CHAPTER 247: CHAPTER 179 LOVERS FINALLY BECOME FAMILY

Oda Nobunaga wiped out the Iwakura branch of the Oda Family in one stroke, theoretically completing the unification of Owari. For a time, he was on cloud nine, holding banquets and tea gatherings day after day, indulging in his excitement—after all, the Oda Danjo Chonosuke family had risen from a plain, middle-level magistrate family to become a Daimyo over three generations of hard work. If he wasn’t excited now, when would he be?

Of course, apart from venting his excitement, these banquets and tea gatherings had their real purposes.

For example, accepting the formal allegiance of the powerful families in the Upper Four Provinces of Owari, officially taking them on as retainer families, and, while he was at it, accepting the treasures, daughters, and hostages they brought along;

For example, dividing the fruits of victory—those powerful families and household retainers who had stood actively on the side of the Danjo Chonosuke family in the recent battles, or had performed great deeds, all needed to receive their due rewards.

And in the division of spoils, Nozawa naturally got a share—a particularly envy-inducing one, at that—several estates located in the Upper Four Provinces, along with attached lakes and mountain lands. In his excitement, Oda Nobunaga lavished praise on Nozawa’s contributions, calling him the most reliable ally of the Danjo Chonosuke family, and declaring his overall merits to rank first.

In daily life, Nobunaga was even warmer to him, constantly sending him famous horses, swords, elegant robes, tea sets, and other luxuries, gifting him a luxurious house in Qingzhou City, and even Princess Dog, who stayed behind in New Wanjin, received "rewards" that elevated her status immensely within the Danjo Chonosuke family.

This kind of over-the-top treatment left Nozawa feeling as if he were a fish being grilled, but he could vaguely sense why Oda Nobunaga was doing all this.

With the fall of the Iwakura Oda family, the Danjo Chonosuke house had grown dramatically, but from another angle, the number of retainer families under Oda Nobunaga’s command had also reached a new level. Nobunaga needed someone to balance and keep in check these tangled local nobles, and who better than Nozawa, the rootless "upstart from outside"?

For example, the estates he was given were all far apart, each located at the borders of several different noble clans—like some really irritating little nails—and at first glance it looked just like Nobunaga had intentionally planted him there to keep an eye on those families.

Once Nozawa realized this, he didn’t care much. He had his own plans, after all. As long as Nobunaga gave him benefits, he’d take them without hesitation, not caring a bit for the feelings of Owari "locals." The only downside was that he couldn’t return to New Wanjin for now, so he had to stay in Qingzhou City, getting dragged out by Nobunaga from time to time to be "shown off," so Nobunaga could display his "deep trust" and "affection."

Theoretically, the role he was playing now should have gone to Monkey, but for some reason, Monkey still hadn’t shown up.

Could it be that his own appearance had given Nobunaga a better option, so Nobunaga had abandoned the idea of promoting a group of grassroots samurai and outsiders?

Or maybe Nobunaga still had the same plan, but he hadn’t started putting it into practice yet, and would just use Nozawa as a stand-in for now?

After dealing with another banquet, Nozawa was walking toward the stables with Ah Man and Ah Qing, lost in thought, when he looked up at the commotion and saw Maeda Toshie at the stable entrance, cheerfully holding court with a bunch of people—mostly young folks around twenty, the new generation of the Oda Danjo Chonosuke household.

Nozawa, bored for the moment, wandered over out of curiosity, only to find them discussing a horse.

Maeda Toshie spotted him right away and called out enthusiastically, "Saburou! Come look at this horse of mine, what do you think?"

The people around also noticed Nozawa, recognized him as the current darling of the Danjo Chonosuke family, and all made way, bowing respectfully: "Lord Nozawa."

Nozawa nodded back gently and examined the horse they were discussing. It was a very sturdy Kiso horse, with its shoulders over 140 centimeters—a real standout in this era.

But that was about all he could tell—whatever knowledge he had about horses came from being forced to ride every day in the olden days, and at most he could tell the "main coat" from the "secondary coat"—the main coat being the horse’s primary color, the secondary coat the spots and patterns.

At this level, anyone with eyes could manage, so he was a total novice at horse judging. If they wanted him to rate a "famous steed," that was out of his league. All he could do was lightly slap the horse’s rump and chuckle, "It’s a fine animal. Did the Lord of Upper General just give it to you?"

A nearby young Lang Faction member, short but handsome, chimed in boldly with a laugh, "Exactly, Lord Nozawa! The Lord of Upper General bestowed this horse especially for Lord Maeda’s wedding."

Nozawa was taken aback for a moment—he hadn’t heard a thing about this before—so he turned to Maeda Toshie and asked in surprise, "You’re getting married?"

Low snickers rippled through the Lang Faction crowd. It seemed Maeda Toshie got on well with these guys, but he was now blushing furiously, waving his rough hands: "Alright, alright, you lot talk too much—get out of here already!"

The laughter only got louder, mixed with teasing lines like "Please don’t betray my feelings." When the group didn’t scatter, Maeda Toshie could only yank Nozawa away, though after a few steps he glanced back worriedly and called, "Hizi, take good care of ’Chestnut’ for me!"

"Don’t worry! I’ll watch it myself these next few days!" That same handsome Lang Faction fellow replied brightly, then led the horse into a single stable.

Only then did Maeda Toshie relax. Seeing Nozawa and Ah Man looking at him curiously (Ah Qing wasn’t curious), his weather-beaten face reddened again, and he started rubbing his hands like a fly: "Yes, I’m getting married. It’s all a bit sudden, so I haven’t had the chance to tell you."

