Chapter 986

By the time February arrived, the biting cold wind made people want nothing more than to hide away at home.

In the past, even large livestock like oxen and horses would hide in their sheds to hunker down for the winter, but nowadays, hardworking laborers have no choice but to brave the cold wind, heading out to work at the company while shivering in the coldest weather of the year...

So, this just goes to show that humans have it worse than beasts~

"As expected, a life without having to go to work is the only life worth living!"

Naoki Nagayama, under the heating at Shanying Yuan, looked through the glass sliding door at the cold, desolate dry landscape garden in the courtyard, stroking Eitaro as he sighed.

"Eitaro, look, even you don't want to go out! In such cold weather, staying at home is the most comfortable thing~"

Mrs. Mori Nonaka, who was busy in the kitchen, heard this and couldn't help but roll her eyes... Having spent nearly a month with this family, she had gradually come to understand the true nature of the Nagayama couple.

Aside from being talented at making money and being a handsome man and a beautiful woman, they were just two dorks!

If it were any other wealthy family, shouldn't they be thinking all day about ambitious goals like opening up new tracks, occupying markets, or controlling industries? Yet, Naoki Nagayama was actually thinking about not going out to work!

And the other one, as a wealthy wife, wasn't thinking about spending her husband's money on shopping sprees or socializing and competing with socialite ladies; instead, she was just resting at home with peace of mind, and recently she had even opened a design studio at home, drawing all day long... It looked like she would be making things herself later on...

Clearly, if she wanted to wear trendy new clothes, she could just go to a brand store in Shinjuku and buy them!

"Really... they're so rich yet they don't know how to enjoy life..." Mrs. Mori Nonaka complained inwardly, "If I were a wealthy wife, I would definitely buy all the clothes in the clothing store in one go, wearing one set and throwing it away the next!"

Just at this moment, Akina, with her bulging belly, came down from upstairs.

Five months pregnant, Akina's belly was becoming increasingly obvious, and she was getting drowsy more often, but as long as she was up, she didn't want to lie in bed.

Sure enough, as she walked down, she was holding a sketchbook in her hand and wearing large black-rimmed glasses on her face... It was clear that in a little while, she would be heading to her newly established design studio.

"Naoki-san... morning~" Akina greeted her husband with great spirit, then stroked the dog that had come up to her, "Morning to you too, Eitaro!"

"Why didn't you sleep a little longer?" Naoki Nagayama asked, "There's nothing to do anyway..."

"I couldn't sleep... I don't know what's going on, the baby is kicking me..." Akina touched her belly; the baby's fetal movements were becoming more frequent, and she, as the mother, felt it most clearly.

"..."

Naoki Nagayama walked over to Akina's side, bent down, leaned close to her belly, and said earnestly to the little baby inside:

"Good daughter, you have to be a little better behaved, otherwise, after you're born, Mama Akina will spank your bottom!"

"..."

Akina Nakamori burst out laughing, reached out, and patted Naoki Nagayama on the back.

"Naoki-san, what are you saying! Watch me spank you first..."

"Eh eh eh? I'm helping Akina educate the child here!" Naoki Nagayama laughed and dodged, "You really don't appreciate a good heart!"

"You... the child hasn't even been born yet!"

"This is prenatal education!"

"..."

Early in the morning, the two young spouses started a new day full of vitality just like this, and Mrs. Mori Nonaka, who was serving breakfast, couldn't help but shake her head again as she watched...

They really are two dorks...

However, they really are very happy!

"Naoki-san, Akina-san... breakfast is ready~"

"Hai, coming right away..." X2

Naoki Nagayama still kept the habit of reading the newspaper while eating breakfast... No choice, there were no mobile phones to scroll through now, so he could only rely on this to accompany his meal.

Moreover, there was news related to him in today's newspaper...

"The list of winners for the Film Academy Awards has been reported!" Naoki Nagayama said while looking at the film section article, "And as expected, just like before, the Blue Ribbon Awards and the Kinema Junpo Awards were also announced at the same time..."

"Film awards?"

