Chapter 1108: For the next few decades, Tree Friends will be worry-free!!

A baby less than four months old can't crawl yet, but she can already lie on her stomach and lift her head.

On the soft carpet of the Sanyingyuan, Naoki Nagayama was trying hard to encourage little Xia Hua to roll over:

"Come on~ Hua-chan, roll over... roll over and this bottle of milk is yours! Come on~ come on~ Ganbatte~"

"..."

Watching Naoki Nagayama holding the milk bottle to tempt his daughter, Akina, who was plating food in the kitchen, was so angry she laughed:

"Nagayama-san! You can't train her like you train Eitaro! That's your daughter!"

Back in the day, Naoki Nagayama had trained Eitaro to roll over like this, and shake hands and such... but at that time, he used canned dog food~

"Uh..." Naoki Nagayama looked at Akina a bit embarrassed, forcibly justifying himself, "This is called positive reinforcement, it helps encourage children to grow independently!"

"Hmph hmph~~"

Akina clearly didn't believe it, her thin eyebrows furrowed, but they unfolded in an instant and she revealed a smile:

"Nagayama-san, you can't do this anymore, okay? If you do this again, there will be no breakfast for you!"

"..." "Akina..."

"This is called negative reinforcement!!" Akina laughed with a dark belly, "How does Nagayama-san feel about it?!"

"..."

Naoki Nagayama was speechless for a moment~

And just at this moment, Eitaro, who had just been called by name, ran in from the yard, wagging his tail.

He looked left and right, seeing that the mistress seemed very busy in the kitchen, so he ran to Naoki Nagayama in the living room and looked at little Xia Hua lying on the carpet~

"I didn't call you!" Naoki Nagayama touched the dog's head and turned to his wife, "Akina, isn't having a baby just for playing with... why be so serious~"

"Who said that?!" Akina served breakfast on the dining table and asked with amusement, "Who said having a baby is for playing with?"

"Then what is it for?" Naoki Nagayama sat on the sofa and asked with a smile.

"It's for..." Akina suddenly froze too, she couldn't say...

"Haha, you don't know either!"

"Anyway, it's not for playing with!" Akina showed a woman's unreasonableness, "Even if it is for playing with, I'm the one who plays with her! I'm the one who gave birth to her!"

"... I also had a contribution!"

"..."

On the morning of a new day, the young couple started bickering again. Eitaro sat on the carpet, looking at the mistress for a while and then at the master, and then looked at the little master on the carpet with some boredom...

Eh? The little master's round head seems quite interesting... I should lick it!

Naoki Nagayama, who had said a few words to Akina, found that breakfast was already set, and turned to pick up Xia Hua to put her in the high chair... and then he saw Eitaro licking the baby's head...

Little Xia Hua was very familiar with the dog, and she didn't panic at all, instead feeling it was quite interesting, and even laughed when Naoki Nagayama looked over~

"Eitaro!! What are you doing?!"

"???"

Naoki Nagayama patted the dog's head, and Eitaro froze instantly!

He hurriedly picked up Xia Hua, wiped the baby's wet forehead with a handkerchief, and then turned to see if he had been discovered by Mom.

If discovered, the one being scolded might not necessarily be Eitaro, but him, the father who didn't watch the child well!

Fortunately, Akina was taking milk out of the refrigerator and hadn't looked this way just now...

"What did Eitaro do?" Akina asked while pouring milk.

"Eitaro's paws were dirty! He stepped on the carpet and made it dirty!" Naoki Nagayama hurriedly found an excuse and pushed the dog out of the living room with his feet, "Next time I must train Eitaro's paw-wiping skill!"

"Hahaha, is Nagayama-san going to use positive reinforcement again?"

Akina walked over, took little Xia Hua from Naoki Nagayama's arms, and kissed her on the forehead, her delicate nose twitching slightly,

"Hmm? Why is there a strange smell?"

"It's the smell of milk, or did she wet the bed?" Naoki Nagayama kept his face unchanged, "Children are all like this, she'll be fine after a bath today..."

"That's strange... she had a bath last night..." Akina held the baby in her arms and fed her with a milk bottle.

"Maybe she sweated from playing?"

Naoki Nagayama pretended to be nonchalant and sat at the dining table eating breakfast.

Coarse grain rice, fried salmon, shredded cabbage and asparagus, plus thick egg rolls and milk, simple and rich, it looked very delicious~

He picked up the morning newspaper to read. The completion disclosure event yesterday had naturally been reported, and without a doubt, it had become the headline of the media newspapers again.

Among them, Akina Mori's statement that she probably wouldn't play a couple with anyone else was highlighted by the nosy media, and the gathering of fans outside the Bungeiza cinema was also mentioned.

Of course, Naoki Nagayama taking his small fan club for coffee was not mentioned. They had chatted for a while at a nearby cafe and then left. Naoki Nagayama thanked Yona Kono and the others for their support and wished them good jobs after graduating from university... Of course, the treatment Tree Friends gave the fan club would definitely be maintained~

"Are you going to be at Tree Friends all day today?"

