And now, the rainy weather that lasted for many days is finally over.
In the early morning, it was a gray, dark sky with constant raindrops. As it approached noon, the tangled clouds finally gradually dispersed.
In the gaps vacated by the clouds, azure blue like the clear sea was revealed again. The long-lost morning sun shone softly on every house in Dahe Town.
The grass, green trees nearby and the hillsides and fields in the distance were all shining wetly.
Although there is still a lot of water on the road and the road has become muddy due to the water, it is no longer as hard as it was a while ago, which makes the residents of Dahe Town less able to walk when they go out.
bitter.
Ohga Town is just an ordinary castle town of the Kii Domain.
There are not many ordinary towns like this in Japan.
Although Yanagiya has such a literary name, it is actually just an ordinary bathhouse.
Yanagi House exudes the aura of "ordinary" just like this town of Dahe, and it is also an ordinary bathhouse similar to this. Looking at the whole of Japan, there are many ordinary bathhouses.
It's just past noon, which is the busiest time for bathhouse business during the day. There aren't many customers coming to Yanagi House now, and the shopkeeper sitting at the counter is bored and admiring the ukiyo-e he recently bought secretly without telling his wife.
The shop owner has recently become fascinated by the ukiyo-e paintings painted by a painter named "Konraku".
And the ukiyo-e he was looking at now was also a painting by Konraku.
Every painter has his own subject matter that he is good at and not good at.
The subject matter that Konraku is best at...to describe it in more elegant words is "beauty painting", and to use easy-to-understand words it is "spring painting".
The human body painted by Konraku is the best among all the human body paintings the shop owner has seen in his life.
Just a few simple strokes can outline the plumpness of the body.
After just a few glances at Konraku's paintings, Konraku became completely obsessed with them and couldn't extricate himself.
Until now, the store manager has secretly collected several pieces of Konraku's works, which he could only buy because of the store manager's connections.
The works of highly skilled painters, especially those like Konraku who specialize in painting beauties, are always bestsellers.
Kinraku's works have always been priceless and extremely difficult to acquire.
If it weren't for the relevant connections, the store manager really wouldn't be able to buy Kinraku's paintings.
Because if his wife knew that he actually spent so much money to buy such beautiful paintings, disaster would definitely be imminent, so the store manager had been hiding it from his wife and secretly used his own money to collect Konle's paintings.
Just as the store manager was admiring the latest Konraku painting he had purchased, and was getting hot all over from looking at it, he suddenly heard the sound of the bathhouse door being opened in front of him.
The store manager quickly put away the paintings in his hands, then looked up towards the door of the bathhouse.
After casting his gaze at the door of the bathhouse, a look of surprise immediately appeared on the manager's face.
Opening the door of the bathhouse, the guests who appeared at the door were three samurai.
The leader of these three warriors wears a very rare pair of Nanman glasses.
Standing on the left side of this "spectacled warrior" is an extremely tall and strong man, carrying an Odachi sword.
The samurai standing on the right side of this "spectacled samurai" appears to be relatively ordinary. There is nothing noteworthy about him. Although his stature is considered tall, compared with the samurai carrying the large sword, his stature is only
It's pretty unremarkable.
Although these three people have different appearance, they have one thing in common.
That is, their bodies were covered with all kinds of mud, and they looked like they had been trekking in the wild for a long time and had not taken a bath for a long time.
After entering the bathhouse, these three samurai went straight to the store manager.
Before the store manager had time to ask the three samurai anything, the leader wearing glasses said to him bluntly:
"Go tell Zhang San that the people from Huluwu are here."
Hearing the glasses warrior's words, the store manager's pupils shrank uncontrollably.
Who is Jozo? Of course the store manager knows that he is the leader of Yakuza who is entrenched in their town of Ogawa.
The store manager is also one of the many cadres under Zhang San.
This Yanagi House is also one of the many stores owned by Josan.
The store manager is the cadre responsible for managing this bathhouse for Zhang San.
Although I don’t know what “Calabash House” is, the store manager has heard of the name.
