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As the "Naginata Technique Master" of the Little Chiba Sword Hall, Sanako is probably the person in the whole sword hall who has the most contact with Natsume Yue and other female disciples who are practicing Naginata Jutsu at the Little Chiba Sword Hall.

For Sanako, the 14-year-old girl who is currently closely attached to her is the most special one among the many female disciples of the Little Chiba Sword Hall. She is special in two main ways - her special personality and

My family background is special.

Natsume Yue is a girl with an extremely cheerful personality.

Having known this child for so long, Sanazi has never seen this child show a depressed or unhappy expression. He is cheerful and smiling every day, as if he does not know what sorrow is.

Although Sanako likes to be quiet, she doesn't hate this extremely cheerful and noisy personality, so the relationship between Sanako and Natsume Yue is not bad.

However, some of the child's behaviors often made Sanako, his master and friend, feel quite helpless.

The one thing this child often talks about is "I like Miss Sanako so much!", and he often rushes over to hug Sanako without any explanation.

For example, at this moment, she is still holding Sanako tightly.

And judging from her expression and movements... there is no need to expect her to let Sanako go in a short period of time.

Sanako felt that the "like" Natsume Yue said was just friendship.

The "like" in her mouth...to use a more accurate word to describe it, is the admiration for Sanako's beauty and strength, not really any special affection for Sanako.

Therefore, Sanako allowed this girl who admired her to frequently be intimate with her.

The reason why Natsume Yue is said to have a special personality and family background is not to say that there is any particularly powerful family behind Natsume Yue.

Among all the disciples of Xiao Qianba Sword Hall, there are many who have family backgrounds far more prominent than Natsume Yue.

The special thing about Natsume Yue's family background is that she is the daughter of a businessman.

Natsume Tsuki's father is Natsume Sōhachiro, a large wine merchant who has developed rapidly in Edo in recent years.

Taking advantage of the general trend of the times and skyrocketing upward - this sentence is a perfect way to describe the history of Natsume Sohachiro's fortune.

When Japan's national gates were opened under the threat of the powerful ships and cannons of the foreign powers, and countless foreign merchants set foot on the country's land; when other merchants did not dare to interact with these blond and blue-eyed foreigners because they were wary or despised Westerners, Natsume

Chongpachi boldly stepped forward to do business with these foreigners.

Natsume Sohachiro was lucky. He found several Western businessmen who were very interested in Japanese sake, and successfully made several trading partners with strong financial resources and stable relationships.

By exchanging information with these Western businessmen who were interested in Japanese sake, Natsume Sōhachiro, who was originally just a small businessman, rapidly expanded his financial resources. In just a few years, the Natsume family has developed into one of the most famous liquor merchants in Edo.

one.

Generally speaking, there are very few businessmen who would let their children learn martial arts... because businessmen generally feel that it is more cost-effective to let their children learn how to do abacus than to learn some crappy martial arts.

Although in the Edo period, there were four hierarchical statuses of "scholars, farmers, industry and merchants", with samurai having the highest social status and merchants having the lowest, this so-called hierarchical system has long existed in name only.

As early as one or two hundred years ago, a large number of businessmen relied on various flaws such as institutional flaws to amass wealth at an alarming rate. Many giant businessmen with exaggerated financial resources sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

Osaka is known as the "Commercial Capital" because it is located at the junction of East Japan and West Japan and has extremely superior business conditions. It has gathered a large number of wealthy businessmen who would make even the Edo shogunate tremble if they coughed a few times.

The power of merchants expanded rapidly, while the power of samurai continued to shrink.

A large number of middle- and lower-level samurai were so poor that they had to live a miserable life without a wife or enough food to eat.

Not to mention samurai, a large number of vassal states, including some lords, were so poor that they had to borrow money from merchants to survive.

For example, the military strength of the Edo shogunate was frightened. The Satsuma clan, which had the second-highest general rank in the country, once owed merchants in their domain more than five million taels of gold in debt.

The annual interest to be repaid is two hundred and fifty thousand taels.

The most common recipients of daimyo's loans were the extremely wealthy businessmen in Osaka.

If the giant businessmen in Osaka stopped lending money to the daimyo one day, then many feudal states would collapse overnight due to the break in the capital chain.

This is why there is a popular saying among the people: "When a businessman in Osaka is angry, all the princes in the world will be shocked."

The ebb and flow of merchant power and samurai power caused more and more merchants to despise samurai.

Therefore, compared to warriors using bows, guns and swords, businessmen are more willing to let their children pick up the businessmen's abacus and learn how to do business.

Currently, in the Chiba Sword Hall, which has the highest number of apprentices in Edo, there is only one female disciple whose family background is a merchant... and that person is Natsume Yue.

