On April 18, the fifth year of Tianwen (1536), in the mountainous area of Shile County, Sanhe State.
"What is your Highness doing?"
In the distance, Tsuchizune, who was leading the ninjas to secretly protect Imagawa Ujimoto, saw that there was an inexplicable addition of a man and a woman in the team, and they couldn't get rid of him. He complained very dissatisfiedly, "How can you just drag strangers along with you?"
"Forget it, let's protect them together."
·
However, Imagawa Ujimoto, who had a beautiful woman by his side, could not understand the anxiety of his subordinates at all. Nakasugi Torachiyo and Hayasaka Nao were leading the way, while Imagawa Ujimoto and Ginkgo were chatting in the back. After chatting for a day and a night, it was not enough, and they were actually quite speculative.
"Why did Miss Ginkgo and your brother complain so much about your father before?" Imagawa Ujimoto suddenly remembered Ginkgo's complaints yesterday.
"Because my father is indeed such a bastard." Ginkgo frowned when she talked about her father, accusing him of his evil deeds endlessly:
"I know that he is the head of the family, and I know that it is not easy for the family to survive in troubled times, and I understand many of his actions, but there is really no need to go to this extent. He is militaristic, killing innocent people indiscriminately, and has no regard for the people. They live and die just to expand their territory. They are also ruthless to our children, and they may not come to see us a few times a year. I bet that if I die, I can give him half a county of land, oh no, even if it is A small town, he can’t wait to do it himself.”
"That's quite similar to my family." Imagawa felt the same way, and couldn't help but complain, "In our Kanto area, children who are not the eldest son in the family have to be sent out as a monk according to the rules. Jiayan and Jiaci are just a few years old in my life. He kicked me out when I was 10 years old. After that, he didn't even visit me once for more than ten years, and he never wrote me a letter. He even really wanted to kill me in order to prevent me from taking over the position of head of the family. How can a man do this even if the beast licks its calf? If you treat your children like this, why did you have to give birth to me?"
"Haha, if you don't have children, what tools can you use? Whether it's as a hostage, whether it's about strengthening branch lines, whether it's about sending them for marriage... in their eyes, children are only used to serve the interests of the family." Ginkgo seems to be more powerful than the Imagawa family. Yuan Youyou is deeply disgusted.
"He talks a lot about family interests and doesn't talk about family ties at all. If he has an affair with his children, it will be regarded as a great shame and a great humiliation. But he doesn't know that he is no longer like a human, but closer to an animal." Imagawa Ujimoto thought of all his experiences and held his right hand tightly. With the folding fan on his waist, he could barely hold back the curse, "This family interest is simply..."
"It's just bullshit." Ginkgo fiercely helped Imagawa Shimoto fill in the second half of the sentence that he was embarrassed to say, and then seemed to have calmed down and was silent for a long time. After a long time, she turned around and looked at Imagawa Ujimoto again with a different eye:
"I didn't expect that I would have to find a soulmate. I thought that in this troubled times in the Wu family, I would not be able to find a 'person'. My younger brother was also angry at his father's cold-bloodedness when he was a child, but when he grew up, he became more and more dissatisfied with his father. For example, the same is true for the children around me. When I was a child, I would cry for ten days because one or two elders in the clan were killed in battle. When I grow up, I will laugh for half a year when I make one or two enemies outside. As everyone knows, , the heads in their hands are also other people’s fathers and brothers..."
"Maybe it's because I've been living in the temple. Maybe after being nurtured in the martial arts environment for a few years, I've become complicit." Imagawa Ujimoto sighed with a wry smile, crossed his arms behind his head, and stretched hard. After a while, he said, "I have no ambitions or ambitions. I don't want to be the world leader, I don't want to dominate one party, and I don't want my martial arts name to go down in history. I just want to live a good life, play Cuju, admire paintings, and enjoy the beauty of life." . So every day I think about escaping from the Wu family and returning to that pure temple. But gradually there are people in the family who care about me, and I can’t rest assured. I’m afraid it will be difficult to leave."
"Who isn't? Who doesn't want to escape? If you can escape..." Ginkgo's voice gradually became softer, and in the end it was almost inaudible. She lowered her head feebly. The sorrow between her eyebrows was completely different from that of the lively girl before. Two people. After a while, she confided in a low voice:
"For the sake of marriage alliance, my father wanted to marry me to a stranger I had never met."
"Huh?" Imagawaji Yuan was stunned for a moment. It took him a long time to realize what "marry" meant and what "marriage alliance" meant. His heart seemed to have hit rock bottom.
"Political engagement, a girl from the Wu family in troubled times, who can escape?" Ginkgo's eyes seemed to be filled with tears, and she raised her head to look at the clear sky. The mood got up, and the chatterbox opened up, "Since I was sensible, I had to learn those annoying etiquette and be instilled with the consciousness of a Wu family woman. When I reached the age, I would be put on the table like a bargaining chip, waiting for my father and brother to consider the pros and cons before marrying a capable woman. Marrying a complete stranger to a family that brings the greatest benefit."
"There is no time to enjoy the best years of one's youth, no time to pursue the 'love' and 'happiness' that only appear in books. Living cautiously in a strange family thousands of miles away from home is like being imprisoned in a cage. The birds in the sky are just to maintain the alliance that will be broken due to new interests at any time. The days after the alliance is broken will be looked down upon and not welcomed."
