Chapter 56: A melodramatic family ethical drama, an 8 o’clock prime-time one at that
“Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!”
After the funeral ceremony, A Man exclaimed with delight. She hadn’t expected that following Yuan Ye on this trip would lead to witnessing such a dramatic spectacle as “an unfilial son inserting incense sticks upside down, and the deceased’s coffin being desecrated.” It was enough material for her to brag about for two years – you know? Before that big fool Oda Nobunaga met his end, I personally saw him insert the incense sticks into the censer upside down. That’s when I knew he was doomed!
Moreover, she kept asking Yuan Ye for that five kan of money. With Oda Nobunaga causing such a scene, openly displaying “great unfilial piety,” he would have no way to uphold the “father guides son” principle in the future, nor could he be a good patriarch of a great family and demand absolute obedience from his vassals, followers, and local lords.
In a sense, the Oda Danjō no Chū family was already finished. Disunity and dissolution were just around the corner.
Yuan Ye didn’t argue with her about it being too early, merely mused, “Why would he do that?”
He knew Oda Nobunaga was an eccentric, but this couldn’t be explained by mere disregard for rules. Even in the modern era, where moral constraints are relatively relaxed, he had never seen anyone cause such a scene at their own father’s wake – this was simply outrageous, outrageously outrageous, to the extreme!
“He’s just acting crazy! He’s a big fool, we can’t possibly understand what a big fool thinks!” A Man didn’t care about Oda Nobunaga’s fate at all, nor did she share Yuan Ye’s curiosity about the Sixth Heavenly Demon King’s growth process. She only cared about her five kan of money, tugging on Yuan Ye’s sleeve and saying, “Anyway, don’t forget our bet. I’ve won, and if you renege, your butt will rot.”
“But… this can’t be explained by just acting crazy, can it?” Yuan Ye didn’t care about his butt rotting and still couldn’t figure out what was going on, feeling very displeased.
A Man also stopped pressing for the bet money in advance. Yuan Ye’s character was quite solid, and she believed she’d get it back eventually. Seeing that he seemed to take this matter seriously, she also began to ponder, “He’s really gone off the deep end this time, a bit too much. Perhaps there’s more to it… How about I go ask around?”
“Go quickly, and come back fast!” Yuan Ye agreed immediately. He was idle anyway, and satisfying his curiosity wouldn’t hurt.
“Give me some money, and I’ll get some wine and try to get information from the people at Suemori Castle!” A Man said, reaching out and taking a string of coins from his embrace before turning to run. It was unclear if she intended to use the money for personal indulgence and satisfy her own cravings.
Yuan Ye didn’t care about such a small sum, but he didn’t want her to drink. However, when he called out to her, she pretended not to hear. With a few twists and turns, she disappeared. He couldn’t do anything about it, so he could only curse her as a wild child in his heart, shake his head, and return to his assigned small tent.
The Danjō no Chū family, perhaps fearing that local lords and samurai might cause trouble during this period, struck first by bringing everyone to the funeral. They forced the leaders of the local lords, local samurai, their followers, and the commoners to attend separately, but they were not allowed into Suemori Castle. Each group was given a tent and camped around Kakuenzan Mountain. After the funeral, they couldn’t leave immediately; they had to wait for interviews and notifications before they could return.
Yuan Ye, a “rōnin” who had just obtained residency in Owari, had too low a status to be at the front of the crowd. His lodging was also not a good spot, being very remote, and it was a long walk back. As he was walking, he ran into Maeda Toshiharu and his group.
Maeda Toshiharu bowed from a distance and greeted him, “Isn’t this Lord Yuan Ye? It’s been a long time.”
“Yes, it has been a long time!” Yuan Ye returned the greeting politely. Glancing behind Maeda Toshiharu, he saw only three unfamiliar retainers. He then asked, “Where is Lord Shinichiro? Has he recovered?”
“Thanks to Lord Yuan Ye’s miraculous medical skills, Shinichiro has fully recovered and is now managing the household!” The Danjō no Chū family was wary of these local lords, and they were also wary of the Danjō no Chū family. The heir hadn’t even come. Maeda Toshiharu, similarly, had found excuses to keep his eldest son, Maeda Toshihisa, and his senior retainer, Okumura Iefuku, at Aragiko Castle as a precaution, and had come alone as a hostage, and to gauge the situation.
