I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

But recruiting guards will always take time.

Therefore, while waiting for the guards to be recruited, "Haruto Aoto" was transferred to the American Embassy as a "temporary guard" a month ago.

"Haru Tachibana Aoto" only served as a temporary guard at the U.S. Embassy for a total of 7 days, and during those 7 days, "Haru Tachibana Aoto" did nothing.

He only patrolled the embassy every day, but he was still targeted and hated by the "radical anti-foreign faction".

They considered this act of helping foreigners to be utterly unforgivable.

He's a traitor to the nation! He deserves to be punished by Heaven!

This wasn't the first time that members of the "radical anti-foreign faction" had attempted to assassinate Qingdeng.

Ten days ago, they launched their first assassination attempt against "Haru Tachibana Aoto".

"Original Orange Green Rise" is very lucky.

He was besieged by four assassins at that time, and just as he was about to be beheaded, a group of "spectators" suddenly appeared, just like tonight.

The assassins, not wanting to reveal their appearance, quickly fled.

That time, Hara Tachibana Aoto almost died.

The assassins raised their knives high and loudly recounted the so-called "crimes" of Hara Tachibana Aoto.

Thanks to the assassins' "careful actions," otherwise Hara Tachibana Seito wouldn't even know why he was being targeted by the "radical anti-foreign faction."

"Alright." Kyubei carefully inspected the bandage he had applied to Qingdeng's wound, and nodded after confirming that there were no problems. "It's bandaged. Young Master, please check if it's too tight or too loose."

"It's wrapped perfectly, Kyubei, thank you for your hard work."

"Huh?" Kyubei looked bewildered and leaned his right ear toward Aoto.

Seeing this, Qing Deng gave a helpless bitter smile, then brought his mouth close to Jiubei's.

"I said! It's wrapped perfectly! Kyubei! Thank you for your hard work!"

"Oh, oh..." Kyubei nodded gently, as if waking from a dream. "It's good that you're not feeling unwell, it's good that you're not feeling unwell."

The old man who had served the Ju family for over thirty years had become increasingly hard of hearing and forgetful as he got older.

Speaking to Kyubei in a voice that sounds like a roar at an enemy—this is a common sight in the Tachibana family.

Qingdeng stood up and jumped around a few times.

After confirming that the bandage on his leg was not a major problem and would not affect Qingdeng's activities, Qingdeng looked up and sighed deeply.

Seeing this, Kyubei quickly came forward.

"Young Master, you must have had a hard night. You were attacked by the 'Expel the Barbarians' once again. You must have been terrified."

"Yeah, that's right..." Qing Deng sighed again, scratching his head. "They were really terrified..."

—I almost got killed right after I transmigrated here…

—So here's my situation... I just transmigrated here, and I've already been targeted by a group of terrorists...

Those "radical anti-foreigners" are, from any perspective, an undeniable group of terrorists.

Moreover, they are the kind of terrorists you can't reason with; they are single-mindedly focused on killing you.

While Qing Deng was feeling melancholy about his current situation—

Boom boom boom!

Suddenly, there was a very rough knocking on the door.

The sudden knock on the door seemed to have a magical quality, instantly turning Kyubei's face deathly pale.

"They're here! They're here!"

Kyubei responded urgently as he hurried toward the door.

Unaware of what was going on, Qing Deng followed behind Jiu Bingwei with a blank expression.

wow...

The wooden door was pulled open.

Standing outside the house were three young men.

The young man in the lead was dressed in rather plain clothes and wore a low-brimmed straw hat.

After Kyubei opened the door, he immediately raised his straw hat, revealing a face that, while having delicate features, was marred by a huge scar running from his left ear to his right.

Good evening, Lord Tachibana.

The scarred man smiled and greeted Qing Deng, who was standing behind Jiubei, warmly.

"As you can see, I'm back again. Have you saved enough money this time?"

—Saving money? And who are these people?

Aoto's bewilderment deepened, and he quickly searched through the memories of "Original Aoto Tachibana".

While Aoto was diligently searching through "Honju Aoto's" memories, a frightened-looking Kyubei hurried back to the back room, and then quickly returned from there.

When he returned, Kyubei had a small paper package in his hand.

"Here you go." Kyubei stuffed the small paper package into Scarface's arms.

