After winning seventeen battles in a row, the exhausted Imagawa Ujimoto finally chose to abandon the match. The crowd of spectators immediately lamented in frustration, and the long queue of challengers who wanted to challenge were even more regretful. But a moment later, the entire Cuju arena burst into thunderous applause and cheers for Imagawa Shimoto, paying tribute to the ancient capital of Kyoto, the world's number one Cuju player.
After taking several detours, under the cover of ninjas, Imagawa Shimoto managed to escape the pursuit of fans, returned to his hotel, and took a comfortable bath to wash away the sweat odor from his body. Only then did he have time to go back to the room and open the gift bag he had won just now, wanting to see what prizes were inside.
"Sir?" At this moment, Ginkgo also opened the door and found Imagawa Shimoto looking at the package, so he asked with a smile, "How is it? What good stuff do you have?"
"There is Jinpei candy, which is imported and delicious." Imagawa Shimoto said with a vague smile to Ginkgo with the candy in his mouth.
"Jinpingtang? I've never heard of it! But I like sweets the most." Ginkgo was delighted when she heard this, and immediately came to Imagawa Ujimoto's side, "Where is it? Give me one quickly!"
Imagawa Ujimoto then reached for it and handed Ginkgo a sapphire blue wrapping paper. But after Ginkgo opened the package with great expectations, he found that there was only a small stone inside. He immediately turned his head and looked at Imagawa Ujimoto with his little mouth pouted.
"Just this one." Imagawa Shigen smiled evilly and brought the Jinpei candy to his mouth, then put it back into his mouth, "It doesn't have any share for you."
The teased Ginkgo put her hands on her hips, tilted her head slightly, and looked angry. This cute look made Imagawa Shimoto amused. Ginkgo looked at Imagawa Shimoto's warm and sunny smile, and suddenly felt a little lost.
The next moment, Imagawa Shimoto's lips only felt a soft touch - Ginkgo's dexterous tongue flicked in his mouth and stole the piece of gold flat candy. When Imagawa Ujimoto came back to his senses, he realized that Ginkgo had already taken half a step away. He was teasing the trophy Jinping candy with the tip of his tongue with a smile. He looked at Imagawa Ujimoto proudly and asked in a soft and charming voice. :
"Sir, is it sweet?"
Imagawa Ujimoto looked at the girl's graceful figure and charming smile, and suddenly kissed her, plundering the candy and the sweetness of the girl. Ginkgo exclaimed, before she could stop her, she fell into the gentle land.
…
It wasn't until the candy melted in his hot mouth that Imagawa Shimoto reluctantly let go of the ginkgo and chuckled: "It's very sweet."
"Sir, you are a bad guy." Ginkgo huddled in Imagawa Shimoto's arms like a kitten and complained faintly. As if he didn't feel majestic enough, he let out a breath of "ha" like a cat.
"Didn't Ms. Ginkgo ask me to answer with my mouth?" Imagawa Shigen looked down at Ginkgo with a smirk. Ginkgo blushed again because of her misinterpreted meaning. She turned away and protested softly: "This It doesn’t count.”
"I love you."
Imagawa Ujimoto suddenly spoke and gave the promise the girl wanted in a soft voice. Ginkgo's eyes were instantly filled with tears.
"I love you too, sir."
"Why?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked what he had always been uneasy about, "Why did Miss Ginkgo fall in love with me?"
"I don't know... maybe it's because we are very similar... We all have similar scars, called family, or cold-blooded..." Ginkgo raised her head, blinking her tearful eyes, and looked at Imagawa Yoshimoto, "It feels like we are like stray cats licking each other's wounds... Even if there is nothing, even if we can't see the future, having my husband around will make me feel at ease..."
·
The couple hugged each other for a long time, but they all shed tears in unison.
Every couple who ends up in tragedy always looks forward to a bright future when their love begins. The tragedy of this couple is that even if they are passionately in love, they both know that this relationship has no future, and there is not even a little room to escape from deception.
After the journey is over, they will go their separate ways. Ginkgo will marry the husband chosen by his family, and Imagawa Shiyuan will also follow the arrangements of Taiyuan Xuezhai and Shouguini and marry a woman he has never met.
There is no love in the Wu family in troubled times.
"I'm sorry." Imagawa Ujimoto said softly.
