I formed the strongest swordsman group

Handsome appearance, smooth black hair tied into a smooth and slender high ponytail with a purple ribbon behind the head, there is always a gentle smile on both cheeks, except that the clothes he is wearing are different from yesterday , the rest of the place is not much different from yesterday - it is the beautiful boy who just met in the test hall yesterday: Okita Souji.

When Qingdeng cast a surprised look at Okita, Okita, who was holding a steamed bun in one hand, also looked at Qingdeng in surprise.

"Mr. Orange, why are you here?"

"I was patrolling around here just now, and I saw a tea house here, so I thought of coming here to rest and have lunch."

"Oh! That's really a coincidence!" Okita smiled and waved to Qingdeng, "I still have a vacant seat here, if you don't mind, you can make a table with me!"

The table that Okita sat at was a small table that could only accommodate 2 people.

Okita, who was sitting alone at the edge of this small table, had an empty seat opposite.

It is lunch time, which is one of the time periods with the largest flow of people in such places as teahouses and restaurants.

The tea house Qingdeng is currently in has few vacant seats left.

Seeing that Okita took the initiative to invite him to share a table, Qingdeng was more respectful than obedient, and rushed to sit opposite Okita in three steps at a time.

"Okita-kun, why are you here?" Qingdeng asked Okita after ordering a cup of cheap tea with the Tedai of the teahouse.

This beautiful boy is now stuffing Japanese-style steamed buns with red bean filling into his mouth one by one, his cheeks are bulging like a hamster stuffing his mouth full of winter food.

[Note: Mantou in Japan are steamed buns with stuffing]

"There's nothing to do in the test hall today, so I'll come out to get some fresh air."

"This tea house is a 'treasure place' that I often come to recently." After swallowing the steamed buns in his mouth in one go, he raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "The steamed buns sold in this tea house are sweet and soft, which suits my taste very much. .”

"As long as you eat a few pieces of steamed buns here, you will be relieved of any depression!"

After finishing speaking, Okita pushed the plate in front of him with 3 steamed buns in Qingdeng's direction.

"Mr. Orange, would you like to try it?"

Qingdeng also quite likes to eat sweets.

Facing the steamed buns pushed by Okita, Qingdeng didn't make much fuss, and took a piece of steamed buns from Okita's plate graciously.

After putting the steamed buns into his mouth, Qingdeng raised his brows slightly in surprise.

The taste is indeed quite good.

The softness and sweetness are just right.

Okita, who had been observing Qingdeng's expression carefully, asked Qingdeng excitedly at this moment:

"Mr. Orange, do you like sweets too?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm the kind of person who will feel uncomfortable if I don't eat something sweet for a few days."

"I also like sweets the most!" Okita showed a bright smile, both eyes had completed two crescents, "I'm a little more serious than you, I don't eat some sweets every day, I feel uncomfortable all over my body."

"So I carry this with me all the time."

Okita reached into his bosom to feel around, and took out the half-eaten Kopei candy.

Jinpingtang is a small candy grain shaped like a star. It is sweet and can be said to be one of the favorite snacks for children in this era.

"Speaking of which—Tachibana-kun. Since you were patrolling around here just now, why didn't you see your Obiki?" Okita looked around suspiciously.

"I don't have Gang Yin." Qingdeng wrote lightly, "Our family owes Yakuza an extremely exaggerated amount of gambling debt, so there is no money left to hire Gang Yin."

"Gambling debt?" Okita's eyes widened.

Okabi system - the second largest special system that allows the Southern and Northern Divisions to maintain law and order in Edo with only a little police force.

Gang Yin, also known as Muming, has quite a few names, and its function is similar to that of modern auxiliary police.

The shogunate also knew that relying on such a small amount of police force to maintain the law and order of such a large-scale city was completely nonsense.

Therefore, with the acquiescence of the shogunate, the concentric members of the "three times" of the South and North Fans can use their own private wealth to hire others to work for them.

Those who are employed by Tongxin with their own money to assist Tongxin in maintaining law and order are called "Gangyin".

In modern terms, they are a group of non-staff personnel without a formal establishment.

No... not even the non-staff personnel. To be precise, they are just a group of wage earners who receive their salaries from Tongxin.

Because it is not a government official, the Okaki can be either a samurai or a commoner.

After becoming a concentric Gang Yin, you can receive a ten hand from the government as a proof of your Gang Yin's identity.

