Chapter 38 first quarter

There is a tea shop in the corner of the back street of Ginza, which is open until two o'clock in the middle of the night every day.After half past eleven at night, the visitors were special people. The maids in nightclubs or bars often come here for a cup of coffee or pastries after get off work, and they take a rest here to relieve their fatigue before going home. After eleven-thirty, it was difficult to find a taxi in the Ginza area.For the simultaneous influx of customers and waitresses from nine hundred bars and nightclubs almost all required hired cars.So recently during this period of time black cars are prevalent.In order to avoid crowding, some people simply came to this tea shop and waited until twelve o'clock before leaving.In addition, there are some guests who have developed relationships with the maids and come here for a tryst.

In short, there are no ordinary guests at this time. The tea shop is neatly and brightly arranged.There is a jukebox at the entrance, and the maids can enjoy the music to their heart's content by inserting a ten-yuan coin.The guest seat is divided into several slices, and the inside is deep.Almost all the guests waiting to have a tryst with the maid occupy the seats inside. It's already October, and the women have changed into woolen suits or dresses.Only Emiko opened the door and walked in in her kimono.She looked around every corner of the tea shop, and found that Shigeo Sekigawa was sitting on the seat inside with his back to the door.

Afraid of being discovered by other guests, she lowered her head slightly and dragged her in front of Guan Chuan. "I kept you waiting for a long time." She took off the black lace shawl and smiled happily: "Have you been waiting for a long time?" Shigeo Sekigawa glanced at Emiko, then looked away immediately.Perhaps because of the dimness in the store, his face looked gloomy and melancholy. "I've been waiting for twenty minutes." The coffee in the teacup was about to run out. "It's all my fault." Emiko lowered her head apologetically. "My heart is burning with anxiety, but there is a guest who can't get away from me. I'm so sorry!"

The clerk came and asked what to order. "I'll have a cup of lemon tea!" After the female clerk left, Emiko continued, "I invited you out, so I won't cause you any trouble, right?" Her face was full of regret. "I'm very busy." Guan Chuan said with a straight face, "I hope you don't always do this in the future." "I'm sorry." She apologized repeatedly, "However, there is something I must tell you." "What's up?" "No, I'll talk about it later." She didn't speak immediately, not only because the waitress was serving tea, but she showed a complex expression that was difficult to describe for a while.

"Can't we talk now?" "Well, I'll talk about it later... By the way, I have something to tell you." When Emiko called Shigeo Sekigawa during the day, she only asked him to come here for a meeting, and she didn't say anything right away. It takes determination to speak out.What she's talking about now is just an introduction, and hasn't touched on the main topic yet. "I met a person who met you in Akita Prefecture a month ago..." This topic, she thought was irrelevant. "In Akita County?" Guan Chuan hurriedly raised his head, his expression flustered, which surprised Emiko, "Who is it?"

"Have you been to Akita Prefecture with four or five people with Mr. Hehe before?" "Yes. That time was to visit the Rocket Research Institute of T University." "By the way, it was that time. I don't know his name, but I said I met you at the nearby train station." "Is it someone I know?" Guan Chuan asked attentively. "No, you don't. Because I have no connection with you." "Why are you talking about it?" "He said he read an article you wrote in the newspaper, and it had your picture and name on it. Therefore, he recalled the scene at that time."

"Are you a customer in the shop?" "No, it's not. The brother of the landlady of mine." Guan Chuan was silent for a while, then said, "Why did he tell you about this?" "It started with the specific music. Didn't you comment on Mr. He? I said I knew you, and that's how we started." "You mean you know me?" "Don't worry about it," she said, "I said you're a regular at our shop." "Could it be..." Guan Chuan said solemnly, "Won't he see the relationship between us?" "No," she said with a smile in order not to worry the other party, "how could he know!"

