At the end of the seventh year of Eiroku (1564), the Oda family's customary banquet on Chinese New Year's Eve also arrived as scheduled. The lords and retainers of the Hao clan from all over Owari rushed back to Cheongju Castle to attend the annual meeting.

This year has been a year of good news for the Oda family. At the beginning of the year, Shigeharu Takenaka took Inabayama Castle, which wiped out Saito Ryuko's prestige - he was so frightened that he hid outside and did not dare to return to the castle for most of the year. After the wealthy family of the Saito family gained power, Saito Ryuxing was actually in a position of being elevated. Annoyed, he drank and danced every day, and no longer paid attention to political affairs. The Saito family in the north suffered such a big change, and Oda Nobunaga was also freed up to completely solve the Inuyama rebellion that had plagued Owari for many years.

After Oda Nobunaga pacified Inuyama Castle and the entire Niwa Prefecture, he once again placed the entire Owari under his family's rule. And Oda Nobukiyo, who fled in the wilderness, is said to have run away to Kai Takeda's house to seek refuge. This also made the powerful behemoth in the distance enter Oda Nobunaga's field of vision for the first time.

Oda Nobukiyo was resolved, and the defense of Tohoku Owari was able to be established again. Mori Kasei, Niwa Nagahide, and Ikeda Tsuneko were divided into the territory of Oda Nobukiyo, echoing Yu Qiuping to defend against a possible invasion by Mino. With these three well-connected friends covering the flanks, Yu Qiuping is also a lot more down-to-earth.

Not long ago, Oda Nobunaga moved the castle from Komakiyama Castle back to Kiyoshu Castle, after all, Komakiyama Castle is definitely not as prosperous as Kiyoshu Castle, which has been run by the Oda family for many years, and it is no wonder that Oda Nobunaga is not used to living. And this time the Chinese New Year's Eve annual meeting is also scheduled to be held in Cheongju City.

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For Yu Qiuping, this Chinese New Year's Eve annual meeting has another layer of meaning. Because this is the first time he has brought his wife and children to the annual meeting - Yu Qiuyan and Yu Qiuyou have grown up, and they will be 5 years old after the New Year!

On December 27, Yu Qiuping and his entourage arrived at Cheongju City. On the way here, Yu Qiuyou saw a lot of children playing hide and seek in the castle town, and they kept clamoring to play. Yu Qiuping couldn't resist him, so he asked Imagawa Kaede to take him and Yu Qiuyu to play in the castle town for a while, and then come back at dinner.

However, Yu Qiuyan has been a little reluctant along the way. He didn't plan to play in the first place, but his younger brother had to pull him hard, so he couldn't accompany him.

Sure enough, as soon as he arrived at the place where the children were playing, his worst fears happened.

"Huh? Why doesn't this little brother have a right hand? An older child saw at a glance the mutilation of Yu Qiuyan's right hand, pointed to his sleeve and asked curiously.

When he said this, the children around him immediately turned their innocent and ignorant eyes to Yu Qiuyan. Yu Qiu was stunned for a moment, hurriedly lowered her head, and buried her face in the shadows, avoiding those curious eyes.

Imagawa Kaede, who was sitting in the teahouse and watching, just wanted to explain, but he didn't expect Yu Qiuyou to stand up first. He waved his hand, attracted everyone's attention, and said in a childish voice: "My father said that everyone is born different!" It's like you have a black mole on your neck and I don't have it on my neck! My brother doesn't have a right hand just like I don't have a black mole, that's a truth! ”

Yu Qiuyou's words made these children who were not deeply involved in the world suddenly realize, and they nodded their heads in approval, and did not continue to be curious about this question.

"What are you guys playing?" Yu Qiuyou took his brother's left hand, walked into the crowd, and asked the other children.

"I'm playing with monsters and catching children! When a monster catches someone, the child who is caught becomes a monster in his place! A little girl happily replied, "You newcomers, let you be monsters first!" ”

"That's good! I'll do it! Yu Qiuyou puffed up his chest and smiled proudly: "I'm running fast!" Don't even think about running! ”

At this moment, another little boy raised his hand with some excitement and proposed, "Can you let that kid over there with only one hand play the monster?" My father used to tell me a story that there was always a one-armed monster in the forest outside Cheongju City! Wouldn't it be fun to let him be a monster! ”

"Yes, yes, yes! My grandfather also told me this story! "Yes! Let him be it, my mother also said, there is a one-armed monster! Let him come, let him come! The little boy's proposal immediately aroused the children's interest, and everyone coaxed Yu Qiuyan to be a monster.

Yu Qiuyou glanced at his brother with some concern, and the latter's face was really not very good-looking. But when Yu Qiuyan raised his head and saw everyone's expectant eyes, he was suddenly stunned. Then, he struggled to squeeze a smile out of his mouth and nodded slightly.

The game began, and the children screamed and scattered. Yu Qiuyan dragged an empty sleeve and tried to chase after the children who were running away on the street. However, his health has not been very good, because of the lack of an arm, the running posture is very uncoordinated, he can't run fast, and he hasn't even caught anyone for most of the day.

"Come on, come on! One-armed monster! Get me! In order to be in the limelight, the eldest boy ran to a short distance in front of Yu Qiuyan with a smile and stopped, and twisted his ass a few times at him. Yu Qiuyan gritted his teeth and tried his best to rush up to catch him, but he dodged him in a hurry.

Yu Qiuyan ran for a long time, and was already tired enough, propping one hand on his knee, gasping for air. He wanted to propose another person to be a monster, but when he saw that the children were having fun because he was a one-armed monster and excitedly shouting "one-armed monster", his heart softened, and he didn't do anything to disappoint everyone, and continued to insist on playing the role of a monster to catch people.

