I formed the strongest swordsman group

Probably because of the cold weather, Sanako's palm was chilly, but not as cold as ice cubes.

Such a temperature, just right.

This cold touch spread from Sanako's palm to Qingdeng's wrist, and then extended to his heart, calming down the looming dryness.

Qing Deng unconsciously let go of the hand holding the knife.

"Tachibana-kun, you must not be provoked by Eiichi Shimizu."

While speaking softly, Sanazi tightened his grip on Qingdeng's wrist a little.

"He obviously deliberately provoked you and lured you into the bait."

The chief executive on the side echoed:

"Yeah, yeah! The way that Eiichi Shimizu did is what Mr. Hijikata told me before...uh...what is it? Ah! Yes! Yangmou! Tachibana-kun, you must not fall for it Count it!"

Shimizu Eiichi's behavior is indeed an irresistible conspiracy - anyone can see his intentions, but no matter how Qingdeng accepts the trick, he cannot escape severe consequences.

"It's unbelievable, Mr. Chongtian, you actually know what 'Yangmou' is."

"Hey! What's the matter with your 'old father seeing that his daughter can finally cook'?!"

Qingdeng ignored the chief executive who was making a fuss, and turned his gaze back to Sanazi's pretty face.

In order to capture the slightly heavy atmosphere at the moment as much as possible, he deliberately said in a joking tone.

"Miss Sanako, I thought that someone who values ​​tradition like you would encourage me to fight bravely and defend the honor of the samurai to the death."

A soldier can be killed, but not humiliated... This is a very important background in Bushido.

Knowing that you are invincible, you have to fight desperately to defend your personal honor-but anyone who can do this, the world will not think he is a short-circuited fool, but will respect him as a hero.

Sanako has received traditional samurai education since she was a child.

In other words, concepts such as "reputation comes first" and "it is better to be broken than to be destroyed" should be deeply rooted in their hearts.

Qingdeng thinks: Even if Zuo Nazi didn't encourage him to fight with the Qingshui clan, he probably wouldn't encourage him to run away.

But who knows, as soon as Qingdeng's words fell, Zuo Nazi quickly said in a high-pitched voice:

"'Defending glory' and 'sending death for nothing' are two different things!"

The graceful Sanako seldom speaks with such a loud voice.

Her sudden high-pitched voice startled both Qingdeng and the chief executive.

Sanako also realized that he had lost his composure just now, and couldn't help being startled.

Immediately afterwards, she gritted her teeth lightly, put on a posture of "going all out", and continued to speak in that rare high-pitched voice:

"The defense force in Qingshui Mansion is at least hundreds of people, including martial arts masters such as 'Blood Tiger' and 'Two Guns', and there is also a ready-made fortress to support... such a battle, Even if Brother Rong came in person, he might not be able to make it through!"

The "Brother Rong" in Sanako's mouth naturally refers to "the strongest swordsman in Edo" - Chiba Eijiro.

"Of course I don't want Mr. Ju to bear an ugly reputation for avoiding not fighting."

"But...but..."

Sanako faltered, as if thinking about the next wording.

For a long time, Sanako has always shown people the perfect image of "graceful and elegant when wearing women's kimonos, and heroic".

However, at this moment, she showed a completely different appearance from before.

The expression on his pretty face slowly changed slightly.

The facial lines gradually relaxed, the corners of the eyes and willow eyebrows drooped slightly, and the attractive red lips were slightly pursed.

It seems that the whole person has become very... weak.

It was the first time Qingdeng saw Sanako showing such a girly side.

"I don't even want you to die..."

Sanako looked straight into Qingdeng's eyes.

She squeezed Qingdeng's wrist tightly, as if she would never let go.

No room for joking...she is very serious.

There was a certain determination in the depths of her eyes.

Qingdeng, who was stared at by such eyes, was speechless for a while.

Mingming Zuozi just grabbed his right wrist and looked straight into his eyes, but he had a weird feeling that his retreat was blocked...

"……I see."

However, Qingdeng sighed silently, and a faint helpless smile swept over his cheeks.

"I'm not an idiot, of course I also know that 'defending honor' and 'sending death for nothing' are two different things."

"In the final analysis, my real goal right now is to completely destroy the phantom deposit, not to fight to the death with the Qingshui clan."

"So, I have a measure."

"I don't do stupid things unless I have to."

Hearing what Qingdeng said, Sanako and the chief executive both showed expressions of relief.

