[Comprehensive] Love and Hunter

"Ah... who am I?"

"You can call me 'one period one strike'."

The voice of the young man is as warm and moist as if soaked in a clear spring, as if it can make people forget their troubles.

Holding the Taidao, he walked towards Yu who was sitting under the eaves, and asked, "How is it? Do you need my help?" His golden eyes were full of friendly concern, making it impossible to doubt his intentions.

Yu stared at him, and couldn't help but said: "...Is it possible? I have never learned swordsmanship, and I have never even touched a weapon. It can be said that I am quite clumsy. Can I also learn swordsmanship? "

"Of course." Said the young man who claimed to be Yiqi Yizheng, "It doesn't matter whether you are a swordsman, no matter how old or young you are. As long as you practice diligently, you will surely make progress."

When he spoke, his eyes were half closed, and his soft long hair was blown by the night wind, mixed with a maple blown from nowhere.That bit of flame-like red fell on his water-blue hair, making it particularly eye-catching.

……weirdo.

No, it's not so much a "person" as a "soul" or something.

The young man took her hand and said, "The posture of holding the knife is also particular. You are not a samurai. If you want to learn some self-defense skills, you don't need to put on a power-storing posture like a samurai and hide the short knife. Standing up, it is not easy to attract attention.”

There is a very clear fragrance on his body, not as strong as incense, but it smells very pleasant.

Yu had seen the generals of Toyotomi's family, they were all rough men, because they were too busy with military affairs to tidy themselves up, no one had such a good smell on their bodies.But it's different from one phase to one vibration, as long as you get close to him, you will smell that clear scent.

Yiqi Yizhen carefully taught her the posture of holding a knife, and did not despise her just because she was a woman.Because she didn't have the foundation to practice swordsmanship, all he taught were superficial sword postures - such as how to deal with the enemy's attack from the front, such as how to hold a knife to be more intimidating.

You even wanted to say a word of thanks to him, but couldn't find the time.It wasn't until she was finally a little tired and sleepy that she bid farewell to the young man and went back to rest.

"Thank you so much tonight," she said to the young man.

"This is my small reward." The young man answered her.

"'Repay'? But I don't remember what I did..." Yu was a little confused.

"Your Zheng music is very comforting..." The young man replied like this.

The moonlight hangs high, as light as water.The back of the young man slowly moved away, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the palaces of Osaka Castle, as if he had merged with this Osaka.

"Ayou? What are you thinking about?"

Someone was calling next to his ear, which woke You who was in a trance from the memories of last night.Only then did she realize that she was not sitting in the courtyard under the moon watching the handsome young man dancing swords like a soul, but sitting beside the young lady Qianji, chatting with the young lady.

In the afternoon of autumn, the sun is sunny and the clouds are far away. The red maple in the courtyard is more beautiful in the sunlight.Behind the opened brocade curtain, there were four or five women sitting in the room, spending the afternoon with the young lady Qianji.

Chihime is the daughter of the Tokugawa family. When she was seven years old, as a witness of the friendship and alliance between Tokugawa and Toyotomi, she came from the distant Nijo

Married to Osaka Castle.It's just that the situation is changing, the sun is changing, and the alliance between Tokugawa and Toyotomi is long gone. Chihime-sama, who flows from the blood of the Tokugawa clan, inevitably has a somewhat awkward position in this Osaka city.

To be honest, Diandian treated Qianji really well.

Qianji's mother, Mrs. Ajiang, is the younger sister of Diandian.In terms of blood, Chihime is not only the daughter of the Tokugawa family, but also the niece of Yododen-sama.What's more, Qian Ji came to Osaka Castle at the age of seven, and she almost grew up under Yododen's sole care.Even if the two are not biological mother and daughter, they get along with each other.

Perhaps it is because of this relationship that Chihime-sama is also quite kind to Yuu, loving her like an older sister.

"Where did you talk about?" Lord Qianji closed the decorative folding fan, and said slowly to the women around him, "Which man of the right age is a match for Ayou? I heard that many people in the army turned to their stepmother. My lord begged to marry Ayou, but my step-mother never let go."

This year, Qian Ji is in the prime of her youth, with a lively expression on her brows and eyes.Although she and His Highness Xiu Lai have no children, but because they are cousins ​​and they are young couples, their relationship is very good.Because she was born in the Tokugawa clan, Hideyori's retainers suspected that Chihime might have access to Tokugawa, but Hideyori never took these rumors to heart and still trusted Chihime.

A female room answered Qianji's question: "It is true that someone asked Mr. Diandian to marry Ayou, but the status is too mismatched! It's just a mere foot light class, how could Mr. Diandian be willing to..."

