Chapter 376 The Sword Is Not That Useful【6400words】
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Makimura: "..."
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Well!
After seeing Asai's bright smile and hearing what he just said, Makimura felt as if he had lost consciousness at that moment.
Fortunately, he just grabbed his soul that was about to disperse in time.
Am I dreaming?
Makimura couldn't help but question himself.
"Makimura-kun, what are you doing? Let's leave quickly☆"
In order to make himself appear more girlish, Asai twisted the fingers of his hands together and put them in front of his chest when smiling at Makimura.
Not dreaming!
Asai is a handsome boy.
After putting on women's clothes and makeup, she transformed into a cute and beautiful girl.
With such a beautiful face and such a bright smile, he should look very charming.
But Makimura didn't feel excited now, only felt terrified.
Very scary.
Obviously the face itself is very cute and the smile is impeccable, but Makimura only feels horrible.
The reason is that Asai's face is only smiling, and his eyes are not smiling.
The emotion contained in Asai's eyes is quite scary right now. There seems to be some blue veins bulging out on his neck.
The eyes that smiled like a pair of crescent moons contained 50% humiliation and 50% grief and anger, and there was no smile at all.
At the same time, Makimura could still vaguely feel Asai's hands that were twisted together and held tightly in front of his chest.
There is a faint green energy emerging on the back of the hand...
To give a vivid example... Asai is now like a beast trapped in a cage, craving for freedom outside the cage while chewing on the bars of the cage.
If you ask Makimura: Does he have a bad relationship with anyone, Makimura will definitely say "no".
But if Makimura was forced to pick the person with whom he had the worst relationship, then Makimura would probably name Asai.
Asai has a very serious personality and is taciturn and doesn't like to communicate with others.
In terms of personality, he is completely opposite to Makimura, so the two always have quarrels over various trivial matters.
In the past, when Asai was embarrassed, Makimura might have smiled with gloating.
But now after seeing Asai like this, Makimura didn't feel like laughing, he just felt quite sympathetic...
Makimura, eager to save Asai from suffering as soon as possible, led Asai and quickly followed Gokutaro.
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Like the information provided by Ogata, Kitaro was very fond of Yoshiwara's "public relations club".
Tonight, he led his followers straight into the Four Seasons House.
After seeing Kotaro and his followers entering the Four Seasons House, Makimura and Asai rushed over and breathed a sigh of relief.
Originally, the two of them were worried that Ji Tairou might have an impromptu decision and not want to go to the Four Seasons House for a drink tonight.
If he hadn't gone to the Four Seasons Room to drink tonight, then the two of them, especially Asai, who spent a lot of time putting on makeup and learning how to wear women's kimonos, would have been busy tonight.
Makimura and Asai did not enter the Four Seasons House immediately.
Instead, they waited outside for a while before walking towards the Four Seasons House together.
As soon as they arrived at the door of the Four Seasons House, a young man guarding the door of the Four Seasons House greeted the two Makimura with a smile on his face.
If Ogata were here, he would be able to recognize that this young man is Matashichi who helped him introduce some Shikiya last night.
"I brought my friend here." Makimura took the lead and said to Matashichi, "Is there any room available inside now?"
"Yes, Master Samurai, you came early, so there is still room. If you come later, there may not be room!"
Mataqi led Makimura and Asai into the Four Seasons House.
Just as Matashichi said, there are still at least 50% empty seats in the reception hall of Four Seasons House.
After arriving at the reception hall, Makimura and Asai quickly moved their eyes, looking for Gokutaro's figure.
Since there weren't many people there, the two of them quickly found Gokutaro.
He is now sitting opposite his attendant. Next to him and him, there is a girl in her prime. These two girls must be the girls from the Four Seasons House.
Fortunately for Makimura and Asai, a table quite close to Gokutaro is currently empty.
That table was only one table away from where Kitaro was sitting, not too far nor too close, making it the most ideal "eavesdropping place".
After the two of them sat down at the most ideal seat, a waiter immediately walked over to them and asked them what food and drinks they wanted.
There is a very conspicuous large wooden sign hanging on the west wall of the reception hall, which lists the drinks and food they sell.
After casually ordering 2 bottles of sake, as well as some squid, peanuts and other items that could go well with the wine, Makimura and Asai began to look around with curious eyes.
The two of them had never seen such a business method before, so they were quite curious about everything in the living room.
"It's the same as Ogata brother said..." Makimura whispered, "Everyone gathers in the same place to drink. You can ask a girl to drink with you, or you can bring a girl here..."
The two noticed that perhaps because it was gradually entering the golden hour when there were more guests, more and more guests were pouring into the Four Seasons House.
Some come alone.
Some are in groups.
Some brought women over by themselves.
Some of them did not bring women with them, probably because they came specifically to experience the novel service provided by Four Seasons House.
