I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 152 Be optimistic, Qingdeng, this is how you practiced it! 【7500】

Test hall, kitchen——

"Boss, who are those three people?" Ah Bi asked Okita who was helping her while preparing the tea skillfully.

Abi is at a loss now.

Just now, she has been staying in the bedroom on the second floor to sort out the account books of the test hall, summarizing and calculating the income and expenditure of the sword hall in the past month.

When she was feeling dizzy, Okita suddenly knocked on the door and said to her: There is a guest here, please help her to make tea.

In the whole examination hall, except Genzaburo Inoue, who has not returned to the examination hall, who has stayed in his hometown due to business until now, only Abi can make good tea.

Usually there are few visitors, why did they come suddenly?A Bi went down to the first floor in doubt, and took a sneak peek into the living room—three young people whom he didn't know at all came.

"Those three people are Tachibana-kun's Okabiki." Okita handed the washed teacup to Abi's side, and explained, "Nagakura Shinpachi, Harada Sanosuke, and Todo Heisuke."

"Gang Yin?" Ah Bi frowned slightly, "Why did Jun Ju's Gang Yin come to us suddenly?"

"Ah..." Okita stretched his hand behind his head, playing with the slender end of her short ponytail, "That's right... I seem to have forgotten to tell you about it, auntie."

"Ahem, it's like this—"

Okita cleared his throat, and then told Abi concisely the plan they made at the celebration banquet last night to rely on the "celebrity effect" to further develop the testing hall.

As soon as Okita finished speaking, Ah Bi's brows were instantly erected, and she quickly reprimanded like a conditioned reflex:
"What? Invite diners? No! I won't allow it!"

"Hush..." Okita hastily raised his right index finger to press against his lips, "Auntie, please keep your voice down..."

The kitchen where Okita and Abi are now is on the first floor of the test hall with the halls where Qingdeng, Kondo, and Yongcang are located. The two rooms are not far apart. If you go, it will be embarrassing.

Ah Bi also realized that his voice just now might have been too loud, so he pursed his lips, suppressed the urge to growl in his heart, and asked Chong Tian in a deep voice:
"What are you thinking? For no reason, why invite a few people who are not related to us to stay with us?"

"Auntie, listen to me." Okita said patiently, "If a sword gym has that kind of well-known disciples or diners, then it can have a strong 'attraction' to others..."

Okita relayed to Abi exactly what he heard from Hijikata last night about the benefits of bringing celebrities into the sword gym.

Ah Bi, who was still angry and puzzled at first, gradually became better after listening to Okita's explanation.

But her eyebrows were still furrowed.

"... No, I still can't accept it." The two corners of Ah Bi's mouth drooped down, and the whole mouth was bent into a very curved arc, "If you are here to be an apprentice, then that's fine."

"But if you want to live with us as a diner... I can't accept it!"

"After Mr. Ju and the others live in, we will have enough residents here."

"Let more people live in, you don't think it's crowded, but I don't think it's too crowded!"

"Besides—how can there be so many places for people to live in our test hall?"

"There is a place to live." Okita was still playing with his ponytail, "Auntie, have you forgotten? Tachibana-kun and Saito-kun are still living in the 'Between Diners', there are quite a lot of vacancies. "

Hearing this answer from Okita, Ah Bi choked.

When Zhou Zhu was building the test hall, he considered that the test hall might attract some diners in the future, so he specially built a large room on the second floor of the test hall for diners to live in.

However, since the establishment of the test guard hall, because it has not been successful in attracting diners, this "among diners" has been deserted.

It was not until more than three months ago that Qingdeng, Saito, and Jiubingwei lived in the testing hall that this large room that had been abandoned was finally opened and made available for Qingdeng and the others to live in.

The "room between diners" is quite spacious, even if it accommodates 10 people, it is more than enough. After subtracting the current three tenants, Ayodo, Saito, and Kuhei, it can accommodate at least seven more boarders.

Ah Bi, who had forgotten that there were quite a lot of empty seats "among diners", had a look of embarrassment on her face, but she quickly suppressed this embarrassment.

Her eyebrows were still furrowed and did not relax, she opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something more.

But Okita took the conversation one step ahead:

"...Auntie, let Brother Kondo try it."

Okita put down the hand that was playing with the ponytail, and the corners of his mouth were pulled up slightly, revealing a peaceful smile.

"This is Kondo's first time to use his own will and ideas to run the sword hall."

"In the past, he followed the master step by step."

