I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

Chapter 370: The Wind Chime Taifu from

Text Chapter 370 The Fuchi Taifu from "Rashomon Riverside" 【5000 words】

Guasheng, who went out a few steps behind Ogata, walked out of the room at a faster pace than Ogata, rushed to Ogata's side, and asked Ogata in a surprised tone:

"Mashima-kun, do you still speak Chinese?"

"In the temple house where I studied, the teacher in charge could speak Chinese." Ogata said, "I learned Chinese from my teacher."

The lie that Ogata casually made up can be described as impeccable.

After all, this reason sounds very reasonable, and no one can verify its authenticity.

After listening to Ogata's casually made-up reason why he couldn't find any problems at first glance, Gua Sheng nodded seriously:

"It's amazing... Mashima-kun, you have the skill of 'speaking Chinese', so you don't have to worry about eating and drinking. In the future, you will open a private school in some big cities and towns that specializes in teaching Chinese. People who come to study Definitely a lot.”

What Gua Sheng said is correct.

With the skill of "speaking Chinese", it is indeed very easy to find a way out in this era.

Because Sinology, headed by "Zhu Zixue", occupies the absolute mainstream of the academic world in this era, there must be people who have a lot of pursuit in learning, or simply want to learn Chinese.

So, as Guasheng said, if Ogata opens private schools specializing in teaching Chinese in big towns such as Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka in the future, there is no need to worry that no guests will come to the door.

With the skill of "speaking Chinese", you can even apply for a translator in the shogunate.

Although Japan in the Edo period adopted a "lock-down order", it still maintained a normal diplomatic status with China, North Korea, and the Netherlands.

In order to maintain normal diplomacy with these three countries, the shogunate has always trained or recruited talents who can speak the languages of these three countries.

So if you can speak Chinese and go to the shogunate to apply for a translator, the shogunate will definitely welcome you.

After hearing Guasheng's words, Ogata smiled:

"Would you like to set up a private school for teaching Chinese in Oshiro Town... It's a good idea, but it's a pity that I don't have much interest in teaching."

While chatting, the two left the residence one after the other.

The air with a faint smell of fat and powder came towards the two of them again.

After walking all the way away from the staying house, Gua Sheng stopped slowly, put his hands on his hips, took a deep breath of the fresh air outside, and showed a big smile:

"It's so relaxing!"

After finishing speaking, Guasheng raised his hand and patted Ogata on the back.

However, because Guasheng is about 30cm shorter than Ogata's, Guasheng had to raise his hand a little to touch Ogata's back.

"Mashima-kun, did you see that guy Takigawa's expression just now after he heard you reciting "The Analects" in Chinese?"

After raising his hand and patting Ogata's back, Guasheng continued.

"When I saw that a ronin who I despised, who had only studied in Siziwu for a few years, could recite "The Analects" so proficiently in Chinese, the eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets."

"It's a pity that I can't draw."

"If I can draw, otherwise I must draw Takikawa's expressive expression just now."

"Also, Mashima-kun, I don't know if you noticed just now. When that Takikawa was uttering that long speech just now, his eyes kept looking at Mrs. Fuchi."

"I really didn't find out." Ogata answered at this time.

Just now Ogata was only focused on listening to Takikawa's "high theory", he didn't pay attention, and didn't want to pay attention to where Takikawa's eyes were looking.

"Looking at his appearance, I can tell what he's thinking—he wants to be praised by Taifu Fengchi."

The corner of Gua Sheng's mouth curved into a mocking arc.

"That guy is persevering enough. Taifu has shown that she has no interest in Takikawa on countless occasions, both openly and secretly.

Takikawa was still trying to get close to the Taifu. "

"Fortunately, the husband never took a direct look at Takikawa from the beginning to the end."

After finishing the big words in one breath, Gua let out a big breath, showing a refreshed look.

After Guasheng's voice fell, Xufang said with a wry smile:

"Miss Guasheng, now I have a very deep understanding of why you said that Takikawa is a very annoying guy. In the eyes of a low-level samurai like me, that person is indeed quite annoying."

In the extremely brief contact with Takikawa just now, the deepest impression Takikawa gave Ogata was that he was arrogant, and his words always carried a sense of aloofness.

When Takikawa talked about his so-called "political ideas", there was always an air of "from top to bottom, overlooking others" in his words.

With an attitude of "superior to others", to guide "subordinates" like Ogata what to do to get rid of poverty.

"I am the daughter of an ordinary samurai." After hearing Ogata's emotion, Guasheng also showed a wry smile, and then said slowly, "So I also agree with Takikawa's arrogant attitude and such propositions." Quite disgusting."

"However, as far as I know—it seems that there are quite a few people who are positive about Takikawa's claim."

"And those who think that Takikawa's proposition is correct are basically high-ranking samurai like Takikawa who came from Banner or the royal family."

Gua Sheng, with a look of distress on his face, raised his hand to stroke his hair while his expression became serious.

"We are all warriors, but our thoughts and thoughts are completely different..."

