Chapter 374 Mamiya, do you know how to wear women's clothes? [Breaking 8200 words! 】
With that Haori worn by the Shirobei Club, you won't arouse any suspicion even if you are wandering on the street, they will just think you are patrolling aimlessly.
Ogata followed closely behind Gokutaro, keeping a distance of more than ten steps from Gokutaro the whole time.
The dense crowd sandwiched between Ogata and Gokutaro gave Ogata good cover.
And Ogata's height, which is above the average line, also saves Ogata from the trouble of being blocked by people in front of him.
Gokutaro walked through most of Nakano-machi, turned a corner, and finally walked straight into an izakaya called "Four Seasons House".
After Gokutaro led his followers into the "Four Seasons House", Ogata stopped not far from the Four Seasons House and looked up and down at the izakaya called "Four Seasons House".
After following Gua Sheng around Yoshiwara during the day today, Ogata learned that Yoshihara was not just home to women's houses, but also had many ordinary shops and private houses.
Vegetable shops, ordinary teahouses, restaurants, izakayas... all these ordinary shops can be found in Yoshiwara.
The decoration of this izakaya called "Four Seasons House" is not very luxurious, and it is the type of shop that ordinary people would not think "I definitely can't afford it" after seeing it.
After confirming that Gokutaro and his followers had gone in, Ogata strode towards the Shikiya.
A young man stood in front of the door of this Four Seasons House.
This young man was shouting loudly and seemed to be soliciting customers.
Ogata made this young man his target.
Decided to try to get something out of this young man's mouth.
Walking up to the young man, Ogata showed a faint smile, and then said in an emotional tone:
"That customer who just entered your store is really incredible..."
"Huh?" The young man in charge of soliciting customers looked puzzled, "Which guest?"
"That's the young man who entered your store just now, and behind him was a follower who was about the same age as himself."
Ogata said.
"I heard from our seniors at Shirobei Club that the customer who entered your store just now came to Yoshiwara every night for nearly two months."
"I really envy such energetic people. Why don't I have this kind of energy?"
What Ogata said just now is half true and half false.
I learned from the seniors at the club that Kitaro comes to Yoshiwara every night to play. This part is true.
When I came to Yoshiwara for the first time last night, I learned from Guao that Kitaro would come to play every night.
And the part about envying Gokutaro for having such abundant energy is false.
Ogata didn't think that he would lose to Gokutaro in terms of energy in that aspect.
After hearing Ogata's words, the young man looked suddenly enlightened.
"Oh! You said that person, I know that person too."
"That person is indeed extraordinary. Even though he is at his most energetic age, his energy is really something that you have to admire."
The young man said with a somewhat lewd smile.
"Oh?" Ogata pretended to be a little surprised, "It seems that that person is indeed famous. Even the people in the izakaya know of his existence."
"Of course. That guest comes to our place almost every night to have a few drinks before going to the girls' house to have fun."
Hearing the young man's words, Ogata's eyes narrowed slightly, but the change in Ogata's expression was so subtle that it couldn't be noticed unless he looked closely.
"It turns out that person is still a regular customer of your izakaya."
Ogata crossed his hands and reached into the sleeves on both sides. He raised his head and looked up and down at the Four Seasons House in front of him, and then continued to induce the young man who was responsible for attracting customers to the Four Seasons House.
"Speaking of which - your izakaya is really big... It turns out there is such a big izakaya in Yoshiwara..."
"Don't you know our Shikiya?" The young man glanced at Ogata's Shirobei Club Haori, with a look of surprise on his face.
Ogata's induction was very smooth, and the topic successfully developed in the direction Ogata expected.
"I'm new here." Ogata showed an apologetic smile, "Isn't Yoshiwara recruiting new recruits these days? I happened to be short of money, so I answered the call and passed the test."
"Today is my first day of work."
"There is still a lot that I don't know about Yoshiwara and I am not familiar with it."
"So that's it." The confusion on the young man's face dissipated, and he showed a friendly smile again, "No wonder you look relatively unfamiliar."
