Before Ogata and others received the order to support Arbutus House——

Takigawa walked along a certain avenue in Edo with a gloomy face.

Ever since he learned the results of the literary test last night, Takikawa's face has not felt better.

How confident Takigawa was in himself before the results of the literary test were released, how resentful Takigawa was after the results were released.

Both Takigawa himself and Takigawa's friends and mentors were full of praise after reading the article written by Takigawa on his understanding of "knowing that you can't do it but doing it", and they all thought that Takigawa would definitely win it.

The first place in the literary test can still be among the top ten no matter how bad it is.

But the fact surprised everyone, including Takigawa.

Not only did he fail to win the first place in the literary test, his name was not among the top 10. He passed the literary test regardless, but his name was on the list of those who passed the literary test.

Last night, when he learned that he was not even in the top 10, Takigawa's first reaction was: How is that possible?

In order to verify the facts, Takigawa personally went to the place where the results of the literary test were released.

After seeing the list written on the list with his own eyes, Takigawa had to accept this cruel fact.

When he saw with his own eyes that his name was not even among the top ten names, Takigawa really felt like he had fallen from a hundred-foot-tall building to the ground.

It’s okay if it’s not even in the top 10.

In addition to not being among the top 10, there is another thing that makes Takigawa even more unacceptable.

That is, the first place in the literary test was actually the ronin Goro Majima, whom he had always looked down upon.

When he thought that his majestic Hatamoto, who was studying under a famous teacher, would lose to a ronin, and that it was the same Hatamoto who had caused him to lose face in public before, Takigawa felt a ball of anger accumulating in his chest, and he could only beat him hard.

Only by touching your own chest can you feel a little more comfortable.

Last night, Takigawa, who was full of confidence, and his friends originally held a banquet before the results of the literary test were released, as a celebration banquet.

After learning that he was not even in the top 10, Takigawa was not in the mood to go to the banquet again.

Takigawa's friends also knew that the current atmosphere was really not suitable for holding a banquet, so the banquet last night ended hastily after the results of the literary test were released.

"Takichuan." Takichuan was walking forward with a gloomy face when he suddenly felt a big hand pat his shoulder, "Tonight we won't get drunk and we won't go home. Let's make trouble together until dawn!"

"Yes." Takigawa nodded gently, and the gloomy look on his face dissipated a little, "Tonight's banquet is your treat, Uesaka. Since it is your treat, I will not be polite. I will treat you well tonight.

Take a deep drink."

"Hahahaha, yes, I just need this kind of momentum."

The person who tapped Takigawa on the shoulder was Uesaka, one of Takigawa's close friends.

This morning, Uesaka suddenly visited Takigawa's home and invited Takigawa to join him for a banquet and drink all night after a long absence.

Takigawa and Uesaka are also old friends. After so many years of friendship, Takigawa can tell at a glance what his good friend's intention is to suddenly invite him to drink all night long - in order to cheer up Takigawa who is in a bad mood.

Some.

After the results of the literary test were released last night, Uesaka was the first to come forward to comfort Takigawa.

The place where Uesaka held the banquet was unusual—Yoshiwara’s Arbutus House.

Yoshiwara's Bayberry House is a famous teahouse throughout Edo, and many dignitaries would go to the Bayberry House to hold banquets.

Takikawa was deeply moved by Uesaka's behavior of holding a banquet at a famous teahouse like Arbutus House in order to lighten his mood.

Anyway, he happened to have time tonight, and he didn't want to ruin Uesaka's kindness, so he readily agreed to Uesaka's invitation.

In order to make tonight's banquet more lively, Uesaka also invited several friends who have a particularly good relationship with Takigawa.

After all, this banquet was set up to help Takigawa cheer up, so the people invited were naturally Takigawa's good friends.

Including Takigawa himself, there were a total of 8 people attending the banquet tonight.

"Takigawa, let's go a little faster." Uesaka, who was walking side by side with Takigawa, said, "Everyone else should have arrived at Yangmei House."

"Yeah." Takigawa nodded, "You're right, don't keep others waiting."

The two quickened their pace slightly, and after a while they climbed up the Nippon Embankment, stepped onto the fifty-seven-door road leading to Yoshiwara, and saw Yoshiwara's magnificent gate.

