Ah Hua walked outside, but Ye Zi's eyes still shone in his eyes. Like a distant light, cold and miserable. Why is this happening? I guess I remember the impression of last night. Last night, Ah Hua looked at the face of the leaves reflected on the window glass, the lights of the mountains flashed on her face, the lights overlapped with her eyes, slightly shining, indescribably beautiful, and Ah Hua's heart was also touched. Thinking of this, I can't help but think of the red face of the foal reflected in the mirror against the background of the vast white snow.

So, Ah Hua quickened his pace. Although he has white feet, Ah Hua, who loves mountaineering, can't help but become dazed while enjoying the mountain scenery while walking, and his steps speed up unconsciously. For him, who is often prone to sudden trance, he cannot believe that the mirror reflecting the dusk scene and the morning snow scene is artificially made. That's something that belongs to nature. And it belongs to a distant world.

Even the room of the Komako, who had just left, seemed to belong to a distant world. For this dazed state, even Ah Hua was stunned. He climbed up the hill and a masseuse came over. Ah Hua shouted as if he had grabbed something:

"Massage lady, can you give me a massage?"

"Hmm. What time is it?" the masseuse, holding a bamboo cane in her armpit, took out a pocket watch with a lid from her belt with her right hand, touched the tray with the tip of her left finger, and said, "It's two thirty-five." I still have to go to the station at half past three, but it's okay to be late. ”

"Can you still know the time on your watch?"

"Well, I took the glass surface off. ”

"Touch it and find the words on the dial?"

"I can't touch it, but ......," she said, and she took out the silver watch that the woman had used to be a little too large, opened the lid, and pressed her finger to show Ah Hua: here is twelve, here is six, and between them is three. "Then I calculated, although it can't be a minute wrong, but it can't be two minutes wrong. ”

"Yes. You walk on a ramp like this, won't you slip?"

"If it rains, my daughter will pick it up. Massage the people in the village at night, will not come here. The innkeeper often teased that my old man wouldn't let me come out, there was really no way!" "The children are all older?"

"yes. The eldest daughter is thirteen. She walked into the room, massaged silently for a while, and then tilted her head to listen to the sound of the shamisen coming from the banquet in the distance.

"Who's playing?"

"With the sound of the shamisen, can you tell which geisha is coming?"

"Some can tell, some can't. Sir, your living environment must be very good, and your muscles are very soft!"

"It's not sour, is it?"

"It's sore, my neck is a little sore. You're so shapely-shaped. Don't drink bars?"

"You know that very well. ”

"I know three guests who are exactly the same size as my husband. ”

"It's a very average body shape. ”

"How can you say it? If you don't drink, you can't really have fun, and you can relieve your worries by drinking. ”

"Does your gentleman drink?"

"I drank so much that I couldn't help it. ”

"Who played the shamisen? so clumsy. ”

"Hmm. ”

"Do you play too?"

"Also play. From the age of nine to the age of twenty. After having an old man, he hasn't played for fifteen years. ”

Ah Hua felt that the blind girl seemed younger than her actual age, and said, "Did you really practice when you were a child?"

"My hands are massaged, but my ears are still refreshed. The way the geisha's shamisen is played like this, it sounds anxious. yes, maybe it's like what I played back then. ”

She listened again.

"It seems to have been played by Arwen from the well house. The best and worst are the easiest to hear. ”

"Also played well?"

"The girl named Foal, though young, has been playing very well lately. ”

"Oh?"

"Alas, even if it is played well, it is also for this mountain village. Sir knows her, too?"

"No, I don't know. However, last night her master's son came back, and we were in the same car. ”

"Oh, did you come back after you were sick?"

"It doesn't look good. ”

"I heard that the young master had been recuperating in Tokyo for a long time, and this summer the Komako girl had to come out as a geisha to earn money to pay for his medical expenses in the hospital. I don't know what's going on?"

"You mean the foal?"

"yes. For the sake of getting engaged, I still have to do my best if I can, but it will continue like this for a long time......"

"You said you were engaged, really?"

"It's true. I heard that they are already engaged. I don't know, but that's what people say. ”

Listening to a masseuse talk about a geisha's life experience at a hot spring inn is too common. But it's normal, but it's unexpected. Komako came out to be a geisha for her fiancé, which was also an ordinary thing, but Ah Hua always found it hard to believe. Perhaps that's because it contradicts morality.

He wanted to dig deeper into the matter, but the masseuse was silent.

Koma is the fiancée of her master's son, Ye Zi is his new lover, and he is about to die, so the word "vain" comes to Ah Hua's mind. Whether the foal abides by the marriage contract, or even sells himself to recuperate, what is it if all this is not in vain?

Ah Hua thought to himself: If he sees the foal, he will give her a "futile effort". However, for Ah Hua, on the contrary, he always felt that her existence was very innocent.

Ah Hua pondered silently: this kind of hypocritical insensitivity is dangerous, it is a manifestation of incorruptibility and shame. After the masseuse went back, he lay down casually. He felt a chill creep up in his heart, only to find that the window was still open.

It was dark early in the ravine, and dusk had already fallen coldly. The twilight was faintly approaching from the distant mountains, which were still covered with snow in the evening sunset.

