…
…
Makimura: “…”
…
…
——Hmm!
After seeing Asai's bright smile and hearing what he said just now, Makimura felt as if he had lost consciousness at that moment.
Fortunately, he just pulled back his soul that was about to dissipate in time.
——Am I dreaming?
Makimura couldn't help but question himself like this.
"Makino-kun, what are you doing? Let's go!"
In order to make herself look more feminine, Asai twisted the fingers of her hands together and held them against her chest while smiling at Makimura.
——I’m not dreaming!
Asai was originally a handsome young man.
After putting on women's clothes and putting on women's makeup, she transformed herself into a lovely beautiful girl.
With such a pretty face and such a brilliant smile, she should look very charming.
But Mucun didn't feel excited now, he just felt terrified.
Very scary.
Although her face was cute and her smile was impeccable, Makimura only felt horrified.
The reason is that only Asai's face was smiling, but his eyes were not.
The emotion in Asai's eyes was quite frightening. There seemed to be some bulging veins on his neck.
The eyes that were smiling into a pair of crescents contained 50% humiliation and 50% grief and anger, and there was no smile at all in them.
At the same time, Makimura could vaguely feel that Asai's hands, which were twisted together and held in front of his chest, were tense.
There is a faint green energy on the back of the hand...
To give a more vivid example... Asai is now like a wild beast trapped in a cage, craving for freedom outside the cage while gnawing at the bars of the cage.
If you ask Mucun if he has a bad relationship with anyone, he will definitely say "no".
But if Makimura was forced to pick out the person with whom he had the worst relationship, he would probably say Asai's name.
Asai has a serious personality, is taciturn and doesn't like to communicate with others.
In terms of personality, he is completely opposite to Mucun, so the two of them always quarrel over various trivial matters.
In the past, seeing Asai in trouble, Makimura might have smiled with glee.
But now, after seeing Asai like this, Makimura did not feel like laughing, but only felt quite sympathetic...
"Yes." Mucun nodded vigorously, "Let's go, Ajiang."
With the intention of rescuing Asai from the sea of ​​suffering as soon as possible, Makimura led Asai and followed quickly behind Gokutaro.
…
…
Just like the information provided by Ogata, Gokutaro is very fond of the "PR Club" in Yoshiwara.
Tonight, he and his follower walked straight into the Four Seasons House again.
After seeing Gokutaro and his follower enter the Four Seasons House, Makimura and Asai rushed over and breathed a sigh of relief.
Originally, the two were worried that Gokutaro might suddenly decide not to go to the Four Seasons House for drinks tonight.
If he hadn't gone to Shikiya to drink tonight, then both of them would have spent their time in vain tonight - especially Asai, who had spent a lot of time putting on makeup and learning how to wear a women's kimono.
Makimura and Asai did not enter the Four Seasons House immediately.
Instead, they waited outside for a while before walking together towards the Four Seasons House.
As soon as they arrived at the door of the Four Seasons House, a young man who had been guarding the door of the Four Seasons House came towards Mu Cun and the other person with a big smile on his face.
If Ogata were here, he would be able to recognize that this young man was the Matashichi who introduced him to Shiki-ya last night.
"I brought my friend here." Makimura first said to Youqi, "Is there any vacant seat inside now?"
"Yes, Samurai-sama, you came early, so there is still a seat. If you came later, there might not be any!"
Matashichi led Makimura and Asai into the Four Seasons House.
Just as Youqi said, there are still at least 50% of the seats empty in the reception hall of Four Seasons House.
After arriving at the reception hall, Makimura and Asai quickly looked for Gokutaro.
Because there weren't many people around, the two of them quickly found Gokutaro.
He was now sitting opposite his follower, and next to him and his follower, there was a young girl sitting next to each of them - these two girls must be the girls from the Four Seasons House.
Makimura and Asai were lucky - a table quite close to Gokutaro was now empty.
There was only one seat between that table and where Gokutaro was sitting - the distance was neither far nor close, making it the ideal "place to eavesdrop".
After the two sat down one after the other in this most ideal seat, a waiter immediately came towards them and asked them what food and drinks they would like to order.
On the west wall of the reception hall hangs a very conspicuous large wooden sign, which lists the drinks and food they sell.
After casually ordering two bottles of sake, as well as some squid, peanuts and other snacks to go with the sake, Makimura and Asai began to look around with curiosity.
The two had never seen such a way of business, so they were quite curious about everything in the reception hall.
"It's just like what Brother Ogata said..." Makimura whispered, "Everyone is gathering in the same place to drink. You can ask girls to drink with you, or you can bring a girl with you..."
The two noticed that perhaps because it was gradually entering the golden hour when there were more guests, more and more guests were pouring into the Four Seasons House.