After Akina finished burping the baby, she put the baby back in the crib and then came over to eat.

"Mm, another full day..." Naoki Nagayama closed the newspaper and looked at Akina, "What is Akina going to record today?"

"It's the 5th anniversary celebration of *Star Birth*..."

"Is this program still on?" Naoki Nagayama was surprised. Talent shows had been going downhill in recent years.

"It stopped airing two years ago... but Nagayama-san's *Voice of Japan* previously raised the popularity of talent shows a bit... so they struck while the iron was hot and had this anniversary celebration..."

In fact, many of the idols from back then were now top-tier idols in the entertainment industry, so they could unite to reminisce for a wave.

"Stir-frying cold rice~ The entertainment industry is like this, once it grabs a certain popularity, it won't let go~"

"Yeah..."

"But it also gives a chance to washed-up stars and artists~"

"..."

Not hearing Akina's response, Naoki Nagayama looked up.

Akina was looking at her husband with unkind eyes:

"Nagayama-san, are you implying that I'm washed up?!"

"Absolutely not!"

"..."

The dispute started again!

Tokyo is a place with distinct seasons. The temperature in autumn had dropped, but there were many sunny days, giving a feeling of refreshing autumn weather.

Blue sky, white clouds, colorful green trees and red maples mixed in the gray reinforced concrete, begonias and chrysanthemums dotted among them, and occasionally one could see fresh and refined camellias and asters...

Naoki Nagayama liked to drive himself in this weather. The elongated Rolls-Royce Silver Spur was like a silver stream of light on the highway, shining brightly in the sun~

It stopped in the parking lot of the Tree Friends building amidst the roar of the engine.

The Tree Friends building was actually very busy on weekdays. Because it was in the entertainment industry, visiting clients, negotiating cooperation, dealing with fans... in an era where even mobile phones were not popular on the internet, many things had to be communicated face-to-face.

"Nagayama-san, good morning!"

Yukika Suzuki saw Naoki Nagayama's arrival at a glance.

"Morning, Yukika-chan~" Naoki Nagayama greeted her and asked with some surprise, "Why didn't I see Hua-chan?"

"Hana-san went to the sixth floor, the administrative section needs to arrange some office adjustments..."

Hana Hoshika was an initial employee after all, and her rank naturally rose a bit, she was already a section chief.

Although basically all of Tree Friends were initial employees... because the development was too fast, the benefits were too good, and coupled with the lifetime employment system, no old employees had resigned.

"Hard work~"

Naoki Nagayama nodded and didn't even go to his office, coming directly to the editing room on the third floor.

As soon as he pushed open the door, a heavy smell of smoke surged out, mixed with the rubber smell common in server rooms, the smell of film, and some men's sweat, etc...

In the editing room were Luo Bote, Kijima Shizhi, and Nishimoto Tomoyuki. White people naturally had a strong body odor, and coupled with working in the editing room almost 24 hours a day, the smell inside could be imagined.

"Cough cough..." Naoki Nagayama couldn't help it, retreating repeatedly, and then mustered the courage to open the window, "Is this an editing room? This is a gas chamber!"

"At least turn on the air conditioning ventilation!" He had only not come yesterday, how did it become like this?

"Ah... didn't notice~" Kijima Shizhi said, "Completely focused on editing."

"..."

Naoki Nagayama waited for most of the smell to dissipate before walking into the editing room and asking Luo Bote:

"Have the previous special effects clips been processed?"

"Yes, Mr. Nagayama..." Luo Bote opened several files on the desktop and showed them to Naoki Nagayama, "The special effects of passing through the stretcher in the hospital have been done..."

Naoki Nagayama looked at himself on the screen, passing directly through the stretcher in the hallway while in the hospital, and even touched his waist in surprise... He still remembered that this shot was filmed in front of a green screen, a performance without objects~

"The character is still a bit blurred... there is a faint light around the circle... it will be a bit obvious on the big screen..."

"Mr. Nagayama, there is no way around this~" Luo Bote said with some difficulty, "The resolution of the graphics workstation can't keep up..."

"Hardware problem..."

Naoki Nagayama sighed, there was nothing he could do... He couldn't manually make a lithography machine to make high-performance chips... The CPU of this era only had this much power~

"Luo Bote, try to process it as finely as possible..."

"Mr. Nagayama, I understand!"

After instructing the processing of other special effects shots, Naoki Nagayama took Kijima Shizhi and Nishimoto Tomoyuki to the editing room next door:

"Leave the special effects shots to Luo Bote, you don't need to think about learning them, it's too professional..."

Kijima Shizhi asked: "Then what should we do if we want to make special effects shots in the future?"

"Spend money, hire a professional special effects company!" Naoki Nagayama said, "Currently, there are already companies in the United States doing this..."

"Then... wouldn't the budget..."

Since Naoki Nagayama introduced the graphics workstation and invited the foreigner Luo Bote, after Kijima Shizhi saw the production process of special effects, he knew that future movies would definitely not lack digital special effects.

