As for his father's gambling debt, he is not in a hurry, because he does not need to pay off this huge debt in one go. He can pay it back in batches, little by little.

Anyway, as long as Qingdeng can come up with a certain amount of money to repay the debt every time a debt collector comes, the people of the "Qingshui Clan" will not embarrass Qingdeng too much.

Qingdeng held the box of money and returned to the "diners' room" where he lived.

As he climbed the stairs leading to the second floor, Aoto said to himself: "Ah... now we can try to recruit Okabiki..."

Since Ii Naoki was killed and these "three times" samurai became extremely busy due to the shogunate's death order to "severely crack down on the anti-barbarian patriots", Aoden deeply realized the inconvenience caused by the shortage of manpower...

Other colleagues could assign their respective Oka Yin to help with some chores, but Qingteng, who did not hire Oka Yin because his family had no money, could only do everything himself.

When he was not very busy in the past, Qingden Shang did not feel too inconvenienced by not having any subordinates.

But now... things have changed.

Faced with the sharply increased workload, Qingdeng, who has no subordinates to adjust, already feels a little overwhelmed.

Now that his wallet is bulging, he can indeed consider asking 2 or 3 people to work for him.

While Qingdeng was thinking seriously about inviting Okabiki, he put his box of money back into the "diners' room".

When he came out of the "diners room", Qingto happened to bump into Okita in the corridor who had left his room at the same time.

"Huh? Tachibana-kun, what's wrong?" Okita noticed the thoughtful look on Qingto's face, "Why do you look so worried?"

"I'm not worried." Qingden smiled, "I'm just thinking about hiring some gangsters to help."

Ayoto informed Okita of his plan to hire Okabiki.

Finally, Qingden paused, and then asked Okita in a half-joking tone:

"Okita-kun, aren't you very interested in the work of Sankai? Are you interested in being my Okahiki?"

"Okabiki?" Okita's eyes lit up.

But in just a blink of an eye, the light in Okita's eyes faded.

"I'm quite interested in being your Okabiki..." Okita stretched out his hand and smoothed the ponytail on the back of his head, with a hint of regret on his face, "But I probably don't have much time..."

"At this stage, I still want to focus on practicing my sword skills and helping to run the trial gym."

Okita declined his invitation - but Qingto was not upset, after all, it was just a casual question.

"Now I want to recruit Oka Yin." Qingdeng smiled helplessly, "But I don't know where to find a reliable candidate."

"Do you want to ask your seniors?" Okita asked, "Your seniors should have relevant methods, right?"

Qingden raised his hand and touched the back of his neck: "Well, that's the only way... huh?"

His voice suddenly paused.

The fingers that were rubbing the back of his neck also stopped.

"Yes...how could I forget..." Qingdeng grinned and murmured in a volume that only he could hear clearly, "Isn't there a good channel for me to find migrant workers..."

"Okita-kun." Qingto put down the hand that was touching the back of his neck, "Can I ask you to do something for me tomorrow?"

"Huh? What's the matter?"

"I would like to invite you to go to Boss Kiryu's Thousand Houses tomorrow..."

…

…

Edo, the leased territory of overseas powers, the home of Anthony, Elodie and the others——

Anthony and his family bought this new Edo house from a friend of his at a relatively low price.

Although it is a "second-hand house", both the walls and furniture are quite new.

Elodie, who had just taken a comfortable hot bath, took cheerful steps in the direction of her bedroom, accompanied by the maid Leroy.

Because she had just taken a shower, Elodie's body was still filled with warm steam. She had long, curly light blond hair hanging casually behind her. She was wearing a white French dress with a rosy pink face.

Her young feet were wearing a pair of cotton velvet slippers made in the Middle East.

"Miss." Leroy, who was following Elodie step by step, asked at this time, "You seem to be very happy. Did you encounter something happy?"

"Hehe." Elodie turned her head and showed a big smile to Leroy, "Yes, I did encounter something happy."

Elodie raised her right palm and placed it against the top of her head.

"I measured my height just now when I was taking a shower - I seem to have grown taller!"

Looking at Elodie who showed such a pure and brilliant smile because of such a thing, Leroy was startled, and then smiled happily:

"That's right...that's indeed something to be happy about."

While chatting and laughing, the master and servant passed by the hall, which was still lit.

In the hall, Anthony was sitting alone on the soft sofa.

Because Anthony was facing away from Elodie, Elodie could not see Anthony's current face and expression. She could only see Anthony's shadowy back under the candlelight.

She blinked at her grandfather's back, and the smile on Elodie's face grew a little wider.

She decided to share the great news of growing taller with her grandfather.

So, she asked Leroy to go back to her bedroom alone to wait for her, and then quietly entered the living room.

"Grandpa..." Elodie called Anthony sweetly and walked to Anthony.

Immediately afterwards, Elodie froze on the spot.

She saw her grandfather huddled in the sofa with a sad face.

"Oh... Elodie." Seeing Elodie coming, Anthony quickly forced a smile on his face without realizing it.

Although he had turned his scowl into a smile as fast as he could, it was still half a step too late, and Elodie had completely seen his expression just now.

"Grandpa, what's wrong?" Elodie quickly ran to Anthony's knees, "Why do you look so sad? Did you encounter something troublesome?"

Looking at Elodie with a concerned look on her face, Anthony was moved and smiled.

He raised his old, rough hand and gently touched Elodie's pale golden hair while sighing heavily.

"...It's okay. I was just wondering...whether it was a wrong decision to take you to escape to this Far East island country..."

After finishing speaking, Anthony sighed heavily again.

"The 'anti-foreigners' in this country are far more xenophobic and radical than I thought before..."

"Last time, if it hadn't been for our good luck and Mr. Tachibana, Mr. Komuro and others who protected us, we might have been killed by those 'anti-foreigners'."

"After living in this Far East island country for such a long time, the country's 'wind of resistance' has not only not subsided, but has become even more intense..."

A wry smile appeared on Anthony's face.

"I feel so guilty... I promised you that I would take you to a safe place away from the empire..."

"This is indeed far away from that empire...but it's not safe at all."

Anthony sighed again.

After he sighed, silence dominated the entire hall for a moment.

It wasn't until the night wind outside the window suddenly brought a "whirring" sound that I finally heard Elodie break the silence of the hall with her childish voice.

"Grandpa, what are you talking about?"

Elodie gave Anthony a big smile.

Then...she raised her hand and stroked Anthony's cheek with a gentle movement as if she wanted to smooth out the wrinkles that had been squeezed together due to her sad face.

"You have nothing to feel guilty about?"

"Although some people in this country are very hostile to us foreigners, it cannot destroy my current happiness at all."

"After escaping to this country with you, I had a great time every day."

"There are so many beautiful scenery here that I have never seen before."

"There's a lot of really delicious food here."

"I also made precious friends like Miss Wu here."

"What's more important - I can now play with you without any worries!"

Having said this, Elodie took half a step back, then stretched out her hands, pinched both sides of the long white dress she was wearing, lifted the dress slightly, bent down, and gave an extremely elegant French salute to Anthony.

"I am no longer the princess of that empire, I am the daughter of an ordinary French businessman - Elodie de Angoulême."

"For me, just being like this is enough to make me feel extremely happy."

After saying that, Elodie smiled brightly at Anthony.

This is a smile like an angel descending from earth.

*******

*******

Requesting monthly tickets after a long time! (Leopard Head Cries.jpg)
Chapter completed!