Tokyo Sword Saint Online Dealing

"But you insist on staying in this insignificant little village that you don't even know anything about, and you even asked to stay overnight—you should understand that this kind of trouble will almost certainly fall on my shoulders."

“You’re not stupid. You can tell from my white hair that I’m not having a good time here.”

Yuan Qingya was slightly taken aback, and her smile became somewhat subtle.

I was actually seen through.

But he couldn't tell the truth either—"Young lady, you have a faint demonic aura about you. Let me give you a physical examination"—that would definitely be seen as perverted.

Thinking of this, he subtly changed the subject.

"The harvest in this village must not be very good, how come you can afford so many books?"

"In Edo Castle, a book could be exchanged for a lot of food."

Although she knew it was a change of topic, Aqing didn't really care.

"Go ahead and watch if you want, it's not something you bought."

"The books are expensive because printing is time-consuming and labor-intensive, but the paper isn't too expensive, since I wrote them all."

Yuan Qingya didn't stand on ceremony. She looked down and flipped through a few books, and her expression immediately became interesting.

In a sense, this was indeed written by the girl in front of me.

The paper was yellow straw paper, the pen was charcoal pencil, yet every word and sentence was elegant and pleasing to the eye.

Each book was carefully bound together with needle and thread, and neatly stacked in piles.

Yuan Qingya picked up a book at random, flipped through a few pages, and read it briefly. She found it to be an ordinary ghost story about how will-o'-the-wisps in a cemetery were scary, with nothing particularly remarkable about it.

He put the book back where it was and picked up a few more.

The more he looked, the more surprised he became.

Ghost stories, romance novels, myths and strange tales

These are all normal.

However, books like "Collected Annotations on the Materia Medica", "The Classic of Battle", and "The Orders of the People in the Fourth Month" shouldn't be of interest to girls of this age, right?

The busy girl, seemingly possessed by foresight, began to speak on her own.

I only have one hobby.

"I enjoy listening to stories, but I love reading even more."

"I really enjoy listening to stories. The joys, sorrows, loves, hates, and passions expressed through language and words, and the feeling of them vividly coming to life in my mind, is truly wonderful."

"Hearsay is as good as my own experience."

"Thanks to this hobby, I'm probably a bit smarter than most people in the village. Every month, the village organizes people to go to the town near the city to exchange food for daily necessities, and I always go with them."

“I don’t have any special skills, and I’m physically weak. I grow some grains and buckwheat, which is barely enough for me to eat. Luckily, I don’t eat much and am easy to feed, so I won’t starve to death. There’s nothing I can do. My parents passed away early, so I can only rely on myself.”

"Fortunately, perhaps it's a talent, I seem to have some skill in painting. The stories I write are of interest to many merchants and young ladies in the town, so I can earn a little money each time to buy some paper and pens, and then I can have some free time to read books in the bookstore."

"I memorized all of these bit by bit and then copied them down. There may be mistakes or omissions, but there's nothing I can do about it now."

Yuan Qingya raised an eyebrow and murmured in disbelief, "How old are you? How many times would you have to go to the bookstore to copy so many books?"

The girl in blue turned around, revealing a smile that seemed to say, "Three times, I guess."

"Because traveling is too dangerous, I rarely go out."

Yuan Qingya's eyelids twitched, and she blurted out a sentence.

"You have a photographic memory?"

The girl's silence was interpreted by Yuan Qingya as tacit agreement.

He was amazed.

Maybe we've struck gold this time.

So he casually said, "You read so many books, I have a question to ask you."

“There are fields near Edo Castle, but the harvest is poor and some are abandoned. Those officials and samurai are either idiots or useless. Not a single one of them can help. Although I have gathered a lot of people and manpower, the grain production is not going up, so it is all just empty talk.”

"Is there anything you can do to help me?"

The girl didn't turn around; she started speaking fluently and eloquently.

"Hmm, farming? Near Edo Castle, rice is probably the main crop, right? Unlike here, the land is barren, and the crops are mostly grains and buckwheat."

"Agricultural activities should take advantage of the seasons and adapt to local conditions. If the weather is not right, human effort can make up for it."

"The essence of farming lies in seizing the right time, mixing the soil, applying fertilizer, and hoeing early for an early harvest."

"In short, we must adapt to the climate, fertilize frequently, and prevent disasters."

"To be more specific, just talking about rice paddies, there are early rice paddies, late rice paddies, cold-water paddies in mountainous areas, and rice paddies on plains. Each of these has its own characteristics. Which one would you like to hear about?"

With a wave of her hand, the girl in green saw Yuan Qingya standing up, clutching her head and looking at her with a bright, shining gaze.

