With the Shirobei Club's special haori on, you can wander around the streets without attracting any suspicion, as people will think you are patrolling aimlessly.
Ogata followed closely behind Gokutaro, keeping a distance of more than ten steps between them throughout the whole process.
The dense crowd between Ogata and Gokutaro provided Ogata with good cover.
Ogata's above-average height also saves him from the trouble of having his vision blocked by the people in front of him.
Gokutaro walked through most of Nakanomachi, turned a corner, and finally walked straight into an izakaya called "Shikiya".
After Gokutaro led his follower into "Shikiya", Ogata stopped not far from Shikiya and looked up and down at this izakaya called "Shikiya".
After following Uesugi on a tour around Yoshiwara during the day today, Ogata learned that Yoshiwara was not just home to brothels, but also had many ordinary shops and houses.
Vegetable stores, ordinary tea houses, restaurants, izakayas...all these ordinary shops can be found in Yoshiwara.
The decoration of this izakaya named "Shikiya" is not particularly luxurious. It is the kind of store that ordinary people will not think "I definitely can't afford it" after seeing it.
After confirming that Gokutaro and his followers had entered, Ogata strode towards the Shikiya.
A young man was standing in front of the door of this Four Seasons House.
The young man was shouting loudly, apparently trying to attract customers.
Ogata set this young man as his target.
Decided to try to get some words out of this young man.
After walking up to the young man, Ogata smiled slightly and said with a tone of emotion:
"The customer who just came into your store was really amazing..."
"Hmm?" The young man in charge of soliciting customers looked puzzled. "Which customer?"
"He is the young man who came into your store just now, and he was followed by a follower who was about the same age as him."
Ogata said.
"I heard from our seniors at the Shirobei Club that the customer who just came into your shop has been visiting Yoshiwara every night for nearly two months."
"I really envy people who have so much energy. Why don't I have that kind of energy?"
What Ogata said just now was half true and half false.
I learned from the seniors in the club that Gokutaro comes to Yoshiwara every night and it is true.
Last night, when I came to Yoshiwara for the first time, I learned from Uesugi that Gokutaro comes to play every night.
But the part about envying Gokutaro for having so much energy is false.
Ogata didn't think that he would lose to Gokutaro in terms of energy in that area.
After hearing what Ogata said, the young man looked as if he had suddenly realized something.
"Oh! You mean that person? I know that person too."
"That person is indeed amazing. Although he is at the age when he has the most energy, his energy is really admirable."
As the young man spoke, he smiled a somewhat lewd smile.
"Oh?" Ogata pretended to be surprised. "It seems that the man is indeed famous. Even the people in the pub know of his existence."
"Of course. That customer comes to our place almost every night to have a few drinks before going to the brothel to have fun."
Hearing the young man's words, Ogata's eyes narrowed slightly, but the change in Ogata's expression was very subtle, so subtle that it could not be noticed without careful observation.
"So that person is a frequent visitor to your pub."
Ogata crossed his hands and put them into his sleeves. He raised his head and looked up and down at the Four Seasons House in front of him, and then continued to guide the young man who was responsible for attracting customers to the Four Seasons House.
"By the way - your izakaya is really big... I didn't know there was such a big izakaya in Yoshiwara..."
"Don't you know our Shiki-ya?" The young man took a look at the Shirobei Club's haori on Ogata and looked surprised.
Ogata's induction went very smoothly, and the topic successfully developed in the direction that Ogata expected to see.
"I'm new here." Ogata gave an apologetic smile. "Yoshiwara has been recruiting new staff these days. I just happened to be short of money, so I responded to the call and passed the test."
"Today is my first day on the job."
“There is still a lot that I don’t know or am not familiar with about Yoshiwara.”
"So that's how it is." The doubtful look on the young man's face disappeared, and he showed a friendly smile again, "No wonder you look unfamiliar to me."
"Since you are new here, it is necessary for you to get to know our Four Seasons House well!"
