I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

"This alley is so dark, we can't see anything clearly. Let's drag this body out first!"

"Okay. I'll grab the left foot, and you grab the right foot."

Like dragging away some kind of garbage, the four fire-thieves, now disguised as constables, roughly pulled Jinno's body away from the alley...

……

……

10 days later—

The first year of Wanyan (1860), December 1th——

Edo, Jin'ido, Seito's ward—

"Hiss... Mr. Northern, please be gentle..."

Qingdeng, who couldn't help but gasp in pain, gave a bitter smile to a handsome young man in front of him.

"I'm sorry." The handsome young man wearing a cloth mask looked up at Aoto, his eyes full of apology. "I'll be more careful next time. Kosaki, Kosaki."

“Yes.” A beautiful girl, also wearing a cloth mask, sitting next to the handsome young man, handed him a clean cloth that she had prepared earlier.

Ten days ago, with the deaths of Kanna and Kamaitachi, the series of turmoil caused by the Extermination Group finally came to an end. The badly injured Aoto was immediately sent to Jin'i-do, the most famous medical clinic in Edo at the time.

The name of Renyitang was known to almost every person in Edo.

The founder and chief physician of Renyitang is a renowned doctor who is only 27 years old this year: Beifang Ren.

Speaking of Kita Jin, he was quite a famous figure in Edo.

He was proficient in both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine... that is, he was proficient in both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine.

They can not only diagnose patients and prescribe traditional Chinese medicine, but also perform advanced surgical procedures on patients using medical instruments such as scalpels and forceps.

In a time when people who understand traditional Chinese medicine are still very scarce, doctors like Beifangren, who are proficient in both Chinese and traditional Chinese medicine and have extremely high attainments in both, are even rarer than giant pandas.

Because of his exceptional medical skills and high medical ethics, Kita Jin treated all patients equally and with utmost care, regardless of whether they were noble samurai or lowly Eta. As a result, Kita Jin and his Jin-i-do clinic enjoyed a very high reputation in Edo.

Treating knife wounds is one of Bei Fangren's specialties, so sending Qing Deng, who has suffered multiple wounds, to Renyi Hall for treatment by Bei Fangren is definitely the right choice.

At this moment, the handsome young man sitting in front of Qingdeng was none other than the famous Northern Ren.

The beautiful young woman sitting next to Kita Jin, who was responsible for assisting him, was Kita Jin's assistant and the only female doctor in the clinic: Tachibana Saki.

With Tachibana Saki's help, Kita Jin carefully wiped away the solidified ointment that had been applied to Aoto's stitched wound.

Because the cloth used to apply the ointment would inevitably scrape against Qingdeng's wound, Qingdeng would often twitch his mouth in pain.

"Tachibana-kun, would you like some konpeito?"

Okita, who was sitting on the edge of Aoto's bed, reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cloth bag full of konpeito (Japanese candy).

"Eating something sweet to distract yourself will make the pain less."

Aoto had no appetite for cloyingly sweet foods like konpeito, so he had to politely decline Okita's suggestion.

Qingdeng felt that time was passing by exceptionally slowly. After a long and arduous ordeal, he finally managed to scrape off all the solidified ointment from his wounds.

While pondering, Bei Fangren carefully examined each of Qing Deng's wounds.

After examining Qing Deng's knife wound, he turned to check the muscles in Qing Deng's limbs and other areas.

Because he pushed his body too hard in the fight, Qing Deng suffered muscle strains of varying degrees all over his body, especially in his right hand and right foot.

After thoroughly examining Qing Deng's body, Bei Fangren nodded gently with a smile in his eyes:

"Mr. Ju, your recovery ability is quite impressive."

"The wounds are healing very well, and there are no signs of inflammation."

"The muscles have also recovered very well."

"At this rate, you should be fully recovered in about one or two months."

The good recovery from physical injuries is all thanks to the talent "Body Fitness," which has the effect of "possessing outstanding injury recovery speed."

Knowing he possessed such a talent, Qingdeng's rapid recovery from injuries was entirely within his expectations.

"Mr. Northern, how much longer do I have to stay at Renyitang before I can go home?"

To facilitate his treatment, Qingdeng temporarily stayed at Renyitang at the suggestion of Beifangren.

As one of the largest medical clinics in Edo, Jin'i-do has a fairly large "inpatient area".

These days, Aoto has been hospitalized at Jinyitang Hospital, and his daily life is mainly taken care of by his old servant, Kyubei. Okita and his friends visit Aoto from time to time.

That's why Okita was by Aoto's bedside at that moment.

Because Renyitang in the north never treats patients with special status, all of its inpatient wards are spacious eight-person rooms.

However, Qing Deng was very lucky. There were not many patients hospitalized at Renyitang at the moment, and there were no other "tenants" in the ward where he was staying. He was able to enjoy a spacious ward all to himself.

"Hmm... just to be on the safe side, why don't you stay here for another 10 days?"

Kita Jin gestured to Tachibana Saki beside him. Understanding the meaning of Kita Jin's gesture, Tachibana Saki quickly handed Kita Jin a notebook and a slightly worn fountain pen from her bosom.

