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Chapter 60 "That's right, the cat monk!"

Shinagawa-juku and Edo are only a stone's throw apart. Last night, Aoto had Hikatsu deliver his letter to the Hokuban-sho in Edo. This morning, the Hokuban-sho's reply was delivered to Aoto.

After opening the letter bearing the seal of the Hokuban-sho (Northern District Office) and the handwritten signature of the town magistrate, Usui, Aoto quickly skimmed through it.

This lengthy reply can be summarized in two paragraphs:

1. We express our condolences to Qingdeng, who was unfortunately attacked again by the "radical anti-foreign faction".

2: Have Aoto continue investigating the case in Fujisawa-juku. They will take over the handling of the "radical anti-foreign faction".

The contents of the letter were entirely within Qing Deng's expectations.

The Magistrate's Office is not Aoto's home, and high-ranking officials like Usui are not Aoto's parents.

It is impossible for his personal reasons to interrupt the handling of important matters or the investigation of the case.

You've been targeted by the "radical anti-foreign faction"... So what? Do you want us to stop assigning you any work from now on and protect you like a treasure?

It's impossible to summon Qingdeng back like a giant panda and put him under tight protection just because of this—to put it bluntly, Qingdeng isn't that important in the eyes of Bo Jing and other high-ranking officials right now...

Having anticipated that the Hokuban-sho would ask him to continue investigating the case in Fujisawa-juku, Aoto silently put the letter away after reading it, and then led Saito to Fujisawa-juku.

Having learned from the previous attack, Aoto and Saito were on high alert after setting off again for Fujisawa-juku.

Be extra vigilant and pay attention to places along the roadside where people may hide.

The weather is cold now, and hands are prone to freezing. If hands are frozen, it will inevitably affect the ability to draw and swing a sword.

Therefore, to ensure that their hands were always warm, Aoto and Saito always crossed their hands inside the wide sleeves of their haori while traveling.

Qing and Zhai were on high alert.

However, the "radical anti-foreign faction" no longer appeared before or behind the two.

Not only were they no longer attacked by the "radical anti-foreign faction," but the weather also cooperated, with no severe weather hindering their progress.

The two arrived at their destination, Fujisawa-juku, without any major incidents along the way.

The time it took to reach Fujisawa-juku was about the same as Aoto-juku had expected—it was the afternoon of the third day after leaving Edo when we arrived at this post station, which was one of the most bustling along the entire Tokaido.

If we were to say what makes Fujisawa-juku stand out from other post stations... it would undoubtedly be its "tourism resources".

Fujisawa-juku is adjacent to a river, and if you walk downstream along the river, you will reach the famous shrine: Enoshima Shrine, located on Enoshima Island, which enshrines the goddess Benzaiten.

Many travelers and merchants passing through Fujisawa-juku make a point of visiting Eshima Shrine.

If time and conditions allowed, Qing Deng would really like to visit the Jiangdao Shrine, but unfortunately he had official business to attend to and wasn't there for leisure.

Upon arriving at Fujisawa-juku, Aoto immediately headed straight for the local town of Wenyaba.

Upon learning that the Doshin, sent by the Hokuban of Edo, had arrived to provide support, the head of Fujisawa-suke-monya-ba, also known as Monya—an old man with white hair and beard—immediately came out to greet them personally.

After receiving Qingdeng and exchanging brief pleasantries, he told Qingdeng a fact that left him speechless...

……

……

"Those thieves who caused trouble in Fujisawa-juku have been caught?!" Qing Deng stared wide-eyed at Wen Ya in front of him with astonishment.

Saito, who had accompanied Aoto on the investigation and had traveled with him for three days straight, was now slightly stunned.

Upon arriving at Fujisawa-juku, Aoto immediately went to the local inquiries hall to begin investigating and trying to catch the group of thieves who had recently been wreaking havoc in Fujisawa-juku.

Just now, Wenwu said to him with an embarrassed look: "Lord Tongxin... these thieves have been caught..."

"Yes, yes." Wenwu, with an embarrassed smile, smiled a few more times at Qingdeng, "It's quite a coincidence... Just yesterday, all those troublesome thieves were caught."

The thief has been caught?!

Qingdeng took a few breaths to calm his slightly confused thoughts after hearing Wenwu's words.

"...Did you ask if the perpetrator was caught in the village?" Qing Deng asked quickly.

"Uh...no..." Wenwu's embarrassed smile deepened, "Lord Tongxin, you might not believe it..."

"The one who helped us catch those thieves... was that Cat Monk..."

"Cat Monk?!" Qing Deng, subconsciously thinking he had misheard, leaned his upper body slightly forward toward the room, bringing his ear closer to it.