Because there are no separate rooms in the Four Seasons House, everyone gathers in the same reception hall, which makes the entire reception hall noisy and lively.
"What a smart design..." Makimura murmured, "There are no single rooms. Although it will lose those guests who like peace and quiet, it can greatly arouse the interest of those who like liveliness."
"But this is not the most powerful design."
"The most powerful design is to link the girls' compensation to the drinks and food ordered by the guests."
"This will be a huge motivation boost for the girls."
"Let the girls work hard to please their customers."
After Makimura briefly observed the situation in the store, he discovered the uniqueness of this store.
It's actually not that unusual to be able to call a girl over to drink and chat with you.
Some larger tea houses actually provide such services.
But the strength of the Four Seasons House lies in the two points Makimura just mentioned: increasing the liveliness of the store by not having single rooms, and linking the girls' remuneration to the drinks and food ordered by the customers.
"Makimura." Asai said at the side, "Don't forget the business."
"I know."
The service at this Four Seasons House is very fast. It only took a short while for all the drinks and food ordered by Makimura and Asai to be served.
After Asai poured a small glass of wine for Makimura in a very unskilled manner, he began to talk endlessly about some things that were true and false:
"Makimura-kun, do you know? I heard that the Satsuma clan has been taking advantage of its convenient location to conduct smuggling activities with foreign countries, and has even sent troops to attack the Ryukyu Kingdom..."
Asai is responsible for speaking, and Makimura is responsible for eavesdropping. This is the division of labor between the two.
It would look very unnatural if the two of them didn't speak and just drank and ate in silence.
So the two of them divided their duties, with Asai saying whatever he wanted. It didn't matter what he said, as long as he pretended that they were communicating.
Makimura was only responsible for nodding and agreeing from time to time, pretending to be listening to Asai's words, but in fact, his attention was focused on eavesdropping on the conversation between Gokutaro and his followers.
In this way, in the eyes of outsiders, Makimura and Asai are a couple where "the woman is more talkative and the man is more taciturn", making it less likely to arouse suspicion.
In order to make her voice sound more like a girl, Asai also raised her voice very carefully when speaking, successfully shaping herself into a beauty who "sounds neither like a man nor a woman."
In modern earth terms, it sounds like a eunuch.
While Makimura was sipping his drink, he nodded from time to time and said some perfunctory sentences like "Oh!", "Really?"...
Makimura, who pretended to be listening to Asai's words, focused his entire attention on Gokutaro.
Although the surroundings were very noisy due to the increasing number of guests, Makimura could still barely hear the conversation between Gokutaro and his attendant.
"Eitaro! Did you know? I heard from someone recently that as long as you mix garlic and soy sauce together and then apply it on the thing, you can make the thing grow bigger!"
Listening to the conversation between Gokutaro and his follower, Makimura couldn't help but frown. He thought to himself:
What on earth are they talking about...
Although all he heard from Jitaro and his followers was some random stuff, Makimura continued to listen patiently.
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at the same time.
I don’t know how Makimura and Asai are doing now...
Ogata, who was murmuring like this in his heart, turned his head from time to time and looked in the direction of the Four Seasons House.
Ogata is still patrolling the first half of Nakano Town, so no matter how he looks, it is impossible to see the Four Seasons House. However, out of concern for Makimura and Asai, Ogata will still subconsciously look at the Four Seasons House from time to time.
direction.
Ogata was not worried about whether the two of them would be discovered by Gokutaro and the others.
Ogata was only worried that Asai would cause trouble because he couldn't bear the women's clothing or the behavior of having to cling to Makimura...
Just when Ogata was looking at the Four Seasons House, which was out of sight, a familiar voice suddenly sounded beside Ogata:
"Mashima-kun."
Ogata followed the sound and looked.
"Miss Guasheng, what's wrong?"
Kua Sao, who was wearing the club's special haori, was holding the wooden sword on his waist and walking slowly towards Ogata.
"Mashima-kun, I have an urgent mission. Could you please go to the bank of the Rashomon River?"
"Emergency mission?" Ogata raised his eyebrows, "Did something happen on the bank of the Rashomon River?"
"It's not a big deal." Gua Sheng smiled bitterly, "It's just that there is a shortage of manpower on the Rashomon River bank."
"Just now, Ban Xiang, who is in charge of security at the Rashomon River Bank, reported to Lord Shirobei that there are more customers visiting the Rashomon River Bank tonight than usual."
"So I applied to allocate more manpower to support."
"So Shirobei-sama just asked me to select some people to go to the Rashomon River bank where there is currently a shortage of manpower."
"How about it? Majima-kun, could you please go to the Rashomon River bank?"
The official positions of the Shirobei Club can be roughly divided into three levels:
The official official title of the supreme leader is "Totori", which is held by Shirobei.
