I am a literary giant in Japan

Keiko Koyama, who was teasing Kitagawa Toru, immediately stood up, straightened her clothes, said goodbye to Yumeko who was busy in the kitchen, and walked towards the villa opposite.

The Shimamura family's house is bigger than Kitagawa's, but it is filled with the smell of a nouveau riche.

Keiko Koyama entered Mitsui Housekeeping Co., Ltd. through the relationship of her husband Akio Koyama, and then was finally assigned to this top wealthy area thanks to her hard-working attitude and repeated positive reviews.

During her twenty-year career as a housekeeper, Keiko Koyama worked with all kinds of male masters.

She met all three of her husbands through domestic work.

Her first husband, Shirono, was a jewelry broker, 35 years older than her. He had killed people on the battlefield, and after retiring, he used his military connections to become a broker for many well-known jewelry companies.

The couple has two children, daughter Asako and son Kiyoshi.

Shirono had a miserable later life and died painfully in his hospital bed last year.

Shirono's life and death made Keiko Koyama know that Mr. Kitagawa——

Before his death, he had been reading "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" and "Killing Commendatore", reflecting on the war and himself.

But this does not lessen his guilt.

Because of these two books, Keiko Koyama also fell into the trap of Kitagawa Hide's novels and could not stop.

She believed that Shirono's death was due to the sins he committed in the first half of his life, and therefore highly respected Kitagawa Hide's values ​​and views on war.

Her second husband, Shunzo, is the owner of a small to medium-sized publishing house.

The couple had no children, and Shunzo had a daughter, Yumiko.

The family of five actually lived a very harmonious life, but unfortunately, Junzo's company went bankrupt last year due to the financial crisis.

Shunzo left without saying goodbye, and many people said that he committed suicide in the sea of ​​trees in Aomori Prefecture, so Keiko held a funeral for him.

In order to make a living, she sold her property and fell in love with Akio Koyama, a doctor at a public hospital last month.

Such rich marriage experience is extremely rare among Japanese women of this era.

This also allows her to better understand and see through men.

When she first came to this wealthy area, the company manager introduced several high-quality clients to her, including Shimamura and Kitagawa Hide.

She only looked at the two houses and their interior layouts, and resolutely chose Kitagawa Hide, which looked the worst.

After all, the women who come here to work all have some unrealistic fantasies.

The love affair between a housekeeper and her husband is also a long-lasting story on television screens.

But Keiko Koyama doesn't think so.

A man who can live in a place like this has no shortage of women.

If you want to continue working for a long time, you should draw a clear line with the male host and have a good relationship with the female host.

Rich people like Shimamura who live alone are often identified as the best customers by companies because they do not have the problem of having a hostess.

But when Keiko Oyama saw Shimamura's house for the first time, she knew that this man was like the wind and could not be caught.

He could see at a glance the overflowing mature peach flavor that had filled her after having experienced many husbands.

He is obsessed with this feeling, but it may not last long and they are most likely not a good match.

Keiko Koyama no longer wants to lead a life of gambling with her family.

Because she is already forty-three.

When Shimamura heard the knock on the door, he immediately came to open it happily.

He was a little disappointed to see that Keiko Koyama, who was wearing a tight skirt yesterday, had changed into a clean, thick white dress today and her charming mature woman look had weakened a lot.

"Would you like to come in and have a drink before leaving?" Shimamura asked.

A rich aroma of wine and melodious jazz tunes wafted from the half-open door, and the living room was filled with paintings related to Western dance.

Koyama Keiko shook her head, placed her hands on her belly and said respectfully, "No, my wife has something else to tell me. If you are all right, Mr. Shimamura, please come with me to see Mr. Kitagawa."

"Okay, let's go now!"

Shimamura was not discouraged. He had a long life ahead of him and there was enough time in his life to spend on these things.

When the two returned to Kitagawa's house, they saw Mengzi singing nursery rhymes to the two little ones.

After meeting Yumeko, Shimamura's carefree personality suddenly became much more restrained. He stood up straight and spoke in a serious tone, quite like a successful boss in the business world.

This surprised Keiko Oyama, who had always thought of him as a rich playboy.

Mr. Shimamura actually has this side to him?

"Sister Jingzi, I'll have to trouble you to prepare cakes and tea."

Mengzi rubbed the faces of the two little guys and looked at her apologetically.

Xiaoshan Jingzi waved her hands quickly: "Madam, what are you talking about? This is my job. Please continue to take care of the young master and the young lady!"

