I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

In a small Japanese-style room, the soft strains of traditional Japanese melodies drifted out.

Two heavily made-up geishas sat nearby. One, holding a folding fan, danced a slow, unidentified dance; the other knelt beside her, head bowed, plucking the strings of her shamisen, which emitted a dull, resonant sound. Before the table, Nagata, the manager of Komatsu's sales department, knelt with his translator, opposite Li Jing'an. A geisha, with submissive eyes, poured sake for them at the table.

Nagata raised his glass first, adopting an extremely humble posture:

"Your Excellency, we are very sorry about what happened last night. The driver was only released this morning, and we only learned the details this morning. We really didn't expect the Sumitomo Group to resort to such despicable means, causing you such distress. We are extremely sorry."

As he spoke, he turned to the side and knelt down, placing his hands on the mat in front of him, and bowed deeply—a posture that was almost like kowtowing.

After hearing the translator's account, Li Jing'an remained calm and waved his hand.

"It's okay, nobody wants this to happen. But you can't entirely blame Sumitomo's people; they were just eager to see me and didn't mean any harm. I already criticized them at the time."

He picked up his wine glass, his tone gradually taking on a lecturing tone:

"Competition is fine, it's business competition, but you can't disregard the rules. Look at our country, everything is planned out, so what's the point of competing? It only hurts relationships. With unified management and no competition, there wouldn't be so much chaos. So, you still have to learn from us."

"Hi, Your Excellency Minister, we will certainly heed your teachings."

Nagata bowed deeply again. Looking at his submissive appearance, Li Jing'an thought to himself: It's so easy to talk to the Japanese. No matter whether they listen or not, their attitude is already there.

After speaking to Nagata, Li Jing'an turned his gaze to the dishes on the table.

This restaurant was supposedly a top-tier Japanese eatery, but the food was served incredibly slowly. It took forever for two small dishes to arrive—one of sea urchin and one of mullet roe—and the portions were pitifully small. Because of his status, Li Jing'an could only nibble at the food, wishing he could just shovel it all into his mouth.

Feeling bored, he turned his gaze to the three geishas accompanying him.

Good heavens, they all look like Cao Cao. You can't tell what they look like under the makeup at all. Please, they can't be from the 2000s or 2010s, he has no interest in that.

Li Jing'an frowned:

"Um... Nagata."

"Hi! Minister, what are your instructions?"

"Tell those three to go downstairs and wash their faces. I can't stand to look at this."

His tone suddenly became serious:

"Even if they are performance staff, they are still working people. In our country, the status of working people is very high. My education and beliefs do not allow this to happen. The waitresses have their faces painted like this, don't they even have the right to show their faces? Aren't they uncomfortable? Go, wash it off."

Upon hearing this, the geisha serving the wine froze, at a loss for words. The dancers and musicians also stopped what they were doing, and everyone turned to look at the translator. The translator whispered a few words in Nagata's ear, and Nagata nodded repeatedly before giving the orders.

The translator stood up, beckoned to the three geishas, ​​and followed them out the door.

While waiting, Changtian raised his glass to toast Li Jing'an again.

His mind raced: Today, Li Jing'an was God; whatever he said went. Yesterday, although Komatsu had the upper hand, they played their cards wrong—according to intelligence, after Sumitomo abducted Li Jing'an to a nightclub, this Minister Li was seen with four women on either side, having a very intimate time with them. This was completely unexpected by Komatsu.

We had an emergency meeting this morning; we must change our strategy.

This Minister Li is completely different from the Chinese civil servants they've dealt with before; he's noticeably more energetic and has a better appetite, but he's also much more difficult to deal with. Inviting Li Jing'an over at noon today was a belated attempt to remedy the situation, to try and monopolize his afternoon and evening time, and absolutely not let Sumitomo have another chance.

Nagata dared to say this because there were more than a dozen security personnel stationed outside.

If any Sumitomo personnel are spotted nearby, they must be immediately removed; they must not be allowed to contact Minister Li again. Of course, this is only a temporary measure. Tomorrow, the Chinese inspection team will visit each company's site to inspect the equipment, and then it will be impossible to stop them. But we must use today to establish a good relationship and leave a deep impression on Li Jing'an in subsequent negotiations.

Not long after, the translator led three geishas back in.

This time, Li Jing'an took a good look at them—the geisha who was pouring wine was about twenty years old; while the two who had just danced and played the zither were obviously very young, probably around sixteen or seventeen years old.

Seeing that they still wanted to continue singing and dancing to that "disgusting rubbish," Li Jing'an immediately raised his hand to stop them:

"Stop playing, everyone's worked hard. Come, sit next to me."

He patted the empty seats on either side of him, gesturing for the two young girls to sit down. The two geishas looked timid, having never encountered such a customer before, and were momentarily at a loss for what to do. Seeing this, Nagata whispered a few words of reprimand in Japanese, and only then did the two young girls cautiously move to Li Jing'an's side, bowing their heads in greeting.

Li Jing'an glanced at them—to be honest, these three geishas weren't particularly beautiful, far less so than the girls at the Ginza nightclubs. But they were young and energetic.

According to the translator, the two young girls were still apprentice geishas, ​​not yet officially graduated, and were being trained by the older geisha. One was sixteen and the other seventeen, the perfect age for blossoming.

Li Jing'an was in a great mood.

He ate several slices of pufferfish and then tried bluefin tuna, a rare treat in China. He didn't like the sake that was originally served, so he switched to red wine. During the meal, three geishas frequently offered him drinks, which Li Jing'an accepted without hesitation.

After a few drinks, his face drew closer and closer to the two young girls beside him, his hot breath almost hitting their faces. The two girls tried to remain calm, but their bodies involuntarily leaned outwards, yet they dared not actually move away.

Suddenly, the young geisha on the left took a step back and bowed repeatedly in apology—clearly, Li Jing'an had still laid a hand on her. The girl's face was filled with fear, and her eyes instantly reddened.

"Baka!"

A furious shout suddenly rang out, but it wasn't from Li Jing'an, but from Nagata. He stared intently at the young geisha, rattling off a string of words that frightened her so much that tears welled up in her eyes, and she lowered her head even further, apologizing profusely.

The translator was sent away by Nagata, and it's unclear what he was doing.

Li Jing'an watched this scene expressionlessly, abandoning his food to see how things would end. He knew in his heart that if he let it go easily, it would be difficult to ask for benefits later in the negotiations. He had to maintain a tough stance to gain the upper hand in the ensuing power struggle.

A moment later, the door opened again. The translator led an older woman into the doorway, pointed to the young geisha, and she was led out. Nagata bowed repeatedly to Li Jing'an in apology, but Li Jing'an remained silent, waiting to see how things would unfold.

A while later, the door opened for the third time.

The older woman led the young geisha back in, knelt down beside Li Jing'an, and prostrated herself on the ground, babbling apologies. The translator explained that this was their "madam," who was also their manager.

After repeatedly apologizing, Li Jing'an finally nodded.

The banquet proceeded as usual.