Chapter 132 - 83 Forced Archaeology

Chapter 132: Chapter 83 Forced ArchaeologyAsano Nagasuke was both surprised and attentive when Nozawa came to visit. Upon receiving word, he personally welcomed him in and treated him as an esteemed guest, receiving him formally—after all, Nozawa’s reputation had been buzzing lately. Of course, it wasn’t so much because he turned the tide single-handedly and shot dead the Grand General of the Matsudaira family’s raiding force, which caused quite a stir. Everyone praised his archery skills as extraordinary, but that had been a crushing defeat—Oda Nobunaga had almost been chased down and hacked to death. Mentioning Oda Nobunaga’s face in that context was a bit awkward, and not many dared bring it up. Nozawa’s recent fame was mostly due to his long-standing dedication to medicine, having cured countless patients. His reputation as a man of brilliant medical skill and benevolent virtue had finally fermented, and word had spread completely. Bear in mind, this was an era where even a migraine or the sniffles could be a death sentence. People dropped dead all the time for no reason, so a proper doctor basically counted as an "alien." Now suddenly one had appeared—novel and, more importantly, extremely useful—so anyone who heard about him would quickly tell their family and friends. Better safe than sorry, lest they end up helpless with nowhere to turn and wind up eating manure at home and offing themselves by accident. And so, Nozawa naturally topped the "Nagano Castle Trending Searches of the Month," with a HOT label floating by his head, becoming the subject of every discussion. He practically had no choice but to be famous. Asano Nagasuke had a family of his own, so it suited him just fine to strike up a connection with a "medical master." He laid out tea and snacks, exchanged some pleasantries, and then got down to business: "May I ask what brings Lord Nozawa to visit in person today...?" If Nozawa needed any favors, Asano figured, in order to guarantee he could invite Nozawa in case his wife or daughters fell seriously ill one day, as long as it wasn’t a question of principle—not even a loan request would be a deal breaker—they could probably work something out. But Nozawa’s goal had nothing to do with him. Waving to Ah Man to bring over the gifts, he sat up properly and politely slid them across: "Lord Asano, you are being far too gracious! I’ve only just settled in Owari, so I’m here to pay my respects—nothing special, really... Sorry to trouble you. Here’s a bit of homemade seasoning from my place—can’t say it’s anything special, but I hope you’ll enjoy it. And here are some baked goods we made ourselves; the kids might like them, please have your daugh—uh, family give them a taste. It’s a small token of respect, please bear with me!" "Oh, not at all, Lord Nozawa, you’re the one who’s too polite! Just having you visit my humble home is the greatest honor—there’s truly no need for gifts...absolutely not!" Asano Nagasuke instinctively demurred, carrying out Japan’s traditional "three refusals protocol." But even as he did so, he was a little confused—judging by Nozawa’s words, he’d just moved in and was here to visit the neighbors, but he and Nozawa hardly counted as neighbors, right? There were more than ten li between them—not even an iron cannon could reach that far. What kind of neighbors were these? Still, now that Nozawa had personally come, even if Asano didn’t get why he’d go to such lengths to greet such "distant neighbors," there was no way he’d kick him out. All he could do was circle around with a bit of verbal tai chi, do some polite declining, then accept the gifts and specially instruct his maid that his wife was to personally prepare lunch so they could properly host their distinguished guest. He also told her to call the two young ladies to come out and thank the guest—in this Japan, people didn’t fuss that much over men and women mixing, and since Nozawa had especially brought pastries for his daughters, it was basic manners for them to show their faces and thank him in person. Gotcha! Nozawa, seeing he’d achieved his purpose, settled in to chat amiably and build rapport with Asano Nagasuke. According to his plan, over the coming period, every time he came to Nagano Castle, he’d come check in at Asano Nagasuke’s, learn about his likes, and cultivate some "friendship." With enough time—maybe a few months, at most a year or two—they could become "bosom friends," or even "families on intimate terms." Then he’d be in a position to talk up all sorts of things, persuade him to get Ningning betrothed early, or even pull some strings himself—maybe match her up to a promising young talent like Maeda Toshie, and get Ningning married off ahead of schedule. That way, even if he ended up unable to do anything about the "monkey"—say the monkey never appeared, or he himself got sent back to the modern times or was forced out of Owari for whatever reason—at the very least, he’d have clipped one of the monkey’s wings, making it much harder for him to rise as smoothly as in history. Let’s not get into all the nitty-gritty of history, but honestly, the reason the monkey could rise so far from humble beginnings and achieve massive success, Ningning, as the "female Taiko," "master fundraiser," "Logistics Director," "founding mother and martial arts sect head of the Toyotomi Family," played an absolutely pivotal role. Yeah, even though the monkey eventually ruled the country and kept it running smoothly without major disasters for a while, saying Ningning deserved half the credit is probably an exaggeration, but saying she contributed a third—who would argue with that? Plus, this would mean the monkey couldn’t inherit the Asano Family’s resources. At the very least, Asano Nagamasa, Asano Nagasuke’s other adopted son-in-law, would almost certainly never follow the monkey, never recognize him as master. The Asano Family’s Lang Faction, land, assets—none of that would be for the monkey to use, so he’d have at least half his starting capital lopped off. Maybe missing just that bit of support, he’d never even get another chance for new feats and would be tossed aside by Oda Nobunaga directly—not impossible at all. So, do the math, and