"Our Shikiya is considered one of the famous shops in Yoshiwara."
"Oh?" Ogata asked, "Do you sell any special wine in your store?"
"That's not the case." A smug smile appeared on the young man's face. "The reason why our Shikiya has become one of the famous stores in Yoshiwara is because our owner has adopted a brand new management method."
“A completely new way of doing business…what kind of way of doing business?”
Ogata's curiosity was also aroused at this time.
"It's hard to explain with your mouth. Come in with me and I'll show you around. It'll be easier for me to explain to you after you've seen it first."
"Okay." Ogata took off the Daishikuten from his waist and handed it to his right hand.
"Ah, before entering the store, could you please take off your club haori? If the customers in the store see a club servant coming in, it might cause them to make groundless assumptions and panic."
"Yeah, no problem."
As he took off his haori, Ogata asked the young man:
"You took me to your store to see how it's run. Your superiors won't blame you for being away from your post, right?"
“Not really.” The young man waved his hand. “It is also one of my jobs to introduce our new business model to customers who don’t know much about Four Seasons House and attract them to come to Four Seasons House.”
"Since I won't disturb you, I'm relieved. My name is Majima Goro, what's yours?"
"My name is Youqi. Come, please follow me into the store."
Ogata held his sword in one hand and his haori in the other as he followed Matashichi into the Shiki House.
Under the guidance of Matashichi, they walked through a short corridor and came to a spacious place connected to the corridor. Ogata was immediately shocked by the scene in front of him and his eyes widened slightly.
“What is this…?” Ogata couldn’t help but murmur.
Walking into the Shikiya store from outside is like entering another world.
What caught Ogata's eyes was a reception hall that was so spacious that it seemed to have no end, and countless tables and desks.
Well-dressed waiters moved through the aisles.
A large number of tables and desks gathered around the central stage like stars surrounding the moon.
On the stage, skilled musicians were singing with shamisen.
The dancers dressed in gorgeous costumes danced gracefully to the music played by the musicians.
The current situation in the Four Seasons House can be described as being full of guests.
Guests of all kinds have occupied more than 80% of the seats in the hall.
Compared to the large stage in the center of the hall, the people sitting at each table attracted Ogata's attention more.
As soon as he arrived at the hall, he immediately noticed that there was a woman sitting at every table where someone was sitting.
The ratio of men to women sitting at each table is at least 1:1.
That is to say, there must be a woman sitting next to every man, chatting with him or pouring wine for him.
There are three men sitting at this table, so there is at least one woman sitting next to each of them.
There are very few men with more than one woman sitting next to them.
"This is the brand new business model created by our owner!" Matashichi said to Ogata with a proud tone, "Every guest who comes to our Four Seasons House can order one or more girls to accompany him to drink and chat."
"Our shop owner has spent a lot of money to find a large number of girls who are good-looking, eloquent, and willing to drink and chat with men."
"At the same time, we don't have private rooms here. Everyone gathers in a large hall to drink and chat. This is also the idea of ​​our owner. As for why the owner doesn't have private rooms, I'm not sure."
"The daily salary the girls can receive is linked to the number of orders they receive today, as well as the quantity and price of the drinks and food the customers drink."
"The more drinks and food the guests have, and the more expensive they are, the more money the girls can get."
"Thanks to the owner's design, the girls in our store are very active in their work. They try their best to please their customers and get them to spend more money on wine and food."
"Oh, I forgot to mention that the girls in our Four Seasons House don't do that kind of business. They are only responsible for drinking and chatting with guests."
"Customers are also not allowed to do anything too extreme with the girls in our store."
"If any customers behave recklessly, we will ruthlessly kick them out and will no longer allow them into our store."
Ogata listened quietly to Matashichi's explanation.
The more he listened, the weirder his expression became.
Looking at the bustling and bustling hall of the Four Seasons House in front of him, Ogata said to himself:
——Isn’t this the PR club?
