"Ah! It's Granny Guasheng!"

"Grandma Guasheng!"

"Grandma Guasheng! Good evening!"

…

After walking side by side with Gua Shengxiu, shouts similar to this surrounded Qingdeng with an overwhelming sense of presence.

In Yoshiwara, there is a professional term called "Zhang Mise", which means that the wandering girls appear together in the "window" on the first floor of the wandering girl's house.

As a rule, there is a large display window surrounded by a wooden fence on the first floor of every tourist girl's house. Every night during business hours, the tourist girls will sit collectively behind this window and make poses through the wooden fence.

, for passing guests to watch, appreciate and choose.

There are four types of Yoshiwara's yoyoya: large-sized houses, medium-sized houses, small-sized houses, and cut-house houses.

The specifications of Omise are the highest, and the price of Yumise is also the most expensive.

There are more than 200 Yoshihara houses throughout Yoshiwara, but the number of Omise houses has always remained at around six or seven.

Because of the large scale and high prices of Omise, most Edo people could not afford to come here. Only senior samurai with generous salaries like Ayonobu or wealthy businessmen from wealthy families could afford to go to Omise.

Have fun in the world.

The ones with a slightly lower level are Nakamise and Komise. The Thousand Flower House where Baiju is located is Nakamise.

The lowest-end Kirimise is the cheapest and most remote. It is basically concentrated in the "Nishi River Bank" in the far west of Yoshiwara and the "Rashomon River Bank" in the east.

The styles of the first-floor windows of Wandering Girl's Houses of different specifications are also different.

The fences in Omise are all red lattice and completely surround the display window.

The window grilles of Nakamise and Komise are both incomplete. The former has a quarter of the upper right corner empty, while the latter has the entire upper half empty and only surrounds the lower half.

Customers with longer legs can step into the window of Xiao Mian Shi by stretching their legs and make out with the wandering girls inside.

Whether it's a big one, a medium one, or a small one, in short - every time Qingdeng and Gua Shengxiu pass by a wandering girl's house, the wandering girls in the shop window will definitely say hello to Gua Shengxiu warmly.

Every greeting is full of sincere friendship, and there is no hint of falsehood.

Although he had known for a long time that "Yoshiwara Doshin" enjoyed a high prestige among the Yoshihara girls, Qingto couldn't help but be amazed after seeing this scene with his own eyes.

No matter who the other person is, as long as they greet her, Gua Shengxiu will respond positively, either with a smile or a wave.

sough--!

Suddenly, a cold wind came.

The temperature has been very low recently.

Although it hasn't snowed yet, there is always a cold air in the air.

The translucent cold fog was blown away by the north wind and floated in the air with varying thicknesses.

Pedestrians shrank forward.

The girls in the display window were shivering with cold while quietly hiding their naked feet under their clothes.

The wandering girls in Yoshiwara do not wear socks - I don't know if the person who advocates this "barefoot culture" is a senior foot connoisseur.

As long as the wandering girls wear socks, they will be labeled as "bumpkin" and "unfamiliar".

Although they complain about the cold and want to use socks to warm their feet, they still insist on going barefoot all year round, even in the cold weather with heavy snowfall.

As a result, there are two lines from Sawa Ryanagi's poems circulated among the people in Edo: "The beautiful lady in the city, when she reaches the age of twenty-eight, can finally walk in the foot bag." "I have never known the size of my foot bag for more than twenty-seven years."

According to Yoshiwara rules, a wandering girl can retire at the age of 28.

Because the wandering girls in Yoshiwara do not wear socks, they can only wear socks when they are 28 years old...that is, when they finally regain their freedom. However, because they have never worn them, they cannot know the soles of their feet.

The size of the size. These two sentences "Chuanliu" reflect the mixed mood of the wandering girls.

"Miss Guasheng."

While Qingdeng tightened the black scarf around his neck that was being blown up and down by the cold wind, he cast a concerned look at Gua Shengxiu beside him.

"Is it okay for you to wear so little?"

When he first met Gua Shengxiu, Qingnobo noticed that the old woman's clothes were very thin. She only wore an ordinary women's kimono.

