I formed the strongest swordsman group

Qingdeng couldn't help being surprised by Abi's words.

Qingdeng quickly tilted his head, lowered his voice, and asked Chong Tian beside him: "Have we never won the Little Chiba Sword Hall in the 'Red and White Battle' before?"

"No." Okita responded softly without thinking, "Auntie is too exaggerated."

"The overall strength of our Weiwei Hall is indeed inferior to that of Xuanwu Hall and Xiaoqianye Sword Hall, but it is not so weak that we have never defeated them in the 'Red and White Battle'."

"us……"

At this point, Okita suddenly faltered.

"We... have also won a few games against them..."

Seeing Okita's hesitant appearance, Qingdeng couldn't help frowning: "How many games have we won against them?"

"Hmm..." Okita raised his right hand and began to play with the slender ponytail on the back of his head, "We...we have won one game in the Xuanwu Gym and two games in the Little Chiba Sword Gym..."

"Then... how many games have we played against them?" Qingdeng asked without hesitation.

"Goo..."

As if he didn't dare to look at Qingdeng again, Okita lowered his head slightly, and now there was no look of indignation on his face when he criticized Abi for "too exaggerated".

He smiled embarrassingly, and said to the tips of his knees:

"In the past two years, we have played about 20 matches with Xuanwu Hall, and about 40 matches with Little Chiba Sword Hall..."

The corners of Qingdeng's mouth twitched involuntarily.

I have fought more than 20 games with Xuanwu gym, and only won 1 game. I have fought with Xiaoqianye sword gym for more than 40 games, and only won 2 games... That is to say: in the swordsmanship competition with these two sword gyms, Is the chance of winning in the health test hall only 50%...

Half a chance of winning...Qingdeng thinks this is not much different from "a hundred battles and a hundred defeats"...

There is a huge gap between the strength of the Test Guard Hall and the Xuanwu Hall and Xiaoqianye Sword Hall, which is actually within Qingdeng's expectations.

After all, the other party is a "renowned family" with a national reputation, and the Weiwei Hall... To put it bluntly, it is a second-rate dojo that few people even know the name of the school.

In terms of the number of apprentices and the source of students, the Xuanwu Hall and the Xiaoqianye Sword Academy are many times better than the Weiwei Hall. It is quite normal that the Weiwei Hall cannot match them in the swordsmanship competition.

But—although Qingdeng had estimated that the overall strength of the Weiwei Hall would be far inferior to that of the Xuanwu Hall and Xiaoqianye Sword Hall, but he did not expect the gap in strength between them to be so large. Can only win 1 or 2 games in 20 games...

"Ma'am..." Zhou Zhu, who had recovered from Ah Bi's "sonic attack", sighed, "I've explained it to you many times...why can't you understand?"

"The reason why I agreed to hold the 'Red and White Battle' together with Chiba Sword Hall in Yushima Tenmangu on the day of the 'Plum Blossom Festival' is to take this opportunity to publicize our natural ideals. Xinliu, let’s promote our health testing center.”

"Let more people know that there is a school like ours and a sword hall like ours."

"Indeed, the overall strength of our guard hall is far inferior to that of Xiaoqianye Sword Hall. The overall quality of their disciples is really much higher than ours."

"Unless some terrible accident or miracle happened, on the day of the 'Plum Blossom Festival', we should lose to Little Chiba Sword Hall again."

"but--"

Zhou Zhu elongated his voice and continued earnestly:

"As long as we show the strength of our natural flow of mind in the match against Little Chiba Sword Hall, then even if we lose to Little Chiba Sword Hall in the end, our natural flow of heart will still be very good. propaganda."

"Ma'am, do you know what is the biggest advantage of our trial guard hall compared with the big sword halls such as Xuanwu hall and Xiaoqianye sword hall when it comes to recruiting apprentices?"

"It's because our tuition is far cheaper than these big sword halls, and the barriers to entry are quite low. As long as you have healthy hands, feet, and a normal mind, you can enter our test hall."

"There are a lot of people in Edo who want to learn powerful swordsmanship, but have no money."

"Ma'am, think about it—if Yong and the others fought bravely in the match against Little Chiba Sword Gym, even though they lost in the end, they would still "kill" many people in Little Chiba Sword Gym, and let the spectators If more and more people see the practicality and power of our natural flow of mind, what will happen?"

"I'm sure many people will find out: Although this trial guard hall didn't beat the Little Chiba Sword Hall, their swordsmanship is quite powerful."

"Look, hasn't our natural mental flow been successfully publicized?"

"In this way, a group of people who intend to learn powerful swordsmanship but have no money to go to a big sword hall like Little Chiba Sword Hall will be attracted to them!"

"So, ma'am, the advantages of this matter far outweigh the disadvantages. This is a great opportunity for the future development of our testing hall."