"Since you are new here, you need to get to know our Four Seasons House well!"
“Our Shikiya is also considered one of Yoshiwara’s famous stores.”
"Oh?" Ogata asked, "Do you sell any special wine in your store?"
"That's not true." A proud smile appeared on the young man's face, "The reason why our Four Seasons House has become one of Yoshiwara's famous stores is because our shop owner adopted a new business method."
“A new way of doing business…what kind of way of doing business?”
Ogata's curiosity was also aroused at this time.
"It's more difficult to explain when you say it with your mouth. Come in with me and I'll take a look at it. I'll let you take a look first before I can explain it to you more easily."
"That's fine." Ogata took off the Daishiten from his waist, then handed it to his right hand to hold.
"Ah, before entering the store, could you please take off your club haori? If the customers in the store see a member of the club coming in, it may cause everyone to make groundless suspicions and panic."
"Yeah, no problem."
While taking off his haori, Ogata asked the young man:
"If you take me to your store to see how your store is run, the people above you won't blame you for leaving your post without permission, right?"
"No." The young man waved his hand, "Introducing our store's new business method to customers who don't know much about our Four Seasons House, and then attracting them to come to our Four Seasons House - this is also one of my jobs."
"Since I won't disturb you, I'm relieved. My name is Majima Goro, what's yours?"
"My name is Matashichi. Come, please come into the store with me."
Ogata held his sword in one hand and his haori in the other, following Matashichi into the Four Seasons House.
Under the guidance of Matashichi, he walked through a short corridor and arrived at a spacious place connected to the corridor. Ogata was immediately shocked by the sight in front of him and his eyes widened slightly.
"Is this...?" Ogata couldn't help but murmur.
Going from outside the store to the inside of Four Seasons House, it feels like you have entered another world.
What caught Ogata's eyes was the reception hall, which was so spacious that it was almost impossible to see the bottom of it, and countless desks.
Well-dressed waiters shuttled through the aisles.
A large number of tables and tables converge towards the central stage like stars over the moon.
On the stage, skilled musicians sang with shamisen.
The costumed maikos danced to the music played by the musicians.
The current situation inside the Four Seasons House can be described as a house full of guests.
All kinds of guests have occupied more than 80% of the seats in the hall.
Compared with the big stage set in the center of the hall, the people sitting at each table attracted Ogata's attention more.
After arriving in the hall, Oufang immediately noticed that every table occupied by people was occupied by a woman.
The ratio of men to women sitting at each table should be at least 1:1.
That is to say, for every man, there must be a woman sitting next to him, chatting with him or helping him pour wine.
There are three men sitting next to this table, so there is at least one woman sitting next to each of these three men.
There were very few men with more than one woman sitting next to them.
"This is a brand new business method created by our shop owner!" Matashichi said to Ogata in a proud tone, "Every customer who comes to our Four Seasons House can order one girl or multiple girls to drink with him.
Let’s chat.”
"Our shop owner spent a lot of money to find a large number of girls who are good-looking, well-spoken, and willing to drink and chat with men."
"At the same time, we don't have private rooms here. Everyone gathers in the same hall to drink and chat. This is also our shop owner's idea. As for why the shop owner doesn't have private rooms, I'm not sure."
"The daily salary that the girls receive is linked to the number of orders taken today, as well as the number and price of drinks and food consumed by the guests."
"The more drinks and food the guests drink and the more expensive they are, the more money the girls will receive."
"Thanks to the shop owner's design, the girls in our shop are very active in their work. They try their best to please their customers and make them spend more money to buy wine and food."
"Ah, I forgot to mention it—our girls at Four Seasons House are not involved in that kind of business. We are only responsible for drinking and chatting with our guests."
"Customers are not allowed to behave too aggressively towards the girls in our store."
"If any customers mess around, we will kick them out without mercy and will no longer allow them to enter our store."
Ogata listened quietly to Matashichi's explanation.
The more I listened, the weirder his expression became.
Looking at the bustling, feasting and feasting hall of the Four Seasons House in front of him, Ogata thought to himself:
——Isn’t this the PR club...
