On March 5, the seventh year of Tianwen (1538), in the Imagawakan castle tower.
Imagawa Yoshimoto returned from playing Cuju. As soon as he stepped through the gate of the castle tower, he heard the quarrel of the women in the house - the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, a problem that every married man cannot avoid.
"As the matron of the house, how can I set an example by being so lazy?"
In the corridor on the fourth floor of the castle tower, Shouguini was criticizing Ginkgo.
"What's wrong with sleeping in? It's true, mother." Ginkgo didn't mean to quarrel with Shouguini. Instead, she was looking for excuses for herself.
"Since you got married, many of the children in the family have stopped doing morning exercises. Instead, they are tired in bed, and even the maids have become procrastinating." Shouguini counted Ginkgo's "crimes" and knocked heavily on the floor with his cane. Knocked, "Wu Lang is already loose and dissolute. As the mistress, you should advise and lead by example. How can you join in the same trend?"
"It's because he is loose and loose, sir, that I fell in love with him." Seeing Shou Guini mentioning Imagawa Yoshimoto, Ginkgo's attitude became a little tougher, "If he is like mother, he talks about 'family interests' 'Good Samurai', I wouldn't give him a second glance."
"What are you talking about about the love between sons and daughters? Is this what a woman from the Wu family should say? How did your father teach you?" Shou Guini choked at Ginkgo's words, "As the daughter of the Takeda family, you are helping to stabilize the alliance between the two families. You are not here to talk about love, so please keep your attitude straight. Now that you are a member of the Imagawa family, you must fulfill your duties as the mistress of the Imagawa family, instead of playing the role of Goro's lover."
"I have to force myself. What does the family's interests have to do with me? I don't care about the interests of the Takeda family. Will I care about the Imagawa family? I only care about my husband." Ginkgo has always been willful and does not eat Shou Gui at all. This way, Ni leaned against the door frame and said to Shouguini, "Mother, just don't worry about me. As long as my husband and I are happy, aren't you satisfied? There's really nothing we can do..."
Shou Guini became angry after hearing this, and the maid A Chang next to her was about to step forward, and the kunoichi Mochizuki Takaki brought by Ginkgo did not show any weakness, and raised his hand in front of his master.
"Ah... Odai-den, Mistress, please calm down!" Hayasaka Nao, who was frightened by this posture, couldn't hold it back and came out to break up the fight.
He first bowed to Shougui Ni, apologized repeatedly, and then said in a low voice: "Yutaidian, the mistress is still pregnant, so don't be angry! Your Excellency, Yutaidian, has a lot!"
Then, he turned to Ginkgo, and kept accusing him in a low voice: "Mistress, she is the same in Yutai Palace..."
"It's okay, I won't embarrass you." Ginkgo shook her head, then straightened her body and gave a hasty salute, which was regarded as an apology to Shou Guini. But Shouguini's expression did not change and he wanted to continue to attack. At this time, Imagawa Yoshimoto had already walked up to the fourth floor.
"Discipline your wife well." Shouguini didn't say much when he saw this, but gave instructions to Imagawa Yoshimoto in a cold voice. Imagawa Yoshimoto just smiled and walked past without comment. After Shouguini went downstairs, Imagawa Yoshimoto walked back into the house with Ginkgo on his arm.
"Sir, don't you want to lecture me too?" Ginkgo rolled her eyes at Yoshimoto Imagawa.
"How is that possible? I usually feel like my head is about to explode when I think about Jiaci, and the idea of a family governor is not suitable for me at all." Imagawa Yoshimoto glanced at the stacks of official documents pressed on the desk, and the documents underneath them. In the collection of Japanese songs and pictures of flowers and birds at the bottom, "I really can't help it..."
"Yes, there is really no way... In the Takeda family, my father has been instilling these things all day long, saying that we are children of the Takeda family, and we must give top priority to the interests of the Takeda family at all times. . Even if she marries into another family, she will still find ways to control the political power, secretly contact the Takeda family, pass on information, and strive to annex her husband's family." Ginkgo spoke sensitive words without hesitation, because she knew that Imakawa, who shared her aspirations, Yiyuan doesn't care about these things at all.
"Then what did you send to your father?" Imagawa Yoshimoto couldn't help but laugh, and he already had the answer in his heart.
"Ah, I said that I have taken over the power of the Imagawa family in accordance with his instructions. I first used a honey trap to make Mr. docile. I also had an affair at home, with Master Yuksai, Asahina, Okabe, and Se All the important ministers were involved in the affair, and they were so fascinated that they all crawled under my skirt. As long as my father gave the order, the Imagawa family would bow their heads to the Takeda family." Ginkgo said happily, smiling brightly. .
"Haha, did your father say anything after seeing it?" Imagawa Yoshimoto was so amused by Ginkgo's remarks that he couldn't help laughing.
"Who knows, I haven't read any of the replies he sent me." Ginkgo said while pointing to the ball of waste paper that Miaomiao was playing with on the tatami, "That is the secret letter that came yesterday."
"You are really good at it." Imagawa Yoshimoto laughed.
"What, sir, you don't like it?" Ginkgo turned her head, smiled charmingly at Imagawa Yoshimoto, and slowly moved the long hair on her chest behind her ears. The laziness in her movements made Imagawa Yoshimoto suddenly feel heart palpitations.
He stepped forward, pressed Ginkgo against the wall with a bang, and then kissed her.
"No, I like it very much."
Imagawa Yoshimoto tasted the aroma of ginkgo in his mouth and said with a smile: "We are simply the most well-matched couple among the martial arts families in the world."
