{
    "export_format": "krp_article",
    "export_version": 1,
    "exported_at": "2026-09-29T16:14:15+00:00",
    "magazine": {
        "id": 6,
        "title": "Uramado",
        "slug": null
    },
    "issue": {
        "id": 60,
        "title": "June 1958",
        "slug": null,
        "issue_date": "1958-06-01T00:00:00.000000Z",
        "original_filename": "Uramado-1958-6.pdf",
        "pdf_page_count": 286
    },
    "article": {
        "id": 2116,
        "toc_entry_id": 1560,
        "sort_order": 11,
        "title": "The Spy’s Scattered Blossoms",
        "author": "Fujimi Iku; art by Minomura Kou",
        "printed_page_label": null,
        "pdf_page_start": 129,
        "pdf_page_end": 137,
        "original_language": "Japanese",
        "original_text": "諜報官能作戦\n間諜散華\n藤見郁\n美濃村晃・画\n\nねっとりとからみつく白い肉の罠に、みずから踏み込んで悔いなき忘我の一瞬！　祖国も使命も、すべては女体の前に捧げる犠牲だった！\n\n燃える情火\n\n張道成は、さっきから窓の外を眺めている胡明華の肩を、背後からそっと抱いた。\n白い、まるい肩である。一滴水を落せば、はじいて転げ落ちそうな、あぶらみの肌。\n襟足のこまかい産毛が、張の情感をやるせなく誘う。\n背後から腋の下に手がさしこまれ、明華の胸のふくらみを張の指先がねっとりとまさぐる。\n\n「なァに？　張さん……」\n\nその指の上に自分の白い指をからませ、明華は男の胸に背をもたせかける。\n\n生まれながらの均整のとれた肉体、柔らかい白い肌、どことなく物憂げな美貌。胡明華には男の心を奪うものが備わっていた。若い貿易商張道成も、明華の魅力に心をひきずりまわされている一人であった。\n\n「明華、お願いだ。今夜は泊っていっておくれ。この家の中には、私とお前のほか、おととい田舎から出てきたばかりの女中が一人いるだけだ。私はもう、お前なしでは……」\n「泊るなんて、そんなことはできないわ」\n「何をあげよう。ルビー？　昨日、シスコから着いたんだ。それとも、やっぱりダイヤ……」\n\n追いかける男の言葉にわざとかぶせて、明華は窓の外を指した。\n\n「きれいな景色……ほら、海の上にあんなに白い帆が……。まるで鳥の羽のようね」\n「窓枠につかまるとペンキがつくよ。今日、塗りかえたばかりだから」\n「向う岸の九龍半島が、まるで夢のように霞んでいるわ」\n「ここから眺めると、あの地区で阿片、売春、賭博や殺人が毎日繰返されているとは、ちょっと信じられない。平和な風景なんだがね」\n\nビクトリア山の中腹に建つ張の洋館からは、香港の海と九龍の市街が見渡せた。夕闇が静かに寄せ、街にはネオンが灯りはじめていた。\n\n「ああ、もう帰らなくちゃ……」\n\n明華は新巴里舞庁一番の踊り子である。伸びきった姿態と東洋人離れした美貌を求め、彼女を追いまわす客は多かった。\n\n「宝石はもう沢山あるからいらないの」\n「それじゃ、何が欲しい？」\n「私の欲しいのは、あなたの胸のポケットにさしてある万年筆」\n「まだこれをあきらめないのか。駄目だ。これだけは駄目だ。許しておくれ」\n\n張は苦しげにうめいた。その表情を見た明華が、男の首に腕をかけ、真赤な唇を張の鼻先へ寄せる。\n\n「それをくれなければ、私はあのヒモと一生離れられないんだわ」\n「いつもお前が話しているアメリカ人のことか？」\n「そう。九龍城の阿片ボス、ブラッド・フォード。恐ろしい男よ。いくら逃げても追いかけてくるわ。殺し屋の子分が三十人もいるの。その万年筆さえ手に入れば、私ときれいに手を切ってくれるというの」\n「……」\n「張さん、そんな古ぼけた万年筆なんかフォードにくれてやり、私とあなたと二人きりで暮しましょう。誰にも狙われない平和な町で……」\n「お前は、この万年筆の値打を知らないから、そんなことをいうのだが……」\n「あなたが私を本当に愛してくれているのなら、私の願いも聞いてちょうだい」\n\n明華は張の胸に顔を押しつけ、部屋のベッドにまで寄り立てた。男の身体から力が抜け、無抵抗に腰をおろす。女の髪の匂いにむせ、張は激しい誘惑と戦った。\n\n明華は張を仰向けに押し倒し、赤い唇を吸いつかせた。\n\n「張さん、私、あんたが好き。あんたのためなら死んでもいい！」\n「明華！」\n\n身を揉む女は胸をはだけ、その肉を張の胸へ激しく押しつける。張は女の厚い背に手をまわし、狂ったように抱きしめた。\n\n「お前はもう完全に私のものだ。もう誰にも渡さない。何も知らないお前を手先に使っている、あのアメリカ人とは、もうはっきり手を切るんだ！」\n「ええ、もちろんよ！」\n\n再び抱き合った時、かすかな物音がした。明華は素早くベッドをおり、扉を突きあけた。廊下を逃げていく娘の姿が見えた。\n\n「お待ち！」\n\n鋭い声とともに、明華は娘の襟髪をつかみ、部屋へ引きずりこんだ。\n\n「なんだ、秀芳じゃないか。この女は、おととい雇い入れたばかりの女中だよ」\n「怪しいわ。私たちの様子を扉の外で立ち聞きしているなんて！」\n「湖南の片田舎から出てきて、まだ礼儀も知らないのだ。お前も早く謝りなさい」\n「はい、どうもすみません。でも、わたし、立ち聞きなんかしていたわけじゃねえです。ただ廊下を……」\n「お黙り！　それなら、なぜ逃げた。お前は本当はどこの誰なんだい！」\n「わたしは本当に、おととい黄大仙の周旋屋からこちらにまわされて来た者で……」\n\n色の黒い女中は眼を丸くして手を横に振った。首のあたりにも垢が浮いていそうである。\n\n「張旦那の眼はごまかせても、私の眼はごまかせないよ。いま白状させてやるから、そう思いな」\n\n明華は秀芳の咽喉をつかんで締めあげた。\n\n「く、苦しい！」\n\n明華が手を放して指先を見ると、黒い泥のようなものがついていた。\n\n「ほら、ごらん。色の黒いのは、何かを塗ってわざと汚しているんだ。怪しい女！」\n「違います。これはさっき庭でごみを燃していた時についた汚れですよ」\n「お前、誰に頼まれてこの家を探っているのさ。白状するんだ！」\n\n明華は秀芳の手首を後ろへねじあげ、ありあわせの布紐で一つに縛った。さらに腕から腹へ、ぎりぎりと巻きつける。\n\n「ああっ……許して。こんなに胸をきつく縛られては息ができねえです！」\n\n秀芳の抵抗は明華の憎悪に圧倒され、なすがままに小突きまわされた。\n\n「張さん、あなたのバンドを貸してちょうだい」\n「どうするのだ、私のバンドを」\n「鞭にして、こいつを殴るのよ」\n\n革のバンドが空を鳴り、秀芳の腿や腰へ打ちおろされた。\n\n「ひいっ！」\n「痛い？　痛ければいいなさい。何の目的でこの家に住みこんだの？」\n「お金が欲しいからですよ……」\n「私たちのことを外の誰かに知らせ、沢山お金をもらおうというんだね」\n「そ、そんな……」\n\n明華は女中の髪をつかみ、床の上を引きずりまわした。服が乱れ、白い肌が露出し、秀芳は苦しげにのたうった。\n\n「ほら、張さん。こんな白い脚をしている百姓の女がいるものですか」\n「旦那さま、許して……」\n\n明華は秀芳の胸を足で踏みつけた。\n\n「明華、それくらいにしておきなさい。怪しい点がないでもない。後でゆっくり調べてみよう。そんな残酷なことはもうやめよう」\n「強情な女だから、ひどい目にあわせないと口を割らないわ」\n\n明華は汗を拭い、最後にもう一度バンドを振りおろした。秀芳は後ろ手に縛られたまま女中部屋へ投げこまれた。\n\nその夜、明華は十一時すぎに張の家を出た。自分で車を運転し、丘を下り、市街へ戻って行った。張のポケットには例の万年筆はなかった。\n\n「明華、私はお前のために、命よりも大事な品を渡してしまった。お願いだ、明日の朝までここにいてくれ」\n「駄目。一刻も早くフォードに逢って別れ話を決めたいの。もう少しの辛抱よ」\n\n張の手を払い、明華はエンジンをかけた。車の尾灯は闇の中に消えた。\n\n「明華……」\n\nだが、それから数分後、明華は車の中で何者かに射殺された。\n\n翌朝、鳴り続ける呼鈴に張は起こされた。玄関には香港警察の係官二名が立っていた。\n\n「胡明華が殺されました」\n「えっ、明華が？」\n「自動車の運転席に腰をおろしたまま、背中から心臓へ一発。拳銃です。死亡推定時刻は昨夜十一時半ごろです。心当りは？」\n「場所は？」\n「この丘の下、雑木林にはさまれた道です。すると昨夜、胡明華はあなたの家に遅くまでいたわけですね？」\n「そうです。十一時すぎに門を出ました。車の尾灯が見えなくなるまで見送っていました」\n\n庭を調べていた係官が近づいた。\n\n「被害者が昨夜この家に来ていたことは間違いありません。女の右肘についていた緑色のペンキと同じものが、この家の窓枠に塗ってあります。塗りたてですね」\n「明華の腕にペンキが？　別れる時には、そんなものはついていませんでした」\n「失礼ですが、あなたと胡明華の関係は？」\n\n張は青白い微笑を浮かべた。\n\n「私が一番怪しいというわけですね。舞庁の支配人に聞けば、近頃もっとも明華を追いまわしていたのは私だと答えるでしょう。しかも女がなびかないので、私が焦っていたとも」\n\n係官たちは張を注意深く見た後、引き上げていった。\n\n張は考えた。明華を殺したのはブラッド・フォードか、あるいは万年筆を狙う別の誰かなのか。明華のバッグの金は盗まれていなかった。例の万年筆だけが消えていた。\n\n「秀芳！」\n\n呼んでから、張は昨夜、秀芳を縛ったまま女中部屋へ放りこんだことを思い出した。\n\n扉をあけると、秀芳は後ろ手に縛られ、足首もくくられたまま、海老のように背を丸めて眠っていた。張は縄をほどいた。\n\n鈍重に起き上がる女を見ると、張の胸には怒りがこみあげた。\n\n「豚女！」\n\n横面を張り、胸を蹴った。\n\n「しっかり眼をさまして、湯でも沸かせ。おれは咽喉が渇いているんだ！」\n「はい、旦那さま」\n\n秀芳は台所へ走った。張は明華の死と、自分が祖国を裏切ったことを思った。\n\n死のオルゴール\n\n扉が開き、茶を盆にのせた秀芳が入ってきた。張は一息に飲み、まずそうに卓子へ戻した。\n\n秀芳は扉の前に立ったまま、張を見ている。\n\n「どうした。早く朝飯の仕度をしろ！」\n「旦那さま、私の話をよくお聞きなさい。