I Was a Swordsman in Ancient Japan

The biggest difference between those large girls' houses and those small ones is the different services they can provide.

That kind of small house for traveling girls can provide quite a single service. After ordering the woman they like, the guests can't do much other than chatting with the woman and studying the biological differences between men and women. thing.

This is not the case with the large playgirl houses.

Some large-scale tourist houses often have a group of artists and gangsters in their respective shops.

Artist - as the name suggests, is the person in charge of performing talent. Such as: playing shamisen, pipa and other musical instruments, and offering a few songs and dances.

Gang Room - the person responsible for telling jokes, performing sketches, and enlivening the atmosphere.

In that kind of large-scale playgirl house, entertainers and gangsters can be invited to liven up the atmosphere before starting the business with the playgirls.

Just looking at the appearance of this seven-grass house, it must be one of the largest large-scale playgirl houses in this new town. It is just a very normal thing for them to have entertainers in their shop.

But what Yoshidaemon said just now, "Let Ogata and Atachi serve as Hatsumitsu's guards and assistants", this is a bit abnormal...

Before Ogata asked Sawaidaemon what he meant by what he said just now, Sawaidaemon began to explain on his own:

"Chuguang is an excellent artist recruited by our Seven Grass House last year."

"She has a beautiful appearance and outstanding temperament, and her shamisen playing skills are also very good. When she first came to our Nanakusa House, she became the number one performer of our Nanakusa House."

"Every day, countless people want to invite Chuguang to present a song. Although she is an artist, her popularity and popularity are no different from those of the oiran."

"How to promote popular girls and entertainers is actually skillful."

"One of the tricks is to let them have enough battles."

"To put it simply... just like wrapping a gift to look better, 'wrapping' people who want to be popular is one of the secrets to making them popular and raising their value."

"So after Chuguang became popular, I arranged for Chuguang a beautiful assistant named 'Atong'. He was responsible for helping her hold the shamisen when Chuguang started playing the piano and performing. "

"After Ah Tong came to help Chuguang fill the battle, Chuguang's popularity really rose immediately.

"

"Well, those who love arty are so vulgar."

Right now Sodaemon sneered.

"As long as an ordinary product is made to look high-end, countless people with stupid money will take the bait."

"For an ordinary wooden chopstick, you only need to inlay some silver on the tail of the chopsticks, and then make some plausible publicity, then even if the chopsticks are priced at 1 tael, people who are willing to buy them will flock to them."

"Ah, sorry, I seem to have strayed a little bit."

"After assigning Chuguang an assistant to help her with the shamisen, Chuguang's popularity immediately increased."

"But no matter whether it's a girl or an artist, once the popularity is high, it will easily lead to all kinds of troubles."

"Only four months after Chuguang came to our Seven Grass House, an accident happened."

"When Chuguang was performing for the guests, a lunatic who was obsessed with Chuguang suddenly rushed up and hugged Chuguang."

"Although Chuguang was not injured in that incident, Chuguang was quite frightened."

"Chuguang is now the most important heart and soul of our Qicao House, so after that incident, in order to protect Chuguang and further 'package' Chuguang, I assigned two highly skilled guards to her."

"At the same time, a rule has been established - in the future, whenever Chuguang performs for the guests at the banquet, the guards have the right to sit behind Chuguang and protect Chuguang."

"Actually, this regulation is quite overbearing, but Chuguang's popularity is too high. Even if such an overbearing regulation is established, more people would like to invite Chuguang to perform."

"The two guards of Chuguang have become a new 'package' to increase her value as I wished."

"Chuguang's work area is not limited to our seven-grass house. As long as the money is paid, Chuguang can also perform in other girls' houses, tea houses, and izakayas."

"It's like tonight—tonight, the son of a big businessman hosted a banquet at Xutianya in Xinmachi, and spent a lot of money to invite our first light to perform at the banquet."

"Tonight's guests are not ordinary guests, so don't neglect them."

"However, it's hard to die—just last night, there was an accident at Chuguang's place."

"One of Chuguang's guards——Ikeda Araiemon, and Chuguang's assistant Tong, at some point in time they flirted with each other."

"Just last night, the two of them eloped secretly."

"That's a big problem."

"As I said just now, equipping Chuguang with one assistant and two guards is her current 'package'."

"I've been publicizing that our family's Chu Guang is different from ordinary entertainers. She has an assistant who helps her with the shamisen and two personal guards who are 'high-end goods'."

"So if you can't make up for the vacancies of assistants and guards before serving the distinguished guests tonight, it will have a bad influence on Chuguang."

