The hotel where Edo, Ogata and others stayed——

"Master Yuan Yi, I bought everything on your list."

As Shimada spoke, he placed a large cloth bag behind his back in front of Genichi who was huddled in the corner of the room drinking wine, and then untied the big cloth bag to reveal the scene inside - a large pile of

Messy stuff.

Rattles, masks, spinning tops, flower cards... they are all toys.

"Oh! Thank you for your hard work. Shimada, you came back much faster than I thought."

Genichi quickly put the bottle of wine aside and thanked Shimada while looking at the pile of toys in front of him.

"Fortunately, there is a store not far away that specializes in selling these toys." Shimada said with a wry smile.

The movement from Genichi and Shimada alarmed Mamiya next to them.

"Mr. Genichi, what is this?" Mamiya frowned slightly.

"It's nothing, it's just that I've been sitting in my room recently and been bored, so I asked Shimada to buy me some toys to relieve my boredom."

After that, Genichi put one of the toys Shimada had just bought for him - a dark red Tengu mask - on his face.

"How about it? Shimada, does this mask fit me?"

"Yes, it fits very well." Shimada nodded, "The size of this mask just fits your face, Mr. Genichi."

What Shimada just said was not a compliment.

The size of this Tengu mask really matches Genichi's face.

"Well, as long as it suits you."

With a satisfied look on his face, Yuan nodded, then took off the mask on his face, and then continued to play with each of the toys Shimada had just bought for him.

…

…

Seeing that Hasegawa had sent someone, Oufang asked Gua Sheng, who happened to be next to him, to stand guard for him. He went to talk to his friend about something and would be back soon.

Regarding Ogata's small request, Gua Sheng had no reason to refuse and happily nodded in agreement.

Ogata followed behind "Surprise Island" and made many twists and turns in Yoshiwara, finally entering a remote and uninhabited alley in Yoshiwara.

As soon as he turned into this alley, Oufang saw a person standing at the end of the alley.

A man wearing a thick bamboo hat on his head.

The man lowered his head slightly, and the thick bamboo hat just covered his entire face. Therefore, Ogata could not see his face clearly.

When Ogata was just wondering who this person was, he heard footsteps coming into the alley. The "man in a hat" raised his head slightly, revealing to Ogata his face that had been hidden by the hat just now.

.

"Mr. Hasegawa?" Ogata exclaimed in a low voice.

The face hidden under the bamboo hat is exactly Hasegawa's old face that has been engraved with many traces of time.

After seeing Ogata coming, Hasegawa smiled slightly, and then waved his hand to "Shidao" who brought Ogata here.

Understanding the situation, "Shidao" immediately bowed to Hasegawa, and then quickly exited the alley, leaving Ogata and Hasegawa alone.

After leaving the "Astonishing Island", Hasegawa looked around and confirmed that there were only solid earth walls on the left and right, and there were no other people in front or behind, then he smiled at Ogata:

"Congratulations, I didn't expect you to get the first place in the literary test."

"Honestly, when I just learned that you were the first in the literary test, I was so shocked that my jaw almost dropped."

"Thank you." Ogata said with a bitter smile.

It has been some time since the results of the literary test were released, so Ogata was not surprised that Hasegawa already knew who ranked first in the literary test.

"To be honest... After I learned that I actually won the first place in the literary test, I was so shocked that my jaw almost dropped... I never thought that someone like me, who had not touched the Four Books and Five Classics for a long time, could actually do it.

Won the first place in the literary test."

As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Hasegawa smiled:

"You actually say that you are a 'daprant'. You don't need to be so modest."

Seeing that his truthfulness was once again regarded as modesty, he sighed helplessly emotionally.

"Okay, let's not talk about the essay test for now."

Ogata put on a more serious face.

"Let's talk about something serious."

"Mr. Hasegawa, you came all the way to Yoshiwara to see me. Could it be that you have heard something terrible about Shiranui?"

As soon as Ogata finished speaking, Hasegawa shook his head:

"I'm sorry to disappoint you. I didn't get any information related to Shiranui."

