Chapter 24 - 15: Chicken Is Really Delicious_2

Words : 1548 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Chapter 24 - 15: Chicken Is Really Delicious_2Of course, there's a share of the chicken soup for the foolish boy; he's been fed long ago. Aman no longer speaks, afraid that Harano would snatch some from her. She doesn't care if it's hot, just grabs the chicken and stuffs it into her mouth, cheeks puffing like a hamster, tearing up from the heat, her eyebrows bobbing up and down. In this era of Japan, everything is downsized. People shrunk, chickens too, not even half the size of those from later generations. When plucked, it resembled a quail, pitifully small. Harano couldn't even be bothered to look. He waited for Yayoi to bring his meal and ate his own—having sent the Momoi brothers to buy fresh fish, mushrooms, and dried bamboo shoots, since he was flush now, he intended to maintain his quality of life. Only with quality of life can you have a healthy body, and only with a healthy body can you avoid being taken out by minor injuries or illnesses. The average life expectancy in this era is just 29.6 years, and he had no desire to lower that average further. As for what to do once the dozen or so coins run out... From the day he time-traveled, he never worried about money. As a university-educated 21st-century student, if he couldn't even earn a meal in the 16th century after getting familiar with the situation, he might as well off himself instead of living to disgrace himself. Aman devoured the pot of chicken, finishing all the radishes and mushrooms, even cracking the chicken bones to suck the juice out. She also scooped two bowls of rice, and, finally full, lay on the ground, patting her small belly, feeling the warmth of the quilt, and sighed, "Is this how you advanced warriors live? It's wonderful, now I wouldn't have any regrets even if I were to die." S~eaʀᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Harano had finished eating long ago and was reading last night's copied "Barefoot Doctor's Manual," preparing either to save or put an end to the lives of Middle Ages Japan's working people. At her words, he glanced at her and said plainly, "No one's asking you to die." Aman hummed twice and finally remembered the main issue, rising to speak seriously, "You want to know about Owari, right? Rest assured, after eating your meal, I'll tell you everything clearly. Although I wasn't born in the first year of Tenbun, my grandfather often blabbed to us... um, where should I start?" "Start with the Maeda Family!" Harano quickly replied, since they were currently on the Maeda's turf, it seemed wise to inquire about them first. He spread out a Mino Paper to jot down key points. "The Maeda Family, huh, I know them!" Aman gazed at the ceiling for a moment, "According to my grandfather, they migrated from Guo'an County in Minoh Province along the Otai River and settled in Haidong County of Owari Province about seventy to eighty years ago. For the last six or seven decades, anyway, their ancestors have always been land reclaimers. About ten years ago, they split up, and the construction of Hosokawa Castle, East Rising City, and Shimoizumi Castle started around that time but still aren't complete." She paused, then continued to speak of the present, "Currently, the head of Hosokawa Castle is Maeda Kuranosuke Toharu, who is reputed to be a decent person, though in poor health—a sickly guy. The head of East Rising City is Maeda Sanroshi Heiryo, a lecher with a harem of maids, frequently involved in scandals, a regular at local Whale Houses. Hmm, there's another, the head of Shimoizumi Castle is Maeda Yuichiro Shonari, reportedly a very stubborn individual, unimaginative, neither particularly skilled in martial arts nor distinguished in talents, nothing particularly noteworthy. The Hosokawa family is the core, with over two thousand coins worth of strength; the East Rising and Shimoizumi families are branch families. They're referred to as city lords, but essentially just village heads with a few hundred coins in strength... well, that's their overt strength. In reality, it's somewhat higher. The three families together, going all out, could muster six to seven hundred men for battle, including a hundred or so household retainers and Lang Faction willing to fight and die, making them one of the strongest local powerful families in Haidong County." The chicken and rice Aman ate indeed weren't for nothing. She even