"Ayue." Sanako lowered her chin without a trace of fat and looked at Natsume Yue, who was a head shorter than her, "Why are you here?"

"Hehe, I sneaked out of the house to eat delicious food. Where are you, Miss Sanako? Why are you here?"

"I just finished teaching the little princess Date of Uwajima Domain and I am preparing to go home."

Sanako once mentioned her side job of "teaching little Princess Date" to the female disciples in the school.

Natsume Yue's eyes suddenly lit up at this moment.

"Miss Sanako, since we are so lucky to meet here today, why not come with me to eat something delicious?"

"Delicious?" Sanako blinked a few times and cast a doubtful look at Natsume Yue.

"I know there is a tea house that makes delicious wagashi! I am a regular customer of that shop, and I am planning to go to that tea house to eat their wagashi!"

Natsume, whose tone became more and more excited the more she spoke, tightened her grip on Sanako, and Sanako's balls were squashed again, and she once again felt out of breath.

"Miss Sanako, are you free now? Come with me to eat wagashi from that tea house! I can guarantee that the taste of wagashi from that tea house will never disappoint you!"

Japanese confectionery…

Facing Natsume Yue's sudden invitation, Sanako's beautiful eyes showed a little hesitation.

The first emotion that emerged from Sanako's heart... was resistance.

After giving little Princess Date lessons for a long time, she just wanted to go back to the Chiba Sword Hall and have a good rest. She was really not in the mood to eat wagashi...

Natsume Yue keenly sensed what Sanako was thinking from her expression.

So, Natsume Yue hurriedly shook Sanako with neither light nor hard force, and said urgently in a pleading tone:

"Miss Sanako, that tea house is not far from here, just come with me!"

Natsume Yue's face was filled with the expectation of "wanting to eat, drink and have fun with Miss Sanako, whom she respects and admires most".

The hesitation on Sanako's face became a little more intense as Natsume Yue stared at her with such longing gaze.

She pursed her red lips slightly and thought for a moment——

"……All right."

In the end, Sanako, who could not resist Natsume Yue's longing gaze, seemed to give in and gave a helpless smile to the girl in front of her.

"Then let me go and try to see how delicious the wagashi from this tea house that you praised so highly is."

"If the taste doesn't satisfy me, then next time you come to the sword gym to learn, I will double the amount of training for you."

The moment Sanako spoke in a half-joking tone, Natsume Yue's pretty face was filled with an ecstatic smile that squeezed both eyes into slits.

"Then I have to ask the owner of the tea house to serve all his masterpieces~~!"

Natsume Yue finally let go of the delicate body in her arms that made countless men in Edo think about it day and night, and then she and Sanako put their shoulders to each other, and took Sanako to the cause and fruit house.

It was so delicious that she became a regular customer of this tea house unconditionally.

"Miss Sanako, I recently found a great Wufu shop! The Wufu sold in that store are all very beautiful..."

As the cheerful girl walked, she chatted and shared her recent experiences with the person she admired next to her.

Sanako listened carefully and echoed from time to time.

At this time, there was a sudden noise from the front that made Natsume Yue couldn't help but close her mouth.

"What's going on?" Natsume Yue stretched her neck and looked forward, "Why are you so noisy? What happened?"

The sudden noise coming from the front also attracted Sanako's attention.

After only about three breaths of time, the two women's confusion about "what happened" was solved.

In front of them, they saw a group of people that it was difficult not to notice, heading towards them.

This group of people seemed to be a government escort team.

The hands of the three men, who were disgraced and embarrassed, were tied tightly with hemp ropes. To prevent them from escaping, the bodies of the three men were also connected together by another hemp rope.

Two young warriors walked at the front and back of the three people, escorting the three people one after another.

The warrior walking behind was tall and muscular, with some blood spattered on his chest and other places.

As for the samurai walking in front...

"Wow!" Natsume Yue's face turned pale, "Why is there so much blood..."

The samurai walking behind only had blood splattered on his chest and other places.

On the other hand, the samurai who hit the front... his clothes looked like he had just been soaked in a pool of blood!

The chest, waist, lower body hakama... In short, the clothes on this man's body were dyed in a very strange color by the splash of blood. There were very few places that were not stained by the blood. It was far away.

You can smell the smell of blood wafting from this person's body.

The noises Sanako and the others just heard came from this young warrior covered in blood.

After seeing the blood-covered appearance of the warrior, the surrounding passers-by were so frightened that they couldn't help but scream, and hurriedly parted to both sides of the street to make way for a spacious street.

After seeing this young warrior in blood-clothed clothes, Sanako was immediately startled.
To be continued...