Public relations club, this can be regarded as one of the famous special industries in modern Japan.
Although he didn't know much about the PR club, Ogata had some superficial understanding of this industry in his previous life.
The PR club is divided into male PR club and female PR club.
For female publicists who work in the Female Public Relations Club, their job is to sit next to the customer after a customer calls their name, drink and chat with the customer.
At the same time, I am only responsible for drinking and chatting with the guests. The guests are not allowed to touch the female publicists.
To put it nicely, their job is "selling needs."
Let the guests enjoy the feeling that someone is listening to them carefully and that someone needs them.
The main income of female publicists is the share of drinks.
The more drinks the guests order and the more expensive they are, the more income the female publicists share.
As for male public relations - the only difference in their work and that of female public relations is that female public relations mainly serve men, while male public relations mainly serve women.
Because there is no astringency involved, public relations clubs are a legal industry in modern Japan, and public relations is also a very legitimate profession.
Ogata did not expect that in Japan at the end of the 18th century, he would encounter such a store that was already the prototype of a public relations club in later generations.
Although according to Matashichi's introduction, there are still some differences between the Four Seasons House and the public relations clubs of later generations, they are similar.
"When I go to your restaurant to drink, do I have to ask a girl to drink with me and chat with me?" Ogata asked.
"That's right." Youqi nodded, "But our store also welcomes customers to bring girls to our store to drink and chat."
"Can you still bring a girl in by yourself?" Ogata couldn't help but be surprised.
"Yes. This is also our shop owner's idea. According to the shop owner, this is to cater to those who have considerable financial resources and like to show off."
"After some wealthy customers make an appointment with the top star of a certain tourist house, they will bring the top star to our store to show off in front of everyone."
"We also welcome this type of guests because they tend to be generous with their money."
"Did you see that fat customer over there? That person is a wealthy businessman in the tea business, and he is also one of our regular customers. The person next to him is the top lady of Bailiu House - Miss Meiyin."
Ogata looked in the direction pointed by Mata Seven's fingers.
I saw a big fat man sitting at a desk in a conspicuous position in the hall.
Sitting at the same table as this fat man, there were four men of different ages.
Next to the big fat man sat a charming beauty. While chatting with the big fat man, she kept pouring wine for him.
The other four men at the same table as the fat man also had a girl sitting next to them.
However, in terms of appearance, the beauty next to the big fat man had a crushing level of suppression over the other four girls at the same table.
Seeing this, Ogata couldn't help but burst into laughter.
I secretly lamented that the owner of the Four Seasons House is also a talented person, but in order to cater to and attract those vain customers, he even specially came up with the rule that "you can bring girls from outside to the store to drink".
It is conceivable that there must be many wealthy and vain guests who, after making an appointment with a famous tourist girl from a certain tourist girl's house, put their arms around the girl's shoulders and go to the Four Seasons House to enjoy everyone's envious gaze.
"I see..." Ogata nodded lightly, "It is indeed a very interesting way of doing business..."
This kind of public relations club-style management method was indeed quite new in the Edo period.
Adopting such a novel business method in this era, and knowing how to exploit the mentality of vain people - Ogata somewhat understands why the business of this Four Seasons House is so prosperous.
"In the future, when you don't need to work, please come to our Four Seasons House more often." Youqi said in a half-joking tone.
"I will." After another casual perfunctory sentence with a smile, Ogata moved his eyes, looking for Gokutaro's figure.
After a while, Oubon found Gokutaro in the center of the hall.
Ji Tairou was currently hugging a girl and chatting with the attendant sitting in front of him.
Although you are not allowed to do anything outrageous to the girls in this store, just a hug on the shoulder seems to be within the acceptable range.
His follower didn't seem to be interested in the girl next to him. He only looked straight at Kitaro in front of him and listened to Kitaro's speech.
"Thank you." Ogata smiled and thanked Matashichi, "This is a very interesting store. If I have the opportunity in the future, I will definitely come to your store to visit."
