I formed the strongest swordsman group

"Ah! It's Granny Guasheng!"

"Mother-in-law!"

"Granny Guasheng! Good evening!"

...

After walking side by side with Gua Shengxiu, shouts similar to this surrounded Qingdeng with an overwhelming sense of presence.

In Yoshihara, there is a technical term called "Zhang Jianshi", which means that the girls make a collective appearance in the "window" on the first floor of the girls' house.

By convention, there is a large display window surrounded by wooden fences on the first floor of each playgirl house. Every night during the business hours, the traveling girls would sit behind the window collectively, scratching their heads and posing through the wooden fence, for the passing guests to watch, appreciate and choose.

There are four types of girls' houses in Yoshiwara: Daimise, Nakamise, Xiaomise, and Cutmise.

Dajianshi has the highest specifications, and the price of Younv is also the most expensive.

There are more than 200 women's houses in Jiyuan, but the number of Dajianshi has been maintained at about six or seven.

Because of the large scale and high price of Daimise, most Edo people can’t afford to come here, and only high-ranking samurai like Qingdeng with a good salary, or rich businessmen with rich families are able to afford Daimise. Have fun in the world.

The lower ranks are Zhong Jianshi and Xiao Jianshi. The House of Thousand Flowers where Bai Ju lives is Zhong Jianshi.

The lowest-level kiramise is the cheapest and the most remote. It is basically concentrated in the "West River Bank" in the west of Yoshiwara and the "Rashomon River Bank" in the east.

Different specifications of Younv's House have different styles of the first-floor windows.

The fences of Daimide are all red grids and completely surround the window.

The window grilles of Nakamise and Xiaomise are both incomplete. The former has a quarter of the upper right corner left empty, while the latter has the entire upper half empty and only surrounds the lower half. Customers with longer legs can step into Xiao Jianshi's window by stretching their feet, and make out with the wandering girls inside.

It doesn't matter whether you see the world in a big way, see the world in the middle, or see the world in a small way, in short—every time Qingdeng and Gua Shengxiu pass a Younv's house, the women in the window of the shop will definitely say hello to Gua Shengxiu warmly.

Every greeting is full of sincere friendship, and no half-hearted hypocrisy can be detected.

Even though he knew that "Yoshihara Concentric" enjoys a high prestige among Yoshihara girls, after seeing this scene with his own eyes, Qingdeng still couldn't help being amazed.

No matter who the other party is, as long as they greet her, Gua Shengxiu will respond positively, either with a smile or a wave.

sough--!

Suddenly, the cold wind came.

The temperature has been very low recently.

Although it hadn't snowed yet, there was a gloomy and cold breath in the air all the time.

The translucent cold fog was blown away by the north wind, floating in the air in different shades.

Pedestrians shrank forward.

The wandering girls in the window were shivering from the cold, while quietly hiding their bare feet in the hem of their clothes.

The Yoshihara girls don't wear socks - I don't know if the person who advocates this "barefoot culture" is an experienced foot control.

As long as the wandering girls wear socks, they will be labeled as "bumpkins" and "uninformed".

Although they also complained about the cold and wanted to use socks to warm their feet, they still insisted on going barefoot all year round, even in the snowy and cold days.

Therefore, there are two lines of Chuanliu poems circulated among the Edo folks: "The beauty of the city, at the age of twenty-eight, can finally wear a foot bag", "I have never known the size of my foot bag for more than twenty-seven years."

According to Yoshihara's regulations, Younu can retire at the age of 28.

Because Yoshihara's wandering girls don't wear socks, they can only wear socks when they are 28 years old...that is, when they finally regain their freedom, but because they have never worn them, they can't know the soles of their feet The size of the size. These two sentences of Chuanliu just reflect the mixed mood of the wandering girls.

"Miss Guasheng."

While tightening the black scarf around his neck that was being blown up and down by the cold wind, Qingdeng cast a concerned look at Gua Shengxiu beside him.

"Is it all right for you to wear so little?"

When he saw Gua Shengxiu for the first time, Qing Deng noticed that the old woman's clothes were extremely thin, and she only wore an ordinary women's kimono.

Although the interlayer of the kimono is stuffed with cotton, compared with the current temperature, such a thin layer of cotton is really a drop in the bucket.

Facing Qingdeng's kind reminder, Gua Shengxiu smiled.

"Thank you for your concern. But don't worry about my 'body temperature'."

While Gua Sheng said this in a half-joking tone, he stretched out his hand to gently tuck the skirt of his jacket.

"I'm the kind of person who is not afraid of the cold by nature. For me, this clothing is enough to keep out the cold."

Speaking of this, she suddenly changed the subject.

"Hanata-kun, you don't need to be so respectful to me, it makes people feel uncomfortable."