"Yes, family interests are bullshit." Ginkgo smiled sweetly and rubbed herself into Imagawa Yoshimoto's arms as if to take credit, and then sighed sadly:
"But it's really annoying to stay in the castle tower. There are countless Wu family affairs every day. Even if I just deal with it perfunctorily, I am very tired. I really want to go back to the time when I first met my husband: together in the vastness Travel in the world; no one is restrained and no one cares about it; no need to worry about the morale of the warrior family; you can go wherever you want and live wherever you want; it doesn't matter how long you want to sleep in the morning, you can also stay with your husband at night Have a great time wandering around the night market.”
"Who doesn't want to?" Imagawa Yoshimoto shook his head, and the look on the castle tower wall looked a bit dazzling, "This castle tower is like a cage, imprisoning countless children of the martial arts family in the family. They cannot be released for life, and they have to suppress their own nature. .”
"Now, sir. What do you think, when our child grows up, can we pass the family governor to him, and then the two of us can retire and live freely?" Ginkgo raised her head in her arms, with eyes in her eyes. Full of longing.
"It's hard... when something happens, those retainers will still come to us who live in seclusion." Imagawa Yoshimoto sighed, and the beauty in his arms also fell silent.
"Then we can pretend to be dead!" After thinking for a moment, Ginkgo suddenly had an idea and said her fantastic idea with a smile, "Pretend that the two of us are dead, and then sneak away!"
"Then how to arrange the corpse?" Imagawa Yoshimoto pointed out the flaw in the plan with a smile.
"Well... let's just say that we were burned to death in a castle tower, and the bodies couldn't be identified." Ginkgo frowned and thought for a while, then she had another idea and pointed at Imagawa Yoshimoto. Ryuumaru, Sosan Zumon and a green-edged folding fan on his waist, "leave these things that can identify you and pretend it's us who are dead."
"It seems really possible..." Imagawa Yoshimoto was actually moved by Ginkgo's whimsical idea, but after thinking about it, he shook his head and touched Ginkgo's slightly bulging belly, "But it's too good for children. It’s unfair, leaving him alone and leaving all the family’s errands to him.”
"It depends on what he wants. Maybe he is a 'family madman' like your mother, or like my father and brother." Ginkgo thought of the little life in her belly, and her tone became gentle unconsciously. "If he wants it, give it to him. If he doesn't want it, just run away with him. Let your mother and Master Xue Zhai worry about it and adopt a side branch to succeed him."
·
At this time, outside the gate of the castle tower, Nao Hayasaka and Takaki Mochizuki were waiting quietly. As Imagawa Yoshimoto and Ginkgo's most trusted confidants, the two of them have had some interactions over the past few months and have become quite familiar with each other.
"It seems like you have a lot on your mind?"
Mochizuki Takaki suddenly asked for no reason.
Hayasaka Nao was a little confused. He knew that Mochizuki Takaki was very aloof. He only listened to Ginkgo's words and ignored Imagawa Yoshimoto - he was definitely not a person who was enthusiastic enough to greet him.
"Miss Mochizuki said something serious." So Hayasaka Nao declined very carefully.
"Didn't you tell His Highness what you were worried about?" Mochizuki Takaki saw Hayasaka Nao's thoughts again.
"Why did Miss Mochizuki say that?" Hayasaka Nao looked at Mochizuki Takaki's cold face that had never shown a smile, "Miss, are you worried about something?"
Mochizuki Takaki fell into silence in response to this rhetorical question. After an unknown amount of time, he spoke in a low voice:
"I was an Avenger, and I was willing to do anything to achieve my goal. My parents were both ninjas. They were retaliated against and brutally killed after a failed assassination mission. I was the only one to escape. I Even in my dreams, I want to kill my enemy with my own hands and see if he dies a good death."
Listening to the sad past, Hayasaka Nao didn't know what to say for a moment, so she could only say awkwardly: "Why do you want Miss to tell me this?"
"Who knows... maybe it's because I feel uncomfortable burying some things in my heart, and it will be much better if I talk about it... But I have no friends or relatives, and I can't talk to my wife about this matter. After thinking about it, I can only Told you."
Mochizuki Takaki sighed and looked at Hayasaka Nao again, "Maybe it's because I think you look a lot like me, so I took the initiative to mention this to you. Do you also have secrets that you can't tell, buried in your heart? Is it uncomfortable?"
"As long as I can look at His Highness's back, that's enough." Hayasaka Nao shook her head and took a deep breath, "I have always dreamed of becoming a good person like His Highness, but I'm afraid it won't be possible in this life."
·
"Guishu, what's wrong with you?"
After coming out of the house, Ginkgo noticed the abnormality in Mochizuki Takaki's expression in the corridor.
"It's okay, madam, please don't worry about me." Mochizuki Takaki hurriedly adjusted his facial expression.
"You can tell me if you have anything." Ginkgo stepped forward and stroked Mochizuki Guishu's hair, as if petting a cat, and whispered softly, "You haven't been with me for a long time, and I don't know me very well. You. I always feel that you have always been cold, as if you have something to worry about. You are still so young, how can you have worries? You will be worried when you grow up. It doesn't matter, is there anything I can do to help? You can talk to me."
"Madam..." Mochizuki Takaki was a little touched when he heard the words, but in the end he couldn't say anything. He just lowered his head and said softly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry to help you."
"It's okay, it doesn't matter if you don't want to talk about it." Ginkgo smiled, "The little girl always has things on her mind that she doesn't want to mention to others. If you want to tell me in the future, I'm always here to listen."
"Yes." Under this mother-like tenderness, Mochizuki Takaki's eyes flashed with tears.
