Chapter 54 Chapter 18 Signs

Seijuro returns to Shijo Martial Arts. "Hey! Put it back on the shelf in the eagle's house." Seijuro handed the eagle to his disciple and took off the straw sandals. It was obvious at a glance that Seijuro was very displeased, and his whole body felt as cold as a razor. Seeing this, the disciples hurriedly helped him take the bamboo hat and water for washing his feet. "Where is Mr. Kojiro who went with you?" "Maybe I'll be back later!" "Did you get lost in the mountains?" "People were waiting, but I couldn't see the shadow, so I came back first by myself."

Seijuro changed his clothes and sat in the living room. The living room is separated from the atrium, and in front of it is the vast martial arts hall. From the end of martial arts training on the 25th of the twelfth lunar month to the spring opening, the martial arts hall is closed. Thousands of disciples come and go in and out of the martial arts hall in a year, now without the sound of wooden sword strikes, the martial arts hall looks very deserted and empty. "Has Kojiro come back yet?" Seijuro asked the doorman several times. "Not yet." Seijuro originally planned to wait for Kojiro to come back and ask him to be a sword target in order to simulate a martial arts contest with Musashi and practice hard.Seijuro waited, but until evening, even when it was dark, Kojiro was still nowhere to be seen.

The next day, Kojiro still did not come back. Today is New Year's Eve. "What exactly do you want?" The gate of Gugang’s house was crowded with bill collectors, who were making a lot of noise. One of them, a short businessman, couldn’t help yelling: "Do you think that if the person in charge is not here and the owner of the museum is not here, you can get away with it?" "How many times do we have to run?" "If there is only half a year's debt, it's fine for the face of the previous generation of masters. But, you can see for yourself! This year's Ghost Festival and the previous year's bills are too much to bear!"

There were also those who beat the books and were aggressive. Most of these people are cement workers, grocery stores, hotels, rice stores, and kimono shops who go in and out of martial arts gyms on weekdays, and even teahouse owners who owe a lot of debts to Liuxiang, Shanghua Street, Qing Julang. These are still small debts.Seijuro's younger brother, Chuan Shichiro, was extravagant, even worse than his elder brother, and even borrowed cash, owing a considerable amount of usury. "Let Seijuro come out and give us an explanation. The matter cannot be solved by relying on servants alone."

Four or five people sat in protest at the gate. The accounts and financial power of the usual martial arts school are in the hands of Gion Fujiji, and he handles all the power.However, Fujiji went to have fun with Ajia of the "Ai Cao House" a few days ago with the donations raised from traveling around. The doorman didn't know what to do. Seijuro just explained to them: "Just say I'm not here." He hid in the house to avoid seeing.Of course, his younger brother Denshichiro is even less likely to show up at home on New Year's Eve when the year is tight. At this time, six or seven warriors walked over in a mighty way.They are Ueda Ryohei, who claims to be the ten masters of Yoshioka, and his men.

Ueda Ryohei glanced at the crowd of debt collectors and said: "What's going on here?" Ryohei stood there with an air of staring at the crowd. The disciple who had come forward to mediate with the creditor just now reported the whole story to Ryohei succinctly. "What? It turned out to be a door-to-door debt collector! We will definitely pay back the money we borrowed. But please wait for a while until the martial arts is convenient. If someone can't wait, I have another way to explain it. You can talk about it in the martial arts hall." Ueda Ryohei's tone was domineering, and all the debt collectors fell silent, daring not to make a sound.

What does it mean to wait until it is convenient for the martial arts hall? It is also said that there is no one who can't wait, there is another way to explain, and you have to go to the martial arts hall to talk about it.Usually, everyone thinks that Mr. Yoshioka used to work in the military law office of General Muromachi's family and has a good reputation. This is why they are respectful and humble to the Yoshioka family. Whether it is borrowing money or things, everyone is willing to cooperate.However, even in the name of the Yoshioka family, he should restrain himself.If after hearing a few threatening words from the other party, they become afraid and dare not collect debts, how can businessmen maintain their livelihoods?These debt-collecting businessmen couldn't help feeling disgusted, thinking: If there are only you warriors in this world without businessmen, how will you survive?

Liangping regarded this group of merchants who gathered together to whisper to each other as a group of wooden men. "Okay! Go back, go back, it's useless to stay here." The merchants were silent after listening, but they refused to leave. As a result, Ryohei became furious. "Come on! Catch them." These debt collectors have endured for a long time, and now they hear what Liangping said, and they can't bear it anymore. "Sir, you are going too far for this!" "what?" "What else do you ask? You are simply being unreasonable."