"Don't call me 'Miss Guasheng', just call me 'Grandma Guasheng' like other people. I like this title better, it's pleasant and kind."

Qingdeng has always held the attitude of "anything is fine" when dealing with things like "address".

Since Gua Shengxiu made such a request, he was also willing to comply.

...

After some haste, the two finally arrived at their destination: a shrine in the southwest corner of Yoshihara.

Ever since he became a member of the New Royal Court and frequently entered and exited the Tsukimiya Shrine, the shrine has become one of Qingdeng's most familiar architectural facilities.

"Grandma Guasheng, is this place?"

Qingdeng cast doubtful glances around.

"This is Enomoto Shrine."

Gua Shengxiu explained unhurriedly.

"There are 4 shrines in Yoshihara, namely the 'Kurosuke Inari Shrine' in the northeast, the 'Akaishi Inari Shrine' in the southeast, the 'Kaiyun Inari Shrine' in the northwest, and the one under our feet at this time. 'Enomoto Inari Shrine'."

"Because wandering girls who have not been redeemed are not allowed to step out of Yoshiwara, so wandering girls visit these four shrines and pray for blessings on weekdays."

"These four shrines are both places of entertainment for their consolation ... and their graves."

"All wandering girls who unfortunately passed away but no one came to claim their remains will be buried in the open space near these four shrines."

It was a coincidence that Gua Shengxiu happened to bring Qingdeng to the back of Enomoto Shrine when he said this.

Qingdeng looked around and saw hundreds of Zutavas standing in front of him.

Zutapo: Chinese transliteration of Sanskrit, directly borrowed from Japan. It originally meant a spiritual temple or a spiritual pagoda. In Japan, it evolved into a straight and long strip of wooden plaques, as a tablet similar to the blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Looking at the clusters of "Zutapo Forest", Qingdeng couldn't help but startled.

"Grandma Guasheng, is this... the place where Baiju often comes?"

Gua Shengxiu nodded slightly.

"Baiju's good friend...a young girl who doesn't even have a real name, but only has a flower name of 'Hongmei', died here due to an accident more than half a month ago."

"After the incident, Bai Ju would come here to remember her best friend whenever she was free."

There is no real name, only a nickname - obviously, this is a wandering girl.

Many are formerly homeless orphans or girls who were sold because their poor parents were unable to support more children.

In order to ensure the quality of the girls in their store, Dajianshi and some Zhongjianshi will take in orphans with good qualifications and girls who have been sold by their families, and then teach them from an early age and train them to specialize in "pleasing men". "Professional Tournament Girls.

Some bosses of Younv's houses will simply give each other a nickname instead of their real name because they are too lazy to name their children.

Gua Shengxiu led Qingdeng to a corner of the cemetery.

"This is Hongmei's tomb."

Qing Deng followed Gua Sheng's gaze and looked over.

On the half-person-high Zutapo, the name of the Buddhist scriptures and the name of the Dharma meeting are missing, only the name of the deceased: Hongmei, and the name of the supporter: White Chrysanthemum.

"Bai Ju doesn't have a real name either."

Gua Shengxiu added.

"Accident……"

Qingdeng murmured, and then subconsciously asked.

"What accident did she die in? Did she get sick?"

If you want to say what the most common cause of death among wandering girls is illness.

Today's Japan has not yet established an advanced hygiene concept, and there is no such convenient tool as condoms. Whether it is a tourist or a client, it is very easy to get sick.

Nowadays, antibiotics such as penicillin have not yet been invented. Once you get syphilis, gonorrhea and other venereal diseases, you basically have to wait for death.

"It's not."

Gua Shengxiu shook his head.

"She is in the heart of her lover."

"Ah, in your heart..."

Qingdeng was speechless.

Heart - this word can have two meanings in Japanese. First, couples die in love together; second, two or more people commit suicide collectively.

Because of the low social status of wandering women, under the influence of this world, marrying wandering women as wives... Especially the behavior of good men marrying wandering women is an unbearable prohibition in the eyes of the general public.

At most, you can accept a wandering girl as a concubine, but you must never marry her as a wife, otherwise you will be ridiculed and stared at by the people around you.

Secular prejudice and the pain of not being able to love make things in the hearts of the wandering girl and her lover endless.

The area of ​​the cemetery is very large, no matter which direction you look in, you can't see the end at a glance.

In order to find Baiju, Qingdeng, led by Gua Shengxiu, visited every location in the cemetery.

On the way, Gua Shengxiu sighed heavily, and then slowly said to Qingdeng:

"Hey... This matter has to start from the incident in another girl's heart half a year ago..."

"Half a year ago, I saw Fuka, the most popular figure in Suzuya, fell in love with a ronin from the Sendai domain."

