I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

Ogata and the others turned their heads and looked at the second table on the west side.

Sitting at that small table were 4 youths dressed as civilians, chatting about something enthusiastically.

As soon as everyone cast their eyes on the guests at the table, Mucun strode towards the guests with the bottle of sake and a wine glass in his hands.

After quickly walking to the side of the table of guests, Mucun naturally squeezed his ass into the gap between 4 of the 2 guests at the table.

"Hey, let me tell you, you are from Kyoto, right?"

After sitting down, Mucun greeted the four people at the table with the extremely standard Kyoto dialect.

A stranger of great stature suddenly squeezed into their table, and anyone would have been startled.

The four people at this table were first shaken by fright, and then looked at Mucun with curious eyes.

Seeing that Mu Cun was not carrying any weapons, only holding a bottle of wine and a wine glass in his hands, with a pleasant smile on his face, and speaking in a Kyoto dialect that was extremely kind to them, the four people's guards were slowly lowered. .

"Yeah." One of the four replied in the same fairly standard Kyoto dialect, "Are you from Kyoto too?"

"Of course! My Jing Yanye speaks so standard, who else can I be if I am not from Kyoto?" Mu Cun said in a half-joking tone, while opening the bottle of sake in his hand, giving this Drinking glasses for 4 people.

Jingyan Ye - the elegant name of the Kyoto dialect.Many people in Kyoto like to call their dialect "Jingyan Ye".

After Mucun poured out the wine in the bottle, the rich aroma of the wine immediately penetrated into the nostrils of the four people.

Seeing that Mucun spit out the extremely friendly word "Jingyanye" so skillfully, and poured them such good wine, the faint guarded look on the faces of the four people finally dissipated.

After pouring wine for all 4 people and filling the glass he brought for himself to drink, Mucun took a sip of the wine in the glass, and then asked the 4 people:

"My friend, I just came to Edo today. It is said that there will be some 'Imperial Trial' held here in Edo. Do you know what it is?"

"Oh! 'Imperial Trial Match'." One of the four youths said after taking a sip of the wine in the glass, "We don't know about the details."

"We came to Edo to sell rice with the master, so we just came to Edo a few days ago, and we don't know much about many things in Edo." Another young man answered, " We also only have a very shallow understanding of this 'imperial trial match'."

"It's okay." Mu Cun laughed boldly a few times, "Just say as much as you know."

"I only heard that this 'Imperial Trial' is an event related to warriors."

"Oh?" A strange light flashed in Mucun's eyes, "What else?"

"Also... I heard that it was Nakamatsudaira Sadanobu's idea to hold this 'Imperial Trial'. As for the others... Sorry, as for the others, we don't know much. We only know so much .”

"That's it...it's okay! These are enough for me! Come on, let's have a few drinks together!"

After drinking a few glasses with these four people, and chatting casually, Mucun returned to Ogata and the others with the almost empty wine bottle.

After returning, Mucun spit out the information he just asked to everyone one by one.

After Mucun finished talking about the information he just obtained, Shimada said in a reverent tone:

"Senior Mucun, you are so amazing that you can squeeze into a group of strangers so naturally."

"It's just a skill that I learned in the past in Kyoto." Mucun smiled.

"But you didn't ask for too much information at all." Several black lines appeared on Asai's face.

"any idea."

Makimura shrugged.

"They are just a bunch of civilians who have just been in Edo for a few days. How could they have a deep understanding of Edo?"

"Let me ask the warriors at that table, maybe they can know more things."

After that, Mu Cun turned his attention to another table of guests not far from them. The guests at that table had a sword on their knees and a wakizawa on their waists.

"... Forget it." Ogata said at this time, "Gathering information and other things, let's do it slowly later, the most urgent thing now is to finish eating the noodles quickly, and then buy something to eat back. Don't forget—— There are 2 people waiting for us to bring food back."

Ogata's words immediately had an enlightening effect on Mucun and the others.

They suddenly remembered—now is indeed not the time to leisurely collect information.

There are 2 other people who are waiting for them to go back hungry at the hotel.

Everyone finished the noodles at their own speed, and then ran out of the soba noodle shop, looking for a store that sold that kind of food that was convenient to carry.

