Yoshiwara is not the only place where you can find girls’ houses.

Vegetable shops, rain shops, pharmacies, grocery stores... Yoshiwara has all the shops you can imagine that are necessary for daily life.

The people who live in Yoshiwara are not just wandering women, there are also many ordinary people - most of them are employees who work in the wandering women's house, or officials who work at the Shirobei Club.

The above-mentioned shops specialize in the business of traveling girls who cannot leave Yoshiwara, as well as the townsfolk living in Yoshiwara.

Although Yoshiwara is a city with everything you need and complete functions, at the end of the day it is just a red light district.

Small is by no means small, but big is not that big either.

It only took more than half an hour for Qingdeng and Guashengxiu to search all the places Baiju often visited and might go to - and found nothing.

Since just now, Qingdeng and Guasheng have both fallen silent due to their heavy hearts.

Throughout her life, Gua Shengxiu regarded it as her responsibility to "protect wandering girls".

A wandering girl... and a wandering girl with whom she had a pretty good relationship disappeared without any reason, and she couldn't be found - it goes without saying how big a blow this had to Gua Shengxiu.

Not to mention Qingdeng.

Bai Ju is the only clue he currently has to track down the gang.

In order to obtain this line, he even had a head-on conflict with the Huo Fu thieves.

He had worked so hard to finally get such a precious clue, but it was cut off in such an inexplicable way... How could Qingdeng feel relieved? How could he swallow this frustration?

"Hanada-kun, we're here. This is the last place I could imagine Baiju might come to..."

Hearing this, Qingdeng raised his eyes and looked around - a huge lantern came into view.

"here it is?"

As soon as this question came out of his mouth, Qingdeng realized the answer himself.

Huge lantern... There is only one place in Yoshihara with a huge lantern.

Guashengxiu’s next answer confirmed the correctness of Qingdeng’s conjecture.

"This is the Akiha no Tsumei, which is dedicated to Akiha Gongen."

Akiha Gongen: A deity born from the combination of the mountain faith and Shugendo in Mount Akihabara in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, and the combination of gods and Buddhas. It is also known as "Akiha Sanshakubo Daigongen".

[Shugendo: a type of traditional Japanese asceticism that combines the characteristics of Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Shintoism. It was once very popular in Japan, and believers practiced strict asceticism in various spiritual mountains. 】

[The combination of Shinto and Buddhism: Japan’s native Shinto beliefs and Buddhism are compromised and then combined into a belief system. Generally refers to the phenomenon of the unification of Shinto and Buddhism in Japan.]

Akiba Gon is now a household name in Japan, and she is regarded as the "fire god" who can prevent fires.

Why is Akiha Gongen enshrined in Yoshiwara to prevent fires?

The reason is not complicated.

First, the "Kanyei Fire" two hundred years ago, which burned the entire "Moto Yoshihara" to ashes and turned most of the wandering girls into humanoid charcoal, left a deep psychological shadow on the public.

Already.

Secondly, Yoshihara is one of the areas where fires occur most frequently in Edo.

Although according to Yoshiwara rules, yandere girls can retire at the age of 28, but this does not mean that yandere girls can sit back and relax after reaching the age of 28.

First of all, in this era without advanced hygiene concepts; in this working environment where day and night are reversed and there is no rest day to speak of, the wandering girls who can live to the age of 28 are all "chosen people" with extremely good luck.

.

Even if you are really blessed by God and manage to survive until the age of 28 when you can retire, you still have to overcome another obstacle as difficult as the sky to truly embrace freedom - pay off your debts.

All the wandering girls in Yoshiwara are deeply in debt.

Daily food and clothing expenses, etc., are all recorded in the personal accounts of the traveling girls.

Wandering girls with some reputation are obliged to take the newcomers with them and be responsible for their upbringing. The newcomers are responsible for taking care of the seniors' daily life, and their food and clothing expenses are recorded in the senior's account.

The girls who were sold to Yoshiwara by their families were even worse. While they had to pay off their living expenses, they also had to spend a large amount of money to redeem their deeds.

In the end, he was nominally free, but he still had to work hard to repay debts that he didn't know how long it would take to repay...perhaps he would never be able to repay them in his lifetime.

The extremely harsh living environment has distorted the minds of countless wandering girls.

In order to retaliate against society, a large number of psychopathic wandering girls deliberately set fires.

The incidence rate of "man-made fires" in Yoshiwara is astonishing.

Not to mention the distant past, just talking about the man-made fires that have occurred in Yoshihara in recent years include:

In the second year of Honghua (1845), three people including Yuqin (16 years old), a traveling girl in the Kawajin House, set fire to the house.

In the second year of Kayei (1849), three man-made fires occurred one after another in this year. The arsonists of the first two fires were Kiyokawa (25 years old) and Daiharu (15 years old). As for the last fire...