Some come alone.
Some travel in groups.
Some of them brought their own women.
Some of them did not bring women with them, probably because they came specifically to experience the novel service of Four Seasons House.
Because there were no private rooms in the Four Seasons House, everyone gathered in the same reception hall, making the entire reception hall noisy and lively at the same time.
"What a clever design..." Mucun murmured, "Not having private rooms may cause loss of guests who prefer quietness, but it will greatly arouse the interest of those who like bustle and excitement."
“But this is not the most amazing design.”
"The most amazing design is to link the girls' remuneration to the drinks and food ordered by the guests."
“It will be a huge boost to the girls’ motivation.”
"Let the girls try their best to please their customers."
After a quick look inside the store, Makimura discovered the uniqueness of this store.
Being able to ask a girl to come over for a drink and a chat is actually not a very unusual thing.
Some larger tea houses actually provide such services.
But the strength of Four Seasons House lies in the two points that Makimura just mentioned: it increases the liveliness of the store by not having private rooms, and it links the girls' remuneration to the drinks and food ordered by the customers.
"Makino." Asai said at the side, "Don't forget the important things."
"I know."
The service at Shikiya was very fast. After just a short while, all the drinks and food ordered by Makimura and Asai were served.
After Asai filled a small glass of wine for Makimura with extremely unskilled skills, he began to chatter about some things that were and were not:
"Makimura-kun, do you know? I heard that the Satsuma Domain has been taking advantage of its geographical advantages to engage in smuggling activities with foreign countries, and even sent troops to attack the Ryukyu Kingdom..."
Asai was responsible for talking, and Makimura was responsible for eavesdropping - this was the division of labor between the two.
If two people don't talk and just drink and eat silently, it will seem very unnatural.
So the two of them divided the work between them - Asai would say whatever he wanted, it didn't matter what, as long as they pretended that the two of them were communicating.
Makimura was only responsible for nodding and responding from time to time, pretending to be listening to Asai, but in fact his attention was focused on eavesdropping on the conversation between Gokutaro and his followers.
In this way, in the eyes of outsiders, Makimura and Asai are a couple in which "the woman is more talkative and the man is more taciturn", and they are not likely to arouse suspicion.
In order to make her voice sound more like a girl's, Asai carefully raised her voice when speaking, and successfully portrayed herself as a beautiful woman whose "voice sounded neither like a man's nor a woman's."
In modern Earth terms, it sounds like a eunuch.
While Mucun sipped his wine, he nodded from time to time and said perfunctory sentences like "Oh oh!", "Really?", etc.
Makimura, who pretended to be listening to Asai's speech, always focused his whole heart and soul on Gokutaro.
Although the surroundings were very noisy due to the increasing number of customers, Makimura could still barely hear the conversation between Gokutaro and his follower.
"Keitaro! You know what? I recently heard from someone that if you mix garlic and soy sauce together and apply it on that thing, it will continue to grow!"
Listening to the conversation between Gokutaro and his henchman, Makimura could not help but frown. He thought to himself:
——What on earth are they talking about?
Although what he heard from Gokutaro and his follower was just a bunch of nonsense, Makimura still patiently continued to listen.
…
…
at the same time.
——I don’t know how Makimura and Asai are doing now…
Ogata muttered to himself, turning his head from time to time to look in the direction of the Four Seasons House.
Ogata is still patrolling the front half of Nakano-machi, so no matter how hard he looks, he cannot see the Shiki House. However, out of concern for Makimura and Asai, Ogata will still subconsciously look in the direction of the Shiki House from time to time.
Ogata was not worried whether the two of them would be discovered by Gokutaro and the others.
Ogata was only worried that Asai might cause trouble because he couldn't stand the women's clothing or the need to stay close to Makimura...
Just as Ogata was looking at the Four Seasons House which was out of sight, a familiar voice suddenly sounded beside Ogata:
"Mashima-kun."
Ogata looked in the direction of the sound.
"Ms. Guasheng, what's wrong?"
Uesugi, who was wearing the club's special haori, was holding the wooden sword at his waist and walking slowly towards Ogata.
"Mashima-kun, I have an urgent mission. Could you please go to Rashomon Riverbank?"
"Emergency mission?" Ogata raised his eyebrows. "Did something happen on the Rashomon Riverbank?"
"It's nothing serious." Uesugi gave a bitter smile, "It's just that there's a shortage of manpower on the Rashomon Riverbank."
"The officer in charge of the security at Rashomon Riverbank just reported to Lord Shirobei that there are more customers visiting Rashomon Riverbank tonight than usual."
“So I applied for more manpower to provide support.”