"Don't talk about me on any occasion in the future!" Guan Chuan said with a displeased face. "Okay. I've always paid special attention to it. It's just..." She said apologetically, "When I talk about you, I can't help but feel happy. Just pay attention from now on." "What exactly does the mistress' brother do?" A woman's weeping voice came from the record player. "I asked the hostess, but..." Emiko replied to Guan Chuan, "She didn't say it clearly. But she is a very kind person." "So you don't know the man's occupation until now?"

"No, I got it. But I didn't hear it from the hostess, but from other tenants in the apartment. I really didn't expect it." "What is it for?" "It's a police detective from the Metropolitan Police Department." "Detective?" Guan Chuan's face immediately changed color. "Yes. But I can't see it at all. He is very nice, talkative, and friendly. I heard that the police today are different from those in the past!" Emiko went on to say, "We often have the police come to our store. Very nice." Guan Chuan didn't say anything more, he took out his cigarette and lit it, as if he was thinking silently.

There is an endless stream of customers coming and going in and out of the store.Some waited for their partners to arrive, and they left together; after a while, some people came in in twos and threes.After twelve o'clock, the visitors to the tea shop are completely different from those at nightfall. The faces of the guests were all tired, and the voices of the conversations were also lowered.Only the jukebox was humming softly. "Let's go." Guan Chuan spoke first, and he grabbed the bill. "Huh?" Emiko looked at the black tea she hadn't finished drinking, "Wouldn't it be better to sit down for a while?"

