I formed the strongest swordsman group.

Chapter 882 Jia Mao: "Jujun, are you willing to be my father?" [5500]

The Great Palace, the meeting place——

The fragrant tatami, the spotless environment, the exquisite decorations, the faint smell of powder... everything is the same as before.

Qing Deng had visited the meeting place many times before.

Whenever Princess Kazunomiya or the ladies-in-waiting around her had any errands to assign to Qing Deng, they would summon Qing Deng to this meeting room.

Tianzhangyuan would occasionally meet Qingdeng at the meeting place.

Returning to this familiar room after a long absence made him feel a little nostalgic.

At this moment, Qing Deng sat in the center of the meeting room, bowing with an expressionless face.

After a while, he heard a deep middle-aged female voice coming from the front:
"General Tachibana, please stand up."

It was Mijoji's voice.

Since he was appointed as the "Left Guard General", Aoto was given the honorific title of "Tachibana General" after "Tachibana Aki".

Qing Deng slowly raised his head and looked straight ahead.

The first thing that caught his eye was the colorful colors.

There were many women sitting in front of him and on his left and right sides.

Roughly speaking, there are about twenty people, with different ages, ranging from ten years old to forty or fifty years old.

Right in front of Qingdeng, at the main seat of the meeting place, there was a young girl wearing an exquisite little jacket, a skirt and a Tang Dynasty robe. She had her hands neatly folded on her legs and was looking at Qingdeng expressionlessly, their eyes meeting.

She is Kazunomiya.

Judging from appearance alone, He Gong's appearance is not particularly outstanding.

It's neither beautiful nor ugly, just average.

However, because she lived in the palace for a long time, she rarely got sun exposure and never did any physical labor, so her skin was very fair and delicate.

As for the other women present, they were all female attendants close to He Gong, the stinky bitches that Qing Deng hated.

When Princess Kazunomiya married a man from Kanto, all these bitches accompanied her to Edo.

Originally, according to the shogunate's custom, a concubine who married from far away should not bring so many servants with her.

Once you arrive at the O-oku, you will naturally be equipped with experienced attendants.

When Tenshoin entered the O-oku, he only brought a few people from Satsuma.

However, due to Kazunomiya's strong request, the shogunate had to make an exception and allow Kazunomiya to bring her entire team of servants when she lived in the Imperial Palace.

These bitches, like the palace, have the privilege of "retaining their previous living habits."

Therefore, they wore court clothes and had official hairstyles.

The court officials valued long, straight black hair, so women in the imperial court would comb their hair back into a long, low ponytail, rather than into elaborate hairstyles like the samurai women, such as the Shimada bun or the ball bun.

Looking at these bitches who had once caused him a lot of trouble, Qing Deng felt his stomach twitching and all kinds of bad memories flooded into his mind.

However, to be honest, official-style clothing is indeed beautiful. The intricate patterns and gorgeous colors alone are dazzling.

These beautiful clothes greatly alleviated the discomfort in his heart.

Qing Deng calmed down a bit, then raised his eyes, stared straight at He Gong, and said in a serious tone:
"Your Highness, I haven't seen you for a long time. I hope you are in good health."

When facing Princess Kazunomiya, Qing Deng naturally couldn't be as casual as he was when facing Tokugawa Iemochi and Tenshoin. So he spoke in a solemn and respectful manner for the first time in a long time.

Kazumiya nodded slightly to show that she received Qing Deng's greeting, then turned her head and glanced at Mijou beside her.

Mijo Naruto understood what she meant and leaned over, pressing her ear against Kazumiya's lips.

He Gong whispered something to her.

Mijo listened carefully, and when the other party finished speaking, she said to Qing Deng loudly:
"General Tachibana, His Highness said: I have heard of your activeness in recent years. Thank you for your hard work."

Qing Deng responded without arrogance or servility:

"Don't dare to take it seriously."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kazumiya looked at Mijosaki again, and the latter leaned forward again.

Seeing this, Qing Deng twitched his lips secretly.

Another reason why he didn't want to see Kazunomiya was because it was too troublesome to communicate with him! This "game of passing messages" was too torturous!
After waiting for a while, Mijoji spoke again:
"Your Highness asks you: How is His Majesty doing lately?"

The "Your Majesty" he mentioned naturally refers to the current emperor.

——How could I know!

Qing Deng had no good feelings towards the court.

If it wasn't necessary, he would never set foot into the Imperial Palace.

Although the imperial court has made many moves in recent years, giving people a feeling of "the rise of the imperial court", if you look closely, you will find that its status has not changed fundamentally.

