After returning from the expedition, Imagawa Yoshimoto came to the stage of asking for wages for migrant workers as always. After he finished taking care of the things at hand, he knocked on the door of Taiyuan Xuezhai's room and opened his hands triumphantly: "Come on, old man, open your broken box and show it to me."
"It's really chilling, hey -" Taiyuan Xuezhai stopped the pen in his hand, then shook his head and pretended to sigh, "The disciple has not seen me for several months. What I miss is not the master, but the master's belongings. "
"Stop prevaricating, old man, is there any reason not to show it to me this time?" Imagawa Yoshimoto proudly walked towards Taiyuan Xuezhai's box, but Taiyuan Xuezhai grabbed him by the corner of his clothes.
"You brat, who lost the battle at Shodouzaka? Is it you?" Taiyuan Xuezai quickly stood up and pushed his shiny head towards Imagawa Yoshimoto, scaring him so much that he retreated.
"Didn't we tell you everything in the battle report? It was a draw. Why did the old man still believe those rumors?" Imagawa Yoshimoto immediately raised his hand to defend himself, "Besides, Mikawa's public sentiment is good, and the Matsudaira clan's lower-level samurai People's hearts are good, now they are all towards our Imagawa family! Isn't this considered a victory?"
"Don't come here, you are putting gold on your own face." Taiyuan Xuezhai stopped in front of Imagawa Yoshimoto, not letting him pass even a step, "You have won the hearts of the Matsudaira family and Mikawa, the problem is that only Half of it! Whether it’s the Matsudaira family or Mikawa, a small half has been poached by the Oda family. Do you still think you are successful?”
"That's a problem between Matsudaira Nobutaka and Mizuno Nobuyoshi. It was his rebellion that led to this series of consequences. Even if I don't go, the Matsudaira family will split, and the Mizuno family will fall to the Oda family. Mikawa west of the Yahagi River It will still be lost." Imagawa Yoshimoto's thinking was very clear at this time.
"Then how do you explain the young master of the Matsudaira family? At least before you go, the young master of the Matsudaira family is still in the Matsudaira family, right?" Taiyuan Xuezhai fiddled with the rosary loudly and continued to count the crimes of Imagawa Yoshimoto, " It would be nice of you to go there, but the hostages you were asked to retrieve were not brought back, but were given to the Oda family. The Oda family invaded Mikawa, and now they have to have their names and agents, and it will be difficult to deal with it in the future. "
"Then at least Dongsanhe has been digested by me." Imagawa Yoshimoto couldn't say Taiyuan Xuezhai, so he had to find other reasons.
"You could have recovered almost everything." Taiyuan Xuezhai preached unceremoniously, "Going to Xisanhe and messing around, it actually gave the Oda family an advantage."
"Last time I went to Mikawa, the old man was all kinds of nitpicky, and this time he is too picky." Imagawa Yoshimoto simply stopped arguing and sat down on the futon with some frustration, "If you don't want to show me the broken box, don't look at it. Who cares? ? Anyway, I will never go to Sanhe again. If you want to go to the old man, you can go alone."
"Okay, I will go there in person next time as a teacher. Let you see how the teacher cleans up those shrimp soldiers and crab generals of the Oda family. If you don't flatten and round them, you will be regarded as a teacher who has no ability." Taiyuan Xuezhai gently pulled his hand. Mustache, as if the fierce generals of the Oda family are not as good as his few beards, "By the way, there is another mission after the Chinese New Year. Do you want to come with my master?"
"Never again. Don't ever ask me to help you again in this life." Imagawa Yoshi turned away energetically and crossed his arms. "You stinky old man who doesn't mean what he says, I will never do it again." I will promise you."
"Are you really not going?"
"Definitely not going."
"Don't you regret it?"
"I will never regret it in my life."
"Go to Kyoto."
"Can!"
After hearing the word Kyoto, Imagawa Yoshimoto's eyes suddenly lit up - who wouldn't be happy if they could run out and play? Later, he realized that what Taiyuan Xuezhai had just said was "He is here as a teacher."
"Teacher is also going to Kyoto?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked in surprise, "What about the government and military affairs in Imagawa Hall? Who will approve them?"
"You brat, you have the nerve to ask what to do about the government and military affairs in the Imagawa Hall?" Taiyuan Xuezai stepped forward angrily, grabbed Imagawa Yoshimoto by the ears and pulled him up, "That's what you, the house governor, should do. Yes! You are still confident after leaving me as your teacher, Chengfang? Don’t come here either, just stay in Imagawa Hall to approve official documents!"
"No, no, no, I'll go!" Imagawa Yoshimoto hurriedly surrendered, but he still expressed worry in a professional manner, "What about these government affairs? Are they all left to mother?"
"Gengoro (Sena Ujitoshi) and your fifth brother (Na Furunoji Yutaka) can handle it, and they have trained well. If it doesn't work, you can still trouble Master Lengquan." Taiyuan Xuezhai thought enough, " Originally, I didn’t want to take you there. After all, it’s not safe for a housekeeper to run outside all the time. But seeing that you’re quite depressed, Chengfang, I’ll draw you a cake and let you go out and relax.”
"Then why don't you just let me go alone, and you stay at home, old man?" Imagawa Yoshimoto finally put forward his plan with a smirk, but Taiyuan Xuezhai gave him a hard knock on the head.