"Everyone who is the same samurai has completely different thoughts...I really don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing."

After expressing this small emotion, Gua Sheng sighed lightly.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this."

A good-looking smile reappeared on Gua Sheng's face.

"Let's go, Mashima-kun, I'll take you to continue to familiarize yourself with the layout of Yoshihara. We still have a lot of places to go."

"Yeah." Ogata, who also didn't want to linger on this topic any longer, nodded with a smile, "Let's go."

...

The total area of Yoshihara is about 20,000 ping.

A tsubo in the Edo period is about 3.31 square meters in modern times.

In other words, the total area of Yoshihara is about 66,200 square meters.

It's not a particularly big place, but if it's small, it's not a particularly small place.

Although Guasheng said before that she wanted to try to take Ogata to visit the whole Yoshihara before lunch, but this kind of thing is still too reluctant.

After Guasheng took Ogata to visit the whole Yoshiwara, it was almost 16 o'clock in the afternoon.

It is now autumn, and it is getting dark quickly, and it is almost dark at this time.

Since it was getting dark, Guasheng simply invited Ogata to come to the Shirobei clubhouse to sit with her and have a rest.

Rest for an hour or two, and after dark, Ooyo can officially start his first day of work in Yoshiwara.

At this point in time, before returning to the hotel where I was staying, it was almost dark.

So for Guasheng's proposal, Ogata readily agreed.

According to Guasheng, the Shirobei Club has a lot of rooms specially designed for officials like them to rest on weekdays.

Guasheng led Ogata back to the Shirobei clubhouse next to the gate of Yoshihara.

After bringing Ogata to the door of an empty rest room, Guasheng turned his head and said to Ogata:

"After you rest in the room for a while, I'll get you something, and I'll go back as soon as I go."

"Get me something?" Ogata asked suspiciously, "What?"

"You'll know this later. Go ahead and rest in the room. I'll be back soon."

After finishing speaking, Guasheng turned around and quickly walked away from Ogata's field of vision.

After watching Guasheng leave, Ogata slowly opened the sliding paper door of the room.

The room dedicated to the rest of the official staff of the clubhouse is quite spacious, as big as 8 and a half tatami mats, and it is completely qualified to be used as a temporary rest room.

I just don't know if all the rest rooms are so big.

Because it is a room specially for the officials of the clubhouse to rest, so naturally there will not be too much furniture in the room.

The whole room can be described as empty, only a few cushions and thin quilts that are neither clean nor dirty are piled up in the corners.

The cushions and quilts must have been used by the officials of the club when they took a nap in this room.

Guasheng didn't make Ogata wait too long.

Not long after Ogata entered the room and sat down on the tatami, Guasheng came back.

Compared with before leaving, Gua Sheng has one more thing in his hand - a dark blue feather.

"This is for you." Guasheng handed the haori in his hand to Ogata, "When it gets dark and you start working, you can wear this haori."

After Ogata took the haori and shook it off, he suddenly found that the haori was exactly the work clothes of the Shirobei clubhouse - the two Chinese characters "club" were painted on the fronts of the skirts on both sides, and the back was A haori with a large "mon" character drawn on it.

"Do you have to wear this?" Ogata shook the haori in his hand.

Ogata prefers light onion-colored haori with a hearty color system.

As for the dark blue haori in his hand... To be honest, Ogata didn't have much desire to wear it on his body.

"Of course." Nodding his head, Guasheng sat across from Ogata in a nonchalant manner, "If you don't wear this, how would other people in Yoshihara know that you are an official of the club?"

"Occasionally we have to go outside Yoshihara to hunt down criminals who committed crimes in Yoshihara but fled outside Yoshihara."

"When leaving Yoshihara, remember to wear this haori in reverse."

Guasheng took back the haori from Ogata's hand, and then turned it upside down, the lining of the haori became the outer skin, and the outer skin became the lining.

After turning this feather weave over, because the original outer skin was used as a lining, the words "Clubhouse" and "Gate" originally painted on the skirt and back are completely invisible, and become an ordinary solid color Department of haori.

"This can be regarded as one of the rules of our clubhouse. When you go to Yoshihara to do business outside, you must wear the feathers upside down. I don't know the specific reason for this rule."

"But I guess it's to deceive people's eyes and ears. To avoid causing unreasonable reverie among the citizens after seeing the official messengers wearing the special haori of the Shirobei Club moving around the streets and alleys of Edo."

"So that's how it is..." Ogata nodded seriously, "No wonder when I saw you for the first time at the sushi restaurant yesterday, you were wearing this haori on your body backwards."

Yesterday at noon during the day, when I met Guasheng for the first time in that sushi restaurant whose name I had forgotten, Oo conveniently noticed that the dark blue haori on Guasheng was worn backwards.

Ogata was very puzzled at the time, but now the doubt is finally solved.

After returning the haori to Ogata, Guasheng untied the wooden knife from his waist, put it on the tatami beside him, and asked Ogata in a joking tone:

"Mashima-kun, how are you? After visiting Yoshiwara, how do you feel?"