Scarface opened the paper package—inside was a full bag of money.

"Only that much this time..." Scarface curled his lip. "Isn't that a bit too little?"

"Please be lenient," Kyubei said hastily.

Scarface glanced at Kyubei.

"...Alright then, I'll make an exception this time."

After saying that, he fiddled with the money in his hand with his fingers, quickly counted the amount, and then took off a small abacus from his waist.

"Hmm... After deducting the money you repaid this time... Lord Ju, your father currently owes 520 taels of gold in gambling debts."

After fiddling with the abacus for a while, the scarred man smiled and stuffed the money that Jiubei had just given him into his pocket.

"The debt is now down to only 520 taels of gold. Congratulations! Keep up the good work, Lord Ju."

Scarface pulled his straw hat down low.

"I have received the money, so I won't bother you any longer."

"I'll come back in a while. Please make sure you have a more substantial amount of money then."

"The money you prepared tonight is far too little. Normally, I wouldn't even bother to collect it."

"But considering your efforts to repay the money, I'll make an exception for you tonight."

"Please don't try to fool me with such a small amount of money next time."

"otherwise……"

Scarface gave Qingdeng a very sunny and warm smile, his eyes narrowing into slits as he laughed.

"You don't want to live a life where you can't even get a good night's sleep, do you?"

"I wish you a good night's sleep."

After saying that, Scarface pressed his straw hat down, waved his hand, and led the two young men behind him away in a swagger.

Qingdeng stared blankly at the scarred man's departing figure.

Just now, he finally finished processing Yuanju Qingdeng's memories related to the "debt" and found out who this scarred-face man was.

They are the "Yakuza"!

In modern terms, the scarred man was a so-called gangster.

Qing Deng, who graduated from police academy in his previous life, was very familiar with the underworld.

In his previous life, when he was studying at the police academy, a senior student who specialized in studying organized crime explained the Japanese yakuza to Qing Deng.

The origins of Japanese yakuza can be traced back to the Edo period—the era in which Aoto currently lives.

The precursor to the Japanese yakuza was a group of lower-class members of society during the Edo period who banded together for survival.

But gradually, these organizations formed by people from the lower classes banding together for survival began to degenerate. They started engaging in shady but highly profitable activities such as prostitution, gambling, and lending in order to seek profits and expand their own power.

The terms "yakuza" and "yakuza" did not exist during the Edo period. People at that time contemptuously referred to those engaged in yakuza-like activities as "Yakuza."

Yakuza is a transliteration of the Japanese word "ヤクザ", which means "scoundrel" or "loser".

In the 20th century, Japanese gangsters adopted the name "Yakuza" to enhance their image.

Why would the Yakuza come to Chinden asking for money?

That's a long story.

It's all Qingdeng's fault for having such a scoundrel of a father...

Aoto's father, Tachibana Takayuki, was originally a mentally sound, cheerful, and good-natured middle-aged man with no bad habits.

However, fate played a cruel trick on him—he unfortunately developed a gambling addiction a year ago.

People addicted to gambling all share a common characteristic: they always believe they will win the next round, and once they are at the gambling table, they will not leave until they have nothing left to gamble.

Takayuki Tachibana kept gambling and gambling... until half a year ago, when he suddenly contracted an incurable disease and died, finally stopping.

Although only half a year had passed between his gambling addiction and his death, Qingdeng's father still incurred a huge gambling debt—a full 600 taels of gold!

One tael of gold in that era was roughly equivalent to 128,800 yen in modern Japan.

600 taels of gold is equivalent to 7728 million yen...

Converted to RMB, that's nearly 400 million...

[Note: The exchange rate between Japanese Yen and RMB is based on the exchange rate at the time the author wrote this chapter.]

The sheer scale of 600 taels of gold is astonishing.

During the Edo period, it was basically only the Yakuza who opened and operated casinos. Ordinary merchants would never get involved in the casino business.

The casino where Qingdeng's father incurred gambling debts was backed by the Yakuza Group, also known as the "Shimizu Clan".

The Yakuza of the Edo period adopted a family-centered organizational structure, so they were generally referred to as "XX clan" or "XX party".

The "Shimizu Clan" is no ordinary Yakuza.