She went to the kitchen to busy herself, while Shimamura said goodbye to Yumeko and walked towards the upstairs terrace skillfully.

"Long time no see, Mr. Kitagawa!"

Every time Shimamura came, he saw Kitagawa Hide working at his desk, either writing a book or reading popular literary works.

Sometimes he even wondered if Teacher Kitagawa was a robot. Didn’t he need to rest, entertain himself, and socialize?

"Mr. Shimamura, good afternoon." Kitagawa Hide was reading an overseas novel called "The Londoner."

The literary hall of this world is in a mess. Some writers in the original history have disappeared, but some still exist, and the same is true for literary works.

Therefore, the level of the entire world literary world is uneven. If you want to understand and go deeper, you must spend a lot of time reading - there are no mature online novel websites now, and even reading pirated copies and searching for resources are difficult.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Kitagawa. Do you want to read books written by other writers?"

Shimamura sat down opposite him, glanced at the Londoner, and asked with a smile,

"I thought a great writer like you didn't need to read other people's novels."

Shimamura loved Western dance and music and had no knowledge of literary creation.

In his opinion, many musicians and dancers never watch the works of their contemporaries, believing that it will affect their creative ideas.

Kitagawa Hide was already known as the "best in the world" and was also a real master when it came to writing overseas literary works, so he was very surprised that Kitagawa Hide would actually read other people's books.

Kitagawa Hide was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "The most important asset of a novelist is his own knowledge reserve. Only by reading a lot can one write well.

And I am far from the master you are talking about."

In Kitagawa Hide's memory, those who can create in this way are the most talented creators.

For example, a certain music superstar named Zhou next door is said to not like listening to other people’s songs and rarely sings other people’s songs.

It is said that the literary giant Leo Tolstoy rarely read the works of his contemporaries in his entire life.

But they are the top creators in their respective fields, and Kitagawa Hide himself is just a plagiarist with average talent. How could he be so conceited?

"Haha, Mr. Kitagawa is too modest. Although I don't read literary novels, your name is still a household name.

A few days ago, I went to a bar in Ginza and the call girls there lit up when they mentioned Norwegian Wood.

When talking about his history of soliciting prostitutes, Shimamura suddenly became very excited. Kitagawa Hide interrupted him and said, "Mr. Shimamura, are you here to continue talking about tourism in Niigata Prefecture?"

"Ah, yes, yes, I almost forgot again."

Shimamura smiled and scratched his head.

"By the way, where were we talking about last time?"

"Speaking of your second trip to Niigata Prefecture, you met a girl named Ye Zi on the train."

Kitagawa Hide recalled and then said.

Niigata Prefecture is probably most famous for being the setting for Kawabata Yasunari's novel "Snow Country".

The reason why Kitagawa Hide was very interested in Shimamura's story was because his experience and name were very similar to the male protagonist of "Snow Country".

I heard that "Snow Country" is based on Kawabata Yasunari's personal experience. Now that the world has lost Japan's greatest literary giant, will similar things happen to other people?
Or maybe Kawabata Yasunari also listened to other people's stories and combined them with his own experiences to adapt "Snow Country"?
In short, Kawabata Yasunari's novels will definitely be plagiarized several times in the future, and being able to learn more similar information will be beneficial to Kitagawa Hide's writing.

"Yes, yes, I met Ye Zi on the train."

When talking about Ye Zi, the usually frivolous Shimamura actually showed a look of regret and nostalgia.

He tilted his head upward, thought for a moment, and then continued, "Ye Zi's brother started working at the railway signal station that was covered by snow that winter.

There was a man next to her, and their behavior was like that of a couple. The man was obviously sick, and accompanying a patient made it easy for people to ignore the boundaries between men and women.

And the more diligently they serve each other, the more they look like a couple.

But a woman who takes care of a man who is much older than herself like a loving mother always makes people feel that this is not a normal relationship between husband and wife."

Shimamura talked a lot about Ye Zi and that man.

Beichuan Xiu knew that he was trying to convince himself that Ye Zi was not married.

But from an outsider's perspective, older men and younger women are still very common in Japan.

Especially for someone with Ye Zi's background and work situation, it is normal for her to live with a rich old man.

Kitagawa Hide didn't say any of this. He just listened quietly, sometimes taking simple notes with a pen, but more often he just observed Shimamura's reaction and state.

Because the Shimamura who talked about his trip to Niigata Prefecture was completely different from the Shimamura he knew.

Now Shimamura is a wandering prodigal son who drinks as much as he can.

When telling the story, Shimamura was more stable, like a man, as if a duckweed had found its roots.

