I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

……

……

Fushimi Inari Shrine, Aoto's room—

"Waaaaah...! Waaaaah...! Waaaaah...! Waaaah...!"

Qingdeng sighed helplessly:

"Kyubei, haven't you cried enough yet?"

"Waaah...! Waaah...! Young Master, please forgive me...! Waaah...! You've finally settled down...! I'm so excited...! Waaah...!"

Qingdeng stood straight, with his arms outstretched to the left and right.

An elderly man, short in stature and with half-white hair, bustled around Qingdeng, helping him get dressed.

The old man skillfully put on his long trousers, tied his belt, and donned his haori.

This old man was none other than Kyubei, the old servant of the Tachibana family.

Since arriving in Luoyang, Qingdeng has kept this loyal old servant at the Shiwei Hall.

Two weeks ago, Kondo Shusuke, Obi, Otsune (Kondo Isami's wife), Kyubei and others, who came all the way from Edo, arrived as scheduled to attend Aoto's wedding.

The young master is getting married... This made Kyubei so excited that he couldn't contain himself and kept shedding tears.

Today, he volunteered to help Qingdeng change his clothes.

And so, he continued picking up the clothes one by one with his hands and feet, all the while sobbing uncontrollably.

And so, this scene unfolded.

Looking at Kyubei, who couldn't stop crying, Aoto's helplessness gradually turned into indescribable relief and emotion.

"Okay...okay...! My clothes are changed!"

"Young Master, how are you feeling? Does the belt feel too tight?"

Qingdeng lowered his outstretched arms and stood on tiptoe twice.

"It fits perfectly! Kyubei, thank you for your hard work."

"Ugh...! No, I don't deserve it...! Even if I were to die right now, it would be worth it to be able to personally help the young master change into these clothes!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Qingdeng half-jokingly teased him:

"Kyubei, on this joyous occasion, let's refrain from using such unpleasant words."

"I'm so sorry, young master! Please forgive me!"

The clothes that Aoto is wearing now are the first formal attire for Japanese men—the crested haori hakama.

The crest is the family crest, located on the front, back, sides, and sleeves of the haori.

The Tachibana family crest—the gentian leaf—is clearly visible on both sides of the chest, the back, and the two cuffs of the Aoto Haori.

The crested haori hakama consists of seven parts: haori, crested haori, sukakubi, hakama, tabi, sutomo, and shirohan.

During the Edo period, this outfit served as both formal attire and wedding dress for men.

Unless someone is destitute, they will grit their teeth and buy, rent, or borrow a set of crested haori (a type of traditional Japanese clothing) for their wedding day—this set of clothing is that important.

After briefly checking his attire, Qing Deng turned to Jiu Bingwei and said:

"Kyubei, I need to go out for a bit."

"Young Master, where are you going?"

"It's still early, and I'm just killing time anyway, so I'm thinking of going outside to say hello to some of the guests I know."

"I see. Then young master, please keep an eye on the time! The wedding will begin in half an hour!"

"Don't worry! This is the wedding I've been looking forward to for so long. I care about this wedding more than anyone else!"

After leaving those words, Qingdeng strode out of the room and came to the spacious open space outside the temple.

Looking around, one sees a large crowd.

Roughly speaking, there are at least a thousand people.

A wedding with thousands of guests... Such a grand affair is truly rare in the world.

Because the wedding date had been set well in advance, Qingdeng sent out invitations to various places two months ahead of time.

With ample time, the various factions scattered throughout Japan were able to send out their delegations at a leisurely pace.

Whether it's because they like or respect Qingdeng, or simply want to give Qingdeng face, the guests who have come here today come from all over the world and from all walks of life, making them extremely diverse.

First, there are the daimyo of various places—

From the Satsuma Domain in the south to the Matsumae Domain in the north, with the exception of the Choshu Domain, with which relations are not currently very good, almost all three hundred feudal lords sent envoys.

A very small number of feudal lords, such as Matsudaira Katamori and Uemura Ieyasu, even visited in person.

Uemura Ieho—the current lord of Takatori Castle.