Especially Zuo Nazi, as Qingdeng's voice fell, her red lips, which were originally tightly pursed, slightly curled up.

However, at this moment, an immature child's voice intervened between them unexpectedly.

"Mom, look quickly, those two people are flirting with each other in public."

Not far away, a little girl about 8 or 9 years old pointed to Qingdeng and Zonazi, and said to the woman beside her with a smile.

The woman just cast her gaze away casually, but soon, after seeing the two long and short knives on Qing Deng's waist, her expression changed drastically.

Due to various considerations at the national level, the Edo shogunate gave the samurai the privilege of "beheading rude civilians"-but even so, in order to prevent the samurai from killing indiscriminately, the shogunate still set extremely strict regulations on this. The use conditions are so high that the warriors are very cautious in using this right. Even if they are really humiliated by civilians, most of them will choose to endure as much as they can.

However, the tragedy of "a certain samurai must kill a certain civilian knowing that he will be severely punished afterwards" still occurs from time to time.

Once upon a time, there was a commoner who was a lowly man, thinking that the other party would not dare to draw his sword, and crazily humiliated a certain samurai.

The samurai was overwhelmed, wrote the suicide note and took care of all the funeral affairs, then raised his saber, broke into the commoner's house at night, and sent the commoner to see Amaterasu.

With so many lessons learned from the past, ordinary civilians with normal heads will try their best to avoid conflicts with samurai.

The woman immediately grabbed the little girl's hand, reprimanded her "don't talk too much", and hurriedly dragged the little girl away from the place.

When leaving, the woman muttered and whispered something.

Although her voice was very soft, it was still heard by Qingdeng and others who had good hearing.

"It's really shameless, even if you can't bear it, please at least go to Ueno Shinobi Pond before doing this kind of thing..."

Ueno Shinobi Pond - a famous dating site in Edo.

When it comes to dating spots that are often used by young lovers, they are usually hidden places such as the back of the main hall of a temple or a rice storage warehouse along a river.

The more intimate lovers choose dating teahouses scattered throughout Edo, similar to the current love hotel.

The densest place of date teahouses is the surrounding area of ​​Ueno Shinobu Pond, especially around the embankment built on the south side of Shinobu Pond during the Yanyo period in the middle of the eighth century.

Since the name has the word "pool", as the name suggests, Ueno Shinobi Pond is a huge pool.

Every summer, the lotus will bloom all over the lake, which is very beautiful.

Many young men and women often talk about love in the dating tea house by the side of Ueno Shinobi Pond in the name of watching lotus.

Young men and women hold hands on the streets where people come and go, and it is the woman who takes the initiative to shake the man's hand-in the eyes of the public in this era, this behavior is indeed very bold.

In fact, since just now, passers-by have been casting strange glances at Qingdeng and Zuo Nazi.

It's just that Qingdeng and the chief executive's minds were attracted by Sanazi, and Sanazi himself was too busy persuading Qingdeng to care about other things, so the three of them didn't notice the eyes of passers-by for a long time.

Fortunately, Zuo Nazi also wore a bamboo hat to cover his face like Qingdeng. Otherwise, seeing this man in a bamboo hat of unknown origin making out with such a beautiful woman... the men around would probably wish to shoot Qing Deng with jealous eyes.

Today's Japan, the social atmosphere is still very conservative.

After all, it is only the 19th century, let alone Japan, and the social atmosphere in Western countries at this time is not much better.

Although Qing Deng has the body of the 19th century, the ideas in his head are from the 21st century, so he is not affected by the ethics of the current era.

What's more, he was still the one who was held in hand, the one who took advantage.

That way, he's less likely to feel shy.

However... Although Qingdeng can laugh at the little girl's unintentional jokes, it doesn't mean that other people can be as "magnanimous" as him.

It is obvious that Sanako, who was raised as a model Yamato Nadeko, does not have such enlightened ideas and thick skin as Qingdeng...

The moment he realized that the little girl was talking about her and Qingdeng, Sanako's delicate body froze suddenly.

Immediately afterwards, she turned her extremely stiff neck mechanically, staring straight at the mother and daughter who were drifting away.

Before she could say it, she slammed Qingdeng's wrist away—with great force! Qingdeng almost thought that his right arm was thrown away!

"I'm sorry, I'm mad."

While apologizing to Qingdeng, Sanako gracefully raised her hands and straightened the hair on her forehead.

"I was emotionally agitated just now, and accidentally made a very indecent move, please forgive me."