"Who says I'm unreasonable?" "It's unreasonable for you to say you want to arrest us." "It's you who are making fun of yourself and refuse to leave. Today is New Year's Eve!" "Because it's New Year's Eve, everyone can't pay back their debts, and they can't celebrate the New Year at all, so they desperately beg your government to pay back the money!" "We are also busy at home!" "I have never heard such absurd excuses." "How? Are you not convinced?" "If you are willing to pay back the money, of course we will stop talking."

"come here." "Do... what?" "Hmph! A worthless fellow." "You, you guys are such jerks." "Okay! How dare you call me an asshole!" "I'm not scolding you, I think you are deceiving too much." "shut up!" Ryohei grabbed the man's skirt and threw it at the gate. The merchants who wanted to pay ran away in fright. Some of them moved too slowly and trampled each other and fell to the ground. "Who else is there? Who is dissatisfied? Dare to sit in front of Yoshioka's house to protest for a small amount of money. Come up one by one!"

The merchants ran away as soon as they saw him waving his fists.These people are powerless and unable to fight against them, they can only curse outside the door: "Just wait and see! If this house is sealed up by the government, everyone will applaud." "This family is going to be in trouble." "Let's wait and see." Ryohei was inside the house, and when he heard these people cursing outside the door, he burst into laughter, and then brought his hands down to look for Seijuro. Seijuro sat alone by the fire with a serious expression on his face. "Little master, you are so quiet today, what are you thinking?" Ryohei asked Kiyojuro. "No, it's nothing." Seeing these six or seven confidantes gathered here, Seijuro said calmly: "Isn't it far from the day of the martial arts competition?" "It's almost here. We will definitely accompany you to the martial arts competition. But how do we inform Musashi of the location and time of the martial arts competition?" "This..." Seijuro was silent in thought. In the letter sent by Musashi, it was mentioned that the place and date of the competition were decided by the Yoshioka family at their own discretion, and this notice was hung on the five bridges before the fifth day of the first lunar month. "Let's decide the location first!" Seijuro muttered to himself. "How about the Lotus Terrace Temple in Luobei?" Seijuro asks for everyone's opinions. "Should be fine! What about the date and time?" "Just book it during the Spring Festival, or wait until after the Spring Festival?" "I think the sooner the better, the first is to act first, so as not to have long nights and dreams." "How about the eighth day of the first lunar month?" "The eighth day of the lunar new year? That's fine! It just happens to be the memorial day of the first teacher." "Ah! It's my father's memorial day. Then don't choose this day... the morning of the ninth day of the ninth day—the next quarter, okay, that's it." "Then write the decision on the bulletin board and hang it on the five bridges tonight!" "it is good……" "Are you ready?" "certainly." From Seijuro's standpoint, he had no choice but to answer like this. He didn't think he would lose to Musashi.Because he inherited his father's boxing skills since he was a child, no one in the martial arts gym is his opponent.What's more, for a country warrior like Musashi who has just debuted, there is no need to take him seriously.Seijuro was quite confident. Not only that, but he also comforted himself, thinking that the reason why he felt timid before was not because he couldn't relax, nor was he lazy and neglected to practice martial arts, but because of the cumbersome chores around him. Although what happened to Zhu Shi was also one of the reasons, after the incident, he was already in a very unhappy mood.Coupled with the letter of challenge sent by Musashi, Seijuro hurried back to Kyoto, only to find that Gion Toji had absconded with money, especially as the family’s finances became more and more serious, and creditors came to demand money every day—these things made Seijuro feel relaxed Can't get up. Seijuro subconsciously placed his hopes on Sasaki Kojiro, but now he couldn't even see anyone.His younger brother Denshichiro didn't go home either. Although the martial arts competition with Musashi didn't need to be so labor-intensive, and he didn't need others to help him, but this year's Chinese New Year made him feel unusually deserted. "Please take a look and see if this is possible." Ueda Ryohei brought a white board from the next room and wrote the content of the notice, and asked Seijuro to look it over. The ink on it was still wet. "Ah, very good." Seijuro probably had this intention a long time ago, and nodded his head again and again. Ueda Ryohei held the notice board under his arm, and with two or three entourages, he strode towards the Gojo Bridge against the cold wind on New Year's Eve.