Qianji showed a melancholy expression, nodded her head, and said "yes", and immediately turned her eyes, and asked again: "Ayou, what do you think of the cousin of the Shanuchi family? He came to see his adoptive mother a few days ago. My lord, he seems to be a very handsome man, and he also understands some music theory!"

You heard the words, a little helpless.

Life in the inner city is boring, and her marriage has become one of Lord Qianji's pleasures. Qianji can't stop wanting to draw red lines for her, but marriage is such an easy thing?The status of the Yamauchi clan is much nobler than her. She wants to marry, but His Highness Yamauchi still doesn't agree.

In this day and age, the lintel of marrying a wife is more important than everything else.If a woman is from a famous family, it doesn't matter what kind of notoriety she has. Even if she likes to abuse and beat down people and is narrow-minded, there will be men vying for it.If this woman's ancestral surname is Yuan, Tachibana, Fujiwara or something, then she is really in demand.

But Dian Dian seemed very reluctant to ask her to marry a man of low status.After all, the fiancé who was in love with her back then but passed away early was so perfect that Yododian didn't want to let go before any man who was not as good as him, and insisted on finding someone who would not lose to that man. .

Seeing that You didn't speak, and seemed to lack interest, Qianji felt extremely bored.Immediately, Qianji frowned and asked, "What kind of man do you like? Tell me, and I'll send someone to write a letter to find out. If you don't know what you like, then you won't be able to find a suitable candidate!"

"What kind of man do I like...?" Yu was taken aback, thinking carefully in his head.

She really didn't have much contact with those generals, and the only one who said a few more words was the young master of the Sanada family.But the young master is only 16 years old, and he can get along as a younger brother. If it is about getting married, then forget it.

If you say what kind of man is the best...

She suddenly remembered the young man she saw last night——

With eyes as gentle as golden evenings, wandering among the maples under the moon, wearing a red sword.When he laughs, one feels like being in the warm spring breeze; and it is a great enjoyment to appreciate the back view when he is wielding the knife.

Involuntarily, You murmured: "A warrior with... gentle eyes and exquisite sword skills."

Lord Qianji blinked her eyes when she heard the words, and said: "It's so hard to find! If you want to say what status and rank the other party is, I can still match you up. But what did you say about 'gentle eyes'?" How can I find such a man?"

The women also laughed, and one of the older women said: "The warriors under Toyotomi's rule are all brave, and there must be few so-called 'men with gentle eyes'. We need to find some men with fierce eyes. , it’s everywhere!”

When these words fell to the ground, there was another burst of unstoppable laughter in the room.You also laughed, blaming herself for the absurdity: Maybe she just had a dream, dreaming of a strange man, why did she take it seriously?This is not advisable, not advisable.

After coming out of Lord Qianji's palace, Yu met Xingchang from the Sanada family in the court.The 16-year-old boy seemed to be waiting for her on the verandah, caught a glimpse of her from the gap in the courtyard, and greeted her earnestly: "Sister Ayou! Sister Ayou!"

You walked up to him slowly and asked, "What advice does Master Xingchang have?"

When Xingchang saw her, his face turned red, and he said in a muffled voice: "I promised you last time, I will teach you swordsmanship, do you remember? If Sister Ayou doesn't mind, come with me—— "

"Ah...no need." She shook her head and said with a smile, "I'm still not good at holding a knife."

Hearing this, the boy's face quickly became depressed.He looked at the woman in front of him, his heart was beating fast, but he really couldn't think of any reason to strike up a conversation - the Ayou in front of him was exactly the admirer of many men in the army.Although she is old, she is as beautiful as anyone in Osaka Castle. It is like a pure moonlight, shining in everyone's heart.Moreover, she has a gentle and elegant personality, which man would not like such a woman?

However, Yu had already apologized with a smile, turned around and left slowly.

Today's Diandian seems to be very busy, and there is no time to summon her.She was not by Mr. Diandian's side, and she didn't have the heart to play the kite anymore. She casually flipped through a few idle books, and when it was dark, she decided to take a bath.

When she was about to fall asleep, she kept an eye out and opened the door ajar.

Maybe, that soul with golden eyes will come here again? ——Thinking like this, she lay behind the screen and slowly closed her eyes.

The night darkened and became more and more quiet.She was half asleep and half awake, and fell asleep like this.

It's a pity that that night, the man who claimed to be "one stage one strike" did not appear here.When she woke up in the morning, she couldn't help being a little disappointed, but she felt ridiculous.

Ah...it was just a dream in the middle of the night, how could she take it seriously?