"If the alliance is lucky enough to be maintained, and you can become the head wife of the family, there will be no good life for a moment. What is waiting for you is endless childbirth, sending your son to the battlefield with a narrow escape, and then watching your husband care for your daughter. Choose another family you have never met, send your raised daughter away with your own hands, and watch her embark on the same fate as yourself."
Imagawa Shimoto was stunned. Although there are no gorgeous words in Ginkgo's words, the words soaked in sadness and despair make people feel even more powerless. They also make people see countless poor women struggling with their fate, and see the miserable women in troubled times. them. My mother, isn't she one of them... Did she also know that she couldn't escape her fate, so she finally chose to join in the evil deeds to take revenge on the Wu family society? Become more cold-blooded than men?
"Who doesn't want to escape? But where to escape? Aren't all martial arts families in the world the same?" Ginkgo sighed longly and carefully wiped her unnoticeable tears, "Sometimes it's really good. I envy you...why bother to be born as a girl..."
As if she felt that the topic was too heavy, and that she shouldn't talk so much to a stranger she had just met, Ginkgo shook her head, and arranged her temples and bangs with her hands again. When she raised her head again, her face had already changed. He lost his usual lazy and leisurely smile. But this fake smile made Imagawa Shimoto feel even more distressed.
"I'm sorry, sir, I shouldn't have complained so much."
"Why do you still call me 'Mr.' instead of 'Mr. Shinagawa'?" Imagawa Ujimoto also changed the topic knowingly, "Just call me 'Mr.', there is no such weird grammar."
"People from the mountains are not good at rhetoric and grammar, don't blame the elegant city people." Ginkgo smiled and shook his head, then looked at Imagawa Ujimoto, "Besides, 'Shinagawa' is fake, right? How could a son of the Wu family meet a stranger? Why did he declare his family status later? Our 'Zhongshan' is also fake."
"Haha, Miss Ginkgo speaks directly." Imagawa Shimoto nodded with a wry smile.
"I usually don't like to tell lies. It's just that in the troubled times, the martial arts family lied so much that even their relatives were deceived. I couldn't stand it." It seemed that she was tired from talking too much. Ginkgo yawned, and Imagawa Ujimoto handed over his kettle. After giving it to Ginkgo, Ginkgo said "thank you" and after taking a sip of water, he joked casually, "'Shinagawa' is fake, but 'Mr.' can't be fake, right? Although you have a good-looking appearance, sir, you don't look the same." When a woman disguises herself as a man, it’s not wrong to call her ‘sir’.”
Ginkgo's words amused Imagawa Ujimoto, "Okay, if Miss Ginkgo likes to be called 'Mr.', just 'Mr.'"
"Hey, Tora Chiyo." After walking a few steps, Ginkgo seemed to feel even more tired, so she waved weakly and shouted, "I'm too tired, let's rest for a while before leaving."
"Sister, I haven't walked a few steps, why should I rest again?" Nakasugi Torachiyo turned around dissatisfied, only to find that Ginkgo had already sat down on the bluestone under the tree. Imagawa Ujimoto waved to Hayasaka Nao and called him back. When Imagawa Ujimoto turned back to look at Ginkgo, he found that the girl had curled up into a ball and fell asleep quickly.
"It's true..." Imagawa Shimoto didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "I was chatting happily just now, and suddenly I fell asleep."
"My sister always likes to sleep lazily and fall asleep. She even fell asleep on a horse before." Nakasugi Tora Chiyo explained helplessly to Imagawa Ujimoto, "Mr. Shinagawa, please be considerate."
"Since we are friends, just call me 'Goro'." Ginkgo's statement just now that he doesn't like lying seems to have touched Imagawa Shimoto. He is also a person who always treats others sincerely, and it is a bit unpleasant to hear the false name "Shinagawa" too many times. .
"Haha, I read that right. Goro is indeed a cheerful person. Well, Goro, please call me Tora Chiyo." Nakasugi Tora Chiyo responded boldly and without delay.
"So Tora Chiyo, what do you think about political marriage?" Imagawa Ujimoto seemed to be quite touched by the topic just now.
"What? Isn't that a normal thing?" Nakasugi Tiger Chiyo laughed dumbly, "What do you think of this?"
"I mean...compared to those marriages that started out of love in private..." Imagawa Yoshimoto said carefully, not knowing how to describe it. After all, he didn't know the expression "free love".
"Haha, that's too little. It only exists in books." Nakasugi Tora Chiyo understood what Imagawa Yoshimoto meant, but just shook her head, "Even if there is no political marriage, how can the marriage be decided by the junior himself? Not all Is it the parents’ orders or the matchmaker’s words? What’s the difference?”
"My parents' orders and the matchmaker's words are all about choosing a suitable one, but political marriages are obviously for the benefit of the family." Imagawa Yoshimoto took out the folding fan from his waist and tapped his thigh irritably.
"We haven't even met each other in person, so even a fortune teller can pick the right one? You're just deceiving yourself." Nakasugi Tora Chiyo laughed when she heard this, "It's all the same. There won't be a chance to pursue true love anyway, so it might as well be Make some contributions to the interests of the family. At least if the family becomes stronger, it will not treat you badly in the future."