In the blink of an eye, due to the different heights of each mountain, the shadow of the different levels of mountain folds has been deepened. Only the faint afterglow remained on the summit, casting a glow on the snow at the summit.

The cedar forests dotting the riverside, ski resort, and shrine of the village are black and overwhelming.

Ah Hua was in the void, and the foal walked in, as if bringing heat and light.

According to Komako, the preparatory meeting to welcome the skiers will be held at this inn, and she is called to accompany the guests at the banquet held after the meeting. She put her foot in the kotatsu and coldly stroked Ah Hua's cheek back and forth.

"It's strange, your face is so white tonight. ”

Then she grabbed his limp muscles, as if to crush them, and said:

"You're so stupid!"

She was already a little drunk. After the banquet was dismissed, as soon as she came in, she shouted:

"No matter what, no more. Headache, headache!ah, distress, distress!" As soon as she collapsed in front of the dresser, her face immediately showed a ridiculously drunken look.

"I want to drink water, give me a glass of water!"

The foal covered his face with both hands, and he didn't bother to spread his hair in a bun, so he lay down with his face up. After a while, he sat up again, and removed it with cold frost*, revealing two patches of crimson on his cheeks, and even laughing with joy. Strange to say, this time the wine woke up quickly. She felt a little cold and her shoulders shivered.

Then she began to talk softly about the month in which August had been idle for a whole month because of a nervous breakdown.

"I was worried that I was going crazy. For some reason, I kept meditating, but I still couldn't figure it out, and I didn't even understand it myself. It's scary. I couldn't sleep for a while, and only when I went out to the banquet did my body feel better. I've had all sorts of dreams. Even the rice can't be eaten well. On a hot day, the needle was cut off on the mat, poked and pulled, pulled and poked, and endlessly. ”

"What month did you come out to be a geisha?"

"June. Otherwise, maybe I'd be in Hamamatsu by now. ”

"Getting married?"

The foal nodded. She said that the man Hamamatsu was stubbornly pestering her to marry him, but she didn't like him at all, which was really embarrassing.

"If you don't like it, what's there to be embarrassed about?"

"You can't say that. ”

"Is there still that kind of charm when you get married?"

"It's annoying! I can't settle down if I don't arrange my daily life properly. ”

"Hmm. ”

"You're too casual. ”

"But do you have anything to do with that man from Hamamatsu?"

"If there is, there is no need to be embarrassed. The foal said flatly. But he said that as long as I was in this place, I would not be allowed to marry anyone else, or I would destroy it by any means. ”

"It's so far away from Hamamatsu, are you still worried about this?"

The foal was silent for a while, his body warmed up, and he lay down peacefully. Suddenly, he inadvertently uttered a sentence:

"I thought I was pregnant. Hee-hee, how ridiculous it is to think about it now. Hee-hee-hee-hee. ”

She smiled, suddenly curled up, and grabbed Ah Hua's collar with both hands like a child.

Her thick eyelashes looked like half-open dark eyes. In the early hours of the next morning, Ah Hua woke up to find the foal with one arm on the brazier, scribbling on the back of an old magazine.

"Oh, I can't go back. The maid came to add to the fire, how embarrassing. I was so scared that I got up quickly, and the sun was already shining on the paper sliding door. Probably fell asleep in a daze after getting drunk last night. ”

"What time is it?"

"It's eight o'clock. ”

"Would you like to take a hot spring bath?" Ah Hua stood up.

"No, you'll run into someone else in the hallway. "She seemed to have completely become a demure lady. By the time Ah Hua returned from the bath, she had already delicately wrapped a hand towel around her head and diligently cleaned the room.

She was nervous enough to wipe the table legs and brazier edges, and she was very skilled at picking up the ashes.

Ah Hua put his legs into the kotatsu and smoked a cigarette with nothing to do. When the ashes fell, the foal quietly wiped them with a handkerchief and brought him an ashtray. Ah Hua smiled happily in return. Koma laughed too.

"If you become a family, your husband will be scolded by you all the time. ”

"What is there to scold. People often make fun of me, saying that I even fold the clothes that need to be washed neatly, probably because of my nature. ”

"It has been said that just by looking at the contents of the closet, you will know the character of this Gothic woman. ”

The house was full of sunshine and warm. The two of them were eating breakfast.

"Oh my God, it would be nice to go back to practice as soon as possible. On days like these, the timbre will also be different. ”

The foal looked up at the clear sky.

The mountains in the distance were covered in a soft milky white. Ah Hua remembered the masseuse's words and said, it's okay to practice here. After hearing this, Komako stood up and hung up the phone at home, asking the family to put a long song [long song is a song sung with a shamisen and flute, and is often performed in conjunction with kabuki, dance, etc. I brought it along with a replacement of clothes.

The one I've seen during the day will also have a phone, right? As soon as Ah Hua thought of this, Ye Zi's eyes appeared in his mind again.

"That girl will bring it to you, right?"

"Maybe. ”

"I heard that you are engaged to that young master?"

"Ouch, when did you hear that?"