"How the master usually manages the sword gym, he just copied the master's management method."

"I'm not saying that this method of copying the experience of the elders is bad."

"But I think... if you only know how to copy the experience of the elders rigidly, it will not be a good thing after all."

"This time, it's Kondo's first time using experience different from his elders in the past, and the first time trying to improve the current management method of the sword hall according to his own thinking."

"Whether the move is a success or a failure in the end, I think I should give Kondo brother encouragement."

"I guess the master thinks so too, that's why he let Brother Kondo let him do it."

After finishing speaking, Okita stopped talking.

He only smiled and watched Abi in front of him quietly, waiting for Abi's response.

The emotion on Ah Bi's face changed rapidly.

The wrinkles on the face piled up and then loosened.The lips are also constantly opening and closing due to hesitating to speak.

After a long while like this... Ah Biben's frowning eyebrows finally relaxed.

"...Huh!" Ah Bi, still drooping at the corner of his mouth, snorted heavily, then turned his head to look at the kettle on the stove instead of looking at Okita, "you young people... Ever since I got older, I like to fight against us old people more and more, and my teeth are getting sharper."

"You can do whatever you want! You can make this sword hall into whatever you like! I don't care!"

Okita, who knows Abi's temper well, didn't feel angry or ashamed because of Abi's ambiguity just now.

"Thank you, auntie!" Okita smiled until his eyes turned into a pair of crescent moons.

Huh—the kettle on the stove, at this moment, just made the sound of boiling water.

Ah Bi grabbed the boiling kettle, made tea with extremely skilled movements, and then poured hot tea into the teacups that Okita had just washed.

In the kitchen, the fragrance of tea suddenly became overflowing.

Okita sniffed vigorously, took a few big mouthfuls of the tempting tea fragrance, and put his hands on his waist.

"It's really fragrant...Why does the tea you brew smell so much more fragrant than the tea we brew, Auntie?"

"What makes perfect." Ah Bi put the emptied kettle back to its original position, and then put the teacups filled with tea on the tea tray, "Let's go, go and deliver tea to them."

Even though there were so many teacups on the tea tray in his hand, Ah Bi's pace was still quite steady.

According to what Yongcang and the others said, they are also guests visiting the test hall.

As the mistress of this family and this sword gym, Ah Bi would be a little rude if she didn't meet and say hello to guests like Yongcang and the others.

The friendship that should be done as a landlord must still be fulfilled, and the courtesy that should be given must still be done.

Together with Okita, they walked quickly to the front door of the living room. After opening the door, Abi and Okita saw Qingdeng, Kondo, Yongcang and others who were sitting opposite each other.

Yongcang, Harada, and Fujido sat in a row, while Kondo and Hijikata sat side by side across from them - Hijikata just happened to be in the test room today, after Qingdeng brought Yongcang and the others here, as Tu Fangyi, a core member of the Weiwei Hall, also followed the opportunity to join in the fun.

As for Qingdeng and Saito, they sat in front of Yongcura and the others one after the other, facing Kondo and Hijikata.

Zhou Zhu just happened to be away on business, so he was not in the test hall.So this time, the Kondo Plenipotentiary Test Center will come to interview Yongcang and the others.

After A Bi held the tea tray and opened the hall door, everyone in the hall immediately focused their eyes on A Bi.

"Ah, let me introduce you next." Kondo immediately spread his palms towards Abi, "This is my mother: Kondo Bi."

"Mother, these are Tachibana-kun's Okabiki: Nagakura Shinpachi, Harada Sanosuke, and Todo Heisuke."

"Meet you for the first time." Fujido, who has a high level of education and is very polite, took the lead in bowing to Abi and saluted, "I'm sorry for disturbing you at Shimotodo Hirasuke!"

Yongcang and Harada, two ignorant people with little culture, only realized it later after Fujido's salute was over, imitating Fujido just now, saluting and saying hello to Abi in a similar manner.

Perhaps it was because Yongcang and the others were much more polite than she had imagined, Abi raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Squeezing out a smile, and responding to Yongcang's greetings one by one, Ah Bi took off the teacups on the tea tray one by one, handed the just right number of teacups to everyone in the hall, and walked out quickly holding the tea tray. After leaving the living room, there was enough space for Qingdeng, Kondo and the others to talk.

And Okita stayed and sat on Kondo's vacant right-hand seat.

After watching his mother Abi leave, Kondo turned his gaze back to the three of Yongcang in front of him.

