Edo, Koishikawa Kohinata Yanagi Town, Imperial Guard Hall——

"A Chang! Have you packed your clothes?"

Abi raised his head and shouted to the second floor.

Chang——Isao Kondo’s legal wife.

"Yeah! It's packed!"

Ah Chang's response came from a distance upstairs.

At this time, an old man - Jiubingwei, an old servant of the Tachibana family - hurried towards Abi.

"Madam! The carriage is ready! Just waiting outside!"

When A Bi heard this, he let out a sigh of relief.

Currently, all the people in Edo are busy fleeing.

For this reason, the power of cattle, horses and other animals is unprecedentedly tight.

For a time, there was a scene of "Edo cattle are expensive" and "Edo horses are expensive".

Fierce disputes often broke out over a cow or a horse.

Fortunately, the shogunate was well prepared and sent a large number of officers to maintain public order in the town and suppress the commotion to a minimum.

If the Trial Guard Hall is still the same "Taro Dojo" as before, at this juncture, no matter how hard they try, it is impossible to obtain usable animal power.

As Aoshinobu's reputation grew, the Shoeikan is now one of the most famous swordsmanship schools in Edo, and its financial resources and connections have greatly increased.

However, despite this, they finally borrowed a carriage after asking around a lot.

"We're finally here... Hurry! Put all the luggage on the carriage! Let's leave Edo quickly! To avoid long nights and endless dreams!"

Jiubei nodded vigorously:

"yes!"

After saying that, he took the heavy luggage from A Bi's hand, turned around and ran towards the entrance.

Although Kubei is an old man, his body is still strong and not inferior to that of young people.

The Shiweiguan group belongs to the category of "having somewhere to go" and does not need to follow the shogunate's arrangements to take refuge in Ou.

They planned to go to Hino and seek refuge with the eldest sister of the General Secretary, Hikaru Okita.

"Kyubei, after you put away your luggage, go to the kitchen and bring all our sugar!"

Kyubei replied without looking back:

"clear!"

In the Edo period, crystal white sugar was a precious commodity and should not be thrown away casually.

After giving instructions to Jiubingwei, Abi turned around and prepared to return to the bedroom to continue packing his luggage.

When passing the Buddhist hall, she suddenly discovered that her husband Kondo Shusuke was sitting in front of the Buddha statue, his head lowered, not knowing what he was doing.

When A Bi saw this, he suddenly felt very angry - everyone is busy working, why are you lazy here?

As soon as she thought about this, she rushed into the Buddhist hall without thinking and shouted:

"Old man, if you don't come to help, what are you doing here..."

His voice stopped abruptly.

She seemed to have seen something astonishing, and she froze on the spot, staring blankly at Kondo Shusuke's hands - to be precise, at the knife in his hand!

I saw Shusuke Kondo placing a knife flat on his knees, touching the sheath with one hand and holding the handle with the other.

The movements are gentle, as if caressing a lover.

A Bi was extremely familiar with this knife.

It’s Shusuke Kondo’s favorite sword: Niou Seomi!

The two kings of Qingshi - one of the eighty works of property.

A sword that can cut through 20% to 40% of the thickness of a human body is a karma.

I think back then, Kondo Shusuke wore this sword and defeated countless heroes - and at the same time captured Abi's heart.

The heroism of wielding the innocence of the two kings and easily defeating powerful enemies... Even today, it is still hidden deep in Abi's heart.

Ever since he got older and gradually retreated to the second line, Kondo Shusuke has been living a lazy and idle life.

Basking in the sun and taking a walk every day is no different from ordinary old people.

Not to mention dancing with swords, he rarely even wore a sword.

This precious sword, which had been with him for most of his life, was just placed on the knife rest to gather dust.

Only when maintaining the blade or reminiscing about the past, do I occasionally brush off the dust on its surface.

Abi looked at Erwang Qingshi, then at Kondo Shusuke, and instantly understood something.

"Old man, you..."

Before Abi finished speaking, Kondo Shusuke turned his head slightly and looked at his wife with a calm smile on his face.

"Abi, you guys go first."

After hearing this, Abi's expression suddenly changed.

Anyone with some brains can understand what Shusuke Kondo means.

"Old man, don't tell me that you plan to stay!"

"What are you thinking?!"

"Don't even look at how old you are now!"

"With your aging body that always suffers from waist and back pain, even if you go to the battlefield, it will only hold people back!"

"Stop saying such nonsense!"

"Let's go! The carriage is already here!"

As she spoke, she stretched out her hand to tug Kondo Shusuke's shoulders - only to find that no matter how hard she tried, even with all her strength, she could not pull Kondo Shusuke in the slightest.

Shusuke Kondo was already used to Abi's poisonous tongue.

Most of the time, she is sharp-tongued and soft-hearted.

Just like now: Although what she just said was very rude, the care and worry contained in her words were already evident, and her tone revealed a strong lack of composure.

Her palms that were tugging at his shoulders were trembling slightly...

"...Abi, calm down first."

As Kondo Shusuke said, he stretched out his right hand and held Abi's left wrist.

Feeling the warmth coming from the other party's palm, the excitement in A Bi's cheeks slowly faded away.

She took several breaths and gradually regained her composure, her palms no longer trembling.

After seeing that his wife was no longer excited, Kondo Shusuke slowly said:

"Those children... must be thinking very hard about 'rushing to the aid of Edo' right now."

As he spoke, he turned his head and looked to the west.

The "children" he refers to naturally refer to Qingdeng and others.

"The juniors are fighting bloody battles."

"That being the case, it would be outrageous for me, as an elder, to run away with my head in my hands."

A Bi frowned and said in a deep voice:

"Old man, you are already a long time old, and you have long passed the age where you can do whatever you want."

"Even if you leave Edo, no one will blame you."

Kondo Shusuke smiled bitterly and shook his head:

"That's not okay. Even if no one comes to blame me, I don't want to leave Edo."

When Abi heard this, he couldn't help but asked:

"Why?!"

"..."

Kondo Shusuke pursed his lips and paused briefly.

After a while, he put on a serious and serious look, looked directly at Ah Bi, and their eyes met.

"Abi, what I say next has never been said to anyone."

"You are the first listener."

"Actually, when Mr. Tachibana formed the Shinsengumi and sent troops to Luo, I really wanted to catch up."

“I want to go to Kyoto too!”

"I also want to make great achievements!"
To be continued...