Out of gratitude for the Shinsengumi's rescue of his domain, he is now very close to Aoto.

Secondly, there were the businessmen.

Thanks to Kinoshita Rin, Aoto's connections with the business community have deepened considerably.

Therefore, the wealthy merchants associated with Gourd House also rushed to offer their congratulations and best wishes.

The imperial envoy will certainly not be absent.

The envoy sent by the imperial court was the former Kanpaku, Kujo Naotada.

The former regent personally visited... the imperial court certainly gave him a lot of face.

The guests were all distinguished individuals, each more important than the last.

Unsurprisingly, even before the wedding began, the shrine transformed into a large, high-level social venue.

The guests... especially the shrewd businessmen, were busy running around, looking for "targets," exchanging pleasantries, expanding their networks, and having a great time.

Faced with the vast number of guests, Qingdeng turned his gaze, searching for familiar faces.

What a coincidence—he had barely raised his gaze when he spotted four familiar young faces staring straight at him…

Chiba Jutaro: "..."

Chiba Eijiro: "..."

Chiba Dosaburo: "..."

Chiba Tamon Shiro: "..."

The four young swordsmen of the Chiba family all wore expressionless, poker faces, staring intently at Aoto.

Qingdeng: "..."

In the blink of an eye, Qing Deng subtly averted his gaze, looking towards the distant horizon, and then instinctively took a half-step back!

"...Tachibana-kun, what a coincidence."

However... suddenly, a strong arm reached out from his right side and hooked around his left shoulder.

Chiba Eijiro, who was not far away just a second ago, "teleported" to Aoto's side in the next second. No one knows how he did it.

At first glance, he was simply arm in arm with Qingdeng, seemingly having a very good relationship.

However, Aoto, who was directly involved, could clearly feel that Chiba Eijiro's palm was secretly exerting force!

His hand gripped his shoulder like an iron clamp, as if preventing him from escaping!

Before Qingdeng could catch his breath, another strong and powerful arm appeared.

This time, she reached out from the left and hooked her arm around his right shoulder—

"Tachibana-kun, what's wrong?"

As Chiba Michizaburo spoke, he pressed his expressionless face and lifeless eyes close to Aoto's cheek—or rather, "the cheek that was sweating profusely."

After Chiba Michizaburo appeared, he and Chiba Eijiro took turns speaking, the two brothers singing in harmony—

He asked, "Why do you look like you want to leave?"

Rong: "From today onwards, we're your 'brothers-in-law'!"

He said, "That's great, we have another little brother now."

Rong: "This is a rare opportunity. Since it's still early, why not chat with my brothers-in-law a bit more?"

Whether it was pre-arranged or not, the two brothers each hooked their arms around one of Qingdeng's shoulders.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the veins on the hand that's gripping Qing Deng's shoulder are bulging... it's clear they're putting a lot of pressure on him.

Thus, rather than "arm in arm"... it was more like they were controlling Qingdeng from both sides, preventing him from leaving...

At that moment, Chiba Jutaro and Chiba Tamon Shiro walked over together.

One of them stood in front of Aoto (Chiba Jutaro), and the other stood behind Aoto (Chiba Tamon Shiro).

In this way, the four "Chiba" surrounded Qing Deng from four directions, leaving him nowhere to hide.

Qingdeng: "..."

Qingdeng remained silent... or rather, he was at a loss for words.

Even though he was so tall, at that moment he looked incredibly small...

After gaining Kinoshita Rin's approval and finalizing his marriage with Kinoshita Mai, Aoto immediately began working to "settle things over" with the parents of the other two girls.

To demonstrate his sincerity, he made a special effort to make time and travel back to Edo.

He first approached Souji's older sister, Okita Hikaru.

As Qing Deng had predicted, the negotiations between the two sides went smoothly.

He solemnly bowed, then offered his old-fashioned yet sincere lines:

"Miss Hikari! Please entrust Tsukasa to me!"

To this, Hikaru Okita merely sighed softly, and then said:

"...You must make Xiao Si happy."