"It's like you advertised that this person can perform Iai Slash with a 5-foot-long long sword, but when he arrives at the scene, he only performs with a 3-foot-long ordinary sword. It will make the guests feel like they have been cheated. of."

"Filling in the vacancies of guards and assistants is easier said than done."

"If it's just to get through tonight, the guards can temporarily not look for someone with great skills, but the character must be trustworthy."

"The assistant has to be a pretty young girl."

"Only by assigning beautiful women as Chuguang's assistants can we best 'package' Chuguang and increase his value."

"Chuguang's former assistant 'Tong' is a beautiful girl who is qualified to be the number one in any house for girls."

"Although there are many beautiful girls in our Seven Grass House, they are all wandering girls. They are very busy every night, and it is not appropriate to let a wandering girl serve as an artist's assistant."

"Whether it's a guard or an assistant, even for me, it's extremely difficult to find a suitable person to fill this vacancy in less than half a day."

"Just when I was in a state of desperation, you guys came here."

"And among you, there are exactly two kinds of people that I urgently need right now—people who are beautiful enough, and people who are qualified to be a guard."

"To me now, you are the timely rain."

Satodaemon's explanation was finally over.

Ogata, who understood the cause and effect, nodded: "So that's how it is..."

"You are all friends of Fu-kun." Saidaemon added at this time, "So I have great confidence in your character."

"And let's be honest - there's nothing I can do now but to ask you guys."

Satodaemon's expression became bitter at this moment.

"Apart from you, before dark, I probably won't be able to find a girl who is beautiful enough, and a warrior who is willing to replace the guard."

——To put it simply—you, who are in a hurry to find someone to replace the vacant guard and assistant, are using a dead horse as a living horse doctor...

Ogata summed up in his mind what Sodaemon said just now in one sentence.

"...Just replace it for one night tonight, right?" Ogata asked Tianemon to the left and right.

"Yes." Satodaemon nodded, "As long as we can survive tonight, it will be easy to talk about later."

"Tonight Chuguang only needs to perform at the banquet of the distinguished guests of the Xutian House. There is no need to go to multiple places to perform."

"In order to maintain the price and dignity of Chuguang, I only allow Chuguang to perform in one place every night."

"Will Chu Guang leave immediately after the performance?" Ogata asked.

"Yes." Left and right Tianweimen nodded again, "Chuguang will play three pieces at the banquet tonight, after the performance, she will leave, and after escorting Chuguang back, your work will be completed .”

"...I have an ugly scar on my face." Ogata continued to ask, "So I don't like to take off my bamboo hat and face scarf, can I not take off these two things when I take over the post of guard? "

"Huh?" Zuo Tianwei raised his eyebrows, "Can't you take off your face scarf and bamboo hat?"

"Yes. Because I don't want anyone to see the scar on my face."

Right now, Mashidaemon's expression suddenly became weird.

He looked at Fuma, and then at Ogata.

Opened his mouth, hesitated to speak.

In the end——Sawaidaemon still closed his mouth, nodded after thinking for a moment:

"...Yes. It doesn't matter if you insist on wearing a bamboo hat and a face scarf. After all, the position you need to take over is just a guard."

Ogata murmured.

After pondering for a moment, he turned to A-cho and asked:

"...Amachi, would you like to be that first light's temporary assistant tonight?"

"I can." Ah-Machi replied without thinking, "Anyway, it's not time-consuming or labor-intensive, just helping others hold the shamisen."

"...that's good." Ogata nodded, and then turned his gaze back to Yoshidaemon, "Then my wife and I will help you with this tonight. I hope you can fulfill your promise in the future and give the second master's Tell us where you live."

"Brother." Feng Mo raised his eyebrows, "You and Komachi are really going to be that Chu Guang's guards and assistants?"

"We do someone a favor, and then they also do us a favor, mutual benefit, this is reasonable." Ogata smiled, "Anyway, it's not such a troublesome favor that they ask us to do."

"Thank you very much." At this time, Satodaemon bowed to Ogata and saluted, "I assure you - I will tell you the address of Yoji immediately afterward, and I will never break my promise."

After finishing speaking, Yoshidaemon opened the cabinet next to him, took out two things that looked like waist cards from the cabinet, and handed them to Ogata and Atachi.

"These two things, you take them."

"At six o'clock in the evening (6 p.m.) today, you will come to this seven-grass house again. After showing this sign to the gatekeeper, the gatekeeper will lead you to Chuguang's room."

"After that, you all just need to follow Chuguang to Xutian House to perform."

...

...

After promising that Satodaemon would help him with this favor, Ogata and the others left Nanakusa House.