Ogata remembers that Machi prefers red bean-based sweets, so he bought some Daifuku with yokan and red bean paste.

After everyone rushed back to the hotel with the food they bought for Lin and A-Ming, they told Lin and A-Ming what they had just learned about the "Imperial Trial Match".

……

……

"'Gozen Trial'?" Lin, who was sitting on the futon, frowned while eating the dorayaki that Mamiya bought for her, "Katsurokuro, don't you know what this is?"

Everyone in the Gourd House except Ogata and A-Machi are now gathered in Lin's room.

In order to hand over the food bought for A-cho to A-cho, Ogata is currently in A-cho's room, and is not staying in Lin's room with other people.

Because the room where Lin lived was very small, except for Yuan Yi who sat cross-legged beside Lin's bed casually, the rest of the people were standing.

Hearing the question from Lin, Shimada shook his head blankly:

"I've never heard of this 'imperial trial match', it should be a new activity this year."

"My lord." As soon as Shimada finished speaking, Mamiya said, "I think it is very necessary for us to understand this 'Imperial Trial'. Maybe we can collect unexpected useful information."

"...Well." Lin nodded, "It is indeed necessary to learn more about this 'imperial trial'."

"But—not now."

"Whether it's looking for information related to Shiranui, or looking for information related to the 'Gozen Trial', all these things will be discussed tomorrow."

"Today we went to Edo again by boat and on foot. Everyone should be tired."

"Let's all have a good night's rest tonight."

"The rest will be discussed tomorrow."

"Yahachi, please tell Ogata Ittosai and Atachi-san later, let them both rest well tonight."

"Yes." Mucun nodded vigorously.

"That's all I have to say." Lin looked around at the people around, "Let's all go down and rest."

……

……

After Lin ordered the disbandment, Mucun followed Lin's order and told Ogata and Atachi the news of "rest well tonight, and we'll talk about the rest tomorrow".

Lin's arrangement was exactly what Ogata wanted.

He originally wanted to rest well after dinner tonight.

Before 15:[-] this afternoon, it has been drifting in the sea.

After drifting in the sea, I went to Edo on foot with A-Machi on my back.

With the blessing of his physical strength, which had risen to 13 points, Ogata would not feel overly tired after such a few strokes.

But after such a tiring journey, Ogata still felt "tired", and his concentration was involuntarily slackened.

After finishing the pile of sweets that Ogata bought him, A-Machi yawned big.

After a big yawn, A-Machi blinked vigorously, looking like he was about to be unable to open his eyes.

"Are you tired?" Ogata asked.

"Hmm... a little... After all, I just finished eating."

"Do you still feel dizzy?"

"When you went out to eat just now, I slept for a while, and I feel much better now. After taking a nap, I should be completely fine after dawn tomorrow."

"That's good. Since you're sleepy now, go back to sleep." Ogata said as he picked up the big Shiten placed on the tatami beside him and stood up. "There may be many things tomorrow. I want to do it, and I plan to go to rest early tonight."

"Hmm..." A-Ming, who could only half-open his eyes, lay back on the bedding, "Then I'll continue to sleep...good night..."

"OK, good night."

Ogata and Machi didn't sleep in the same room.

Because when they entered Edo Castle this evening, the symptoms of seasickness of Lynn and Ah-cho had not been completely relieved, so the people who were eager to find a hotel did not have the extra time to slowly choose which hotel had enough rooms, just wanted to Quickly find a hotel that can accommodate 8 of them.

When they found the hotel, there was only one big room and two single rooms left in the hotel.

That big room was big enough for Ogata and his six men to live in.

People who didn't have high requirements for living and just wanted to quickly find a hotel where they could settle down didn't hesitate too much and chose this hotel directly.

The two single rooms were naturally occupied by two women, Yurin and Atachi, while Ogata and his group of men lived in the large room that could accommodate six of them.

After Ogata returned to the big room where they lived with a knife in hand, he saw that six futons had been spread on the tatami.

The six beddings are arranged in two opposite characters of "Chuan".

Shimada was already lying down in the futon, and Mamiya, Makimura, and Asai had also changed their clothes, and they looked like they were going to bed too.

