I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Then Ootsuki Minoru married another man.

Unbeknownst to Hara Tachibana Aoto, Otsuki Minoru had long been flirting with a young, wealthy businessman from Nara named Otsuki Tsunetsugu.

Despite the fact that the shogunate and feudal lords had been trying every means to promote the so-called samurai glory and ensure the privileged status of samurai in order to maintain their rule, no matter how much they promoted or publicized it, they could not change the reality that most samurai lived in poverty, nor could they change people's instinctive pursuit of a better life.

Since the development of the times and the changes in the world, businessmen have amassed a lot of wealth by taking advantage of the flaws in the system and the rise of capitalism, and have lived a luxurious life that ordinary people dare not even dream of. As a result, the "money worship" trend has inevitably swept across every part of the country.

Many people no longer pursue the glory of the samurai family or the spirit of Bushido, but instead chase after money and a luxurious material life.

Even today, many young women would rather marry a wealthy businessman than a samurai who is penniless except for so-called status and honor—Ōtsuki Minoru is such a person.

Although the so-called social hierarchy of "scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants" has long been a mere formality, merchants still hold the lowest political status in the community.

However, for those big businessmen, having a low political status is no big deal!

To make a living, many lower-ranking samurai who were too poor to do anything else and dared not engage in dangerous work were forced to sell the swords they carried.

If selling the sword can't solve the problem of food, then sell the only valuable thing left on your person: your samurai family name.

Samurai family names sold far better than samurai swords.

Many wealthy businessmen who want to enhance their image are quite happy to spend a little money to buy a samurai family name.

Many wealthy merchants used various methods, such as "buying samurai status" and "adopting samurai as sons," to change their family's social standing, transforming themselves from "merchants" into "samurai."

The young, wealthy businessman named Ōtsuki Tsunetsugu, whom Ōtsuki Minoru married, is a prime example.

Their family was originally just a merchant family without even a surname. After their business grew, they bought the family name from a samurai family with the surname "Dayue". From then on, their family was able to identify themselves as Dayuezhi.

Otsuki Minoru, who covets the Otsuki family's wealth, frequently flirts with Otsuki Tsuneji, displaying a passion that "Haru Tachibana Aoto" has never seen or tasted before.

Not long after, Ootsuki Minoru got engaged and married to Tsuneji.

The girl he loved finally got married to someone else, but that person wasn't him... This was a huge blow to Hara Tachibana Aoto.

Moreover, the news of Otsuki Minoru's marriage reached Hara Tachibana Seito's ears not long after his father, Tachibana Takayuki, had just died of illness...

The reason why Hara Tachibana Seito's performance in the Northern Frontier was so poor was closely related to the fact that he suffered a series of mentally devastating setbacks during that period and was unable to fully recover from them.

My father died early, and I have no close relatives left...

Still grieving the passing of his father, he then hears the news that the girl he has long admired is going to marry someone else…

Both family ties and romantic relationships have suffered devastating changes...

Frankly speaking, it is quite remarkable that Hara Tachibana Aoto has been able to maintain a relatively normal mental state after experiencing this series of dramatic changes in his life.

Fortunately, "Yuanju Qingdeng" realized his mistake and returned to the right path.

After Otsuki Minoru got married, he finally saw through her wicked nature and resolutely broke off all contact with her, finally showing some backbone that a man should have.

No matter how you look at it, I am now one with "Haru Tachibana Aoto".

Aoto naturally harbored no goodwill towards Ootsuki Minoru, who had cruelly toyed with Aoto Haraju's feelings.

"Let's just ignore this scumbag woman," Qing Deng thought seriously about this question.

However, after hesitating for a while, Qingdeng gave up the idea of ​​ignoring the woman.

I don't want to reminisce with that scumbag woman.

Instead, I wanted to ask this scumbag woman a question.

"...Ashi, long time no see." Qing Deng said indifferently, his face expressionless. "What are you doing here?"

After marrying Ōtsuki Tsunetsugu, Ōtsuki Minoru moved his entire family, including his parents, to Nara, no longer residing in Edo.

"My husband and his friends came to Edo to discuss business."

Ootsuki Minoru's lips curled up in a smile, but there was no real joy in her eyes.

"So I accompanied my husband on a long-awaited trip back to Edo."

"It just so happened to be the day of the fireworks display, so I took the opportunity to visit the park and watch the fireworks with my husband and his friends."

When she spoke of the words "husband" and "business," Ootsuki Minoru's tone revealed a faint sense of pride and superiority, and her fairly full chest was slightly pushed forward.

Aoto doesn't care what kind of life Ootsuki Minoru is living right now.

After giving a curt "I see," he quickly raised a new question.

"How is your father? How has he been lately?"

This is the question that Seito wanted to ask Otsuki Minoru.

If it weren't for his concern for Ootsuki Minoru's father, Aoto might have completely ignored her and simply turned and left.

Although Otsuki Minori treated Hara Tachibana Aoto very badly, his father, Miyagawa Shunzo, always treated his old friend's only son very well.

Hara Tachibana Aoto still owes Miyagawa Shunzo a great debt of gratitude.

After Tachibana Takayuki passed away, Miyagawa Shunzo provided a great deal of care for Hara Tachibana Aoto.