It's still only morning, and there is still half a day before the 6:00 pm agreed with Zuo Tianweimen.

In order to pass the time, Feng Mo continued to go to his old subordinate Xianbingwei alone to catch up.

The three of them, Ogata, A-machi, and Azuki, took to the streets like yesterday, wandering around in Osaka.

Since leaving Ezodi and returning to the mainland of Japan, Ogata has basically never rested. He is either on the road or preparing to go on the road every day. Therefore, Ogata is also willing to hang out in this strange city of Osaka. Relax your tense nerves.

Wandering around aimlessly, admiring the scenery of Osaka which is very different from Kyoto and Edo.

Half a day's time - fleeting.

Ogata and A-machi returned to the door of Nanakusa House at six o'clock in the evening as agreed with Sashidaemon very punctually.

As for Azuki—she was a little tired after spending the whole day wandering around Osaka with Ogata and Acho. When Ogata and the others were about to return to Nanakusa House, she parted ways with them and returned to their residence alone. the hotel went to rest

After returning to Nanakusa House, according to what Sodaemon said this morning, he showed the sign he gave to the two to the gatekeeper, and the gatekeeper immediately took the two into Nanakusa House and went straight to Nanakusa House on the second floor, leading the two into a room on the second floor.

It was a very simple room.

There is almost no furniture in the room, just a few cushions.

In this extremely simple room, there is only a big man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, sitting in the center of the room holding a sword and a wakizasa.

Seeing Ogata and Atachi, the big man immediately stood up and greeted them warmly.

"Oh! The two of you must be the couple who the boss told me about this afternoon and are responsible for temporarily replacing Ikeda and A-Tong!"

"I'm meeting you for the first time! I'm Masaki Shibata! I'm Miss Chuguang's only remaining guard after that kid Ikeda eloped with Tong! Please give me your advice!"

According to the self-introduction of this big man, he should be one of the two original guards of Chuguang...or the only one left.

After another guard: Ikeda and Chuguang's assistant: Tong eloped, he is now the only one left by Chuguang's side.

"It's our first meeting, Goro Mashima."

"I'm Mashima-cho. Please give me your advice."

Ogata's first impression of Shibata was very good. He has always had a good impression of this kind of enthusiastic and cheerful person.

Up and down the whole gourd house, the person who has the best relationship with Ogata and is also Ogata's favorite person is Mucun—the main reason is that Mucun happens to be the kind of enthusiastic and cheerful person that Ogata likes very much.

After introducing themselves to each other, Ogata began to carefully look at the room under his feet: "...Shibata-kun, this is...Miss Chuguang's room?"

Ogata remembered that this morning, what Satodaemon told him was that after showing the sign to the gatekeeper, the gatekeeper would take them to Chuguang's room.

This room with nothing but cushions... To be honest, it is hard for Ogata to believe that this is the room of a popular star.

As soon as Ogata's question came to an end, Shibata nodded vigorously: "This is indeed Miss Chuguang's room, but it's not the room where she lives, but the room where she practices the piano."

"She usually practices piano in this room. Because it's just a room for practicing piano, the layout is quite simple."

Ogata: "So that's how it is..."

"You guys sit down first." Shibata made a "please" gesture to the two of them, "Miss Chuguang is putting on makeup now, and she won't come back until a while, please sit down and rest for a while."

Ogata and A-Machi each took a cushion and sat down.

The three of them kept silent, and it was quite embarrassing, so in order not to make the atmosphere more awkward, Machi immediately asked Shibata as soon as he sat on the cushion:

"Speaking of which—Shibata-kun, is Ms. Chuguang's nickname her flower name, or her real name?"

"Well... I don't know about this." Shibata smiled wryly and shook his head, "Miss Chuguang never told me whether her name was her real name or her flower name."

"But I guess it's probably a flower name."

"The name Chuguang doesn't seem like his real name. It's quite common for artists to give themselves nicknames."

After A-Machi got started, the three of them started chatting with each other in this small room.

Shibata didn't ask why Ogata was wearing a bamboo hat and a face scarf all the time - probably because Satodaemon had told Shibata today why Ogata was wearing a bamboo hat and a face scarf.

Chatting with each other one after another, time flows like a river without stopping.

The sky, which was just gray just now, turned completely black in the blink of an eye.

Just when Ogata felt a little impatience thinking about "Miss Chuguang still coming", he finally heard the sound of the door of the room being pulled open.

Along with the sound of pulling the door, there was a beautiful female voice.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting."

Ogata turned around quickly.

The person who opened the door was a very beautiful girl.

