"Good afternoon, Mr. Normal University Actor!"

"Mr. Shifandai, Gui'an!"

"Mr. Normal University."

…

After Chiba Jutaro entered Site C, all the apprentices in Site C stopped what they were doing, stood up straight, and bowed to Chiba Jutaro.

Chiba Jutaro nodded to the apprentices around him and walked quickly towards Sanako's location.

Wearing kendo uniform, with black hair tied into a high ponytail that hangs down to her waist, Sanako is barefoot and holding a wooden naginata. She is standing in the corner of Field C, meticulously speaking to several female disciples.

Teaching the art of naginata.

Sanako is both the "Kodachi Master" of their Little Chiba Sword Hall and the "Naginata Master" at the same time.

Sanako is basically responsible for teaching the Kodachi swordsmanship and the naginata swordsmanship in the Kochiba Kenkan.

Chiba Nobuyoshi is a very open-minded person.

He allowed his daughter Sanako to show her face freely in the sword hall.

At the same time, Sanako was also allowed to serve as the "Kodachi Technique Master" and "Naginata Technique Master" of the sword hall.

Even though Sanako is 22 years old this year, from the perspective of this era, she is already a complete leftover girl. Chiba Nobuyoshi is not anxious at all, respects Sanako's wishes, and never forces Sanako to do so.

I want to marry so and so.

Judging from Chiba Nobuyoshi's daily behavior, it is not difficult to see that he is not the kind of person who thinks that "women are just tools for marriage and marriage".

Therefore - under the instruction of the open-minded Chiba Sadaikichi, their Little Chiba Sword Hall is allowed to recruit female disciples, and there are currently quite a few women studying in the Little Chiba Sword Hall.

As early as the early Edo period, people had already formed this mindset: "If a woman wants to learn martial arts, she must learn the art of the naginata."

Affected by this mindset, there are very few women who can learn swordsmanship. The female disciples who go to the Kochiba Sword Hall to study basically come to learn the art of the naginata.

Therefore, the teacher they face most often is Sanako, who is the "Naginata Master".

For a long time, sword halls have generally been divided into two types.

One type purely teaches swordsmanship, and the typical representative is the Trial Guard Hall.

The other is to not only teach swordsmanship, but also teach naginata skills, spear skills, archery, jujutsu and other martial arts - Xiao Chiba Kenkan falls into this category.

The Kochiba Kenkan not only teaches Hokushin Itto-ryu swordsmanship, but also teaches traditional martial arts such as naginata and jujitsu.

Seeing that her brother was back, Sanako first nodded to Chiba Jutaro who greeted her, and then said to Chiba Jutaro with his eyes: Brother, wait a moment.

Chiba Jutaro, who understood the meaning of his sister's eyes, nodded, then stood still and temporarily distanced himself from Sanako.

After successfully signaling her brother to "wait a moment" with her eyes, Sanako looked at a beautiful young girl in front of her who was in her prime.

"Ah Yue, did you understand what I just said?"

The girl who was called Ayue by Sanako laughed awkwardly: "Miss Sanako, I'm sorry... I don't quite understand... what does it mean to be angry in the Dantian?"

This girl named "Azuki"... Chiba Jutaro has some impressions.

She is Natsume Yue, the youngest daughter of the big wine merchant: Natsume Sohachiro.

Speaking of Natsume Sohachiro...this man can be regarded as one of the most influential figures in Edo.

He specializes in the wine business and was originally just a not-so-well-known wine merchant.

Although his starting point is low, he has a good and sensitive nose.

After the Western powers opened the door to Japan, Natsume Sohachiro keenly sensed business opportunities and decisively and boldly started doing business with those Westerners who were interested in Japanese sake.

Relying on business dealings with Westerners, Natsume Sohachiro's financial resources have rapidly expanded, and his family has now developed into one of the most famous liquor merchants in Edo.

Because he wanted his daughter to be more elegant, Natsume Sohachiro sent his youngest daughter to the Kochiba Sword Hall to learn the art of the naginata. At least eight of the ten women who learned the art of the naginata did so because of this.

This is why I picked up the naginata...

Seeing Natsume Yue bluntly admitting that she did not understand the teaching just now, Sanako did not show any anger or annoyance.

She stood half a step sideways and stood next to Natsume Yue.

"Tighten your abdomen." Sanako stretched out his left hand and gently pressed Natsume Yue's abdomen, "Use your waist and abdomen to release Qihe. Only in this way can your Qihe sound be loud enough."

"Now do what I just said. Use your waist and abdomen to release your Qi."