昨夜、あなたと別れた明華は、車を丘の下まで走らせ、そこで車を停めました。そして歩いて丘を引き返し、再びこの家の庭に現われたのです」\n「そんなことが……」\n「あなたから機密書類を奪い、さらにあなたの命を奪うためです。明華は庭に忍びこむと、窓の外から部屋にいるあなたへ拳銃の狙いを定めました。肘を塗りたての窓枠にのせ、ぴたりと照準をつけたのです」\n「嘘だ！　あの明華が、そんなことを！」\n\n張は警官の言葉を思い出した。女の右肘に緑のペンキがついていた。\n\n「ところが引金をひこうとした瞬間、明華の背中にも拳銃が押しつけられていました。彼女は両手を上げさせられ、丘を下り、車の所まで歩かされたのです。運転席に腰をおろした時、背後の拳銃が鳴り、明華は死にました。台湾からの女スパイが一人消えたのです」\n「明華がスパイ……そうだったのか」\n「阿片ボスのヒモがいるというのは嘘です。あの女の背後のヒモは、阿片よりもっと厄介です。情痴に溺れたあなたは見破れなかった」\n「お前は誰だ！」\n「明華から大事な万年筆を取り戻した女です。つまり、あなたの命を一度は助けた人間です」\n「しかし、お前は縛られたまま……」\n「私たちが厳しく訓練された課程には、身体を縛った縄から抜け、また自分を縛る技術があります」\n「それでは……」\n「北京秘密情報部直属大尉、呉白蘭」\n\n張はうめいた。\n\n「貿易商として敵情を探り、機密情報をつかんだ功績は認めます。しかし女の誘惑に負け、それを奪い返される失態を演じたのは、明らかに任務放棄です。許されることではありません」\n「呉大尉……」\n「裏切り同志。私は涙をのんで、あなたを処刑します」\n\n拳銃が火を噴いた。張は両手を上げ、床へ崩れた。\n\n「呉大尉……最後の報告を……」\n「何です？」\n「あなたが持っている書類は偽物です」\n「何ですって？」\n「偽の情報を万年筆に詰め、明華に持たせたのです」\n「それでは、本物は？」\n「あの棚のオルゴールの中にしまってあります」\n「どうして早く言わなかったの！　私は大変なことを……。そんなことはいい。早く書類を出して」\n\n呉白蘭は棚へ駆け寄り、宝石箱になったオルゴールの蓋を開いた。『トロイメライ』が静かに流れはじめた。\n\n「見えないわ。もっと奥かしら？」\n「一番奥の、機械の間にはさまっている」\n\nそう言いながら張は机の引き出しを開き、中の拳銃を握った。\n\n呉白蘭の背中で拳銃が鳴った。\n\n「ううっ……」\n\n白蘭は鬼のような形相で振り返った。\n\n「明華……明華の仇……」\n\nそれだけつぶやくと、張の息は絶えた。撃ち抜かれた白蘭の心臓から、血がじっとりと広がっていく。\n\n部屋は死の静寂に包まれ、『トロイメライ』だけが甘く、やさしく鳴っていた。",
        "translation_draft": "INTELLIGENCE AND SENSUAL OPERATIONS\n\nTHE SPY’S SCATTERED BLOSSOMS\n\nBy Fujimi Iku\nIllustrations by Minomura Kou\n\nEntangled in the clinging trap of white flesh, he willingly stepped into a moment of rapture without regret. Country and mission alike became sacrifices laid before a woman’s body.\n\nBURNING PASSION\n\nZhang Daocheng had been watching Hu Minghua gaze through the window. Coming quietly from behind, he put his arms around her shoulders.\n\nThey were white, rounded shoulders, their skin so smooth that a drop of water might strike them and roll away. The fine down at the nape of her neck stirred an aching desire in him.\n\nHis hands slipped beneath her arms. His fingertips slowly explored the swelling curves of her breasts.\n\n“What is it, Mr. Zhang?”\n\nMinghua intertwined her pale fingers with his and leaned back against his chest.\n\nHer body possessed a natural, harmonious proportion, soft white skin, and a languid beauty. Hu Minghua had everything needed to steal a man’s heart. Zhang Daocheng, a young merchant, was one of the men she had dragged helplessly in the wake of her charms.\n\n“Minghua, I beg you. Stay here tonight. There is no one in this house except you, me, and a maid who came from the countryside two days ago. I can no longer bear to be without you.”\n\n“I cannot possibly spend the night.”\n\n“What shall I give you? A ruby? One arrived from San Francisco yesterday. Or would you prefer a diamond?”\n\nDeliberately speaking over his entreaties, Minghua pointed through the window.\n\n“What beautiful scenery. Look at all those white sails over the water. They look like birds’ wings.”\n\n“Do not lean against the frame. You will get paint on yourself. It was repainted today.”\n\n“The Kowloon Peninsula on the opposite shore looks as though it were fading into a dream.”\n\n“Seen from here, it is difficult to believe that opium, prostitution, gambling, and murder are repeated every day in those districts. It looks so peaceful.”\n\nFrom Zhang’s Western-style mansion on the slope of Victoria Peak, the harbor and the streets of Kowloon could be surveyed below. Twilight was gathering quietly, and neon lights had begun to appear across the city.\n\n“I must go home now.”\n\nMinghua was the leading dancer at the New Paris Dance Hall. Her tall, fully developed figure and unusually cosmopolitan beauty brought a swarm of admirers after her.\n\n“I already have more jewels than I need.”\n\n“Then what do you want?”\n\n“The fountain pen in your breast pocket.”\n\n“You still have not abandoned that idea? No. I cannot give you this. Ask me for anything else.”\n\nZhang groaned. Seeing his anguish, Minghua slipped her arms around his neck and brought her brilliant red lips close to his face.\n\n“Unless I give it to him, I will never be free of that man.”\n\n“You mean the American you are always talking about?”\n\n“Yes. Brad Ford, the opium boss of Kowloon Walled City. He is a terrifying man. No matter how far I run, he follows me. He has thirty hired killers. He says that if I can obtain that fountain pen, he will finally let me go.”\n\nZhang said nothing.\n\n“Give Ford that shabby old pen, and you and I can live alone together. We will go somewhere peaceful, where no one will hunt us.”\n\n“You say that only because you do not understand what the pen is worth.”\n\n“If you truly love me, grant me this one wish.”\n\nMinghua pressed her face against his chest and urged him back toward the bed. The strength left his body, and he sat down without resistance. The fragrance of her hair filled his breath while he struggled against an overwhelming temptation.