Nozawa asked, "It’s Ah Song, isn’t it?"

"It’s her!" Maeda Toshie hesitated for a moment. He and Nozawa had known each other for years—hardly strangers—and this was already public knowledge, so even if it hadn’t spread yet, the whole story would reach Nozawa soon enough. So, he came clean: "My father wanted to marry Ah Song to my older brother, but Ah Song... ran over to find me, saying... uh, saying she wanted to marry me. I... honestly hadn’t planned to say yes, but we bumped into the Lord, and he seemed to really like Ah Song, so he agreed for me."

Nozawa was surprised—he hadn’t expected Nobunaga to be involved at all—but he asked, puzzled, "Why would your father want to marry Ah Song to your older brother?"

Maeda Toshie was ten years older than Ah Song—almost two generations’ gap. If his older brother, Maeda Rikyu, was to marry Ah Song, that really would make it two generations apart.

Maeda Toshie looked a bit embarrassed talking about it. After all, this was kind of like stealing his brother’s wife—not exactly something to brag about: "My parents really like Ah Song, and always thought she’d make a great head wife. My big brother used to be really sick, couldn’t even sleep well, and didn’t want to get married. But after you treated him, he recovered after a couple years, so recently my parents started worrying about his marriage, and thought of Ah Song, planning to keep her in the family..."

Nozawa was speechless for a moment. He hadn’t expected this to involve him, but thinking about it, something similar probably happened in real history too. Even though Maeda Rikyu eventually lost the ability to have children because of a back sore, odds are Maeda Toshimasa had considered keeping Ah Song as the head wife at Hosokawa Castle—she could always adopt, after all. Rikyu’s historical heir, Maeda Keiji, was a child his wife brought from a prior marriage, pretty much the same as an adopted son.

Hmm, Nozawa figured this had nothing to do with him. Sure, he might have nudged the timeline a bit, but not much—the only real change was Ah Song running away a little earlier. But for Ah Song to escape from Hosokawa Castle all the way to Qingzhou City and find Maeda Toshie? In this era, that took real guts—a total violation of propriety, almost a desperate gamble. No wonder Oda Nobunaga supported it.

His curiosity satisfied, he was a little disappointed he’d missed witnessing Ah Song’s confession to Maeda Toshie. If he’d known this would happen, he would have at least sent Ah Man to spy and relay the "live broadcast"—this was a scene re-enacted countless times in Japanese Taiga dramas, a veritable archetype of ancient Japanese romance.

Maeda Toshie saw him lost in thought, and even a bit disappointed, which made him nervous. He hesitated, then asked, "Saburou, do you think I shouldn’t marry Ah Song?"

Nozawa snapped out of it and shot back, "Do you want to marry her?"

"I kind of do..." Maeda Toshie still sounded unsure, as if he’d never thought much about marriage before. "If I don’t marry her, she’d feel embarrassed, and Lord’s already given an order—I have to marry her. He even gave me a house in the castle town and a horse. There’s no turning it down."

"That’s your decision to make." Nozawa wasn’t about to play matchmaker, nor would he ever, so he just said, "Do what you want."

Maeda Toshie tilted his head to the sky for a moment, as if recalling the moment Ah Song ran to him and confessed—even if it was a bit like a kid fussing, he couldn’t help but smile after a while. "Guess I better fix up that house, then."

Nozawa figured it was great for lovers to end up together, and grinned: "If you need any help, just let me know."

Back then, weddings in Japan weren’t big social events—marriage was really a private affair between two families. But with Maeda Toshie and Ah Song, things were trickier; it was pretty unlikely Ah Song would be leaving Hosokawa Castle for her wedding.

Nozawa thought about this and decided to ask, "Where is Ah Song staying now?"

"At Lord Asano’s house," Maeda Toshie said without concern. "Lord handled everything. Ah Song will marry from there—Lord Asano doesn’t mind."

So, with Asano Nagasuke, huh? Guess Ah Song was already friends with Ningning at this point. But since it was all settled, Nozawa didn’t meddle—he just chatted a bit more with Maeda Toshie, passing on some wedding experience from one "married man" to another, and then Maeda Toshie hurried off to prep for his wedding (and probably have a word with Maeda Toshimasa, to get his blessing for Ah Song).

Nozawa watched him go, then turned to Ah Man and ordered, "Later, pick out some really good fabric from the shop and take it to Lord Asano’s place for Ah Song." He paused, then added, "And pick something new for Ningning too."

Ah Song had probably run from Hosokawa Castle in such a rush she couldn’t bring much with her. Sending her some fabric for new clothes, and a small gift for his little apprentice—good for keeping ties warm.

Ah Man nodded casually, planning to send someone as soon as she got back to the house, and followed Nozawa again to the stables. As they went, she sighed, "Time flies, huh—even that dung ball Maeda is getting married. To Ah Song, no less."

"Yeah, time really does go by fast!" Nozawa echoed, sighing too. It seemed like just yesterday when Ah Song ate a spoiled candy and puked all day. Blink, and several years had passed—now she could marry already? Maeda Toshie really was an animal—Ah Song probably wasn’t even ten years old yet.

But then again, he wasn’t in any position to mock—after all, he had one at home too. If Maeda Toshie was an animal, he was no better.

So with Nozawa and Ah Man chatting along the way about Maeda Toshie and Ah Song’s "romance," speculating on how the Hosokawa Family would react to Ah Song’s escape and what Maeda Rikyu would do, they soon returned to the stables. Just as they saddled up to head home, a mounted party approached head-on, and the leader’s gaze immediately landed on Nozawa.