Zhou Zhu's words are sincere.

However... it seems that Ah Bi was not moved.

Her face was still blue, and her displeasure was visible to the naked eye.

"...Zhou Zhu, I understand what you said."

"But I just feel uncomfortable!"

Ah Bi raised her hand and patted the tatami next to her vigorously.

"I don't want to see our testing hall being defeated by so many people watching!"

"I don't even want to see that little Chiba Sword Hall defeating us!"

Kondo, who had been silent just now, raised his eyes to look at Abi who was slapping the tatami angrily.

After hesitating for a moment, he took a deep breath: "Mother, it is too early to conclude that our test guard hall will definitely lose to Xiaoqianye sword hall on the day of the 'Plum Blossom Festival'!"

"Until the end, no one knows what the outcome of the game will be."

"It's not like we haven't won the Little Chiba Sword Hall."

Kondo clenched his right fist and hammered his chest with neither light nor heavy force.

"Mother, my son assures you: on the day of the competition, my son will work hard..."

Before Kondo finished speaking, Ah Bi snorted coldly, as if he was too lazy to listen to Kondo's nonsense, and then walked away.

While leaving the living room, he said to Kondo without looking back:

"Work hard...Didn't you work hard when you competed with Xuanwu Gym and Xiaoqianye Sword Gym before? And then? Did your efforts allow us to successfully beat these two sword gyms to the ground? Hmph!"

Seeing Abi who left directly, Kondo maintained the posture of punching his chest with an awkward expression.

Zhou Zhu also looked embarrassed.

"Alas..." Zhou Zhu sighed forcefully, while standing up slowly, "Yong, come with me, we father and son will go talk to your mother more."

"Your mother is a little bit awkward now...you need to be patient to enlighten her."

"Hmm..." Kondo smiled helplessly, then stood up with Zhou Zhu, "Father, it looks like tonight will be a very busy night..."

...

...

After telling Qingdeng and Okita a few words, "Go and rest early", Zhou Zhu, Kondo and his son rushed out of the living room one after the other, and ran to look for Abi.

The hall, which was very lively a few minutes ago, suddenly became deserted, only Qingdeng and Chongtian were left.

"Mr. Ju, I'm sorry..." Okita smiled wryly at Qingdeng, "Auntie, she often gets into trouble in some strange places regardless of the occasion... It makes you laugh..."

It is inconvenient for Qingdeng to comment and interfere in other people's family affairs.

After saying some polite words, Qingdeng raised his eyes and glanced at the door of the living room that was still open.

"Mr. Okita, does Mrs. Kondo hate Little Chiba Sword Hall?" Qingdeng couldn't help asking Okita.

What Abi said just now made Qingdeng very concerned—(I don’t want to see our testing hall be defeated by so many people! I don’t even want to see that Xiaoqian who defeated us Ye Jian Pavilion!)

This is so right... No matter how you listen to it, it seems that Ah Bi seems to have a big prejudice against Xiaoqianye Sword Hall.

"Ah... well..." After pondering for a moment, Okita smiled helplessly, "I don't know whether Auntie hates Little Chiba Sword Hall or not."

"Anyway, I really hate Little Chiba Sword Hall."

"Huh?" Qingdeng was surprised, "Why? I think your relationship with Mr. Shigetaro and Miss Sanako is pretty good, isn't it?"

Qingdeng noticed it—just now, Chiba Shigetaro and the others directly referred to Okita as "General Director"... Being able to call him by his first name is a sign of a good relationship.

"Hey... I seemed to be a little unclear about what I said just now."

Okita habitually stretched his hands behind his head, playing with the ponytail on the back of his head.

"To be precise - I hate some people in Little Chiba Sword Hall."

"My relationship with Mr. Shigetaro and Ms. Sanako is indeed very good, and I also like this pair of brothers and sisters very much."

"Mr. Shigetaro, Ms. Sanako... and their father: Chiba Sadakichi, all three of them are very good people."

"Even though our test guard hall is just a little-known 'taro dojo' that is completely incomparable to the small Chiba sword hall with a great family and great business, the three of them, father and son, have never looked at us with strange eyes. They come to get along with us with a natural and equal attitude. So our relationship with Mr. Shigetaro and the others has always been very good."

"But... the rest of the Little Chiba Sword Hall is not like this."

"Some people in the Little Chiba Sword Gym have always looked down on us, thinking that our Test Guard Gym is a poor dojo that is not even qualified to serve as a foil for their Little Chiba Sword Gym..."

"By the way—the same is true for the Xuanwu Hall. Some people in the Xuanwu Hall also look down on us, so I also hate some of the apprentices in the Xuanwu Hall."