Looking at Yoshiwara's gate, Takigawa frowned involuntarily.

He will never forget that Majima Goro works in Yoshiwara.

As soon as I see the gate of Yoshiwara, I think of Goro Majima.

When I think of Majima Goro, I will recall that I lost to him in the literary test.

The feeling of suffocation that has been lingering in his heart until now, tormenting Takigawa, will become more intense.

Uesaka actually doesn't know much about the grudge between Takigawa and Majima Goro.

Because Takigawa thought it was very embarrassing that he had been humiliated by Majima Goro in the dormitory that specialized in teaching reading and writing to wandering girls, so he never told anyone in detail about his relationship with Majima Goro.

This grudge.

Including Uesaka, his close friend, Takigawa did not tell him in detail what kind of grudges he had with the top student in the literary test.

Seeing that Takigawa's face suddenly turned ugly, Uesaka said doubtfully:

"Takigawa, what's wrong?"

"...Nothing. Let's go and get into Yoshiwara quickly."

…

…

Yangmei House is not a tourist house, but a tea house.

At the same time, it is not an ordinary tea house.

It is a very special kind of tea house - Yinshou Tea House.

The yūnaya in Edo are roughly divided into three levels: large, medium and small.

There is actually another level below Xiaojianshi, which is "Qijianshi".

For example: the wandering girls' houses located on the banks of the Rashomon River are actually "cut into the world".

It's just that many people don't count Kirimiise as one of the Yumeya. When mentioning Yumeya, they only mention the three levels of "big, medium and small", and do not include Kirimiise.

The reason for this is mainly because many people think that "Kirikense" cannot be regarded as a wandering girl's house.

Even if it is the smallest xiaomisei, there will more or less some support staff to help take care of the daily life of the wandering girls.

However, this is not the case in the world.

Most of the businesses are run by individual wanderers.

The wandering girls on the banks of the Rashomon River are a very typical example.

There is no one to help them solicit customers, so they can only stand on the street soliciting customers by themselves.

There is no one to help them prepare their meals, so they have to find ways to provide three meals a day on their own.

The so-called Kirimi Seyōna House run by the wandering girls on the banks of the Rashomon River is just a house where she lives alone, and there is no other wandering girl except her.

To give an example in modern terms, it is: large, medium and small companies are all companies with a full range of employees in various positions, while Qie Jianshi is just a self-employed person without any employees.

Therefore, when many people talk about visiting women's houses, they exclude the real world.

Omise is the highest-level tourist house, and its total number has only been in single digits in Yoshiwara for a long time.

Precisely because Omise is the most high-end tourist house in Yoshiwara, tourists are not able to meet and have fun with Omise's wandering girls casually.

You have to go through a rather complicated process before you can meet a wandering girl.

If you plan to find Omise's wandering girl, you must first go to Hingshou Tea House.

After having fun in the Hingshou Tea House, the people at the Hingshou Tea House will help introduce you to the world-class yuyouya.

Therefore, to put it simply, Hinshou Chaya is an intermediary shop for traveling girls and customers.

Of course - helping to introduce Omise's wandering girls is just one of the tasks of introducing teahouses.

In order to make money, it is naturally impossible for Yinshou Chaya to only accept customers who want to hang out with the wandering girls of Omise.

Hingshou Teahouse usually receives guests who are not looking for pleasure from wandering girls.

Therefore, on weekdays, there are also many people who are not looking for prostitutes but just want to have a banquet with their friends. They also come to visit teahouses like Yangmeiwu.

The closer you are to Nakano-machi, the avenue that divides Yoshihara flatly into two halves, the more upscale the teahouses and Yumeya are.

Any teahouse that can be called a famous teahouse will not be an ordinary small teahouse.

The Bayberry House is located on the roadside of Nakano-machi, quite close to the Shirobei Club.

While following closely behind Guasheng and others, heading to the Yangmei House, Ogata asked Guasheng:

"It turns out that these shops in Yoshiwara can still borrow people from the club?"

Guasheng nodded:

"Our Shirobei Club, the residents of Yoshiwara, and the various shops have a relationship of honor and disgrace."

"So when some stores are short of manpower, as long as our club's manpower is not tight, we will transfer some people to support them."
To be continued...