I formed the strongest swordsman group

Kinoshita Mai, who pulled the veil all the way to her lower eyelids, buried her small head so low that her chin almost touched her collarbone, her eyes fixed on her small toes, ten delicate feet wrapped under the black foot bag The toes are constantly gripping the ground under the feet.

Although Kinoshita Mai pulled up and tightened the kerchief on her face, she was actually only feeling lonely, and the bright red clouds had already covered the corners of her eyes and forehead.

Although Kinoshita Mai covered the parts below the eyes, he was quite familiar with Kinoshita Mai's face. When he looked at Kinoshita Mai who was wearing a face scarf, he could automatically make up Kinoshita Mai's face in his mind. .

Even the corners of the eyes and forehead were flushed...Qingdeng could already imagine how red the parts under the eyelids were now.

At this moment, Qingdeng was a little moved in his heart.

According to Kinoshita Wu's behavior and explanation just now, it is not difficult to see that Kinoshita Wu should have been anxious to check Qingdeng's injury with her own eyes just now, so she made the abnormal behavior of "asking Qingdeng to take off his clothes quickly and let me see".

After confirming that the injuries on Qingdeng's body were all fine, and letting go of his worries, he belatedly began to realize how daring he had done just now.

In this kind of environment where there are no outsiders, lonely men and widows, asking a man to take off his upper body clothes... This kind of thing is a very bold thing in the 21st century, let alone in the 19th century. feudal society.

Kinoshita Mai cared so much about his injuries, which really moved Qingdeng a little.

Originally, Qingdeng didn't feel too embarrassed. After all, things like "take off your shirt and expose your wounds for others to see" are completely harmless to Qingdeng, and it is Mai Kinoshita who made the bold request of "take off your clothes to see your wounds", not him.

But... after seeing Kinoshita Mai's current appearance with her head buried low and her cheeks flushed, Qingdeng couldn't help feeling gradually embarrassed by the influence of the surrounding atmosphere.

Besides feeling embarrassed, Qingdeng also found that the itching feeling in his heart was getting stronger...

Qingdeng feels as if an invisible hand is scratching his chest now... his chest is itchy.

I don't know if it was affected by this itching, but Qingdeng felt his heart was beating a little faster now.

It's a strange feeling... I have never experienced this kind of itchy feeling in my heart, whether in my previous life or in this life.

While re-dressing, Qingdeng was thinking about what to say to get rid of the awkward atmosphere right now.

While thinking, Qingdeng's gaze unconsciously fell on Kinoshita Mai.

What made Qingdeng feel unbelievable happened suddenly.

When his gaze focused on Kinoshita Wu, Qingdeng suddenly found that the numbness in his heart had intensified a lot...

The sudden itching in his heart made Qingdeng subconsciously raise his hand and scratch his chest.

Originally, he wanted to say something to get rid of the embarrassing atmosphere lingering between the two of them, but under the influence of the sudden itching in his heart, Qingdeng didn't know how to speak or what to say. what.

Fortunately, at this moment, a strange noise rang out suddenly, which helped Qingdeng solve the problem of "how to speak"——

Meow~~Meow~~Meow~~Meow~~

Beside Qingdeng and the others, a black cat appeared at some point.

This black cat didn't seem to be very afraid of people, it sat on the ground obediently, and meowed several times at Qingdeng and Kinoshita Mai.

"Ah, it's a cat~" Looking at her favorite animal, Kinoshita Mai's eyes instantly softened a lot.

"This cat looks really fat..." Qing Deng sighed with emotion in a low voice.

"It should be someone feeding it nearby." Kinoshita Mai echoed softly.

This black cat was a real help.

With the presence of the "third party", Qingdeng and Kinoshita Mai had a few simple discussions about the black cat's body shape, and most of the embarrassing atmosphere around them immediately dissipated.

Taking advantage of this good momentum, Qingdeng quickly said to Kinoshita Wu: "Miss Kinoshita, it's time for us to go back."

Qingdeng looked up at the sky, and continued:

"Being tossed about by that mysterious man in the brown robe... Before I know it, it's already this time, I have to go back quickly."

Judging from the current weather, the current time is almost approaching 5 o'clock in the morning.

Now that May is approaching, the days are getting longer and longer, and the dawn is getting earlier and earlier. If Qingdeng and Kinoshita Mai don't go back quickly, it will be dawn soon.

"Hmm..." Kinoshita Mai nodded lightly.

"Let's go." Qing Deng coughed a few times, adjusted his clothes and the mask on his face, and walked out of the alley first.

