On March 11, the already stretched Oda family's front was hit again. The Honganji family, which had been hostile to the Miyoshi family and the Oda family at the same time, suddenly declared hostility with the Oda family, and the army of Ishiyama Gobo began to invade Settsu. The merchants of Sakai Town also received news that Honganji Temple was about to break the secret treaty with the merchants of Sakai Town and invade Hanoi in Yuqiuping. However, Akihei himself was leading all of the Aki family's troops to garrison Takaya Castle, and Takigawa Kazuki and Ikeda Tsuneko were unable to evacuate due to the tremendous pressure from the forces of Ataka Fuyasu, Matsunaga Hide, and Miyoshi Yoshiko. Yu Qiuhei couldn't confess to Oda Nobunaga that he had a secret agreement with Honganji, so he couldn't ask Oda Nobunaga for reinforcements until the Honganji family really invaded (because he couldn't explain how he knew that the Honganji family was going to invade his territory), so he had to find a way to defend the territory himself, so as not to be taken advantage of by Honganji.

Yu Qiuping had no choice but to temporarily leave Takaya Castle with Shigeharu Takenaka's staff, and transferred Naoe Tadahei from Maple Mountain Castle to Takaya Castle, and he hurried back to Maple Castle with his guards.

However, before he could start working, he was caught by Kaede Imagawa.

"Say, what's going on with Ryuko? Are you at odds with her? Imagawa Kaede asked Yu Qiuping straight to the point. Yu Qiuping's face tightened when he heard this, and he didn't know how to speak.

The reason why he had a conflict with Ryuko and Imagawa Kaede could see it at a glance was because the contrast between Ryuko's behavior was too great. Originally, Longzi has always been Yu Qiuping's intimate little padded jacket, always following Yu Qiuping step by step, helping him take care of everything in life, every time Yu Qiuping asked her to help, she would smile and do things well. However, when he came back today, although Long Zi was still following Yu Qiuping, he kept his head down, his eyes were red, and he didn't say a word. Yu Qiuping was also embarrassed to ask her to do things, and just asked the other guards to do what Long Zi was responsible for before.

"What the hell is going on, are you going to say?" Seeing that Yu Qiuping didn't speak, Imagawa Kaede hurriedly said with some doubts, "Are you sick?" ”

"It's not... In fact... Ahh In the end, he gritted his teeth, and still told Imagawa Kaede everything about Ryuko and his confession.

"I'll just say, I have long seen that Longzi admires you very much, but you still have to find a way to marry her off, I really don't understand." The first thing Imagawa Kaede said surprised Yu Qiuping - she had already seen it. However, as Imagawa Kaede spoke, he suddenly felt that something was wrong, frowned suddenly, and looked at Yu Qiuping: "Then this is a good thing, why is Longzi so depressed." ”

"Because of course I rejected her." Yu Qiuping nodded as a matter of course, and at the same time asked rhetorically: "Feng'er has already seen that Longzi is interesting to me, why aren't you jealous?" ”

"What?" Imagawa Kaede froze instantly when he heard this, and after being stunned for a long time, he asked in a daze, "You rejected Ryuko?" ”

"Otherwise, can I still say yes? Do you still hope I can't say yes? Yu Qiuping was completely confused by Kaede Imagawa's attitude, and asked with a stammer.

"Wait, let's sort it out!" Seeing that Imagawa Kaede was about to speak again, Yu Qiuping hurriedly stretched out a hand to cover her little mouth, and said in a low voice: "You have long seen that Ryuko is interested in me?" ”

"yes." Imagawa Kaede frowned, and broke the hand that Yu Qiuping was covering her mouth very dissatisfied.

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Can't you see? I thought you could see that. Kaede Imagawa was taken aback and looked at Yu Qiuping's eyes in a confirmed manner, "Do you want to hear the truth?" You've been trying to introduce Ryuko to your husband, and I don't understand what you're thinking. How good it is for you to take Longzi as a concubine, on the one hand, it also fulfills her wishes, and on the other hand, our family can continue to live together. ”

"Won't I be jealous of Nalongzi as a concubine?" Yu Qiuping waved his hand again and again, "You're talking back." ”

"Why should I be jealous? It's not like you're messing around outside. Imagawa Kaede shook his head in surprise, and asked puzzledly: "Longzi has been with us for more than ten years, we grew up watching from childhood, so it can be said that we are a family." If you take her as a concubine, how can I be jealous? Am I that ignorant? ”

"What's that? and pushing his husband out..."The surprised Yu Qiuping was just halfway through his words, and suddenly realized that he was not in a monogamous modern society, but an ancient polygamous society.