moved a few steps while talking, snatched the brush from Harano's hand, and drew family crests on the paper for him—this is an essential skill for "intelligence traders," to recognize family crests, markings, flags, and horse insignias from a distance to identify whose troops they belong to, lest they get too close and end up shot by someone. "All Maeda Family crests are plum blossom patterns: the solid circle in the middle surrounded by five hollow circles is the Hosokawa Family, the hollow circle in the middle surrounded by solid ones is the Shimoizumi Family, and all hollow circles are the East Rising Family." Aman explained while drawing, and Harano finally solved a mystery—turns out, the "Five Circles Around One Circle" on Juro and Jiulang's short haori indicated plum blossoms (actually sacred light flowers, but resembling plum blossoms, hence called plum crests), it was truly simplistic to the point he hadn't guessed it. "Can you draw a map? Mark their castle locations." He shifted over a bit to make space for Aman and replaced the paper, indicating for her to draw a map too. Aman had no objections, as the chicken was truly delicious. She grasped the brush, thought for a moment, then drew a winding line slanting from the northeast to the southwest, and drew three small circles alongside it, "The source of the Otai River is in the great mountains of Minoh, and Maeda's three castles are on either side of this river downstream, something like that." After finishing, she fiddled with the paper for a while, hesitated, then scribbled a crooked Chinese character "North" at the top of the paper and drew a horizontal line in the middle, writing "Minoh Province" beside it to determine orientation. Harano was a bit surprised, "You can write?" Aman was quite proud of mastering such a "high-level skill," but feigned nonchalance, "After seeing so much, you naturally learn, it's not that hard." She then scribbled common Kanji like "rice," "wine," "meal," and "chicken" to prove she wasn't lying, albeit the characters were hard to read, with the right side of "chicken" more like a drawing of a bird. Fortunately, she didn't boast much and continued to share information with Harano. "There's not much to say about the Shimoizumi and East Rising Maeda: small populations, small territories, relatively weak strength, always looking at the core family's expression before acting. The face of the Maeda is the Hosokawa Family; now you know the patriarch, Maeda Kuranosuke Toharu. This old man is very fertile and, quite lucky, has eight surviving children. Let me think—the eldest is the heir, seems to be called Shinichiro Rikyu, the second is Nayazuke Rikyu, the third is Yusaburo Yasushige, the fourth is Magoshiro Toshiie, the fifth was sent to the Sawake family as an adopted son, renamed Fujihachiro Ryoji, the sixth is too young to be barely mentioned and hasn't come of age yet, supposedly named Rokuro Shutsugu. Then there are two daughters, the elder about ten years old named Tsubaki, the younger six or seven called Tsubasa. They're said to be little beauties, with quite a few families already interested. Oh, and besides these eight, old Toharu also has three adoptive daughters. One named Aru, Maeda Sanroshi's illegitimate daughter fostering with him; one named Ayan, his wife's sister's daughter, left in his wife's care after her remarriage; and the last called Yudai, Maeda Yuichiro's daughter, who was sent to Hosokawa Castle after he remarried." Harano even thought of telling Yayoi to boil another chicken for Aman; the information was so detailed it made his scalp tingle. Even the police in later Huaxia were no better—she seemed to have viewed Hosokawa Maeda's family register. He couldn't help but ask, "How do you know so much?" Aman waved her small hand, lifted her quirked eyebrows, and replied nonchalantly, "It's no secret. Just ask anyone from Hosokawa Castle, and they'll spill everything! Those dumb peasant farmers are like your two dumb lackeys, give them a sip of saliva, and they can't wait to share their ancestry to avoid being seen as ignorant or beneath others. Since knowing all this, we note it down, and maybe someday another fool will want to know, and we can earn a little petty cash in the process, don't you think?" Harano nodded silently, admitting she made sense, but another chicken needn't be cooked; this impudent brat could make do with dried radish for the next meal.

Chapter 24 - 15: Chicken Is Really Delicious_2

Comments (0)