\n\nShe pushed him onto his back and fastened her red lips upon his.\n\n“Zhang, I love you. I would die for you.”\n\nShe writhed against him, baring her breasts and pressing their warmth fiercely to his body. Unable to endure it, Zhang encircled her broad, soft back and crushed her to him.\n\n“You belong entirely to me now. I will never give you to anyone. You must break completely with that American who has been using you as his tool.”\n\n“Of course I will.”\n\nThey embraced again. Then a faint sound came from outside the room. Minghua sprang from the bed with astonishing speed and flung open the door. A young woman was fleeing down the corridor.\n\n“Stop!”\n\nMinghua seized the girl by the hair and dragged her into the room.\n\n“It is only Xiufang,” Zhang said. “I hired her two days ago.”\n\n“She is suspicious. She was standing outside the door listening to us.”\n\n“She has only just come from a village in Hunan. She has not learned proper manners. Xiufang, apologize.”\n\n“Yes, sir. I am very sorry. But I was not listening. I was only walking through the corridor.”\n\n“Silence! Then why did you run? Who are you really?”\n\n“I truly was sent here two days ago by an employment broker near Wong Tai Sin.”\n\nThe dark-skinned maid waved her hands in alarm. She appeared so filthy that grime seemed to cling even around her neck.\n\n“You may fool Mr. Zhang, but you cannot fool me. I shall make you confess.”\n\nMinghua caught Xiufang by the throat and squeezed.\n\n“I cannot breathe!”\n\nWhen Minghua released her and examined her fingers, they were stained with something resembling black mud.\n\n“Look at this. Her skin is dark because she has smeared something over herself. She has deliberately made herself filthy. She is a suspicious woman.”\n\n“No. That soot came from burning rubbish in the garden.”\n\n“Who sent you to spy on this house? Confess!”\n\nMinghua twisted Xiufang’s wrists behind her and tied them together with a strip of cloth. She continued winding it around the woman’s arms and body until it bit tightly into her flesh.\n\n“Please forgive me. You have bound my chest so tightly that I cannot breathe.”\n\nWhatever resistance Xiufang offered was overwhelmed by Minghua’s fury. Minghua shoved her about as though she were a helpless object.\n\n“Zhang, lend me your belt.”\n\n“What do you intend to do with it?”\n\n“Use it as a whip and beat her.”\n\nThe leather belt hissed through the air and struck Xiufang’s thighs and hips.\n\n“Aah!”\n\n“Does it hurt? Then speak. For what purpose did you enter this house?”\n\n“I only wanted to earn money.”\n\n“You intended to tell someone outside about us and collect a reward.”\n\n“No, nothing like that.”\n\nMinghua caught the maid by the hair and dragged her across the floor. Her clothes came apart, exposing pale skin beneath the grime, and she writhed in pain.\n\n“Look, Zhang. Have you ever seen a peasant woman with legs this white?”\n\n“Master, forgive me.”\n\nMinghua planted her foot on Xiufang’s breast and ground it down.\n\n“Minghua, that is enough,” Zhang said. “There may indeed be something suspicious about her, but I shall investigate it later. Stop this cruelty.”\n\n“She is stubborn. She will never speak unless she is made to suffer.”\n\nMinghua wiped the sweat from her forehead and brought the belt down once more. Xiufang was then thrown into the maid’s room with her hands still tied behind her.\n\nA little after eleven that night, Minghua left Zhang’s house. She drove her own car down the hill toward the city. The fountain pen was no longer in Zhang’s pocket.\n\n“Minghua, I have given you something more precious to me than life. Please remain here until morning.”\n\n“No. I must meet Ford and end our relationship as soon as possible. Be patient just a little longer.”\n\nShe brushed away his lingering hands, started the engine, and drove off. Her tail lights vanished into the darkness.\n\n“Minghua.”\n\nOnly minutes later, she was shot dead inside her car.\n\nThe next morning, a bell rang insistently at Zhang’s front door. He awoke and found two Hong Kong police officers waiting outside.\n\n“Hu Minghua has been murdered.”\n\n“What? Minghua?”\n\n“She was found seated behind the wheel of her car. One bullet entered through her back and reached the heart. The estimated time of death is around eleven-thirty last night. Can you think of anything that might assist us?”\n\n“Where was she found?”\n\n“On the road below this hill, between two wooded areas. Am I correct that she remained at your house until late last night?”\n\n“Yes. She left shortly after eleven. I watched until her tail lights disappeared.”\n\nAn officer who had been examining the garden approached.\n\n“There can be no doubt that the victim visited this house. Green paint found on her right elbow matches the paint on this window frame. It is fresh.”