Akina leaned over to take a look; sure enough, it was the same list they had evaluated when they were at the Red Fish Court. Having also lived at the Red Fish Court for over half a month, Akina naturally already knew the list of winners for the Film Academy Awards.

Now that she looked, the other two major awards were actually much the same...

"As expected, Akira Kurosawa's 'Ran' is the biggest winner!" Akina sighed, "Last year, Naoki-san's films couldn't compete with Akira Kurosawa..."

"After all, he is the great director who filmed 'Seven Samurai'!"

Naoki Nagayama actually hadn't met Akira Kurosawa... ah, he had, but the two didn't have any friendship; he could only say he knew there was such a figure in the film circle.

One was a highly respected veteran film master, and the other was a rising new film talent. Theoretically, they should have appreciated each other... but Naoki Nagayama rose too fast and too high, while Akira Kurosawa's ambition didn't diminish as he aged. For some reason, there was a feeling of being rivals.

Naoki Nagayama's focus last year was mainly on the Palme d'Or in the first half of the year and the Tokyo International Film Festival in the second half. The films he directed were mainly based on innovation, so naturally, they couldn't compare to Akira Kurosawa's meticulously directed "Ran".

Therefore, for this year's three major film awards, Akira Kurosawa almost won more than half...

"Naoki-san, aren't you feeling unreconciled?" Akina asked curiously.

"What's there to be unreconciled about..." Naoki Nagayama laughed, "Could it be that no one else can win awards except me?!"

Regarding the attribution of awards, Naoki Nagayama had always been very open-minded. After all, these films were actually masterpieces of other masters in the future... He was just letting them be displayed to this world in advance.

"..."

Akina ate her breakfast silently and stopped talking... She still felt that her husband should have won all the awards.

Naoki Nagayama continued to flip through the newspaper, but when he saw a certain piece of news, his hand stopped subconsciously—New work from a famous author, Teiju takes you to appreciate "Tokyo Love Story"...

"This is... 'Tokyo Love Story' has started selling?" Naoki Nagayama was a bit surprised, "Is it ahead of schedule?"

When communicating with Shogakukan before, they did say it would be in these few days, but why was it in the newspaper today?

"Naoki-san's new book has started selling!" Akina said pleasantly surprised, "Great, I'm going to be the first batch of readers to support it!"

"... Don't you already have one... it's still the trial print collector's edition..."

"No, going to the bookstore to buy it is the support for Naoki-san!"

"Buying the book at full price with our own money, only 15% goes into my hands..." Naoki Nagayama complained, "Is this supporting me? This is supporting the bookstore..."

"This is different... I don't care, I just want to buy it!"

Akina became stubborn, and Naoki Nagayama could only succumb to the overbearing power of a pregnant woman...

After breakfast, Naoki Nagayama called Kuniharu Morikawa of Shogakukan to inquire about the specific situation.

"Ah... the nationwide sales will indeed have to wait until the day after tomorrow..." Kuniharu Morikawa explained, "This should be a sales measure by Kinokuniya Bookstore, releasing some information in advance to increase popularity..."

"These large chain bookstores sometimes find newspapers themselves to place advertisements... or find novel critics to build momentum... and they will also place a few copies in stores in advance as a taste..."

"However, the unified sales time is still the day after tomorrow!"

Naoki Nagayama nodded: "So that's how it is..."

"By the way, Naoki-san... our Shogakukan also wants to do a promotional activity..." Just as Naoki Nagayama called, Kuniharu Morikawa took the opportunity to discuss, "Do you want to prepare some signed books as prizes for the activity?"

"Signed books?" Naoki Nagayama nodded; it was about the same as Akina's signed photos... "How many copies?"

"How about just coming for a thousand copies..."

Naoki Nagayama was stunned for a moment, and then a tic-tac-toe mark appeared on his face, "Morikawa-san, I'll give you one more chance to organize your words!"

"... Hahahaha~" Kuniharu Morikawa laughed, "I'm not joking anymore... Naoki-san, please help sign a hundred copies... This should be no problem, right!"

(Kuniharu Morikawa thought: What a pity... it didn't succeed!)

Only then did Naoki Nagayama let Kuniharu Morikawa off:

"... Morikawa-san, send the books to Shanying Yuan; I happen to be free today..."

