Although Ogata's attention was also focused on the bride who finally emerged from the sedan chair.
But he still keenly caught the change in the gaze of Ating beside him from the corner of his eye.
"A-Ming." Ogata lowered his voice and said to A-Ming beside him, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing..." That strange, bizarre light still lingered in Ating's eyes. "This is the first time I've seen Shirokuu. I just find it a little strange and I think Shirokuu is particularly beautiful."
Hearing what Atachi said, Ogata nodded:
"Well, it is indeed very beautiful."
Although when he was on modern Earth, Ogata had seen several photos of Shiromuku through the Internet.
But this was the first time that Ogata had seen a woman wearing a white wedding gown.
Although the pure white clothes do make the wearer seem to be shrouded in a sacred aura when worn.
After the bride walked out of the sedan chair, she was taken to the groom's home by the groom's people.
It is naturally impossible for these onlookers to enter other people's homes to watch the wedding.
Therefore, after the bride walked out of the sedan chair and was taken to the groom's house, the crowd who were watching the fun automatically dispersed.
"I feel a little thirsty." As they left the groom's house with the crowd around them, A-Machi said to Ogata beside him, "Let's go find a teahouse to drink some tea."
Ogata happened to be a little thirsty, and when he saw Atachi took the initiative to suggest going to a teahouse to have some tea, Ogata nodded in agreement without any hesitation.
While looking for the teahouse, Ogata looked up at the position of the sun in the sky.
It is a bright sunny day today and you can see the position of the sun very clearly.
After living in the Edo period for so long, Ogata has already become very skilled at judging the current time by the position of the sun and the moon.
According to Ogata's visual estimation, it is now around 16:00 in the afternoon.
The two of them found a small teahouse without much effort.
As soon as Ogata and Atachi entered the teahouse, a cute girl who was probably only 12 or 13 years old came up to them quickly.
"Welcome!"
Because she is still young, the little girl's voice is still quite childish.
When Ogata and Atachi visited the teahouse, there were no other customers and every table was empty.
The two of them randomly picked an empty table and began to order the tea they wanted.
"My two guests! Would you like to try our special steamed buns?"
After Ogata and Atachi each ordered a cup of oolong tea, the little girl took the initiative to promote their store's specialties to them.
Although both Japanese steamed buns and Chinese steamed buns are called steamed buns, there are still big differences between them.
Japanese steamed buns are more like Chinese red bean paste buns, with red bean paste inside.
It’s up to Ogata to eat steamed buns or not.
So Osamu gave the choice to Atachi.
He cast an inquiring look at Ating, who thought for a while and then said to the little girl:
"Then I'd like two servings of your special steamed buns! I'm a little hungry."
"good!"
The little girl seemed particularly happy to see that she had successfully launched the specialty food in her store . She walked quickly into the kitchen of their store with a happy smile on her face.
After a while, the little girl returned to the sight of Ogata and Atachi, carrying a large tea tray.
The oolong tea and steamed buns ordered by Ogata and Atachi were neatly placed on the tea tray.
Ogata did not rush to drink the tea, but first picked up the special steamed buns in their store that the girl mentioned.
A-Machi was the same. She didn't rush to drink tea, but planned to try the special steamed buns of this store first.
After taking a bite of the steamed bun in his hand, a look of surprise flashed across Ogata's face.
He found that what the little girl said was true. This steamed bun was indeed very different from the ones he had eaten before.
The biggest difference is that the dough of the steamed buns in this store is softer, and the red bean filling inside is more glutinous and sweeter, which is very much to Ogata's taste.
After tasting the steamed bun in her hand, a look of surprise flashed across Ating's face. It seemed that the steamed bun was also very much to Ating's taste.
The little girl standing by was paying attention to the expressions of Ogata and Atachi.
After seeing the surprise on Ogata and Omachi's faces, the little girl breathed a sigh of relief and said proudly:
"This steamed bun is my mother's secret recipe. How is it? Is it delicious?"
"Yeah." Ogata nodded and said sincerely, "It is indeed delicious."
Since there are no guests other than Ogata and Atachi, the little girl is very free now.
After serving tea and steamed buns to Ogata and Atachi, she did not leave immediately, but stayed beside them and started chatting with them.
Ogata and Atachi, who also had a lot of free time, were happy to chat with the little girl.
Through casual chatting, Ogata learned that the little girl's name was Ajiu and she was 12 years old.
She currently runs this small tea house with her parents.
Their tea house is a very common integrated residential and commercial shop in this era.