"So Lord Shirobei just asked me to pick some people to go to the Rashomon Riverside where there is a shortage of manpower."
"How about it? Mashima-kun, could you please go to Rashomon Riverbank?"
The official positions of the Shirobei Society can be roughly divided into three levels:
The official title of the highest leader was "Todori", which was held by Shirobei.
The official title of a cadre is "Bankata". Kawajiro and Keiemon, whom Ogata met yesterday, are the Bankata of the club.
Below them are ordinary petty officials.
At the same time, there are "temporary workers" hired by the club. These "temporary workers" are not formal officials, but are a bit like "mercenaries" hired by the club.
Guasheng and Xubianfang belong to this category.
Although Uesugi is a "mercenary" because of his strong strength, high ability to get things done, and the respect of many people, his status in the club is actually no different from that of Banfang.
Each area in Yoshiwara was assigned a banka to manage it.
According to Uesugi, this "request for assistance" was made by the Banpo in charge of the area along the Rashomon River.
"I don't care." After listening to Uesugi's words, Ogata nodded.
Now that Gokutaro has arrived, he has successfully told Makimura and Asai who Gokutaro is. Ogata currently has no reason to stay in Nakano-machi, so it doesn't matter where he goes now.
After all, Ogata's current identity is a servant of the Shirobei Club, so he still has to obey some orders issued by the club's superiors.
When saying goodbye to Uesugi and preparing to head to the Rashomon Riverbank, Uesugi said to Ogata in a serious tone:
"Mashima-kun, when you patrol and stand guard at the Rashomon Riverbank, you must not only be on guard against those who might cause trouble, but also be on guard against the prostitutes who live there."
"Those prostitutes on the Rashomon Riverbank might sneak up on you from behind when you're not paying attention, knock you unconscious, and then rob you of your money."
"They even dare to rob the club's servants of their money?" Ogata tugged at his haori, puzzled.
"Why don't you dare to rob?" Guess smiled bitterly, "There are many prostitutes on the Rashomon Riverbank who are completely indifferent to the laws and regulations."
"There have been many cases of prostitutes robbing the money of the club servants here on the Rashomon River."
"Anyway, you better be careful."
"... Got it." Ogata nodded, silently keeping Uesugi's reminder in mind, "I'll pay attention."
…
…
After bidding farewell to Uesugi, Ogata held the sword at his waist and walked slowly towards the westernmost side of Yoshiwara.
A major feature of Yoshiwara's layout is that it is centered on Nakano-machi, which is located in the middle. The closer you are to Nakano-machi, the more prosperous it becomes.
So as Ogata gradually approached the Rashomon River bank on the westernmost side of Yoshiwara, the noise became increasingly sparse.
The lights around became increasingly sparse.
After arriving at the Rashomon Riverbank, Ogata suddenly felt as if he had traveled from one world to another.
As soon as he arrived at the Rashomon Riverbank, Obane ran into a colleague who was wearing the same club haori as him.
"Hey." This colleague was quite old, holding a long wooden stick in his hand, guarding the entrance and exit of the Rashomon River. After looking Ogata up and down, he continued, "Are you new here?"
"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "Today is my second day working in Yoshiwara."
"Then you must be careful when patrolling and standing guard on the banks of the Rashomon River."
This caring colleague began to tell Ogata about the horror of the Rashomon Riverbank.
And what he said was very similar to what Uesugi had just said to Ogata.
However, this colleague also added some things that Guasheng didn't say just now.
"The prostitutes at Rashomon Riverbank don't care if you're a servant of the club."
"As soon as they see a man approaching, they dare to approach him to solicit customers."
"No matter what the prostitutes on the Rashomon River say to you, don't go into their homes," said the colleague. "Only those who are extremely poor come to the Rashomon River for pleasure."
"Anyone who is not extremely poor will not look for the prostitutes on the banks of the Rashomon River."
"From your looks, you don't look like a very poor person."
"So you should never enter the homes of the prostitutes on the Rashomon Riverbank casually."
"It will be troublesome if you get sick."
"I understand." Ogata nodded, "I will pay attention."
"I will teach you a way to quickly escape if you are entangled by the prostitutes in the Rashomon River Bank."
The colleague smiled and pointed to his left waist.
"If a prostitute from the Rashomon Riverbank pesters you, draw your sword."
"Then he said: 'Anyone who takes one step forward will be killed!'"
"As long as you draw your sword and say these words, no prostitute will dare to bother you again."
"Although the prostitutes on the banks of the Rashomon River are generally brave, they are not brave enough to take a single blow from the samurai."
"I see..." Ogata smiled bitterly, "Thank you for your advice."
