Chapter 105: Chiyo of Higashi-Ōmi
A Man had narrowly escaped death before, and her sudden appearance before Yuan Ye occupied most of his attention. Now, with the young girl’s gentle inquiry, Yuan Ye finally had the leisure to examine her closely.
She wore a dark blue, slightly worn kozode, and a black head scarf （ a windproof scarf that tightly bound her hair and neck, also called a ‘Miyakobukuro’ ）. Several strands of black, wispy hair peeked out from under the head scarf, playfully falling onto her smooth forehead, making her delicate, oval face appear even smaller and more refined.
Her features were also exquisite: fine eyebrows like painted eyebrows, eyes curved like crescent moons, and a delicate, upturned nose. She was smiling, tilting her face upwards, exuding a playful charm with a hint of girlish allure. She was quite a beauty, not much less so than A Qing.
Yuan Ye glanced at her briefly before looking away and smiling at her, “You are right, saving a life should not be a basis for demanding reward, but a promise is another matter.”
The young girl in the kozode paused slightly, not quite understanding his meaning.
She wasn’t foolish; how could she believe A Man was truly worth one thousand kan? But she was in dire need of money, and A Man had been bragging about Yuan Ye being a wealthy man. So, she decided to try her luck, even if it meant taking some risks. Her earlier indulgence of Kotaro’s incessant shouting and her feigned rejection were merely tactics for bargaining. If not one thousand kan, then surely three to five kan could be obtained, right?
To her surprise, Yuan Ye’s words suggested he was prepared to honor the commitment, which was rather strange.
Suspicion immediately arose in her heart. She scrutinized Yuan Ye, unsure of his intentions. After a moment’s thought, she smiled charmingly and probed, “Lord, you misunderstand. That was just a joke, not a promise. Your… initial offer in the river was only fifty kan. Even fifty kan feels like a joke to me, don’t you think?”
She wouldn’t dare accept one thousand kan even if offered, but she was truly desperate for money. The two of them now had only a pile of rags, practically penniless, unable to even afford a meal. They had to get some money.
Fifty kan wouldn’t do, but five kan could be negotiated.
Yuan Ye remained noncommittal and changed the subject, asking, “May I know your name?”
“My apologies, Lord. You may call me Chiyo,” the young girl in the kozode replied with a smile, bowing politely. She was not flustered by Yuan Ye’s sudden change of topic and showed great patience.
Yuan Ye waited a moment, slightly surprised not to hear her father’s or brother’s name, but he didn’t press the issue. He politely continued, “So, Miss Chiyo. If you don’t mind, please come in and rest for a while. My accommodations are limited at the moment, and I may not be able to host you properly. I hope you will forgive me.”
Kotaro, standing beside her, immediately gripped his sword hilt, his expression growing more vigilant. However, Chiyo looked around, then at Yuan Ye, and without much hesitation, smiled and said, “Then we shall impose upon you. Lord Yuan Ye.”
“Not at all. For bringing A Man back, any gratitude I express would be insufficient,” Yuan Ye replied with sincere politeness.
After speaking, he led the group towards the center of the camp. It was somewhat presentable, though still consisting of makeshift shelters. They were simply larger and tidier.
He first instructed Yayoi and the little maids to prepare hot tea and food for the two guests, while he took A Man to check her injuries. Kotaro was a bit of a hothead and still seemed to consider A Man a hostage, reluctant to let her leave his side. However, Chiyo quietly stopped him.
Yuan Ye didn’t mind. He went to another shelter to examine A Man’s injuries. Pulse diagnosis was secondary; A Qing would handle the wound assessment and then inform him. In ancient times, such matters required careful attention.
After the examination, A Man’s condition was not optimistic. Although she had been “Hahaha” and seemed very excited before, that was just her nature, coupled with the joy of finally finding them. In reality, she had seven wounds, not counting minor ones, with four on her chest and abdomen. She had also lost a significant amount of blood and was now in a state of severe qi and blood deficiency. A slight misstep could easily lead to lasting complications or even significantly shorten her lifespan.
Yuan Ye’s expression grew serious as he pondered how to replenish her strength. A Man, however, was unconcerned. She lived for the day and believed her survival was a miracle. Lying on the thick cotton mat, covered by a warm small cotton quilt, she was still enthusiastically recounting her escape to A Qing: “…At that moment, I had a flash of inspiration and quickly cut off the greaves from my dōmaru, using them as a hip guard and semi-independent lamellar armor plates, and stuffed them into my dōmaru. Then I threw that unlucky fellow into the river, and I charged at Hayashi Katsusada like this…”
As she spoke, she extended her middle finger, then two fingers, gesturing animatedly at Yuan Ye and A Qing. “He indeed got angry and immediately ordered his men to shoot me. My dōmaru was pierced, but the greaves only took a slight hit. I rolled and fell into the river. I cut off and discarded my dōmaru and other armor, and began to drift downstream. Along the way, I urinated into a bladder and held onto it as I continued to float. I was almost asleep when I encountered them.”
A Qing was feeding her porridge and softly prompted, “And then?”
“Then, I immediately recognized them as paupers!” A Man slurped the freshly cooked hot porridge, mumbling, “I started shouting at them, ‘Save my life and I’ll give you fifty kan’… Uh, I was dying at the time. After shouting fifty kan and seeing they didn’t move, I was about to drift away again, so I shouted five hundred kan, and then I don’t know what happened.”