Public relations club is one of the famous special industries in modern Japan.
Although he didn't know much about public relations clubs, Ogata had some superficial knowledge of this industry in his previous life.
The PR club is divided into male PR club and female PR club.
The job of the female public relations women who work in the female public relations club is to sit next to the guests and drink and chat with them after the guests call their names.
At the same time, they are only responsible for accompanying guests to drink and chat, and guests are not allowed to touch the female public relations staff.
To put it nicely, their job is "selling needs."
Let the guests enjoy the feeling that someone is listening to them carefully and needs them.
The main source of income for female public relations workers comes from the share of alcohol and beverages.
The more drinks the guests order and the more expensive they are, the more income the female hostess will get.
As for male PRs - the only difference between them and female PRs in their work is that female PRs mainly serve men, while male PRs mainly serve women.
Because it does not involve pornographic content, public relations clubs are a legal industry in modern Japan, and public relations is also a fairly legitimate profession.
Ogata had never expected that in Japan at the end of the 18th century he would come across a store that already had the prototype of the public relations club of later generations.
Although according to Youqi's introduction, there are still some differences between the Four Seasons House and the public relations club in later generations, they are not much different.
"When I go to your restaurant to drink, do I have to order a girl to accompany me and chat?" Ogata asked.
"That's right." Another seven nodded, "But our store also welcomes customers to bring girls to our store to drink and chat."
"You can bring a girl in by yourself?" Ogata couldn't help but look surprised.
"That's right. This was also our owner's idea. According to the owner, this is to cater to those who are wealthy and like to show off."
"Some wealthy customers would bring the top prostitute from a certain prostitute house to our shop and show her off in front of everyone."
"We also welcome this type of guests, because they tend to be generous with their money."
"Do you see that fat customer over there? He's a wealthy businessman in the tea business. He's also one of our regular customers. The one next to him is the top customer of Shirakiya - Miss Meiyin."
Ogata looked in the direction that Yashichi's finger was pointing.
I saw a fat man sitting at a table in a relatively conspicuous position in the hall.
Sitting at the same table with the fat man were four other men of different ages.
Next to the fat man sat a charming beauty who kept pouring wine for him while chatting with him.
There was also a girl sitting next to each of the other four men at the same table with the fat man.
However, in terms of appearance, the beauty next to the fat man has an overwhelming advantage over the other four girls at the same table.
Seeing this, Ogata couldn't help but burst out laughing.
I secretly felt that the owner of Four Seasons House was a talented person. In order to cater to and attract those vain customers, he even made a rule that "girls can be brought in to drink in the store."
It is conceivable that there must be many wealthy and vain guests who, after making an appointment with a famous prostitute in a certain prostitute house, would put their arms around the prostitute's shoulders and go to the Four Seasons House to enjoy everyone's envious gazes.
"I see..." Ogata nodded slightly, "It is indeed a very interesting way of doing business..."
This kind of public relations club-style management method was indeed a very new management method in the Edo period.
In this era, they adopt such a novel business method and also know how to take advantage of the psychology of vain people - Ogata now understands why the business of Shikiya is so prosperous.
"Please come to our Four Seasons House more often when you don't have to work in the future." Youqi said in a half-joking tone.
"I will." After smiling and casually saying another seven words, Ogata moved his eyes, looking for Gokutaro.
After a while, Oba found Gokutaro in the center of the hall.
Gokutaro is now hugging a girl and chatting with the follower sitting in front of him.
Although it is not allowed to do anything out of line with the girls in this store, just hugging their shoulders seems to be within the acceptable range.
His follower seemed to have no interest in the girl next to him. He just looked straight at Gokutaro in front of him and listened to Gokutaro's speech.
"Thank you." Ogata smiled and thanked Matashichi, "This is a very interesting store. If I have the chance in the future, I will definitely come to your store to play."
"Thank you very much." With a look of joy on his face, Matashichi bowed respectfully to Ogata.
