In the second year of Wanyan (1861), January 10 (the day Qingdeng was imprisoned), night——

Edo, Kodenma Town, Jiayashiki——

As night fell, the jailers in the prison finally stopped.

The screams, screams, begging for mercy, the sound of whips hitting the human body, the sound of stones crushing muscles and bones, all disappeared.

Because the environment suddenly became extremely quiet, Qingdeng was not used to it for a while.

The only inmate in the same area as Aoto, Kyoutaro Miyabe, was already asleep.

He slept quite gracefully, neither snoring nor grinding his teeth. He used his hands as a pillow and curled up like a cat, with his chest and shoulders rising and falling regularly.

There was no one left to chat with... A strong sense of loneliness occupied Qingdeng's consciousness.

Although the living environment of Yangyashiki is very good, no matter how good the treatment, it is impossible to provide prisoners with rich entertainment projects.

After all, this is Japan in the Edo period, not some modern "Madonna Country" that provides prisoners with five-star accommodation, refrigerators, color TVs, and game consoles.

Qingdeng is still energetic and doesn't want to sleep yet.

Out of boredom, he poked his head out of the cell, looked around, and observed the big copper lock on the door.

The gaps in the prison fence were very small, only half of Qingdeng's head could barely pass through the two gaps.

——This lock... although it is very big and complicated, it is not impossible to pick open...

"Prying locks" is the key part of Unryu Ninjutsu.

Relying on the powerful understanding ability of "Ghost Heart", the strengthened finger strength brought by "Skilled Hands +1", and Sa Zhong's professional guidance, Qingdeng has grown into a lockpicking master in just a few months.

.

Nowadays, most of the locks on the market are just fake in Qingdeng's eyes, and it only takes a while to pry them all open.

——As long as you give me the tools, I can jailbreak now.

As soon as this thought came to Qingdeng's mind, he was amused by the idea.

Jailbreaking... This is the most stupid behavior for Qingdeng at the moment.

Once he forcibly steps out of the prison door, Qingdeng will instantly change from a "justifiable victim" to an "irrational madman".

The wisest choice for him now is to stay in a prison cell in Kodenma Town and wait for the rescue of his friends outside.

Although saying this is a bit boastful, Qingdeng thinks that his popularity is quite good.

He likes to make friends, and because of his personality, he can get along with no matter who he is with.

You can chat with a playboy like Hijikata Toshizo, and you can also have a good time with a cool and cool guy like Saito Ichi.

The Chiba family, the scholars of the Tibetan Studies Institute headed by Katsu Rintaro... In Qingto's circle of friends, there are really too many friends who can provide him with strong support.

Not to mention that Qingdeng still had two king bombs in his hand:

A business group with unknown strength: Boss Kiryu and Mai Kinoshita who were born in Calabash House.

The current speakers of the Edo shogunate and their mothers: Tokugawa Iemo and Tenshouin.

Qingdeng knows very little about Calabash House, so I won’t comment on it yet.

But what is certain is that Boss Kiryu and Mai Kinoshita will never sit back and watch him fall into trouble.

As for the latter... To be honest, Aoto couldn't promise with a pat on his chest that Tokugawa Iemo and Tenshoin would definitely come to save him.

Although he had just visited Edo incognito with the mother and son a few days ago, and the distance between them had become closer, at the end of the day, the relationship between Qingnobo and these two important figures was that of a monarch and a minister.

We cannot use common sense to speculate on the thoughts of feudal rulers.

The group that attacked Aonto and put him in jail this time was the "Direct Participation Alliance" led by the Akabane family.

The direct shogunate samurai were the foundation of the rule of the Edo shogunate. Although most of them had become rotten and degenerated into mud that could not hold up the wall, the Edo shogunate really could not do without them.

Under the crazy attacks of the Hitotsubashi faction, Tenshouin, who has now semi-retired and can move more freely, will not be mentioned for the moment. If Tokugawa Iemo, who must always stand in front of the stage, wants to deal with the "Direct Participation Alliance" that opposes Aoto,

It's bound to be a rat-proof weapon.

What's more, there were mad dogs from the Hitotsubashi faction watching Tokugawa Iemo's every move.

Whenever Tokugawa Iemo did anything that would lead to criticism, he would be verbally criticized by the Hitotsubashi faction.

Under such a premise with many concerns, whether Tokugawa Iemo and Tenshouin can bring considerable support to Aoto... This really has to be a question mark.

However, no matter what, Qingdeng is not worried about his current situation.

He has full confidence in whether he can get out of prison smoothly...or in other words, whether his friends outside can help him get out of prison.