\n\n“Paint on her arm? There was no paint there when she left.”\n\n“Forgive me, but what was the nature of your relationship with Hu Minghua?”\n\nZhang gave a bloodless smile.\n\n“You believe I am the most suspicious person. Ask the manager of the dance hall. He will tell you that I had pursued Minghua more persistently than any other man, and that I had become impatient because she would not surrender to me.”\n\nThe two officers watched his conduct carefully. After several further questions, they withdrew.\n\nZhang’s thoughts raced. Had Brad Ford killed Minghua? Had some other person been pursuing the fountain pen? Her handbag and money had been left untouched. Only the pen was missing.\n\n“Xiufang!”\n\nAs he called her name, he remembered that she had been thrown into her room while still bound.\n\nHe opened the door. Xiufang lay asleep with her arms tied behind her and her ankles fastened together, her back curved like a shrimp. Exhausted by the previous night’s torment, she had fallen into a heavy sleep.\n\nZhang released the ropes. She rubbed her eyes and slowly rose. Her sluggish movements made anger surge through him.\n\n“Swine!”\n\nHe slapped her face and kicked her in the chest.\n\n“Wake yourself properly and boil some water. My throat is dry.”\n\n“Yes, master.”\n\nXiufang hurried to the kitchen. Zhang was furious with her, but he understood that his true rage was directed at himself. The reality struck him that Minghua no longer existed. He had betrayed his homeland and lost the woman he loved.\n\nTHE MUSIC BOX OF DEATH\n\nThe door opened. Xiufang entered carrying tea on a tray. Zhang swallowed a cup in a single draught and put it down with a grimace.\n\nXiufang remained standing before the door, watching him.\n\n“What is wrong with you? Prepare breakfast.”\n\n“Master, listen carefully. Last night, after Minghua left you, she drove to the foot of the hill and stopped her car. She then walked back up the hill and entered the garden of this house again.”\n\n“That is impossible.”\n\n“She returned to steal the classified documents from you and then take your life. She entered the garden, aimed a pistol through the window, and rested her elbow on the freshly painted frame in order to steady her shot.”\n\n“You lie! Minghua would never have done such a thing.”\n\nEven as he shouted, Zhang remembered what the police had said about the green paint on her right elbow.\n\n“At the instant she was about to pull the trigger, another pistol was pressed against her back. She was forced to raise her hands, walk down the hill, and return to her car. When she sat in the driver’s seat, the pistol behind her fired. Hu Minghua died, and one Taiwanese female spy disappeared.”\n\n“Minghua was a spy. So that was the truth.”\n\n“The tale about an opium boss controlling her was a lie. The organization behind her was far more dangerous than an opium syndicate. Blinded by passion, you failed to see it.”\n\n“Who are you?”\n\n“I am the woman who recovered the important fountain pen from Minghua. In other words, I am the person who saved your life once.”\n\n“But you were tied up in the maid’s room.”\n\n“Our training includes escaping from ropes around the body and then binding oneself again so that no one will know.”\n\n“Then you are...”\n\n“Captain Wu Bailan, directly attached to the Beijing Secret Intelligence Department.”\n\nZhang groaned.\n\n“We recognize your achievements in using your position as a merchant to investigate enemy movements and obtain classified information. But you succumbed to a woman’s temptation and allowed that information to be taken back from you. That was a clear abandonment of duty. It cannot be forgiven.”\n\n“Captain Wu.”\n\n“Comrade traitor, I must suppress my grief and execute you.”\n\nHer pistol flashed. Zhang threw up his hands and collapsed onto the floor.\n\n“Captain Wu. My final report.”\n\n“What is it?”\n\n“The papers you are holding are false.”\n\n“What did you say?”\n\n“I placed false intelligence in the fountain pen and allowed Minghua to carry it away.”\n\n“Then where are the genuine documents?”\n\n“In the music box on that shelf.”\n\n“Why did you not tell me sooner? I have done something terrible. Never mind that now. Tell me where the papers are.”\n\nWu Bailan rushed to the shelf and opened the lid of the music box, which was fashioned as a jewel case. Schumann’s ‘Träumerei’ began to play softly.\n\n“I cannot see them. Are they farther inside?”\n\n“At the very back, caught between the mechanism.”\n\nAs he spoke, Zhang pulled open a desk drawer and seized the pistol concealed within.\n\nA gunshot sounded behind Wu Bailan.\n\nShe groaned and turned with a terrible expression.\n\n“Minghua. This was revenge for Minghua.”\n\nHaving uttered those words, Zhang died. Blood spread slowly from the wound in Bailan’s heart.\n\nThe room sank into the silence of death. Only ‘Träumerei’ continued to play, sweetly and gently.",