"Yesterday. ”

"You're such a strange person, what you hear is what you hear, why didn't you say it yesterday?"

However, this time it was not like yesterday during the day, and the colt smiled faintly.

"Unless it's looking down on you, it's hard to speak. ”

"! Tokyoites love to lie and hate it!"

"Look at you, as soon as I say it, you divert it. ”

"Who diverted the story? So, do you take it seriously?"

"Really. ”

"Lying again. You don't take it seriously, but you ......"

"Of course, I find it a little incomprehensible. But some people say, "You went to work as a geisha to earn some money for your fiancé's medical expenses?"

"It's so annoying, it's like a new school drama. We're engaged, that's nonsense! There are a lot of people who think so. I didn't want to be a geisha for anyone, but I still have to help if I need to help. ”

"You talk in a crooked way. ”

"Let me make it clear, the master may have thought about marrying the young master to me. But I just thought about it, and I never mentioned it in my mouth. The young master and I are a little aware of this kind of thinking. But there was nothing else between the two of us. That's what it looks like. ”

"What a childhood sweetheart!"

"Hmm. But we live separately. When I was sold to Tokyo, he was the only one who came to see me off. One of my earliest diaries begins with this incident. ”

"If you two stay in that port city, maybe we'll be living together now. ”

"I don't think that's going to happen. ”

"Really?"

"It's better not to worry about other people's affairs. He was already dying. ”

"But it's always bad to spend the night outside. ”

"Look at you, it's not good to say that. I can do whatever I like, the dying man, can I still manage it?"

Ah Hua was speechless.

However, the foal still doesn't say a word about the leaves. Why?

Besides, let's talk about the leaves, even on the train, she took care of the man like a young mother, and escorted him back, and this morning she sent a change of clothes to the colt, with whom she had a delicate relationship, what did she think?

Ah Hua deserves to be Ah Hua, and he fell into reverie again.

"Sister Ju, Sister Ju. Then came the low, clear, and graceful cry of the leaf.

"Hmm. Good work. Kony got up and walked to the next three-bed room.

"Leaf, you're here. Ouch, I've got them all, how heavy is this. ”

Ye Zi walked back without saying a word.

The colt plucked the third string with his fingers, replaced it with a new string, and adjusted the tone. At this time, Ah Hua could already hear that its timbre was very clear. But when I opened the bag that was bulging on the kotatsu, I saw that in addition to the ordinary old scores, there were also about 20 volumes of "Cultural Sanxian Scores" by Yaqi [杵家Yaqi (1890-1942), an expert in long songs and three strings]. Ah Hua was surprised, took it in his hand and said:

"Just practice with these things?"

"No, there is no master here. I can't help it. ”

"Isn't there a master at home?"

"I've had a stroke. ”

"It's just a stroke, and you can still move your mouth. ”

"It's not clear what to say. However, he can still use his still moving left hand to correct you, but the shamisen sounds annoying. ”

"How do you know?"

"Of course I know Luo. ”

"A good Gothic woman is nothing, and the owner of the music shop will be glad to know that a geisha can practice so seriously in this remote ravine. ”

"When I was drinking, I mainly danced, but then I went to Tokyo to study, and I learned dance. The shamisen only vaguely remembers a little, and I forgot that there was no one to give me guidance, so I relied on the score. ”

"What about the ballads?"

"Well, I heard the ballad when I was practicing dance, so I guess it's barely okay. But most of the new songs were learned from the radio, and I don't know if they can do it. It must be ridiculous that it is also mixed with his own singing style. And he can't sing in front of acquaintances. If you are not an acquaintance, you can still open your voice and sing. She replied a little shyly, posing as if to say, "Come on" and waiting for the other party to order a song, staring directly at Ah Hua's face.

Ah Hua was suddenly overwhelmed by her momentum.

Growing up in downtown Tokyo, he was familiar with Kabuki and Japanese dance since he was a child, and memorized the lyrics of some long songs, so he naturally listened to them. He didn't learn it himself. When you think of long songs, you immediately think of the stage of dance, not the feast of geisha.

"It's annoying, you're a guest, it's so unnatural. The foals bit her lower lip gently, put the shamisen on her lap, and opened the practice sheet in a serious manner.

"This autumn is all about watching the music and practicing. ”

Suddenly, goosebumps appeared on Ah Hua's cheeks, and a coldness penetrated his heart.

His empty mind was filled with the sound of the shamisen. It was not so much that he was completely surprised, but that he was completely conquered. He was touched by a pious heart and washed away by thoughts of remorse. He felt that he had no strength left, so he had to happily plunge into the torrent of the foal's artistic charm, and let it float and rush.

A nineteen or twenty-year-old village geisha should not be able to play a good shamisen. Although she was only playing at the banquet, she played it almost like on the stage! Ah Hua thought to himself: This is probably just a kind of sentimentality for the mountains. Sometimes the foal deliberately only recited the lyrics, and sometimes said that it was too slow here and troublesome there, so he jumped over. But she gradually seemed to be fascinated, and her voice became high-pitched again. Where is this plucked string going to drift to? Ah Hua was a little stunned, and bent his arms as if he had the courage to lie down on it.