The imperial court still has no soldiers under its command, and the emperor is still like a mascot.

Qing Deng has never cared about the life or death of the "mascot", so how could he know whether he is living well now?

Princess Kazunomiya is the younger sister of the current emperor. She probably asked this question out of concern for her brother.

With the simple idea of ​​"taking care of other people's brotherly love", he began to rack his brains, trying to recall the rumors about the emperor that he had heard recently.

Something like "you have a good appetite" or "you are in good spirits". In short, just pick some pleasant words to the ear.

After listening to this, He Gong Anjing smiled, and the originally tense facial lines relaxed a little.

Then she took over the "game of passing the message".

"General Tachibana, His Highness asks you: How is the weather in Kyoto recently?"

Just now he was asking about the Emperor's recent situation, but now he started asking about the weather in Kyoto.

The jumpiness of the question made Qing Deng startled.

Of course, despite being surprised, he quickly recovered and answered truthfully:

"Your Highness, since the beginning of autumn, the weather in Kyoto has become particularly cool, which is a good time for traveling."

"General Tachibana, your Highness asks you: Will this year's town flower festival be held as scheduled? Are there many flowers in full bloom this year? Are they beautiful?"

The Town Flower Festival, one of Kyoto's three major festivals, is held in the spring when flowers are in full bloom. It is considered one of Kyoto's most grand festivals.

According to legend, during the Heian period in Japan, the God of Plague was instigated by the Spring Spirits to wander around the city of Kyoto, causing epidemics wherever he went.

People would sing and dance around the flower umbrellas in the streets and alleys to lead the God of Plague under the flower umbrellas, and then send the flower umbrellas to the Shino Shrine to suppress the God of Plague. This is the origin of the Town Flower Festival.

Nowadays, during the town flower festival, local worshippers dress up as red-haired demons and black-haired demons and dance to the gods in front of the main hall of the Murasakami Shrine. They are then joined by two other worship teams, the town flower teams from Ueno and Murakami areas of Kyoto. They parade all the way here and dance to the gods.

Coincidentally, Qingdeng happened to participate in this year's town flower festival - together with his newly married wives.

That day, he and his wives went out for a group outing for the first time, leaving behind many wonderful memories.

"Your Highness, I am fortunate enough to be able to take my wife to attend this year's town flower festival. The weather is very good this year, with five winds and ten rains, so the flowers are blooming particularly luxuriantly and beautifully."

Upon hearing this, Princess He suddenly became excited and couldn't wait to put her lips close to the Emperor's.

"General Tachibana, His Highness said: Please describe in detail your specific experience when you participated in the town flower festival."

Qing Deng raised his eyebrows, then looked at He Gong thoughtfully, with a look of understanding on his face - he had roughly guessed what the purpose of He Gong's sudden summons was.

He cleared his throat and then gave a brief and concise description.

The bustling crowds, the fragrance of flowers lingering in the nose, the beautiful scenery like a painting... With his excellent eloquence, Qing Deng recreated the town flower festival with words.

He Gong listened very carefully.

Because she was too serious, she subconsciously leaned forward, staring at Qing Deng without blinking, as if she was afraid of missing a word.

Just on her smooth porcelain cheeks, a hint of nostalgia could be seen.

The female officials beside her all looked much the same, listening intently to Qing Deng's story, some with a look of nostalgia on their faces, others with a look of sadness.

Seeing this, Qing Deng confirmed his previous guess - as expected, He Gong was homesick.

Another major reason why Princess Kazunomiya strongly opposed marrying into Kanto was that she was reluctant to leave her home and hometown.

Once she married into Edo, she would hardly have the chance to return to Kyoto for the rest of her life... It's no exaggeration to say that she would probably never be able to return to Kyoto again...

Being in a distant foreign land, trapped in a fortified castle, looking at the scenery that is very different from your hometown, it is inevitable to feel homesick.

In this era of underdeveloped information exchange, we can only rely on word of mouth to learn about news from our hometown.

Therefore, she suddenly summoned Qing Deng, who had just returned from Kyoto, and asked him to tell them more about the latest situation in Kyoto to relieve her homesickness.

As soon as Qing Deng finished speaking, He Gong raised a new question:
"General Tachibana, His Highness has a question for you: What about this year's Gion Festival? Will this year's Gion Festival be held as scheduled?"

"Go back to Your Highness..."

……

……

This question-and-answer "game of passing the message" lasted for a long time.

After discovering that Kazunomiya only summoned him because she was homesick, Qing Deng became more dedicated and serious.