…
…
Under the guidance of Matashichi, Ogata left Shikiya.
After walking out of the door of the Four Seasons House and walking to a position some distance away from the Four Seasons House, Ogata stopped and looked in the direction of the Four Seasons House.
Looking at the Four Seasons House, Ogata muttered in a voice that only he could hear:
"So that guy likes to come to the PR club to play..."
…
…
In Edo, in the inn where Ogata and his friends were staying——
"Makura, what's the next line of 'Threesome'?"
"'My wife must be there!'" Makimura answered without hesitation in a very confident tone.
"...Well, very good, a great answer. Makimura, thanks to your answer, I finally understand - your brain is really not suitable for studying."
"'When three people walk together, my wife must be one of them'?" Mamiya, who was sitting nearby and oiling his sword, replied calmly, "It seems that I have to keep some distance from people like Makimura who have extraordinary ideas in the future."
In the large room where Ogata and the other men lived, Genichi was leaning against the corner and taking a nap.
Mamiya was sitting not far away, applying oil to his sword.
As for Makimura and Asai...
"I was just joking." Mucun waved his hand, "It's 'there must be a teacher among you', right? I was just teasing you on purpose."
"…Makino, you should really be thankful now."
"Well, what are you thankful for?"
"Thank goodness Confucius passed away 2,000 years ago. Otherwise, if he knew you had memorized his wise words like this, he would have definitely beaten you up."
"It doesn't matter! Confucius definitely can't beat me!"
"That's different. According to historical records, Confucius is taller than you and has great strength. Without using weapons, you may not be able to defeat Confucius."
When they arrived in Edo the night before, Ogata and his group briefly discussed academic topics before going to bed.
After learning that he was the least educated one among the group, this incident seemed to bring some small stimulation to Mucun.
Early this morning, Makimura pestered Asai to teach him the Four Books and Five Classics.
Asai, who was unable to persuade Makimura, reluctantly agreed to Makimura's request.
Then the scene of Asai teaching Makimura "The Analects" appeared.
Asai was also a person who could recite the Four Books and Five Classics by heart, so even without the books in hand, he could teach Makimura to recite and understand the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics sentence by sentence.
It is worth mentioning that Lin is also in the room where Ogata and his group of men live.
Lin was now sitting next to Genichi. She was doing the same thing as Mamiya—applying oil to her two swords: the katana "Yanma" and the wakizashi "Furikishin".
The reason why Lin didn't stay in her room but stayed in Ogata's room was very simple - the sword oil was kept in Ogata's room.
Shimada, who had nothing to do, was sitting cross-legged not far away. To kill time, he kept silently looking at the huge black sword in Lin's hand - Yanma.
After being rubbed with blade oil, Yama's jet-black blade exudes a unique dazzling luster.
"My lord." Perhaps because he was bored, Shimada said to Lin, "I've always wondered why Yan Mo's blade is black?"
"I don't know either." Lin continued to apply oil to Yan Mo's blade, and responded, "I don't know much about sword forging, but from what I know, it seems that the blade turned black because of some special metal mixed in it."
At this point, Lin had just applied oil to the blade of Yama in her hand.
After putting down the special tool for applying knife oil, Lin Shu held up the Yama in his hand and looked up and down at the dark blade of Yama.
The color of memories appeared in Lin's eyes.
"Yan Mo is the precious sword passed down from my family..."
"It took me a lot of effort to get Yan Mo back from those stinky monks..."
After expressing this small sigh, Lin slowly put Yama back into the scabbard.
Just then, the sound of "dong dong dong" footsteps was heard outside the room.
Hearing the footsteps, Makimura, who was concentrating on studying "The Analects of Confucius" with Asai, raised his eyebrows.
"Brother Ogata is back."
"How do you know?" Asai asked.
"My friendship with Mr. Ogata has long been so good that I can tell whether it is Mr. Ogata coming just by the sound of his footsteps."
Wow.
The paper sliding door of the room was opened.
