Chapter 310: Chapter 127: Participating in the Swordsmanship Competition! Taking Aoto to a Matchmaking?

C Area is exclusively for apprentices whose skills are still lacking.

B Area is the "expert area," accessible only to apprentices whose skills have been recognized.

Located at the deepest part of the Sword Dojo, A Area is the smallest dojo—this is the private dojo of Chiba Shigetarou and his family, accessible only to members of the Chiba family.

Just as he returned to the Sword Dojo, Chiba Shigetarou bumped into an old man who had been perfecting his swordsmanship at their Little Chiba Sword Dojo for many years.

Upon seeing Chiba Shigetarou, the old man immediately said:

"Deputy Master, you’re back just in time. Miss Sazanoko is looking for you; she asked you to find her quickly."

"Is Sazanoko looking for me?" Chiba Shigetarou raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Miss Sazanoko is practicing swordsmanship in A Area."

"Alright, thank you."

Chiba Shigetarou removed the sword from his waist and headed straight to A Area, located at the deepest part of their Sword Dojo.

As soon as he slid open the wooden door to A Area, a beautiful figure appeared before Chiba Shigetarou’s eyes.

There stood Miss Sazanoko in the center of the dojo, dressed in Kendo Uniform, wielding a wooden Small Tachi like a gracefully dancing butterfly.

Her bare, fair, delicate feet slid across the polished floor.

Her shiny, waist-length black hair was tied into a neat high ponytail, with three thousand strands swaying and scattering as Miss Sazanoko moved.

She must have been practicing swordsmanship for a long time; her cheeks were flushed red from exertion, and her face was drenched in sweat, soaking the collar of her clothing around the bear’s mouth area.

Occasional droplets of sweat would flick off her face, dropping onto her pale feet, where only faint veins surfaced, or onto her cute little toes, before trickling down her feet onto the floor.

"Brother." Upon noticing Chiba Shigetarou’s arrival, she immediately stopped her wooden sword and raised her left arm to elegantly dab the sweat off her face with the back of her left hand, "You’re finally back, hmm? What’s wrong? Why do you have such a peculiar expression?"

"Uh... do I have a peculiar expression? Is that so?" Chiba Shigetarou chuckled dryly, laughed it off, then raised both hands to pinch his face forcefully.

Having already decided that Aoto would be his brother-in-law and having encouraged Aoto to join a swordsmanship competition to show his strength to Sazanoko, Chiba Shigetarou, naturally, couldn’t and dared not tell Sazanoko about this.

Chiba Shigetarou knew his sister best, and this troublesome young lady always had a contrary streak in her nature.

The more you asked her to do something, the more she would refuse, even deliberately oppose you.

If he told her, "I want to match you with Aoto," Chiba Shigetarou felt that there was an eighty or ninety percent chance Sazanoko would be annoyed, ultimately making the plan to have Aoto become a son-in-law of the Chiba family extremely difficult.

Thus, Chiba Shigetarou decided to take it slow, to help cultivate the relationship between Aoto and Sazanoko in secret gradually, finding the right opportunity to reveal his plan.

Keeping something from Sazanoko and harboring secrets made Chiba Shigetarou’s expressions uncontrollably odd whenever he faced her.

This casual perfunctory response was, of course, unlikely to fool Sazanoko.

She furrowed her brow, surveying Chiba Shigetarou from head to toe with scrutinizing eyes.

To escape this awkward situation, Chiba Shigetarou quickly changed the subject:

"Ah, right, right."

"Sazanoko, didn’t you want to see me? What do you need from me?"

"Oh, nothing much." As Chiba Shigetarou brought up the main topic, Sazanoko slowly withdrew her scrutinizing gaze, "I just wanted to tell you that it’s confirmed—our ’Skill of Chiba’ will be returning to Edo soon."

Skill of Chiba—upon hearing this name, Chiba Shigetarou’s eyes widened with surprise.

"Brother Rong is coming back?"

Sazanoko nodded: "Father just told me this; Brother Rong should be back in Edo in about ten days."

"Haha..." Chiba Shigetarou grinned and laughed, "’Skill of Chiba’—Chiba Eijiro is returning to Edo... it seems the swordsmanship world in Edo is about to become lively..."

...

...

That evening—

In Edo, Little Ishikawa Hoshimura Willow Street, at Shiwei Hall, the main hall—

After heading out early in the morning, Zhouzhu and Abi finally returned to Shiwei Hall around late afternoon.

As the family gathered for dinner in the main hall, Kondo informed Zhouzhu about the Aizu Domain’s upcoming swordsmanship competition.

"Oh oh..." Zhouzhu raised an eyebrow, "The Marquis of Aizu is actually holding a swordsmanship competition..."

"Father, I think our Shiwei Hall shouldn’t miss this competition!"

Kondo said eagerly.

"A competition organized by a great Daimyo like the Marquis of Aizu will undoubtedly be quite grand and draw many spectators!"

"If we at Shiwei Hall can achieve an impressive rank and performance in this competition, it would further establish our reputation!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Even aside from that, sending our newcomers to participate in such competitions would be beneficial for their future development within our hall."

Kondo spoke excitedly.

However, Zhouzhu seemed to not be listening...

While absentmindedly listening, he occasionally nodded lightly.

Once Kondo finished speaking, he softly said:

"Indeed, I also think participating in this competition has many benefits, so let’s have Shiwei Hall join the competition."

After speaking, Zhouzhu glanced sideways at Abi beside him.

Noticing Zhouzhu’s gaze, Abi turned her head to meet his eyes, then gently nodded.

"Hm... ahem!"

Zhouzhu firmly cleared his throat before facing Kondo with a serious expression:

"Yong, let’s not discuss the Sword Dojo operations for now."

"Put down your utensils first."

"I have something very important to tell you."

"Hmm?" Kondo put down his utensils with a puzzled look.

Noticing this unusual movement, Aoto, Chokata, and others also raised their eyes to look at Zhouzhu.

"Yong, your mother and I have decided."

Zhouzhu took a deep breath and said slowly, word by word:

"It’s time for you to start a family."

"What?" Kondo’s eyes widened.

Aoto, Chokata, and the others were also dumbfounded at this moment.

"Does this mean I should get married?" Kondo stuttered.

Zhouzhu nodded.

Just as he was about to say something further, he suddenly paused, then turned his gaze to Aoto, smiling awkwardly:

"Mr. Tachibana, please listen carefully too."

"This matter... it also concerns you."

"Many beautiful girls are interested in meeting you."

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Today’s long awaited Chapter with over 7000 words! Requesting monthly and recommended votes! (Crying emoji)

PS: Before the establishment of the Edo Shogunate, the Aizu Domain was ruled by the Ashina Clan.

The Ashina Clan is the inspiration for the Ashina Clan in the game "Sekiro," with both pronounced as "Ashina."

In Japan, there’s a term "Aizu Spirit," which originates from the tragic stories in the late Bakumatsu when the Aizu Domain declared "We intend to die gloriously, why does the General surrender first," and attempted to fight to the last against the Satsuma-Choshu alliance—those interested may look into it.