He helped preside over Tachibana Takayuki's funeral and secretly slipped money and food to "Yuan Tachibana Aoto" to help him through his financial difficulties...

Miyagawa Shunzo also played a significant role in enabling "Haru Tachibana Seito" to successfully take over Tachibana Takayuki's position at the Hokuban-sho (Northern Frontier Office).

This elder is good in every way, except that he is not good at handling family relationships and does not know how to get along with his family.

Miyagawa Shunzo had no idea how to educate his child, so he adopted a completely laissez-faire approach, letting Otsuki Minoru "grow wildly".

Ootsuki Minoru rarely had any close communication with her estranged father.

As far as Qing Deng knows, Miyagawa Shunzo only found out that his daughter was in a relationship with a Nara merchant after Otsuki Minoru and Otsuki Tsunetsugu had already discussed marriage.

Qing Deng thought: The reason why Otsuki Minoru has such an extremely selfish and egotistical personality may be related to the lack of family education.

After Miyagawa Shunzo moved to Nara with Otsuki Minoru, Aoto never heard any news about this gentle old man again.

Out of concern for this elder who had been kind to him, Qing Deng asked Otsuki Minoru this question.

"?!"

A look of astonishment suddenly appeared on Ootsuki Minoru's face.

She scrutinized Qingdeng from head to toe with the same look she would give a stranger.

After a short while, she said softly:

"My father is doing well. He is in good health and is practicing calligraphy diligently every day to cultivate his character."

"Is that so...that's good."

"Ju, are you here to see the fireworks too?"

"Yeah. I came here with some friends."

"You... seem a little different."

Ootsuki Minoru once again cast that gaze, as if he were observing a stranger, upon Aoto.

"After all, we haven't seen each other for over a year, so it's normal for our appearances to have changed a bit. You've changed too, your hairstyle has changed."

"I'm not referring to changes in appearance, I'm referring to... the feeling you give off seems to have changed..."

Qingdeng raised an eyebrow slightly.

"You...don't know what's been happening in Edo lately?"

“I only returned to Edo yesterday evening.” Ōtsuki Minoru blinked, puzzled. “Has anything major happened in Edo recently?”

"...No. It's nothing." Qing Deng smiled knowingly. "If you don't know, then so be it."

—I almost forgot that this is an era where information exchange is very inconvenient...

Otsuki Minoru and his family now reside in Nara, which is located about halfway across Japan from Edo. Although Nara is also a large city, in terms of population flow and the speed of information exchange, it cannot compare with megacities like Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka.

In this era where you might not know what big news has happened recently unless you specifically inquire, it's normal that Otsuki Minoru, who is currently living in Nara, is unaware of Aoto's various activities in recent months.

Having learned about Miyagawa Shunzo's current life, and having achieved his goal, Aoto completely lost interest in speaking to Otsuki Minoru anymore.

Just then, a familiar red figure appeared in the crowd in the distance, catching Qingdeng's eye out of the corner of his eye.

"Ashi, it seems my friend is back. Excuse me, I'll have to go now. We'll meet again someday."

After leaving those words, without waiting for Ootsuki Minoru's reply, Qing Deng picked up the two cups of sweet water he had bought from the tea stall, turned around, and plunged into the crowd beside him.

"Huh? Hello..."

Ootsuki Minoru's "Hey!" crashed into the empty space in front of him, blending into the stifling air.

She stared blankly ahead, where Qingdeng had disappeared from sight, then her face contorted with anger and embarrassment as she stomped her foot hard.

"What's going on...! I'm the one who comes over to say hello, and you, you 'idiot'... what are you putting on airs for...!"

"Xiao Shi, I've finally found you! Weren't you going to buy tea? What are you doing here?"

"Ah, my husband."

Following the sound, Ootsuki turned around and looked at the four young people striding towards her.

The leader of the four youths had two ornately decorated swords at his waist, and his clothes were as magnificent as his swords. His glossy black hair was neatly combed into a chonmage style, and his features were quite handsome.

This person was none other than Ōtsuki Minoru's husband: Ōtsuki Tsuneji.

“I ran into an old friend,” Otsuki Minoru told the truth, “so I came over to say hello.”

"An old friend?" Changci blinked. "Who?"

"Heh, it's that 'Dumbhead Deng' that I used to mention to you all the time."

Ootsuki Minoru's eyes and tone revealed undisguised contempt and mockery.

“‘Dummy’… Oh!” Changci slapped the exceptionally smooth forehead made of his shaved head with a light but firm touch. “That big idiot who keeps having the delusion of ‘wanting to marry you’ without even realizing it…”

After saying that, Tsuneji revealed a contemptuous expression that was exactly in sync with Otsuki Minoru's.

Is he still here?

"He's already gone, saying he went to see a friend. Ha, what a surprise, that dull, silly guy actually has friends he can meet up with to watch fireworks."

"He's already gone... What a pity. I was hoping to see what this fool, whom I've admired for so long, actually looks like."

“Ootsuki-kun.” A rather short young man standing next to Tsuneji interjected, “Who is this ‘Dumbhead Deng’ you’re talking about?”

The three young men standing around Changci were all his friends.

"Oh, she's my childhood sweetheart who's prone to self-delusion and doesn't know her own worth."