"The reason why I came to Yoshiwara in person is just that I happened to be handling some official business near here just now. After I just learned that you were the first in the literary test, I decided to come to tell you the good news in person."

"But it's not true that I haven't heard any information about Shiranui."

Speaking of this, Hasegawa took on a more serious tone.

"That Gokutaro also passed the literary test."

"...It's expected." Ogata shrugged, "Since Shiranui will send him to participate in the 'Gozen Examination', it means that Gokutaro must have the ability to pass the literary examination."

"I just saw the name 'Gokuichiro' on the list. This name should be Gokutaro's pseudonym, right?"

Although Ogata's sentence is in the form of a question, its tone is that of an affirmative sentence.

During this period, Makimura and Asai have been lurking in the Four Seasons House where Kitaro often goes, eavesdropping on the conversations between Kitaro and others.

Makimura and the others overheard that both the "hostess girls" and Gokutaro's follower named Eitaro were calling Gokutaro "Gokuichiro".

So when I didn't see "Gokutaro" on the list just now, but only saw "Gokuichiro", Ogata guessed that this "Gokuichiro" should be Gokutaro.

"Yes." Hasegawa nodded, "Kokuichiro is indeed Gokutaro's pseudonym."

"It wasn't until a few days ago that we found out that Gokutaro was participating in the 'Gozen Trial' under a pseudonym."

"I originally hoped that Jitaro would pass the literary test and fail. As long as he fails the literary test, it would save a lot of trouble. But now it seems that this kind of thing is not expected."

"Then again." Ogata said, "Mr. Hasegawa, you sent other people to participate in the 'Gozen Examination', right? How many people did you send in total? Did they all pass the literary test successfully?"

In order to successfully prevent Gokutaro from winning the first place in the martial arts test, Hasegawa used the "human sea tactic".

According to what Hasegawa said before, in addition to Ogata, he also plans to let other people he can call to participate in the "Gozen Trials", but Ogata still doesn't know the specific number of them.

Upon hearing Ogata's question, Hasegawa smiled bitterly and then raised four fingers.

"I wanted to trick... ah, no, I wanted to persuade some of my friends who are pretty good at it to participate in the 'Imperial Trials'."

"But they either don't have the time or they don't have the interest. No matter what I say, they don't want to participate in the 'imperial trial'."

"So in the end, apart from you, I only succeeded in persuading the four masters of my Huo Fu Thief Reform to participate in the 'Imperial Trial Combination'."

"Fortunately, my four subordinates all listened to me. I told them that I hoped they would use the 'Gozen Trial' as a springboard to improve their knowledge and swordsmanship, so they all agreed to participate in the 'Gozen Trial'.

"

"And all four of them have successfully passed the literary test."

"So, they don't know the real purpose of you asking them to participate in the 'Gozen Trial Match'?" Ogata asked.

"As for the truth that I asked so many people to participate in the 'Gozen Trial Match', the fewer people know, the better." Hasegawa said with a bitter smile, "Since you can fool them casually, you can make them willingly participate in the 'Gozen Trial Match',

Then there is no need to expend the effort to tell them the real reason.”

…

…

at the same time--

Edo, Yoshiwara, inside a certain tourist house.

Makimura and Asai originally went to Yoshiwara tonight, intending to sneak into the Four Seasons House and eavesdrop on Kitaro's conversations as usual.

What a pity - Makimura and Asai failed.

Although Kitaro likes Shikiya, an izakaya, he doesn't go to Shikiya to drink every day.

Basically, I go there 4 or 5 times in 7 days.

Tonight, Makimura and Asai unfortunately failed.

After entering Yoshiwara tonight, Gokutaro did not go to the Four Seasons House to drink. Instead, he went straight to a certain wandering girl's house and started the fun tonight.

After realizing that they had lost everything, Makimura and Asai could only temporarily return to the hotel where they lived.

As for Gokutaro - he entered a restaurant that he had never been to before, and after ordering a yuyu that he had never ordered before, he hugged the yuyu while sipping the yuyu.

The drinks you poured were the preliminary preparations for the fun that followed.

"Sir, I'm back."
To be continued...