“It was my second trip to Niigata Prefecture, and that trip was actually to find another woman.

Her name is Komako and she is a geisha.

I traced the wet glass with my fingers, as if I saw Juzi's eyes, but when I looked closely, I found that they belonged to Ye.

Only one of Leaf's eyes was reflected in the glass, but it made it look even more beautiful.

Ye Zi leaned forward slightly, looking down at the man beside her with full concentration.

Ye Zi's cautious movements and serious, unblinking gaze showed her sincere feelings.

I stole glances at Ye Zi for a long time, but her heart was all on the sick man. Even when she turned her head towards me occasionally, she would not see her own reflection in the glass window, nor would she notice me.

I don't know why, but I seemed to be deeply attracted by the scene through the glass window.

It was a snowy day, with snowflakes flying outside. On the glass window under the halo, the girl's beautiful face and eyes
Please forgive my limited vocabulary. It is difficult for me to describe my feelings at that time. I just felt that it was beautiful, so beautiful, as if I was not in this world.

"Mu Jing's mirror?" Kitagawa Hide suddenly said.

"What?" Shimamura was stunned.

"The sights you saw, the things you thought about, the girl, and the experiences you had."

Kitagawa Hide gave a brief explanation.

"The mirror of dusk seems to be true. In short, it is very unreal, yet very real. I can't remember exactly, but every time I think of her, I can't stop crying."

Shimamura touched the corners of his eyes, where wet tears were.

“When I arrived at the station, I saw Juzi, and she was still the same.

When I first met her, I didn't want her to be a geisha in the future, but the final result seems not to be what we want.
I had that kind of thing with her once.

But I didn't keep my promise to her that I would write to her, go on a date with her, or give her a book on dance styling.

I have always felt guilty towards her, but my friends laughed at me for being too sentimental.

Friends all say that such women may be favored several times a night. Every man says so. If they take it to heart, how can they live?

Haha, same.

But when I saw Juzi again, she didn’t seem like that.”

"Juzi told me that one of his benefactors was willing to redeem her and marry her, and even paid the deposit.

The benefactor was in very weak health and looked old.

I was genuinely happy for her and naturally declined the invitation that night, and then I suggested that she help me find a girl."

Shimamura scratched his head embarrassedly, probably thinking that this request was a bit outrageous.

Kitagawa Hideya thought it was outrageous and asked with a smile: "Then what? Even if she is a geisha, it would be difficult for her to accept such an excessive request from you, right?
Let a girl help you find a prostitute. I wouldn't even dare to write this in a novel."

"Haha, yes, I definitely didn't accept it at first, but I said I didn't want to have just this kind of relationship with her, especially since she was about to leave that troubled place."

Shimamura nodded.
"But even though I agreed, the new girl made me lose interest all of a sudden. That's when I realized that the one I was interested in was not some mountain village geisha, but Komako."

"Niigata Prefecture is somewhat similar to Izu." Kitagawa Hide nodded.

The prosperous Minamiizu is a big city, and the situation in Kitaizu is similar to that in Niigata Prefecture.

Even with the influence brought by "The Dancing Girl of Izu", the real beneficiaries in the end are those in power.

I heard that the mayor of Izu successfully entered the parliament, and this year there is a pile of gift boxes piled up at Kitagawa's house, and one of them is for him.

As for those lower-class people that Kitagawa Hide and Yumeko had met, they were simply no longer so poor.

If Kaoru hadn't come to Tokyo with him, it would most likely be another Komako, right?

"She has been taking notes on every novel she has read since she was sixteen, so she already has ten notebooks. It seems she is also a fan of your books, Mr. Kitagawa!
Sometimes I really envy you, Mr. Beichuan. It seems that everyone is reading your books and listening to your teachings. "

Shimamura continued talking, and he didn't even realize that he had originally wanted to introduce Kitagawa Hide to the beautiful snow scenery of Niigata Prefecture, but as they talked, the topic always revolved around Ye Zi and Komako.

Kitagawa Hide didn't point this out, he just smiled and nodded in agreement.

As the topic gradually came to an end, Shimamura's expression suddenly became a little lost.

"It's a beautiful story, and a beautiful place. I'm going to think about going there with Yumeko-chan."

Kitagawa Hideshi said sincerely, and then asked casually,
"By the way, what happened to Juzi and Ye Zi later?"

Shimamura looked up at him.

It's been a long time.

Then he said: "Juzi was holding Ye Zi, and they both died in a fire this year." (End of this chapter)