I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 216 Dancer Axun
"Please give me two copies of the latest issue of "Literary World"." Kitagawa Hide smiled at the young man waving a round fan.

"Okay! One book is 1000 yen, and I'll give you a 1800% discount on two books, so the total is yen. Thank you."

The young man took out two brand new copies of "Literary World" from the shelf, and handed over a beautifully packaged copy of "Confessions".

"Master, Madam, can you take a look at Mr. Beichuan's new book?"

"I've seen it in Tokyo." Kitagawa Hide cursed inwardly, "It's so expensive." The original price of "Bungenchikai" was 500 yen, but the price has doubled in such a small place. It is not known whether the small vendor raised the price himself, or Bungeishunju tacitly allowed its distributors to sell magazines illegally.

The young man pretended to regretfully take back the copy of Confessions and said with a smile, "Because the master and the mistress are the guests brought by Guang, they can enjoy my super low discount. It would be a pity not to buy a copy for your collection."

Kitagawa Hide looked back at the lively and cheerful Guangzi and found that she had secretly shrunk behind Mengzi at some point, as if she was a little afraid of this smiling man.

"Definitely next time." Kitagawa Hideya replied with a smile, then pulled Yumeko to a small wooden table nearby, found two empty seats and sat down.

There were guests sitting at several small wooden tables next to the bookstore, reading books. The most eye-catching thing was the touring artist group in the corner.

This kind of folk artist troupe that moves around and sets up a stage to perform at any time is similar to the opera troupe next door and was once very popular in the Showa era.

In post-war Japan, people were short of money and could not afford to watch Noh plays in theaters, so this type of mobile artist troupe gradually emerged. Its ticket prices were low and its cost-effectiveness was extremely high, making it very popular in the 60s and 70s.

But later, with the advent of the bubble era, national savings increased exponentially, and this type of cheap artist group gradually disappeared in the Tokyo area.

There were five artists sitting there, one man and four women. The oldest lady was drinking and smoking welding cigarettes, not shying away from the gazes of the onlookers. The only man was a skinny guy in his thirties, who had been staring at the generous Kitagawa Hide, his eyes full of envy and admiration.

The remaining three were dancing geishas with white faces, red lips and "white makeup". They looked young. The most beautiful one was holding a copy of "Confessions" in her hand, while the remaining two were reading "Literary World".

Dancing girls and geishas belong to the lowest class in Japan. Even homeless people will spit at them and look at them with disdain when they see them.

The dancing geishas who live in touring rural performing troupes and perform in marginal and poor areas such as Izu are the lowest of the lowest.

The three little geishas buried their faces in their books. It was obvious that they did not have the ability of the geisha ladies to ignore the gazes of others. They were very concerned about other people's eyes. The blush that appeared on their faces from time to time could hardly be concealed even by the thick white foundation.

Kitagawa Hide just glanced at them casually for a few times, then turned his attention back to the "Literary World" in his hand, and his thoughts flew to the "Second-Rank Competition" of the pure literature magazine that has attracted the most attention in the literary world this year.

In several sales wars this year, "Wenyi", which serialized "Border" and "Confessions", was a huge hit, almost crushing the other four major publishing houses.

But "Literary World" is not as bad as "Group Portrait" and "Stars". After several struggles, it still managed to maintain its basic base.

After the iron hoof had crushed Kodansha and Shueisha, Kawaide Shobo's target this time was obviously Bungeishunju.

Bungeishunju did not want to sit and wait for death, so it played its final trump card, Arima Yoshiyoshi, and vowed to defend its last dignity as the "second best".

Kitagawa Hide personally had no intention of fighting to the death with Arima Yoshiyoshi and Bungeishunju - even if he had shares in Kawaide Shobo, there was no need for him to compete with a "number one in the world".

But before, on the Dancing Girl, he heard the radio host talking about Arima Yoshiyoshi's commentary and new book ideas. The disgusting pseudo-anti-war thinking, as well as the disgusting behavior of Bungeishunju in openly cooperating with Hashimoto Ryutaro in visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, gave him a surge of "bookish spirit."

He picked up a pen to write, and his initial goal was to make money, pay off debts, and live a good life.

And now, he has the idea of ​​correcting bad practices, false history and serving as a weather vane for the people.

Let’s see what this “The Harp of Burma” is like.

Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be victorious in every battle!
He skipped all the novels and interviews at the beginning, turned to the main text, and began to read silently word by word.

The story takes place in July 1945 on the Burmese battlefield at the end of the Pacific War.

At the beginning of the first chapter, a group of Japanese soldiers are marching on their way to Thailand.

At this point in time, Japan would surrender in just one month, and the battlefield in Burma was also coming to an end. The Japanese were no longer as arrogant and domineering as before, and they walked on the streets with their heads hung low, as if their mother had died.