A long time ago, the store manager heard from Zhang San that if anyone said that he was from Calabash House, he should report it to the superior immediately.
Therefore, although he was wondering who the three samurai in front of him were, the store manager who remembered Jozo's instructions did not dare to stand up carelessly. After saying "I'll be back as soon as I go," he hurriedly left the counter.
He jumped out from behind and rushed out of the bathhouse.
…
…
After watching the manager of the bathhouse rush out, Ogata turned his head and looked around.
The surrounding air is filled with the vaporous atmosphere unique to bathhouses.
While Ogata was visiting the bathhouse, he asked Mamiya next to him:
"Who is Zhangsan?"
"The local Yakuza leader." Mamiya replied, "He is not small in power, but he is a pretty good person. Although he is a Yakuza, he does not bully ordinary people because of his righteousness, and he also helps those in need from time to time.
He is very loved by the people here because of the common people here.”
"He can be regarded as a veritable Ren Xia."
"Because our Lord is kind to him, whenever someone from Calabash House asks for help, he will do his best to help."
"In fact, he has indeed provided a lot of help to our Calabash House and is one of the few allies of our Calabash House."
As soon as Mamiya finished his introduction, the manager of Yanagi House came back.
He did not come back alone, he was accompanied by a short but very strong middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows after seeing Mamiya and Makimura.
"It turns out it's Mamiya-sama and Makimura-sama."
"Can we help you in any way?"
This middle-aged man said this very directly and without any euphemism.
"Please help prepare clothes suitable for the three of us." Mamiya also directly stated his needs without hesitation, "and help us prepare three horses that can be ridden and dry food that can be eaten on the road."
"And please provide us with a place where we can take a shower."
After remembering these requests made by Mamiya one by one, the middle-aged man nodded gently.
"I understand, I will start preparations immediately."
…
…
Now is the busiest time of the day for the bathhouse.
So the middle-aged man directly rented out the entire willow house for Ogata and the three of them to take a bath.
The layout of Yanagi House is a two-story structure like most bathhouses.
The first floor is a place for receiving guests, bathing, and bathing.
The second floor is for guests to rest and entertain after taking a bath.
The structure of the first floor is also very ordinary. The washing and bathing areas are independent of each other.
After washing your body in a large room, you can take a bath.
Because Makimura took off his clothes slowly, Ogata and Mamiya entered the washing room before Makimura.
After pouring hot water of just the right temperature on his body, Ogata instantly felt like he had come to life.
He almost forgot the last time he took a hot bath.
"This Zhangsan is really powerful."
While Ogata was washing his body, he casually chatted to Mamiya beside him.
"As a Yakuza, can he even get horses?"
Horses were an extremely precious resource in ancient times, especially in ancient Japan.
It was really hard for Ogata to imagine that a Yakuza could get expensive horses, and there were still three of them.
"I just said it, didn't I? Jozo's power is not small." Mamiya responded, "The connection between him and the government is very close, and it is precisely because of this connection with the government that he got the horse."
Things were not difficult for him."
As soon as the conversation between the two ended, Makimura, who had already taken off his clothes and was already naked, strode into the bathroom.
"You are so slow..." Mamiya cast a helpless look at Makimura.
"There is no way." Makimura shrugged, "As you know, because of the thing behind me, I rarely come to the bathhouse, so I couldn't help but take a few more glances at the structure and layout of the bathhouse when I was taking off my clothes, which delayed me.
Time to take off your clothes."
After saying that, Makimura walked slowly to Ogata's side and sat down next to Makimura.
As soon as Makimura sat down next to Ogata, a faint sour smell penetrated Ogata's nostrils.
Just when Ogata smiled bitterly and turned his head to look at Makimura beside him, wanting to complain about Makimura who was now looking like a smelly salted fish, Ogata's pupils suddenly shrank.
"Makimura...your back...?"
"Oh, this." Makimura calmly scratched his back, "I got this tattoo with a friend of mine a long time ago."
Speaking of this, Makimura paused.
Then he turned his head and showed a helpless smile towards Ogata.
"Does my tattoo scare you?"