"I'm very grateful." Matashichi, with a happy face, bowed respectfully towards Ogata.
…
…
Under the guidance of Matashichi, Ogata left the Four Seasons House.
After walking out of the door of the Four Seasons House and walking to a location some distance away from the Four Seasons House, Ogata stopped and looked in the direction of the Four Seasons House.
Looking at the Four Seasons House, Ogata muttered at a volume that only he could hear clearly:
"It turns out that guy also likes to come to the PR club..."
…
…
In the hotel where Edo, Ogata and the others stayed——
"Makimura, what's the next line of 'Three's Company'?"
"'My wife must be there'!" Makimura answered without hesitation in a very confident tone.
"...Well, very good, that's a great answer. Makimura, thanks to your answer, I finally understand - your brain is really not suitable for studying."
"'Am I the one who must have my wife when we are in a threesome?'..." Mamiya, who was sitting aside and oiling his sword, spoke in a calm tone, "It seems that I will have trouble with people like Makimura in the future."
People who have different ideas should keep their distance."
In the large room where Ogata and the other men lived, Genichi was leaning against the corner and taking a nap.
Mamiya was sitting not far away, oiling his sword.
As for Makimura and Asai...
"I was just making a little joke." Makimura waved his hand, "It was 'you must have my teacher', right? I was just teasing you on purpose."
"...Makimura, you should really be lucky now."
"Well, what are you glad about?"
"I'm glad Confucius passed away two thousand years ago, otherwise if he knew that you recited his wise words like this, he would definitely beat you up."
"It doesn't matter! Confucius will definitely not be able to defeat me!"
"That's different. According to historical records, Confucius was taller than you and had infinite strength. You may not be able to defeat Confucius without using weapons."
When they arrived in Edo the night before yesterday, Ogata and his party briefly discussed topics related to knowledge before going to bed.
After learning that he was the least educated among the people, this incident seemed to bring a little excitement to Makimura.
Early this morning, Makimura pestered Asai to teach him the Four Books and Five Classics.
Asai, who couldn't resist Makimura, reluctantly agreed to Makimura's request.
Hence the scene where Asai teaches Makimura's "The Analects of Confucius".
Asai is also a person who can memorize the Four Books and Five Classics backwards and forwards, so even without a book in hand, he can teach Makimura to recite and understand the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics sentence by sentence.
It is worth mentioning that Rin was also in the room where Ogata and his gang of men lived at this time.
Lin is currently sitting next to Genichi. She is currently doing the same thing as Mamiya - applying oil to her two swords: the sword "Enma" and the wakizashi "Kishin".
The reason why Lin didn't stay in her room, but in Ogata's room, was very simple - the knife oil was placed in Ogata's room.
Shimada, who had nothing to do, was sitting cross-legged not far away. To pass the time, he kept silently looking at the big black sword in Lin's hand - Enma.
After applying the knife oil, Yama's pitch-black blade exudes a unique dazzling luster.
"Lord." Perhaps because he was bored right now, Shimada said to Lin, "I've always felt strange, why is Yama's sword black?"
"I don't know either." Lin continued to apply oil to Yan Mo's knife, while echoing, "I don't know much about forging knives, but as far as I know, it seems that it is mixed with some special metal.
, the blade turned black."
At this moment, Lin was just oiling the sword in Yan Mo's hand.
After putting down the special tool for applying knife oil, Lin Shu picked up the Yama in her hand and looked up and down at the pitch-black blade of the Yama.
The color of memories appeared in Lin's eyes.
"Yama is the treasured sword passed down by my family..."
"It took me a lot of effort to get Yama back from those stinky monks..."
After letting out this small sigh, Lin slowly put Yama back into the scabbard.
At this moment, the sound of "dong dong dong" footsteps sounded outside the room.
Listening to this series of footsteps, Makimura, who was studying "The Analects of Confucius" with Asai, raised his eyebrows.
"Brother Ogata is back."
"What do you know?" Asai asked.
"My friendship with Mr. Ogata has long been so good that I can tell if Mr. Ogata is coming just by the sound of footsteps."