Three or four days in a row passed, and the red maples in the courtyard had gradually withered, but the young man who claimed to be "one stage, one strike" never appeared again.She occasionally stopped at the courtyard where she met him at night, but unfortunately found nothing.

She remembered the rough knife skills taught to her by the young man, and occasionally practiced with a short knife by herself, but when it came to

In the end, it's just a picture of a cat and a tiger, which doesn't look good.From her own point of view, she also found it very funny.

The weather is getting colder and colder, winter is coming.In this chilly season, bad news spread to Osaka Castle one after another.Tokugawa Ieyasu collected the whole army and marched to Osaka Castle.

Although it was expected that this day would come sooner or later, no one expected it to come so soon.In Osaka City, people were in panic for a while, and the Yodo Palace was so busy that there were no people there.

You just heard from a few words that Yododen and Hideyori-sama's chances of winning are not low. After all, Osaka Castle is as solid as gold, and there are famous generals like Sanada Yukimura and Mori Katsunaga guarding Osaka; Thousands of waves are available; against Tokugawa Ieyasu, it is not considered a disadvantage.

The army of the Tokugawa family had to come from Erjo, and it would take some time on the way.This moment of tranquility before the war is the most tense.For several days, You never heard any good news.Feeling melancholy, she took out her zither again.

Zheng music is not very useful, and it is the most useless thing in troubled times.But in such a situation, only Zheng music can relieve one or two tense emotions.

She plucked the strings slowly with the zither armor. Because of her distraction, the tune would occasionally be dialed wrong, which sounded nondescript.After making three or four wrong notes, she became discouraged and stopped playing.

When she looked sideways into the courtyard, she found that at some point, a young man was kneeling outside the curtain.The long water-blue hair hangs down at the waist, gently blowing by the breeze.

She was a little surprised, lifted her fingers off the strings, and asked, "...one vibrate for one phase?"

The young man nodded, and looked over with soft eyes: "You seem to have something on your mind."

She removed the Zheng armor and murmured: "Indeed. This Osaka Castle will soon be involved in the war. Will I die in this war?"

The young man was kneeling, with his hands quietly on his knees, listening patiently to her melancholy words.Finally, he asked, "Yu, haven't you considered leaving Osaka?"

You shook his head and said: "Diandian treats me very kindly, I will not leave her at this time. And... I am the hostage of my father and brother, of course I have to stay here."

Because of her serving beside Diandian, the official positions of her father and elder brother have also skyrocketed, and they are no longer the little country lords they used to be.However, any lord who has some status must hand over his family to the lord as a guarantee of "never betrayal".If her father and elder brother turned against the Tokugawa clan, even if her father and elder brother had only a small army of 2000 people, she must apologise with death.

This is the only downside of changing family status.Thinking about it this way, it would be better for father and brother to be the former country lords, at least they don't need to hand over hostages to come to Osaka.

Hearing this, Yiqi Yizhen showed a very faint look of surprise.He seemed to be powerless about this, and he just sighed softly: "The flames of war..."

You briefly forgot about those troublesome battles, approached Yizheng, and asked, "How did you get here?"

Yiqi smiled and didn't answer.

You raised the curtain, looked around, and said, "You... are you the soul of the dead in Osaka City? The soul of the dead who once served His Royal Highness Taige... Is that so?"

If not, how could he freely shuttle through the heavily guarded inner city of Osaka so quietly?

Phase one

Zhen replied: "If you say it's a dead soul, it's about the same. I used to serve His Highness the Taige, but now that the Taige is gone, I will be put on the shelf and will no longer be useful."

She said: "You have such powerful swordsmanship, you must have been a famous warrior, right? But I have never heard of your name..." In other words, the name "Yiqi Yizhen" is really strange , more like a nickname, or a monk's dharma name, not like a personal name.

Yiqi Yizhen did not answer her question, but asked, "Do you still want to learn swordsmanship?"

Yuu froze, then nodded hesitantly.

Although she is a girl, she doesn't want to be a weak person.If holding a short knife can really protect important things, then she is willing to learn swordsmanship from scratch.

Yiqi put his hand on the hilt of the knife and said, "Then... tonight, I will teach you some more sword moves."

Looking at his face, You felt that his smiling eyes could dispel the chill of autumn and winter.She couldn't help sighing, and asked: "How can I repay this kindness? Although you are only a dead soul, even if you are a dead soul, you can't be treated lightly... Otherwise, I will go to worship your cemetery, or I will go to your cemetery for you." How much incense do you donate?"

Hearing this, Yizheng actually laughed out loud.