"No..." Ogata looked up and down the tattoo on Makimura's back several times, "Actually it's quite handsome... Is it a red dragon..."
Makimura has a large tattoo on his back.
This large tattoo almost covers Makimura's entire back.
Unlike ordinary Yakuza who have a lot of random things tattooed on their bodies, Makimura only has one thing tattooed on his back.
In other words, it is a biological dragon.
Red dragon.
The black lines are strong and powerful, outlining the figure of this red dragon.
A blood-bright red covered the dragon's entire body.
The red dragon lay horizontally on Mucun's back, circling, with its head raised, aimed at Mucun's right shoulder, and its mouth wide open.
This dragon's head is raised, its teeth and claws are spread, and it roars to the sky, as if it is about to fly out of Mucun's right shoulder at any time, leap into the sky, and transform into a real dragon.
Although Ogata has little research on tattoos, counting past and present lives, Ogata has seen a lot of people with tattoos.
But none of the tattoos on these people can compare with the tattoo on Makimura.
The people Ogata had seen with tattoos before, to put it mildly, those tattoos on their bodies had always been filled with a sense of cheapness.
The reason is mainly because the tattoo artist responsible for tattooing them is too inferior.
Even if someone like Ogata doesn't know anything about tattoos or painting, those who study it can see that the person who tattooed this red dragon on Makimura's back must have extremely high skills.
The red dragon on Makimura's back can no longer be described as lifelike. It really looks like there is a real dragon circling on his back.
However, it seems that Makimura only has tattoos on his back, and the rest of his body is clean.
After seeing enough of the red dragon behind Makimura, Ogata couldn't help but ask Makimura:
"Makimura...were you a Yakuza before...?"
"Yakuza..." Makimura smiled, "That's right..."
"Why did you, a samurai, become a Yakuza...?" Ogata couldn't help but become a little curious about Makimura's past.
Upon hearing Ogata's question, Makimura raised his eyebrows and cast a strange look at Ogata.
"Brother Ogata, you seem to have made a mistake... Although this is also my fault, Mamiya and I have never told you about this matter."
"I am not a samurai."
"I'm different from you and Mamiya. I'm actually not a samurai. I was just an ordinary person living in Kyoto before."
"Huh?" Ogata's pupils shrank slightly in surprise, "Makimura, weren't you originally a samurai?"
"Yes." Mamiya nodded, "Makimura is the only member of our Calabash House who has a civilian background."
"Do you think I look like a samurai?" Makimura asked Ogata in a half-joking tone.
Upon hearing Makimura's rhetorical question, Ogata immediately paused, not knowing how to answer the question.
Because now that he thought about it carefully, Ogata realized that Makimura did not look like a samurai from head to toe.
Instead of combing their hair into a bun like he and Mamiya did, he only combed his long hair to the back of his head, tied it up casually with a string, and dragged it behind him.
There was no datachi or wakizashi hanging on his waist, only a large dachi.
No matter how he talks or behaves, he still has the rough atmosphere unique to the well-educated villagers.
He didn't learn from any school, and the sword technique he used was his own "Wo-ryu sword technique".
"I was born in Kyoto, and my parents were ordinary carpenters."
"When I was 12 years old, my parents and family members died due to the epidemic."
Makimura stood up and washed his body with hot water from the basin in front of him, while talking about his past in a calm tone.
"After becoming an orphan, I wandered around Kyoto."
"By various chances, I started living together with a fellow orphan."
"That man has become like a brother to me."
"Both he and I are somewhat talented in swordsmanship, and we have created our own swordsmanship together."
"With this bravery, he and I gradually became famous in Kyoto, and we became a pair of Yakuzas who are slightly famous in Kyoto."
"Later, by various chances, my brother and I were spotted by a certain big shot in Kyoto for our bravery."
"That big shot plans to recruit us. And the conditions he offers us are very interesting."
"Not only will he use his connections and power to help us tamper with our household registration, changing our household registration from civilian to samurai, but he also promised us that as long as we accept the recruitment, he will let us become the leader of Kyoto."