There is no limit to the recruitment of Gang Yin, it all depends on the personal preferences of the colleagues.

If you want, it is not impossible for you to hire a beggar on the side of the road as a gang guide.

Although occasionally there will be a few extremely powerful Okain who can assist and work together to investigate and solve the case, but such Okain is only a very small number.

The vast majority of Gang Yin can basically only do some chores and tiring work, and the main case handling work still depends on Tongxin himself.

The "Okabiki System" to help share the workload, and the "Municipal Self-Government System" to help reduce the workload - the "Three Returns" of Edo, relying on these two major systems, it was possible to maintain Edo with only such a small amount of police law and order.

The night before yesterday, during the extermination of the "people of benevolence and righteousness", the large group of people who rushed into the house with Arima, Qingdeng, Inotani, and Ushiyama at that time was the Okabiki of the two.

If Qingdeng remembers correctly - Ushiyama has 5 Okahikis, and Inoya has slightly more Okabikis, and there are nine Okahikis employed by Inoya.

When Qingdeng took his father's place and entered Dingchohui, their Tachibana family was already in debt, so Qingdeng naturally didn't have the extra money to hire Gang Yinlai to do odd jobs for him, and he had to do all the big and small jobs by himself. Do it yourself.

When Tongxin of Dingmachi Hui patrols his jurisdiction, he will often let a few Okinaki under his command go with him, so Okita just asked Qingdeng, "Why don't you see your Okinawa?"

After briefing Okita about his current family situation being dragged down by his late father's gambling debts, Okita apologized to Qingdeng with embarrassment:

"Sorry... I seem to have accidentally mentioned something that shouldn't be mentioned..."

"It's okay, there's no need to apologize." Qingdeng smiled casually at Okita, "I don't care."

The tea that Qingdeng ordered just now has already been served.

Accompanied by the slightly inferior tea, Qingdeng began to nibble on the three rice balls that Jiubingwei gave him this morning.

"Mr. Okita, why do you have time to come here to eat steamed buns?" Qingdeng, who was gnawing on rice balls, asked casually, "Don't you need to guard the test hall?"

"No need." Okita smiled slightly, "Because Brother Kondo has already returned. With Brother Kondo in charge, I don't need to help guard the testing hall anymore."

"Kondo-kun is back?" Qingdeng was surprised.

"Tama is very close to Edo. Brother Kondo, he returned to Tama smoothly yesterday afternoon."

"After visiting Mr. Hijikata and confirming that Mr. Hijikata is fine, he drove all night and returned to the test hall smoothly this morning."

"Kondo-kun rushed back overnight..." Qingdeng was puzzled, "Why are you in such a hurry? Can't you just spend the night at Tama's place and come back after dawn this morning?"

Night roads in this era are very dangerous.

One is because there are no lighting facilities such as electric lights.

Second, because of the security situation in this era, it is not suitable to travel at night.

Not to mention those remote areas, even around Edo, there are often thieves and bandits.

"No way... Brother Kondo is now in a critical period. If you leave the test hall for too long, you will be easily gossiped about."

"Critical period?" Qingdeng asked back, "What do you mean?"

"Master, he's old..." Okita, with a bit of disappointment in his brows, raised his hand to play with the slender ponytail on the back of his head, "It doesn't matter whether it's the teaching work of the natural mind flow, or the daily operation and management of the test center. The master is already a little bit powerless."

"So the master has prepared to pass this test hall to brother Kondo in recent years, and let brother Kondo succeed him as the head of the fourth generation of the natural Lixin Liuzong family."

"Therefore, at this moment when you are about to become the new owner of the testing hall, if you leave the testing hall for too long without reason, it is easy for some people to gossip and chew their tongues."

"It's not easy to be the young master of the sword hall..." Qing Deng sighed.

"That's right." Okita nodded lightly with deep sympathy, "So in order to make Kondo-san feel more relaxed, I have to work harder on arithmetic."

"Arithmetic?" Qingdeng was startled, "Mr. Chongtian, what do you study arithmetic for?"

"If you want to run a sword gym, you don't need to know how to keep accounts." Okita put his hands on his hips, straightened his flat chest, and looked full of ambition, "Brother Kondo, his arithmetic has never been very good."

"So, in order to be able to help Brother Kondo in the management of the test hall in the future, I am now working hard to learn arithmetic!"

"Oh...!" Qingdeng's eyes flashed with admiration, "The relationship between you and Brother Kondo is really good."

