Chapter 358 Go! Go to Yoshihara, the first flower street in the world! [6300 words]
Although Ogata's attention was also focused on the bride who finally appeared from the sedan chair.
But out of the corner of his eye, he still keenly caught the change in Amachi's eyes next to him.
"A-Machi." Ogata lowered his voice and said to A-Machi beside him, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing..." The strange, weird light still lingered in A-Machi's eyes, "This is the first time I've seen Bai Wugou. I feel a little strange about it, and I think Bai Wugou is particularly beautiful."
Hearing Atachi's thoughts, Ogata nodded:
"Well, it is indeed very beautiful."
Although on modern earth, Ogata had seen several photos of Shiro Muzan through the Internet.
But this was Ogata's first time seeing a woman wearing white clothes with his own eyes.
Although the flawless white clothes do make the wearer seem to be enveloped in a sacred aura after wearing them.
After the bride stepped out of the sedan, she was taken into the groom's home by the groom's people.
Naturally, it is impossible for them, a group of onlookers, to enter someone's home to watch someone else's wedding.
Therefore, after the bride walked out of the sedan chair and was taken into the groom's home, the crowd watching the excitement dispersed automatically.
"I feel a little thirsty." As he left the groom's house with the crowd around him, Amachi said to Ogata beside him, "Let's go find a teahouse to drink some tea."
Ogata happened to be a little thirsty, so when Ogata offered to go to a teahouse to drink some tea, Ogata nodded in agreement without any hesitation.
When he went to look for the tea house, Ogata looked up at the position of the sun in the sky.
Today is a bright and sunny day, and we can clearly see the position of the sun.
Having been in the Edo period for so long, Ogata has already become very proficient in judging the current time through the positions of the sun and moon.
According to Ogata's visual inspection, it is probably around 16:00 in the afternoon.
The two of them found a small tea house without much effort.
As soon as Ogata and Amachi entered the teahouse, a cute girl who was only about 12 or 3 years old came quickly to greet them.
"welcome!"
Because she is still young, this little girl's voice still has a strong childishness.
When Ogata and Atachi visited this teahouse, there happened to be no other customers in the teahouse, and every table was empty.
The two randomly picked an empty table and began to order the tea they wanted.
"Two guests! Would you like to try our store's special steamed buns?"
After Ogata and Amachi each ordered a cup of oolong tea, the little girl took the initiative to sell their store's special delicacies to them.
Although Japanese steamed buns and Chinese steamed buns are both called steamed buns, they are still very different.
Japanese steamed buns are more like Chinese bean paste buns, with bean paste inside.
Ogata is free to eat steamed buns or not.
So Oubono gave the choice to Atachi.
After turning his questioning eyes to A-Machi, A-Machi thought for a while and then said to the little girl:
"Then let's have 2 servings of your store's special steamed buns! I happen to be a little hungry too."
"good!"
After seeing that she had successfully introduced the special delicacies in her store, the little girl seemed particularly happy. With a happy smile on her face, she quickly walked into the kitchen of their store.
After a while, the little girl returned to the sight of Ogata and Atachi carrying a big tea tray.
The oolong tea and steamed buns ordered by Ogata and Omachi were neatly placed on the tea tray.
Ogata did not rush to drink tea, but first picked up the special steamed buns in their shop that the girl mentioned.
Amachi was also like this. He was not in a hurry to drink tea, but planned to try the special steamed buns of this shop first.
After taking a bite of the steamed bun in his hand, Ogata's face flashed with surprise.
He found that what the little girl said was true. There were indeed many differences between these steamed buns and those he had eaten before.
The biggest difference is that the dough of the steamed buns in this shop is softer, and the red bean filling inside is waxier and sweeter, which suits Ogata's taste very well.
After taking a bite of the steamed bun in his hand, A-Machi's face flashed with surprise. It seemed that this steamed bun was also to his liking.
The little girl on the side has been paying attention to the expressions of Ogata and Atachi.
After seeing the surprise on the faces of Ogata and Atachi, the little girl secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said in a proud tone:
"This steamed bun is my mother's secret recipe. How do you like it? Is it delicious?"
"Yeah." Ogata nodded and said sincerely, "It is indeed delicious."
Because there are no guests except Ogata and Omachi, the little girl is very free now.
After serving tea and steamed buns to Ogata and Atachi, she did not leave directly, but stayed beside them and started chatting with them.
Ogata and Omachi, who were also very idle, were also happy to chat with the little girl.
Through small talk, Ogata learned that the little girl's name was Ajiu and she was 12 years old.
Currently running this small tea house with her parents.