"Sorry, the topic was interrupted just now."

"Let's continue."

Kondo picked up the tea that Abi just handed over, lightly sipped the still hot tea, moistened his somewhat parched throat, straightened his waist, and continued to speak seriously.

"What I just said is the whole reason why I want to invite you to join the testing hall."

"I don't know what you like, do you intend to join my guarding hall?"

After all, Kondo stared openly at the three of Yongcang with sincere eyes.

Just now, when Abi was still preparing tea in the kitchen, Kondo and Hijikata had introduced themselves to Yongcang, who had never met before.

Last night, after learning about the Yongcang trio from Qingdeng, Kondo became very interested in the Yongcang trio who met his requirement of "being well-known in Edo".

Therefore, after both parties finished their self-introductions, Kondo went straight to the point with great initiative and enthusiasm—without any deception, he explained all the purpose and reason why he wanted Yongcang and others to join the testing hall.

When Ah Bi came in with tea, he had almost finished talking with Yongcang and the others.

Now, all that remains is to wait for the reply from the three of Yongcang.

The first to reply was Fujido.

He stretched out his right index finger with embarrassment and scratched the hair on his right sideburn, then bent down towards Kondo with an apologetic face.

"Sorry, Mr. Kondo, I am still studying at the Ito Dojo. Mr. Ito does not allow us to become disciples or eaters of other sword gyms when our names are still attached to the dojo's student book..."

Fujido politely declined Kondo's invitation.

Facing Fujido's refusal, Kondo was not annoyed at all. After laughing a few times very freely, he said "it's okay" to Fujido several times.

"Speaking of which, Todo-kun, I've heard of your name a long time ago." Kondo grinned at his big mouth that could hold an entire adult fist, and changed the subject, "I heard your name a long time ago. I have heard: the famous Ito dojo, there is a young man named Fujido Heisuke who is both talented and strong in swordsmanship."

"You are much more handsome than I imagined! Hahaha!"

"Thank you for the compliment..." Fujido smiled shyly.

Kondo's sudden sentence "I heard about you a long time ago" made Fujido feel flattered, and a very conspicuous joy floated in his pupils.

Todo, who is only 16 years old this year, has the unique youthfulness and recklessness of a young man in every gesture, showing joy and anger.

At this time, Yongcang, who was sitting in the middle of the three of them and had been in a state of deep thought just now, suddenly said:

"That...with all due respect."

Yongcura folded his arms around his chest, looked at Kondo without fear, and spoke softly.

"Introducing famous people into the sword hall to attract outsiders to join... Wouldn't it be a little too dishonorable to use such a small trick to develop the sword hall?"

Hearing Yongcang's slightly sharp question, Qing Deng, who was sitting beside him, couldn't help showing a wry smile.

Although the time of working with Yongcang and the others is not particularly long, Qingdeng already has a certain grasp and understanding of the temperament of these three subordinates.

Yongcang's man... In a word--he has a very upright temper, a bit stubborn and a bit stunned.Say whatever comes to your mind, never straighten out those twists and turns, and speak so outspokenly that people often feel that he is a little outspoken.

He is extremely disgusted with people or things that are not upright, whether it is fighting or doing other things, Yongcang likes to be upright and upright, so Yongcang's usual style of doing things...is "frontal and reckless".

Nevermind him so much!Directly on the front - this sentence perfectly summed up Yongcang's style of dealing with people.

And Yongcang's fighting style is also like this - don't care about him!Head-to-head head-on!Just keep chopping and you're done!

Even though he was used to Yongcang's fast talk, Qingdeng couldn't help showing a helpless wry smile after hearing Yongcang directly questioning Kondo and the others who had just met not long ago.

Hearing Yongcura's question, Kondo was startled, and just when he was about to say something, Hijikata beside him took the lead and smiled and said:

"Yongcang-kun, you are wrong."

"The plan we have adopted for the development of the sword hall happens to be the most open and aboveboard."

"Huh?" Yongcang stared at him, and turned his doubtful gaze to Tufang.

"Look, are we hiding our plan?" The corner of his mouth curled up, and he spread his hands, "We invited you here openly, and then made our plan open and honest I will tell you ten times."

"We extend an invitation to you in a dignified way. If you are willing to join our guarding hall, then we will publicize it openly in the future: our guarding hall has successfully got several very powerful warriors to join us willingly."

"Isn't that fair enough? Isn't it upright enough?"

