I formed the strongest swordsman group

Yoshihara is not the only place where you girls live.

Vegetable stores, rain shops, pharmacies, grocery stores...everything you can imagine that is necessary for life is available in Yoshiwara.

The people living in Yoshihara are not only wandering girls, but also many ordinary people—most of them are employees who do odd jobs in the wandering girls' houses, or officials who serve in the Shirobei Clubhouse.

The above-mentioned shops are dedicated to the business of traveling girls who cannot leave Yoshiwara, and town people living in Yoshiwara.

Although Yoshiwara is a city with everything you need and complete functions, it is basically a red-light district.

Small is by no means small, but it is not so big if it is called big.

It only took more than half an hour, Qingdeng and Gua Shengxiu searched all the places that Bai Ju usually went to and where he might go - but found nothing.

Since just now, Qingdeng and Guasheng have been silent because of their heavy hearts.

Throughout Gua Shengxiu's life, she always regarded "protecting wandering girls" as her own responsibility.

A wandering girl... and a wandering girl who had a pretty good relationship with him disappeared for no reason, and she couldn't be found no matter how hard it was - it goes without saying how much this hit Gua Shengxiu.

Not to mention Qingdeng.

Bai Ju is the only clue he has so far to track down the gang.

In order to get this line, he even did not hesitate to have a head-on conflict with Huofu Thief Gai.

It took me a lot of effort to finally get such a precious clue, but it was cut off in such a vague way... How can Qingdeng let go of this? How to swallow this aggrieved?

"Hanatian-kun, we have arrived. This is the last place I can think of where Baiju might come..."

Hearing this, Qingdeng raised his eyes and looked around - a huge lantern came into view.

"here it is?"

As soon as this question came out of his mouth, Qing Deng realized the answer by himself.

Huge lanterns... There is only one place in Yoshiwara that has huge lanterns.

Gua Shengxiu's next answer confirmed the correctness of Qingdeng's conjecture.

"This is where the autumn leaves are always lit, which is used to enshrine the right appearance of autumn leaves."

Akiba Gonken: A deity born from mountain beliefs and Shugendo in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, under the combination of gods and Buddhas, also known as "Akiba Sanchibo Daikongen".

[Shugendo: A type of traditional Japanese asceticism, which combines the characteristics of Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Shintoism. It was once all the rage in Japan, and believers practiced asceticism in various spiritual mountains. 】

[Shen-Buddhist combination: Japan's native Shinto beliefs and Buddhist eclecticism, and then learn to synthesize a belief system. It generally refers to the phenomenon of the unity of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan. 】

Akiba is now a household name in Japan, and he is regarded as the "fire god" who can prevent fires.

Why is there enshrined in Yoshiwara-ri the Akiba Gongen to prevent fires?

The reason is not complicated.

First, the "Kan'ei Fire" that burned the entire "Motoyoshihara" to a white ground two hundred years ago, turning most of the wandering girls into human coke, left a deep shadow on the hearts of the public. up.

Second, Yoshihara is one of the most fire-prone areas in Edo.

Although according to Yoshiwara's regulations, women can retire at the age of 28, but this does not mean that women can sit back and relax after reaching the age of 28.

First of all, in this era without advanced hygiene concepts; in this working environment where day and night are turned upside down and there are no rest days to speak of, all the wandering women who can live to be 28 years old are all lucky "chosen people" .

Even if one is truly blessed by the heavens and manages to survive until the age of 28, when one can retire, one has to survive another hurdle that is as difficult as the sky, before one can truly embrace freedom—paying off debts.

All the wandering girls in Yoshihara are in debt.

Daily food and clothing expenses, etc., these expenses are recorded in the personal accounts of the wandering girls.

The wandering girls with some famous names are obliged to bring the newcomers with them and be responsible for raising them. The newcomer undertakes the work of taking care of the senior's daily life, and his food and clothing expenses are charged to the senior's account.

The girls who were sold to Yoshiwara by their families were even more miserable. While paying off their living expenses, they had to pay a large sum of money to redeem their contracts.

In the end, he regained his freedom in name, but he still had to work hard to repay the debt that he didn't know how long it would take... Maybe he would never pay it off in this lifetime.

The extremely harsh living environment has distorted the minds of countless wandering girls.

In order to retaliate against the society, a large number of psychopathic wandering girls deliberately set fire.

The incidence of "man-made fires" in Yoshihara is as high as appalling.