Their tea house is a very common residential and commercial integrated shop in this era.
In this type of shop, the first or second floor is often used as shops, and the floors above are used for living.
According to Ajiu - her mother has had a very serious cold these days, and her father was very unfortunate and injured his waist yesterday. Although it was not a serious injury, he still had to rest in bed for a few days before he could sleep normally.
Work on the ground.
One of her parents is sick and the other injured. They are both resting upstairs now, so she, Ajiu, is currently responsible for looking after the store.
"Ajiu, you are so awesome." After listening to Ajiu describe the current situation of their store, Ogata admired, "You are still so young, you can actually look after the store by yourself."
"These are nothing." Ajiu said modestly, "I usually help my parents in the store, so how to steam buns and how to make tea, I have already become very familiar with these things."
Just when Ogata, Amachi, and Aku were chatting in a lively manner——
Snap, snap, snap...
Suddenly there was a "squeaking" sound from the stairs not far away.
This sound instantly attracted the attention of the three Ogata people.
Turning his gaze to the stairs, Ogata saw a young man in his 30s holding his waist and struggling to walk upstairs... Ah, no, he should be moving down.
After seeing the young man struggling to go downstairs, Ajiu shouted "Father" and then ran towards the young man quickly.
Early marriage and early childbearing are one of the characteristics of the feudal era.
Therefore, Ogata was not surprised at all when Aku, who was only 12 years old this year, called this young man who was not even 30 years old as his father.
"Father." After Ajiu helped his father walk the last few steps, he asked his father, "Why did you come down? Go back to your room and continue to lie down and rest!"
"No..." Ajiu's father smiled bitterly, "There is something important that needs to be done."
"What's important?" Ajiu asked doubtfully.
"I just remembered that someone has reserved 30 steamed buns for our family. I have made an appointment with them to deliver the steamed buns tonight."
"I have been busy recovering from my injuries in the past few days, and I almost forgot about this..."
"Okay, Ajiu, let me go, I'll go deliver the buns and I'll be back soon."
"No!" Ajiu hugged his father tightly, "You can't even stand up! How can you deliver the steamed buns! Father, who ordered our steamed buns? I'll deliver them for you!"
Hearing Ajiu's offer, a strange look appeared on Ajiu's father's face.
"No." He shook his head without hesitation, "That kind of place is not where a girl of your age should go."
"I can only deliver it."
"This is not the first time that I have helped deliver steamed buns!" Ajiu said unconvinced, "When have I not delivered the steamed buns to others perfectly? Why don't you let me deliver them?"
"Besides, what kind of place is so dangerous? Only you can go, but I can't."
Seeing that Ajiu refused to listen to his advice, Ajiu's father could only say to Ajiu in a helpless tone:
"The person who ordered the steamed buns this time was Yukaku from Sakuramonya, a famous restaurant in Yoshiwara."
"Can a girl of your age go to Yoshiwara?"
It's easy to tell from the look on Ajiu's face - she knows where Yoshihara is.
After hearing the word "Yoshihara" from his father's mouth, Ajiu's expression froze.
But after hesitating for a while, she still stiffened her neck and said:
"Yoshi, what's wrong with Yoshiwara? Can't I go to Yoshiwara?"
"Yoshihara does not impose restrictions on the age or gender of entrants, so why can't I go?"
"Of course you can't go!" Ajiu's father said angrily, "Where is that place in Yoshihara? There are all kinds of messy people in Yoshiwara!"
"Those traffickers like girls your age best."
"If you go to Yoshiwara alone, be careful of being abducted by those traffickers, who will then sell you to Yoshiwara or other places!"
Ajiu seemed to want to say something more.
But before she could say anything, she was interrupted by a male voice from behind her:
"Ajiu, your father is right, a place like Yoshihara is indeed not a place a girl of your age should go."
The owner of this male voice is none other than Ogata.
When Ajiu and his father both cast curious eyes on Ogata, Ogata was filling his mouth with the cup of oolong tea he had just ordered.
After drinking all the tea in the cup, Ogata smiled at Aku's father and said:
"We will deliver your steamed buns for you."
"Huh?" Ajiu's father was stunned, "Who are you two?"
"It just happens that there are two guests drinking tea here at this moment." Ogata said, "You look like you can't even go down the stairs, you can't possibly deliver the steamed buns, right?"
"And your daughter is still young, so it's impossible for your daughter to send her off."
"So let's deliver it for you. Anyway, we are quite free now."
After hearing what Ogata said, Ajiu's father was obviously moved.
But the hesitation on his face did not completely dissipate.
"Um... we don't seem to know each other, right? Why are you helping us like this?"
