Kyoto, Mibu Township, Shinsengumi Village, a certain courtyard——

Hijikata Toshizo, who was sitting cross-legged on the verandah with a carefree attitude, stuffed rice balls into his mouth and said vaguely:

"It's so slow... Why hasn't there been any news from Osaka?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Isamu Kondo beside him said helplessly:

"Ah Sui, you are too impatient."

Shannan Keisuke nodded and agreed:

"Kondo-kun is right."

"'Can we form an alliance with Huluwu?' - This is related to the future of Qinjin Fan."

"There is nothing wrong with a slower meeting for such an important meeting."

Hijikata Toshizo, Kondo Isamu, and Shannan Keisuke—the three of them sat in a row, eating, and chatting about recent interesting stories and government affairs from time to time.

During the time Aoto went to Osaka, the three of them were the ones to carry the load.

For this reason, they have spent a lot more time together recently.

Long before Ayoto went to Osaka, his think tanks had formulated a careful and detailed plan around the proposition of "how to build the Qinjin Domain."

Everything is ready, all we need is money and food!

As long as the money and grain are received, whether it is cultivating fields or building fortresses, all projects can be launched and started immediately!

After swallowing the rice ball in his mouth, Hijikata Toshizo raised his eyes and looked into the distance, as if in deep thought.

"If Tachibana fails... then it will be difficult for us to take the next step."

Kondo Isamu and Shannan Keisuke stopped talking. They pursed their lips and looked solemn.

Although this topic is very heavy, so heavy that people don't want to face it, they have to admit that whether Aoto's "trip to Osaka" can return with a full load is a huge variable.

Hijikata Toizan and others did not understand Gourd House.

Regarding this organization, they had only heard a few words from Qingnobo and Kinoshita Mai.

All I know is that this is a low-key business group with amazing energy.

Although due to various reasons such as institutional flaws and historical legacy, the special group of "Osaka Giant Businessmen" was born.

However, since its inception, the Edo shogunate has always insisted on promoting and maintaining the social hierarchy of "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce".

"The samurai is the noblest and the merchant is the meanest" - this trend of thought has been popular in Japan for hundreds of years.

Under this influence, Hijikata Toizan and others had a huge prejudice against the "businessmen" group.

In their perception, businessmen are extremely ruthless existences.

On the one hand, as long as they can make a profit, they dare to risk the disapproval of the world.

But on the other hand, if there is no profit to be made, they will show amazing stinginess and ignore human ethics, justice and principles.

Is Calabash House willing to form an alliance with Qinjin Fan, who has just been born and is still very immature?

I'm afraid even Qingdeng himself can't explain this kind of thing...

Always be pessimistic and always prepare for the worst—this is the basic quality a leader should have.

Although on the surface, Hijikata Toizan and others all pretended to be confident that "Aoden can definitely do it," this was just a means to stabilize people's hearts.

In fact, they had secretly been psychologically prepared for the "breakdown of negotiations" and had formulated a series of remedial measures for this purpose.

The first thing is to find a good “next home”.

Calabash House is not the only power with money and food.

They can go and cooperate with the "next family".

If even this trick doesn't work, then they can only resort to the last resort - placing their hope in Yataro Iwasaki.

To put it simply, it is expected that the newly selected chamber of commerce can find new big business opportunities or develop new popular chambers of commerce to raise enough money for Qinjin Fan.

Regardless of the success of this method, relying solely on newly selected chambers of commerce would be too inefficient.

After all, the Shinseng Chamber of Commerce's first priority is to support the Shinsengumi to ensure the normal operation of the latter.

When the newly elected Chamber of Commerce raises enough money and food to promote the "grand construction of the feudal state", no one knows that it will be the Year of the Monkey and the Moon of the Horse...

Just as Hijikata Toizan and the others were frowning, suddenly, the commander-in-chief's voice came from a distance:

"Mr. Hijikata! Mr. Hijikata!"

Along with this shouting, the sound of "da da da da" footsteps gradually came closer and became louder.

In order to speed up the pace, the general manager pulled up his hem and rushed straight towards Hijikata Toizan and others.

Thanks to Sanako's "self-destruction", Souji's "true identity" has been revealed to the world.

"Okita Souji is a girl" - the day this shocking news spread, the voice of "heartbreak" resounded in every corner of Kyoto.

First of all, countless young girls were heartbroken.

Women in the Edo period generally liked men who were cheerful, fair-skinned, loud in voice, full of male tension, and masculine in appearance.

The representative figure is the kabuki actor Yadaime Ichikawa Danjuro who committed suicide not long ago (1854).

Because he is so handsome, he is enthusiastically sought after by girls. Even his spit is specially collected and offered like a holy object.

After Yadaime Ichikawa Danjuro committed suicide for no reason, countless women were devastated and cried so hard that their eyes were almost frightened. An artist specially painted this grand scene at that time.

To be fair, Souji's feminine appearance due to a woman disguised as a man is not in line with the aesthetics of the Edo period.

However, she at least accounted for the "cheerful" and "fair skin" items.

Her bright and cheerful personality, as well as her sun-like smile, have attracted countless girls.

There are really countless girls who admire and pursue Souji.

For example, the daughter of a nearby clinic likes Souji very much.

She always comes to see Souji, sometimes bringing home-made lunch boxes, and sometimes giving him his favorite sweets.

The crazy pursuit of these girls made Souji very embarrassed - she could not respond to the other party's feelings, but she could not explain the reason.

Immediately afterwards, countless Taoist people were heartbroken.

Strangely enough, women in the Edo period preferred masculine men, while anti-moralists preferred delicate, girl-like men.

The appearance of Souji can be said to be exactly what these guys like!

Although I haven’t counted them carefully, it’s hard to say whether the majority of people who admire the “male version of Souji” are men or women...

The crazy pursuit and entanglement of the Taoist people made it even more difficult for the General Secretary.

From another perspective, Sanako's "self-destruction" freed Souji.

From now on, she no longer has to endure the pursuit and harassment of people of the same sex and other religions.

On the other hand, the exposure of her "real identity" also made many men breathe a sigh of relief.

Souji's handsome appearance makes many straight men feel their hearts beat faster.

This caused the latter to fall into a strong entanglement-Am I also falling into the common path?

When the news came out that "Soji is a girl", they immediately felt relieved - great! I really still like women!

At the same time, there are many male compatriots who are ecstatic.

Just having a beautiful woman around you can make you feel ecstatic from the bottom of your heart - men are such simple creatures.

Of course, they are very excited. So far, no one has dared to pursue the General Secretary openly.

The reason is quite simple.

At the same time that Souji revealed his "true identity", the news that "'Nioh' Tachibana Aoden will marry Souji and his daughter" also spread.

Who has the confidence to dare to compete with the "Nioh"?

Women and Taoist people could not pursue it; most men did not dare to pursue it. In this way, Souji lived a peaceful life that he had not seen for a long time.

Because the "true body" has appeared, there is no need to hide it anymore.

However, since he is used to wearing men's clothing, Souji still wears men's clothing.

Even when she is wearing regular clothes, she rarely wears a kimono like Mai Kinoshita and pulls her hair into a Shimada bun.

The only change on her body was that the bra wrap was removed.

At first glance, except for her bulging breasts, her appearance is the same as before.

Seeing the general manager suddenly running towards him, Hijikata Toizo and others, knowing that something urgent was going on, quickly stopped what they were doing.

The Chief's pace is very fast.

One second she was outside the courtyard, and this second she was in the center of the courtyard.

Before the other person could ask any questions, she said cheerfully:

"Jijun, he succeeded! Calabash House agrees to form an alliance with us!"
To be continued...