Although the fabric of the kimono is stuffed with cotton, compared with the current temperature, such a thin layer of cotton is really a drop in the bucket.

Faced with Qingdeng's kind reminder, Gua Shengxiu smiled.

"Thank you for your concern. But there is no need to worry about my 'temperature condition'."

While Guasheng said this in a half-joking tone, he stretched out his hand to gently tuck the skirt of his jacket.

"I am the kind of person who is naturally not afraid of the cold. For me, this outfit is enough to keep out the cold."

Speaking of this, she suddenly changed the subject.

"Hanada-kun, you don't need to be so respectful to me, it makes me uncomfortable."

"My mother calls me 'Miss Guasheng'. You can just call me 'Grandma Guasheng' like other people do. I like this title better, it is both pleasant and kind."

Qingdeng has always held the attitude of "anything is fine" when it comes to things like "title".

Since Gua Shengxiu made such a request, he was also happy to comply.

…

After a lot of hurrying, the two finally arrived at their destination: a shrine located in the southwest corner of Yoshiwara.

Ever since he became a member of the New Imperial Palace and frequently visited Tsukinomiya Shrine, the shrine has become one of the architectural facilities that Aonto is most familiar with.

"Grandma Guasheng, where is this?"

Qingdeng cast doubtful glances around him.

"This is Enomoto Shrine."

Gua Shengxiu explained unhurriedly.

"There are four shrines in Yoshiwara, namely the 'Kurosuke Inari Shrine' in the northeast, the 'Akaashi Inari Shrine' in the southeast, the 'Kaiyun Inari Shrine' in the northwest, and the one we are standing on right now.

'Enomoto Inari Shrine'."

"Because the unransomed wandering girls are not allowed to step out of Yoshihara, so the wandering girls visit these four shrines on weekdays to pray for blessings."

"These four shrines are not only entertainment places for them to comfort themselves... but also their cemeteries."

"All wandering girls who unfortunately passed away but no one came to claim their bodies will be buried in the open spaces near these four shrines."

It's a coincidence - when talking about this place, Kuabo Hide happened to take Aoden to the back of Enomoto Shrine.

Qingdeng looked around and saw hundreds of Zutaba standing in front of him.

Zutappo: Chinese transliteration of Sanskrit, borrowed directly from Japan. It originally meant a spiritual temple or spiritual pagoda. In Japan, it evolved into a straight long wooden tablet, which is used as a tablet similar to the blessings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The names of Buddhist scriptures or Dharma meetings are written on it.

The name of the person who wishes to be saved, the person making the donation, and other information.

Looking at the contiguous "Zutapo Jungle", Qingdeng couldn't help but be startled.

"Grandma Guasheng, this is... the place where Baiju often comes?"

Gua Shengxiu nodded slightly.

"Bai Ju's friend... a young girl who doesn't even have a real name and only has a nickname of 'Hongmei', is buried here due to an accident more than half a month ago."

"After the incident, Bai Ju would come here to remember her best friend every time she had free time."

There is no real name, only a flower name - obviously, this is a wandering girl.

Many wandering girls were formerly homeless orphans, or girls who were sold because their parents were too poor to support more children.

In order to ensure the quality of the girls in their own stores, Omise and some Nakamise will take in orphans with good qualifications and girls who have been sold by their families, and then teach them from an early age and train them to specialize in "pleasing men."

"Professional travel girl.

Some women's house owners are too lazy to name their children, so they simply give them a fancy name instead of their real name.

Guashengxiu led Qingden to a corner of the cemetery.

"This is Hongmei's tomb."

Qingdeng followed Gua Sheng's gaze and looked over.

On the half-human-tall Zutappo, there is no name of the Buddhist scriptures or the name of the Dharma assembly, only the name of the deceased: Hongmei, and the name of the donor: Baiju.

"Baiju doesn't have a real name either."

Gua Shengxiu added.

"Accident……"

Qingden murmured, and then asked subconsciously.

"What accident caused her death? Did she get sick?"

The most common cause of death among travel girls is illness.

At present, Japan has not yet established advanced hygiene concepts, and there are no convenient tools such as condoms. Both prostitutes and prostitutes are extremely susceptible to diseases.
To be continued...