This type of shop usually has the first or second floor used as a shop, and the upper floors are used for living.
According to Ajiu, her mother had a severe cold these days, and her father was unfortunately hit in the waist yesterday. Although it was not a serious injury, he still needs to rest in bed for a few days before he can go out to work normally.
One of her parents is sick and the other is injured, and both are resting upstairs now, so Ajiu is currently the only one in charge of running the store.
"Ajiu, you are amazing." After listening to Ajiu's description of the current situation of their store, Ogata exclaimed, "You are so young, but you can run the store by yourself."
"That's nothing." Ajiu said modestly, "I usually help my parents in the store, so how to steam buns and how to make tea, these things are already very familiar to me."
Just when Ogata, A-Machi, and A-Kyu were chatting enthusiastically—
Snap, snap, snap…
Suddenly, there was a creaking sound of wooden boards being stepped on from the stairs not far away.
This sound instantly attracted the attention of Ogata and the other two.
Turning his gaze to the stairs, Ogata saw a young man who was probably about 30 years old, holding his waist and walking upstairs with difficulty...ah, no, he should be walking down.
After seeing the young man struggling to go down the stairs, Ajiu shouted "Father" and then ran towards the young man quickly.
Early marriage and early childbearing are one of the characteristics of the feudal era.
So Ogata was not surprised at all that Aju, who was only 12 years old this year, called this young man, who was probably not even 30 years old, "father".
"Father." After helping his father walk down the last few steps, Ajiu asked his father, "Why did you come down? Go back to your room and lie down to rest!"
"No..." Ajiu's father smiled bitterly, "There is something important that needs to be done."
"What's the important matter?" Ajiu asked puzzledly.
"I just remembered that someone has reserved 30 steamed buns from our store. I have already made an appointment with them to deliver the buns tonight."
"I've been busy recovering from my injuries these past few days and almost forgot about this..."
"Okay, Ajiu, let me go. I'm going to deliver the steamed buns and will be back soon."
“No!” Ajiu hugged his father tightly, “You can’t even stand up! How can you deliver the steamed buns! Father, who reserved the steamed buns for our family? I’ll deliver them for you!”
When Ajiu's father heard that he had taken the initiative to volunteer, a strange look appeared on his face.
"No." He shook his head without hesitation, "That kind of place is not for a girl of your age to go to."
"I have to do it."
"It's not the first time I've helped deliver the steamed buns!" Ajiu said unconvinced, "When have I not delivered the steamed buns perfectly? Why don't you let me deliver them?"
"Besides, what place is so dangerous? Only you can go there, but I can't."
Seeing that Ajiu refused to listen, Ajiu's father could only say to Ajiu in a helpless tone:
"The one who ordered the mantou this time is from the yukado of Sakuramonya, a famous restaurant in Yoshiwara."
"Can a girl of your age go to Yoshiwara?"
It wasn't hard to tell from the look on Ajiu's face that she knew where Yoshiwara was.
After hearing the word "Yoshiwara" from his father's mouth, Ajiu's expression froze.
But after hesitating for a while, she still said with a stiff neck:
"What's wrong with Yoshiwara? Can't I go to Yoshiwara?"
"Yoshiwara doesn't restrict the age or gender of those who enter, so why can't I go?"
"Of course you can't go!" Ajiu's father said angrily, "What kind of place is Yoshiwara? There are all kinds of messed up people in Yoshiwara!"
"Those traffickers like girls your age the most."
"If you go to Yoshiwara alone, be careful that you will be kidnapped by those human traffickers, and then sold to Yoshiwara or other places!"
Ajiu seemed to want to say something else.
But before she could finish her words, a male voice from behind her interrupted her:
"Ajiu, your father is right. A place like Yoshiwara is definitely not a place for a girl of your age to go."
The owner of this male voice was Ogata.
When Ajiu and his father both cast curious glances at Ogata, Ogata was gulping down the cup of oolong tea he had just ordered.
After drinking the tea in the cup, Ogata smiled at Aku's father and said:
" Let us deliver your steamed buns for you."
"Eh?" Ajiu's father was stunned. "Excuse me, who are you two?"
"We are just two guests who happened to be drinking tea here at this very moment." Ogata said, "You look like you have trouble walking down the stairs, so you can't possibly deliver steamed buns, right?"
"And your daughter is still young, so it's impossible for you to go."
"So let us deliver it for you. We are pretty free now anyway."
After hearing what Ogata said, Ajiu's father was obviously moved.
But the hesitation on his face did not completely disappear.
