"Hijikata! Let's play another one!"

"No, no, no."

Hijikata waved his hand.

"Singing is boring! Let's just chat!"

Hijikata drank the full drink Nagakura had just given him, then turned his head and looked at Kondo.

"A Sheng, you are such a loser. The past of me, you, the Chief Secretary, and Uncle Yuan all messing around together is still before our eyes. I never thought that in just a blink of an eye, you would get married and start a family."

"Hehehe~"

Kondo smiled innocently.

"What? Are you envious, Ah Sui? If so, find a good woman as soon as possible. If I remember correctly, you are 25 years old this year, right?"

Hijikata sneered, curled his lips, and waved his hands.

"Marriage is just a shackle for me. I don't plan to get married and start a family in this life. But, then again... among so many people present, except for the master and his wife, the chief executive's sister and brother-in-law, only

Asheng, you are the only one who is not single."

Kondo was stunned: "Really?"

"Yes." Hsuchikata curled his lips at Qingto and others, "Do you think any of us are married?"

"It seems so...Uncle Yuan, aren't you planning to get married yet?"

At the banquet at this time, apart from the elderly couple Zhousuke and Abi, the oldest one among the crowd was the 31-year-old Genzaburo Inoue.

"I haven't met a woman who can make my heart beat."

Genzaburo Inoue smiled without thinking.

"Furthermore, for me, the trial of the Imperial Palace and the natural flow are far more important than getting a wife and having children."

"I want to take advantage of the current period of spring and autumn to devote more time and energy to helping the Shiwei Hall and Natural Rishin-ryu become the best swordsmanship and swordsmanship halls in the world!"

"Source..." Shusuke, who was greatly moved by Inoue's answer, said sincerely, "I'm very touched that you are willing to dedicate yourself to the trial of the Imperial Guard, Natural Rishin-ryu... but you really don't have to sacrifice yourself for this.

happiness……"

Inoue smiled and said nothing. He just silently picked up the wine glass at hand and toasted Zhouzhu.

"Uncle Gen, are you still unwilling to get married..." Hijikata flattened his lips regretfully...then turned to look at Qingto, "Tachibana, what about you? When do you plan to get married?"

"Um?"

Qingdeng was stunned for a moment when his name was suddenly called... How could he be so good? The conversation suddenly came to my head.

In terms of age, Qingdeng, who is only 18 years old this year, is one of the youngest people present.

Only Souji and Saito, both 16 years old this year, are younger than Aoto.

If you don't ask there are so many people who are older than me and should get married more than me, why are you asking about me?

Hijikata understood the confused expression on Aonto's face and laughed meaningfully, "Hey hey hey":

"Tachibana, don't you have a very good relationship with that little girl from Qianshiwu? They both call each other 'Qingden' and 'Awu'."

That little girl from Thousand Houses...it's obvious who Hijikata is talking about.

"Ah, that's right, Tachibana, you and Chiba Sanako from the Little Chiba Sword Hall seem to have a very good relationship."

"Tsk tsk tsk, Tachibana, I didn't expect you to be quite popular with women."

Hijikata raised the bottle of wine, took a big gulp of it, moistened his throat, and then said to Qingden in a teasing tone:

"Whether it's the little girl from Chishiya or Chiba Sanako, they are both good and good women. Especially Chiba Sanako, she needs a good face, a good figure, and a good temperament.

, it’s hard to find a woman with a good family background.”

"Tachibana, which one of them do you like? Do you have any plans to marry any one of them?"

Throughout the ages, love gossip has been one of people's favorite topics.

After Hijikata raised this topic, everyone, including the master and his wife, focused their attention on Qingto.

"Uh..." Qingdeng, who looked embarrassed, was speechless for a moment.

Speaking of Kinoshita Mai and Sanako... Qingto recalled the embarrassing scene a few days ago when the two girls discovered that he had an extremely fulfilling life during the three-day fireworks display...

After the fireworks display, Aoto was busy meeting Tokugawa Iemo and Tenjoin, so he never met Kinoshita Mai and Sanako again.

After not seeing them for several days, Qingdeng wanted to meet the two girls...but was a little afraid to see them...

Previously, because of the sudden appearance of Tada Koemon, who suddenly went crazy and went around killing people with a big gun, Aoto "dodged a disaster."

However, what is supposed to come will always come... Aomori still hasn't explained to Kinoshita Mai and Sanako what is going on with his extremely fulfilling fireworks display...