"It doesn't need to be so troublesome." Yiqi Yizhen said, "If you want to repay me, then play a few more zithers. ... That is the only thing I can spend a long time in Osaka City."

What he said was very strange, as if he had been wandering in a corner of Osaka, listening to her playing the kite intently.But this matter can't be thought about carefully, after all, learning swordsmanship from the undead is already a strange talk, so the advantage nodded.

It's just playing a few zithers, there's nothing to lose.

In front of you, even if you are a dead soul, you are an extremely kind and easy-going dead soul, stronger than many living people.

She put on the zither armor again, and said, "Since you want to hear it, I'll play it now. What do you want to hear? Lord Diandian's favorite is "Song of the Light Sea", and Lord Qianji likes to listen to "Hanqu". and you?"

Yiqi thought for a moment, and said: "I don't know what that tune is... I just think that tune sounds like a gurgling stream, and it's a very cheerful tune."

You listened, very troubled.The statement of one episode and one strike was too subtle, and she couldn't figure out what kind of tone it was.So, she tried to fiddle a few times with the armor, let the music flow out from the strings, and asked, "Is it this tune?"

Phase One shook his head.

"What about this?"

"It doesn't seem to be..."

After trying five or six tunes in a row, I finally said, "This is it. I heard it in spring..."

"Ah, it's "The Girl of the Stream." She laughed, "I've never played this piece in front of people. It's a ballad from my hometown. It originally had lyrics, but it's not popular in Osaka Castle."

She plucked the strings slowly and hummed the tune of her hometown leisurely.

The zither is an elegant musical instrument, which was passed down in the court in the past, but it does not match the folk songs in the country.Most of the Zheng music repertoires that have been handed down in the world are from the former palace, or from the Ming Dynasty.But she used humming ballads to cater to the music of the zither, but it didn't look vulgar, but very fresh and elegant.

"The girl by the stream, she picked a mountain blowing flower. There is a cottage on the other side of the stream.

Why not come? "

"The girl by the stream, she picked a piece of wild vine. There are fish swimming under the surface of the stream. Who knows where that person has gone?"

This ballad is full of country charm, and the words are not elegant, but it sounds very interesting.When Yu was young, his mother and the maids around him would sing this song.As long as she listened to the libretto, she seemed to see the appearance of a woman waiting for her lover full of anticipation.

When she stopped plucking the strings and looked sideways, Yiqi Yizhen seemed to be still immersed in the zither music and hadn't recovered.She smiled and asked, "How is it?"

In the first phase, he regained his senses and said, "It's so good... I can feel a happy and carefree mood."

She casually plucked the strings and said: "Being a woman who can concentrate on waiting for her sweetheart without any other worries is indeed a desirable life."

One shake nodded.

He promised to teach her swordsmanship, so he held her hand tonight and told her how to defend herself with a dagger.Yu's strength is not very strong, it is really impossible for her to learn that kind of traditional swordsmanship, and she can only teach her some simple things in one session.

Yu held the knife and studied very seriously, but because he really didn't have this talent, he inevitably looked rough and clumsy, and almost cut off his own sleeve.When Yizhen met in the first phase, he smiled helplessly: "Practicing swordsmanship is a long-term thing, and it can't be done overnight. It's normal for you to be like this now."

She was a little embarrassed, and said: "I made you laugh." After a pause, she continued, "I really don't know if I really practice for a long time, can I become a powerful person?"

Yizhen said in the first issue: "You, you said that you just didn't want to waste the knife that your brother gave you, so you chose to learn swordsmanship. But I think you are so serious... It doesn't seem like you are doing it casually. made this decision. Is there any other reason?"

Seeing him asking this question, You sighed and said, "I don't know when the Tokugawa family will invade this Osaka Castle. I learned swordsmanship for self-defense. Besides, I want to protect important people."

"Protect important people..." Yizhen murmured aloud and said, "I understand. I can understand this feeling."

"I also want to become a powerful woman like Anengju." Yu said, "She is Oda Nobunaga's maid, but she is extremely powerful. She uses a naginata with great prestige, and she is more powerful than a man. It must be useful." As she spoke, her eyes brightened inexplicably.Suddenly, she thought of something again, "If I am strong enough, maybe I can fight side by side with a powerful warrior like you? Let's protect the Lord's house together..."

In the first issue, when I heard the words, I just laughed and said nothing.

Ahh... having dreams is a good thing after all.However, such a thing...is really unlikely.In troubled times, few women practice martial arts, let alone become a legend like A Neng Ju.

You held the knife, but seemed very satisfied with this dream, and said, "I want to stand with a man like Yiqi Yizhen and fight side by side."