"Um... we don't seem to know each other, right? Why are you helping us?"
"If you insist on explaining the reason..." Ogata shrugged, "You can think of us as kind-hearted people."
Ajiu's father fell silent and looked up and down at the clothes of Ogata and the other man with a serious look.
Although Ogata and Atachi were not wearing any top-notch clothes, they were dressed neatly. Since they had never had to worry about food and clothing, they looked healthy, which was a far cry from the ronin who were mostly dirty, pale and skinny.
After a long silence, Ajiu's father finally nodded.
"Then... I'll trouble you."
…
…
30 steamed buns filled up a large box.
Aku's father wrapped the big box neatly in a dark green furoshiki, tied a big knot on it for people to hold, and handed it to Ogata.
"The store that ordered this batch of mantou is 'Sakuramonya' in Yoshiwara."
"'Sakuramon-ya' is one of the great sights in Yoshiwara. So after you enter Yoshiwara, you can find out the location of 'Sakuramon-ya' by asking anyone."
"When you get to Sakuramon-ya, just tell the people there that you are the ones that Tojiro from Seiya has asked to help deliver the steamed buns."
Seiya - the name of Aku's teahouse.
Tengjiro - the name of Aku's father.
"Understood." Ogata nodded and put away the big package.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Samurai." Although his waist was in great pain, Aku's father, Fujijiro, still forced himself to bow to Ogata.
"I'll be back soon." After saying this nonchalantly, Ogata walked out of the store carrying the big box of steamed buns.
After leaving the teahouse, Atachi said to Ogata impatiently:
"I didn't expect that you, Ayi, are such a warm-hearted person."
"Is this the first day you've known me..." Ogata couldn't help but say in a helpless tone, "Although I don't think I'm a very decent person, this kind of thing is just a small effort for me, but it is of great benefit to others, so I'm still happy to do it."
"Besides - the reason why I chose to deliver steamed buns to the people in the teahouse was not just because I was kind."
"What Fujijiro said just now has enlightened me."
"Yoshiwara is a place where good and bad people mix together."
"So we go to Yoshiwara, maybe we can gather some interesting information."
"Especially——maybe we can gather some information about Shiranui."
"So I plan to help deliver the steamed buns while I try to gather some interesting information."
"The chances of collecting information related to Shiranui... are very slim." Atachi said helplessly.
"Right, right." After a pause, Atachi asked Ogata, "I just heard Fujijiro say that 'Sakuramonya' is Omise. What is Omise?"
"I don't know much..." Ogata scratched his hair, "I only heard about Omise from Genichi and his friends when we were chatting in the past."
"Omise is the name of the rank of Yoshiwara yujoya."
"The yujo houses in Yoshiwara are divided into three levels, from high to low, namely Omise, Nakamise, and Komise."
"I heard that Omise is the highest-level yujo house, and there are only 7 or 8 of them in the whole Yoshiwara."
"Oh~ I see..."
…
…
Yoshiwara is one of the most famous areas in Edo.
No matter who you bring, he can tell Ogata and Atachi Yoshihara exactly how to get there.
It is October now and the sun sets much earlier than in the summer.
It was already evening when Ogata and Atachi arrived at the gate of Yoshiwara.
It happened to be the time when the flow of people in Yoshiwara started to increase.
Looking at the big door in front of him, Ogata murmured:
"Is this the main gate of Yoshiwara..."
Although he didn't know much about Yoshiwara, Ogata still knew some basic knowledge about Yoshiwara, such as that Yoshiwara was surrounded by tall wooden walls and had only one entrance and exit.
In front of Ogata and Atachi was a tall, open wooden door.
On both sides of the gate, there is a lantern for lighting, and there is a big Chinese character painted on the lantern: Gate.
Countless people come in and out of this gate, both men and women, but mainly men.
There are many young men holding wooden sticks on both sides of the door. These young men must be the guards responsible for guarding the door.
They all wore the same style of dark blue haori with many decorative patterns painted on it, and two Chinese characters were printed on both sides of the lapels: club.
On the back of the haori was printed a large Chinese character: 门.
Looking at the haori these people were wearing, A-Machi whispered to Ogata:
"Are these people the officials who are in charge of the Shirobei Club in Yoshiwara?"
Ogata nodded: "It should be. Come on, let's go in."
Before he even stepped through the gate, Ogata noticed an officer from the Shirobei Club who was also wearing the special dark blue haori and kept shouting "Onna-kiri" and "Onna-kiri".
