I was a swordsman in ancient Japan

In order to get the evaluation of Aioi Harusui, Takikawa specially rushed to the mansion where Aioi Harusui lived, and personally handed his article to Aioi Harusui's eyes.

Xiangsheng Chunshui readily agreed to this small request made by his apprentice.

After reading it carefully, Aioi Harusui gave a very high evaluation of Takikawa's article, and even directly said that "he is indeed one of my most proud apprentices".

After getting a high evaluation from his master, Takikawa is sure to win the first place in the literary examination.

On the night when the essay test results were released, Takigawa and his friends who were also determined to show off their skills in the "Imperial Trial" gathered in a high-end tea house.

The reason why they all gathered in this high-end tea house for a banquet instead of checking whether their names were on the list was due to two reasons.

On the one hand, the reason is that they are all the children of the banner, and they don't bother to do things like "see for themselves whether their names are on the list".

Another reason is that they all firmly believe that with their standard, they will be able to easily pass the essay test.

Takikawa had sent one of his servants to look at the list just now.

The domestic servant sent by Takigawa is not only smart and has an amazing memory, but also has a fast pace, so it is most appropriate to send him to read the list.

In terms of time, Takigawa's servant who was in charge of reading the list should be back soon.

Takikawa and his friends were having a banquet while waiting for the return of his servant who went to watch the list.

During the banquet, these friends of Takikawa kept congratulating Takikawa.

All the people present had read Takikawa's article, and they were full of praise for Takikawa's article.

Everyone thought that with the level of Takigawa's essays, even if he couldn't win the first place in the essay test, he would definitely have no pressure to enter the top 10 of the essay test.

Regarding the congratulations from his friends, although Takigawa kept a calm and calm appearance on the surface, he was very proud of himself in his heart, and he was already smiling.

In order to maintain his demeanor, he always pretended to be calm and didn't seem to care about these fame and fortune.

"Takikawa, congratulations. Even if you're not the number one in the literary examination, you must be in the top 10 of the literary examination." The young man sitting next to Takikawa poured wine for Takikawa himself, and sincerely expressed his gratitude to Takikawa. Chuan He is happy.

"Hahaha." Takikawa said to the young man beside him in a familiar tone, "Uesaka, aren't you too? With your ability, it must be easy to win the top 10 in the literary examination."

The young man sitting next to Takikawa was named Satoshi Uesaka.

Among all the people present, Uesaka was from the Uesaka family with the best family background.

In terms of level, it is much higher than Takikawa whose family salary is only 3000 shi.

Takikawa and Uesaka are very good friends because of their similar personalities and similar thoughts, and they can talk about everything.

Of course, there is also a little utilitarian element in Takigawa's friendship with Uesaka. Uesaka's uncle is one of the four current Wakenyori in the shogunate: Yoshimoto Choemon.

Being friendly with Uesaka will allow you to gain more political resources, which is one of the reasons why Takikawa and Uesaka have a good relationship.

After Uesaka poured him a glass of wine, Takikawa also politely poured Uesaka Hui a glass of wine.

"Takikawa. Don't forget about us if we become successful in the future." Uesaka said in a half-joking tone.

"Hahaha." Takigawa smiled, and then changed into a half-joking tone, "I will return this sentence to you as it is. Uesaka, if you become famous in the future, don't forget about us."

Takikawa's words made everyone laugh.

Uesaka laughed too.

After taking a sip of the wine that Takikawa poured, Uesaka let out a sigh of relief: "Takikawa, if you can successfully get into the eyes of the old middle-aged man by virtue of this trial match, then maybe you really are It's going to be a great success."

"If he becomes prosperous, it would not be an extravagant dream to redeem Mrs. Fengling and marry Mrs. Fengling as his wife."

It was not a secret among the people present that Takikawa fell in love with Mrs. Yoshihara's wind chime at first sight.

Everyone present knew that the reason why Takikawa, who had always been proud, went to Yoshihara to teach a group of wandering girls to read and write, was purely to get a few more glances at his favorite Fuling Taifu.

Hearing Uesaka's words, Takikawa smiled slightly:

"Marrying Mrs. Fengling as a wife is too far away, I dare not even think about it."

Although Takikawa said so on the surface and maintained a calm appearance at the same time, in fact Takikawa's heart is already full of turmoil.

What Uesaka said just now reminded Takikawa.

It made Takikawa come to his senses: if he can gain the appreciation of Matsudaira Sadanobu and become a successful person in the future, he can't help gaining fame, power, and fortune, and the opportunity to keep his name in history, and at the same time, he can also have the opportunity to embrace the wind chime Taifu.

Thinking of this, Takigawa couldn't help but start to imagine the scene of kissing Fangze with the usually unattainable Mrs. Fengling after the sky rises in the future.

While fantasizing about these pictures, Takikawa involuntarily had a strange, indescribable smile on his face.

dong dong dong.

At this moment, footsteps came from far and near outside the room.

After the series of footsteps stopped before and after the door, a loud shout sounded immediately after the stopped footsteps:

"Master Takigawa! I'm back!"

Seeing that it was Takigawa's servant who had gone to read the list, everyone present cheered up.

Takikawa is no exception.

After hastily putting down the wine glass in his hand, Takikawa straightened his clothes, and then said loudly:

"come in!"

After obtaining Takikawa's permission to enter, his servant quickly opened the door and walked quickly into the room.

There were many beads of sweat dripping down his face, and he was still out of breath, and he could tell he had come back after running wildly.