"Is this like this?"

Natsume Yue opened her mouth and let out a slightly soft Qihe.

"Your waist and abdomen didn't exert force just now." Sanako's left hand pressing on Natsume Yue's belly tightened slightly, "Next, use force on your waist and abdomen."

Natsume Yue swallowed hard, cleared her throat, then opened her mouth and let out another breath.

The volume of the Qihe she released this time was much louder than before.

"Yeah, not bad." Sanako nodded and released the hand on Natsume Yue's belly, "Your belly just felt stronger."

Being praised by Miss Sanako... Natsume Yue laughed "hehehehe" and a bright smile bloomed on her face.

"Okay, let's practice this for now." Sanako's eyes swept over the faces of every female disciple in front of him, "Everyone, please take a break now and drink some water.

Wipe off your sweat."

"Okay!" As soon as Sanako finished speaking, Natsume Yue immediately raised her hands in the air like a conditioned reflex and made a "Long Live" gesture - and then, as expected, she received Sanako's glance.

.

"Sasa, Miss Sanako, I, I'm not, I'm not happy that I finally don't have to practice anymore...!" Natsume Yue hurriedly put away the hands she had raised just now, and stammered in defense, "I

Just, just...just..."

Seeing Natsume Yue's eagerness to explain... Sanako, who was usually very cold, showed a rare expression of dumbfounded laughter.

"Ayue, don't be nervous, I don't intend to blame you for anything."

"When I used to practice martial arts with my father, I would occasionally look forward to hearing the words 'it's time to rest' from my father."

"Okay, go and have a rest."

Sanako's words seemed to have some magic power, making Natsume Yue, who had been looking anxious just now, immediately smile.

Natsume Yue nodded her head vigorously and said "yes" loudly, then like a fluttering butterfly, she quickly ran to the edge of the dojo, picked up her own water bottle, and said "gu dong gu dong" very boldly.

The cow started drinking.

After asking all the female disciples to rest temporarily, Sanako raised his left hand and used the back of his left hand to test the fine sweat on his forehead, then turned around and walked towards Chiba Jutaro who was waiting aside.

"Brother, I'm sorry to keep you waiting for so long. Have you bought the medicine to treat your father's back problem?"

"Yes." Chiba Jutaro shook the medicine bag in his hand, "I bought 4 medicines in one go. Where is my father now? I'm going to apply medicine for him."

Sanako did not immediately answer Chiba Jutaro's question.

She first glanced at her brother with a smile, and then said with a smile on her lips:

"Brother, you probably don't know that when you went out to buy medicine, a customer you never expected came."

"Guest?" Chiba Jutaro was startled, "Who?"

"Second cousin." Sanako replied word for word, "Second cousin, he is back, and my father is now chatting with Brother Rong in his bedroom."

"Second cousin?" Chiba Jutaro opened his eyes and showed joy, "Brother Sakae is back? Doesn't it take a few more days for him to return to Edo?"

"He came back early." Sanako replied, "He returned to Edo at noon today."

"In the afternoon...that is, when you just went out to buy medicine, he came to visit our little Qianba Sword Hall alone with a gift."

"Hahaha." Chiba Jutaro grinned, "Has Brother Sakae finally returned to Edo... I haven't seen him for a long time."

The Chiba siblings did not deliberately control their chat volume.

The content of the chat between the two of them just now was overheard by the female disciples headed by Natsume Yue who were resting not far away.

"Hey." A girl with light freckles on her face whispered to Natsume Yue beside her in a tone of suppressed excitement, "That 'second cousin' Miss Sanako mentioned...

It can’t be ‘Ge no Chiba’ Eijiro Chiba, right?”

"I heard Chiba Shihan say 'Ei-nii' on his behalf... that should be Chiba Eijiro!" Natsume Yue said excitedly, "Is the legendary 'Chiba no Chiba' here now?"

"I admire 'Gi no Chiba' the most." Another girl clenched her two little fists excitedly.

Chiba Eijiro——When they heard this name, the group of female disciples who were gathering at the edge of the dojo to rest suddenly became commotion.

In the current Edo market, there is a popular saying that is almost a household name -

Chiba for skill, Saito for power, Momoi for position.

This proverb refers to the three samurai who are known as "the three strongest swordsmen in Edo at present".

And these three samurai happened to come from the three major sword halls in Edo.

Eijiro Chiba, the "Chiba of Technique" of Genbukan.

Yakuro Saito, the "Saito of Power" in the training hall.

Momoi Haruzo, the “Momoi of Position” at Shixuekan.
To be continued...