Chapter 109

With the matters clearly explained, Naoki Nagayama didn't want to stay at the disco any longer.

"Then Araki-san, go ahead and get busy. I'll head back first~"

"Let me see you out~"

Shigeru Araki had always been very respectful to this young boss; he was a good subordinate.

Watching the shadow of the sports car disappear, Shigeru Araki murmured: "Giving 5 million just like that; this young boss really shouldn't be underestimated."

Feeling like he had accomplished a major task, Naoki Nagayama easily found a high-end Western restaurant and began to enjoy himself.

Shooting commercials, shooting short dramas, shooting movies...

After working hard for a whole year, what's wrong with enjoying himself?

Hmm, this steak is really tender...

After filling his stomach, he drove to check on the two shops under his name. How should one describe this feeling of a landlord coming to inspect? Basically, Japanese tenants don't care about you.

Because Japan's protection for tenants is very strict, even a landlord cannot disturb the tenant's normal business for no reason. Even if you want to raise the rent, it is very troublesome.

In the Shibuya shop, a jewelry store had indeed opened, featuring both traditional Japanese attire and the latest Western-style jewelry.

Naoki Nagayama just happened to think that he hadn't prepared New Year's gifts, so he directly bought two necklaces: one gold-made with a steady style for his mother, and one silver-made with a very strong sense of design for his younger sister.

Hmm, that takes care of both of them.

He then went to the shop in Akihabara; it was indeed an electronics store that had opened. This form of an "electronics street" is truly helpful for individual merchants to attract customers.

However, there weren't many gifts to buy here; his older brother and father didn't seem to be very interested in electronic products.

But after strolling around slowly, Naoki Nagayama finally found something that interested him: a vintage record player!

No, it should be a popular record player now. In this era, CDs had just started to become popular, and cassette tapes were the king. As for vinyl records, they were only chosen by people who had a pursuit for music quality.

The brand of this box-style vinyl record player that Naoki Nagayama took a fancy to was Technics, a brand specializing in high-end record players. The box made of natural wood was embedded with the black machine body, a perfect fusion of nature and technology.

The asking price was 500,000 yen, a bit expensive; as expected, it's a pursuit only rich people would have.

However, this small amount of money was nothing to Naoki Nagayama anymore. Hahaha, after all, there would soon be hundreds of millions in deposits in his account~

After buying the record player, of course, he had to buy some records. At this point, one has to mention Shimokitazawa. As a subculture mecca that could rival Akihabara in the future, its record collection was even more famous, and vinyl enthusiasts loved coming here to hunt for treasures.

In the early 80s, there were already many small record shops in Shimokitazawa. Naoki Nagayama wanted to come and select some introductory records.

The managers of the small record shops were all very enthusiastic; perhaps they opened such record shops because of their love for it.

Not only did they introduce a batch of classic vinyl record series to Naoki Nagayama, such as blues, jazz, etc., but after knowing that Naoki Nagayama was a novice, they also enthusiastically popularized how to maintain vinyl records and how to play them for the best effect... In short, one conversation with them was better than ten years of study.

Of course, the small matter of Naoki Nagayama packing up dozens of records at the end probably made the manager very happy too.

Time always passes especially fast when one is busy.

When he returned to Sanyingyuan with the record player and records, it was evening again.

As soon as Naoki Nagayama arrived home, he excitedly set up the record player. The cabinet against the wall in the living room was originally for green plants, but now it came in handy, and the cabinet drawer was just right for storing records~

He plugged in the record player, wiped the record with a fine cotton cloth, and then gently lowered the stylus. The deep and distant blues rhythm flowed out from the speakers, permeating the entire house.

The smoky voice of the vicissitudinous and melancholic black uncle sang out all the dissatisfactions in the world, yet it contained an openness that penetrated the world.

Naoki Nagayama relaxed his body in such music.

With the rhythm, he actually had an urge to dance.

Forget it... twisting around alone at home, it feels a bit perverted...

Let's just leave it at that; just tapping his feet is fine~

Due to the limitation of rotation speed, early vinyl records could generally only store one song. Some classic singles would also be recorded on an entire record, just like the classic blues old song he was listening to.

5 minutes flashed by. After listening to the melancholic blues, Naoki Nagayama changed to a CityPop LP record, which could play for at least half an hour.

In the cheerful Showa rhythm, he began to prepare his dinner.

CityPop music in the early bubble period, just like the characteristics of the era's development, was full of sunny and positive emotions. Even heartbreak felt like "Plastic Love," the feeling that the sister was just playing in the world.

The brisk rhythm made today's shredded pork with garlic sauce especially tender and smooth. He finished 2 large bowls mixed with rice very quickly.

After cleaning up the kitchen, the song had just finished playing; it was a perfect connection.

In such a good mood, Naoki Nagayama poured a cup of tea and placed it on the coffee table, then turned on the TV.

There was no Arale-chan to watch today, so he could only watch some strange variety shows to pass the time.

Speaking of which, this kind of variety show that pranks celebrities is really addictive~

"Ding-a-ling~"

The sudden phone call made Naoki Nagayama know to stop the process of watching TV.

Is it Shuichi Ido or Otomo Yoshimura? About the year-end bonus?

Besides this, Naoki Nagayama couldn't think of anyone else who would call him~

"Hello, this is Sanyingyuan~"

"Naoki-san?" A girl's voice came over, sounding a bit uncertain.

"Is it Akina-san? Yes, it is Naoki Nagayama himself~"

The person on the other side of the receiver breathed a sigh of relief: "You said you changed your number, so I thought I really dialed the wrong one."

"Haha, the new house is called Sanyingyuan; it's very interesting, right?"

"Listening to the name, I thought it was the ancestral home of some big family or something."

"Right? It sounds very imposing when others hear it!" Naoki Nagayama joked, "It's like the feeling when His Majesty the Emperor answers the phone and says, 'Moshi moshi, this is the East Garden'~"

"Hahaha, His Majesty the Emperor wouldn't say that. No, wait, His Majesty the Emperor wouldn't answer the phone." Little Akina on the other side was clearly laughing very happily, yet she actually refuted it like that.

"How does Akina-san know? His Majesty the Emperor is also an ordinary person. What's the big deal about answering a phone? Maybe His Majesty the Emperor is also watching the celebrity prank show on TV just like me." Naoki Nagayama held the remote control and turned the volume down a little.

"What's that? His Majesty the Emperor wouldn't watch... Naoki-san, how can you be so disrespectful to His Majesty the Emperor~"

"They are just ordinary people. They also have three meals a day, and they have to see a doctor when they are sick~" Naoki Nagayama said indifferently. Ordinary Japanese people are relatively respectful to the Emperor, but the Reiwa losers decades later wouldn't care who the Emperor is.

"Hahaha, if Naoki-san says so, it really seems to be the case."

"What is Akina-san doing?"

"I was just watching TV too, it's a TV drama..."

"Then it's better to watch the current prank show. Let me tell you..."