The official official title of the cadre is "Bankata", and the Kawajiro and Keemon whom Ogata met yesterday is the club's Bankata.
Further down are ordinary petty officials.
At the same time, there are also "temporary workers" hired by the club. These "temporary workers" are not official officials, and are somewhat similar to the "mercenaries" hired by the club with money.
Guasheng and Xuxiang belong to this category.
Gua Sheng is considered a "mercenary" because of his strong strength, high ability to do things, and the respect of many people, but his status in the club is actually no different from Fan Fang.
Each area in Yoshiwara is assigned a bangata to manage it.
According to Gua Sheng, this "request for assistance" was the responsibility of Bangata, who was in charge of the area along the Rashomon River.
"I don't care." After listening to Gua Sheng's words, Ogata nodded.
Now that Gokutaro has arrived, he has also successfully informed Makimura and Asai who Gokutaro is. Ogata has no reason to stay in Nakano Town anymore, so it doesn't matter to Ogata no matter where he goes now.
After all, Ogata's current identity is as a servant of the Shirobei Club, so Ogata still has to listen to some orders issued by the boss of the club.
When bidding farewell to Kuaso and preparing to head to the bank of the Rashomon River, Kuasao said to Ogata in a serious tone:
"Mashima-kun, when patrolling the banks of the Rashomon River and standing sentry, you must not only be wary of those who may cause trouble, but also be wary of the wandering girls who live there."
"Those wandering girls on the banks of the Rashomon River might sneak up on you from behind while you're not paying attention, knock you unconscious, and then steal your money."
"They even dare to rob the money of the servants in the club?" Ogata pulled the haori on his body and asked doubtfully.
"Why don't you dare to grab it?" Gua Sheng said with a bitter smile, "There are many wandering girls on the Rashomon River bank who don't care about the laws and regulations at all."
"There have been many incidents here on the banks of the Rashomon River where girls have robbed club members of their money."
"Anyway, just be careful."
"...I know." Ogata nodded, silently remembering Guasheng's reminder in his heart, "I will pay attention to it."
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After bidding farewell to Guasheng, Ogata held the knife at his waist and walked slowly towards the westernmost side of Yoshiwara.
A major feature of Yoshiwara's layout is that Nakano-machi is located in the middle as the center of the circle. The closer you are to Nakano-machi, the more prosperous it becomes.
Therefore, as Ogata gradually approached the Rashomon River bank located on the westernmost side of Yoshiwara, the noise became increasingly sparse.
The surrounding lights also became increasingly sparse.
After arriving at the bank of the Rashomon River, Ogata instantly felt like he had gone from one world to another.
As soon as he arrived at the bank of the Rashomon River, Oburo met a colleague who was wearing the same haori as him.
"Hey." This colleague was quite old. He was holding a long wooden stick in his hand and was guarding the entrance and exit of the Rashomon River. After looking at Ogata up and down for a few times, he continued, "Are you new here?
"
"Yes." Ogata nodded, "Today is the second day of working in Yoshiwara."
"Then you should be careful when patrolling the banks of the Rashomon River and standing sentry."
This considerate colleague began to tell Ogata about the horrors on the banks of the Rashomon River.
And what he said was very similar to what Gua Sheng said to Ogata just now.
However, this colleague also added some things that Gua Sheng did not mention just now.
"The girls on the banks of the Rashomon River don't care whether you are a servant of the club or not."
"As soon as they see a man approaching, they dare to go up and solicit customers."
"No matter what the wandering girls on the Rashomon River say to you, don't enter their homes." The colleague said, "Only those who are extremely poor will come to the Rashomon River to have fun."
"As long as they are not extremely poor, they will not look for wandering girls on the banks of the Rashomon River."
"From the look of you, you shouldn't be a very poor person."
"So you must never enter the homes of wandering girls on the banks of the Rashomon River."
"If you get sick then you will be in trouble."
"I understand." Ogata nodded, "I will pay attention."
"Let me teach you a way to get away quickly if you are entangled by wandering girls on the banks of the Rashomon River."
The colleague smiled and pointed at his left waist.
"If a wandering girl from the Rashomon River stalks you, draw your sword."
"Then he said: 'Anyone who takes one step forward will be beheaded and spared!'"
"As long as you draw your sword and say these words, no wandering girl will dare to bother you again."
"Although the wandering girls on the banks of the Rashomon River are generally bold, they are not bold enough to dare to take a sword from the samurai."
"I understand..." Ogata smiled bitterly, "Thank you for your suggestion."
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Ogata passed by this colleague who was guarding an entrance and exit on the bank of the Rashomon River, and officially entered the bank of the Rashomon River.
After walking inside for a while, Oufang saw an ordinary trail.
There are densely packed houses on both sides of this lane.
There is a wandering girl standing in front of almost every house.
