The first year of Yuanzhi (1864), October 15th——

Qinjin Fan, Dajin, somewhere——

The dry and cold wind unique to autumn howled by, tightening the clothes of pedestrians.

All kinds of vehicles are rushing on the streets in an endless stream.

The sounds of selling one after another add to the liveliness of the town.

With the support of the "money power" provided by Huluwu, although the development of Otsu cannot be said to be rapid, it can also be said to be prosperous.

Today's Otsu is far different from the past.

Although it cannot be compared with the "Three Capitals" (Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka), it is definitely one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing towns in Japan today!

Suddenly, an unknown person wearing a black cloak, a low-rimmed hat on his head, and a face scarf slowly walked out of an inconspicuous dark alley with silent steps.

Judging from his body shape, this person should be a man.

It's autumn now, so it's not unusual for him to be dressed as strictly as he is on the street.

I saw this man striding eastward after leaving the dark alley.

After a while, he suddenly stopped and stopped at the intersection of the two streets, raising his eyes.

In front of his sight was the absolute center of Otsu today: Tachibana Residence.

…

…

At this moment——

Qinjin Fan, Dajin, Judi, a certain courtyard——

The autumn wind blew, blowing down the yellow leaves from the trees.

Souji and Elodie sat side by side on the verandah, admiring the autumn scenery, tasting the Jinping Candy brought by the Souji, and chatting enthusiastically.

Elodie joined the Shinsengumi and became the head of the Finance Office - in the blink of an eye, it was already a long time ago.

Youdao says, "There are a hundred people in all shapes and sizes," let alone an army with six thousand soldiers?

In fact, many people in the Shinsengumi strongly agree with "anti-foreigners".

Although they are not as willing to rebel against "the West" as those who respect people with lofty ideals, they have absolutely no favorable impression of Westerners.

What has happened to the shogunate and the feudal lords since the Westerners landed on this land is obvious to all.

As the saying goes, "rejecting the foreigners" is the biggest political correctness in Japan today.

I think back when Elodie put on the light green haori that represented the Shinsengumi, many people complained - a Westerner, and a Western woman, actually got on top of us? How unreasonable!

Even today, many people in the Shinsengumi still have a negative view of Elodie.

The reason why she is able to be active and peaceful until now is all due to the master-disciple relationship between Qingdeng and her.

In the Shinsengumi, you can hate foreigners, but you can't help but respect Aomori.

With Qingdeng's protection, who has the guts to trouble Elodie?

What's more, Elodie is not a pushover.

Nowadays, Elodie has become an important cadre under Qingden.

Compared with the past, it is more convenient for master and apprentice to meet, get along and teach.

Qingdeng was able to regain his former "master-disciple time".

Whenever they both had free time, Qingdeng would often teach her swordsmanship with all his heart and soul.

Elodie is quite talented in swordsmanship.

Although he can't compare with monsters like Souji, he is indeed much stronger than ordinary people.

Under Qingdeng's personal guidance, Elodie's skills have improved by leaps and bounds, and ordinary people are no match for her.

Anyone who has come into contact with Elodie knows that she is a sensible and good child.

Although she has the protection of Qingnobo, in order to avoid unnecessary troubles and to reduce Qingbo's burden as much as possible, she has consciously lived a reclusive life since joining the Shinsengumi, rarely appearing in front of others.

For this reason, coupled with age and gender restrictions, she didn't make many friends in the Shinsengumi.

The only people who have a good relationship with her are Qingto's three wives, namely Sanako, Awu and Souji.

Ah Wu has been her best friend for many years, and the friendship between the two is so deep that it goes without saying.

If A Wu is Elodie's best friend, then Sanako is her idol.

In her opinion, Sanako, who is beautiful, smart, elegant, and generous in manners, is simply a role model for women and someone worthy of her lifelong imitation.

Sanako's tall figure made her very envious.

It is worth mentioning that because Sanako's aura is too strong, it always makes Elodie feel nervous, so she always behaves very reserved in front of others.

Therefore, apart from Wu, Souji and Elodie played the best.

Because they are close in age and both have cheerful personalities and have the same hobbies (they both love sweets), they quickly got along and became good friends who talked about everything.

Just now, the Director, who had nothing to do and was wandering around in the Orange Mansion, happened to meet Elodie, who was also having a good time today.

In this way, the two girls who had not seen each other for a long time got together and chatted freely. It was so joyful.

"Huh? Elodie, have you grown taller?"

As soon as these words came out, Elodie suddenly became energetic and even her eyes lit up.

"Miss Souji, do you really think I've grown taller?"

Both Sanako and Souji are older than Elodie, so she likes to call Souji "Miss Souji" and Sanako "Miss Sanako".

In order to let the General Secretary see more clearly, she jumped down from the corridor, stood in the courtyard, put her feet together, straightened her waist, stretched out her arms, and looked at the General Secretary expectantly.

The director-general, who had looked confident just now, was slightly startled, his facial lines froze, and his expression became extremely weird.

After a moment, she laughed a few times:

"Uh... How should I put it... It must have been because of the angle. I was a little confused. Elodie, you don't seem to... have grown taller..."

When Elodie heard this, her whole body suddenly froze as if struck by lightning.

Immediately afterwards, the original excitement turned into frustration, the expectation turned into discouragement, and the petite body fell forward, with both hands and knees on the ground, and the whole person changed into an "orz" shape.

"Have I still not grown taller... I have worked so hard to eat shrimp shells..."

Elodie is French.

Although the French are not known for their height, they are still much stronger than the Japanese.

However... maybe this is due to genes. Elodie is obviously at the age when she is growing taller, but over the years, she has not grown even an inch.

When Qingdeng first met her, she was twelve years old.

At that time, she was only 1.42 meters tall, not even as tall as Ah Wu.

In a blink of an eye, four years have passed and she has become a beautiful woman.

Although she has grown older, her height has not changed at all and is still 1.42 meters.

What's even weirder is that not only her stature has not changed, but her facial features have not changed significantly either, she still has the same baby face.

If others saw him, they might think Qingdeng was employing child labor.

Elodie is very concerned about her height.

She very much wished she had a tall figure like Sanako.

To this end, she tried various "body-increasing methods" circulating on the market.

As her master, Qingdeng gave her a special tip: Eat more shrimp shells.

Qingdeng didn't understand nutrition at all, but based on the experience he gained from watching TV commercials in his previous life, he knew that supplementing with more calcium would help grow taller.

Speaking of calcium-rich supplements, it is undoubtedly milk.

But under the Edo shogunate, the cost of obtaining milk was too high.

Qingdeng wanted to buy milk for her, but he didn't know where to buy it.

Therefore, we can only settle for the next best thing and eat shrimp shells instead.

After getting Qing Teng's advice, Elodie began to eat shrimp shells fiercely out of her trust in Qing Teng, and was reluctant to replace her staple food with shrimp shells.

In the end, after a lot of tireless efforts, her height - still did not change at all...

However, although her height is still tight, some parts of her body are well developed - or too well developed!

She is worthy of being the owner of the gift of "plump breasts".

I think back to 4 years ago, she was still an inconspicuous "airport".

Unexpectedly, she has become such a "eye-catching" person today...the so-called "child-faced giant" is nothing more than that.

It is worth mentioning that although some parts of her are well developed, they do not make people feel deformed.
To be continued...