Chapter 494 More and more
Bright eyes, solid and powerful steps, clear and precise conversation.
Except for the inevitable wrinkles on his skin due to age, there was nothing aging about his body, and there was no hint that he was an old man who was nearing his prime.
Today's Kinoshita dance is also very formal.
A bright red kimono with beautifully embroidered patterns, a delicate goose-yellow obi, feet wrapped in white stockings that make you want to hold them in your palms, and tiny clogs with red buttons.
"Qingden! Good morning!"
"Well, good morning to you too."
After greeting Qingden, she turned her gaze and began to say hello to other people present - and then, almost in the blink of an eye, her expression changed from "joyful" to "timid."
"Well, um... hello... I am Teshiro from Chishiya... Mai Kinoshita..."
As she spoke, her hands folded in front of her were clasped tightly, and her toes wrapped in white socks repeatedly scratched the wooden clogs under her feet, her expression tense.
Only in front of Qingdeng can she show her innocent and girlish side.
However, after becoming a couple with Qingdeng, she became more cheerful and energetic than before, nourished and inspired by love.
Although she is still very introverted and afraid of strangers, at least she has the courage to take the initiative to say hello to others.
When talking to strangers, dare to look directly into the other person's eyes and speak clear words that the other person can understand.
In the past, when there were many strangers around, she would have lowered her head and hid behind Kiryu boss, staring intently at the ground in front of her toes.
He didn't even dare to take a breath.
Kinoshita Mai had a very good relationship with Souji, so she nodded slightly and smiled slightly at Souji to express her greetings.
As for Sanako...
She turned her gaze sideways and glanced at Sanako next to her.
Coincidentally, at the same time, Sanako also turned his eyes and glanced at Kinoshita Mai with a gaze that was neither sad nor happy.
Immediately afterwards, they hurriedly looked away, as if they would see each other's filth when their eyes met.
Kinoshita Mai: "Hmph."
Sanako: "Hmph."
At the same time, the two women both snorted coldly at a volume that only they could hear clearly.
After announcing to the three girls and their parents "I want to start a big family" in the ward of the Jin Medical Center, Qingto's dream of "girlfriends successfully getting along with each other and forming a high love for each other"
The scene of "good friendship"...did not happen.
Leaving aside "Happy Shiba Inu", the relationship between "Short Cat" and "Noble Fox" is still bad...
To be honest, Aomori still doesn't understand why the relationship between Sanako and Mai Kinoshita is so bad.
If they hate each other because they are love rivals...it doesn't seem to make sense.
After all, Souji is also their love rival, but they all have a good relationship with Souji.
Fortunately, according to Qingdeng's observation, the two women did not harbor such strong hatred for each other that they "wanted her to die quickly."
All in all, the relationship between the two of them is really awkward.
Maybe this is the so-called "horoscope incompatibility" - there is no reason, it is just that the other person does not like the other person.
At this time, Qingdeng suddenly thought: he traveled to this world in January of the seventh year of Anzheng (1860), and now it is December of the second year of Bunjiu (1862).
Roughly speaking, he has been living in this world for nearly 3 years. He also knows Sanako, Mai Kinoshita, and Souji and has been getting along with them for nearly 3 years.
Compared to when we first met them, the three women have changed a lot.
Sanako is 24 years old this year and has long passed the age of physical growth.
Be it height, bear, or peach, they have no longer developed.
However, the passage of time has made her temperament more mature, elegant and charming.
Besides, she seemed to have frozen her age.
Although she is about to enter her third year of life, she still looks like a young woman in her early 20s.
Even Sanako has undergone such obvious changes, let alone Souji and Kinoshita Mai, who are already in their prime.
The facial features have become more mature, and the eyebrows have lost a lot of childishness... These changes in appearance are not worth mentioning, so I won't mention them for now.
The biggest change in Souji and Mai Kinoshita's appearance in recent years is undoubtedly the change in body shape - the slender places are still slender, and the already big places have become even bigger!
The current General Secretary has to spend far more time and effort to heal his body every morning than before.
And the other girl... Qingdeng guessed: This may be a side effect of the talent "milk".
As early as 3 years ago, Kinoshita Mai's kimono skirt was already very bulging and very high.
And now, the skirt of her kimono is bulging even more! There is almost no free space between the clothes and the body, which is particularly eye-catching.
Although she is still not as good as Sanako in terms of size, Qingto feels that her current size and shape are just right.
After all, Kinoshita Mai is far less tall than Sanako.
Sanako's size is just at the critical point of "if she were bigger, she would look a little scary" and "if she were shorter, she would look very uncoordinated."