Wow.
The paper sliding door of the room was opened.
As Makimura said, Ogata is back.
Ogata held a sword in one hand and a haori from the Shirobei Club in the other.
"Hey, welcome back." Makimura took the initiative to greet Ogata.
"Yes." Ogata nodded lightly, "Today has been quite fruitful."
"Oh!" Makimura crossed his arms, "It seems that lurking in Yoshiwara is still useful."
Ogata moved his eyes and glanced at everyone in the room:
"Where's Omachi?"
"Ms. Atachi is in her room now." Mamiya replied.
"I'm going to ask Omachi to come over." Ogata said, "When everyone is here, I will slowly tell you what I have gained today."
…
…
In Amachi’s room——
Wearing an ordinary kimono and with his hair hanging casually, Atachi is sitting cross-legged casually in the center of the room.
There was a small table in front of him, and on the table was Atachi's most powerful murder weapon - Sozakura.
At this moment, A-Machi is taking care of Suying.
It's just that - Atachi looked distracted at this time.
Her two eyes were looking straight at Suying on the table. Her expressionless face made it difficult to figure out what she was thinking about right now...
Wow.
At this moment, the door to the room was suddenly opened.
Amachi was startled by the sudden sound of the door being pulled open, and his consciousness was pulled back to the real space.
"Ah, Ayi, are you back?" Because he was startled by the sudden sound of the door being pulled, A-Ting still looked frightened.
"Yes." Ogata nodded, "I just came back, Amachi, come to the big room where I live. I have a lot of new information that I have discovered today to tell you."
"Ah, okay, okay."
Amachi hurriedly stuffed the half-maintained Suzakura back into his arms, and then simply arranged his hair and clothes.
…
…
Ogata also called Amachi, who was taking care of Suying in his room, into this large room, and then began to share the information he had collected today with everyone.
Today is Ogata's first day lurking in Yoshiwara, but the amount of valuable intelligence collected far exceeds Ogata's expectations.
Through today's lurking, Ogata obtained two pieces of very precious information about Gokutaro.
Article 1: Gokutaro really comes to Yoshiwara every night to have fun.
Article 2: Kitaro likes to go to that special izakaya called Shikiya.
Ogata explained the details of the "Public Relations Club" of Shikiya to everyone in the simplest terms possible.
The way Four Seasons House is run is extremely new to Lin and the others.
After listening to Ogata's explanation, Makimura grinned directly:
"It feels like a very interesting store..."
Asai on the side also nodded in agreement:
"I'm also somewhat interested in this store."
After explaining to everyone what kind of shop Shikiya was, Ogata began to talk about his subsequent actions and his discovery of Gokutaro.
After staying in the Four Seasons House for less than half an hour, Gokutaro led his followers out of the Four Seasons House and slipped away to a certain "Nakamise"-level wandering girl's house not far away to have fun.
Ogata originally thought about whether to wait until Gokutaro came out of the Yume House and follow him to see if he could follow him all the way to their lair in Shiranui.
But as soon as this idea popped into Ogata's mind, he was dismissed by Ogata.
Because this plan has basically no chance of success.
Yoshihara has a dense flow of people, and relying on the dense flow of people and his identity as a servant of the Shirobei Club, Ogata was able to avoid being discovered by Gokutaro.
Shiranui's stronghold will definitely not be located in a conspicuous busy city, it will definitely be somewhere with few people.
Outside of Yoshiwara, where there were few people and no cover, Ogata no longer had the confidence to track ninjas of the "Four Heavenly Kings" level.
At around 10 p.m., Yoshiwara's gate will close.
People inside and outside Yoshihara can only enter and exit through the sleeve gates on both sides of the gate.
By the time the gate of Yoshiwara is closed, the flow of people entering and exiting Yoshiwara is already very small.
This is also the time when temporary workers such as Ogata and others who were recruited temporarily can get off work.
After he could get off work, Oconon rushed back to the hotel where they were staying and reported to everyone what he had learned today.
After quietly listening to Ogata's report on the information he collected about Kitaro in Yoshiwara today, Lin nodded:
"Thank you for your hard work."