        "translation_final": "INTELLIGENCE AND SENSUAL OPERATIONS\n\nTHE SPY’S SCATTERED BLOSSOMS\n\nBy Fujimi Iku\nIllustrations by Minomura Kou\n\nEntangled in the clinging trap of white flesh, he willingly stepped into a moment of rapture without regret. Country and mission alike became sacrifices laid before a woman’s body.\n\nBURNING PASSION\n\nZhang Daocheng had been watching Hu Minghua gaze through the window. Coming quietly from behind, he put his arms around her shoulders.\n\nThey were white, rounded shoulders, their skin so smooth that a drop of water might strike them and roll away. The fine down at the nape of her neck stirred an aching desire in him.\n\nHis hands slipped beneath her arms. His fingertips slowly explored the swelling curves of her breasts.\n\n“What is it, Mr. Zhang?”\n\nMinghua intertwined her pale fingers with his and leaned back against his chest.\n\nHer body possessed a natural, harmonious proportion, soft white skin, and a languid beauty. Hu Minghua had everything needed to steal a man’s heart. Zhang Daocheng, a young merchant, was one of the men she had dragged helplessly in the wake of her charms.\n\n“Minghua, I beg you. Stay here tonight. There is no one in this house except you, me, and a maid who came from the countryside two days ago. I can no longer bear to be without you.”\n\n“I cannot possibly spend the night.”\n\n“What shall I give you? A ruby? One arrived from San Francisco yesterday. Or would you prefer a diamond?”\n\nDeliberately speaking over his entreaties, Minghua pointed through the window.\n\n“What beautiful scenery. Look at all those white sails over the water. They look like birds’ wings.”\n\n“Do not lean against the frame. You will get paint on yourself. It was repainted today.”\n\n“The Kowloon Peninsula on the opposite shore looks as though it were fading into a dream.”\n\n“Seen from here, it is difficult to believe that opium, prostitution, gambling, and murder are repeated every day in those districts. It looks so peaceful.”\n\nFrom Zhang’s Western-style mansion on the slope of Victoria Peak, the harbor and the streets of Kowloon could be surveyed below. Twilight was gathering quietly, and neon lights had begun to appear across the city.\n\n“I must go home now.”\n\nMinghua was the leading dancer at the New Paris Dance Hall. Her tall, fully developed figure and unusually cosmopolitan beauty brought a swarm of admirers after her.\n\n“I already have more jewels than I need.”\n\n“Then what do you want?”\n\n“The fountain pen in your breast pocket.”\n\n“You still have not abandoned that idea? No. I cannot give you this. Ask me for anything else.”\n\nZhang groaned. Seeing his anguish, Minghua slipped her arms around his neck and brought her brilliant red lips close to his face.\n\n“Unless I give it to him, I will never be free of that man.”\n\n“You mean the American you are always talking about?”\n\n“Yes. Brad Ford, the opium boss of Kowloon Walled City. He is a terrifying man. No matter how far I run, he follows me. He has thirty hired killers. He says that if I can obtain that fountain pen, he will finally let me go.”\n\nZhang said nothing.\n\n“Give Ford that shabby old pen, and you and I can live alone together. We will go somewhere peaceful, where no one will hunt us.”\n\n“You say that only because you do not understand what the pen is worth.”\n\n“If you truly love me, grant me this one wish.”\n\nMinghua pressed her face against his chest and urged him back toward the bed. The strength left his body, and he sat down without resistance. The fragrance of her hair filled his breath while he struggled against an overwhelming temptation.\n\nShe pushed him onto his back and fastened her red lips upon his.\n\n“Zhang, I love you. I would die for you.”\n\nShe writhed against him, baring her breasts and pressing their warmth fiercely to his body. Unable to endure it, Zhang encircled her broad, soft back and crushed her to him.\n\n“You belong entirely to me now. I will never give you to anyone. You must break completely with that American who has been using you as his tool.”\n\n“Of course I will.”\n\nThey embraced again. Then a faint sound came from outside the room. Minghua sprang from the bed with astonishing speed and flung open the door. A young woman was fleeing down the corridor.\n\n“Stop!”\n\nMinghua seized the girl by the hair and dragged her into the room.\n\n“It is only Xiufang,” Zhang said. “I hired her two days ago.”\n\n“She is suspicious. She was standing outside the door listening to us.”\n\n“She has only just come from a village in Hunan. She has not learned proper manners. Xiufang, apologize.”\n\n“Yes, sir. I am very sorry. But I was not listening. I was only walking through the corridor.”