The seventh year of Anzheng (1860), March 3——

"It's so cold..."

Qingdeng, who had finished today's morning exercise, immediately shuddered involuntarily after carrying his dental equipment to the courtyard of the trial defense hall.

Qingdeng raised his head and looked at the sky above his head: "It's so cold today..."

The sky this morning is quite dark.

The dense dark clouds were so low that it made people feel breathless.

After vigorously rubbing his two arms with chicken skin a few times, Qingden quickly fetched clean water from the well for washing.

"Hello... (Good morning)" At this time, Okita, who had not yet fully woken up, closed his eyes tightly, carried his dental appliance, and staggered towards the well.

Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew, waking Okita up from the cold.

"...Guh!" Okita opened his eyes suddenly, raised his hands, and rubbed his arms vigorously, "It's so cold!"

"Keep warm." Qingdeng reminded, "Today's weather is a bit cold."

Okita looked up at the gray sky above his head and curled his lips: "Why is the weather so bad today... On this rare Shangsi Festival, I originally planned to go out to see the peach blossoms this afternoon..."

Today is the Shangsi Festival, which many unmarried girls are looking forward to.

The Shangsi Festival is also known as the "Peach Blossom Festival" because this is the time when the peach blossoms are in full bloom.

After rubbing his arms to warm them up, Okita quickly ran to Qingden's side and fetched his own share of water from the well for washing.

"Tachibana-kun." Okita, who was brushing his teeth, asked Qingto in a vague tone, "How do you plan to spend today's Shangsi holiday?"

"Aside from practicing swordsmanship in the trial hall, I don't have any other activities to participate in." Qingden responded in a joking tone.

Qingdeng has no daughters, and there are no unmarried girls in the imperial examination hall.

This Si Festival is just an ordinary day for Qingdeng and Shiweiguan...

——Speaking of which... Arima-sama and the others should be on their way to Edo Castle now...

A small official like Qingdeng can spend today's Shangsi Festival leisurely and leisurely.

But officials of lower rank like Arima must go to Edo Castle today to celebrate the Kamisaki Festival with the shogun in the Ohiro Room of Edo Castle.

Ayoto guessed that Arima should have put on the most solemn attire by now and led his entourage towards Edo Castle.

"Tachibana-kun, since you have nothing to do today, do you want to go see the peach blossoms with me this afternoon?" Okita's cheeks were filled with anticipation and excitement, "Now is the time of year when the peach blossoms are in full bloom.

, it would be a pity not to go and enjoy it."

"Are you looking at the peach blossoms..."

The weather today was not very good, and Qingdeng didn't particularly want to go out.

Just when Qingden was thinking about whether to accept Okita's invitation to see flowers, he suddenly saw a white dot as big as a grain of rice passing in front of his eyes.

"Um?"

Aoto and Okita, who also noticed the white spots, raised their heads and looked toward the sky.

"It's snowing..." Okita muttered.

Only scattered snowflakes were seen falling from the clouds, dotting the gray sky.

The snowflakes flying in the wind look like naughty elves.

The scene of the dancing fine snow made Qingdeng involuntarily recall a famous sentence from an ancient article he had learned before: It is not like catkins blowing up due to the wind.

"The weather this year is really abnormal..." Okita smiled bitterly, "It's already March, and it's still snowing..."

Qingdeng nodded in agreement.

The sudden falling snow caused the already low temperature to drop further.

The chill that enveloped the body became more and more severe. Qingnobo and Okita, who could hardly stand the cold, quickly finished washing together and then hid back to the trial defense hall as if they were running away.

…

…

Today, all officials of some rank need to go to Edo Castle to celebrate the Kamisaki Festival with the shogun. As the elder, Naoki Ii will not be absent.

At this moment, at the gate of the Ii family's mansion, more than seventy of Ii Naobi's followers and guards were inspecting their haori, bamboo hats, sabers and other equipment.

Inside the mansion, Ii Naobi, who had already changed into his formal clothes, walked alone and striding towards the house where a sedan chair had been prepared.

At this time, a veteran of the Ii family appeared from the corner of the corridor behind Ii Naobi with an anxious look on his face, and then rushed to Ii Naobi's side in a hurry.