Eventually, he was so tired that he couldn't run. Even when the big boy was about to walk up to him and shout for him to come and get someone, he couldn't move. Yu Qiuyou saw that his brother was tired like this, and he couldn't bear it, so he took the initiative to run to Yu Qiuyan's side, grabbed Yu Qiuyan's left hand, and patted him on the shoulder.

"My brother has caught me!" Yu Qiuyou puffed out his cheeks and said angrily: "Next, I'll be a monster!" ”

With that, he immediately rushed towards the big boy who had been provoking Yu Qiuyu just now. The big boy was startled and hurriedly turned around and ran. However, Yu Qiuyu has always been talented since he was a child, and he runs very fast, and it is very likely that he inherited the genes of Yu Qiuping and Imagawa Kaede who are good at sports. Even though the big boy was scurrying around in the alley, he was still caught by Yu Qiuyou, who was even faster, and let out a bad breath for his brother.

"Cut! It's pretty fast! The big boy whispered dissatisfied, but Yu Qiuyou chuckled proudly. The big boy immediately reflexively wanted to catch Yu Qiuyou, but he fled as if he was flying. After running around for a while and not catching other children, he suddenly targeted Yu Qiu, who was resting against the wall!

He immediately ran towards Yu Qiuyan, who hurriedly took heavy steps to escape, but he was the opponent of this big boy, and was quickly caught. Yu Qiuyan, who had become a monster again, was about to lose his steps, leaning against the wall and gasping for breath.

"Brother! I got it! The expressive Yu Qiuyou ran to Yu Qiuyan's side without saying a word, took his hand and patted his shoulder, turning himself into a monster. Then, he immediately ran towards another child. After some fighting, Yu Qiuyou relied on his speed again and laughed happily.

And the kid was so angry that he rushed towards Yu Qiu Yan again - Yu Qiu Yan still couldn't outrun him, and he was caught as a monster again. And Yu Qiuyou ran over again, touched Yu Qiuyu and turned himself into a monster, and then relied on his speed to catch other children. After catching it, it will laugh very excitedly and proudly, and the monster that was caught still pounced on the running Yuqiu. And so on three or four times.

Yu Qiuyan, who was bullied like this, still had tears faintly flashing in her eyes, and the sentence "I don't play anymore, I want to go home" has been in her throat for a long time. But seeing my brother having so much fun, because the speed was so fast, I couldn't say that sentence all the time, and I didn't want to ruin my brother's interest.

Just after he was caught by a little girl and turned into a monster again, Yu Qiuyou rushed towards him excitedly, wanting to transform himself into a monster. Suddenly, a hand gently stroked Yu Qiuyan's cheek, and a familiar aura appeared behind him.

That's Mom.

"Mourning, stop playing." Kaede Imagawa whispered firmly. Then, she looked at the excited Yu Qiuyou on the side, and said with a smile: "You'er, let's stop playing, we have to go home for dinner." Daddy is still waiting for us! ”

"Ahh It's still early, Mom! Yu Qiuyou shook his head again and again in disappointment, "Let's play again, Mom!" ”

"Nope." Kaede Imagawa smiled and refused, "Come on, go back and take a shower first, and then go to eat." Running out of sweat, can't you still take a shower? ”

"Okay." Yu Qiuyou pouted very dissatisfied, and then turned around and waved goodbye to the children: "I'm going back to eat!" Goodbye! ”

"I'll play again tomorrow!" The big boy who had been fighting with Yu Qiuyou for a long time invited with a smile, and the other children around him also said the same.

"Definitely! Certain! Yu Qiuyu nodded excitedly, and then turned his pleading gaze to Kaede Imagawa, who smiled noncommittally.

On the way home, Yu Qiuyou, who was tired of running, played tricks on Imagawa Kaede to hug him. Imagawa Kaede couldn't resist him, so he had to hold him in his arms. And Yu Qiuyan on the side was very sensibly holding the placket of Imagawa Kaede's clothes and silently following behind him.

"You'er, didn't you just say that you want to play a little longer, why are you so tired that you can't walk now?" Kaede Imagawa smiled and teased the child in his arms.

"That's... That one! It is... Suddenly I can't walk! Yu Qiuyou's face turned red all of a sudden, and he explained incoherently.

"Haha, You'er is so cute!" Kaede Imagawa smiled lovingly, dropped a kiss on Yuakiyu's forehead, and then asked, "Have fun?" ”

"Happy! Super happy! Yu Qiuyou waved his little fist excitedly, "Mom, do you know! I ran so fast that all the kids in it couldn't outrun me! ”

"Okay, good, good, of course Mom knows." Imagawa Kaede smiled and encouraged Yu Qiuyou, but his eyes fell on Yu Qiuyu. He silently held the placket of his clothes, still as silent as ever.

"What about the Mourners? Are you having fun? Looks like you can't run anymore, huh? Kaede Imagawa smiled and asked in a low voice.

"Yes, yes! Brother, you're not happy! My brother has helped you get revenge! Yu Qiuyou also asked excitedly on the side.

Imagawa Kaede could feel that Yu Qiu's little hand holding the hem of her clothes suddenly trembled.

Yu Qiuyan blinked, pursed her mouth quietly, and nodded quickly.

"I'm happy, Mom, Ayo. I'm fine. ”

I'm fine.

Imagawa Kaede looked at the rain and autumn, sighed helplessly, and looked into the distance - at the end of the street corner, there was a moment of maple trees.

"Mourning, you are really similar to your father." She sighed meaningfully.