Chapter Eighty: Family Letter

"Buzz..." The noise was even louder than before. Everyone looked at Chunzi and her mother with envy. Their family had been promoted and could now command three hundred soldiers, which in Japan could barely be called a general.

"You... come here." The lame captain beckoned the young samurai over. "Who told you that not being on the list means you've died in battle? You think you'd be happy if someone else got promoted and you died in battle? We've taught you to read and write, and this is how you serve the young master?"

The captain cursed for a while but still wasn't satisfied, so he kicked the young man so hard he fell flat on his face.

The young man jumped up nimbly, and without saying a word, turned around and kicked Haruka Taro. With a "thud," Haruka Taro flew two zhang away. The young man muttered and cursed, "If it weren't for the higher-ups telling us to restrain ourselves, we would have kicked you to death, you shorty."

Junko was still in a daze when she walked up to the table where generals' salaries were distributed. Just now she felt like her life had collapsed, but now Haruka had not only come back to life, but had also become a brigade commander. All these things had tormented her and her head was still buzzing.

"Your son, Haruhisa Jiro, was promoted to brigade commander two months ago. His salary is three rolls of cloth for a month as a captain, ten rolls for two months as a brigade commander, plus five rolls of combat rewards, for a total of eighteen rolls of Matsue cloth. There is also a letter from home for you. Please take it with you." The translator was very enthusiastic, bundling the Matsue cloth into three large bundles and gesturing for Junko to check them.

"Could you please... read this letter to me... I'm sorry to trouble you." Junko didn't even look at the amount of Matsue cloth; the thick stack of family letters in his hand had already captivated her.

"Of course, please come this way. We have a tutor who can read and write letters home for you." The waiter led Chunzi to a shed next to the guild hall, where a fire was burning and an old scholar in a scholar's robe was sitting inside.

"Mr. Hao, a family member of a brigade commander would like you to read this letter home." The waiter handed the letter from Harukami Jiro to the scholar surnamed Hao with both hands. Mr. Hao did not put on airs; he took the letter, opened it, and began to read it carefully.

People gradually gathered outside the tent. Their loved ones had traveled thousands of miles across the sea, their fate uncertain. Who wouldn't be extremely worried?

"Huh!" Mr. Hao's expression changed slightly, then he nodded and began to slowly read the letter aloud, while the translator translated it sentence by sentence. As he translated, the people around him exclaimed in surprise.

"Junko, I'm fine now, don't worry about me. Take good care of yourself and Yako, and wait for me to come back."

“We took a boat from Hirado, but we encountered a storm near Hanyang and rested for a few days. It wasn’t until more than ten days later that we arrived in Daxia. Everyone on the way vomited until their stomachs were empty, but I… was perfectly fine.”

“We all know that the Great Xia is very rich, but I never thought it was this rich. Everyone can wear Songjiang cloth, and silk is not uncommon. And I... I was actually given a suit of iron armor, a suit of iron armor that covers my whole body, even the back of my hands has iron plates, only my eyes are exposed.”

"We have arrived at the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty. Ah! There is such a large city in the world. Its city walls are ten zhang high and its circumference is nearly a hundred li. It is larger than ten capitals. The nobles and their entourages have gathered here. There are hundreds of thousands of them."

"Today, a prince of the Great Xia Dynasty had a conflict with His Highness the Crown Prince. We selected fifty men to fight in His Highness's place... The enemy was very strong... We... lost many men... But we ultimately won. They were driven away by us. They are a bunch of cowards; they couldn't hold on after only a few men died."

"Junko, I've been promoted to brigade commander, and my salary has increased a lot, but that's not the most important thing. Brigade commanders can send letters home for free, so we can keep in touch more often from now on. That's great."

“Junko, we have arrived at the grasslands in the north of Great Xia. People who have never been to the grasslands can’t imagine that there is such a vast and flat land. Their grasslands stretch for thousands of miles.”

"I'll stop here for today. I asked the clerk in the army to help me write the letter. I've troubled him for so long, I must treat him to a good drink. By the way, there's a kind of strong liquor that only men are entitled to drink, even high-ranking military personnel rarely get to drink it, but as a brigade commander, I get a monthly ration..."

Before the translator could finish a single sentence, the crowd erupted in a commotion, joining Junko in exclamations of amazement and envy.

The letter was finally read aloud, and the shopkeeper, his face full of envy, handed it to Junko, clearly longing for Haruka's experiences. Junko took Haruka's letter, then faced with a dilemma regarding her Matsue cloth.

"I can't carry all of this... Could you take some first and come back for more tomorrow... Please!" Junko clutched the letter tightly in her hand, then looked at the three large bundles of Songjiang cloth, and then at her own big belly and Yaiko's thin body. She could only bow deeply to the translator and beg him to do her a favor.

"Of course! Look over here, there's a military service center where you can consign or store your fabrics for a very low commission." The translator became even more enthusiastic. Today he was the translator, tomorrow he'd be the shop assistant. These fabrics were in high demand, and the commission would be substantial!

"Let's... take one bundle first, and... store the rest!" Junko was used to hardship and felt that holding onto what she had in her hands was the safest option.

"Please wait a moment, I'll issue you a receipt right away. Um... if you need to send a letter, you can come to our service center; sending a letter to the commander is free." The clerk's service attitude was so good that Chunzi felt like she was in a dream. She would be given the cold shoulder even in the poorest places, and this was the first time she had received such respect.

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