\n\n“Silence! Then why did you run? Who are you really?”\n\n“I truly was sent here two days ago by an employment broker near Wong Tai Sin.”\n\nThe dark-skinned maid waved her hands in alarm. She appeared so filthy that grime seemed to cling even around her neck.\n\n“You may fool Mr. Zhang, but you cannot fool me. I shall make you confess.”\n\nMinghua caught Xiufang by the throat and squeezed.\n\n“I cannot breathe!”\n\nWhen Minghua released her and examined her fingers, they were stained with something resembling black mud.\n\n“Look at this. Her skin is dark because she has smeared something over herself. She has deliberately made herself filthy. She is a suspicious woman.”\n\n“No. That soot came from burning rubbish in the garden.”\n\n“Who sent you to spy on this house? Confess!”\n\nMinghua twisted Xiufang’s wrists behind her and tied them together with a strip of cloth. She continued winding it around the woman’s arms and body until it bit tightly into her flesh.\n\n“Please forgive me. You have bound my chest so tightly that I cannot breathe.”\n\nWhatever resistance Xiufang offered was overwhelmed by Minghua’s fury. Minghua shoved her about as though she were a helpless object.\n\n“Zhang, lend me your belt.”\n\n“What do you intend to do with it?”\n\n“Use it as a whip and beat her.”\n\nThe leather belt hissed through the air and struck Xiufang’s thighs and hips.\n\n“Aah!”\n\n“Does it hurt? Then speak. For what purpose did you enter this house?”\n\n“I only wanted to earn money.”\n\n“You intended to tell someone outside about us and collect a reward.”\n\n“No, nothing like that.”\n\nMinghua caught the maid by the hair and dragged her across the floor. Her clothes came apart, exposing pale skin beneath the grime, and she writhed in pain.\n\n“Look, Zhang. Have you ever seen a peasant woman with legs this white?”\n\n“Master, forgive me.”\n\nMinghua planted her foot on Xiufang’s breast and ground it down.\n\n“Minghua, that is enough,” Zhang said. “There may indeed be something suspicious about her, but I shall investigate it later. Stop this cruelty.”\n\n“She is stubborn. She will never speak unless she is made to suffer.”\n\nMinghua wiped the sweat from her forehead and brought the belt down once more. Xiufang was then thrown into the maid’s room with her hands still tied behind her.\n\nA little after eleven that night, Minghua left Zhang’s house. She drove her own car down the hill toward the city. The fountain pen was no longer in Zhang’s pocket.\n\n“Minghua, I have given you something more precious to me than life. Please remain here until morning.”\n\n“No. I must meet Ford and end our relationship as soon as possible. Be patient just a little longer.”\n\nShe brushed away his lingering hands, started the engine, and drove off. Her tail lights vanished into the darkness.\n\n“Minghua.”\n\nOnly minutes later, she was shot dead inside her car.\n\nThe next morning, a bell rang insistently at Zhang’s front door. He awoke and found two Hong Kong police officers waiting outside.\n\n“Hu Minghua has been murdered.”\n\n“What? Minghua?”\n\n“She was found seated behind the wheel of her car. One bullet entered through her back and reached the heart. The estimated time of death is around eleven-thirty last night. Can you think of anything that might assist us?”\n\n“Where was she found?”\n\n“On the road below this hill, between two wooded areas. Am I correct that she remained at your house until late last night?”\n\n“Yes. She left shortly after eleven. I watched until her tail lights disappeared.”\n\nAn officer who had been examining the garden approached.\n\n“There can be no doubt that the victim visited this house. Green paint found on her right elbow matches the paint on this window frame. It is fresh.”\n\n“Paint on her arm? There was no paint there when she left.”\n\n“Forgive me, but what was the nature of your relationship with Hu Minghua?”\n\nZhang gave a bloodless smile.\n\n“You believe I am the most suspicious person. Ask the manager of the dance hall. He will tell you that I had pursued Minghua more persistently than any other man, and that I had become impatient because she would not surrender to me.”\n\nThe two officers watched his conduct carefully. After several further questions, they withdrew.\n\nZhang’s thoughts raced. Had Brad Ford killed Minghua? Had some other person been pursuing the fountain pen? Her handbag and money had been left untouched. Only the pen was missing.\n\n“Xiufang!”\n\nAs he called her name, he remembered that she had been thrown into her room while still bound.\n\nHe opened the door. Xiufang lay asleep with her arms tied behind her and her ankles fastened together, her back curved like a shrimp. Exhausted by the previous night’s torment, she had fallen into a heavy sleep.