"If you insist on the reason..." Ogata shrugged, "You can think of the two of us as warm-hearted and good people."
Ajiu's father fell silent and looked at Ogata and Ogata's clothes with serious eyes.
Although Ogata and Omachi were not wearing any top-notch clothes, they were still neatly dressed. Since they had always had enough food and clothing, their faces were healthy, and they looked like the kind of ronin who were basically dirty, sallow and skinny.
There's a huge difference.
After being silent for a while, Ajiu's father finally nodded.
"Then... I'll trouble you."
…
…
30 steamed buns fully fill a large box.
Aku's father neatly wrapped the large box with dark green furoshiki, tied a big knot on it for people to grasp, and handed it to Ogata.
"The store that ordered this batch of steamed buns is Yoshiwara's Sakuramonya."
"'Sakuramon House' is one of the great sights of Yoshiwara. So after entering Yoshihara, you can find out the location of 'Sakuramon House' by just asking anyone."
"When you get to Sakuramon House, just tell the people at Sakuramon House that you are the people entrusted by Tojiro of Shiya to help deliver the steamed buns."
Shiwu—the name of Ajiu’s teahouse.
Tengjiro - the name of Ajiu's father.
"Understood." Ogata nodded, then put away the big package.
"Then I'll leave it to you, samurai-sama." Although his back hurt terribly, Aku's father, Tojiro, still forced himself to bow to Ogata.
"I'll be back as soon as I go." After leaving these words calmly, Ogata walked out of the store carrying the large box of steamed buns.
After leaving the tea house, Amachi said to Ogata with an impatient look:
"I didn't expect you to be such a warm-hearted person, Ayi."
"Is this the first day you've met me..." Ogata couldn't help but say in a helpless tone, "Although I don't think I'm a very decent person, this kind of thing is just a piece of cake for me, but
I am still happy to do things that are of great benefit to others."
"Besides - the reason why I chose to deliver steamed buns to the tea house is not just because of my kindness."
"What Tojiro said just now woke me up."
"Yoshiwara is a mixed place."
"So let's go to Yoshiwara. Maybe we can collect some interesting information."
"Especially - maybe we can collect information about Shiranui."
"So I plan to see if I can collect any interesting information while helping deliver the steamed buns."
"The chance of collecting information related to Shiranui is very slim." Amachi said helplessly.
"That's right." After a pause, Amachi asked Ogata, "I just heard Tojiro say what kind of Daimise is the 'Sakuramon House'? What is Daimise?"
"
"I don't know much..." Ogata scratched his hair, "I only heard about what Omise is from Genichi-san and the others when I was chatting with him."
"Omise is the rank name of Yoshiwara Yuma's house."
"Yoshiwara's Yomiyo Houses are divided into three levels. The levels from high to low are: Omise, Middle Mise, and Small Mise."
"I heard that Omise is the highest-level yuya house, and there are only 7 or 8 in Yoshiwara."
"Oh~~That's it..."
…
…
Yoshiwara is one of the most famous areas in Edo.
If anyone is brought in, he can tell Ogata and Amachi Yoshihara exactly how to go.
It is now October, and the sun sets much earlier than in summer.
It was already dusk when Ogata and Amachi arrived at the gate of Yoshiwara.
It happened to be when the flow of people in Yoshiwara began to increase.
Looking at the door in front of him, Ogata murmured:
"Is this the gate of Yoshiwara..."
Although he didn't know much about Yoshiwara, Ogata still knew some basic knowledge about Yoshiwara, such as the knowledge that Yoshihara was surrounded by tall wooden walls and had only one entrance and exit.
Located in front of Ogata and Atachi is a tall, open wooden door.
On both sides of the door, there is a lantern for lighting, with a large Chinese character painted on the lantern: 门.
Countless people came in and out of this gate, both men and women, but mainly men.
There were many young men with wooden sticks in their hands on both sides of the door. These young men must be the guards responsible for guarding the door.
They were all wearing the same style of dark blue feather fabric. There were many decorative patterns painted on the feather fabric, and there were two Chinese characters printed on both sides of the skirt: Club.
There is a large Chinese character printed on the back of Yuori: 门.
Looking at the haori worn by these people, Atachi asked Ogata in a low voice:
"Are these people supposed to be the officials responsible for managing the Shirobei Club in Yoshiwara?"
Ogata nodded: "That should be it. Come on, let's go in."
Before he even stepped through the gate, Ogata noticed that a famous official of the Shirobei Club, who was also wearing this special dark blue haori, kept shouting "Nonna-Kirishou", "Nonna-Kirishou".