"After all, Kondo-san is just like my elder brother to me." After Okita smiled shyly, the smile on his face slowly turned into melancholy, "But...although the words are beautiful, but I do It's not that pretty..."

"In the study of arithmetic, it has been very difficult..."

Okita shrunk his neck and shoulders inward with a face of grievance, making his body look much smaller.

"I asked Mr. Hijikata to teach me arithmetic last time. After he taught me for a while, he scolded me directly: Idiot! Why can't you even count this? Did you eat Konpei candy until your head became Konpei candy..."

Earthwork?

After thinking for a while, Qingdeng remembered who Hijikata was—Hijikata Toshizo, one of the "Five King Kongs" in the test guard, and Kondo and Okita were very close. Kondo hurried back to Tama yesterday just to go back To see him wounded.

"It's too much." Qing Deng frowned slightly, "It's not normal for beginners to make mistakes in the process of learning, how can they scold people so hard."

"That's right!" Okita puffed his chest, flattened his lips and echoed, "I just calculated 9 plus 23 into 107, why are you scolding me like that?"

...

quiet……

...

The atmosphere between Qingdeng and Okita suddenly became extremely quiet...

My mind went blank.

It was as if someone took an iron rod and slapped him hard on the back of the head.

It was not until an unknown amount of time passed that Qingdeng finally felt his consciousness return to his body.

"...you add 9 and 23 to make 107...?"

"Hmm... I don't really know how to calculate this kind of calculations where the sum of the numbers exceeds 10 fingers..." Okita raised his hand and played with the ponytail on the back of his head while laughing, "As long as it is a calculation that my fingers can't count , I can easily miscalculate..."

"But as long as it is a formula that I can count with my fingers, I can calculate it accurately!"

Okita hurriedly continued as if wanting to prove that his arithmetic wasn't too bad.

"Such as calculations such as 4 plus 2."

Okita raised 4 fingers on his right hand and 2 fingers on his left hand.

"This kind of calculation, I can get it right 100% of the time!"

"4 plus 2 equals 6!"

After all, Okita seemed to want to claim credit from Qingdeng, and pushed 6 raised fingers towards Qingdeng's face.

With a deadpan face...or Qingdeng who didn't know what kind of expression to put on, raised his eyes and smiled at his face, as if he wanted to say that his arithmetic level is not too bad...

Although this child has a very high talent in swordsmanship...but he doesn't seem to be very smart in other places!

Qingdeng doesn't even know what expression to put on now, what to say to the complacent Okita...

Just when Qingdeng was struggling with this——

"Hey! Shichiro! I've been waiting for you for a long time! Why are you here now?"

Loud yelling suddenly came from the next table of Qingdeng and Chongtian—three uncles dressed as carpenters sitting around this table vigorously shouted at a middle-aged man with a beard who had just entered the teahouse. beckoning.

"Oh, I'm sorry I kept you waiting for so long! I just went to watch the fun!" The bearded middle-aged man spoke loudly and sat down beside his three friends.

"Hot? What's the buzz?" A bearded friend asked back.

Beard: "Someone was killed in Muliu Town next door! It is said that the death was terrible! I wanted to go to the place where the body was found to join in the fun, but when I got there, the scene was sealed off by my own people, what? Can't see it either!"

*****

*****

New book set sail!

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

[Japanese history class starts~]

In the Edo period, there were three types of men who were collectively called "Edo Sanmen" who were the most popular among Edo women.

These three types of people are: Yuli, sumo wrestler, and Huo Xiaotou (the captain of the fire brigade) who are on duty in the practice.

At that time, there was a saying: "With power, there is wealth, in sumo wrestling, there is power, and in fighting fire, there is courage."

It's really cool to be an errand in the execution office. I spend more than half of the year on paid leave. I have money and leisure. Officials like Qingdeng who worked in the enforcement office were the favorites in the marriage and love market at that time, the kind who didn't have to worry about finding a blind date.

Many book lovers may have doubts: How much income do concentrics such as Inoya and Niushan have, and why they seem to be very rich, and they can hire so many gangs to work for themselves with only their own private wealth.

Essentially - they are rich.

The income system of the officials of the execution office is very special, which is very different from that of ordinary officials.

They also receive salaries.

But they don't live on salary at all, and that little salary is just a dispensable thing for them.

So what is their income system like?

The subsequent plot will be revealed to everyone.