"My lord! My lord!"

The old minister knelt on one knee in front of Ii Naobi and handed over a white envelope in his hand with both hands.

"Lord." The old minister lowered his voice and said in a deep voice that no one except him and Ii Naobi could hear clearly, "This morning, an anonymous letter was dropped into the residence of my Ii family."

"According to the letter, in the near future, there will be a group of Mito Domain warriors who want to intercept and kill you on the streets."

"...Anonymous letter?" Naoki Ii calmly took the envelope, pulled out the letter paper from inside, and unfolded it forcefully.

The content of the letter was quite simple - it just informed Ii Naobi that the feudal lords of the Mito Domain were preparing to launch a Tenchu ​​operation in the next few days, and told Ii Naobi to be careful.

After quickly reading the contents of the anonymous letter, Ii Naobi threw the letter back to the old minister with an indifferent expression.

"The feudal lords of Mito Domain are eyeing my head...so what?"

"Am I just going to never go out again?"

After that, Ii Naobi bypassed the old minister who was kneeling in front of him: "Please help me find out who sent this anonymous letter later."

"My lord! My lord!"

The old minister quickly walked over to Ii Naomi and knelt down.

"Please at least add more guards. I will arrange some new guards now..."

"No!" Ii Naobi sternly interrupted the veteran, "If it were normal times, that would be fine, but today we must not increase the number of guards."

"There are rules for how many guards you can bring with you when you go to the city to celebrate the Shangsi Festival."

"As an elder, I cannot break the rules and set a bad example for others."

After speaking, Ii Naobi once again bypassed the veteran who was standing in front of him.

The old minister persisted and stood in front of Ii Naobi again.

"Lord..."

"No need to say more." Ii Naobi said calmly, "Each person has his destiny."

"If the assassins are bent on killing me, no matter how carefully they prepare themselves, there will still be flaws."

At this time, Ajiu came.

Aku, who habitually sent Ii Naobi away from home in the early morning, appeared from the side corridor.

"What's wrong?" Ajiu looked at Ii Naobi, and then at the old minister who was still kneeling in front of Ii Naobi.

"It's okay." Ii Naobi smiled at Ajiu, "I'm just discussing government affairs."

Ii Naobi glanced at the old minister and signaled to him with his eyes: Don't say any more! Get out of the way!

The veteran stared at Ii Naobi's determined face, gritted his teeth, and quickly stepped aside.

"Let's go, Madam." Ii Naobi raised his hand and waved to Ajiu.

Ajiu followed Ii Naobi, and the two of them arrived outside the house in silence.

"Ah..." Ajiu raised his head and blinked at the flying snow falling freely above his head, "It's snowing..."

Ii Naobi and Ajiu looked up at the snow together: "It's snowing at this time of year...it's really rare."

"Are you wearing something thicker?" Ajiu asked.

"Of course." Ii Naobi smiled and patted the thick clothes on his chest.

"Just wear thick clothes." Ajiu smiled sweetly, "But don't catch a cold."

Suddenly, a cold snowflake lazily landed on the tip of Ajiu's nose.

Seeing this, Ii Naobi smiled and stretched out his fingers to brush away the snow spots on Ajiu's nose.

"The snow came at the right time." Naomi Ii smiled, "I'm worried that the creation of the new Japanese song with the theme of snow that I told you before has hit a bottleneck."

"I hope this unseasonal heavy snow can bring me new creative inspiration."

Ajiu covered his mouth and smiled: "Then you must not waste this rare snow."

"Hurry up and get new inspiration from this early spring snow." Ajiu said mischievously, "I'm still waiting to appreciate your new Japanese song. I haven't seen your new work for a long time."

Ii Naobi smiled and nodded, "Since Madam is looking forward to it so much, then I have to write better."

"Lord," a strong man standing next to the sedan door said in a loud voice, "it's almost time."

This strong man is a close confidant of Naomi Ii - the deputy captain of Naomi Ii's bodyguard: Chuzaemon Kawanishi, the outstanding swordsman of the Noi family.

"Yes." Jingyi Naobi nodded, "Madam, I will leave first."
To be continued...