In other words, Sanako's size is only suitable for her height.
If Kinoshita Mai was as big as Sanako, it would be more scary.
However, it is strange to say that although Kinoshita Mai and Souji's body changes have been quite obvious and prominent, their height has not increased at all.
The general secretary is still only 1.55 meters...
Kinoshita Mai is still only 1.5 meters...
Maybe the nutrients have been concentrated elsewhere, and they are no longer able to provide height.
If Sanako and Mai Kinoshita met in private, they would probably say some weird things about each other.
However, this was a very serious occasion, and it was naturally impossible for the two women to choke each other in public without knowing the right rules.
Therefore, after they looked at each other, they looked away in a tacit understanding, no longer looked at each other, and consciously "truceed", maintaining the greatest degree of restraint.
Among the people present, except for Aoto and the three women who were involved, only the boss Kiryu and Jutaro Chiba knew about Aoto's grand wish of "marrying three real wives."
They promised the General Director not to reveal her true gender, so they did not tell others about the complicated relationship between Qingteng and the three women.
And Qingdeng also made up his mind - until he really has the energy that "even if he marries three wives, no one or force would dare to oppose him", he will not advertise his ambition widely.
Of.
Otherwise, it would be easy to cause unnecessary trouble to yourself and Sanako and the others.
Therefore, so far, only Kiryu's boss, Chiba Jutaro and Okita Hikari, who witnessed Aoto's "lofty ambitions" in the ward of Jin Medical Center, know everything.
The rest...including Sanako's biological father, Chiba Nobuyoshi, are still kept in the dark.
For this reason, the atmosphere surrounding Qing Deng was quite harmonious at this time.
If there was any disharmony... it would probably be that after the three girls gathered together, Boss Kiryu and Chiba Jutaro had been casting elusive and complex glances at Ayoto and the girls in their respective families from time to time...
…
Regarding the "rebellious" behavior of young people, as parents, they are both worried and angry, but also helpless...
At this time, Qingden heard Hijikata Toshizo's voice.
"Hey! Tachibana! Souji! Shannan!"
Not far away, Hijikata Toizan crossed his arms and shouted in high spirits:
"The passing ceremony is about to begin! It's almost time for everyone to take their places!"
"okay, I get it!"
Qingdeng responded loudly.
Shannan Keisuke interrupted at the right time:
"Then, ladies and gentlemen, please come with us."
Aoto, Souji and Shannan Keisuke led the Chiba family and Chishiya group towards the venue.
Just as everyone was moving towards the stands, Qingto deliberately lagged half a step behind and walked side by side with Mai Kinoshita.
"A Wu, who is this?"
As he spoke, he looked at the girl in yellow who had been holding hands with Mai Kinoshita since just now without saying a word.
Qingto was just busy saying hello to Chiba Nobuyoshi, Boss Kiryu and others, so he didn't have time to ask about the identity of the girl in yellow.
Before Kinoshita Mai could speak, the girl in yellow slightly lifted the low-brimmed bamboo hat on her head, raised her head, and looked directly at Qingden.
Dazzling blond hair and a pair of beautiful sapphire eyes that reminded people of the clear summer sky caught Qingdeng's eyes.
"Master, it's me."
The girl in yellow greeted him with a smile at a volume that only she, Mai Kinoshita and Aoto could hear clearly.
She has blond hair and blue eyes, and calls Qing Deng "Master"... This woman's identity is already revealed.
"Elodie?"
Qingden blinked, looking surprised.
"Elodie, why are you here?"
Elodie chuckled.
"How could I be absent from such an interesting and grand event? I've been staying at home recently and I'm almost bored to death."
After finishing speaking, she added:
"Master, don't worry, I went out today with grandpa's permission."
Although he is now the "Minister of the Military Aircraft Department" with many things to do, Qingden still insists on being Elodie's tutor, visiting Elodie regularly every month to teach him swordsmanship.
I have to say that this harmless blond loli is indeed very talented in swordsmanship.
Even if he cannot be said to be a genius, he can at least be said to be talented and intelligent.
She has mastered most of the sword skills of Natural Rishin-ryu.
Even a six-foot-tall strong man, as long as he is an ordinary person who has never learned martial arts, is like a chicken in front of her.
According to Elodie's current level of strength and learning progress... Qingdeng estimated that as long as she practices hard for another 10 years, she will be able to obtain the Nun Rishin-ryu nobility transmission.
Although it cannot be compared with the monsters like Souji, Nagakura Shinpachi, and Saito Ichi who were able to defeat Sono Kaden in their teens, it is still an incredible achievement.