Wearing a light blue kimono, a pair of white and thin gloves, light makeup, and a neat Shimada bun, he looks very young, at most 17 or 8 years old, with fair skin, big eyes and Youshen, holding a shamisen with a very exquisite appearance.

After the girl appeared, Shibata who was sitting across from Ogata stood up quickly.

"Miss Chuguang! Good evening!"

Hearing Shibata's voice, Ogata hastily cast his eyes on the beautiful woman again.

——Is she...that Chuguang?

While looking at Chuguang with sizing eyes, Ogata's movements were not slow at all - he quickly got up and saluted Chuguang, and then said loudly:

"It's our first meeting, Miss Hatsune. I'm Mashima Goro."

"I'm Mashima-machi." A-machi followed Ogata and greeted Hatsumitsu.

"It's our first meeting." Hatsumitsu returned the salute to Ogata and the others generously, "I've already heard about the introduction of the two of you by Satodaemon. Thank you very much for your timely help. It really helped us a lot."

If you talk about how stunning Chuguang's appearance is...that's not the case. Although she is beautiful, she is not yet stunning.

But she has a great temperament. Between gestures, exudes a very elegant temperament. Its temperament can make people quickly think of the idiom "knowledge and rationality".

From the way she speaks, and the etiquette that can't find any fault, it is not difficult to see that she has very good cultivation.

After seeing this girl with his own eyes, Ogata finally understood why this girl was able to become the top performer of Nanicaoya and was sought after by so many people. With both appearance and temperament, it is not easy for this kind of woman to become famous.

Chuguang didn't ask Ogata why he was wearing a bamboo hat and a face scarf, probably because Satodaemon had already told her the reason.

"Tonight, I will have the help of the two of you." After saying this, Chuguang smiled, holding the shamisen in his arms, and bowed to Ogata and Atachi again, neither humble nor overbearing.

...

...

"Hey, look, it's Chuguang."

"It's really beautiful..."

"It's a pity that she doesn't become a playgirl..."

"It would be great if she could be bigger..."

"Huh? Why did Chuguang's assistant change?"

"Yeah... It seems that one of the guards has also changed... Tsk tsk, Chuguang's new assistant is really big."

...

After following Chuguang to leave the Seven Grass House, Ogata instantly felt that countless lines of sight concentrated on them.

What followed were all kinds of normal or obscene words.

Ogata knew that Chuguang's popularity was very high, but he didn't expect her popularity to be so high. It was just that she had just left the seven-grass house, and immediately a large number of people gathered around, looking at it as if they were looking at a rare animal. With seven herbs.

I have to say——Ming is quite into the role.

At this time, A-machi was walking behind Chuguang, keeping a distance of about one step from Chuguang at all times, embracing Chuguang's extremely exquisite shamisen.

The appearance of A-Machi at this time has perfectly integrated into the role of Chuguang's assistant.

In terms of appearance, he is not inferior to Chuguang, but he is not as good as Chuguang in temperament, which also attracts the attention of many spectators.

As for Ogata, he and Shibata followed behind Chuguang.

Shibata's movements are quite professional - he has been scanning the surroundings with a vigilant gaze, his left hand has been resting on the scabbard around his left waist, and his right hand is slightly raised, maintaining the most convenient movement for drawing the sword.

Because Shibata and Ogata were guarding Chuguang's rear, although many people surrounded him, none of them dared to approach Chuguang casually.

Ogata and his party are like a small boat cleaving the waves. The "waves" that are cut are the "human waves" composed of these spectators, and they are slowly walking towards their destination tonight-Xutian House bit by bit.

Shinmachi is the same as Yoshiwara, not all the shops in it are Yumeya, but there are also some normal shops.

Xu Tianya is the largest tea house in Shinmachi, similar to the high-end restaurants in modern times, and is a place favored by countless wealthy people in Osaka.

Just now, while chatting with Shibata Yu Chuguang's piano practice room, Ogata learned from Shibata some basic information about the guest who invited Chuguang tonight.

Shibata didn't know much about tonight's guests, except that he was a big businessman with samurai status. He held a banquet at Xutian House tonight. Chuguang invites them to perform at their banquet.

Although in the Edo period, the shogunate adopted an extremely strict status hierarchy, delimiting the four classes of "scholar, farmer, businessman and commerce", and stipulating merchants as a class whose social status was only one level higher than that of the uncle, and did not allow all classes to Free circulation.

But because the power of the merchants has gradually grown, in order to get rid of the low political position, the merchants have gradually discovered many "bug-like" methods to transform themselves from lowly merchants to warriors.