"I don't know why my aunt has prejudice against Little Chiba Sword Gym, but I guess...she may be the same as me: she hates those apprentices in Little Chiba Sword Gym who look down on our guarding gym."

"Because I hate those guys, I don't want us to hold a 'red and white battle' with Little Chiba Sword Hall in public. If we lose to Little Chiba Sword Hall in full view, it will definitely make those who are already Those stinky bastards who look down on us are even more proud."

"So it's like this..." Qingdeng, who had been listening quietly all this time, let out a long breath.

——Are some people in Xuanwu Hall and Xiaoqianye Sword Hall quite contemptuous of our guarding hall... Well, this is quite normal...

——If no one in these two sword halls looks at our guard hall with colored glasses, then it is not normal...

Whether it's fame or the quality of the students... The test guard hall, the Xuanwu hall, and the Xiaoqianye sword hall are not in the same order. The two parties who could not have any intersection at all came together entirely because of the "ancestral friendship" .

Such a disparity in strength and status naturally makes it very easy for some people in the Xuanwu Gym and the Little Chiba Sword Gym to have a strong sense of superiority towards the Test Guard Gym.

"Ah, I seem to have said too many heavy things." Okita laughed a few times at this moment.

On his face, there was a cheerful smile again.

"Let's stop talking about these heavy things and let's talk about more interesting topics!"

As soon as Okita finished speaking, he showed a meaningful smirk at Qingdeng, then stretched out his right elbow, and poked Qingdeng's side.

"Mr. Ju, I didn't expect you to be the kind of person with honest eyes."

Qing Deng was startled: "The eyes are very honest? What do you mean?"

"Just now, when I was about to enter the living room and meet Mr. Shigetaro and the others, I kept paying attention to your eyes." The wicked smile on Okita's face became more and more intense, "I guessed that you were meeting Sanako The young lady will definitely look straight with both eyes."

"It turns out—it does."

Hearing Okita's teasing, Qingdeng's cheeks couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

The topic suddenly jumped from the heavy "sword hall discrimination" to "beautiful girls"... The content of the topic jumped so much that Qingdeng couldn't react for a while.

Qingdeng coughed softly a few times, trying to suppress the embarrassment on his face.

"That... Okita-kun, I want to clarify, I'm not some lecherous person who doesn't want to walk when I see a beautiful woman, I'm just a natural reaction..."

"Mr. Ju, you don't need to explain too much, I understand, I understand." Before Qingdeng could explain anything in the future, Okita folded his arms around his chest and nodded his head vigorously, "Everyone has the love of beauty." Of."

"In the face of those handsome men and beautiful women, no matter who they are, they can't help but take a few more glances."

"When I first met Ms. Sanako, my reaction was similar to that of Tachibana-kun—I was dumbfounded. This is the first time I have seen such a perfect woman, both in appearance and family background. "

"Sigh, I don't know which lucky person will be able to hug such a beauty in the end."

"Huh?" A look of surprise flashed through Qingdeng's eyes, "Miss Sanako, hasn't she married or engaged yet?"

Okita nodded: "That's right, no man has been lucky enough to change Miss Sanako's surname."

"I think Ms. Zuo Nazi seems to be quite old." Qingdeng said, "She should be 20 years old, right?"

"Hmm... If I remember correctly..." Okita pursed his lips tightly, recalling, "Miss Sanako was born in the ninth year of Tenpo (1838), six years older than me."

"I'm 16 years old, so Miss Sanako's age is...the age is..."

Okita faltered and stretched out his hands in front of him, twiddling his fingers.

After a while, Okita slapped his hands on his legs, and confidently reported an accurate number to Qingdeng:

"28 years old!"

"...You are 16 years old this year, and Miss Sanako is 6 years older than you, Miss Sanako should be 22 years old this year."

quiet……

The hall suddenly became extremely silent.

Okita, who was full of confidence, froze in place as if under the "petrochemical magic".

Qingdeng didn't intend to make the atmosphere so embarrassing...but Okita's calculation just now was so outrageously wrong that he couldn't help but speak out immediately to correct the error.

After a while, I finally saw that Okita lifted the "Petrochemical Magic".

I saw that he immediately put his palms in front of his eyes again, and snapped his fingers.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that he gradually lowered his hands, and then gradually put away that confident smile.

Head down.

Shoulders tightened.

There was a shy red on both cheeks.

"Sorry... I miscalculated..."

"It's all right." Qingdeng quickly relieved, "Although the calculation is not correct, the number you calculated is very close to the correct answer."

Knowing the level of Okita's arithmetic, Qingdeng cleared his throat in order to rescue the blushing Okita, and then took the initiative to speak out, breaking the current silent and awkward atmosphere:

"Miss Sanako is 22 years old this year, but she hasn't gotten married or engaged yet. It's really strange... Logically speaking, with Miss Sanako's qualifications, it's impossible for her to lack admirers and suitors. ?”