…
…
Ogata passed by his colleague who was guarding an entrance and exit of the Rashomon River and officially entered the Rashomon River.
After walking inside for a while, Xu Fang saw an ordinary path.
There are densely packed houses on both sides of the trail.
There was a prostitute standing in front of almost every house.
These prostitutes either looked old or sick.
The prostitutes living on the banks of the Rashomon River were basically abandoned by their former employers for various reasons, and were then forced to live on the banks of the Rashomon River.
Because they no longer belong to any brothel, they can only rely on their own strength to attract customers.
No matter day or night, there are many prostitutes standing on both sides of the street on the Rashomon River Bank, using various means to lure the men who come here to their rooms.
Of course, there are also some prostitutes who use brute force to directly pull men into their homes.
Ogata remembered—and according to Uesugi, this was one of the reasons why this place was called "Rashomon Bank":
The prostitutes here force customers into their rooms just like the evil spirits in Rashomon.
Ogata tightened the club's haori around him and walked quickly toward the path in front of him.
Some of the girls were indifferent to Ogata's appearance here wearing the club's haori. They did not approach him to talk to him and just let him pass by them.
Of course, there are also some prostitutes who are just like what the colleague just said - they don't care who the man who comes here is.
Ogata had just walked about a quarter of the way when a dark-skinned prostitute came up to him and said:
"Master Warrior, are you interested in playing with me?"
After the first person came forward, the rest of the girls who had been hesitating about whether to go forward also mustered up their courage and rushed towards Ogata.
After a while, seven prostitutes of different ages surrounded Ogata.
They talked at once and tried to persuade Ogata in every way.
Some even went so far as to grab Ogata's haori and pull him.
Faced with this situation, Ogata could not make any other expression except a helpless smile.
"Sorry, I don't have time right now."
While shouting this, Ogata used his brute strength to force his way out of the encirclement of the prostitutes.
And these prostitutes obviously won't let Ogata go just like that.
As soon as Ogata escaped from the encirclement, these prostitutes surrounded him again, forming a new encirclement against Ogata.
Ogata kept repeating the steps of being surrounded, breaking through, being surrounded, breaking through...
After an unknown amount of time, Ogata finally successfully crossed and got away from the trail.
After Ogata walked away from the path, these prostitutes finally seemed to give up and stopped pestering Ogata.
After getting rid of these devil-like prostitutes, Ogata finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Looks like I'll have to smooth it out after I get back..." Looking at the wrinkles on his haori that were caused by the group of prostitutes just now, helplessness appeared on Ogata's face again.
Just as Ogata was patting the haori on his body, trying to wipe off some of the stains that could be cleaned, a strange male voice suddenly sounded from beside Ogata:
"You are such a weirdo."
"Hmm?" Ogata looked towards the source of the sound.
The person who spoke was a young man leaning against a brick wall.
Looking at this man, Ogata couldn't help but frown slightly.
Because the way this young man was dressed... was really a bit strange...
The young man was not wearing a men's kimono.
Instead, she was wearing a white women's kimono.
Men's and women's clothing from this era are still easy to recognize.
The sleeves of women's kimonos are much wider than those of men's kimonos.
The sleeves of the young man's kimono were very wide - it was obvious at first glance that it was a women's kimono.
——Why do I keep seeing guys dressed as cross-dressers tonight?
Just as Ogata was secretly wondering what happened tonight, the cross-dressing guy continued:
"When you were being harassed by those prostitutes, why didn't you just pull out the knife from your waist?"
"As long as you show the knife at your waist, those prostitutes will definitely not dare to bother you."
"Why would you rather spend so much effort to slowly get rid of those prostitutes than to draw your own sword?"
"People like you who ask strange questions out of nowhere are called weird..."
After complaining about this strange cross-dresser, Ogata straightened his clothes and said in a serious tone:
"A sword is a weapon designed to kill people."
"So I won't draw my sword casually. I will only draw my sword against those who are trying to use force against me, or who are trying to hurt or harm me."
"Those prostitutes just now didn't do anything but chatter at me."
"So I won't draw my sword on them."
"Of course - if they put a weapon to my neck and forced me to come into their room, that would be another matter."
"...Did someone teach you what you just said?" the cross-dressing man asked.
"No, it's just a principle that I figured out on my own and have been following."
"...Ha." The cross-dressing man was silent for a while, then chuckled a few times, "My name is 'Five Six', what's yours?"
"Majima Goro."
As soon as he gave his pseudonym, Xu Fang paused.
Then he laughed:
"Our names are quite similar."
The pronunciation of "Wuliu" is a homophone of "Wulang", and the pronunciations are almost exactly the same.
"I think so too." The cross-dressing man who called himself "Wu Liu" smiled faintly.