One of the commonly used methods is to recruit samurai as son-in-law.

The principle is to take advantage of the institutional flaws of the shogunate.

The Edo Shogunate had a strange system: as long as a samurai was recruited as a son-in-law, the family's native place could be changed to the samurai's native place, and the whole family could use the samurai's surname and family crest.

For example: Ogata entered the family of a businessman named Sangoro and became Sangoro's son-in-law, then Sangoro could change his name to "Ogata Sangoro" from then on, and the family became the Ogata family , You can use Ogata's bellflower pattern to make a new family crest, and the whole family will change from a merchant's family to a samurai's family, and you can call it Saber.

Most of them are samurai who don't want to endure hardship and want to be the son-in-law of a wealthy businessman, and enjoy the glory and wealth since then. Therefore, countless businessmen have become samurai overnight by relying on this method.

As an economic metropolis where wealthy businessmen gather in Osaka, the most indispensable thing is the kind of businessman who has obtained the status of a samurai through various methods.

From Qi Cao House to Xu Tian House, the distance between the two places is not too far.

Although there were countless people who came to watch the famous Chuguang on the road, they didn't block the way too much. Ogata and the others arrived at Xutian House smoothly.

Just arrived in front of the gate of Xutian House, a dwarf who had been standing by the gate looking around just now, who had been standing by the gate and looking around, ran towards Ogata and the others with a happy face.

"Miss Chuguang, welcome." Although this dwarf is a bit ugly, he can speak well and understands etiquette, "Please come with me, my young master has been waiting for you for a long time."

"Thank you." Chu Guang bowed lightly to the dwarf.

The dwarf led Ogata and the others straight to the top floor of Xutian House.

Xutianya is indeed a famous big tea house in Osaka. Not only is it huge in size, but the quality of the waiters is also very unusual.

When he followed the dwarf to the top floor of Xutian House, Ogata noticed that every person dressed as a waiter in Xutian House, whether male or female, all had young and correct facial features.

Because Xutian House was very big, Ogata and the others had to walk a not-so-short distance to arrive at their destination—the door of a room on the top floor that was very beautiful just because of the pictures on the door.

"Master!" The dwarf shouted into the room, "Miss Chuguang is here!"

As soon as the dwarf finished speaking, an extremely excited voice sounded in the room: "Oh! It's finally here! Let Miss Chuguang come in!"

--Ok?

At this moment, Ogata's expression changed.

Also with a slight change in expression was A-Ming.

Both of them said the same words in their hearts at the same time: the voice just now...so familiar...

When Ogata was thinking about when he heard this voice, the dwarf had already opened the door of the room, Chuguang had already entered the room first, and Ogata, who was Chuguang's temporary guard and temporary assistant, He and A-cho had to go in with him.

As soon as he entered the room, Xu was stunned.

No.

It should be said that Ogata, Machi, and someone in the room were all stunned at the same time.

This is an extremely spacious room, with a total of 13 people having a banquet in it.

Twelve of them sat on the east and west sides of the room, facing each other.

There was only one extremely gorgeously dressed young man sitting at the head of the banquet—the one who was stunned at the same time as Ogata and A-Machi was this person.

And this person was none other than the Miura who struck up a conversation with Machi yesterday.

...

...

At this very moment—

Xutian House, a luxurious mansion not far from Ogata and the others——

This is the most luxurious and high-class room in the entire Xutian House.

Not only is it extremely spacious, but the interior layout is also extremely luxurious. The tatami mats are high-end products from Kyoto, and the walls are painted with famous paintings by famous masters.

In the room, a middle-aged man with a scar from the left forehead to the corner of the left mouth, and a scar from the root of the left ear to the right cheek, these two scars just formed a cross wound, sitting upright on a cushion.

With a flattering smile on his face, he said to a young man sitting opposite him who was sipping tea in a respectful tone:

"My lord, this is the Longjing tea from Tangtu West Lake that I recently purchased. How does it taste?"

"Hmm... I don't know much about tea, but I think the taste is okay."

The young man sitting opposite the middle-aged man had a burly figure of nearly 1.9 meters, and his long hair was tied up and dragged behind his head casually.

Beside him is a mighty Otachi sword.

"Speaking of which--Xingcun, I haven't seen you for a while, your business has grown so big." The young man said slowly, "You even bought such a luxurious tea house, it is said that you even got involved in the silk business a while ago Already."

"Don't dare to do it, don't dare to do it." The middle-aged man called Yukimura continued to laugh, "A while ago, I just got lucky and bought some silk shops cheaply from a friend named Miura."

*****

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