As Makimura said, Ogata had indeed returned.
Ogata held a sword in one hand and the haori of the Shirobei Club in the other.
"Hey, welcome back." Makimura took the initiative to greet Ogata.
"Yeah." Ogata nodded gently, "Today is quite rewarding."
"Oh!" Makimura crossed his arms, "It seems that lurking in Yoshiwara is still useful."
Ogata moved his gaze and looked at everyone in the room:
"Where's A-Ming?"
"Ms. Atachi is in her room now," Mamiya replied.
"I'll go get Atachi to come over," Ogata said, "I'll tell you slowly about my findings today once everyone is here."
…
…
In Atachi's room——
Atachi, wearing an ordinary kimono and with her hair casually loose, was now sitting cross-legged casually in the middle of the room.
There was a small table in front of him, and on the table was Atachi's most powerful weapon at the moment - Su Ying.
At this moment, A-Ming was doing maintenance on Su-Ying.
However, Ating looked absent-minded at this moment.
Her eyes were fixed on Su Ying on the table, and her face was expressionless, making it difficult to guess what she was thinking about...
Wow.
At this moment, the door of the room was suddenly opened.
Atachi was startled by the sudden sound of the sliding door, and her consciousness was pulled back to the real space.
"Ah, Ayi, you're back?" Because he was startled by the sudden sound of the door opening just now, A-Ting still looked frightened.
"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "Just got back, Ah-Ming, come to the big room where I live. I have a lot of new information I found out today to tell you."
"Oh, okay."
A-Ming hurriedly stuffed the half-maintained Su-ying back into her arms, and then simply tidied her hair and clothes.
…
…
Ogata called Atachi, who was doing care for Suying in her room, into the big room, and then began to share with everyone the information he had collected today.
Today is Ogata's first day lurking in Yoshiwara, but the amount of valuable intelligence he collected far exceeded Ogata's expectations.
Through today's lurking, Ogata obtained two very valuable pieces of information about Gokutaro.
Article 1: Gokutaro really does come to Yoshiwara every night to have fun.
Article 2: Gokutaro loves going to a special izakaya called Shikiya.
Ogata used the simplest possible sentences to explain to everyone the details of Shikiya's "public relations club".
The management style of Four Seasons House is extremely fresh in the eyes of Lin and others.
After listening to Ogata's explanation, Makimura grinned:
“It seems like a very interesting store…”
Asai beside him also nodded in agreement:
“I’m also somewhat interested in this store.”
After explaining to everyone what kind of store Shikiya is, Ogata began to talk about his subsequent actions and his discovery of Gokutaro.
After staying in the Shiki-ya for half an hour, Gokutaro led his followers out of the Shiki-ya and went to a "Nakamise"-class brothel not far away to seek pleasure.
Ogata originally thought about waiting until Gokutaro came out of the yujo house and then following him, trying to see if he could follow him all the way to their lair in Shiranui.
But as soon as this idea popped up in Ogata's mind, he dismissed it.
Because this plan has basically no chance of success.
Yoshiwara was crowded with people, and thanks to the dense crowds and his identity as a servant of the Shirobei Society, Ogata was able to avoid being discovered by Gokutaro.
The base in Shiranui would definitely not be located in a conspicuous downtown area, but somewhere with few people.
Outside Yoshiwara, where there are few people and little cover, Ogata does not have the confidence to track a ninja of the "Four Heavenly Kings" level.
At around 10 o'clock in the evening, the gates of Yoshiwara will be closed.
People inside and outside Yoshiwara can only enter and exit through the soda gates on both sides of the gate.
By the time the Yoshiwara gate was closed, the flow of people entering and leaving Yoshiwara was very small.
This is also the time when temporary workers like Ogata can go off work.
After getting off work, Xu went straight back to the hotel where they were staying and reported his gains of the day to everyone.
After quietly listening to Ogata's report on the information he had collected about Gokutaro in Yoshiwara today, Lin nodded:
"Thank you for your hard work."
