Chapter 311: Kyoto Prefecture, where there are many parties
All kinds of women.
Women in various poses.
However, no matter what kind of woman she is, she can be painted beautifully.
Even someone like Lin, who has little study in painting, can tell at a glance that the artist who painted these women is extremely skilled. With just a few simple strokes, he can outline the woman's charm and fullness.
A middle-aged man was lying in the center of the room.
With his thin figure and messy hair, he seemed very slovenly at first glance, but both his clothes and body were surprisingly clean - this was the first impression this middle-aged man gave Lin.
This middle-aged man lying on the tatami is painting.
The thing he painted was a girl wearing a yukata.
The girl's body has been outlined, and the middle-aged man is coloring the girl in the painting.
Eight sticks of incense were lit beside the middle-aged man.
The special sweetness that permeates the air comes from these eight sticks of incense.
Because the floor of the room was covered with ukiyo-e paintings, it was extremely difficult for Lin and Asai to find a place to stay.
After a lot of effort, the two of them finally arrived in front of the middle-aged man and sat down on their knees.
After Lin and Asai sat down in front of the middle-aged man, the middle-aged man put down the brush in his hand and looked at Lin and Asai.
"Tell me." The middle-aged man didn't ask who Lin and Asai were, "What are you two doing here?"
Lin was not in a hurry to say what Makimura wanted her to tell the middle-aged man.
Instead, he turned his head first, glanced around again with interest, and then whispered to the middle-aged man in front of him:
"I really didn't expect that I would be able to meet the famous Konle in a place like this."
"Oh?" The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows, "You can actually recognize me as Konle... Have you ever bought my paintings?"
After hearing the conversation between Lin and the middle-aged man, Asai raised his eyebrows.
Asai has no interest in ukiyo-e and has never bought any ukiyo-e.
But even Asai, who has little interest or understanding of Ukiyo-e, has heard of the name "Konraku" - a painter who specializes in painting beautiful women. His works are always best-sellers, and his works have always been priceless.
, extremely difficult to purchase.
Asai also heard that Konraku is a very mysterious person. Even among the vendors who specialize in selling Ukiyo-e paintings, no one has seen Konraku's appearance. They don't even know what age Konraku is.
"I have never bought your paintings." Lin shook her head gently, "But I have seen your paintings. Your superb painting skills gave me a deep impression, so I looked at the paintings in this room.
After seeing these paintings, I immediately recognized you as the famous painter Konle."
"Thank you for the compliment." The middle-aged man - or Jinle chuckled a few times, "I'm not really famous or anything like that. I just have a high reputation among the customers who like beauty paintings.
.”
"Are you two here specially to buy paintings?"
"If you came here specifically to buy paintings, you can take whatever paintings you like in this room. They will be given to you for free."
Konraku raised his finger and tapped the tatami beside him.
"Oh?" Asai said at this time, "We can take the paintings in this room as we please? Is that okay? You spent a lot of effort to paint these paintings, right? With your famous name, Konle,
If you sell these paintings, you should be able to make a lot of money, right?"
"Hehehe..." Konle chuckled a few times, "I paint purely out of interest. Ukiyoe painting artist is just a secondary job I use to kill time."
"I'm not short of money now, so if you like one of the paintings in this room, feel free to take it."
"Lord Konraku," Lin said softly, "We have taken the liberty to come here this time just to bring you a message for Makimura Yahachi."
"Oh?" The light in Konle's eyes flickered slightly, "Makimura Yahachi? Is it the 'Sword Dragon' Makimura Yahachi who used to be a force in Kyoto?"
Lin nodded.
"What message did he ask you to bring here?"
"A very brief sentence - 'There is a group of people who are killing people everywhere in Kyoto. From last night to now, 45 people have been killed. Please pay attention to your safety.'"
"...A special commissioned person brought a message to me, but the message he brought was just a reminder to pay attention to my safety... Hehehe, he really has Makimura's style..." Konle muttered like this, and then whispered
Smiling.
"We have successfully brought Mihachi's words, so——we will leave now."
"Hmm? Are you two leaving?"
"Yes." Lin nodded lightly, then picked up the knife placed on the tatami on the right side and stood up slowly, "As I just said - we came here this time just to help Mihachi.
I just have a message for you."
"Now that the mission has been completed, we naturally have no reason to stay here anymore."
"That's it... then you two walk slowly and I won't send you away."
After that, Kinle picked up the brush again and continued to paint with concentration.
…
…
After Lin and Asai left Konraku's mansion one after another, Asai turned around and looked at Konraku's mansion a few times, and murmured softly:
"I didn't expect that Makimura actually knew the painter Konraku... and judging from the tone of Konraku talking about Makimura just now, it seems that the two of them are very familiar with each other."
"Mihachi is a native of Kyoto. He also worked as a Yuli in Kyoto for five years. He made some strange friends in Kyoto. This is a very normal thing." Lin said casually.
"... By the way." After Asai was silent for a while, he asked Chao Lin, "My lord, do you know why Makimura gave up being a member of Kyoto and left Kyoto?"
"I'm not sure." Lin said without thinking, "I have no interest in other people's past."
"Makimura often told us what happened before and when he became a Riki," Asai said, "but he has always been very secretive about why he gave up his prestigious position in Kyoto and Riki.
"
"Miba doesn't want to take the initiative to tell me, which shows that his history is not something he can take the initiative to talk to others about." Lin's tone became more serious, "So I respect Miba.
Ba’s choice. As long as Miba doesn’t take the initiative to say it, I won’t take the initiative to ask.”
"Compared to Mihachi's past, I am more concerned about Mihachi's present and future."
"Hey! Have you seen the person on this wanted poster?"