As he led Atachi through the gate and into Yoshiwara, and passed by the official who kept shouting "Onna-shou", Ogata couldn't help but look at the official a few more times, and thought to himself:
——Female cutter...what is that...
Just as Ogata was muttering to himself, he suddenly heard a loud shout from his side:
"Hey! Where are you going, woman over there? Is this your first time in Yoshiwara?"
After hearing the shout, Ogata and A-machi both looked towards the source of the sound.
The person who shouted this was an old man who was also wearing that special dark blue haori.
This uncle was kneeling on the edge of the inner side of the Yoshiwara gate with several of his companions, with a small table in front of them.
Behind them is a magnificent mansion.
A lantern with the Chinese characters "会所" (club) written on it hangs at the entrance of this imposing mansion.
After turning their eyes to the uncle, Ogata and A-machi discovered that the uncle was looking at A-machi.
After looking around, Ating pointed his finger at himself.
“Are you talking to me?”
"Who else can I talk to except you?" the uncle said helplessly, "Is this your first time in Yoshiwara?"
"Yeah." Ating nodded obediently.
"I see... No wonder you walked through the gate like an idiot... If a woman wants to enter Yoshiwara, she must first come to our place to get the 'Onna-Kirito'."
"'Female cutter'?" Ogata asked in confusion, "What is that?"
"You can think of it as a pass." The uncle said, "Women entering Yoshiwara must first obtain the 'Women's Hand' before entering."
"When you leave Yoshiwara, you must return the 'Onna-Kirito' before you can leave."
"There is such a rule..." Ating muttered to himself as he walked quickly towards the old man.
"What are you doing in Jiyuan?" After Ating came to the uncle, the uncle took out a wooden sign from under the table and asked Ating.
"Do I have to answer?" asked Ating.
"It doesn't matter if you don't answer." The uncle shrugged, "I was just asking casually."
"Actually, I didn't plan to do anything." Ating said, "I just came to help someone from a teahouse deliver steamed buns."
As soon as Atachi finished speaking, Osamu on the side cooperated and raised the large box of furoshiki in his hand.
"Sending steamed buns? ... Are you a prostitute from another brothel who's greedy? ... Since this is your first time in Yoshiwara, let me give you a piece of advice." The uncle said seriously, "In Yoshiwara, never follow strangers."
"If someone tells you that they have a very lucrative job and asks if you want to work with them, you should never pay attention to them."
"These people are basically scum who trick girls into becoming prostitutes."
"If you run into someone like that, just yell."
"There are people from our Shirobei Club everywhere in Yoshiwara."
"As long as you shout, someone from the club will definitely come to rescue you."
"Oh...I see. Thank you for your reminder." Ating patted her plump chest. "But don't worry, I'm very powerful. Ordinary men can't beat me."
"Is this true?" The uncle seemed to think that Ating was just joking with him, so he responded to Ating in a joking tone.
"Anyway - although Yoshiwara is managed by our Shirobei Club, it is not a particularly safe place. Please pay attention to your property and safety."
"Here, this is your 'female cutter'."
"When you leave Yoshiwara, come here to return the 'Onna-Kirito'."
"Be careful not to lose it. If you do, it will be very troublesome. It will take a lot of effort to confirm that you are not a prostitute from a prostitute house."
A-Ming took the wooden sign handed to him by the uncle.
On this square wooden sign, there is a line of large characters written "Shirobei Club".
There is also a large square seal on the lower left corner of this line of words.
After playing with the "female cutter" in his hand for a while, Ating muttered:
"Why do you have such a troublesome rule in Yoshiwara that women must use 'female cutting hands' to enter and exit?"
"Do you want to know why?" The uncle's eyes flashed with a strange color, "The reason why the shogunate set up such a rule is actually very simple."
"It's just to prevent the Yoshiwara girls from escaping."
"In the entire Yoshiwara, this is the only gate for entering and exiting." The uncle pointed to the gate beside him.
"Only women with the 'Onna-Kirito' are allowed to enter and leave Yoshiwara, in order to prevent the Yuujo from escaping through this gate."
"From another perspective, this is also a cruel rule."
"Well, now that you've received the 'Female Cutting Hand', let's go into Yoshiwara. If you keep blocking here, you'll prevent others from receiving and returning the 'Female Cutting Hand'."
There was a long line behind Ogata and Atachi when they came to receive the "Onna-Kirito".
The people making up this long line are all women of different ages. Some of them are empty-handed, or holding a wooden sign that says "Female Cutting Hand".