According to the values ​​of this era, going out alone with a single girl is an extremely ambiguous behavior. People often regard this kind of man and woman who can go out alone as the kind of relationship that should lead to marriage immediately.

Not to mention the places to go and play, it is also a grand ceremony full of charming atmosphere such as fireworks display.

So from the perspective of this era, Qingden's behavior of going to the fireworks display with different girls for two consecutive days to watch the fireworks was simply extremely romantic.

From Kinoshita Mai's perspective, it was Aoto who took the initiative to invite her to go to the fireworks display. As a result, Aoto went to "revisit the old place" with another girl who was more beautiful and outstanding than her the next day.

From Sanako's perspective, it was clear that Aobori had already developed an ambiguous relationship with a certain woman, but he did not hesitate to trick her, an ignorant girl, into going to the fireworks display together.

One feels that she has been cheated on, and the other feels that she has become a mistress intervening in other people's relationships... Although neither of them has established a substantial relationship with Qingdeng, this is indeed how they feel.

Although Hijikata's sudden question caught Ayoto off guard...but Hijikata's question successfully aroused Ayoto's deep thoughts.

Qingden lowered his eyes and looked at his face that was flattened by the wine in the wine glass in his hand.

He remained silent for a long time.

Qingdeng, who didn't respond for a long time, remained silent...

I don't know if it's a coincidence or something else - whenever everyone in the Imperial Guard Hall holds a banquet, the chief's seat will always happen to be next to Qingto.

The director-general used subtle movements to glance at Qingto, who had been silent, and laughed abruptly:

"Hahahahaha! Mr. Hijikata, why are you asking questions about outstanding single young people like a matchmaker? How can you, a 25-year-old guy who is still alone, have the confidence to urge others to get married?"

"Exactly." Hijikata curled his lips, "The reason why I am still alone until now is simply because I don't want another burden that will restrict my freedom. If I want to get married, I can immediately find a large number of people who are willing to marry me.

woman!"

"Why are you so hostile to marriage?" Souji asked, "Wouldn't it be nice to have one more person you can rely on?"

"Hmph." Hijikata sneered, "I don't need others to rely on me. Even if I am alone all my life, I can still live a good life! You know, back then I..."

…

Unknowingly, the topic changed from "Aonto's marriage" to "Hijikata's glorious past"...

Everyone's attention naturally moved away from Qingdeng.

Qingdeng saw this and let out a silent sigh.

Then he put his upper body close to Souji next to him and whispered softly at a volume that only he and Souji could hear clearly:

"Okita-kun, thank you so much just now..."

Aoto is not a fool, he... No, most of the people present, including Hijikata, should have been able to see that Souji was helping Aoto out of the siege just now.

A person like Hijikata, who is rude on the surface, but actually has a high emotional intelligence, must have noticed the question he just asked, making it difficult for Qingto to answer.

Now that the General Secretary has spoken out to help Qingteng out of trouble, he also followed this step and directed the topic elsewhere.

"Hahahaha, it's okay, it's okay, you're welcome."

The director-general raised a big smile to Qingden.

Infected by his smile, Qingdeng also smiled slightly.

"Look back and think about it carefully..." The voice that only Aomori and Souji could hear clearly came up again, "Souji, it seems I haven't thanked you yet..."

"Thank you? Thank you for what?"

"Thank you so much for putting in a good word for me about the fireworks display a few days ago..."

On August 25th...that is, the last night of the fireworks display, thanks to some clever and extreme maneuvers by Souji, he said a lot of good things about Aoto to Mai Kinoshita and Sanako, and successfully stirred up a bit of the atmosphere that was prevalent at that time.

The suffocating atmosphere between Aoto, Mai Kinoshita and Sanako.

After understanding what Qingnobo was referring to, the director smiled casually:

"Oh, you're talking about this...it's just a trivial matter. You don't need to treat me so seriously because of this trivial matter. After all..."

The director's voice suddenly paused.

Her eyes wandered as if she couldn't calm down, and she once tried to keep silent, but then she changed her mind and showed a slightly stiff smile...

"After all - the two of us are good friends and good partners. Isn't it natural for friends to support and help each other?"

After saying that, the chief commander picked up the wine glass on the dining table and drank it down in one gulp with great courage.

"Speaking of which...Tachibana-kun, I'm actually quite curious."

"Huh?" Qingteng cast a puzzled look at the DG, "What are you curious about?"
To be continued...