As for Yuan Yi, he was sitting in the corner of the room, drinking a wine bottle and glass silently by himself.

"Are you all ready to sleep?" Ogata raised his eyebrows.

"Otherwise?" Mu Cun cast a playful look at Ogata, "I'm on a boat and walking again today, I'm not in the mood to do other things anymore, I just want to sleep quickly. Could it be that Xu Brother Fang, do you still want to take advantage of the good night tonight and go to Yoshihara to have fun?"

"I won't go to Yoshiwara." Ogata said angrily, untied the Ozawa around his waist, and then began to take off the haori and the hakama of the lower body, "I'm going to sleep well. Today is another I'm also a little tired after taking the boat and carrying A-ding on my back."

"Let's wait until tomorrow to talk about the matter of Shiranui and the matter of the 'Yuqian Trial'."

After quickly stripping off his body with only his kimono left, Ogata got into his futon.

"Are you ready to go to bed?" Mamiya, who was sitting next to the candle lamp, turned his head and asked Mucun and Asai who were still sitting.

Asai didn't answer Gamiya's question, and just lay down in his futon silently.

"Master Yuan." Mucun cast his eyes on Yuanyi who was sitting in the corner, "Are you going to sleep?"

"Ah, you don't need to worry about me." Yuan Yi waved his hand, "I plan to drink a little more wine before going to bed, so please turn off the lights."

The sake Genichi is currently holding is the sake he bought at that soba noodle shop just now.

"Master Yuan..." Mucun smiled helplessly, "Don't drink too much."

"Hohohoho, for an old man like me, drinking a little wine occasionally will be very beneficial to the body."

"The amount of alcohol you drink every day can no longer be described by the words 'occasionally' and 'liquor'..." Mucun said while winking at Mamiya.

After understanding the meaning of Mucun's wink, Mamiya waved his hand, and after turning off the only light source in the room, he and Mucun both lay down in their respective quilts.

In the room, except for Yuan Yi, the other five people were all lying down in their respective futons.

However—the room was not quiet for long.

After all five Ogata lay down in the futon, Genichi suddenly let out a low laugh, and then said:

"I said - if you have time later, would you like to go to Yoshihara to have fun together?"

"Yoshihara is..." Shimada hesitated, "Is that Yoshihara?"

"Of course it's the Yoshihara who has the reputation of 'Edo's Nightless City' and 'Japan's No. I have never seen Yoshiwara Oiran's 'Oiran Tour', so I really want to see it."

"Oiran..." Shimada muttered, "I remember that to be an oiran, one must not only be beautiful, but also know how to play piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and be very knowledgeable, right?"

"That's right." Mucun nodded, "So it's very difficult to be an oiran. In terms of knowledge, those oirans may be more familiar with memorizing the Four Books and Five Classics than us."

"I don't know if the oirans memorize the Four Books and Five Classics, but they are definitely better than you, Mucun." Asai, who always liked to quarrel with Mucun, retorted mercilessly.

"That's true..." Mucun nodded seriously, "Among all the people present, I seem to be the least educated one... Ah, brother Ogata, have you ever studied?"

Mucun raised his head and cast a look of "longing for the same kind" at Ogata.

However, Ogata turned a blind eye to his "longing for the same kind" gaze.

"Of course I have studied." Ogata said angrily, "I'm not bragging. I basically recite the Four Books and Five Classics backwards. I also recite a lot of Tang poetry and Song Ci."

——At the same time, he can speak very standard Chinese.It's just that I haven't spoken Chinese for more than a year, and I may be stuttering when I speak Chinese now.

Ogata silently added this sentence in his heart.

What Ogata said just now was indeed not bragging.

Before traveling to the Edo period, because Ogata's parents highly respected Chinese studies, they always asked Ogata to study Tang poetry, Song Ci, Four Books and Five Classics and other Chinese studies in private.

He also specially invited an old teacher of Chinese studies with high morals and profound knowledge to be Ogata's private teacher.

This old teacher has a high attainment in Chinese studies—especially in the Four Books and Five Classics. He is the kind of master who has published many well-known papers related to the Four Books and Five Classics.