Qingdeng's steps stumbled slightly.

Harada deliberately lowered his voice.

Under the control of his exquisite voice, only Qingdeng and others who were close to him heard clearly what he just said.

As soon as Harada finished speaking, Nagakura looked at him with a shocked expression: "These barbarian girls have such strange faces. Looking at faces like this, are you still in the mood to do that kind of thing?"

Although the "Black Ship Incident" in which Commodore Perry of the United States led a fleet into Edo Bay occurred seven years ago in the sixth year of Kayei (1853), Japan did not immediately open its borders because of the incident.

The Edo shogunate, who was afraid of American force, did not dare to refuse the request for the founding of the country, but it was also afraid that if it abolished the national policy of "locking down the country" and opened the country, it would be criticized by the whole country.

Therefore, Masahiro Abe, the chief veteran of the Edo shogunate at that time, used the excuse that "the emperor's approval is required before the treaty can be accepted" and agreed that Perry would give a reply in the spring of the next year.

Therefore, the visit of the American fleet this time did not achieve any substantive results. It only succeeded in sending Japan their credentials for the United States to request Japan to open a country for trade, and successfully promoted their United States' military power.

In the following year, the sixth year of Kayei (1854), Perry arrived as promised, led a larger fleet into Edo Bay, and asked the Edo shogunate to "give an answer as soon as the agreed time has come."

It was not until this time that the Edo shogunate finally signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with the United States because it could not bear the pressure.

Subsequently, England, France, the Netherlands, Tsarist Russia and other countries rushed to sign treaties with Japan like cats smelling a fishy smell.

It was only then that the "Lockdown Order" of the Edo shogunate finally existed in name only, and the country's gates were completely opened.

So if we really want to take a closer look, up to now, the total time that Japan has really opened its doors to the world is less than 6 years.

Because the time for communication with the outside world is too short, even people who do not have a strong dislike for Westerners find it very difficult to get used to the appearance and culture of Westerners.

Whether it is the tall stature of Westerners, even for women, or the excessively white skin, colorful hair and eye colors, the Japanese of this era are extremely unaccustomed to them and feel that these Westerners all look like monsters.

Because the bridge of the nose of Westerners is generally very high, just like the big monster in Japanese legend: Tengu, this strengthens some people's understanding that "Westerners are a bunch of monsters and unclean things".

After asking Harada a sharp question, Nagakura lowered his voice and continued:

"I heard that because we are of different races from Westerners, if we do that kind of thing with Westerners, we will get sick."

"This is pure nonsense." As soon as Nagakura finished speaking, Qingto couldn't help but refuted it in a helpless tone because this statement was so ridiculous.

"Don't you want to give it a try?" Harada licked his lips, "Anyway, I really want to give it a try."

"It's a pity that this place seems...unlikely to have Western wandering girls."

The Westerners living in this Edo settlement were either businessmen who came to Japan to do business, or public officials responsible for handling Japanese affairs. Some with lower status were also servants and guards of the above two types of people.

In a word - the Western residents in this area are either rich or noble.

In this kind of area, there is really no chance of encountering a Western tourist girl.

In response to Harada's question just now, "Don't you want to give it a try?" Saito was the first to give a cold and cool, very personal short answer: "Not interested."

Nagakura followed Saito in his reply: "I'm not used to the appearance of Westerners."

At this time, a man with brown hair and green eyes, wearing a starched suit, walked towards Nagakura from the far direction.

Looking at the man's brown hair and rather green eyes, Nagakura shrank his neck, then silently took a step to the side, standing far away from the brown-haired man.

Seeing that Saito and Nagakura had given their answers, Harada turned his expectant eyes to Aoto.

Harada seemed... as if he wanted to find a companion with whom he could go hunting for flowers and willows in the future.

Aoto, who noticed Harada's gaze, had a helpless expression: "I'm not very interested in having fun with wandering girls."

Influenced by the education he received in his previous life, Qingdeng has always held an attitude of refusing to "find wandering girls".

Moreover, in Qingdeng's eyes, seeking pleasure from prostitutes in this era is a complete gamble in which one's own life is at stake.

Because reliable protection measures have not yet appeared, and people in this era generally do not have a sound awareness of hygiene, the disease has always been prevalent among the people.

In this era before antibiotics have been invented, most of the diseases caused by the disease are terminal and can only lead to death.

Qingdeng didn't want to die from a disease... and he didn't want to die from the Hualiu disease, which would happen to him.

Seeing that even Aomori had clearly stated that he was "not interested", Harada's eyebrows showed a clear look of shock.

"What about you?" Harada looked at the last person who had not yet expressed his stance, "Fudo, what do you say?"

"Ah? Me?" As the youngest person in Qingden's small team, Toudou's face was still obviously childish, but he had a depressed look of "Well...how should I answer?"