After saying that, Lin leaned over and bowed to Ogata.
"Is that Gokutaro a frequent visitor to that Shikiya..." Mamiya muttered, "This information... is very useful!"
"Yeah." Lin nodded seriously and said, "I think so too."
"I think - we can do something big with this place."
"I have a plan now."
After clearing her throat, Lin continued:
"Since Gokutaro is a frequent visitor to the Four Seasons Restaurant and goes there to have a drink almost every day, we can send someone to go to the Four Seasons Restaurant to drink every night."
“I see.” Mamiya smiled faintly after understanding Lin’s plan. “Sending people to drink at Shikiya every night, pretending to be having fun, but actually trying to eavesdrop on Gokutaro’s conversations with others…”
"Yeah." Lin nodded. "If you eavesdrop on Gokutaro's conversation with others, you might hear something interesting."
"But... if we want to implement this plan, we must at least send one man and one woman." Asai frowned slightly and raised his doubts. "According to Ittosai, if we go to the Shikiya to drink, we either have to order a girl from their store."
"Or bring a girl in yourself."
"It's definitely not okay to order a girl from their store."
"Their remuneration is tied to the food and drinks ordered by the guests."
"In order to get customers to order more food and drinks, they will definitely say a lot of nice things to induce you to buy food and drinks."
"So order a shop girl to accompany you, she will definitely get in the way."
"So it's best if we send one man and one woman to the Four Seasons House."
"Two people working together will definitely be much more efficient."
As soon as Asai said this, the atmosphere in the whole room immediately became strange.
Asai's suggestion of "sending a man and a woman" is indeed a good one.
It’s just that there are only two women here.
A-Machi definitely can't go to Shiki-ya.
After all, Atachi is a traitor in Shiranui. It is too dangerous to let Atachi go to the Shikiya where Gokutaro often goes.
In order to avoid being discovered by Gokutaro, A-machi could only put on terrifyingly heavy makeup, just like she did yesterday when she followed Ogata to collect information about the "Imperial Trial".
But if you go to Four Seasons House with too much makeup on, it will be counterproductive.
The store is full of beautifully dressed girls, but the girl next to you is wearing heavy makeup, which will be quite conspicuous and will not be conducive to completing this "eavesdropping mission".
So it is impossible for Ating to go to Shikiya.
Therefore, the only person I could choose was Lin.
only……
…
…
Mamiya, Makimura and others looked at each other.
They looked at each other, communicating silently with their eyes.
Makimura: (Hey, Mamiya, you go and tell the lord. You have followed the lord for the longest time, and the lord trusts you the most. It is most appropriate for you to tell the lord.)
Mamiya: (I don’t want to.)
Asai: (Makimura, you go.)
Makimura: (Why don’t you go?)
Shimada: (Mr. Genichi…)
Genichi: (Don’t look at me…)
The above is the general content of the "spiritual communication" between Mamiya and his group of people.
They were all persuading others to speak up bravely: "Lord! The mission of lurking in the Four Seasons House is up to you!"
But after exchanging glances for a long time, the brave man did not appear...
Ogata and Atachi also instinctively felt that now was not a good time for them to talk, so they both remained silent.
The room fell into a strange silence for a while before someone finally spoke up to break the silence.
The person who spoke up to break the silence was Lin.
"Actually..." Lin said softly with a blank expression, "It is not necessary to send a man and a woman."
"You can send two men..."
"As long as one of the men knows how to dress as a woman, it will be fine."
Hearing Lin's words, Ogata raised his eyebrows.
The moment Lin finished speaking, Ogata understood what she meant.
No.
It should be said that everyone present understood what Lin meant after hearing her words...
Everyone at the scene...except Mamiya, whose forehead was now covered with cold sweat, turned their heads and cast strange glances at Mamiya.
"…Mamiya." Ogata said softly, "Have you ever learned how to dress as a woman somewhere?"