A 22-year-old single woman... In this era, this kind of woman is already the kind of "super leftover woman" who will make many families who are looking for a daughter-in-law frown.

Due to the short life expectancy and other reasons, in ancient Japan, women generally got married earlier.

Marrying at the age of 14 or 5, and being the mother of many children before the age of 20 - in this era, this is just a very common thing.

22 years old...you are still single at this age, not to mention the Edo period, even in the 21st century, you will probably be urged by your parents to find someone.

"That's right, a woman like Miss Sanako who has both looks and a prominent family background will definitely not lack the kind of people who come to propose marriage."

After Qingdeng took the initiative to pick up a new topic, Okita answered the conversation enthusiastically, and most of the awkward atmosphere that had lingered in the air disappeared immediately.

"If you line up those men who want to marry Sanako, you should be able to line up from Edo to Yokohama."

"I'm also not quite sure why Miss Sanako hasn't gotten married or engaged to anyone until now."

"Maybe it's because I haven't been able to find the person I want."

"A woman like Miss Sanako must have a very high vision for men. A man with such ordinary conditions should not be able to fall into the eyes of Miss Sanako."

"Tsk tsk." Okita smacked his lips a few times at this time, "'Being favored by a beauty of Miss Sanako's level'...should only be one of a thousand dragons who can get this honor Ah..."

...

...

Edo, Barrel Town, Little Chiba Sword House——

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom...

Chiba Shigetaro galloped along a certain corridor in the sword gym.

Shigetaro's house is the same as Kondo's house—they are both a structure where the house and the dojo are integrated.

Turned a corner, went up to the second floor, walked straight along the corridor facing the stairs, and finally - Chiba Shigetaro stopped in front of a plain paper sliding door.

This is his bedroom.

After opening the door and entering his bedroom, Chiba Shigetaro rushed to a locker placed in a corner of the bedroom, opened the bottom cabinet, and moved the bottom cabinet with a very skilled technique. One by one, the things in the cabinet were removed, and a booklet whose pages were somewhat damaged due to frequent reading was found at the bottom of the cabinet.

Chiba Shigetaro flipped the booklet with a big hand, and turned the booklet backwards with a slightly rough movement, and the pages that were turned quickly made a "crash la la la" sound.

On the flipped pages, one name after another was written.

Kawai Shirobei, Arai Kotaro, Tanaka Tozo, Yamawaki Suntaro...

Only a very small percentage of these names are "safe and sound".

Most of the names have a huge cross drawn on them.

And at the bottom of these crossed names, there is a short "comment" written on each.

These "comments" are full of strange things:

Too much alcohol, too exaggerated personality, nothing but family background, don't like Sanako at all, just want to cling to our Chiba family...

Chiba Shigetaro turned to the blank page at the back of the booklet in one breath, then took a writing brush and an inkstone filled with ink on the desk next to him, filled the ink with the writing brush, and solemnly wrote down a person's name on the booklet:

Orange green.

Chiba Shigetaro casually put the writing brush aside, then took the booklet a little farther away, and carefully looked at the new person's name he had just written in the booklet, as if looking at a work of art.

After a while, a smile filled with anticipation emerged from Chiba Shigetaro's cheeks.

"I'm going to be busy again... I hope this Juqingdeng will not be the kind of guy who has a good first impression, but after a long period of contact, he finds out that he is a bad person..."

After muttering like this, Chiba Shigetaro was about to put away the booklet and hide it in the locker.

However, at this moment - a gust of night wind blows into Chiba Shigetaro's bedroom along the open window.

Crash la la la la...

The booklet in Chiba Shigetaro's hand was quickly flipped forward under the blowing of the night wind, and he turned to the first page of the booklet in one breath, and the night wind that suddenly blew into the house gradually subsided.

The first page of the brochure... only had one person's name written on it.

Ryoma Sakamoto.

This person's name, like most of the names in this booklet, has a huge "cross" drawn on it.

But compared with other names with "crosses" drawn, this name is a little unique: there is no "comment" written below it.

Looking at the name that Night Breeze dug out... The smile that had originally hung on Chiba Shigetaro's cheeks quickly dissipated.

The dissipated smile turned into annoyance, and the thick eyebrows twitched together.

"Oh shit……"

Chiba Shigetaro cursed in a low voice.

"Let my precious sister miss you unrequitedly until now... Ryoma, in the whole world, probably only you can do this..."

"I hope you are the first... and the last one who will make Sanako suffer from unrequited love..."

"Well... it's unlikely that such a man will appear again..."

Chiba Shigetaro sighed heavily, then closed the booklet in his hand, and put it back into the deepest part of the locker...

*****

*****

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