As Elodie grew older, Anthony's physical restrictions on her relaxed a lot, and he no longer kept her at home like a canary.
He would allow Elodie to go out for a short walk as long as she was accompanied by any one of Aoto, Boss Kiryu and Mai Kinoshita.
In the current political situation, the "respecting the king and rejecting the barbarians" faction has the upper hand.
Gyeonggi is the absolute center of the King-King-repelling Movement. In comparison, Edo is much peaceful. At least there are no frequent "Tenchu Incidents", but it should not be taken lightly.
However, to be on the safe side, and to avoid being troubled by the "King of Honor and Expulsion of Barbarians" faction, Elodie still had to wear Japanese clothes and a hat to cover her face when she went out.
Now that he has obtained Anthony's permission to go out and is accompanied by Boss Kiryu and Mai Kinoshita, Aoto is relieved.
He smiled and chatted with Elodie.
Then... suddenly, his eyes suddenly began to move uncontrollably, staring straight at Elodie's upper body.
Qingdeng dared to pat his chest for a guarantee - it really wasn't because he was lecherous!
But...as a human being, he really can't defy the physical law of "the greater the mass, the greater the gravity"!
If we say that in these one year and eight months, the changes that happened to Sanako, Mai Kinoshita and Souji were from 1 to 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Then, the change that happened to Elodie was from 0 to 1 - in short, it was a qualitative change!
After all...she is a girl with the gift of "plump breasts".
What was originally an extremely straight line quickly changed into an uneven curve at the same speed as a month.
The growth rate is breathtaking.
What's even more amazing is that she is obviously a pure-blooded French girl, but like Souji and Mai Kinoshita, her height has basically not changed...
She may have grown a little taller, but the change is small enough to be ignored. Her current height is still less than 1.5 meters.
Not only that, her facial features have not changed significantly, and she still has the same cute baby face.
In a word, Elodie has changed from a lolita with a standard body shape to...a lolita whose body and age are very different...
At this moment, an indifferent female voice without sadness or joy came into Qingdeng's ears:
"...Qingdeng, where are you looking?"
Qingdeng looked up and saw a pair of beautiful eyes staring straight at him - correct, beautiful eyes that exuded a cold air.
"I didn't look anywhere."
Qing Deng put on a straight face and responded with a righteous answer without thinking.
However, his answer failed to win Kinoshita Mai's understanding.
"Liar! I saw you staring straight at Elodie. Humph, it's obscene! Don't look at it again!"
After that, she protected Elodie behind her like an old hen protecting her chicks.
Elodie raised her head, looked at Qingden, then at Mai Kinoshita, and asked with a childlike expression:
"Miss Wu, why do you call the master obscene?"
"Well...! Don't ask so many questions, kid!"
Qingdeng was speechless, with a helpless smile on his face.
Elodie blinked her beautiful eyes a few times, her eyes flashing with confusion.
…
…
Edo, Fuchu, the Six Myojin Gods - the passing ceremony is held in the square in front of this shrine.
Shusuke Kondo delivered the opening speech, Isamu Kondo read the oath... Although these red tapes are boring, they cannot be skipped.
After about half an hour of somewhat boring time, the highlight of today's passing ceremony - the "Civil War" of Natural Rishin-ryu, is finally about to officially begin!
There are a total of 100 participants, 50 from each side of the red and white teams, all of whom are swordsman masters from the natural Rishin-ryu sect. Lots will be used to allocate the members of the red and white teams.
This competition not only has a performance nature to add interest to the passing ceremony, but also has a political meaning to prove to the visiting guests that the natural Rishin-ryu is strong and has abundant talents. It would be inappropriate to let a junior person be the general.
For this reason, the generals of both the Red and White sides are all seniors.
Shiro's general is Sato Hikoro, the brother-in-law of Hijikata Toshizo, who donated a large amount of money when the Shoeikan was first founded and made outstanding contributions to the development of Natural Rishin-ryu.
The general of the red side is Ogiwara Zaku, who is older than Kondo Shusuke. It is said that he was super strong when he was young, but now he is old.
Kondo Isamu and Kondo Shusuke will not participate in this competition. They will serve as referees and sit on the high platform throughout the entire process to oversee the overall situation.
…
…
In a wide space that is nearly the size of two football fields, both red and white teams have taken their positions at the east and west ends of the field.
Guests were sitting on the north and south sides of the venue, eagerly waiting for the game to start.
In addition, there were some passers-by who happened to be passing by and came to join in the fun.
Looking at the entire auditorium, the two best friends, Mai Kinoshita and Elodie, were the most excited.