"If you have something to say, go elsewhere." "Okay." She agreed meekly. "You go and call a car first." Emiko nodded, stood up quietly and walked out of the shop. Two minutes later, Guan Chuan also stood up.He seemed afraid that other private guests would see his face clearly, so he walked towards the cashier with his head down. When he came outside, Emiko had already ordered a car and was waiting. Guan Chuan got into the car first.The two sat on the Mercedes-Benz car and stared ahead, without speaking for a long time.Emiko quietly reached out to hold Guan Chuan's hand, but it didn't elicit much reaction from him. "Did I offend you by talking about you? If so, please forgive me!" She apologized, looking at his gloomy profile. "You!" After a while, Guan Chuan said suddenly, "You have to move out of the apartment you live in now!" Emiko didn't seem to understand what Guan Chuan meant, and asked back, "What did you say?" Guan Chuan looked at the oncoming lights around Humen and said, "Move out of that apartment!" "Why?" Emiko opened her eyes wide, "I have to move again, didn't I just move here? It's only been two months!" She said somewhat disappointedly: "Is it because I talk too much and say things I shouldn't, and I'm going to move somewhere else?" Shigeo Sekigawa didn't answer, but just smoked hard. The car drove through Akasaka Street, running on the sparsely lit street in the middle of the night. "That police detective," Guan Chuan said after a while, "did you often come to the apartment before?" "Since I moved in, it seems to be the first time." "He talked to you, did you ask him?" "No, no. It was the mistress who greeted me when she said the tea was ready. I went to see her brother was sitting there. We talked over tea." "So it was the detective who sent you!" Hearing this sentence, Emiko also felt that there seemed to be some reason. "I don't think so. Met by chance. Why do you think that?" "Okay, anyway," Guan Chuan interrupted her: "In short, I still hope you move out of that apartment as soon as possible. I'll find another house." Emiko understood what he was thinking.The last time I was in that apartment, it was also because I met a student that Guan Chuan proposed to move.This time, because the elder brother of the hostess of the apartment is a police detective, it may be because he is afraid that people will spread the name of Guan Chuan as a topic. In short, Guan Chuan is very cautious, for fear of letting others know his relationship with him.This is of course due to his sensitive personality, but it is too much to reach this level. "If you don't like it, I'll just move out of the current apartment!" Emiko said concily. Emiko suddenly felt a little pathetic for always bowing her head and obeying the words of men. The man's attitude cast a shadow over the matter she was going to talk about. Sekikawa extinguished his cigarette in the car's ashtray. "It's getting cold at night," Emiko said insincerely. Whenever a man is unhappy, she always tries to make him happy.Especially tonight, it would be impossible not to make him happy. Guan Chuan remained silent. The neon lights of Akasaka were shining in front of my eyes, and the car drove towards Akasaka Mitsuke, and a large newly built hotel appeared on the right. "Oh!" Emiko looked out the window, suddenly poked Guan Chuan's knee with her hand and said, "Look, isn't that Mr. He He?" The hotel is next door to a nightclub, only the front door is lit. A row of limousines were parked there, perhaps because the time was up, the guests came out of the hall one after another, ready to go back.Many of them are foreigners.A doorman in a red coat, like a character in a western (a film set in the pioneer era of North America), was calling for a car by flashing a flashlight. He He Yingliang was seen from among the guests. "Oh!" Guan Chuan also looked at him and said. "With a pretty lady! Is this his fiancée?" "Yes. My name is Sachiko Tanaso." In the eyes of the two, He Hezheng and Sachiko were standing there waiting for the bus.The car passed by, leaving the two of them behind. "How happy!" Emiko exclaimed. "What happiness!" Guan Chuan smiled coldly. "Getting married soon? Look at her enjoying the joy of falling in love before marriage!" Emiko's words were expressed according to her own mood. "What do you know!" Guan Chuan said. "Why? Seeing that he is very happy!" "At the moment. But no one can tell what will happen tomorrow." "You can't talk like that. He is your friend, so he should be happy for him." "Of course, I also want to be happy. However, it is useless to focus on form like you. As a friend, I don't want to talk about form." "Did something happen?" Emiko looked anxiously at Sekikawa's profile. "It's nothing," Guan Chuan replied calmly, "it's nothing. However, He He is ambitious, so it's hard to say whether he really loves her. Because what he's after is actually Tian Suo Shigeki, and he wants to get her Be a backstage and make a career in the sky. Can this be happiness for a woman?" "As long as there is love in the process, isn't it good?" "Can it be like this?" Guan Chuan seemed dissatisfied with this statement. "This kind of love, as long as there are no flaws, it will be considered lucky..." "That's also enviable! Look at the two of them, they walk freely wherever they go, unlike us, who always avoid their eyes when they meet." Guan Chuan didn't answer, he looked through the car window at Qingshan Street flowing backward in the night. After passing the Roppongi intersection, there are many special restaurants in this area, which are open until more than three o'clock in the middle of the night. Because there are restaurants with Russian, Italian, Austrian, Hungarian flavors everywhere nearby, and the operators are not Japanese, the