Hearing Hijikata's explanation, Yongcang was stunned.

Then he lowered his head, raised his hand and pinched his chin, pondering and racking his brains to digest the explanation just now.

Judging from his furrowed brows...he is having a hard time digesting now.

Yongcang has a weakness, that is his brain... not very smart.

I don't know if it's because of his straightforward temper, Yongcang's head is very dull, and his thinking is not flexible.

Yongcang's dumb head and rigid thinking are also one of the important reasons why he is often simple and rude in doing things, and can only be frontal and reckless.

At the same time, because his thinking is rigid and he is not good at thinking, he is often easily fooled by others and easily persuaded by others.

Sure enough——after he thought about it for a while, he nodded lightly with a half-understanding: "Well...it seems to be such a truth..."

Just when Yongcang's muttering fell——

"...I just want to specialize in my spear skills, so I don't need to be a disciple of your hall."

Harada, who had been silent all this time, spoke up.

With his legs crossed casually, he rested his right elbow on his right leg, propped his right arm up, and propped his chin, and continued with a smile:
"However, if you are a diner in your restaurant, I welcome you."

Harada's words immediately cheered up Kondo and the others.

Kondo asked in surprise: "Would you like to join our testing hall as a diner?"

"I'm covered, I'm covered, I don't need to do any work, I just need to live here as a 'guest of the test hall' - such a beautiful job, I can't think of any reason to refuse." Harada grinned a naive smile, stretched out his right index finger, and poked himself on the head, "I don't like to use my brain."

"So I don't really understand why you invited us to join the testing hall."

"But it doesn't matter, as long as you can provide me with accommodation and food, then I am willing to be your diner!"

After finishing speaking, Harada stretched out his hand and patted Yongcura's shoulder.

"Yongcang, you stay here too."

"Aren't you just saving money now so that you can continue to travel around and carry out 'warrior training'?"

"Now is a good time to save money."

"If you become a diner here, you no longer need to spend money on accommodation and cooking every day."

"It saves a lot of money every day."

Qian——Hearing the word Harada mentioned, Yongcang's expression changed slightly.

He pursed his lips, then folded his arms around his chest again, lowered his head slightly, and once again seemed to be in deep thought.

Everyone present was not in a hurry, and they all quietly waited for the thought and answer of Yong Cang, the only one who had not made a statement yet.

Yongcang, who spoke quickly, didn't make everyone wait too long.

In just a short moment, he raised his eyes quietly, and secretly glanced at Qingdeng next to him with a small movement that was not noticeable by anyone.

"...I understand." Yongcura let out a long breath, then put his hands on the tatami, bent over and bowed to Kondo who was facing him, "Then, I will trouble you!"

Hearing Yongcang's reply, which was more tactful than Harada's, Kondo was first subconsciously taken aback, and then the expression on his face quickly changed to joy.

In addition to the joy, Kondo couldn't help but be surprised that Yongcang and Harada were so smoothly persuaded to join their testing hall.

The one who was surprised by this was Qingdeng.

"Have you all figured it out?" Qingdeng turned his eyes, scanning Yongcang and Harada back and forth.

"Think it over and think about it." After laughing a few times and shrugging his shoulders vigorously, Harada replied without thinking, "I have a place to live and something to eat, so why not do it."

"Anyway, I have long legs. If you feel uncomfortable sending food here, at worst, just leave."

Yongcang did not talk as much as Harada.

He only firmly nodded towards Qingdeng, Kondo and the others.

……

……

Originally, it was only with the attitude of giving it a try that Qingdeng brought the three of Yongcang and invited them to "join the testing hall".

Unexpectedly, the invitation to them went so smoothly, Yongcang and Harada among the three agreed to become a part of the test guard hall as diners.

In order to show his welcome to the two new members of the sword gym, Kondo decided to hold a lively celebration tonight.

For this reason, Kondo gave Okita a sum of money, and asked Okita to buy more good wine and food before the vegetable market closed.

Hijikata, who is a core member of the test hall, was naturally suggested by Kondo to stay in the test hall tonight to celebrate the joining of Yongcang and Harada with them.

But who knows—the earth party actually said that he would not participate in tonight's celebration.

"Ah Sheng, I won't be attending this celebration, you guys have fun tonight."

"Why?" Kondo asked in confusion, "A Sui, do you have anything to do tonight?"