Although she knew that this young and promising king wouldn't do anything outrageous, she still felt a little flustered, and her eyes became somewhat panicked.

Yuan Qingya ignored all that and forced out a very affected and cloying smile.

“I said, Miss Aqing.”

"Please, come home with me."

"You shouldn't waste your talent in this small mountain village!"

Chapter 282 Incentives

Because of Achi's matter, Gen Kiyoya didn't really care about the difference between humans and demons. In the past few days, he had just adapted to the identity of "king" and issued decrees and laws in an attempt to change the status quo of Musashi. This was a time when he was in a state of great distress.

Governing a country is truly not a simple matter. It is easy to be a foolish ruler, but it is extremely difficult to be a wise king.

This place was already a mess, and he suddenly took over without any help. He relied solely on force to suppress the unrest, which was fraught with hidden dangers. It was precisely the time when he needed talented people.

He no longer cared whether the girl in front of him was a monster or not.

Even if someone is a demon, he will carefully protect them and draw his sword if anyone dares to touch them.

Anyway, he already has Achi, so having another Aqing would be a good match. The obsessive-compulsive enthusiast was overjoyed and wept tears of joy.

The girl in green sighed, ignoring the lewd and blunt words, and walked over to Yuan Qingya with two rough porcelain bowls, sitting down gracefully.

"Simple food and drink are not a sign of respect."

Yuan Qingya also felt somewhat embarrassed and sat down awkwardly. To cover up her embarrassment, she picked up her bowl.

A pleasant aroma wafted over, proving that this was truly a simple meal.

Tea-soaked rice was the most common staple food among the people at that time, as it was easy to make and the ingredients were simple.

However, rice was a very valuable commodity at the time, and it wasn't something that ordinary people could afford to eat every day.

Faced with Yuan Qingya's somewhat hesitant gaze, Aqing pouted.

"I'm sorry, this is the best food we have at home. It's worth the money you gave me, isn't it?"

"I'm quite confident in my cooking skills."

After taking a bite, Yuan Qingya nodded.

The dish was simple, but the taste was indeed good, with a perfect balance of saltiness and savory flavor. The aroma of tea permeated every grain of rice, and the seaweed had a crisp texture without any fishy or bitter taste.

He shook his head, remembering his original intention.

"Thank you for the treat—wouldn't you really like to consider my suggestion?"

"Or do you lack confidence in me?"

"It's not that I think Musashi is such a small place that my sword is enough to suppress those powerful samurai families. They can't cause any trouble. This is a good place for you to show your skills."

"Isn't the point of learning both literary and martial arts to be meaningful if you actually put them to use?"

Aqing glanced at Yuan Qingya with a hint of disdain, snorted, and shook her head.

"Please, don't judge others by your own standards."

"Worrying about so many things is tiring and thankless, what's the point?"

"What I really want is to travel to every corner of the world, listen to stories, draw pictures, and then write them into books to be passed down to the world."

"Apart from that, even if I were to become a king or prime minister, I would not be interested."

"I know you've offended a lot of people because of your tyranny, and now you have no one left to rely on in Edo, right? Don't try to drag me down with you!"

"Since the Grand Secretary can issue such a benevolent tax decree, I think he can't be an unreasonable person. Please don't force me to do something I don't like."

These words were a huge blow to Yuan Qingya.

He was indeed somewhat rigid in his thinking. These words might appease those who aspired to a career in government, but they seemed to hold no appeal for the young girl in front of him.

However, he wasn't stupid. Although he couldn't know everything in detail, he knew a thing or two about how to "persuade" others. Having lived two lives, he was quite adept at it.

It's nothing more than "coercion and enticement".

Coercion is definitely not an option right now.

So, his eyes darted around, and his smile became unfathomable.

“My name is Minamoto no Kiyomasa. My father is a prince. After my eldest brother came of age, all of us brothers were demoted to the status of subjects and incorporated into the Minamoto clan.”

“My second elder brother, Minamoto no Masamasa, served in the Ministry of Home Affairs as the Grand Vice-Minister of Home Affairs.”

"You've read so many books, you should know what the head of internal affairs is in charge of, right?"

"The Ministry of the Interior oversees the Empress, and one of its subordinate departments is the Library!"

"As long as the books in this country exist in this world, there will definitely be copies in the library."

“If you help me, I promise you that as long as I have the chance to return to Heian-kyo, I will definitely bring you into the library—you can read however you want, read whatever stories you want, and even if you want to bring them home by the truckload, I can make that happen.”

"how?"

The girl in green's previously indifferent gaze vanished completely; she stared blankly at Yuan Qingya, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Her slender hands put down the porcelain bowl, and unconsciously twisted together.

"You're so cunning."