"Although they love each other, they cannot be together because of the gap in their identities."

"They who couldn't bear the pain of parting...finally meet together in the hearts of the ever-lit Akiba Mountains."

Akihayama is always illuminated - a famous landmark of Yoshiwara. Follow the road that runs through the center of Yoshiwara... that is, go to the end of Nakanomachi, and you will see this huge lantern dedicated to Akiba Gongen.

"In the hearts of wandering girls and lovers—this is not such a rare thing."

"However... Suzuya is one of the top Daimise in Yoshihara, and Fuka is the most popular brand in this store, and has a very high reputation."

"The heart between her and her lover has attracted the attention of many novelists."

"The novelists gathered like cats smelling fish, selectively edited and exaggerated the facts, and adapted the hearts of Fenghua and the ronin into an extremely sad love story."

"Why is that ronin a tall, handsome guy with a handsome face..."

"What is that ronin who is the owner of Beichen's one-handed style of exempting everyone from passing on, and once helped Fenghua repel unscrupulous clients..."

"What is Fuka, a beautiful woman whose appearance is not inferior to that of the 'No. 1 Beauty in Edo' Chiba Sanako..."

"All of them are farts, and none of them are right."

"Although there are many mistakes and omissions, people in the market can't stand the tragedy of 'a handsome man with extraordinary talents falls in love with a peerless beauty, but they can't be together due to various reasons'."

"After hearing this story that is seriously inconsistent with the reality, many wandering girls have followed suit."

"In the past six months since Fenghua passed away, there have been frequent incidents in the hearts of those who imitated Fenghua who died under the constant light of Akiba Mountain - Hongmei is one of the imitators."

Speaking of this, Gua Shengxiu sighed again.

Qingdeng listened quietly until the end.

This is the so-called "Werther effect"...Qingdeng thought to himself.

The Werther effect, the phenomenon of suicide imitation.

In 1774, the great German writer Goethe published a novel called "The Sorrows of Young Werther", which tells the story of a young man who lost his love and committed suicide. After the novel was published, it caused a great sensation, which not only made Goethe famous in Europe, but also triggered a wave of imitating Werther's suicide throughout Europe, hence the name "Werther Effect".

From the perspective of human relations, this kind of behavior where two people die together is not advisable.

But when talking about the pros and cons of things, you can't get out of the big picture.

Qingdeng is not a scholar who specializes in the study of Yoshiwara culture. His understanding of the miserable lives of Yoshiwara wandering girls is limited to hearsay.

However, in less than an hour from the first time he stepped into Yoshihara tonight, Qingdeng has already experienced the difficulty of the wandering girls from various details.

For those wandering girls who are tortured by the pain of reality and are on the verge of collapse, committing suicide with the man they like may be a means of redeeming themselves.

Qingdeng knew that he didn't have the ability to judge the right and wrong of Fenghua, Hongmei and other poor girls, so he didn't say a word.

...

About 3 minutes later, Qingdeng and Gua Shengxiu walked around every corner of the cemetery.

Qingdeng doesn't know what Bai Ju looks like, so he can only rely on Gua Shengxiu to identify him.

Although I occasionally saw a few men and women who came to sacrifice, but according to Gua Shengxiu, none of them were Baiju.

"Baiju is very short, about as tall as me" - Gua Shengxiu said.

About the same height as Granny Guasheng...then this appearance feature is quite obvious. Qingdeng thought to himself.

I don't know if it's because of the atrophy of bones and muscles due to old age, or because she is so short, Gua Shengxiu's height is just over 1.4 meters...

With a height of just over 1.4 meters and a slender body with little flesh from head to toe - the combination of the two makes Gua Shengxiu stand on the tall Qingdeng with a feeling of "Look! It's giants and dwarves!" !” The beauty.

"It seems that Bai Ju is not here."

Qingdeng Road.

Gua Shengxiu nodded with a serious expression.

"Well, yes... let's go, let's go to the next place."

...

...

The two returned to the crowded street.

At this time, Qingdeng suddenly heard a loud shout from behind:

"That's enough! Bailing! How many times do you have to say it before you understand? Stop doing such stupid things!"

Because the shout was loud and sonorous, Qing Deng couldn't help but turn his head and look back.

A middle-aged man in luxurious clothes, while propping up his flushed face, gritted his teeth and reprimanded a beautiful girl dressed as a playboy in the street.

The scolded girl was about 18 years old. She lowered her head, her big beautiful eyes stared straight at the ground in front of her toes, her face was expressionless and she didn't say a word.

"Ah, so it's Bailing..."

Gua Shengxiu also turned her head when she heard the movement, and when she saw who the person being trained was, she gave a wry smile.

"She must have stolen again."