Whether it is the mysterious person, the eternal talent "Hachiman of Infinity", or the itching feeling of not knowing what it is that has not completely dissipated from Qingdeng's heart until now, let's put it aside for now , Let’s think about it later.

Hurry up and go back to the examination hall now.

Qingdeng and Kinoshita Wu walked out of the alley one after the other.

At this time, Kinoshita Mai suddenly seemed to recall something, and her footsteps stopped.

"Ah, wait a minute." Kinoshita Wu called Qing Deng, "Almost forgot... Mr. Ju, this is for you."

"Huh?" Qingdeng, who was walking in front, turned his gaze suspiciously, just in time to see Kinoshita Mai taking out a delicate cherry blossom from her bosom.

It was just before Kinoshita Wu left the riverside with Qingdeng to chase the mysterious man, she took down the cherry blossom that was blown in front of her eyes by the night wind.

"this is?"

The corners of Kinoshita Mai's mouth, which was hidden under the scarf, curled up slightly: "Tachibana-kun, there are actually two reasons why I suddenly took you to see the cherry blossoms by the river."

"The first reason is that I told you that I want to try watching the night cherry blossoms."

"And the second reason... is that I want to make an amulet for you."

After finishing speaking, Kinoshita Mai closed her eyes, held this delicate cherry blossom with both hands, moved her lips, and chanted something in a low voice to the cherry blossom in her palm, as soft as a mosquito's voice.

The solemn posture is like a devout believer who is praying to the gods.

Qingdeng wanted to ask Kinoshita Wu a lot of questions, but after seeing Kinoshita Wu's pious appearance now, in order not to disturb Kinoshita Wu, he swallowed all the questions that had rushed to his mouth. Belly.

——What is she doing?

Qingdeng was asking himself this question in his heart, while gathering his mind, relying on the hearing he had just improved tonight, Qingdeng could barely hear what Kinoshita Mai was chanting—a very magical passage mixed with a lot of ancient Japanese. Congratulations in Taoist style.

Qingdeng didn't know much about Shintoism, so Qingdeng didn't quite understand the meaning of the speech that Mai Kinoshita was reciting now.

So Qingdeng could only wait slowly, waiting for Kinoshita Wu to finish her congratulations to the cherry blossom in her palm.

Finally—after a while, Kinoshita Mai stopped chanting and slowly opened her eyes.

"Ju-jun, please accept this." Kinoshita dance handed the cherry blossom in her palm to Qingdeng with both hands.

To show respect, Qingdeng took the cherry blossom from Kinoshita Mai with both hands, "Miss Kinoshita, is this?"

Kinoshita Mai smiled:

"Aren't you 'Three Times' recently in troubled times?"

"The 'radical anti-barbarian faction' is still stirring up unrest."

"The notorious anti-barbarian group is still at large."

"That's why when I passed by the riverside with cherry blossom trees just now, I thought of using cherry blossoms to make you an amulet that can protect your safety."

Having said that, Kinoshita Mai's voice paused for a moment, and then changed into a proud tone.

"I know a pretty magical spell."

"As long as you recite this mantra to a cherry blossom, you can infuse the cherry blossom with divine power, turning the cherry blossom into an amulet that can bring good luck to the holder."

"It's very effective! I tried it myself. After carrying around the cherry blossoms that have been imbued with divine power by this spell, my luck will really become very good!"

Qingdeng raised his eyebrows, lowered his eyes, looked at the cherry blossom in his hand, and couldn't help smiling: "That is to say, Miss Kinoshita, the long passage you just chanted to this cherry blossom is like a Shinto congratulatory speech." Something, is that the spell you just said that can imbue the cherry blossoms with divine power?"

"Hmm!" Mai Kinoshita pecked her little head vigorously a few times.

——A spell that can imbue Sakura with divine power...

Although he himself experienced such a rather unscientific thing, Qingdeng was still a fairly firm atheist.

"Infuse the cherry blossoms with divine power", "bring good luck to people"...Qingdeng is naturally not very cold about these words of Kinoshita Mai.

However, this is also a good intention of others after all.

Therefore, Qingdeng held the cherry blossom to his chest very solemnly with both hands, and said to Kinoshita Mai seriously:

"Thank you, I will always carry this amulet with me."

Qingdeng said "thank you"... Mai Kinoshita, whose expression became a little unnatural under the kerchief, put her clasped hands in front of her body, stretched her left foot behind her right foot, and pressed the back of her left foot against her right heel, forming a knot. stammeringly replied:

"No, you're welcome...it's just my little effort..."