No matter what Kazumiya asked, he would try his best to answer it.

He just hated those bitches around Kazumiya, and had no ill feelings towards Kazumiya herself.

Rather...he was quite sympathetic to Kazumiya.

Forced to leave home, marry someone she didn't want to marry, and become a victim of politics... Exactly the same as Tianzhangyuan back then.

At this moment, looking at the girl in front of him with a complicated expression - nostalgia, sadness, loneliness, three emotions beautifully mixed together - Qing Deng couldn't help but wonder: After marrying into Edo, will Tenshoin also miss her hometown?
At least Kazunomiya has a normal husband with whom she can communicate, and she can also learn about the latest developments in her hometown through Qing Deng.

What was there in Tenshoin back then? Regardless of whether anyone had introduced her to the current situation in her hometown of Satsuma, the fact that her husband was terminally ill and unable to communicate normally was enough to make her physically and mentally exhausted.

After all, it is a question of how many times she had met the former shogun Tokugawa Iesada.

When Tenshoin married into Edo, Tokugawa Iesada's physical and mental condition was on the verge of collapse, and his paranoia was extremely severe.

He often felt that someone was trying to kill him. Not only did he refuse to eat the food prepared in the kitchen, but he also locked himself in his room all day and refused to see anyone except his wet nurse.

Whenever he thought of this, Qing Deng would feel a sense of sadness in his heart.

Out of this sympathy, he was happy to help Kazumiya.

Besides, Princess Kazunomiya was the legal wife of Tokugawa Iemochi - even based on this relationship alone, Aoto would not treat Princess Kazunomiya badly.

It's just a small favor and a little talk, so just do your best to help others.

After asking several more questions, Kazunomiya finally stopped talking.

She was silent for a moment, then turned her head and said something to Mijo.

Mijosaki's facial expression suddenly changed subtly.

However, she did not say much, but just said silently:

"General Tachibana, please stay. Everyone else follow me and leave!"

After saying that, Mijosaki stood up first, folded her hands in front of her, and retreated out of the room inch by inch with elegant steps, her feet sticking to the tatami.

Qing Deng and the other female officials present were all stunned.

From the expressions of the ladies-in-waiting, it was not difficult to see that they were very puzzled by Princess Kazunomiya's order.

However, just like the Goddess, they would not question their master's orders to her face even if they had doubts in their hearts.

Accompanied by the sound of "swish swish" of feet scraping across the tatami, the female officials filed out one after another.

Soon, Qing Deng and He Gong were the only ones left in the huge meeting room.

Qing Deng looked around and saw that the room was much more spacious and there was no trace of those bitches anymore. He suddenly felt proud.

Although he didn't understand why Kazunomiya dispersed them, it didn't stop Qing Deng from breathing a sigh of relief when those bitches left.

"...General Tachibana, thank you for your hard work."

A strange female voice... About half a second later, Qing Deng realized belatedly - it was Kazumiya's voice!

It's funny that they had met many times and had known each other for several years, but it was not until today that Qing Deng heard He Gong's voice in person for the first time.

He Gong's voice was very soft, giving people a weak feeling.

This is consistent with her appearance.

Her slender and thin body is really fragile.

"Your Highness, I dare not take it seriously."

Qing Deng responded neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"General Tachibana, is Lord Daishu... okay?"

Mr. Daishu is Tokugawa Iemochi.

Qing Deng blinked and involuntarily cast a confused look at He Gong.

——Aren't you someone's wife? Do you still need to ask me such a question?
He Gong saw Qing Deng's confusion and smiled helplessly:
"Mr. Dashu has been busy with government affairs lately, working day and night. I haven't seen him for quite a while, so... I can't help but feel a little worried."

As soon as she finished speaking, He Gong bit her red lips lightly, raised her right hand, and used her wide sleeves to cover most of her face, leaving only a pair of half-closed, shy eyes exposed.

Qing Deng couldn't help but laugh when he saw this - he finally understood why the other party wanted to send others away in advance.

It is well known that Tokugawa Iemochi and Princess Kazunomiya had a very harmonious relationship.

They have never had an argument since they got married.

What’s interesting is that Princess Kazunomiya, who had always been crying and grieving over her “sacrifice”, suddenly became much quieter and no longer made a fuss after marrying into Edo.

Qing Deng had heard...really just heard! When Kazunomiya first met Tokugawa Iemochi, his handsome face and polite and elegant demeanor made the girl's eyes sparkle, and instantly changed the prejudice that "the Shogun is a strong beastman".

Qing Deng rarely asked about Tokugawa Iemochi's family affairs.

