I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Inari is the god of grains and food, and is in charge of the harvest.

Is praying to the "God of Agriculture" for marital happiness really effective?

As he pondered this, the wedding moved into its next phase: the shrine maiden dance.

As the name suggests, this ceremony is a dance offered to the gods.

Musicians played elegant music using the dragon flute, the reed pipe, and the phoenix pipe.

The shrine maidens, dressed in white robes and scarlet kimonos, danced gracefully to the music, performing the "Dance of Abundance."

Simply put, this is a dance that blesses the bride and groom.

Upon seeing the shrine maiden, Seito instinctively thought of Tenshōin.

Based on his friendship with Tokugawa Iemochi and Tenshōin, there was naturally no reason not to invite the mother and son to his wedding.

Tokugawa Iemochi declined directly—which was exactly what Aoto had expected.

Nowadays, Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu has become a recluse, Matsudaira Harugaku has resigned from his official post, and the "Hitotsubashi faction" is losing its power... Since his accession, Tokugawa Iemochi has for the first time integrated the various factions of the shogunate and become the "true" Shogun.

If he does not seize this rare window of opportunity to intensify efforts to clean up corruption and strengthen his capabilities, then his years of forbearance and hard work may be in vain.

At this critical moment, countless government affairs piled up on Tokugawa Iemochi's desk.

He's extremely busy these days and simply doesn't have the time to come to Kyoto.

However, as compensation, he sent Qingdeng a congratulatory gift—a whole bunch of tonics.

Korean ginseng, high-grade goji berries, tiger penis, deer penis, bear penis... and so on.

Upon seeing these tonics, Qingdeng's lips twitched involuntarily.

He vaguely heard Tokugawa Iemochi say to him: Come! Don't be shy! Quickly eat all these tonics! Hurry up and give birth to an heir!

On the other hand, Qingdeng has never been whipped before in his life.

I've never even seen it, let alone eaten it.

Therefore, despite his mixed feelings, he silently accepted Tokugawa Iemochi's gift, intending to savor these delicacies slowly later.

Incidentally, he was simply curious about the taste of these tonics and had no other intentions whatsoever.

Compared to Tokugawa Iemochi's explicit refusal, Tenshōin gave a vague response: "If I have time, I'll come over quietly."

As an old acquaintance of the other party, Qing Deng knew Tenshōin very well.

Given her quirky and mischievous personality, she wouldn't make a fuss even at the wedding. She would definitely hide secretly and then wait for an opportunity to give Qingdeng a "surprise".

In fact, the reason why Qing Deng left the room and went outside was not only to pass the time, but also to look for Tian Zhang Yuan.

Unexpectedly... instead of finding Tenshōin, they first encountered the "bride's entourage" led by "Chiba" and her friends...

Soon, the shrine maidens' dance came to an end.

In the earlier stages, it was mostly the shrine's priests who were busy with everything.

It involves both "purification" and "dance offering".

Qingdeng and the others basically just sat there, with nothing to do.

Fortunately, after the shrine maidens finish their dance, the bride and groom will feel much more involved in the following activities.

The first is the "Oath Cup Ceremony".

Simply put, it's drinking a toast together.

This "cross-cupped wine" is not the same as the traditional "cross-cupped wine" where the man and woman simply hold hands and drink together. It involves a whole set of complex steps.

The official name of the ceremony is "The Cup of Three Three Nine Degrees", or it is known as the "Ceremony of Three Offerings".

The bride and groom exchange three wine glasses before the gods, symbolizing their eternal marriage vows.

The exchange of glasses follows a fixed order: first glass for the groom → bride, second glass for the bride → groom, third glass for the groom → bride.

Odd numbers were considered auspicious in ancient times, so the idea of ​​"using three wine cups and drinking three times from each cup" was considered a lucky omen, with each cup being exchanged three times, totaling nine times.

The shrine maiden who pours the sake will tap the bottle three times before actually pouring the sake on the last time.

When the bride and groom are drinking, the first two sips are just a light peck at the glass, and the third sip is when they drink the wine.

The first cup is offered to the God who cares for the newlyweds.

The second cup is a tribute to our parents who raised us.

The third cup is for toasting relatives and friends.

Thus, each glass of wine carries a very profound meaning.

Qing Deng held a large, exquisite red wine glass, and the shrine maiden beside him poured wine for him with gentle movements.