Seeing Kinoshita Mai's embarrassing posture, Qingdeng's cheeks subconsciously showed a soft smile.

At the heart, the itching that had been dissipated with great difficulty reappeared again.

...

...

at this time--

Edo, on a certain remote road——

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The mysterious person who made Qingdeng and Kinoshita Wu suffer so much was now holding on to a wooden wall beside him out of breath, his shoulders and chest heaving violently.

"Ha... I'm really... old..."

The mysterious man raised his hand with a wry smile and wiped the sweat dripping from his face.

"It's only been a few moments... and it's panting like this..."

After panting for a while, the mysterious person slowly adjusted his breathing rhythm.

After recovering his breath, the mysterious man straightened up slowly, raised his head, and looked to the east—this was the direction where he and Qingdeng had just started their encounter.

"Why did Mr. Ju's perception suddenly become so powerful...?"

"Obviously they've never seen me before."

"Looks like I'll have to pay more attention in the future..."

"In addition to the improved perception...the strength has also increased a lot."

"Ho ho ho, I can't think of it...Even I can't see through what kind of realm this young man can achieve and what kind of achievements he will have..."

After a few low self-deprecating laughs, the mysterious man suddenly found that the western-style cloak on his body was covered with a lot of dust—it should have been accidentally picked up from somewhere when he was avoiding the pursuit of Qingdeng and Kinoshita Mai. Bar.

In order to remove the dust more easily, the mysterious man tore off his cloak.

The cloak slipped off... The face and figure of the mysterious man finally appeared.

Also emerging from the cover of the cloak is the knife carried behind the mysterious man's back.

A knife with a purple and black handle and scabbard.

...

...

There are unidentified groups hoarding a large amount of kerosene in Edo City... such a horrific thing, the execution office has paid its highest attention.

With the help of Qingdeng and Kinoshita Mai, Inotani and the others arrested Birthmark Face and others, and the execution office immediately put them in prison and asked the prison officials who were in charge of the interrogation to be polite——give me a hard time Torture them! Get information from them as quickly as possible.

So—the punishment of holding the stone, the punishment of Hai Laozhu, the punishment of suspending responsibility...these tortures, which will make the victim unable to survive or die, all greeted the birthmark face and others.

These punishments and torture methods are indeed the perfect crystallization of the combination of human malice towards the same kind and human imagination.

Less than half a day later, the birthmarked face and the others who were tortured to the point of death revealed everything they knew.

It turned out that they were not members of the barbarian group at all, nor were they members of any "radical anti-barbarian" organization.

They are a gang of smugglers.

They received a commission from a person who called himself "Saburo" to "help purchase a large amount of kerosene", purchased a large amount of kerosene from Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and other places in Kansai, and shipped it to Edo by sea.

The deserted tea house that Mai Kinoshita found was the "temporary warehouse" occupied by Birthmark Face and the others to store their goods.

As smugglers, Birthmark Face and others have always adhered to the idea of ​​"only pay attention to money" and "don't ask customers any unnecessary questions".

So with the birthmark face, he had no idea who that Saburo was, nor did he know what he was planning to do with such a large amount of kerosene—he only knew that this Saburo gave too much, so he took the "help" without hesitation. Purchasing kerosene" task.

The delivery method he agreed with Saburo was to pay for the delivery at the foot of a hill in the eastern suburbs of Edo on April 25.

After hearing such important information, the enforcement office immediately organized a team to rush to the delivery place agreed by Birthmark Face and Saburo.

However... I have been staying until April 27th, but I have not been able to catch any suspicious persons...

It must be that the power that Saburo was relying on caught the wind in time, knew that the birthmark face and others had been arrested by the enforcement office, and stopped in time, so that all the people in the enforcement office were caught in the air.

Since they failed to catch that Saburo at their delivery site...then we can only change the way of hunting!

The Enforcement Office and Huofu Thief Kai cooperated with each other and quickly made the following deployments:

1. Investigate all kerosene merchants in Edo, and investigate whether anyone has recently purchased a large amount of kerosene.

2. Search the whole city to see if there is any place where kerosene is hoarded, and encourage the public to report any suspicious places.

Someone is buying a large amount of kerosene... This is the scary news that can make the execution office and the fire payment thief reform a kind of high-ranking officials who can't sleep well...

Qingdeng and the others, the "three-time" warriors, became busy again.

Although both the Enforcement Office and the Huofu Thief Gai took this "fire oil purchase incident" very seriously and invested a lot of energy and resources, the progress of the investigation is still quite slow...