Wenwu nodded vigorously: "We have already interrogated the criminals once, and their stories are consistent. They all say that the person who caught them is that cat boy who is quite famous in Edo recently!"

"...What exactly happened?" Qing Deng straightened up again, his brows furrowed slightly. "Tell me clearly."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Facing the samurai, who was also an official serving in the Edo Magistrate's Office, he dared not be disrespectful and explained to Aoto in somewhat disorganized but still clear words.

Yesterday morning, when they asked the gatekeeper to open the door, they were shocked to find four young men, bound hand and foot and unconscious, lying in front of their gate.

The four youths each had a large paper bag over their heads, with a line of large characters written on each bag: "These four are suspected to be thieves who have been stealing in this area recently."

The people in the village initially thought it might be a prank by someone.

It wasn't until someone with sharp eyes recognized that one of the four was a notorious thief who had been wanted for months and had yet to be caught that people began to take the four people who had been brought to their door by unknown individuals seriously.

The questioning station was merely an organization responsible for managing the post station; it did not have the authority to torture these four people.

However, there are still loopholes that can be exploited.

Although we cannot torture them, they still have the right to "talk" to them.

The people in the village locked the four youths in separate rooms for questioning and threatened them with various harsh words.

If you refuse to tell us everything you know, we will take you to the Edo Magistrate's Office and let those officials there do whatever they want to you...

Three of them remained unmoved by their harsh words.

But a young man who was only around 14 years old was fooled.

The man, who was quite frightened by the harsh words spoken by the people in the village, confessed everything he knew with a sincere attitude, as if he wanted to lay bare his entire heart and soul for everyone to see.

He admitted that the four of them were the gang of thieves who had been stealing money from Fujisawa-juku recently.

Last night, they planned to sneak into the hostel and steal money from the travelers, just like they had done before.

Just as they climbed onto the roof of a hotel in the camp, preparing to sneak in and steal, a dark figure suddenly appeared from nowhere and darted in front of them.

Startled by the sudden appearance of the dark figure, the four people instinctively questioned the figure: Who is it?

Then, the dark figure said, "This is Cat Monk!"

After saying that, the old man spread his hands out flat, palms facing up, and then raised his arms high.

As he raised his arms, Wenwu suddenly stood up and bent his right leg upward, standing in a one-legged stance.

quiet……

Aoto and Saito, who were kneeling properly on the tatami mat, looked up at the man who had suddenly adopted a strange posture.

The atmosphere became utterly still for a moment...

"...Um...may I ask you something: what's going on with that movement?" Qing Deng asked, trying to sound calm, his head full of questions.

“Uh…” Wenwu awkwardly withdrew his outstretched arms and knelt back down on the tatami mat. “This is what the young man who confessed said: At the time, that cat-monk was making this gesture while stating his name…”

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Chapter 61 The Cat Monk Who's Amazing at Jujutsu

"Cough cough..." Wenwu coughed a few times, then continued as if nothing had happened, "After announcing their names, that little cat monk attacked the four of them."

"According to that young thief, that cat monk is quite skilled in jujitsu."

"One person struck, and in just a moment, all four of them were knocked unconscious."

"When they woke up, they found themselves tied up and thrown outside the gate of our village."

Qingdeng's eyelids drooped slightly involuntarily.

Cat Monk is skilled in jujitsu...

This intelligence was something that Aoto... or rather, the Edo Magistrate's Office had never known before.

As Qingdeng pondered this in silence, Wenwu's story continued:

"The young thief also revealed the location where they had hidden the money they had previously stolen."

"They buried all the money they had stolen under the roots of a large tree in a grove of trees not far from our Fujisawa-juku."

“I sent men to dig overnight yesterday, and they successfully recovered the stolen goods.”

"I have personally counted these stolen goods, and they match the total amount stolen exactly, not a bit more or less."

"Have you even recovered the stolen money...? Where is the stolen goods?" Qingdeng asked.

"I'll have someone go and get it right now!"

Wenwu summoned one of his subordinates and ordered him to bring over the stolen goods that had been recovered the day before.

A moment later, Wenwu's subordinate returned to Qingdeng and Wenwu carrying a large lacquer box.

Upon opening the lacquer box, one finds it filled with yellow and white substances.

After quickly counting the money in the box and confirming that it matched the amount he knew about the case, Qingdeng asked Wenwu to take him to see the young thief who was very pragmatic and had told him everything he knew, and had sold out his other companions.

This person was imprisoned in a temporary cell within the Wenwuchang area.

Upon meeting this person, Qingdeng, without any pleasantries, immediately bombarded him with a series of questions.

Tell me in detail the whole process of how you were caught by Cat Monk.

Have you seen what Cat Monk looks like?

Describe the size of the cat monk.

Why did Cat Monk come to capture you? Did you have some kind of grudge against Cat Monk in the past?