The number of arsonists was unprecedented - sixteen wandering girls from Umemoto House set fire to the house together.

In the fifth year of Jiayong (1852), Yuju (35 years old) set fire to the house.

In the third year of Anzheng (1856), Mei Zhi (27 years old) set fire to the house.

These are only the major disasters. As for the intentional arson incidents with a smaller scope of damage, there are countless more.

Fortunately, these fires were put out quickly and did not cause much damage.

But... no one can guarantee that they and this Yoshiwara can escape the next fire.

Yoshihara's closed environment is destined to have disastrous consequences once the fire gets out of control.

Arson incidents broke out every three days... The people of Yoshiwara felt helpless and placed their hope in the protection of gods.

Therefore, the Mount Akiha Illumination located in the deepest part of Nakano-machi is considered one of the most popular places in Yoshiwara.

Wandering girls and ordinary people living in Yoshiwara often come here to worship in their spare time, praying to the "fire god" Akiha Gongen to protect them from being killed by "fire and smoke".

It was obviously night time, but there were still many people gathered around Akiba Mountain's Tomei.

Qingdeng raised his eyes and looked around.

The flow of people passing by on his left and right sides could not be said to be a rush of people, but they could also be said to be bustling.

Because it is the working hours of the yōjos, the people still walking on the streets of Yoshiwara at this time are either tourists, residents of Yoshiwara, or entertainers and handymen working for various yōjo houses.

"Damn it...there are too many people..."

While Gua Shengxiu stood on tiptoes, she stretched her neck to the extreme - she tried to look for Bai Ju's figure "condescendingly".

However... no matter how she stood on tiptoes and stretched her neck, it would only change her height from a "short winter melon" to a "slightly better short winter melon".

Wherever you look, you still see other people's backs and chests...

At this time, Qingdeng suddenly said:

"Grandma Guasheng, sit on my shoulders!"

After saying that, Qingdeng squatted down with his back to Gua Shengxiu.

Qingdeng didn't know what Bai Ju looked like. If he wanted to find someone, he could only rely on Gua Sheng. Therefore, "lending" his height to this "pocket old man" was the best solution at the moment.

"Okay, then I'll trouble you!"

Guashengxiu also didn’t include the lake, so he readily agreed to Qingdeng’s proposal.

She took a step forward, kicked off the ground, and sat down neatly on Qingdeng's shoulders.

Although his body is old and decayed, his skills are still strong.

Gua Shengxiu's body was lighter than Qingdeng expected.

After she sat up, Qingdeng didn't even feel her weight.

Anyone who has seen a women's kimono knows that the hem of a women's kimono is very tight and narrow, so narrow that even walking quickly is difficult.

Therefore, Gua Shengxiu couldn't spread her legs and sit directly across Qingdeng's entire neck. She could only close her legs and sit sideways on one of Qingdeng's shoulders.

Yoshiwara Toshin, a female swordsman who is good at using wooden swords... These names can easily give people the impression that "Hide Kuanao must be a rough and savage woman".

In fact, it is not the case.

Gua Shengxiu's demeanor is surprisingly well-mannered.

Her sitting posture at this time is too elegant. For this reason, she does not look like "sitting", but more like "floating" gently on Qingdeng's shoulders.

At a glance, one can tell that Gua Shengxiu must have received a pretty good education in the past.

Such behavior, coupled with her serious surname... Qingdeng couldn't help but speculate that the old man sitting on his shoulder at this moment must have been a little girl, even if she was not a lady in the past.

"Hanada-kun! Can you please go under the cherry blossom tree?"

The sound of melons growing beautifully came from overhead.

After saying this, Gua Shengxiu stretched out his hand and pointed to a bare cherry tree not far away.

Every spring, Yoshiwara hires tree planters to plant cherry blossom trees side by side on both sides of the streets in Nakano-machi.

In spring, Nakano Town will be transformed into a veritable "street of flowers" surrounded by countless cherry blossom trees.

For the people of Edo, "Oiran Road surrounded by cherry blossom rain" is one of the sights that must be witnessed in this life.

[Oran's Way: The journey where the oiran leads a large group of servants from the maid's house to greet the guests is called "Oiran's Way", also known as "Oiran's Tour"]

In 2 months, it will be the cherry blossom season.

Tree planters have now begun planting cherry trees.

Bare cherry blossom trees can be seen everywhere on the streets of Nakano-machi.

Upon hearing this, Qingdeng quickly put away the messy thoughts in his mind, followed Gua Shengxiu's instructions to squeeze through the crowd, and walked to the foot of the cherry blossom tree she pointed to.

The location chosen by Guashengxiu is very good.

You can have a panoramic view of the Akiba Mountain Tomelight and the surrounding area.

Gua Shengxiu held Qingdeng's back with one hand, and put his fingers together on his brow bone with the other hand.
To be continued...