After saying that, Lin leaned over and bowed to Ogata.
"Is that Gokutaro a frequent visitor to that Four Seasons House..." Mamiya muttered, "This information... is very useful!"
"Yeah." Lin nodded seriously and said seriously, "I think so too."
"I think - we can do something big here."
"I have a plan now."
After clearing her throat, Lin continued:
"Since that Ji Taro is a frequent visitor to the Four Seasons House and goes there to drink two drinks almost every day, then we can send someone to go to the Four Seasons House to drink every night."
"I see." Mamiya, who understood Lin's plan, showed a faint smile, "Sending people to the Shikiya to drink every night, pretending to have fun, but actually trying to eavesdrop on the conversations between Kitaro and others...
"
"Yes." Lin nodded, "If you go and eavesdrop on the conversation between Ji Tairou and others, you might be able to hear something interesting."
"But... if you want to implement this plan, at least one man and one woman must be sent." Asai frowned slightly at this time and raised his doubts, "According to Ittousai, go to that Shikiya to drink, or order
A girl from their shop."
"Or you can bring a girl in."
"It's definitely not okay to order a girl from their store."
"Their remuneration is linked to the food and drinks ordered by the guests."
"In order to get the guests to order more food and drinks, they will definitely say a bunch of nice words to induce you to buy food and drinks."
"So if you hire a girl from a shop as your companion, she will definitely cause trouble."
"So the best thing we can do is let a man and a woman go to the Four Seasons House."
"If two people cooperate with each other, it will be much more efficient."
As soon as Asai said this, the atmosphere in the whole room immediately became weird.
Asai's proposal of "sending one man and one woman" is indeed a good proposal.
It's just that - there are only two women here.
Amachi definitely can't go to the Four Seasons House.
After all, A-Machi is a rebellious ninja in Shiranui, so it would be too dangerous for him to go to the Shikiya, where Gokutaro often goes.
In order not to be discovered by Gokutaro, Omachi could only wear scarily thick makeup like he did yesterday when he followed Ogata to collect information about the "Gozen Trial Match".
But if you go to the Four Seasons House with too much makeup, it will be counterproductive.
There are all beautifully dressed girls in the store. If the girl next to you wears heavy makeup, it will be quite eye-catching, but it will not be conducive to completing the "eavesdropping mission".
Therefore, it is impossible for Atachi to go to Shikiya.
Therefore, the only person I can choose is Lin.
only……
…
…
Mamiya, Makimura and the others looked at each other.
They looked at me and I looked at you, communicating silently with their eyes.
Makimura: (Hey, Mamiya, come and tell the lord. You have been following the lord the longest, and the lord trusts you the most. It is most appropriate for you to tell the lord.)
Mamiya: (I don’t want it.)
Asai: (Makimura, come on.)
Makimura: (Why don’t you come?)
Shimada: (Genichi-san...)
Source One: (Don’t look at me...)
The above is the general content of the "divine friendship" between Mamiya and others.
They are all trying to persuade others to speak up bravely: "My lord! I leave it to you to lurk in the Four Seasons House!"
But after communicating with eyes for a long time, the brave man did not appear...
Ogata and Atachi also instinctively felt that now was not a good time for them to talk, so they both remained silent.
The room fell into an eerie silence for a while before someone finally spoke up to break the silence.
And the person who spoke up to break the silence was Lin.
"Actually..." Lin whispered expressionlessly, "It is not necessary to send a man and a woman."
"You can also send two men..."
"As long as one of the men knows how to pretend to be a woman, it will be fine."
Hearing Lin's words, Ogata raised an eyebrow.
The moment Lin finished speaking, Ogata understood the meaning.
No.
It should be said that everyone present, after hearing Lin's words, instantly understood what Lin meant...
Everyone at the scene...except for Mamiya, who was now sweating on his forehead, all turned their heads and cast strange eyes on Mamiya.
"...Mamiya." Ogata said softly, "Have you ever learned how to wear women's clothing somewhere?"