This is the biggest source of confidence for him to remain calm even if he is imprisoned.

——After being released from prison, how should we deal with the Akabane family...

While Qingdeng was deep in thought, he kept moving his hands and continued to play with the copper lock on the cell door.

The Akabane family's revenge methods were much more intense than Qingto imagined. They actually directly framed him for such a far-fetched reason...

Such an approach is tantamount to directly issuing a "fight to the death" invitation to Qingdeng.

How could Qingto be frightened by the turmoil caused by the Akabane family?

When he was targeted by the anti-barbarian group who dared to directly block the streets and kill people, even burning down Edo, abducting people and other absurd things, Qingden never flinched.

It's just that the Akabane family, the helpers they found, the hatamoto who supported them, and the imperial family members are, after all, a privileged group that controls a large amount of social resources.

Therefore, you need to proceed with caution when fighting them.

As early as this morning, when he learned that he was arrested and the mastermind behind it was the Akabane family, Aomori had already started thinking about how to launch a powerful counterattack against the opponent!

Qingden silently thought about the serious political struggle.

At this moment, he suddenly caught a glimpse of an orange light appearing at the end of his vision on the right.

Turning around, I saw that it was a jailer who was patrolling around.

The orange light that Qingdeng saw came from the lantern in the hand of the jailer.

"Ah, Master Tachibana, are you still awake?"

When the jailer saw Qingdeng, he immediately put on a big smile and greeted him warmly, using respectful words and honorifics in his words.

The terror of the jailers in the Kodenma Town Prison Yashiki will only be shown to the helpless commoners and vagrants who live in low-end prison cells such as the second prison and the common people's prison.

Facing the Hatamoto samurai living in Yangyashiki, they didn't even dare to take a breath.

Prison is one of the most humane and worldly places.

The prison in Kodenma Town is essentially just a large detention center, and the people in charge are all suspects who have not yet been convicted.

In other words, all detainees in prison may be released without charge in the future.

It's okay to bully the common people. Even if they suffer great injustice and pain, what can the common people do to the jailers? They can only swallow the broken teeth in their stomachs.

How dare you disrespect the Hatamoto samurai?

Then, what awaits you in the future will most likely be terrible revenge...

Therefore, Qingden's first intuitive feeling after being sent to the prison room was: The sun was shining in the sky, and the flowers were smiling at me.

Every jailer he met treated him very politely.

"Mr. Orange" is long and "Mr. Orange" is short.

The first sentence is "Mr. Tachibana, have you eaten?", the latter sentence is "Mr. Tachibana, are you used to sleeping on the tatami here?".

If it weren't for the fact that he was in the cell and the guards were outside the cell, Qingdeng would have really thought that he was not in jail, but on inspection as a big leader.

Without reaching out to hit the smiling man, Qingdeng gave the jailer outside the door a dull smile.

"Well, I'm not sleepy yet, so I got up and sat for a while."

Since he still had patrol duties, the jailer exchanged greetings with Qingden and then walked away with a lantern.

Just when the jailer's figure was about to disappear from Qingdeng's sight, Qingdeng suddenly noticed the purple belt around his abdomen.

——Miss Okita...

Thinking about things.

Purple is Souji's favorite color. She only wears purple ribbons to tie her hair on weekdays, and she also wears purple-based clothes in her daily clothes.

When I think of the General Secretary, I can't help but think of everyone in the Imperial Guard Hall, and then all my relatives and friends.

——I don’t know how everyone is doing now... After learning that I was imprisoned, although they shouldn’t be horrified, they will probably be at a loss...

Qingdeng took a long breath.

——Miss Okita, Amu, Elodie, they must be very worried about me now, I feel sorry for them... Will Miss Zuonazi worry about me? Ha, Miss Zuonazi's thoughts are really difficult to guess.

…

A smile gradually emerged between Qingdeng's cheeks.

As long as he thinks of Souji, Kinoshita Mai, and Zuo Nazi's faces, Aoto will involuntarily reveal a peaceful smile.

For Qingteng, Souji and his friends' faces have this kind of strange magic power.

Qingdeng only enjoys this indescribable tenderness.

However, at this moment... Qingdeng once again caught a glimpse of a warm orange light at the end of his right field of vision.

Qingdeng's brows immediately furrowed.

——What's going on? Wasn't there a night guard who just came here? Do the guards at Kodenma Town Prison Yashiki do night patrols so frequently?

Qingdeng was wondering, while squeezing half of his head out of the gap between the prison door fence, and then turned his head to look to the right with difficulty.

Instantly, a sudden feeling surged into Qingdeng's heart.

no the same……
To be continued...