Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen

During that amazing month, reuniting first with the Chairman, and later with Nobu, Dr. Crab, and Hirozaburo Uchida, it made me feel like a cricket being played with has finally escaped its rattan cage. A few weeks later, the secretary of the Iwamura Electric Company called and asked me to accompany the dinner that night.Later, I was invited to the Ikritei Tea House by Iwamura Electric Company one after another.At a banquet, Hatsumomo appeared.I knew she was coming to see this "developing romance," so I decided to let her see what she wanted to see.I kept running my fingertips over my neck and haircut, as if worried that I wasn't getting my makeup done.When someone told a joke, I laughed and straightened my hair, and turned to Nobu.It took me a lot of effort to remove the large string of silk flower headdresses from the bun without a trace. It bounced off Nobu's chest and fell between his legs coiled on the tatami mat.I wanted to put my hand between his legs and pretend to be shy like a little girl, but I still didn't dare to reach out.

Nobu picked up the headdress, slowly turned the wooden spine, and asked the maid to bring his package. "I originally wanted to give it to you later, when you go back. But it seems that I want to give it to you now." He said, lifting his chin towards the package, motioning for me to open it.With everyone looking at me, I unwrapped the wrapping to reveal a delicately decorated wooden comb. "This is an antique I got a few days ago," Yan said. The president looked carefully at the hair accessories in the box on the table, moved his lips, but said nothing.He cleared his throat before saying, "Oh, Mr. Yan, I really didn't know you were a passionate seed." There was a strange sadness in his voice.

Hatsumomo came over to help me put on the comb, "Isn't she the cutest person?" She sighed exaggeratedly, as if the last few minutes were the most romantic moment she had ever experienced, and then left.This is exactly what I expected. Speaking of Mr. Crab, when I first met him, he was full of promises to invite Mameha and me at the Shirai Tea House, but six weeks had passed and we hadn't heard a word from him.Mameha gradually became anxious.Finally, in late February, Dr. Crab invited us to Shirai Tea House again, and apologized that he was too busy with business a while ago and couldn't find time.

That evening in Shirai, I poured wine and Mameha told stories.Dr. Crab sat with his elbows spread wide, and sometimes nodded apologetically when he bumped into us.I found him to be a man of few words, looking at the table most of the time through a pair of glasses with small round lenses, now and then slipping a piece of sashimi under his beard in a way that reminds me of a little boy hiding something Got under the rug. The relationship with the doctor was going well, but one afternoon in mid-March, I did something stupid that nearly ruined Mameha's elaborate plan. Shortly after lunch that day, I was kneeling on the wooden floor of the aisle with my shamisen in my arms, when Hatsumomo came over to use the bathroom and said to me, "The German ambassador is in town, but Pumpkin can't spare time to receive him. You Why don't you ask Mameha to make arrangements for you to go instead of the pumpkin?" She laughed, as if my doing this would be as ridiculous as serving a plate of acorn shells to the Emperor.

At that time, the visit of the German ambassador caused quite a stir in Gion.In 1935, a new government had just come to power in Germany. Although I didn’t know much about politics, I also knew that the relationship between Japan and the United States had become increasingly estranged in those years. I really wanted to make a good impression on the newly appointed German ambassador. .Everyone in Gion was wondering who would have the honor of hosting the upcoming German ambassador. When Hatsumomo said that to me, I should have lowered my head in shame, showing off how pitiful I felt that I couldn't be compared with pumpkins.But at the time, I was meditating on how much my situation had improved, and how successfully Mameha and I had kept the plan—whatever it was—from Hatsumomo.Whenever Hatsumomo spoke to me, my first reaction was to smile, but at that time I pretended to be wearing a mask, complacently thinking that I hadn't leaked anything.Hatsumomo gave me a strange look, as if thinking of something.

A few days later, Mameha and I went to Shirai Tea House again, but when we opened the door, we saw Pumpkin and Hatsumomo were about to leave.Hatsumomo was elated as he walked away, but I saw a sad look on Pumpkin's face.Both Mameha and I were taken aback. In the room, Doctor Crab sat with his back to us. "Doctor, you look tired." Mameha said, "How are you doing tonight?" Dr. Crab turned a glass of beer on the table for a while before saying, "Yes, I'm pretty tired." Finally he said, "I don't really feel like talking." After speaking, he drank the beer in one gulp, got up and left.When he got to the door, he turned to us and said, "Of course I wouldn't be happy that someone I trusted turned out to lie to me."

Mameha and I were too shocked to speak, and then she angrily asked me what I had said to Hatsumomo.Of course, I vehemently denied it, and Mameha also believed me, so she asked me to try to match Pumpkin's words.Before leaving, Mameha finally told me her plan at my pleading.It turns out that Dr. Crab is a male guest who is particularly focused on obtaining the geisha "Shui Yang" (that is, the right to be the first night).A year or two before I arrived in Gion, Dr. Crab charged a record high price for Mameha's 'Mizuyo'.Mameha's 'Mizuyo' was so expensive, on the one hand, because of her reputation, and on the other hand, there were two very rich men bidding for her 'Mizuyo', one was a crab doctor, the other It's a businessman named Buermon.

Mameha noticed at the sumo match that Nobu seemed to like me a lot, and she immediately thought of this.Hatsumomo was chasing me around like a housewife chasing cockroaches. Of course, I couldn't go on the road to fame in Mameha, and my 'Mizuyo' would not have a high price in the end.But if the two men found me attractive, they might start a bidding war so that I could pay off my debts like a successful apprentice.This is what Mameha calls "overthrowing Hatsumomo". It's clear that we have to win back Dr. Crab's favor.Without him, Nobu can pay my Mizuage as much as he likes, if he really wants to.I don't know if he's interested in me, but Mameha swears that if a male customer doesn't have "Mizuyo" in his heart, he won't develop a relationship with a fifteen-year-old apprentice geisha.

"Don't think he likes your talk," she said to me. I pretended I wasn't stabbed by that statement.