Chapter 624 - 2: Chokata Toshisuke Urged to Marry

Chapter 624: Chapter 2: Chokata Toshisuke Urged to Marry

Compared to Eisuke, Dao Sanlang is much more low-key and inconspicuous.

But in the swordsmanship world of Edo, the various anecdotes related to Dao Sanlang are not any less than those of Eisuke.

Among these anecdotes associated with Dao Sanlang, naturally, the most famous is "to defeat Eisuke, he developed the Beichen Dual Swordsmanship Style."

It is rumored that Dao Sanlang has always set his second brother, who surpasses him in both talent and strength, as his goal.

To defeat his brother, Dao Sanlang practiced swordsmanship diligently and thought deeply about strategies.

After losing to Eisuke time and again, Dao Sanlang had a sudden idea: since using one sword could not defeat his second brother, what if he used two swords?

Dao Sanlang had a famous skill: he could multitask.

His left and right hands could do two things at the same time, without interfering with each other, and both hands maintained high efficiency.

Believing he could fully utilize this special skill, Dao Sanlang diligently trained, and finally brought a groundbreaking innovation to the Beichen One-Sword Style, developing a dual sword version, namely the "Beichen Dual Swordsmanship Style"!

With the mastery of the Beichen Dual Swordsmanship Style, Dao Sanlang’s strength increased greatly. The swordsmanship and his ability to multitask were simply a perfect match.

The two swords in his hands could simultaneously launch attacks from different directions and angles, with varying sword speeds and strengths.

Single-handedly, he created the effect of a "double attack."

Opponents of Dao Sanlang often met miserable defeat due to the strange impression of "clearly fighting one opponent, but feeling like battling against two highly synchronized masters."

Unfortunately... even with the painstaking development of the "Beichen Dual Swordsmanship Style," Dao Sanlang still did not defeat his brother Eisuke...

The Red and White Battle at Xuanwu Hall is imminent, but Kondo, the deputy master of Shiwei Hall, has been preoccupied with another matter unrelated to the Red and White Battle but crucial to his future.

The deputy master of Shiwei Hall, Kondo Isami, is finally getting married!

Kondo’s bride-to-be is Matsui Joo, the matchmaking candidate introduced by Zhouzhu: she is the daughter of Close-Attendant Guard Matsui Yasujiro of one of Tokugawa’s Three Ministers, the Shimizu family’s Close-Attendant Guard.

A few months ago, when Aoto had just finished the "Foreign Language Research Institute Battle" and was recovering at home, Zhouzhu and Abi arranged for the then-26-year-old, still single Kondo, to meet Matsui Joo, a girl highly praised by matchmakers.

On the topic of "Kondo’s marriage," Zhouzhu and Abi, who often argue due to differing opinions, surprisingly reached a common agreement.

This old couple unanimously believed: Kondo’s marriage must not be delayed any longer!

After issuing a strict order to Kondo that he must marry this year, Zhouzhu and Abi compelled Kondo to go on his first matchmaking meeting with Matsui Joo at the beginning of April.

Kondo, who wanted to focus more energy on developing Shiwei Hall and had no desire to marry this early, was very resistant to the matchmaking arranged by Zhouzhu and Abi... but he found it difficult to defy his parents’ orders.

Initially, since Kondo kept emphasizing "I don’t want to get married so early," Aoto thought the first matchmaking meeting might go quite poorly.

But to everyone’s surprise, the entire process of Kondo and Matsui Joo’s first meeting was unexpectedly smooth!

Aoto believes that he might never forget Kondo’s change of attitude before and after attending the matchmaking...

Before the matchmaking—

"Father, Mother, I don’t want to get married right now. I want to put all my energy into managing Shiwei Hall. Marrying a wife might distract me!"

The above was the original statement Kondo shouted with righteous determination before attending the matchmaking.

After the matchmaking...

"Father! Mother! I’ve realized! Among the unfilial three, having no descendants is the greatest! I’m already so old, I should indeed get married and have children! I want to get married! I need to get married!"

After returning from the matchmaking scene, Kondo knelt in a perfectly proper dogeza pose in front of Zhouzhu and Abi, sincerely expressing his desire to continue the Kondo family line and to get married... more accurately, his longing to marry Miss Matsui Joo.

As for why Kondo’s attitude changed so drastically, Aoto did a simple investigation, and the reason was quite simple.

Matsui Joo is indeed quite an excellent girl.

Though Aoto had not seen Matsui Joo in person, both young people like Kondo and elders like Zhouzhu and Abi spoke highly of Matsui Joo’s appearance and demeanor.

According to Kondo, Matsui Joo is a great beauty with skin as white as snow, petite stature, delicate features, and carries herself with great grace and upbringing.

Kondo quickly skimmed over Matsui Joo’s demeanor, merely mentioning it briefly.

The rest of his words were a detailed description of how exceptionally beautiful Matsui Joo is...

Incidentally—when introducing Matsui Joo’s beauty to Aoto, Kondo casually mentioned an experience of accidentally touching Matsui Joo’s hand.

"Mr. Tachibana, do you know? When I was escorting Miss Matsui out of the tea house, she accidentally missed a step on the stairs and almost fell to the ground, fortunately, I quickly helped her."

"At the moment I reached out to steady Miss Matsui, my right hand touched Miss Matsui’s left hand."

"A girl’s hand is even smaller than I imagined."