"I don't have any strong feelings." Ogata, who was kneeling solemnly across from Guasheng, scratched his hair, "If I have to say something impressive... the scene on the bank of the Rashomon River is exactly the same as I imagined. The situation is much better..."

When I came to Yoshiwara for the first time with Ah-Ming last night, I heard Guasheng introduce the bank of the Rashomon River.

According to Guasheng, that area is the most chaotic place in Yoshiwara. Most of the wandering girls who could no longer normally receive guests due to old age or illness ended up on the banks of the Rashomon River.

Ogata originally thought that the area should be deserted, with few intact houses.

But this afternoon, after walking around the Rashomon River Bank, Ogata was surprised to find that the Rashomon River Bank was not as dilapidated as he had imagined.

Although it is true that there are still some houses that are dilapidated, they are not many.

Most of the houses look like they have been renovated recently.

Not only the houses are like this, but the road on the other side of the Rashomon River also looks like it has been repaired recently.

"Oh, this." Guasheng smiled, "Do you think that the banks of the Rashomon River are not as dilapidated as you imagined?"

"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "Just judging from the state of the houses and roads, it is completely impossible to tell that this is the most chaotic place in Yoshihara."

"It's normal for you to feel this way. The former Rashomon River Bank was exactly as you imagined. There were not many houses that were in good condition."

"The reason why she has become so much more beautiful now is all thanks to the presence of Taifu Fengchi."

"Master Fengling?" Ogata asked doubtfully.

"I seem to have forgotten to tell you." Gua Sheng said seriously, "Taifu Fengling was born on the banks of the Rashomon River."

"...huh?" Ogata tilted his head.

"Taifu Fengling was born on the banks of the Rashomon River." Guasheng repeated what she had just said. "I know this sounds ridiculous, but it's true. It's not a secret in our Yoshihara, everyone knows Taifu Fengchi was born on the banks of the Rashomon River."

Ogata was surprised and speechless at this moment.

Although the state of the houses and roads on the bank of the Rashomon River is much worse than what Ogata imagined, the spiritual outlook of the wandering girls living on the bank of the Rashomon River and the atmosphere that permeates the air are quite different. It is not much different from Ogata's imagination.

There were no pedestrians on the bank of the Rashomon River, only a few pedestrians. According to Guasheng, they were all wandering girls who lived on the bank of the Rashomon River.

These wandering girls may have obvious aging or sickness on their faces.

When Guasheng and Ogata passed by them, they either turned a blind eye, or cast numb, or empty gazes at them without any emotion at all.

The atmosphere in the air on the banks of the Rashomon River is also quite different from that of other places.

To use a vivid metaphor... the air on the banks of the Rashomon River seems to be floating with a lot of ice, and there is no vitality and breath of "human".

It is really difficult for Ogata to equate the bright and beautiful Fengchi Taifu with places like the banks of the Rashomon River. "

"Although tourist girls basically take necessary anti-pregnancy measures when receiving guests, these anti-pregnancy measures are not absolutely effective."

Gua Sheng was eloquent.

"Taifu Fengchi is the child accidentally conceived by an old wandering girl who had to live on the banks of the Rashomon River."

"Such children are quite common in our Yoshihara."

"These children were either secretly abandoned by wandering girls, or raised by responsible wandering girls."

"And Taifu Fengling is very lucky to be the latter."

"After accidentally becoming pregnant with Taifu Fengchi, Taifu's mother did not kill Taifu, but gave birth to Taifu and raised Taifu."

"I don't know if I've told you - oirans are cultivated from childhood. Those who don't decide to be a prostitute until their teens or twenties have no chance of becoming an oiran in their entire lives."

"Those powerful women's houses, when accepting girls, will specially pick out those little girls who have the potential to be the oiran."

"Then cultivate these little girls who have the potential to be oirans from an early age."

"Only the kind of girls who have been raised since childhood have the chance to become the oiran."

"When Mrs. Fengling was only a few years old, she showed a beauty that far surpassed other people of her age."

"After the people in Jianmei House have chosen the Taifu, with the consent of the Taifu's mother and the Taifu himself, they bring the Taifu to Jianmei House and train him as a 'future oiran'."

"After living up to everyone's expectations and becoming the bald, furisode new creation... After going through many tests and finally becoming the oiran, Mrs. Fengling has become Jianmei House's biggest cash cow."

"Not only did Jianmei House earn a lot of money, but she also earned a huge amount of wealth that would make samurai and merchants ashamed."

"But she spent almost all of the money she earned last year."

"It is used to repair the banks of the Rashomon River."

"It is thanks to Taifu Fuchi that the appearance of the Rashomon Riverbank has taken on a new look."

*****

My physical condition has finally returned to 80% of its previous state!

congratulations.

This illness can be regarded as a wake-up call for me.

The first wake-up: Pay attention to your body and diet.

The second wake-up call: pay as much attention to saving manuscripts as possible.

It's a pity that these two things are more difficult for me as a part-time novelist...

Finally, thank you very much for your concern these days.