Now it seems that the relationship between this young couple is even more friendly than he expected.

"Your Highness, the general is in good health, looks healthy, and exudes a strong vitality."

"Is that so... That's good."

Because his face was covered with his sleeves, Qing Deng could not see the change in He Gong's expression, but he vaguely heard the other party let out a long sigh of relief.

"General Tachibana, as far as I know, you will lead an army of 200,000 to launch a large-scale attack on the Choshu domain."

"I don't know the art of war, so I can't really help you. I can only wish you a successful start and good luck in military affairs."

"Please make sure to destroy the rebels and restore peace to the world."

"This way, Big Tree Lord, he, he...he won't have to work so hard anymore, and can meet with me more often..."

The further Kazumiya spoke, the weaker his voice became.

At the end of the conversation, it was almost as soft as a mosquito's hum.

The only parts of her body that were not covered by her sleeves - her forehead, the tips of her ears - were all stained with a conspicuous red glow.

Qing Deng's mouth twitched secretly, and his expression became quite complicated - from just now, he had been eating dog food...

Normally he is the only one who feeds others dog food, but he unexpectedly got fed so much today.

Kazumiya's voice continued:
"Ah, and please remind Mr. Tree to eat well and sleep well afterwards."

When Qing Deng heard this, he couldn't help but ask back:
"Your Highness, this is something you should be saying to the General, right?"

When He Gong heard this, she was immediately panicked and didn't know what to do.

"But, but I can't even see him..."

Qingdeng smiled helplessly:
"Your Highness, please rest assured, I will be here to help you!"

……

……

Edo Castle, rest time, upper section——

The mother and son had a passionate conversation, unaware that time was passing quickly.

Suddenly, a report from Xiaoxing came from outside the door.

"My lord! General Tachibana requests an audience!"

Suddenly, Tokugawa Iemochi's eyes lit up and he murmured:

"Finally here..."

Tianzhangyuan, who had no idea Qingdeng would come, was slightly stunned.

"Huh? Sheng Qing is here?"

"Mother, I have a request, please agree to it."

Tokugawa Iemochi looked at Tenshoin solemnly and spoke seriously, word by word.

Without waiting for the other party to respond, he continued speaking:
"Next, no matter what happens or what you hear, please stay here. Do not leave and do not make any noise."

"Huh? Why?"

As she spoke, she subconsciously rolled her eyes and looked outside the room - Qing Deng's footsteps could be heard from this direction in the distance.

"Mother, I will explain it to you later. Anyway, I'm counting on you!"

After saying this very solemnly, Tokugawa Iemochi stood up and left the room to prepare to welcome Qing Deng, leaving Tenshoin sitting there in a daze.

……

……

After bidding farewell to Princess Kazunomiya, Qing Deng followed Tokugawa Iemochi's instructions and rode straight to the rest room without stopping.

The rest room is divided into the upper section (where the general sleeps) and the lower section (where the general works), and the two rooms are adjacent.

As soon as Tokugawa Iemochi left Shangdan, he met Qing Deng in Xiadan.

At this moment, Qing Deng was sitting right in front of Tokugawa Iemochi, and the two were facing each other - he had no idea that Tenshoin was just next door in the upper section.

"Tachibana-kun, thank you for your hard work. Kazumiya must have asked you a lot of questions, right? After chatting with you, did she feel a little more excited?"

Qingden smiled:
"I have tried my best to recreate Kyoto in words. As for whether Her Majesty had a good time with you, why don't you go and confirm it with her in person?"

After hearing this, Tokugawa Iemochi smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"I do have this intention, but I really can't spare the time recently..."

Qing Deng responded with a half-smile.

Afterwards, he did not continue the topic, but changed the topic:
"Your Highness, to be honest, I have been talking all day. First, I told you about the specific battle plan of the 'Choshu Expedition', and then I introduced the recent situation in Kyoto to His Majesty Kazunomiya. I am a little tired of talking, so I will not beat around the bush. What exactly is the 'important matter' you mentioned earlier?"

As soon as these words came out, Tokugawa Iemochi immediately perked up, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised:
"Okay, then I'll get straight to the point!"

He paused for a moment, and after a brief period of gathering strength—

"Jujun, will you be my father?"

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It's the end of the month again! Book friends who have monthly tickets, please be sure to vote for this book! (crying leopard head.jpg) Please vote for the monthly ticket! Please vote for the recommendation! (crying leopard head.jpg)

PS: The father assists his daughter-in-law, and the son tries hard to bring his father and mother together. What a chaotic family (豹嗨.jpg)