Seeing Toudou looking like he didn't know how to answer, Qingnobu was thinking about whether to help Toudou when Toudou suddenly spoke:

"I... don't really like these barbarians who have invaded our country."

"But I am different from the madmen like the anti-barbarian group who want to kill all the barbarians who enter our country and all the Chinese who have had contact with these barbarians."

"Although I don't like the Yi people, I still hope to coexist peacefully with the Yi people, maintain a good relationship with the Yi people, and then learn from the Yi people's advanced technology to strengthen our country's national power so that the Yi people will not dare to act recklessly from now on.

Insult our country."

“I think this is the real ‘rejection’.”

"Oh?" Harada raised his eyebrows in surprise.

At this time, Aoto, Saito, and Nagakura could not help but turn their heads and look at Todo.

Everyone's eyes were focused on him, which made Toudo feel nervous.

"Hug, I'm sorry." Todo smiled awkwardly and raised his hand to scratch his hair, "I seem to have said some not-so-interesting things... It was just my personal opinion. You can just listen to it and enjoy it."

good."

"Nothing." Harada grinned and laughed a few times, "I think what you just said is very interesting."

"On the topic of 'repelling the foreigners', the most common comments I hear from people around me...are either 'Practice your swordsmanship hard, and after the war with the Western countries in the future, I will be the first to be brave and split the barbarians with one sword.

's head'."

"Either it is that 'the battleships and cannons of the Yi and Di are nothing to be afraid of. The most important weapons on the battlefield are people's faith and will. As long as you have the determination to win and the will to fight without fear of death, it is not difficult to defeat the Yi and Di.'

"

"It's really rare for someone like you, Toudo, to advocate 'learning from the barbarians'."

Toudo smiled naively: "Harada-kun, there are very few people like you who find my ideas interesting."

Having said this, a hint of helplessness slowly appeared on Toudo's cheeks.

"I have also mentioned my idea of ​​'learning from the Yi and Di' to many people."

"But they basically either lack interest or scorn it."

"Although there are many people who are not as radical as the madmen like the anti-barbarian group and eager to kill all the barbarians in the country, they also hate the barbarians extremely."

"Either we feel that we cannot lower ourselves to have any dealings with the Yi Di."

"Either you think that the Yi and the Di are our enemies, and learning from them is a very shameful behavior."

"Only the master and some fellow disciples agree with my proposition."

The master Toudo refers to... naturally refers to the dojo master of Ito Dojo who is well-known in Edo and is famous for his ability in both civil and martial arts. Ito Daizo taught Hokushin Itto-ryu.

Ayoto had also heard that Ito Daizo was indeed one of those people with a relatively open mind. There were rumors that Ito Daizo was learning English and Dutch by himself.

Thinking about it this way, Todo, who practices Hokushin Itto-ryu in his dojo, was influenced by his master and came up with the idea of ​​"learning from the West", which is quite advanced in the current Japanese social environment.

Not surprising.

After quietly listening to Toudou's words that sounded like complaints, Harada laughed "hehehe" a few times, and then shrugged his shoulders vigorously.

"Anyway, for me, as long as it doesn't affect my eating, it doesn't matter whether I want to drive out all the Yi Di or learn the skills of the Yi Di."

After such a simple chat, Qingdeng and his party stopped talking.

After turning two corners in silence all the way, Qingto and the others finally arrived at their destination—the place they were reported to be: a confectionery shop specializing in wagashi.

This snack shop is a rare Japanese-style building in this settlement.

According to the information provided by the informant, there is a rugged man with a beard who sneaks in and out of this pastry shop almost every day, carrying a large bag of things.

After seeing this pastry shop, the expressions of Qingdeng and others suddenly became serious.

Under the leadership of Qingdeng, they were not in a hurry to get close to the dim sum shop, but first walked around the dim sum shop from a distance to observe the architectural style of the dim sum shop and the layout of the surrounding buildings.

According to statistics, this snack shop only has two doors, the front door and the back door, so there are not many ways for people inside to escape... This is quite beneficial to Qingteng and the others.

"Mr. Tachibana." Nagakura leaned his head towards Qingto, "What should we do now?"

Qingdeng pondered for a few breaths: "... First find a place to lurk and observe this pastry shop. See if you can catch the person the informant mentioned sneaking in and out of this pastry shop almost every day.

Bearded man."

After saying that, Qingden raised his head and looked around, looking for a suitable place to hide and observe the pastry shop.

After a while, Qingdeng's brows frowned slightly - this dim sum shop was surrounded by neatly arranged houses.

There is neither an inn that can be easily entered nor a secret alley that is convenient for hiding.

Saito and the others also found that there was no suitable place for them to hide around, and they all looked embarrassed.

When Qingdeng was thinking about what to do now——

"Eh? Mr. Tachibana?"

Such a childish but beautiful female voice...

The female voice came from behind, causing Qingdeng to turn around with a surprised expression.
To be continued...