The former loves to watch this type of martial arts competition, while the latter simply likes to join in the fun.
They were chattering and discussing while scanning the arena with bright eyes.
"Miss Wu, which side do you think will win?"
"Does that need to be said? Of course, whichever side Qingdeng is on will win!"
When saying this, Kinoshita Mai unconsciously raised her chin with a proud look on her face.
…
On the other side, the Chiba family is also discussing the outcome of the game.
"Sanako, which side do you think will win?"
Chiba Jutaro asked his sister beside him in a casual tone.
"……Hard to say."
Sanako replied calmly and unhurriedly.
"If there is a competition between which side can fight to the last moment, then there is no doubt that the side with Mr. Tachibana will win."
"But this is a red-white battle, and you can win as long as you 'kill' the general."
"In the red-white battle, as long as the strategy is right, the weak can defeat the strong."
"I originally thought that the side with Mr. Tachibana would have an absolute advantage."
"However... judging from the current situation, Mr. Tachibana's side is not guaranteed to win."
…
The camp Qingden was assigned to was White.
At this moment, he was tying a white cloth band and a porcelain bowl on his forehead while casting a speechless look towards the other side.
"Is there really no behind-the-scenes operation? Why are the strongest people in our training hall all on the opposite side?"
People who are familiar with the Trial Guard Hall will definitely take a breath after seeing the comparison between the red and white team's lineup - the red team's lineup is simply an all-star lineup!
Hijikata Toshizo, Shannan Keisuke, Inoue Genzaburo, Nagakura Shinpachi, Saito Ichi, Harada Sanosuke, Toudo Heisuke... the most capable people in the trial defense hall are almost all on the red side!
After Shannan Keisuke, Aoto's old subordinate: Todo Heisuke also joined the trial guard hall.
Compared to Shannan Keisuke, his reason for joining the Imperial Guard Hall was much simpler——
"Mr. Tachibana! I admire you very much! So I want to learn more from you!"
In this way, Toudo Heisuke moved from the Ito Dojo where he originally belonged to the Shiweikan.
At first, the owner of Ito Dojo was deeply interested in Aoto, and under the introduction of Toudo Heisuke, Ito Daizo, who had competed with Aoto, was unwilling to let him go.
Although Toudo Heisuke is very young, has an irritable personality, and lacks polish, it is undeniable that his talent is outstanding, he has made achievements in learning and martial arts, and his appearance is not bad. He can be regarded as a weakened version of Shannan Keisuke.
Ito Daizo was unwilling to give up such a precious talent.
However, Toudou Heisuke had decided to leave, and even though Ito Daizo was extremely reluctant to leave, he could only endure the pain and cut his body.
After looking around at the red camp on the opposite side for a few more times, Qingdeng silently withdrew his gaze, and then let out a sigh of relief - this was not a lament of regret, but a cry of joy.
Although the red team's lineup is very luxurious, but fortunately among the misfortunes... the genius girl, his most tacit fighting partner, is on his side!
"Mr. Ju, the situation is not optimistic."
The general secretary, who had already tied up the white cloth belt and porcelain bowl, and tied his sleeves with sleeve belts, walked slowly to Qingdeng's side with a bamboo sword in hand.
The two stood side by side.
Qingden shrugged.
"As you can see, Hijikata, Shannan, Inoue, Nagakura, Saito, Harada, and Toudo are all wearing red ribbons. On our side...except for the two of us, no one should be able to stop them."
The director-general smiled.
"That means...we have to fight seven of them with the strength of two of us?"
"You can say that."
"Ha ha ha ha……"
"Xiao Si, why are you laughing?"
"It's nothing, I'm just excited. Being able to fight Mr. Hijikata and the others in one breath... To be honest, I'm very excited right now."
Speaking of this, the director paused for a moment as if he remembered something.
Suddenly, a smile appeared on her lips and she continued.
"And... I feel so happy to be able to fight alongside you after a long time. I have you here, and you have me - is there a stronger lineup in this world than this?"
When Qingdeng heard this, he was startled for a moment, and then he laughed dumbly:
"Xiao Si, what a coincidence, you and I thought of going together."
*******
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Isamu Kondo, Toshizo Hijikata, Keisuke Yamanan, Genzaburo Inoue, Shinpachi Nagakura, Ichi Saito, Sanosuke Harada, Heisuke Toudo - the names of these 8 brothers of Aoto must be remembered!
PS: Speaking of which, this book has not held a character popularity poll for a long time. I plan to hold the "Third Popular Character Vote" in the book club in a few days~~Be sure to participate enthusiastically!
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This chapter has been completed!