"This time I am going to ask for official positions for you and His Highness Takeda. After all, we are the governor of a family. It is not easy to save face without a rank." Taiyuan Xuezhai began to explain the specific content of his mission, "I want to be in the imperial court. Can you handle the ups and downs? Moreover, our Imagawa family’s connections in Kyoto have been accumulated over the generations. Previously, we were working hard to maintain them as our teacher and your father-in-law, Odai-don. But Odai-don has been married for a long time. It’s been a long time since I’ve been back to Kyoto as my teacher, so the relationship is inevitably a bit estranged. Isn’t it time to go back and reminisce about the past? It will be more convenient to do things in the future.”
"Oh, then the teacher should go with me." Imagawa Yoshimoto pretended to be helpless and nodded, which made Taiyuan Xuezhai very angry.
"Why are 'master' and 'you' going together? They are obviously bringing you along for master." Taiyuan Xuezai threw a letter in Imagawa Yoshimoto's face, "I also invited His Highness Takeda to go to Luo with us, Sanjo Madam will also go back to visit relatives, so I can only take you with me on this trip to Luo, otherwise do you think your father-in-law will agree?"
"Now, thank you so much, teacher!" Imagawa Yoshimoto was even more happy when he heard this, "Since His Highness Takeda and Mrs. Sanjo are here, can I also bring Ginkgo?"
"Mrs. Sanjo went back to take care of the Takeda family's connections in Kyoto. What did your wife do for that?" Taiyuan Xue Zhai held his forehead in confusion, "That's all, you can go out for an outing if you want. Anyway, you are here Imagawakan can’t help much.”
"When will we leave?" Imagawa Yoshimoto asked enthusiastically, as if he couldn't wait.
"It's still early, let's start spring next year, you, why are you in such a hurry?" Taiyuan Xuezhai stood up with a smile, tightened his pants, and stepped out, "I have something to do as a teacher, you go back first .”
·
After returning to the bedroom, Imagawa Yoshimoto hurriedly shared the good news with Ginkgo. Ginkgo, who was almost bored in the Imagawa Pavilion, was also very happy and eager to go out to play the next day.
However, Imagawa Yoshimoto discovered that the children who were playing in the bedroom just now were missing.
"Where are Goro, Matsuchiyo and the others?"
"I just opened the window to play Cuju. The Cuju fell downstairs. You should pick it up." Ginkgo glanced out the window and did not see the two children. "Nagachiyo and Osomatsu are playing at my father's place."
"That's it." Imagawa Yoshimoto also moved to the window and looked out. He didn't see his child, but he found the figure of Taiyuan Xue Zhai - he changed into plain clothes, brought a bamboo hat, and hurriedly walked towards He walked out of Honmaru—even so, Imagawa Yoshimoto recognized him at a glance.
"What are you doing here, old man? It's so mysterious." Imagawa Yoshimoto suddenly became interested, winked at Ginkgo and said, "How about it, Ginkgo, why don't you follow me?"
"How old are you, sir, and you still do things that only children do?" Ginkgo rolled her eyes at Imagawa Yoshimoto, but Imagawa Yoshimoto reluctantly grabbed her hand and began to shake it from side to side.
"Okay, okay, let's go. It's okay to go." Ginkgo was so annoyed by Imagawa Yoshimoto that she had no choice but to smile bitterly and change her clothes, "There's really nothing I can do..."
·
After Taiyuan Xuezhai quietly left, Imagawa Yoshimoto and Ginkgo also quietly left Honmaru. However, the ninjas of the Imagawa family are not blind, and they can naturally recognize the appearance of their master, the princess, and the family leader, but they don't know why they are dressed like this.
Following Taiyuan Xuezhai secretly, Imagawa Yoshimoto seemed to be able to feel the happiness of his childhood - he often followed Taiyuan Xuezhai like this at that time, trying to retrieve his confiscated flower and bird paintings and collection of Japanese songs, but every time he was unsuccessful And return.
The sky was already getting dark, and every house was filled with smoke. The vendors and merchants in the market had already closed their stalls and returned to the outside of the city. Many people who went into the city to buy things also left before the city gate closed. Taiyuan Xuezhai also followed the flow of people and slowly walked towards the north of the city. Imagawa Yoshimoto and Ginkgo also pretended to be a couple, walking among the crowd as if nothing had happened, and followed Taiyuan Xuezai to the outside of Imagawakan Sannomaru.
"Sir, where do you think Master Xuezai will go?" Ginkgo leaned on Imagawa Yoshimoto's shoulder and asked softly.
"The Land of Wind and Moon." Imagawa Yoshimoto replied without hesitation.
"How is that possible?" Ginkgo laughed suddenly, almost attracting the attention of others, and quickly stopped her voice: "Master Xue Zhai is nearly fifty years old, and he is a member of the Buddhist sect, how could he..."
"We'll see." Imagawa Yoshimoto patted Ginkgo on the shoulder, "I have been following the old man for almost twenty years, and no one knows him better than me."
"Then sir, you still insist on bringing me here!" Ginkgo suddenly blushed and tugged on the lapel of Imagawa Yoshimoto's clothes, "Why did you bring me to such a romantic place?"
"No way? Don't accuse me wrongly!"
"Yes, sir, you are a pervert!"