"Ping, you don't still hold on to the concept of your previous life, do you?" Imagawa Kaede saw Yu Qiuping's thoughts at a glance, "I don't understand why there is such a strange monogamy. But now it is the troubled times of the Warring States, for the continuation of the family, how can there be a reason why the head of the family does not accept concubines? ”

"So you're rejecting Ryuko because of me—?" Imagawa Kaede was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted and said, "If it's because of this, you don't have to." I won't eat the vinegar of the dragon, don't delay the little girl's life because of this, hurry up and marry her into the door. After saying this, Imagawa Kaede hesitated for a moment, but still added angrily: "But you have to ask for my consent to take a concubine!" I allow you to take Longzi as a concubine, but I don't allow you to mess with flowers and grass everywhere! ”

"It's not like that! Alas! How to say it. Yu Qiuping was a little moved by Imagawa Kaede's generosity, but his heart was still a mess, "It can be said that it is for you, or it can be said that it is not." I'm mostly here for the relationship between us. Yu Qiuping, who has always been able to speak well, is slightly short of words at the moment, and he doesn't know how to express his inner feelings better after thinking about it for a long time: "My concept has always been that love needs loyalty!" You can only have one person in your heart, and you can't love many women at the same time, otherwise it won't be love! And I also want you to promise that I will only love you alone in this life, and I will be a couple for the rest of my life. Even though it's been so long since I've been in this era, I still can't get used to your ideas here! You don't want to think about how a man can have a love affair with another woman if he loves one woman deeply. Similarly, if a woman is deeply in love with a man, do you think it is possible for her to serve as best she can under the other man? ”

"This..."The analogy made by Yu Qiuping convinced Imagawa Kaede. She just quietly made up for the appearance of herself serving other men, and immediately shook her head in disgust, "It seems... Kind of makes sense. ”

"But what about Ryuko? In order to wait for you, the little girl has already waited for the best youth! And also! When Imagawa Kaede said this, he raised his voice as if he had suddenly become angry: "Do you know that the little girl is thin-skinned! Do you know why the man takes the initiative to propose marriage in Japan? Do you know why both parties need to hire a middleman or matchmaker? If the proposal is rejected, even the man will have no face, let alone a girl! A little girl who is so shy as a dragon confesses her heart to you, do you know how much courage she mustered? You rejected people like this, how will you let people see you in the future, how will you face yourself? ”

"This..."Yu Qiuping also blamed himself when he thought of this. At that time, after he rejected the dragon son, he only saw that the brilliance in the girl's eyes gradually dimmed, and in the end it was bottomless darkness. Then, she pushed herself away, ran away like a fly, locked herself in the house and cried all night, but refused to open the door to Yuqiuping.

He knew how much damage he had done to Ryuko.

But.

"But I can't promise her... That's not good for each other, and it's irresponsible for her. Yu Qiuping shook his head vigorously, and said in a deep voice: "I really don't have feelings between men and women for Longzi, and I have always treated her like a daughter and a sister, so I spoil her so much." I didn't think there would be such a thing between us, I didn't even think about it. You made me suddenly accept her as my wife, and I didn't know how to face her at all. If I fail to fulfill my duties as a husband, won't Ryuko be even sadder? ”

"This..."Imagawa Kaede was dumbfounded by Yu Qiuping's words, and only after a while did he open his mouth to explain: "What you said is also... It's just that there are so many people in the world who marry wives and concubines, and how many of them can have the same love as Ping and me... But didn't life go on like that? Can't you really think about it anymore? Otherwise, what should the dragon do? ”

"But I can't accept the kindness of my other half to me with peace of mind, and I only give half of my heart, or even less." Yu Qiuping shook his head and refused very resolutely, "I can't do this." If you don't think about it, you rashly agree to Longzi, which is torture for me and her. I can't even imagine being married to her... How is this possible together? I can't live up to the rest of his life, and I can't be so irresponsible to her. ”

"It's... Alas. Kaede Imagawa sighed helplessly, rubbing his hair with some chagrin, "Ping said... That's right. It's just that... I'm sorry Ryuko. ”

"The matter of the dragon son, I can only ask Feng'er. You have to find a way to do her job, let her get married quickly, she is not too young. Yu Qiuping shook his head and sighed helplessly again, "If something like this happens this time, I may not be able to let her be my guard in the future, I'm afraid she will feel uncomfortable." When you find the right person, Longzi also agreed, so let Longzi start a family. I'm sorry for her... It's true... I'm very sorry for her. She has suffered so much by my side for so many years, and I can only try to help her find a good husband so that she can be happy for the rest of her life. ”

After Yu Qiuping said this, Imagawa Kaede didn't know what to say. The two looked at each other without saying a word, and after a long time, they sighed in unison. The two didn't notice that outside the door, Ryuko, who had listened to all the conversations, had fallen weakly in the corridor, hiding his face and crying.