Beifang Jin took the notebook and pen, and while writing something in the notebook, he continued to speak to Qing Deng.

"If your injury is still healing well in 10 days, then you can go home."

Doctor's orders cannot be ignored... Since the attending physician suggested "it would be best to stay for another 10 days", Qingdeng had no choice but to obediently comply.

Having finished examining Qing Deng's injuries, Bei Fangren, who had many other patients waiting for him to see, naturally wouldn't linger in Qing Deng's ward any longer.

With Tachibana Saki's help, Kita Jin skillfully applied his special ointment to Aoto's wound.

After applying the ointment and wrapping the wound with burlap, having completed the dressing change for the day, Kita Jin led Tachibana Saki away from Aoto's ward.

Before leaving, Bei Fangren didn't forget to give a few more words of advice, such as "drink more water" and "try to eat a light diet."

With the departure of the two doctors, the ward, now occupied only by Aoto and Okita, was instantly enveloped in silence.

"We're staying for another 10 days..."

Qingdeng let out a long breath, leaned back, and lay back on his hospital bed.

"Tachibana-kun, don't you like living here?"

Okita took out his ever-present konpeito (Japanese candy) and started crunching on it.

“Who would like staying in a clinic?” Qing Deng glanced helplessly at Okita. “Don’t you think the smell here is awful? If I could go back to Shieikan now, I would have rushed back immediately.”

The air in Renyitang was always filled with a strong smell of medicinal herbs. Even though he had been living there for nearly 10 days, Qingdeng still hadn't gotten used to the smell.

Okita sniffed: "Hmm... the smell here is indeed not very pleasant. Let's just bear with it a little longer. Didn't the doctor just say that we can leave after staying for another 10 days?"

Pat, pat, pat, pat...

Just as Okita finished speaking, footsteps sounded outside the ward. Familiar footsteps, the kind that Aoto couldn't possibly mistake.

Aoto and Okita reflexively looked toward the door.

Immediately afterwards, the sliding door to the ward opened.

The one who appeared was Qing Deng's old servant, Jiu Bingwei.

"Young Master, I've finished washing the clothes." As he spoke, Jiubingwei carried a cloth bag and quickly walked to Qingdeng's bedside.

The reason why Kyubei, who had been taking care of Aoto's daily life, was not there after Aoto was hospitalized was because he went to do Aoto's laundry.

To make it easier for hospitalized patients to do laundry and change clothes, Renyitang has set up a "laundry room" specifically for the use of patients' families.

Kyubei just went to the "laundry room" to wash Aoto's dirty clothes.

"Young Master, I just saw Mr. Beifang in the corridor. Did he come to change your dressing? Did he ask how your injuries are healing? Did he say when you can leave here?"

Kyubei bombarded Aoto with a barrage of questions in one breath.

Qing Deng patiently answered each of the questions raised by Jiu Bingwei.

Upon learning that Kita Jin had personally confirmed that "Seido's health has recovered well," Kyubei showed a relieved expression.

"That's good." Kyubei nodded gently. "If we can stay for another 10 days, then we can stay for another 10 days. It's good to stay longer so that we can feel more at ease."

"Kyubei, I'll have to trouble you to suffer here with me for another 10 days," Qing Deng said half-jokingly.

Qing Deng knew that Jiu Bingwei also disliked the strong medicinal smell here.

"Young Master, what are you saying?" Kyubei smiled simply.

Kyubei wanted to say something more, but he could only say this much. Footsteps sounded again outside the ward.

The footsteps that came this time were quite numerous... there were three in total.

Hearing the three sudden footsteps, Qingdeng raised an eyebrow and then couldn't help but smile.

These three footsteps, like the footsteps of Kyubei just now, were footsteps that Qing Deng was very familiar with, footsteps that he could not mistake.

dong dong dong.

The sliding door to the ward was knocked on three times rhythmically.

"Tachibana-kun, are you there?"

"I'm here." Qing Deng, who already knew who the visitors were, responded loudly, "Lord Arima, please come in."

After obtaining Qingdeng's permission to enter the room, the sliding door of the ward was pushed open with a "whoosh," and three adult men of different builds filed in.

"Lord Arima, you've all arrived." Aoto unconsciously revealed a relaxed smile.

Those who entered were three veteran officials from Qingdeng: Arima, Inoya, and Ushiyama.

"Hey, good morning, Ju." Zhu Gu, carrying a large watermelon, grinned at Qing Deng. "Here, a treat. You and your friends can take it and eat it later."

After saying that, Inugami placed the large watermelon in his hand next to Seido's bedside.

Okita, who was crunching away like a hamster while eating a konpeito, was now staring at the large watermelon, which was of excellent color and appearance, with shining eyes.

Sweet watermelon... This is one of Okita's favorite fruits, as he has a sweet tooth.

Summer has arrived, and it's the peak season for watermelons.

Watermelons were not considered expensive or luxurious fruits during the Edo period; the average price of a watermelon ranged from 32 to 100 mon.

Arima and his two companions greeted Kyubei and Okita upon entering the ward, and then sat down beside Aoto's bed.

During Aoto's hospitalization, his three senior colleagues often visited him, so Aoto was not surprised by Arima and the others' sudden visit.