the sedan chair, exclamations of surprise immediately broke out from the crowd watching the scene.
When A-Ming saw the bride finally emerge from the sedan chair, a complex and strange light flashed in her eyes.