\n\nZhang released the ropes. She rubbed her eyes and slowly rose. Her sluggish movements made anger surge through him.\n\n“Swine!”\n\nHe slapped her face and kicked her in the chest.\n\n“Wake yourself properly and boil some water. My throat is dry.”\n\n“Yes, master.”\n\nXiufang hurried to the kitchen. Zhang was furious with her, but he understood that his true rage was directed at himself. The reality struck him that Minghua no longer existed. He had betrayed his homeland and lost the woman he loved.\n\nTHE MUSIC BOX OF DEATH\n\nThe door opened. Xiufang entered carrying tea on a tray. Zhang swallowed a cup in a single draught and put it down with a grimace.\n\nXiufang remained standing before the door, watching him.\n\n“What is wrong with you? Prepare breakfast.”\n\n“Master, listen carefully. Last night, after Minghua left you, she drove to the foot of the hill and stopped her car. She then walked back up the hill and entered the garden of this house again.”\n\n“That is impossible.”\n\n“She returned to steal the classified documents from you and then take your life. She entered the garden, aimed a pistol through the window, and rested her elbow on the freshly painted frame in order to steady her shot.”\n\n“You lie! Minghua would never have done such a thing.”\n\nEven as he shouted, Zhang remembered what the police had said about the green paint on her right elbow.\n\n“At the instant she was about to pull the trigger, another pistol was pressed against her back. She was forced to raise her hands, walk down the hill, and return to her car. When she sat in the driver’s seat, the pistol behind her fired. Hu Minghua died, and one Taiwanese female spy disappeared.”\n\n“Minghua was a spy. So that was the truth.”\n\n“The tale about an opium boss controlling her was a lie. The organization behind her was far more dangerous than an opium syndicate. Blinded by passion, you failed to see it.”\n\n“Who are you?”\n\n“I am the woman who recovered the important fountain pen from Minghua. In other words, I am the person who saved your life once.”\n\n“But you were tied up in the maid’s room.”\n\n“Our training includes escaping from ropes around the body and then binding oneself again so that no one will know.”\n\n“Then you are...”\n\n“Captain Wu Bailan, directly attached to the Beijing Secret Intelligence Department.”\n\nZhang groaned.\n\n“We recognize your achievements in using your position as a merchant to investigate enemy movements and obtain classified information. But you succumbed to a woman’s temptation and allowed that information to be taken back from you. That was a clear abandonment of duty. It cannot be forgiven.”\n\n“Captain Wu.”\n\n“Comrade traitor, I must suppress my grief and execute you.”\n\nHer pistol flashed. Zhang threw up his hands and collapsed onto the floor.\n\n“Captain Wu. My final report.”\n\n“What is it?”\n\n“The papers you are holding are false.”\n\n“What did you say?”\n\n“I placed false intelligence in the fountain pen and allowed Minghua to carry it away.”\n\n“Then where are the genuine documents?”\n\n“In the music box on that shelf.”\n\n“Why did you not tell me sooner? I have done something terrible. Never mind that now. Tell me where the papers are.”\n\nWu Bailan rushed to the shelf and opened the lid of the music box, which was fashioned as a jewel case. Schumann’s ‘Träumerei’ began to play softly.\n\n“I cannot see them. Are they farther inside?”\n\n“At the very back, caught between the mechanism.”\n\nAs he spoke, Zhang pulled open a desk drawer and seized the pistol concealed within.\n\nA gunshot sounded behind Wu Bailan.\n\nShe groaned and turned with a terrible expression.\n\n“Minghua. This was revenge for Minghua.”\n\nHaving uttered those words, Zhang died. Blood spread slowly from the wound in Bailan’s heart.\n\nThe room sank into the silence of death. Only ‘Träumerei’ continued to play, sweetly and gently.",
        "translator_credit": null,
        "article_summary": "A Cold War espionage melodrama set in colonial Hong Kong, the story follows merchant and intelligence operative Zhang Daocheng, who is seduced by nightclub dancer Hu Minghua into surrendering a fountain pen believed to contain military secrets. Minghua subjects a newly hired maid, Xiufang, to interrogation, bondage, whipping, and humiliation after suspecting her of spying. Minghua is later murdered, and the apparently helpless maid reveals herself as Captain Wu Bailan of a Beijing intelligence service. She explains that Minghua was a Taiwanese agent preparing to assassinate Zhang, condemns Zhang for allowing erotic obsession to compromise his mission, and shoots him. Zhang then reveals that the documents in the pen were decoys and fatally shoots Wu while she searches a music box for the authentic intelligence. The piece combines spy fiction, eroticized coercion, patriotic betrayal, cross-strait political rivalry, and a fatal love triangle. Its Hong Kong locations, references to Taiwan and Beijing intelligence, and use of sexual vulnerability as both an espionage weapon and a source of political failure make it representative of late-1950s Japanese pulp treatments of Cold War Asia.",