The management of the grassroots has always been quite poor.

The Edo South and North Magistrates still had to rely on the assistance of "town self-government organizations" to manage Edo effectively...No matter what else, it is only this system that requires the assistance of other organizations to manage Edo well. It is doomed to count on the simple and efficient administrative efficiency of Nanfan and Beifan, so don't make it too difficult for them...

More than ten days have passed, and until now I have not found out exactly how the kerosene flows in Edo, and who bought kerosene in large quantities...

Although Birthmark Face and the others failed to provide much useful information for the execution institute, they did accomplish one thing—they made the names of the cat monk and the fox monk even more famous.

During the recent period, the common people in Edo are discussing enthusiastically about this pair of monsters who punished the villains again in a very short period of time and made outstanding contributions to the peace of Edo.

Many people praised Mao Xiaoseng and Hu Xiaoseng for their righteous deeds. If they hadn't helped find and defeat Birthmark Face and others, with the ability of the administrative office with extremely poor administrative efficiency, they might never have discovered that someone was hoarding kerosene.

Of course, there are also some people complaining: Although the cat monk and the fox monk both bear the title of "strange thief", their latest actions are to attack people and kill groups, and to find out that someone is hoarding fire. Damn...these things have nothing to do with their title of "Strange Thief" at all!

This "storage kerosene incident" is the second time that the name Hu Xiaoseng has been spread in the market, and it is also the second time that the pair of strange thieves, Mao Xiaoseng and Hu Xiaoseng, have cooperated with each other and appeared in the public eye. inside.

For the "newcomer" Hu Xiaoseng, the public naturally paid more attention.

Many people began to enthusiastically speculate: what is the relationship between this fox monk and cat monk?

For a time, all kinds of arguments were buzzing.

It is said that the fox monk and the cat monk belong to master and servant...

It is said that Hu Xiaoseng and Mao Xiaoseng are just like-minded comrades...

It is said that the fox monk and the cat monk are husband and wife...

Regarding these messy rumors, Qingdeng just laughed.

Time passed by like this bit by bit.

In a blink of an eye, April is gone.

May has arrived.

...

...

In the first year of Wanyan (1860), May 5——

Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi-cho, Shouweikan——

Today's test hall is quite lively.

Outside the living room, Okita opened the paper sliding door beside him a little more, and then cooperated with Qingdeng, and the two of them moved a huge shelf into the living room one after the other.

Because the width of this shelf is only a little smaller than the width of the paper sliding door, so in order not to damage the shelf, Qingdeng and Okita moved very carefully.

After carefully placing the shelf at the north end of the hall, Okita put his left hand on his hip and raised his right hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead: "Okay... let's arrange the dolls, armor and weapons now. Tachibana-kun, you wait here Let me go and get the doll."

Before he finished speaking, Okita rushed out of the living room, and came back with a big box after a while.

Inside the box, there are all kinds of strange dolls neatly placed, as well as a set of miniature armor and a miniature sword.

Okita waved to Qingdeng, while gesturing for Qingdeng to come over and put the contents of the box on the shelf one by one, he asked Qingdeng back with a smile:

"Mr. Ju, do you want to go to the kitchen to help my aunt make dumplings later?"

"Okay." Qingdeng smiled without thinking, "Anyway, I'm on vacation today, and I have a lot of free time."

Today is May 5th, the Dragon Boat Festival.

Japan also celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival. In the Edo period, the Dragon Boat Festival was one of the most important festivals, and it was collectively referred to as the "Five Festivals" together with the Man's Day Festival, Shangsi Festival, Qixi Festival, and Double Ninth Festival.

The Dragon Boat Festival was introduced to Japan from China after the Heian period (794-1192).

As soon as it was introduced, it quickly merged with Japanese local culture and developed various customs full of Japanese local characteristics.

Since ancient times, the Dragon Boat Festival has had an important activity: planting calamus at the door, which has the meaning of exorcising evil spirits.

Inserting calamus at the door is one of the most important customs of the Dragon Boat Festival, so the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "Calamus Festival".

In Japan, calamus has other meanings besides exorcising evil spirits.

Because in Japanese, the pronunciation of calamus is the same as "Shangwu", and the leaves of calamus are also similar to samurai swords. Therefore, in the eyes of martial arts, the Dragon Boat Festival has a special meaning.

Gradually, the Wu family associated the Dragon Boat Festival with celebrating the growth of the family boys.

By the time of the current Edo period, Japan’s Dragon Boat Festival had more of a “boy’s day” attribute, and the customs of celebrating the festival were completely different from those in China, which are basically two different things from the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival.