“When I woke up, I was already with them. Then, I couldn’t move, so I asked them to help me find herbal medicine…” Having spent a long time with Yuan Ye, the “butcher divine doctor,” she knew that drinking horse manure soup was unreliable. She turned to Yuan Ye and said, “You know, the tree bark, roots, earthworms, and ash that you used to mix for others to eat. I ate some of it haphazardly, then asked them for food. That Kotaro didn’t want to give me food and complained that it was too troublesome to always look for those miscellaneous things. So, I raised the price to one thousand kan. That’s how I managed to trick them into asking around for you and finding their way here.”
The journey to find them was also troublesome. Initially, her injuries prevented her from moving freely, and she often slept for a day or two. As a result, they stayed put for nearly ten days. Then, Oda Nobunaga and his brother started fighting, and the outside world became chaotic with many thieves emerging from disbanded soldiers. Chiyo was still unwilling to move. They waited until the battle was over for seven or eight days, and it was confirmed that the roads were completely safe. Only then did Chiyo agree to take her out to find Yuan Ye. However, these details didn’t need to be explained too finely. In any case, she had arrived lying down, so it wasn’t particularly arduous.
After A Man finished recounting her experiences of the past month, she let out a long sigh. Finally, her dou dou eyebrows twitched, and she boasted, “So, it was me. If it were either of you two, you would have been dead for sure!”
Yuan Ye didn’t deny it. Her account was simple, but the fact that she, with such injuries, could persist without fainting, continue to save herself, and hold on until she met someone for help, and then survive the subsequent inflammation and high fever, was a level of willpower few possessed.
Furthermore, her “life-saving trick” that she had painstakingly researched in the past had actually been used. At least, jumping into the river and floating had been employed, so it wasn’t in vain that she carried a dried urine bladder around her body all day, nor was her hard work in practicing her swimming skills wasted.
Perhaps this was a prime example of “the heavens help those who help themselves.” Her tenacious will to survive was seen by the heavens, which then granted her a reprieve, allowing her to escape from a desperate situation and live for many more decades.
Yuan Ye looked at her happy yet pale and ashen face and didn’t feel she was boasting. He said from the bottom of his heart, “This time… you’ve been through a lot, and thank you!”
A Man waved her small hand grandly and said, “Why be so polite? It’s not a big deal!”
After her grand gesture, she looked at the porridge bowl and immediately added, “Of course, it’s not a big deal, but I got injured for you, so you have to let me recover properly. Tonight, have Yayoi stew a chicken for me, make it tender. I…” At this point, she swallowed hard and complained with dissatisfaction, “Those two guys are so stingy, they wouldn’t even give me extra taro. I was starving three meals a day for two days while injured. I’ve suffered greatly during this time.”
“I’m already having chicken soup made for you. From now on, just tell Yayoi what you want to eat, and she’ll make it for you immediately. For this period, just focus on recovering and nourishing your body. Don’t worry about the cost.” Yuan Ye didn’t hesitate. If A Man dared to risk her life to draw away pursuers and save his life in such a situation, then he had nothing more to say. In the future, as long as he had something to eat, he would never let her eat thinly!
A Man was satisfied. She felt Yuan Ye’s place was better, and her desperate struggle hadn’t been in vain. She took the porridge bowl and drank it down with a gulp, then licked the bowl clean. Only then did she carefully look at Yuan Ye, somewhat surprised, “Your injuries are healed? Didn’t your bones break back then?”
She and Yuan Ye had been injured around the same time. Now, she couldn’t even sit up, yet Yuan Ye could walk around on his own. This was rather strange.
Yuan Ye also looked down at himself. According to the books, broken ribs should take over two months to recover. However, after more than a month, he felt no major issues. Even running and jumping still caused a dull ache, but daily sitting, standing, and walking were no different from a normal person. It seemed his recovery was indeed a bit fast.
He had privately researched it for a while but found no clues. He couldn’t find the reason for his rapid recovery and could only continue to suspect it was a minor anomaly caused by transmigration.
“Perhaps my physique is just good?” He didn’t want to discuss it further and planned to research himself and his foolish son together when he had time. For now, he could only offer this perfunctory explanation. His foolish son also seemed a bit abnormal. After lying down for over a year, although he had lost weight, he was far from weak. His pulse was still strong, which was also somewhat unusual. However, he still couldn’t find the reason, completely clueless.
After his perfunctory reply, he changed the subject and asked A Man, “What’s the situation with Miss Chiyo and Kotaro?”
A Man was an “elite original ninja” and the “young master” of the Kōka Life Preservation Style. Even with her injuries, sitting up would cause her to grimace in pain. However, her brain was unharmed. Having spent over a month with Chiyo, she had certainly figured them out. She might even be able to tell if Chiyo had a mole on her buttocks.
As expected, A Man immediately said, “The two of them are from Higashi-Ōmi. Chiyo is the daughter of a samurai family, likely from near Lake Biwa. However, her father’s status wouldn’t be too high, probably just a local warrior. That Kotaro is likely their follower, one who has served their family for two or three generations. He’s very loyal, but his martial arts are mediocre; he only has brute strength.”
“What were they doing in Owari?”
“They were probably seeking relatives after their family was ruined. She didn’t bring many clothes, didn’t have much money, and couldn’t even afford food, so she had to live in the wilderness. They must have fled in a hurry.” A Man thought for a moment and added, “She seems to be looking for a woman from the ‘Yuan’ family, possibly a distant relative who married into a family in Owari. She wants to seek refuge with this person, but she can’t find her whereabouts for the time being.”
Higashi-Ōmi? Lake Biwa? Yuan family? Chiyo?
So Chiyo wasn’t a pseudonym after all. It seemed her name really was Chiyo…
Yuan Ye pondered for a moment, recalling historical dramas he had watched. He felt there was a high probability it was that person.