If everything had to be outsourced, the expenses Tree Friends Film would spend on special effects in the future would definitely be very high!

"Ha, don't worry!" Naoki Nagayama patted Kijima Shizhi's shoulder, "I have already let Tree Friends Capital invest in special effects companies in the United States!"

"???"

"Those startups are just at the time when they lack money and people, and Tree Friends Capital is like an angel giving them money, helping them recruit people to form teams... This is called angel investment!!!"

Naoki Nagayama laughed while walking,

"Then, we only ask for... some unimportant... shares of the startups that can't be sold for a price right now!"

"After the company's business develops, Tree Friends Film will have its own special effects company! At that time, everything will be easy to talk about!"

How many startups have developed and grown, expanded their business, and even successfully listed in the end under such round after round of angel investment!!!

In the end, the angel investor also made a fortune!

And generally at this time, the company is no longer the founder's! It's the capital's!

"What? You don't want investment? You don't want to split up the shares?"

"Then get crushed by your competitors' price war!"

Kijima Xu and Nishimoto Tomoyuki were still pure directors and didn't have a deep understanding of the sinister nature of capital. Now, they just felt that Naoki Nagayama was indeed far-sighted... The Tree Friends Group would be worry-free for the next few decades!

"Alright..." Naoki Nagayama brought the two of them into the editing room and turned on the film editing table. "Now, let's use our true skills as directors and start telling the story with the lens!"

"Yes!" X2

Nippon Television (NTV) had been in the spotlight for a while, having produced a national music audition competition program that almost swept all other music shows of the same period—"Voice of Neon."

Under the envy, jealousy, and hatred of Fuji TV, TBS, and TV Asahi, they firmly seized the opportunity and even surpassed other television stations in a short period of time...

During the grand finale of "Voice of Neon," even the prime-time news had to broadcast the latest news about "Voice of Neon," making the Neon audience notice this oldest of the five major television stations once again!

And the planner of "Voice of Neon" was none other than Naoki Nagayama!

As the director of the production bureau, Kasahara Yukiho had been in high spirits during this period, and even the station manager had praised him countless times. He was full of vigor... However, during the fifth-anniversary celebration of "Star Birth," he came to the program team.

"Akina-chan!" "Akina-san is here!" "Long time no see..." "..."

When Akina Nakamori arrived at the old studio of "Star Birth" and saw the layout restored to its original state, her heart was filled with emotion.

She had been to this studio three times, and it wasn't until the third time that she was selected to debut... And during that third time, Naoki Nagayama was down below cheering for her...

Recalling the scene at that time in her mind, Akina's eyes wandered through the back row of seats:

"It should be... that seat!"

Just at this moment, a voice came from behind:

"What seat?"

"Huh?" Akina Nakamori turned around and hurriedly greeted, "Director Kasahara! Why are you here?"

"I heard about the fifth-anniversary celebration of 'Star Birth,' so I came to take a look... After all, I watched this program from its beginning to its cancellation..." Kasahara Yukiho said with a smile, "Akina-san, what seat were you just talking about?"

"Ah... it was the seat where I was selected by Ken-On..."

Akina Nakamori naturally wouldn't say it was Naoki Nagayama's seat at the time, so she said it casually.

"Ah... Ken-On, huh!"

Kasahara Yukiho nodded with a smile.

"Back then, every champion could have several agencies holding up signs... That scene was truly spectacular!"

"Yes, I'll never forget it for the rest of my life~"

Akina Nakamori and Kasahara Yukiho exchanged pleasantries. In fact, the two didn't have much of a relationship, and Kasahara Yukiho wouldn't go out of his way to build rapport with artists... But who told her she was Naoki Nagayama's wife?!

"Alright, Akina-san... go ahead and catch up with your old acquaintances today... I won't disturb you! I still have things to be busy with~"

Seeing that the studio was gradually getting crowded, Kasahara Yukiho didn't continue chatting with Akina Nakamori.

"Yes, please go ahead, Director Kasahara..."

Akina Nakamori politely said goodbye to Kasahara Yukiho, and then watched him leave the studio in a few steps... Even when other artists greeted him, he only nodded slightly without any small talk...

"Akina-chan!!"

Just as Akina Nakamori returned to the dressing room and was staring blankly at the mirror, a familiar call woke her up.

Turning around, a round face was revealed... It was one of the few friends in the industry—Kyoko Koizumi!

Both of them were from "Star Birth"!

"Kyoko-chan..." Akina smiled and walked towards her friend, "Why did you just arrive!"

"My schedule is very tight~"

Kyoko Koizumi came up and hugged Akina's arm, and actually started tickling Akina's waist.

"Wow... Akina's waist has gotten thinner again!"

"Haha... stop it~"

For a moment, the happy laughter of young girls rang out in the dressing room~

Then, after another period of time, more and more idols who debuted from "Star Birth" arrived... Although their status was different now, everyone knew each other... Sure enough, it was great to be able to catch up with so many old acquaintances~

And returning to this familiar place, which was of great significance to her, was always full of nostalgia!

(End of chapter)