After Kinoshita Mai and Elodie hugged each other for a moment, they let go of each other.

At this moment, Kinoshita Wu suddenly felt a bright and compelling breath coming from behind her.

Such a strong aura... Even if Kinoshita Mai didn't use her eyes to see, she knew who was coming.

She frowned slightly and turned her head to look back - and sure enough, a certain Yamato Nadeshiko, who liked to wear blue clothes, was standing behind her with a graceful look.

Zuo Nazi: "..."

Kinoshita Mai: "..."

The two women looked at each other.

A heavy silence accumulated between them.

"...You're here."

Kinoshita Mai was the first to break the silence.

"Well... long time no see."

Zuo Nazi responded expressionlessly.

Obviously, the two women were no longer silent and even greeted each other, but the suffocating tension accumulated between them not only did not diminish at all, but became stronger and stronger.

It's getting stronger and stronger.

No matter when or where she was, Kinoshita Mai always disliked Zuo Nazi - and the same goes for Zuo Nako.

A few words of bickering and silent yin and yang to each other - this is how Sonazi and Mai Kinoshita get along on a daily basis.

It's just that neither Kinoshita Mai nor Zuo Nazi has the leisure to quarrel with each other at this time and here.

So, they turned their heads at the same time in a tacit understanding, neither talking to each other nor looking at each other.

…

…

About 10 minutes later——

"I am the third-generation head of the natural Rishin-ryu clan, and the master of the imperial examination hall: Shusuke Kondo!"

Zhousuke raised the tea cup in his hand and looked at Kiryu and others in front of him.

Whether it was due to seniority or to show friendship to the landlord, Zhou Zhu, who was the master of the imperial examination hall, should give the opening speech.

"Here, please allow me, on behalf of all the members of the Trial Guard Hall, to express my heartfelt thanks to you all for coming!"

Everyone did not come here just for socializing, and Zhou Zhu knew this very well.

Therefore, he did not publish endless platitudes.

After making a few polite opening remarks that were neither salty nor painful, he sat back down cross-legged.

Immediately afterwards, Hijikata stood up.

"I'm going to test the guard house's sect, Hijikata Toshizo!"

Hijikata's voice was loud and powerful.

As soon as he spoke, he immediately attracted the attention and attention of everyone in the room.

Some people recognize Hijikata, such as the Chiba family, Kiryu, and Mai Kinoshita.

Some people met Hijikata for the first time, such as Katsurin Taro and Arima.

Huh? This man is a commoner? Katsurin Taro looked at Hijikata's empty waist and couldn't help but be secretly surprised.

When entering other people's residences and other private areas, you must take off the sword. If the owner asks you to hand over the sword, you must cooperate obediently - this is unwritten etiquette of the martial arts.

This etiquette rule only applies to sword fighting, and there are no rigid rules for wakizashi.

Therefore, even if they had to put away their katana after entering a certain area, samurai would still wear the wakizashi on their waists.

Just like now, when Chiba Sadaikichi, Katsu Rintaro, Arima and others entered the trial defense hall, they had temporarily removed their swords and handed them over. At this time, they only had a wakizashi left on their waists.

There is nothing on Hijikata's waist... This means that he was a commoner who did not have the right to bear a sword.

It’s no wonder that Rintaro Desheng looked surprised.

After all, from appearance to temperament, from deportment to conversation, Hijikata's every move, every word and every deed, every frown and every smile is considered.

People who don't know better may think that Hijikata is a noble boy from a famous family.

“Time is of the essence, so I’ll get straight to the point!”

The volume of Hijikata gradually increased.

"I believe you all know this, right? Mr. Orange was harmed by a traitor. I invite you here now to discuss how to help Mr. Orange clear his grievances!"

"To be honest, this is not an easy task!"

"Tachibana-kun is a famous celebrity nowadays!"

"In officialdom, he rose rapidly."

"He is well-known among the people."

"Such a person can actually be framed and imprisoned for no reason... This shows that the traitors who attacked Mr. Tachibana are quite powerful!"

"But we don't need to stop them!"

"Their swords are as powerful as our swords!"

“All of you here are elites from all walks of life!”

"As long as we unite as one and work together, we will be able to erupt with enough energy to get Mr. Tachibana out of prison as soon as possible!"

As soon as Hijikata finished speaking, Kiryuu said calmly:

"I have good relations with Yoshikawa Torajiro, Suzuki Kentaro and others. If necessary, I can ask them to come forward for help."

Suddenly, shocked eyes fell on Kiryu.

Yoshikawa Torajiro, Suzuki Kentaro... To Edo people, these names are simply thunderous!

They are all famous wealthy businessmen in Edo! All of them are rich and wealthy!

With the gradual collapse of the small-scale peasant economy, the vigorous development of the commodity economy, and the increasing popularity of money worship, the wealthy and giant merchants under the Edo shogunate have long had a transcendent political status and social influence.

"Winning over businessmen and gaining their support" has even become the basis for some ministers to settle down and make a living.

The two people Kiryu mentioned just now are top businessmen who countless people, including some officials, cannot win over even if they want to.

Such big names are actually Kiryu's friends, and Kiryu can invite them to help out...

Except for Kirintaro Katsu, who was not familiar with Kiryu, Arima and others were still surprised by Kiryu's arrogance. The group of people sitting at the bottom of the table had slowly regained their composure.

Souji and others already knew that Kiryu was the boss of the employment agency.

It makes perfect sense that employment agency owners have close ties with the business community.

Hijikata had just mentioned that someone who could open a job agency in a place like Edo must not be an ordinary person, so the Souji and others were astonished and couldn't help but secretly sigh: Boss Kiryu is indeed not an ordinary person...

As if it was a competition, Chiba Jutaro straightened his back, followed Kiryu and said loudly:

"Tachibana-kun is not only my friend, but also the friend of Xiao Qianye Sword Hall! We Xiao Qian... no, we Beichen Itto-ryu are willing to do our best for Jun Tachibana!"

The atmosphere is getting warmer.

Rintaro Katsu’s timely speech added another piece of firewood to the “fire” that filled the air of the dojo.

"Without Mr. Ju, I would have died long ago, and the Fanshu Diao Institute would become a cold historical term. I cannot guarantee how powerful the help will be, but at least I can join hands with all the members of the Fan Shu Diao Institute to advance and retreat together with Mr. Ju."

…

Everyone expressed their willingness to go through fire and water for Qing Deng.

Seeing this, the General Secretary and others were once again amazed at Qingden's good popularity, and secretly rejoiced.

They were originally worried that the formation of the "Pro-Orange Alliance" would be difficult. Now it seems that this worry is no longer necessary!

…

…

Although time was tight and preparations were hasty, under the joint efforts of Hijikata and his team, a rough but still manageable "Tangerine Support Alliance" was finally built!

After the meeting ended and everyone left the trial hall, they immediately acted according to the jointly agreed upon plan.

The first to take action was the martial arts world represented by Chiba Kenkan.

Chiba Sadayoshi used superhuman mobility to summon all the masters of Hokushin Ittoryu dojo in Edo.

Affected by culture and historical inertia, the relationship between the same disciples in the Edo period was a very special kind of friendship.

To some extent, "same sect" even exceeds "blood relationship".

As long as people are from the same school, they can feel an indescribable closeness to each other.

Among them, Beichen Yidao style is the best.

Disciples of Beichen Yida-ryu are known to value the differences between sects and love to form small groups.
To be continued...