"It's not your fault, sir." Ginkgo patted Imagawa Shimoto's back, trying to coax a child to stop crying, "That's enough."
"Everyone is mortal, no matter how long-term love and happiness they have, they will all die. After death, they turn into loess and wander around the world for thousands of years, forgetting and remembering nothing. Love lasts. A few days or decades, what difference does it make among millions of years of darkness and nothingness?”
Ginkgo whispered softly, wrapped her hands around Imagawa Shimoto's neck, and kissed her again.
"At least at this moment, in that brief moment in the endless torrent of history, our hearts are connected and will be engraved in time forever. This is enough."
Love is such a wonderful emotion... There is such a wonderful thing in the world that can actually make people forget the despair of death for a moment.
·
"Sir, it's urgent."
The sound at the door broke the couple's entanglement. The feelings just now have not faded away. It was only an hour, but it seemed like a lifetime had passed. Imagawa Jigen said goodbye to Ginkgo with great reluctance and welcomed Hayasaka Nao into the house.
"An urgent letter from Suruga." Nao Hayasaka took out the letter from his arms and handed it to Imagawa Ujimoto. "The ninja discovered that Imagawa Yoshima also seemed to have left Himagawa Castle and his whereabouts are unknown. Master Yukisai suspected that he might also It’s up to you to go to Luo to seek a ruling from the family governor of Gongfang Hall.”
"Third brother is here too?" Imagawa Shiyuan was shocked when he heard this. Looking at the familiar handwriting of Taiyuan Xuezhai, his mind suddenly became clearer. "Where is he?"
"The specific location is unclear, but the time he set off to Luo should be at least half a month later than us." Hayasaka Nao repeated Taiyuan Xue Zhai's judgment, "Master Xue Zhai urges you to act quickly, although Ni Yutai is here The relationship in the palace has been taken care of in advance, but it would be terrible if Imagawa Yoshima were to beat him to it and use his eloquence to convince Gongfangdian."
"Is it a replica of the war over the governor? I persuaded my mother, who originally supported me, to come to his side." Naturally, Imagawa Shimoto didn't want to make the same mistake again, and immediately started to change clothes, "I was delayed for a long time on the road, maybe I have been My third brother has caught up. Then we will go to the imperial palace to ask for a meeting, hoping to be summoned tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."
·
On a pavilion not far from Imagawa Ujimoto's hotel, Imagawa Ryozen crossed his arms and led a group of ninjas, watching coldly as Imagawa Ujimoto and others hurried out under the moonlight.
"As expected, you are acting according to history and seeking the support of the shogun. But I didn't expect that you would go to Luo in person. It seems that my arrival has produced a butterfly effect, causing the history to subtly deviate. But it's no use, butterfly. After all, you can’t fly out of the cobweb.”
Imagawa Yoshizhin waved his hand, and the ninjas behind him disappeared into the night and headed for the ambush site prepared in advance. He himself was about to leave, but he bumped into a young man running past on the road. Obviously the force of the impact was not very strong, but Imagawa Yoshima felt as if electric current had passed through his body, and he was numb for half a second.
"Be careful and watch the road when you walk." Imagawa Yoshizhin was a little dissatisfied, but still told him in a graceful manner.
"Thank you." After the young man found out that he had bumped into a samurai, he didn't show the panic expression of a commoner, which also surprised Imagawa Yoshizhin - in this era, samurai were fully qualified to kill civilians who collided with them on the street.
He took a closer look at the young man in front of him: he had long hair and was not shaved, so he was definitely not a monk; he was not shaved or carried a sword, so he was definitely not a samurai; he had not blackened his teeth, drawn his eyebrows, or powdered his face. Not a minister either—probably just a commoner. It's just that the high-spirited look on his brows shows that he was raised in a pampered way - could he be the son of a wealthy businessman?
However, Imakawa Ryojin was in a hurry and didn't bother much. He just vaguely felt that the young man's temperament was a bit strange.
After Imagawa Yoshima left, the young man stood there in shock for a long time, with an incredible expression on his face. He first stroked the part of his body that had just collided with Imagawa Ryoshi in disbelief, and then thought about something in his mouth over and over again.
After a long silence, he finally sighed in a low voice:
"The man with divine power...how could it be him?"