"How is it?" Someone present asked the servant of Takikawa first, "Who is the first name in the essay test? Is it Takikawa-kun?"

Seeing that someone asked this question for him, Takikawa smiled with satisfaction.

After all, if he asks this kind of question, it will appear that he cares about fame and fortune very much, which makes him look very unmannered.

Hearing this question, Takigawa's servant showed embarrassment.

Looking at the servant with a strange expression, Takikawa suddenly had an ominous premonition

"The first name in the essay test is not Takigawa-sama."

Takikawa's servant hesitated for a while, then gritted his teeth and said this.

As soon as the servant's voice fell, the expression on Takikawa's face froze.

Not only Takikawa, but the expressions on the faces of everyone present changed slightly.

"Which rank is Takigawa-kun?" Uesaka asked, frowning.

The question Uesaka asked once again made Takikawa's famous servant look embarrassed.

After hesitating for a while, the servant once again said with embarrassment:

"Takigawa-sama's name is not in the top 10"

At this moment, the expression and complexion on Takikawa's face changed again.

"Who is the head of the text test?" Uesaka asked anxiously.

"It's a man named Goro Mashima"

As soon as the servant's voice fell, Takikawa's face was filled with shock.

There was a strong look of astonishment in his eyes, and then his face flushed, and gradually turned pale again.

The flesh on his face was trembling slightly, distorting his originally handsome features, making him look very ugly and frightening.

And the air in this room was filled with an increasingly intense atmosphere of embarrassment.

Everyone, look at me, and I look at you.

No one knows what to say or do now

"Hey, you know what?"

"what do you know?"

"That Mashima Goro won the first place in the imperial examination and essay examination!"

"Mashima Goro? Oh oh! That's the one who chased away the troublesome Huofu thief and the official post, right?"

"Is it true that the person is not only so good at swordsmanship, but also learned Chinese studies so well?"

"Why did that man come to our Shirobei Clubhouse? With his swordsmanship and Chinese studies skills, opening a sword gym or a private school is enough to support himself, right?"

"Perhaps they find it troublesome. How can opening a sword gym or private school be as easy as working here at the Shirobei Club?"

"And don't make it seem like opening a sword gym or a private school is a little bit of money. The private school may be better, and most of the people who open the sword hall basically lose their money. These days, they are determined to forge ahead and will work hard to practice swords There are not many people left.”

Conversations similar to this kept appearing in the mouths of the officials in the Shirobei Clubhouse.

Because the place where the essay test was released is relatively close to Yoshiwara, the news that "Mashima Goro" won the first place in the essay quickly spread throughout the Shirobei clubhouse.

Most of the club officials are discussing this newcomer who just joined their Shirobei club a while ago and makes big news every few days.

Some people who knew Ogata came directly to look for Ogata, and congratulated Ogata himself.

For example, melons.

"Mashima-kun! I heard about it just now! You actually won the first place in the essay test!"

"I didn't expect that you are also a person who is proficient in Sinology!"

"Really, you were too modest before, right? You've been saying that you just need to pass the essay test."

Due to his excitement, Gua Sheng's cheeks flushed slightly.

Ogata had just returned to Yoshiwara.

After returning to Yoshihara, Ogata returned to the sentry post in the first half of Nakanomachi, which he was originally in charge of.

After returning to stand guard, people like Guasheng who knew Ogata kept coming to announce the good news to Ogata.

Hearing Guasheng's good news, Ogata couldn't help showing a helpless wry smile again,

"I wasn't humble before"

Ogata is actually still in a state of bewilderment.

What he said to others before was not modest.

He really thought that as long as he could pass the essay test, he never thought about getting the first place in the essay test from the very beginning.

So when he saw the name "Mashima Goro" written on the column of the first name of the literary examination just now, Ogata was dumbfounded.

Until now, I still feel like my body is floating.

Ogata was sure that he did not get all the 100 fill-in-the-blank questions right, after all, he was not sure whether they were correct for many questions.

In the case that the fill-in-the-blank questions are definitely not all correct, it can still take the first place, that only shows 2 things.

Either the level of other people is too low, even if Ogata did not do all the fill-in-the-blank questions correctly, he still won the first place in the essay test.

Either it was the last "composition question" that Ogata answered so well that he let Ogata bend to overtake.

But this made Ogata guilty again.

He felt that his "composition" was not so well written, the words and sentences were of a very common type, and the content was just arbitrarily played.

The more Ogata thought about it, the more he couldn't understand why he won the first place in the essay test

Hearing Ogata's words, Guasheng originally thought that Ogata was being modest again, so while putting his hands on his hips, he said in an annoyed tone:

"Mashima-kun, sometimes it's not good to be too modest."

"People in the government are not fools."

"It is impossible to judge the first name of the literary examination wrongly."

"Since you can get the first place in the literary test, it means that you must be well-deserved."

"So be happy and don't put on a weird face."

Guasheng raised his hand and patted Ogata's lower back.

"There is a reward of 100 taels for the first place in the literary test. Think about how you will spend the 100 taels in the future!"

"That's right." Ogata took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly through his nose.

The expression on his face was no longer as tense as before because he wondered why he won the first place in the essay test.

"I really envy you, Mashima-kun." Guasheng continued in a joking tone, "100 taels of gold will directly become a rich man."

"100 taels of gold can only be regarded as no need to worry about food and clothing in a short period of time, and it is far from the word rich." Xu Fang shrugged helplessly, "100 taels of gold may not be enough for some people. People have fun all night in Yoshiwara."

Ogata has been working here in Yoshihara for a short period of time.