After answering Yuan Ye’s question, he also asked with concern, “Lord Yuan Ye is living in Takeuchi Manor now, isn’t he? Are you settling in well there?”
“It’s alright. The scenery there is quite nice.”
“That’s good, that’s good!” Maeda Toshiharu seemed somewhat relieved. He then looked at Yuan Ye meaningfully and advised, “If you’re not used to living there, you can always move back to Aragiko Castle. There are also scenic spots near Aragiko Castle.”
He had admired Yuan Ye from the start, after all, he was a master of medical skills. Even after being rejected once, he hadn’t rushed, thinking perhaps Yuan Ye came from a noble background and looked down on him, a local lord with no deep roots. He was even discussing with Okumura Iefuku whether to invest more and directly marry his adopted daughter, Aru, to him. But then Yuan Ye moved to Oda Nobunaga’s territory without a word and disappeared.
He was a bit disappointed then, but coincidentally, the Oda Danjō no Chū family had this incident. So, he casually mentioned it, hoping Yuan Ye would move back. After all, Owari was about to descend into chaos, and bloodshed would be inevitable. Having a master of medical skills at home could save a life. He had seen and heard of too many succession disputes within warrior families, each resulting in a sea of blood. Now, the Danjō no Chū family showed signs of this.
Yuan Ye could roughly understand his meaning and knew there was some goodwill in his words. Even though he had no intention of moving, he still earnestly replied, “Thank you very much.”
This was not a place to talk. Seeing that Yuan Ye understood, Maeda Toshiharu didn’t say much more. He patted Yuan Ye’s shoulder, whispered “Be careful,” and left. Yuan Ye lowered his head in thought for a moment before returning to his temporary lodging.
After waiting for several more hours, A Man returned, swaying with drunken steps.
Her small face was flushed from drinking, and her drunken demeanor, combined with her dou dou eyebrows and little pigtails, made her look even more comical. As she stumbled into the tent, she let out a burp that nearly sent Yuan Ye reeling.
Yuan Ye helplessly poured her some water. She snatched the kettle and downed half of it with a gulp. Her round eyes were full of excitement, “I’ve got the news! You’ll never guess what happened!”
“Alright, spit it out!” Yuan Ye was disgusted by her burp and had no patience for her to play coy. He began to disrespect her again.
“Okay!” A Man was also itching to share the gossip with Yuan Ye. She drunkenly leaned closer to him, as if plotting a rebellion, and asked, “I told you before that the big fool became the castle lord of Nagoya Castle when he was two years old. Do you remember that?”
“I remember. What about it?”
“He was too young then, so there was a wet nurse responsible for taking care of him… *hiccup*… that’s Ikeda Tsuneyoshi’s wife. After Ikeda Tsuneyoshi died and his son was still young and had no one to rely on, she was appointed by Oda Nobuhide as the big fool’s wet nurse, *hiccup*!”
Yuan Ye was speechless. How much had this wild child drunk!
He quickly pushed A Man away. She was so drunk she was almost in his arms, nuzzling him with her head. He wet a cotton cloth and wiped her face before continuing to ask, “What happened later?”
“Later!” A Man became even more excited after wiping her face. She clenched her left fist and repeatedly poked it with her right index finger, saying mysteriously, “Later, Oda Nobuhide returned from a defeat, the time he was beaten by the Imagawa family and Matsudaira family together at Azukizaka. He returned from defeat and temporarily stayed at Nagoya Castle. He got drunk, saw her, and took a liking to her. He then… you know?”
As she spoke, she poked her small fist a few more times and asked Yuan Ye with a strange look if he understood, if he didn’t even have such common sense.
Yuan Ye was slightly stunned, not expecting such a development. But he immediately slapped away her “dog paw,” forbidding her from making such an indecent gesture, and asked, “What happened next?”
“Then she disappeared.” A Man rubbed her hand in dissatisfaction but quickly forgot about it, her tone becoming even more mysterious. “I got several people drunk and heard several different versions. Some say Oda Nobuhide strangled her to death on the spot. Another guy said she was taken as a concubine and kept hidden in Oda Nobuhide’s residence. Another guy said Oda Nobuhide brought her back to his residence, but that woman Tsuchida thought it was too scandalous for Oda Nobuhide to have an affair with a retainer’s widow and take her as a concubine, so she threw her into a well.”