This issue of "Myanmar's Harp" has two chapters, totaling 10,000 words. The specific content is that Private Mizushima, under the command of Captain Inoue, who graduated from the music academy, used the harp he learned by himself to boost morale and soothe the soldiers' sad thoughts. During this period, his moving music achieved spiritual communication with the British soldiers who accepted their surrender and the local people in Myanmar.

Japanese soldiers, British soldiers, and Burmese people, three forces that originally had nothing to do with each other, were actually enjoying themselves together under the Japanese music, as if they had forgotten that they were still on the battlefield and that they were mortal enemies.

After reading the ten thousand words, Kitagawa Hide looked up, wanting to confirm whether Mengzi had finished reading, but saw a pale, young and beautiful face appear in his sight.

The person who suddenly sat down next to Kitagawa Hide was the oldest and most beautiful of the three dancing geishas, ​​about seventeen or eighteen years old. She blinked her big watery eyes and looked at Kitagawa Hide with curiosity and anticipation, as if she was not shy at all.

"Sorry, sir. Did I disturb you while you were reading?" the little dancer asked timidly, lowering her head and not daring to look at him.

"No, I just finished reading it." Kitagawa Hide closed "Literary World" and replied with a smile.

At this time, Mengzi had just finished reading the novel. She looked up and saw the little dancer sitting over, and nodded at her with a smile.

The little dancer became even more shy, and the two little feet under her butt began to sway slightly uneasily.

"Well, that. Master, are you..." She bit her lip, mustered up her courage, and handed over the book "Confession" that she was holding tightly in her hand.

Judging from the style, it should be a paperback edition of "Confessions" bought from an unscrupulous bookseller.

The book was turned to the title page. At first, Kitagawa Hide didn't know what the little dancer was going to do, but when he saw the blurry headshot printed on the title page, he immediately understood.

It turns out he’s a little book fan chasing stars!
Kitagawa Hide has appeared in camera only a handful of times, and the few times he appeared in newspapers he was only photographed from the side. The head shot on the cover page of "Confessions" was probably the first time that a real photo of him was included in a book. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of current color printing technology, the photo has been compressed several times and is very different from his real self.

The little dancer must have confirmed it many times and didn't want to miss her idol, so she mustered up the courage to come up and ask.

Kitagawa Hide looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to this place except for the other members of the artist group, so he smiled and whispered, "It's me. Do you want an autograph?"

"Hmmmmmm!!!" The little dancer nodded frantically like a chick pecking at rice. Realizing that Kitagawa Hide didn't want to reveal her identity, she immediately suppressed her ecstasy and returned to her previous shy state of lowering her head and looking submissive.

"Can you tell me your name?" Kitagawa Hide thought for a moment. A country geisha like her might hardly meet him once in her life. Since they finally met, she decided to write some words of encouragement.

It's just a scribbled signature, which is a bit too perfunctory.

"Xunzi, you can just call me Axun." The little dancer said in a low voice, pinching the corners of her clothes with her two small hands, trying her best to hide her uneasiness and nervousness.

[To my dear Axun, I hope you can always keep this precious innocence, and I hope you can live the life you expect in the future - Kitagawa Hide]

"Thank you, Mr. Kitagawa!" Ah Xun hugged the "Confession" with Kitagawa Hide's handwritten message on it as if it were a treasure. If there weren't so many people around, she would have wanted to stand up and turn around, and dance a Taisho Odori for Kitagawa Hide to express her joy and happiness.

"You're welcome." Kitagawa Hide waved his hand gently.

There are so many people in the circus, but only this little dancer can recognize her own appearance at a glance. She must be a die-hard fan of the book.

He will not abandon the people who provided him with food and clothing in the past just because he has become famous. He would not do such a thing as putting down the bowl and cursing.

"Hideki, what do you think of Mr. Arima's novel?" Mengzi had just finished reading "The Burmese Harp" and felt that it tasted strange. She wanted to express her feelings and also wanted to hear the opinions of a professional like Kitagawa Hide.

Ever since she read many of Kitagawa Hide's books, she felt that her aesthetic taste and literary literacy were getting higher and higher, and ordinary pure literary novels were a little unacceptable to her.

This "The Burmese Harp" is not as bad as Oshima Hikaru's "Once Upon a Time in Tokyo 1973", but after reading "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" in advance, I don't think it is too amazing in comparison.

Seeing that they were going to talk about novels, Ah Xun consciously prepared to get up and leave. In fact, she really wanted to hear Mr. Beichuan analyze this new novel.
Kitagawa Hide didn't care about all this. Seeing that Axun wanted to listen but didn't dare to, he simply reached out and patted the cushion beside her and let her continue sitting and listening.

"Eh? Can I listen too?" Ah Xun's butt stuck back to the cushion.

"Of course." Kitagawa Hide never thought that literary criticism was a private matter. On the contrary, he liked this kind of small brainstorming seminar. Only when everyone can speak freely and communicate can the level of literature be improved!
Xun bowed again to express her gratitude, and then, like Yumeko, sat up straight, looking forward to Kitagawa Hide's comments on "The Burmese Harp".

(End of this chapter)