As he led Omachi through the gate and entered Yoshiwara, and passed by the official who kept shouting "Onagari", Ogata couldn't help but look at the official a few more times, and at the same time secretly thought in his heart:
——Female Kiritou...what is that...
Just as Ogata was muttering in his heart, he suddenly heard a shout from beside him:
"Hey! That woman over there, where are you going? Is this your first time in Yoshiwara?"
After hearing the shouting, Ogata and Atachi both looked towards the source of the sound.
The person who shouted this was an uncle who was also wearing that special dark blue feather fabric.
This uncle was kneeling with several companions on the edge of the Yoshihara gate, with a small table in front of him.
Behind them is a magnificent mansion.
There is a lantern hanging at the entrance of this magnificent mansion, with the two Chinese characters for "club" written on the lantern.
After casting their eyes on the uncle, Ogata and A-Machi found that the uncle was looking at A-Machi.
After Amachi looked around, he stretched out his finger and pointed at himself.
"Are you talking to me?"
"Who else can I talk to besides you?" the uncle said helplessly, "Is this your first time coming to Yoshiwara?"
"Yeah." Ating nodded obediently.
"That's it... no wonder you walked through the gate stupidly like this... If a woman enters Yoshiwara, she must first come to us to get the 'Onagari Hand'."
"'Female Kiritou'?" Ogata asked doubtfully, "What is that?"
"You can think of it as a pass," the uncle said. "When a woman enters Yoshiwara, she must first obtain a 'Nagari Hand' before she can enter."
"When leaving Yoshihara, you must return the 'Nagari Hand' before you can leave."
"There are still such rules..." Amachi muttered as he walked quickly towards the uncle.
"What are you doing in Yoshihara?" After A-Machi came to the uncle, the uncle took out a wooden sign from under the table and asked A-Machi.
"Do I have to answer?" Amachi asked.
"It doesn't matter if you don't answer." The uncle shrugged, "I'm just asking casually."
"Actually, I didn't plan to do anything." A-Machi said, "I just came to help someone from a certain teahouse deliver steamed buns."
As soon as Omachi finished speaking, Ooji on the side raised the big box with Furoshiki in his hand.
"Are you giving me steamed buns? Is the girl from a certain Yukuo restaurant greedy? Since this is your first time coming to Yoshiwara, let me give you a piece of advice." The uncle said sternly, "In Yoshiwara, ten million
Don’t follow strangers.”
"If someone tells you that they have some very lucrative job and asks you if you want to join them, you must not ignore them."
"These people are basically scum who trick girls into becoming prostitutes."
"If you meet such a person, just shout."
"There are people from our Shirobei club everywhere in Yoshiwara."
"As long as you shout, someone from the club will definitely come to save you."
"Oh...that's it. Thank you for the reminder." A-Machi patted his plump breasts, "But don't worry, I'm very powerful. Ordinary men can't beat me."
"Really?" The uncle seemed to think that A-Ting was just joking with him, so he responded to A-Ting in a joking tone.
"In short - although Yoshihara is managed by our Shirobei Club, it is not a particularly safe place. Please pay attention to your property and safety."
"Here, this is your 'female cutter'."
"When you leave Yoshiwara, come here and return the 'Nagari Hand'."
"Be careful not to lose it. If you lose it, it will be troublesome. It will take a lot of effort to confirm that you are not a wandering girl from a certain wandering girl's house."
Amachi took the wooden sign handed over by the uncle.
On this square wooden sign is written "Shirobei Club" in large characters.
There is also a large square seal stamped on the lower left corner of this line of characters.
After playing with the "female cutter" in his hand for a while, Amachi muttered:
"Why do you guys in Yoshihara still have such a troublesome rule that women must rely on 'on-giri hands' to get in and out?"
"Do you want to know why?" A strange color flashed in the uncle's eyes, "The reason why the shogunate set up such a rule is actually very simple."
"It's just to prevent Yoshiwara's wandering girls from escaping."
"In the whole of Yoshihara, this is the only gate that allows entry and exit." The uncle nodded towards the gate on the side.
"Only women with 'Onagari Hands' are allowed in and out of Yoshiwara to prevent wandering girls from escaping through this gate."
"From another perspective, this can be regarded as a cruel rule."
"Okay, now that you have collected the 'Nagari Hand', let's quickly enter Yoshiwara. If you keep blocking here, you will prevent others from receiving and returning the 'Nagari Hand'."
A long queue formed behind Ogata and Atachi when they came to receive the "Female Kiritou".
The people who formed this long line were all women of different ages. These women were either empty-handed or holding wooden signs called "Nagari Hands" in their hands.