Very indecent gesture - this naturally refers to her holding Qing Deng's wrist without authorization.

Sanako spat out very blunt words with a sense of distance.

However, this is not what a flushed face should say.

Even though she tried her best to control it, the beautiful Sakura still stained Sanako's entire face.

It's a pity that because of the cover of the bamboo hat, Qingdeng didn't have the chance to see this beautiful scene.

The last time Qingdeng saw Sanako blushing...was at the fireworks display half a year ago.

Reserved and dignified - these are the basic qualities that Yamato Nadeko should have.

On the other hand, my own behavior just now is completely contrary to these two terms.

Which family's Yamato Nadeko would flirt with men on the street?

Thinking of this, Sanako felt more blood rushing to her head, and her face instantly turned pinker.

The chief executive who was caught between Qingdeng and Zuo Nazi raised his head, looked at Qingdeng, and then at Zuo Nazi.

She was always generous and generous in normal times, but at this moment she rarely showed a reserved expression.

I saw the chief executive's shoulders tightened slightly, and his hands folded in front of his chest were tightly clenched.

Qingdeng wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to tease Zuo Zi with words - there are not many opportunities to tease Zuo Zi.

However, after considering Sanako's thin skin, he finally gave up his prank.

"Let's go back to the hotel. I'm a little tired and want to sleep for a while."

Qingdeng spoke out first, breaking the delicate atmosphere lingering between the three of them

After saying this, he moved his steps on his own and went straight forward.

Seeing Qingdeng take the initiative to save the siege, Zuo Nazi suddenly felt "saved".

With the cover of the bamboo hat, she quietly raised her eyes, secretly cast a meaningful look at Qingdeng who was walking in front, and then followed quickly.

The chief was stunned for a moment, but quickly caught up with Qingdeng.

When the group of three walked side by side, Qingdeng suddenly deliberately slowed down, one foot behind Sanazi and the chief executive.

When the two girls in front were not paying attention, he quietly turned his head and looked at the Qingshui Tower behind him.

Looking at this lofty building that he had thrown into the distance, and only the spire could barely be seen, Qingdeng repeated in a voice that only he himself could hear clearly what he had sworn to say to Zuo Nazi and the chief executive just now. ensure:

"Unless it is absolutely necessary, I will not do stupid things..."

...

...

That night--

Edo, a river beach——

Ajiujin paced back and forth anxiously.

From time to time he walked to the east, stopped for a while, and looked at the distant sky.

Not long after, he turned around suddenly, took a few steps to the west, and then stopped again, looking at the clouds in the other direction.

About 5 seconds later, he turned around again and walked back to the previous position along the original path...

Seeing that Ajiujin was so restless, my grandson, who was sitting cross-legged not far away, said in a helpless tone:

"Ajitsu-kun, don't be impatient, find a place to sit and rest."

As soon as my grandson's suggestion came out, Ajiujin immediately frowned.

He stopped and turned his head.

An unfriendly gaze immediately fell on my grandson.

Nishino was not familiar with Akutsu—after all, they had just met each other not long ago.

However, judging from Akutsu's appearance and his usual behavior, Nishino is sure that he is a bad-tempered person.

Nishino originally thought that Akutsu would quarrel with my grandson.

But who knows, after Ajiujin glared at my grandson a few times, he really found a clean place to sit down.

Seeing this, Nishino couldn't help but whispered to my grandson beside him:

"You are quite prestigious."

My grandson smiled.

"No and no. I belong to a later generation in the Great Salt Party, and I haven't made any great achievements. The reason why Ajiujin listened to me was purely because——he was a good boy."

As soon as my grandson's voice fell, Ajiujin immediately rebuked:

"Hey! What do you mean 'he's a good boy'? I don't remember the age difference between me and you, so old that you can call me a 'boy'!"

My grandson smiled and made no rebuttal.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Suddenly, the sound of snow boots rubbing against the ground suddenly came from Nishino and the others' sides.

Immediately afterwards, two black shadows broke into their field of vision—it was Ebina and Ichinose.

As soon as Ebina Fang appeared, he said with a dignified expression:

"The situation is not good. The defense situation of the Phoenix House is far stricter than we expected!"

*****

*****

A book friend asked: Is there any cultural stalk in the surname "Ajiujin"? Why in many anime works, the bad-tempered person is always named Ajiujin.

About this... In fact, Leopard Leopard is not too clear. When designing a young and energetic character for the Great Salt Party, the name "Ajiujin" suddenly came to mind.