I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

It's been a long time since I've felt this way, being teased by Tenshōin.

This woman's open-mindedness and bold behavior are unlike anything of this era.

She could make flirtatious gestures and utter ambiguous words with ease.

She has the appearance of a succubus, alluring and seductive.

Deep down, he's a mischievous little devil who enjoys playing pranks and teasing people.

She embodies two great "demons" and exudes a charm that is unlike that of ordinary people, both inside and out.

Qing Deng was really not good at dealing with this level of "witch"...

At that moment, Qing Deng suddenly felt a burst of light beside him—sunlight pierced through the gap in the curtains and shone on his side.

He silently turned his head to the side, reached out and lifted the curtain slightly, looking out of the sedan chair through the gap.

These high-class sedan chairs all used curtains instead of double windows.

[Note: Musou-cho (無双窗) is a traditional Japanese architectural technique. It features a wooden panel (similar to a prison window) on both the inner and outer sides, composed of multiple vertical wooden strips. The outer panel is fixed, while the inner panel is movable; their interlocking design allows for easy control of lighting and ventilation.]

Tokugawa Iemochi's personal sedan chair—the Sosuna-dai Ryuto—walked in front of and to the side of him and Tenshōin.

Matsudaira Katamori's palanquin was traveling in the opposite direction from them.

The three sedan chairs form a "品" shape.

The sun was almost directly overhead, and the sky was becoming increasingly clear.

Silky sunlight streamed down from the distant horizon.

Bathed in the spring sunshine, the roadside flowers and the green leaves overhead appear as if they have been washed in clear water, dazzling and vibrant.

Suddenly, Qing Deng noticed the beautiful figure engraved on the three orders, which made him shiver.

Souji, Kinoshita Mai, and Sanako, who was leading a radish, were walking not far from him... Correction. They were walking not far from him and Tenshōin...

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The horse-leading outfit mentioned in the previous chapter that Radish greatly envied is mentioned in the paragraph commentary below. It must be said that this outfit is indeed very cool, no wonder Radish was envious.

Chapter 674 Tenshōin: Aoto, you don't want the Souji and the others to find out, do you? [5100]

Boom!Boom!Boom!

Qingdeng felt his heart skip three beats.

My heart was pounding, a frantic alarm bell.

In an instant, he abruptly pulled back his fingers that had been lifting the curtain.

Under the influence of gravity, the curtain gently floated back to its original position.

With the sunlight blocked, the interior of the sedan chair became dark again.

"Huff...huff...huff...huff...huff..."

He was breathing rapidly and his face was pale.

Tension is an emotion that climbs up from the feet like a vine, slowly wrapping around the body.

An incredibly intense tension!

It imprisoned Qingdeng's body, and even gradually eroded into it, gripping his heart.

Seeing this, Tenshōin asked with a puzzled expression:

"Sheng Qing, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

Qingdeng continued to speak in a rigid manner devoid of emotion.

"It's just... the sunlight is too bright."

Tenshōin felt even more puzzled.

"Is the sun too bright? Is it? I think the weather is quite nice today, clear and sunny, a perfect time for an outing."

After saying that, she reached out and lifted the curtain beside her.

Sunlight streamed back into the sedan chair, making the surroundings bright and airy once more.

"?!"

Qingdeng's eyes widened.

He instinctively wanted to stop the other person.

Just as he was about to speak, he belatedly realized that if he spoke loudly, it might attract attention, so he quickly shut his mouth, swallowing the words back down his throat, his face turning bright red.

Fortunately, due to the limited perspective, Tenshōin did not spot the three women.

She glanced outside a few times, and after finding nothing unusual, she lowered the curtain.

There's nothing there.

"That's why I said there's nothing wrong, it's just that the sunlight is too bright."

After saying that, Qingdeng secretly let out a long sigh of relief.

He was alone in a palanquin with Tenshōin, and not far outside the palanquin were Sanako, Kinoshita Mai, and Souji... There was probably nothing more terrifying in the world than this!

To be fair, if others were to see the "special scenery" inside the sedan chair, Qingdeng wouldn't be too worried, as there would still be room for maneuver.

But if... these three women saw this "special scenery"... then the situation would be completely different!

They're not easy to deal with...

Although Souji is very gentle and considerate, she also has her own little temper and will not tolerate Aoto without limit.

Kinoshita Mai is not good at fighting, but whenever she finds Aoto being affectionate with other women—including Souji and Sanako—she always shows a very frightening side: "eyes dull," "black lines on her cheeks," and "a black aura emanating from her whole body."

However, let's set aside the two of them for now.

Compared to the other person, these two are really nothing!

Sanako, who received a traditional education since she could remember, has always held the most conservative view on marriage: "I don't care how many concubines you want, but you can only have one wife."

Regarding Qing Deng's advocacy of a family structure of "one husband and three wives," her attitude has always been the same: "Are you kidding me?!"

Qingdeng's "wishful thinking" already made her very unhappy.

And now, I've seen Qing Deng having very ambiguous interactions with other women...

Qing Deng felt... no! He was certain! If Sanako discovered that the palanquin he was riding in actually had a "hidden secret," she would definitely throw a tantrum at him! And it would be a very serious tantrum!

Although he and Tenshōin were innocent, he would definitely face a terrible storm before he could explain their relationship to the three women...

Qingdeng swallowed hard, then quietly lifted the curtain a crack to peek outside.

The samurai of the koshira group rode around the palanquin on horseback.

Their horsemanship... was really not very good.

They couldn't keep the horses at a constant speed, sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow, and they couldn't even control the horses' direction of travel well, resulting in a chaotic formation.

However, this chaotic formation actually helped Qingdeng.

Just then, three samurai from the juroku group stepped between the palanquin and the three women, separating the two sides.

Qingdeng could no longer see the three women, and the three women could no longer see the sedan chair.

It seems that for the time being, there's no need to worry about them noticing his situation.

Qingdeng felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders, his body went limp, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

It was only at this moment that he belatedly realized that the back of his clothes was soaked with cold sweat.

Tianzhangyuan frowned slightly:

"Sheng Qing, what's wrong with you?"

"N-nothing..."

Before Qingdeng could respond properly, a groan filled with despair suddenly rang out from outside the sedan chair:

"Ugh...you bastard...! What am I going to do...!"

Both of their attention was drawn to it.

They lifted the curtain and looked in the direction of the sound, and then saw a middle-aged man who looked to be around 40 years old.

He walked not far from the sedan chair, wearing a pair of Western-style glasses on his nose, with a small abacus hanging from his waist, and holding a huge book in his hands, which he was flipping through rapidly.

With each page he turned, his expression grew increasingly grim, gradually contorting into a ferocious grimace, giving the impression that he might unleash every swear word in Japanese at any moment.

Although there aren't many swear words in Japanese, besides "baka," there's only its honorific form: "baka yaru."

"Ah...it was him..."

After muttering something, Tenshōin turned to Aoto and explained:

"Sheng Qing, his name is Murakami Kanichiro, he is..."

Before she could finish speaking, Qing Deng interrupted:

"I know, he must be the accountant, right? Only an accountant would have such a pained expression."

Tenshōin paused for a moment, then nodded with a wry smile:

"Yes, that's right, he's the accountant."

Accountant – as the name suggests, is an accountant who is specifically responsible for managing income and expenditure.

Of course, an accountant would be indispensable for a long journey of three thousand people.

The accounting department was responsible for everything from negotiating accommodation and meals to making payments.

He had to allocate different budgets to different people based on their social status and social standing.

People of high status stay in luxury hotels and eat delicacies; people of low status stay in ordinary inns and eat simple meals.