At this moment, a loud shout suddenly sounded from behind Lin and Asai, stopping Lin and Asai.
Lin and the two looked back following the sound, and saw that the people who stopped them were five young people who were not too old.
None of these five young men carried the ten-hand weapon necessary for official duties, so at a glance it was clear that these five people were not official officials.
The leader of these five young men held Ogata's wanted order in his hand. After calling Lin and Asai, he immediately handed the wanted order in his hand to Lin and Asai for them to read.
Lin simply glanced at the wanted poster, then shook her head and said in a deep voice:
"never seen it."
In order to deceive others, Lin always dressed in men's clothing, and also deliberately kept a deep voice when speaking, using a very neutral voice to talk to people.
Not only that, in order to prevent anyone from identifying her as an "enemy of Buddha" based on the swords on her waist, Lin specially wrapped the handles and scabbards of her katana "Enma" and wakizashi "Kishin" with cloth.
.
After Lin finished speaking, Asai immediately shook his head and said:
"I haven't seen it either."
"That's it...then I'm sorry to bother you."
Seeing that they could not get any clues from Lin and Asai, the five young men did not show any signs of frustration. They put away the wanted posters in their hands, then passed Lin and Asai and faced them.
People walked in completely opposite directions.
After walking a few steps, the five young men stopped another person and asked him if he had seen the face on the wanted poster.
Lin and Asai were not in a hurry to continue on their way, but turned back and glanced at the five young people.
"...It seems that the story that 'the disciples of the Six Great Sword Halls all ran out to assist the officers in capturing Ittousai' is true." Asai said softly to Lin beside him, "These five people
He should be a disciple of the Six Great Sword Halls."
Just now, Lin and Asai heard rumors from passers-by that "the Six Great Sword Halls were also involved in the capture of Ogata".
It was only now, after witnessing the disciples of the Six Great Sword Halls holding Ogata's wanted poster asking people if they had seen the face on the wanted poster, that Lin and Asai were convinced that it was indeed true.
Lin nodded gently and said:
"Let's go."
…
…
Lin and Asai walked straight towards the hotel where they lived.
Lin, Makimura, and Shimada made an agreement when they separated to go their separate ways - Lin and Asai would return to the hotel where they lived after they had finished speaking to Makimura.
As soon as they walked back to the door of the hotel, Lin and Asai saw a familiar figure standing panting in front of the hotel door.
It's Shimada.
Before Lin and Asai had time to ask Shimada what happened, Shimada noticed Lin and Asai coming back and immediately rushed towards them:
"Lord! Asai-senpai!"
"I'm sorry, Katsurokuro, for keeping you waiting for so long." Lin took the lead in apologizing to Shimada, "I kept you waiting for so long. Do you have something to talk to us two about? Where is Yapachi?"
Shimada shook his head:
"No, I just ran back."
"Lord! Come out, something big has happened!"
Noticing that Shimada was in a panic, Lin frowned slightly and said to Shimada in a calm tone: "Don't panic."
Lin took off the bamboo tube hanging from his waist and threw it towards Shimada in front of her.
"Is your throat dry after running all the way here? I heard your voice is hoarse. Drink some water to moisten your throat first."
"Yes Yes!"
Shimada unscrewed the mouth of the tube three times and poured the water in the bamboo tube into his mouth.
"Don't be anxious." Lin still said to Shimada in a calm tone, "Drink slowly."
After drinking almost all the water in the bamboo tube, Shimada put down the bamboo tube in his hand.
Listening to Lin's calm tone, Shimada couldn't help but be affected by it, and his originally panicked heart gradually calmed down.
After his panicked heart returned to calm, Shimada told Lin concisely and concisely what happened to him and Makimura just now.
…
…
"Sorry...Lord..."
After explaining to Lin and Asai what had happened, Shimada lowered his head and did not dare to look at their faces again.
His face was actually full of annoyance and regret.
"I'm really... so bad... Not only did I fail to snatch Makimura-senpai back from the hands of those gang of officials, I also failed to catch the bald head..."
After saying that, Shimada closed his eyes tightly and prepared to be scolded by Lin and Asai.
However - the imaginary rebuke did not come.
Shimada only felt a warm little hand put on his shoulder.
Shimada slowly opened his eyes and raised his head - it was Lin's hand.
"The officials from Kyoto attacked you and Makimura. Were you not injured?" Lin asked.
"No..." Shimada shook his head, "The officials' target seems to be only Makimura."
"It's good that you're not injured. Thank you for coming to report the news."
After saying that, Lin put down her hand on Shimada's shoulder, turned sideways, and glanced at Asai beside her.
"Shichiemon, Katsurokuro, let's go."
Lin lifted the Yan Mo and Zhen Guishen on her waist, and a cold light flashed in her eyes.
"Let's... go and get Mihachi back!"
…
…
Kyoto, Kamiyama and Hasegawa in the teahouse——
At this moment, besides Kamiyama and Hasegawa, there was one more person in the teahouse.
This person is the assistant of Shenshan who came here specially to report the news to Shenshan.
Kamiyama's assistant came to report the news very briefly - Makimura Yahachi was arrested by people sent by Abe Riri, and Makimura Yahachi is currently being held in prison.
"...I understand." Shenshan waved his hand and signaled his assistant to leave first.
After the assistant retreated, Hasegawa, who was sitting opposite the sacred mountain, said in a deep voice:
"...Has Riri Abe ever had any issues with you or Yahachi Makimura?"
Hasegawa did not know much about the partisan struggle in Kyoto Prefecture, but based on his many years of experience in Edo, Hasegawa could vaguely guess why Abe Riri wanted to arrest Makimura for no reason.