even if the monkey was only crippled a little, with tens of millions of "virtue points" lost and a few million still gained, at most he might make it to...no, sainthood’s probably out, but scraping by as a Daluo Golden Immortal...eh, even that would be tough; just an ordinary Golden Immortal, at best! Nozawa was very pleased with his plan. How many times in one life does a person get a chance to save millions? Since it didn’t cost much time or risk, why not give it a shot? Even if it wasn’t millions—just stopping the invasion of Korea and saving hundreds of thousands of lives, giving Later Jin that much less of a chance to rise, he could accept that too. Honestly, the Manchus were a massive pain. Not nearly as great as those modern TV dramas—I mean, their "golden age" had nothing to do with them anyway. Given the chance to screw them over, Nozawa would actually be willing to pay out of his own pocket. If only he could go back—even now, if he could, he’d absolutely head northeast and take them down himself! Nozawa was brimming with cunning schemes, the bad ideas almost oozing out of him, but kept his face all smiles and enthusiasm as he chit-chatted with Asano Nagasuke—and as they chatted, Asano Nagasuke’s two adopted daughters came out. His gaze uncontrollably landed on Ningning, looking her over with great interest—she was a historic celebrity, alive and kicking, the childhood version too, something you’d never see in modern times. He had to take an extra look or two for memory’s sake. Ningning was about seven or eight, her hair done in princess style; the sharp princess-cut sideburns made her already tiny face look even smaller, which really fit Japanese aesthetic preferences—the smaller the face, the more beautiful and elegant, the nobler too. One common compliment in modern Japan is "her face is so small!"—which is all thanks to this kind of hairstyle. Of course, beyond a delicate face, Ningning also had big almond-shaped eyes, bright irises, and long lashes, all of which made her look clever. She was dressed in a pale yellow floral kosode and, likely because she was meeting an "important guest," had on a lavish uchikake over it. Turns out Ah Man’s intel was right—Asano Nagasuke really did dote on them like his own daughters, sparing no effort in caring for them. At the very least, they never lacked for food or clothing—a bit on the pampered, well-fostered side, even. This probably explained why Ningning later made it big, and why the Asano Family managed to reap the rewards—meanwhile, Bunhara, her blood relatives, got nothing out of it and lost tons of men in battle, nearly wiped out. Nozawa was a very earnest person, also deeply curious—the sort who’d pause mid-episode of "Ikkyu-san" to look up what he didn’t understand. Right now, fueled by curiosity, his eyes shone as if loaded with two 250-watt bulbs, staring at Ningning nonstop, basically doing live-action archeology. But Ningning, despite being so young, was quite brave; seeing his gaze fixed on her, she didn’t shy away or avoid him, but met his eyes directly, examining him in turn, not giving an inch. Asano Nagasuke, on the sidelines, was baffled, completely unable to figure out what was up. He looked left and right, and eventually a thought struck—he began seriously sizing up Nozawa: tall and sturdy, obviously high-born; handsome too, the kind you’d call "a man of outstanding appearance." Plus, rumor had it he’d started a workshop and was doing well in business. Though it was a bit embarrassing for a Samurai to go into trade, it was no big deal these days—he had a solid family fortune. seaʀᴄh thё Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. More importantly, he’d apparently never married before, and there was only him in the Nozawa household... The longer Asano Nagasuke looked, the more it clicked. Nozawa and he were eight poles apart, so why go all that way to pay his "neighbor" a visit? Turns out, he had his eye on one of his adopted daughters! Honestly...wait, actually, that wasn’t so bad. His conditions looked good—worthy of coveting his darling. Except for that Kinoshita family surname... Then again, that wasn’t unsolvable. He could send a son over to revive the Kinoshita family, or place a daughter under the Kinoshita name and bring in a son-in-law—there were precedents for this, and Oda Nobunaga would probably approve; it shouldn’t be a big issue. Give it another two or three years, and once Ningning had her tooth-blackening ceremony (though samurai daughters rarely actually blackened their teeth or shaved their brows), the match would really be quite viable. At least for now, Nozawa had an edge—actual head of a household, decent family means, far better than the other families’ second or third sons. The more Asano Nagasuke thought about it, the more his gaze toward Nozawa changed: what started as courteous respect slowly shifted into a pie chart of three parts scrutiny, three parts appreciation, three parts wariness, and one part unwillingness. And he wasn’t the only one suspicious and overthinking—Ah Man was getting confused too. She’d already thought Nozawa was acting way too weird this time, poking around the Kinoshita family daughters for no clear reason, but now... This guy probably really needed a wife, honestly. He was no spring chicken; most people his age already had a second wife and two or three kids by now. Plus, he’d made a bit of money, owned a big house—definitely had the means. It was probably time to start a family anyway, pass down the Nozawa bloodline, so the estate didn’t end up going to waste if he suddenly kicked the bucket—like choking on a meal, or drowning while drinking water. The more Ah Man thought, the more her gaze drifted to Ningning—looking her up and down, pie-charting her suitability as the future Madam Nozawa. She seemed fine, but who knows—marrying the wrong woman could doom three generations! Nozawa trusted her fully, but he was short on "common sense." So she couldn’t let him down; she had to step up and be extra careful, give him a thorough vetting! Yup, first thing tomorrow, she’d mobilize some people to quietly investigate—check if Ningning was one of those two-faced, sharp-tongued types, and see if she had any personality or health issues!