These wandering girls either look old or sick.
Most of the wandering girls living on the banks of the Rashomon River were abandoned by their original owners for various reasons, and were then forced to live on the banks of the Rashomon River.
Because they no longer belong to any tourist house, they can only rely on their own strength to attract customers.
No matter day or night, there are many wandering girls standing on both sides of the street on the banks of the Rashomon River, using various means to lure the men who come here to their rooms.
Of course, there are also some wandering girls who use brute force to directly pull some men into their homes.
Ogata remembered that according to Guao, this was one of the reasons why this place was called "Rashomon Bank":
The wandering girls here forcefully force guests into their rooms, just like the evil ghosts of Rashomon.
Ogata tightened the club haori around his body and walked quickly towards the path in front of him.
Regarding Ogata, who appeared here wearing the club's haori, some of the girls looked indifferent and did not come forward to talk to Ogata, letting Ogata pass by them.
Of course, there are also some wandering girls who, like my colleague just said, don’t care who the man is.
Ogata had just walked almost a quarter of the way through the trail when a wandering girl with a dark complexion stepped forward and walked quickly to Ogata:
"Master Samurai, would you like to come and play with me?"
After the first person who came forward appeared, the other wandering girls who were still hesitating about whether to come forward also plucked up the courage and rushed towards Ogata.
In a short while, Ogata was surrounded by seven wandering girls of different ages.
They talked all over and tried to persuade Ogata in every possible way.
What's more, someone directly grabbed Ogata's Haori and pulled Ogata.
Regarding this situation, Ogata could not make any other expression except a helpless smile.
"Sorry, I don't have time now."
While Ogata was shouting like this, he used his own brute strength to forcefully break out from the surroundings of the wandering girls.
And these wandering girls obviously would not let Ogata go just like that.
As soon as Ogata escaped from the encirclement, these wandering girls surrounded him again, forming a new encirclement against Ogata.
Ogata just kept repeating the steps of being surrounded, breaking through, being surrounded, and breaking through...
An unknown amount of time passed before Ogata finally successfully crossed and stayed away from this trail.
After Ogata stayed away from the trail, these wandering girls finally seemed to have given up and no longer pestered Ogata.
After getting rid of these ghost-like wandering girls, Ogata finally let out a sigh of relief.
"It seems like I need to straighten it out after I get back..." Looking at the extra wrinkles on his feathered fabric that were picked up by the group of wandering girls just now, a look of helplessness appeared on Ogata's face again.
Just as Ogata was patting the haori on his body, trying to remove some stains that could be cleaned, a strange male voice suddenly sounded from Ogata's side:
"You are such a weirdo."
"Huh?" Ogata followed the sound and looked towards the place where the sound originated.
The speaker was a young man leaning against a brick wall.
Looking at this male, Ogata couldn't help but frown slightly.
Because this young man’s clothes...are really a bit strange...
This young man is not wearing a men's kimono.
Instead, she wore a white women's kimono.
The men's and women's clothing of this era are still easy to recognize.
The sleeves of women's kimonos are much wider than the sleeves of men's kimonos.
The sleeves of this young man's kimono are very wide, and you can tell it is a women's kimono.
Why do I keep seeing women's clothing bosses tonight...
Just when Ogata was secretly lamenting what happened tonight, the cross-dressing boss continued:
"When you were pestered by those wandering girls just now, wouldn't it be fine if you just pulled out the knife from your waist?"
"As long as you show the knife at your waist, those wandering girls will definitely not dare to pester you."
"Why would you rather spend so much effort to slowly escape from the entanglement of those wandering girls than pull out your own sword?"
"You are the kind of person who suddenly asks a strange question to someone out of nowhere, so you are called a weirdo..."
After complaining about this unfamiliar cross-dressing man, Ogata straightened his clothes, and then said seriously in a serious tone:
"A sword is a weapon specially designed to kill people."
"So I will not draw my sword casually. I will only use force against me, and draw my sword to those who want to hurt me or harm me."
"Those wandering girls just now did nothing, they just chattered to me."
"So I won't draw my sword at them."
"Of course, if they put a weapon on my neck and forced me to enter their room, that would be a different matter."
"...Did someone else teach you what you just said?" the cross-dressing man then asked.
"No, it's just a principle that I realized on my own and have always adhered to."
"...Ha." The cross-dressing man chuckled a few times after being silent for a while, "My name is Wuliu, what's yours?"
"Mashima Goro."
As soon as he gave out his pseudonym, Oufang paused.
Then he laughed and said:
"Our names are quite similar."
The pronunciation of "五六" is homophone to "Wulu", and the pronunciation is almost exactly the same.
"I think so too." The women's clothing boss who calls himself "Wu Liu" showed a faint smile.
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In the next chapter, I will introduce to you what Zhongdao is.