"Stealing again?" Qing Deng raised his eyebrows, "Is that girl a habitual criminal who likes to steal?"

"no."

Gua Shengxiu showed a dumbfounding expression while shaking his head.

"How should I put it..."

"To put it simply: 10 days ago, there was a theft in Qian's House...that is, the Younv's House where Bai Ling belongs."

"In order to catch the thieves, the boss of Akane House called the 'three times' warriors from the enforcement office."

"Among the officials who came to investigate the case, there was a young man who was very handsome - Bai Ling fell in love with him at first sight."

"Because wandering girls who have not been redeemed are not allowed to leave Yoshihara, in order to see that young man again, Bai Ling deliberately steals frequently, hoping that his sweetheart can return to Yoshihara to investigate the case."

"However, Bailing really has no talent for stealing. Every time she tries to steal something, she will be caught."

"It's a good thing that the boss of Lark is a kind person with a good heart, and he didn't pursue Lark's failure to correct after repeated admonitions."

"If it were someone else, I'm afraid that this kind of silly girl who stole the property in the shop again and again just to meet someone would have been beaten half to death."

After hearing this, Qingdeng shrank his neck:

"Is she trying to imitate the 'Seventh of Eight Hundred Houses'..."

Ah Qi of Eight Hundred Houses - a famous allusion in the Edo period.

In the second year of Tianhe (1682), a fire broke out in Edo, and more than half of the urban area was scorched.

Ah Qi, the daughter of the vegetable shop owner, and her family fled to Jixiang Temple to avoid the fire, and fell in love with the abbot's servant boy at first sight. Ah Qi, who returned to her residence after the fire, set fires everywhere in order to meet her sweetheart, hoping to escape to Jixiang Temple again. Although no catastrophe was caused, arson was a felony, so Ah Qi was still sentenced to fire.

Later, because the story of Ah Qi was widely spread, the "Heaven and Fire" that allowed Ah Qi to meet the servant boy was also commonly known as "Ah Qi's Great Fire".

Gua Shengxiu heard Qingdeng's murmur, and said bitterly:

"Hey... If it's just stealing things, that's fine, just don't do stupid things like Ah Qi..."

...

...

Qingdeng and Gua Shengxiu galloped on the streets of Yoshiwara.

For a moment——

Yoshihara, Akane's house, Lark's room—

Akane's boss

Bai Ling walked back to the bedroom with heavy steps.

"well……"

As soon as the door with various exquisite patterns was closed, Bailing let out a long sigh of "ah", and then fell limply on the tatami like a puddle of mud.

Although she was scolded by her boss in public just now...but she still doesn't know what "repentance" is.

Lying on her side, she stared blankly at the texture of the tatami mat while muttering:

"Shimano-kun... I really want to see you again..."

Shimano—the surname of the official whom Bai Ling fell in love with at first sight.

The depressed Bai Ling "melted" with the tatami, and she couldn't get up for a long time.

At this moment, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a wanted notice on the wall next to him.

Yoshihara is the place with the largest number of people in Edo, and the only place that can surpass it is probably the Nihonbashi, which is the starting point of the "Five Streets".

Therefore, the enforcement office often ordered the bosses of the wandering women's houses to post the arrest warrants of the fugitives in the wandering women's rooms.

The arrest warrant that Bai Ling noticed at this moment...the person pictured on it is Qingdeng.

As one of the major suspects in the "Akabane Murder Case", Qingdeng's arrest warrants have long been posted all over the streets and alleys of Edo.

Bai Ling stared blankly at Qingdeng's arrest warrant.

After a while, she seemed to remember something happy, and beams of ecstasy appeared on her cheeks.

Crash!

She yanked open the door and rushed out of the room with a "thud thud thump".

When she turned the corner of a corridor, she almost collided with an old woman who was embracing a clothes basket.

"Ouch! Lark! Be careful! What are you doing in such a hurry!"

"Ah! Miss Ze! You came just in time!"

This old woman called "Miss Ze" by Bai Ling is the dispatcher of their Qianwu.

Sent hands - can be understood as the maid of the Younv's house, the main job content is to supervise, teach and take care of the daily life of the Younv.

Most of the people engaged in this kind of work are elderly retired wandering girls who choose to stay and work in the wandering girls' house because they have no skills other than 'pleasing men'.

"Miss Ze! Please! Please do me a favor!"

"Huh? Help? Help for what?"

"Please inform the government: there is a person suspected of Juqingdeng in Yoshihara!"

*****

*****

There are nearly 6,000 words today! Ask for a monthly pass! Ask for a recommendation ticket! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)

In order to prevent being suspected, the author puts his best foot forward: there is a reason why this chapter details the suicides of Fenghua and Hongmei. For details, please refer to the following plot~