She burped again at this point, feeling like the world was spinning. Yuan Ye seemed to be shifting positions. She reached for a cotton cloth to wipe her face but missed, so she grabbed his sleeve and wiped her small face. She added, “Anyway, after a lot of running around and questioning many people, none of the people from Suemori Castle have seen her recently. She’s most likely dead, and it’s highly probable that that woman Tsuchida ordered her death!”
So that’s how it was. No wonder Oda Nobunaga wouldn’t even offer a stick of incense to his own father. Even when Hirate Masahide forcibly dragged him to offer incense, and even with so many people watching, he still inserted the incense sticks into the censer at the last moment.
Yuan Ye lowered his head in thought, even imagining many inappropriate scenes, such as Oda Nobunaga’s wet nurse being forcibly dragged into a room by Oda Nobuhide, disheveled and weeping, desperately resisting but to no avail. Oda Nobunaga, held back by his retainers, was forced to stand outside in the pouring rain, desperately urged to endure. He bit his pale lips until they bled, vowing to…
Of course, this was unlikely, too melodramatic. A serious historical drama would turn into a family melodrama, like an eight o’clock soap opera. But even if Oda Nobunaga learned of this afterward and agreed to let his wet nurse go with Oda Nobuhide, he must have been furious. He would have deeply despised his father, whom he had previously admired. It was also highly possible that he had only recently learned of his wet nurse’s death at Suemori Castle, and thus, accumulated strength for a breakthrough…
It couldn’t be confirmed, as many details were unclear. At the very least, it was unclear when the wet nurse died, but it was highly probable that this was the case.
Without this, it was impossible to explain why Oda Nobunaga didn’t immediately send for him, this divine doctor, when his own father was critically ill!
Without this, it was impossible to explain why Oda Nobunaga would insert the incense sticks upside down and curse his own father in front of all the samurai in the lower four districts of Owari!
Yuan Ye was lost in his melodramatic conjectures, his head full of drama. A Man, thinking he hadn’t understood, mustered her remaining strength to explain, “Haven’t you figured it out yet? You’re so stupid. Do you know what a wet nurse represents?
Even the Emperor was raised by a wet nurse. The court nobility also favored this practice, and the warrior families followed suit. Children were assigned a wet nurse. Moreover, the big fool became the castle lord of Nagoya Castle at the age of two, far from his parents. He was actually raised by his wet nurse – compared to Tsuchida, his wet nurse was more like his own mother, and their bond must have been very deep!
If his wet nurse was indeed killed by Tsuchida, and indeed thrown into a well by Tsuchida, it’s no wonder Tsuchida disliked him and insisted on having another son attend the ceremony today. She probably knew herself that given the big fool’s temperament, he would surely seek revenge for his wet nurse in the future, and she wouldn’t have a good outcome!”
Uh, she was mistaken. She didn’t care why Oda Nobunaga was acting crazy, nor did she care about the fate of an innocent woman. She had seen such things many times. She only thought Yuan Ye was concerned about the succession dispute within the Danjō no Chū family, focusing on Lady Tsuchida’s strange attitude and why she supported another son.
Yuan Ye nodded. He was generally aware of these things. A wet nurse did not merely provide milk; she was also responsible for educating the child in demeanor and character, and providing maternal care. Therefore, there were countless powerful wet nurses in Japanese history, and they were indeed the people closest to the child.
Looking at it this way, A Man’s guess might indeed be correct. Tsuchida indeed seemed unwilling to let Oda Nobunaga inherit the position, which is why she put forward her own son to compete.
Seeing that he finally understood, A Man was relieved, feeling that her task was complete and she hadn’t drunk his wine in vain. The drowsiness finally overcame her, and she slumped to the side, falling asleep, muttering, “It’s too dirty. Your samurai families are too dirty, really too dirty…”
Yuan Ye took out a quilt and covered her, tucking her limbs in. He sat cross-legged beside her, his gaze deep and contemplative.
His curiosity was satisfied, and a historical mystery was solved, but the situation seemed to have worsened.
The plan might need to be revised again. With this incident, internal strife within the Oda Danjō no Chū family seemed unavoidable, it was only a matter of time. It wasn’t appropriate to renovate and redecorate at this time. He still needed to improve his self-preservation capabilities, lest he be inexplicably killed by stray soldiers when war broke out.
Therefore, being exploited by the monks was acceptable. It wasn’t the time to quibble over such matters. He needed to quickly acquire some money to tide him over!