Not to mention far away, just talking about the man-made fires that have occurred in Yoshihara in recent years:

In the second year of Honghua (1845), three people including Yuqin (16 years old), a girl from Chuanjin House, set fire to it.

In the second year of Jiayong (1849), three man-made fires occurred in succession in this year. The arsonists of the first two fires were Kiyokawa (25 years old) and Daiharu (15 years old). As for the last fire...the number of arsonists was unprecedented—sixteen wandering girls from Umemoto House set it ablaze together.

In the fifth year of Jiayong (1852), Yuju (35 years old) set fire to it.

In the third year of Anzheng (1856), Meizhi (27 years old) set fire.

This is only the larger disasters, as for those intentional arson incidents with smaller damage range, there are countless.

Thankfully these fires were quickly extinguished so there wasn't much damage.

But... No one can guarantee that they and this Yoshihara will survive the next fire.

The closed environment of Yoshihara is doomed that once the fire gets out of control, the consequences will be disastrous.

Suddenly, man-made arson incidents happened twice in three days... The people of Yoshiwara felt helpless about this, and put their hopes on the protection of the gods.

Therefore, Akihayama, which is placed in the deepest part of Nakazhicho, is always lit, and it is considered one of the most popular places in Yoshiwara.

Whether you girls or ordinary people living in Yoshiwara, they often come here to pay homage in their spare time, praying for the "fire god" Akiba Kwonen to protect them from being killed by "fire and smoke".

Even though it was already night, there were still quite a few people gathered around Changdengming in Akiba Mountain.

Qingdeng looked around.

The flow of people passing by on both sides of him, although it cannot be said to be shoulder-to-shoulder, can also be said to be bustling.

Because it is the working time of the wandering women, the people who are still walking on the streets of Yoshihara at this time are either tourists, residents of Yoshiwara, or entertainers and chores working for various wandering women's houses.

"Damn...too many people..."

While struggling to stand on tiptoes, Gua Shengxiu stretched her neck to the limit - she tried to "condescend" to find Bai Ju's figure.

However... no matter how she tiptoed and stretched her neck, it only changed her height from "short winter melon" to "slightly better short winter melon".

At the sight, there are still the backs and chests of others...

At this time, Qing Deng suddenly said:

"Grandma Guasheng, sit on my shoulder!"

After finishing speaking, Qingdeng squatted down and turned his back to Gua Shengxiu.

Qing Deng doesn't know what Bai Ju looks like. If you want to find someone, you can only rely on Guasheng. Therefore, it is the best solution nowadays to "lend" the height to this "pocket old man".

"Okay, I'll trouble you then!"

Gua Shengxiu was also unambiguous, and readily agreed to Qingdeng's proposal.

With one step and one kick, she sat on Qingdeng's shoulder very neatly.

Although the body is old, the skill is still vigorous.

Gua Shengxiu's body was lighter than Qingdeng expected.

After she sat up, Qingdeng didn't even feel her weight much.

Anyone who has seen women's kimonos knows that the hem of women's kimonos is very narrow, so narrow that it is difficult to walk fast.

Therefore, Gua Shengxiu couldn't spread his feet, and couldn't directly straddle Qingdeng's entire neck. She could only put her legs together and sit sideways on Qingdeng's single shoulder.

A female swordsman with the same heart as Yoshihara, who is good at wielding wooden swords... These titles can easily give people the impression that "Gua Shengxiu must be a rough female man".

Not so.

Gua Shengxiu's demeanor is unexpectedly refined.

Her sitting posture at this time is too elegant. For this reason, she doesn't seem to be "sitting", but more like "floating" gently on Qingdeng's shoulders.

One can tell at a glance that Gua Shengxiu must have received a fairly good education in the past.

Such behavior, combined with her having a decent surname...Qingdeng couldn't help guessing that the old man who was sitting on his shoulder at the moment must have been a young lady, even if she wasn't a lady.

"Hanata-kun! Could you please go to the bottom of that cherry blossom tree?"

Gua Shengxiu's voice came from above his head.

After saying this, Gua Shengxiu pointed to a bare cherry tree not far away.

Every spring, Yoshihara will hire arborists to plant cherry blossom trees side by side on both sides of the streets in Nakanomachi.

In spring, Nakanomachi will become a veritable "flower street" surrounded by countless cherry blossom trees.

For the common people of Edo, "'Oiran Michichu' surrounded by cherry blossom rain" is one of the scenery that must be witnessed in this lifetime.

[Oiran Road: The journey that the oiran leads a large group of people from the wandering house to meet the guests is called "Oiran Road", also known as "Oiran Tour\