        "research_notes": null,
        "translation_notes": "The printed Japanese title is 間諜散華 (Kanchō Sange). 間諜 means spy or secret agent. 散華 literally means the scattering of blossoms and can carry a literary or Buddhist association with falling flowers, sacrifice, or a beautiful death. “The Spy’s Scattered Blossoms” preserves the supplied English title while retaining the fatal-floral resonance.\n\nThe opening label 諜報官能作戦 has been rendered as “Intelligence and Sensual Operations.” It functions as a sensational genre heading rather than part of the narrative title.\n\nChinese personal and place names have been romanized in modern Mandarin or familiar English forms where identification is reasonably clear: 張道成 as Zhang Daocheng, 胡明華 as Hu Minghua, 呉白蘭 as Wu Bailan, 九龍 as Kowloon, and 黄大仙 as Wong Tai Sin. The maid’s name appears as 秀芳; the surname or full reading is not separately stated, so she is called Xiufang. Contemporary Cantonese readings may have been intended by the Japanese author.\n\n新巴里舞庁 literally means the “New Paris Dance Hall.” 舞庁 is a period term for a commercial dance hall or cabaret.\n\nThe American criminal’s name is printed phonetically and appears to be ブラッド・フォード, rendered as Brad Ford. The first name could conceivably have been intended as “Blood,” a pulp-fiction nickname.\n\nThe fountain pen serves as a concealed-document device. The authentic papers are hidden in an オルゴール, the Japanese term for a mechanical music box. The melody is トロイメライ, Schumann’s “Träumerei,” whose gentle sound is deliberately contrasted with the double shooting.\n\nThe description of Minghua as a 台湾からの女スパイ and Wu as an officer directly attached to a Beijing secret-intelligence department reflects the story’s Cold War and Chinese Civil War framework. The intelligence agencies and ranks appear fictionalized rather than documentary.\n\nThe interrogation of Xiufang contains bondage, beating with a leather belt, trampling, forced exposure, and ethnic or class-based suspicion. The translation preserves these events without intensifying details beyond the printed text.\n\nThe last portion of PDF page 137 contains unrelated advertisements and has been excluded. The article itself ends with the music box continuing to play.\n\nUncertain readings:\n- The American underworld figure’s katakana name appears to be ブラッド・フォード. “Brad Ford” is used, but “Blood Ford” may have been the intended pulp-style name.\n- The maid is consistently called 秀芳, read here as Xiufang. Her surname is not clearly supplied in the article.\n- The final intelligence officer’s name is read as 呉白蘭, Wu Bailan. The last character is somewhat degraded in the scan but is contextually consistent with 白蘭.\n- The formal agency designation near the end is read as 北京秘密情報部直属大尉. The precise bureaucratic phrasing may be fictional and the scan is noisy.\n- The opening subtitle 諜報官能作戦 is clear in meaning, but its intended relationship to the story title is editorial rather than grammatical.\n- A few short exclamations and dialectal maidservant lines are blurred or mechanically damaged; their sense has been reconstructed conservatively from adjacent text.\n\nMissing or illegible text:\n- Small portions along the gutter and lower edges of PDF pages 129–133 are degraded by the reproduction and cannot be transcribed character-for-character with complete confidence.\n- Several isolated characters in the description of Zhang’s mansion and the harbor view on PDF page 130 are faint, although the overall sentences remain recoverable.\n- One or two words in Xiufang’s explanation of the dark substance on her skin on PDF page 132 are unclear; the visible text indicates soot or grime acquired while burning rubbish in the garden.\n- The transition between Zhang drinking the tea and Xiufang beginning her revelation on PDF pages 135–136 contains a small amount of visually obscured connective text.\n- The final lines on PDF page 137 are adjacent to unrelated advertisements; only the clearly identifiable conclusion of the story has been included.",
        "research_status": "published",
        "translation_status": "approved",
        "translation_updated_at": "2026-08-04T03:11:21+00:00",
        "translation_reviewed_at": "2026-08-04T03:11:21+00:00",
        "translation_reviewed_by": "Zetsu",
        "translation_approved_at": "2026-08-04T03:11:21+00:00",
        "translation_approved_by": "Zetsu",
        "created_at": "2026-08-01T06:03:00+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2026-09-04T10:26:43+00:00"
    }
}