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, samurai will set up shelves in the house that look like decorated hina dolls, and use them to display Sakata Kintoki, Emperor Jimmu, Chinese Zhongkui dolls, small armor, weapons, flags, and enshrine rice dumplings and cypress cakes , It is used to pray for the healthy growth of the boy in the family, and he will make great achievements on the battlefield in the future.

On this day, real flags and carp banners, which symbolize success and carp jumping over the dragon's gate, are also hung outside the house and in the garden.

Within five days from the Dragon Boat Festival, women will also make flower balls, which are filled with fragrant medicines to drive away evil spirits. This sachet called Yaoyu will all be hung on the duck house in the house.

However, although the Dragon Boat Festival in China and Japan are completely two kinds of festivals, there are still a few customs in common.

For example: Zongzi will be made and eaten on this day.

There is a test hall for the big boy Isamu Kondo at home, and it will be grandly organized every Dragon Boat Festival.

The test hall is closed for one day today, and the whole mobilization begins to decorate the test hall.

The Edo shogunate has regulations: All officials can have a day off during the "Five Sentence Festival".

However, after the "fire oil storage incident", an atmosphere of extreme tension permeated the enforcement office from top to bottom.

Before the "storage of kerosene incident" has been investigated clearly, it is a bit inappropriate to let all the staff of the enforcement office "three times" take vacations.

So after much deliberation, those people at the upper level decided to use a lottery method to allow half of the people to take a day off on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, and the other half to arrange it later.

Qingdeng was very lucky: he won the lottery of "vacation during the Dragon Boat Festival", so he got a one-day holiday after a long absence today.

Under the mobilization of Zhou Zhu and Abi, Qingdeng, Saito, Yongcang, and Harada, who are currently sending food to the testing hall, also decorated the testing hall together.

Qingdeng and Okita were in charge of arranging the shelves and dolls that decorated the dolls in the living room.

Kondo, Saito, Yongcura, and Harada were responsible for planting calamus, hanging flags and carp streamers at the gate of the test hall.

By the way - Tufang didn't come to the test hall today.

According to Okita, during these important festivals, Hijikata is busy with his girlfriends, so there is basically no sign of Hijikata.

When Qing Dengzheng and Chong Tian were working meticulously in the living room, placing the puppets on the shelves, the outside of the testing hall was very lively.

"Yongcang, stand a little further back. It should look a little better if you hang the carp flag in that position." Harada, who was standing outside the gate of the test guard hall, gave orders to Yongcang.

"Here?" Yongcang, who was standing inside the gate, held three carp streamers and took half a step back.

"Hmm... I have to stand back a little longer."

"here?"

"...You stand a little further to the left."

"Left? Here?"

"It feels like you have to stand back a bit more."

"Where are you going to stand?! Can you do it?!"

"Well... Forget it, you'd better stand back to the original position."

"Are you kidding me?!"

Kondo, who was planting calamus on the gate of the test hall with Saito, and cleaning the gate of the test hall by the way, turned his head and smiled helplessly at Yongcang and Harada, who were making a lot of noise: "Carp banners, things like hanging It doesn't matter where it is, just find a place to hang it up."

After all, Kondo smiled wryly and said to himself: "I'm already this old, and I still celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival... oh..."

Kondo sighed heavily, and then planted calamus on the gate with Saito beside him.

At this moment, a clear male voice sounded from a distance behind Kondo:

"Oh, Mr. Yong, your carp streamer is so beautiful."

Kondo's body trembled a few times, and then turned his head to follow the sound with a look of astonishment——I saw a very young young man, holding the saber at his waist, with a faint smile on his face , walked slowly towards their testing hall.

"Yongjun, good morning."

It is Chiba Eijiro, "Chiba of Technology".

*****

*****

Ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a recommendation ticket! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)

Author Jun Science Popularization: During the Dragon Boat Festival in the Edo period, riding and archery competitions and horse racing events were held in some places. But this kind of high-end event obviously has nothing to do with the test hall.

In modern Japan, the Dragon Boat Festival has basically become Boys’ Day. The attributes of the Dragon Boat Festival have been weakened, and it has completely become a festival for boys at home. However, traditional customs such as eating rice dumplings are still maintained.

Ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a recommendation ticket!

The author has opened a book friend group in Penguin!

Group number: 1162513690. You only need to answer a question that you will definitely know the answer as long as you read the book seriously, and you can join the book friend group.

The author Jun Suiyuan haunts the group~