The wine glass was already quite small, and the shrine maiden would only fill it halfway, not the whole glass.

This is only a small amount of alcohol, barely enough for half a sip.

Qing Deng obediently followed etiquette, emptying the wine glass in three separate gulps before handing it to Kinoshita Mai on his left.

The seating arrangement of Aoto and the three women is as follows—from right to left: Aoto, Kinoshita Mai, Souji, and Sanako.

There was no particular reason for adopting this seating arrangement; it was simply arranged according to the order in which they "met Qingdeng".

Aoto first met Kinoshita Mai, then Souji, and finally Sanako.

In this way, the major problem of "who should sit next to Qingdeng" can be solved fairly, and no one will have any complaints.

The shrine maiden moved to Kinoshita Mai's side and poured her some sake.

buzzing buzzing...

Suddenly, Qingdeng heard a strange sound.

At first, he thought it was bees.

But upon looking in the direction of the sound, he realized it wasn't the buzzing of bees, but rather Kinoshita Mai's trembling hands...

Fortunately, the cup was only half full, otherwise it would have spilled all over the floor. At this moment, Qing Deng seemed to understand why the priestess only poured half a cup of wine.

Kinoshita Mai's hands were shaking violently, like shaking a sieve.

So much so that after receiving the glass, the glass made a strange "buzzing" sound as it was shaken violently.

Because his face was covered by a large white cotton hat, Aoto couldn't see Kinoshita Mai's current expression.

But he guessed that his face must have turned pale from extreme tension.

A magnificent temple, thousands of guests, a once-in-a-lifetime wedding... it's understandable that the introverted Kinoshita Ball would feel nervous.

Seeing this, Qingdeng lowered his voice and softly comforted him:

"Ah Wu, don't be afraid, just follow the steps I just explained."

After listening to Aoto's encouragement, Kinoshita Mai's "shaking hands" improved slightly.

She closed her eyes tightly, quickly drank the wine in her glass in three gulps, and then handed the glass to the next person, the chief.

Qing Deng thought that the carefree and easygoing Souji wouldn't be nervous.

But unexpectedly—

buzzing buzzing...

The same "bee buzzing"...

However, despite her nervousness, she didn't slow down at all.

She had barely taken the glass when she finished drinking it as instructed before handing it to the last person.

Before accepting the glass, Sanako muttered in a helpless yet confident tone:

"Seriously...why are you so nervous? It's just a wedding, it's not a big deal."

As she spoke, she stretched out her slender hand with a spirited air and took the wine glass in her hand.

Then--

buzzing buzzing...

Qingdeng: "..."

Kinoshita Mai: "..."

Souji: "..."

One man and two women stared blankly at Sanako, who, apart from her wildly trembling hands, remained completely still, as if petrified.

Sanako stared intently at the wine glass in her hand, remaining silent and still.

After a while, she slowly finished drinking the wine and then calmly returned the cup to the priestess.

Aoto belatedly realized that Sanako's nerves were quite resilient—after being slapped in the face at lightning speed, she was still able to put on a calm demeanor as if nothing had happened.

Finally, after changing three wine glasses and each person drinking nine times, the "Oath Cup Ceremony" came to an end.

Next comes another very important and indispensable step – the reading of the oath.

Just from the name, you can tell what this part is about.

The groom took out the vows he had prepared beforehand and read them aloud in front of everyone.

Interestingly, Aoto's oath was written by Kiryu.

"I've attended many weddings before, so I've learned how to write wedding vows." — Kiryu's boss said.

As expected of Kiryu-sensei! He can even write wedding vows! — Qing Deng said this with admiration as he entrusted this important task to Kiryu-sensei.

Whether to enhance the sense of ceremony or for some other reason, the vow personally crafted by Kiryu's boss was written in ancient Japanese, a style dating back a thousand years...

Qingdeng didn't recognize most of the words in it.

He practiced repeatedly before he could finally read the oath fluently.

Qingdeng took out a neatly folded oath from his pocket, unfolded it, cleared his throat, and then loudly and clearly proclaimed:

"We have chosen this auspicious day to hold our wedding."

"From this day forward, we will respect and love one another, form a family, share joys and sorrows, and remain so forever."

"May we be happy forever, and we solemnly pledge this to each other."