"...It is true that there is something important to do." After that, Hijikata smiled intriguingly, then raised his hand and patted Kondo on the shoulder, "Asheng, you have successfully recruited celebrities. This is just the first time. Just a step."

"Next, we have to find a way to let as many people as possible know that 'a famous person is willing to join our test hall'."

"All in all, I will be responsible for the work in this area."

"Asheng, you guys just have a good time tonight."

After leaving these words, Tu conveniently waved at Kondo, and walked away under Kondo's blank gaze.

When Tufang left the test hall, it was the evening when the sky was half dark and half bright.

After taking a deep breath of the increasingly dreary air due to the gradually warming weather, Hijikata supported Wakizashi at his waist, and strode eastward in a steady stride.

Hijikata, who was born as a farmer rather than a samurai, is not qualified to wear a sword, so he only wears a wakizawa around his waist on weekdays.

The Edo shogunate clearly stipulated that only samurai can wear swords, but there is no prohibition on shoguns, so many ordinary people usually keep samurai at home or on their bodies for self-defense.

After turning the corner of an uninhabited alley, Dojikata suddenly found a cherry blossom tree on the side of the road ahead.

Now it is the end of April, and it is still the time when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

Hijikata quickened his pace a little, and stood beside the root of the cherry blossom tree he found by accident.

He raised his head, looked thoughtfully at the delicate and charming flowers on the cherry blossom tree, and then turned his gaze back to look around him.

After confirming that there was no one around, Tufang stood on tiptoe and skillfully folded 9 of the most beautiful flowers from the branch, stuffed them all carefully into his bosom, and then quickly fled from under the tree.

After turning through several streets and alleys, Tufang stopped in front of a small tea house, and then saw him open the door curtain swaggeringly, and entered the tea house.

"Welcome...ah, Mr. Hijikata!"

The Tedai of this tea house, a young girl in her prime, subconsciously shouted "Welcome" immediately after hearing the sound of someone coming in, and cast her gaze towards the door of the shop.

After discovering that the visitor standing at the door was Hijikata, her "welcome" quickly turned into a shout of excitement.

"Ah Qian, long time no see." Tufang showed a gentle smile to the girl, and casually found an empty seat and sat down, "As usual, bring me a cup of herbal tea."

"Okay!" Ah Qian, with a happy smile on his face, flew back to the kitchen like a butterfly.

After a while, she took a cup of herbal tea ordered by Tufang, and hopped over to Tufang's table.

"Mr. Hijikata! Your tea!"

"Well, thank you."

Tufang stretched out his hand to receive the tea from Aqian, and while holding the teacup in his palm, he quietly stretched out his fingers to pick Aqian's palm.

Feeling the itching from the palm of her hand, a shy blush touched Aqian's cheeks. After she took a deep look at Hijikata with affectionate eyes, she quickly left from Hijikata's table and returned to the room. to the kitchen.

Hijikata watched A-Qian leave with tender eyes, then picked up the herbal tea and drank it down in one gulp, then spilled tea money on the table and left the teahouse.

At the same time, Ah Qian, who returned to the kitchen, told her boss that she had a stomach upset and wanted to go to the bathroom.

After getting permission from the boss to go to the toilet, Aqian took off her apron, rushed out of the tea house impatiently, and then turned into a remote dark alley not far from the tea house.

As soon as he entered this dark alley, Aqian saw Tufang who was already waiting here.

"Mr. Hijikata!" Ah Qian, who couldn't hold back his feelings, flew into Hijikata's arms in three steps at a time.

"A-Qian!" And Tufang also hugged A-Qian affectionately who threw himself into his arms.

"Mr. Hijikata...I miss you so much..." Ah Qian rubbed her forehead against Hijikata's chest, "Why haven't you come to see me for so long?"

"Sorry, there have been a lot of things recently." Hijikata rubbed his cheek against Aqian's hair.

The two of you and I talked a lot of nasty words, and then I saw Hijikata showing an expression of "ah, I almost forgot" while putting his hand into his arms.

"Ah Qian, this is for you."

"Mr. Hijikata, what is this?" Aqian blinked suspiciously at a delicate cherry blossom that Hijikata took out.

"This is a cherry blossom that accidentally fell on my shoulder when I was outing in Kanagawa yesterday." Hijikata smiled softly without blushing.

*******
*******
Ask for a monthly pass!Ask for a recommendation ticket! (Leopard Head Crying.jpg)

This chapter has a total of 7500 words, which is quite a lot. Please ask for a monthly pass! QQ
(End of this chapter)