reporters gave this place a nickname, "Tokyo Concession". Shigeo Sekigawa stopped the car in front of a restaurant with only one light shining on the road.They walked up the steps paved with red felt.The guest seats are spacious and bright. "Welcome." The waiter invited the guest to the inner room.There are two rooms for guest seats, in which sit two or three couples of young men and women. Sekikawa ordered whiskey and soda. "And you?" "I don't want to drink," replied Emiko, "I'll have a glass of orange juice!" The waiter leaves. "What are you going to talk about?" Guan Chuan looked at Emiko. Several other couples were chatting about love.It was late, the record player was silent, and the tramway in front of the door was silent. The late-night restaurant still maintains its unique atmosphere. Guan Chuan urged Emiko to ask, but she still didn't speak immediately. "Since you called me in broad daylight, I thought there was something unusual, so I came here on purpose. Tell me quickly!" "I'm sorry," she said, apologizing for calling herself.Because "don't call" is Guan Chuan's catchphrase. Emiko fell silent again.His lips were stuck to the glass of orange juice, sipping with relish. "Did you drink too much?" Guan Chuan asked, looking at her. "No." Emiko shook her head lightly. "You seem to be very thirsty." "yes." "Are you hungry?" "No." Guan Chuan drank whiskey and soda water, and the waiter brought the food - smoked salmon fillets. Emiko stared at the plate intently. "If you like it, eat some." Guan Chuan saw her thoughts and passed the plate over. "Thanks. But that's all I'm going to eat." She used a toothpick to pick up the lemon slices on the side of the plate and put them into her mouth, chewing with relish. "Do you like to eat that kind of sour food?" Guan Chuan watched her face. At this moment, he seemed to have awakened, with a look of panic on his face. Shigeo Sekigawa looked at Emiko, and hurriedly moved the chair to get closer to her. "Hey," he whispered into Emiko's ear, "could it be...?" Immediately, Emiko's cheeks were flushed, she didn't move her hands, and sat there blankly, her whole body tensed. "Really?" He looked at her nervously again. Emiko nodded without saying a word. Guan Chuan didn't ask further questions, and immediately looked away, grabbing the wine glass with his hands. The cup was brought to his lips, but his eyes were staring elsewhere.This silence lasted for a long time. "Is it true? Can't it be wrong?" he said after a considerable time. "Yes." Emiko's soft voice seemed to be squeezed out. "how long it has been?" Emiko seemed to muster up her courage before saying, "It's been almost four months." Guan Chuan gripped the cup even tighter. "Stupid!" He turned to look at Emiko and whispered, "Why didn't you talk about it before?" He shot sharply on her forehead. "I'm worried that it will be the same as last time." She said this sentence as if biting her lip. Guan Chuan brought the cup to his mouth again. "That goes without saying!" He took a sip of his wine. "That's a natural thing to do!" "No!" The woman raised her head sharply, showing an unprecedented determination. "I did as you said last time, and now I regret it." "regret?" "Yes. I am very sorry that you did not listen to me. This time I will do my own thing." "No!" Guan Chuan said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you know common sense?" "..." "Last time, it was because you followed my advice that you survived without incident. If you followed your will, the consequences would be a tragedy." Guan Chuan took a long breath and continued: "You can't just do things based on momentary sentimentality or impulsiveness. If you want to think about it, you must first think about the child you are born with. How unfortunate that child will be..." "No!" The woman resolutely objected, "This time, I must do as I wish!" Her thin voice was full of determination.Guan Chuan didn't say anything right away. "I beg you, please comply with my request this time no matter what." She pleaded to the indifferent Guan Chuan. "It's the second time. I followed your advice the first time. Now I understand that it was wrong. Whatever happens, I will take responsibility." "Responsibility?" Guan Chuan looked at her unhappily, "What do you mean by that?" "I can raise it by myself." "This is nonsense." Guan Chuan said coldly, "Do you think you can live a stable life with a momentary impulse? It will make you miserable!" "No, it doesn't matter, I'm not afraid of misfortune! As long as I can hold your love firmly in my hands and let me raise it, I will be happy." Guan Chuan helplessly turned his face away.Drank the wine in the glass in one go.The ice cubes in the cup collided and rattled. The woman bowed her head in grief. "Anyway," Guan Chuan said in a strong tone, "I absolutely disagree with your proposition, and I hope you will do as I say." "..." "You are acting purely emotionally now, without regard for the consequences. Do as you say, and you will regret it." "No, never!" said the woman firmly. "I won't. I must make up my own mind." "You can't just let yourself go!" Guan Chuan said in a soothing tone. "Hey, Emiko, I understand how you feel. However, love alone can't solve any problems. Doing whatever you want will often cause unexpected consequences." "You," Emiko asked sadly, "do you have love for me?" "Isn't it very clear?" "If it's... that's the case, you shouldn't have said such things." Her shoulders heaved up and down, and her face turned pale. "You will agree with my proposition." Emiko's deep voice trembled, and tears rolled in her eyes. "Emiko!" Guan Chuan hurriedly patted her on the shoulder comfortingly, "Let's go, the two of us will go out and discuss slowly." Emiko covered her eyes with a handkerchief.