"Hai, please wait a moment, I will have Yuji Furuya send them over immediately..."

Ryoto Hirata, who came to Tokyo to work hard, was the kind of laborer who had to work in the cold wind.

However, fortunately, his work was inside a bookstore, and he could rest a little when there were no people around... In such cold weather, there were few customers coming to the bookstore, so he could naturally be a bit more leisurely.

He even took out the newly arrived novel from the book warehouse and started reading it in advance... This was also a work benefit~

"'Tokyo Love Story'... Teiju..." Ryoto Hirata's gaze swept over the cover, looking at the black and thin man sketched on the cover, and the girl with a face full of sunshine, and smacked his lips, "So this is the male lead, why does he look like he's from the countryside..."

The stereotype of these days was that laborers who came to the big city from the countryside were all black and thin, looking hardworking, without the fairness of city people who didn't suffer from wind and sun, and without the fatness of a wealthy life... just like himself~

And the heroine next to him had the feeling of a city girl, with a confident and sunny smile...

"Teiju... is Naoki Nagayama..." Ryoto Hirata curled his lips, "It's that harem novel routine again... just like the person himself..."

Everyone likes that kind of protagonist...

He opened the cover and started reading. The first scene was actually the scene where the heroine Rika Akana went to the airport to pick up Kanji Nagao...

"An ill-fated relationship that started from the first glance~"

Ryoto Hirata complained while reading on, not expecting that he would be addicted to it all of a sudden.

"Roar roar roar~ It's actually not a big male lead plot, Kanji Nagao is actually a lick-dog..."

"Yo yo, Rika Akana is not a silly sweet girl either... she actually dated her boss? An extramarital affair... quite bold~"

"This love triangle..."

Ryoto Hirata read and clicked his tongue in wonder. Although he knew it was a love story, it was written in the name, but the male and female leads in it were completely different from those in other novels!

"This complex emotional line is about the same as 'Love Generation'~"

As expected, it was worthy of being a Tokyo love story. Just like the city of Tokyo itself, it was full of complexity! Ryoto Hirata couldn't help but become curious about Naoki Nagayama. How could the story he wrote be so consistent with the experience of urban laborers?!

Clearly, it was heard that he was a person who had a smooth sailing, became famous at a young age... and had never worked as a laborer!

Unknowingly, he kept reading until noon...

Just when Ryoto Hirata was engrossed in reading, Reika Inoue, a female college student who often came to buy books, walked into the store and saw the clerk looking at a novel in a fascinated manner:

"Hirata-san, what are you looking at, so engrossed?"

"Ah..." Ryoto Hirata reacted, and seeing that it was a regular customer, he smiled and responded, "Haha, it's Naoki Nagayama's new novel... 'Tokyo Love Story'."

Saying that, he handed the novel to her to take a look.

"Eh? Is it actually a new novel?! Has he returned to pure love this time?!" Reika Inoue was considered a fan of Naoki Nagayama, but the previous one, "Lost Paradise", was so bold that it really made her, who was not very old, a little scared.

"It can't be considered pure love... urban love..." Ryoto Hirata shook his head, "But it's quite interesting... Tokyo love story, both complex and simple..."

This "Tokyo Love Story" looked like the emotional line was very complex, but the real core was very simple... The busy city could not accommodate the process of childhood sweethearts falling in love over time. The moment the man and woman's eyes met, they just couldn't help but fall in love when their hearts moved.

Rika Akana loved passionately and devotedly, and she loved her lover with all her might; Kanji Nagao loved with restraint and timidity, carefully choosing safe emotions...

Therefore, Kanji Nagao would never understand why some people could throw themselves into a love affair regardless of their own safety, could express their love so passionately, and could pursue love so bravely...

As a bookstore clerk, he had read many novels, and he thought it was interesting, so it must have something particularly attractive to him.

Reika Inoue flipped through two pages and also became interested:

"Hirata-san, where is this book? I'm going to buy one..."

"It won't be sold until the day after tomorrow, but it's already in the warehouse... I took it out secretly to read." Ryoto Hirata laughed, "But if Reika-chan wants to read it, it doesn't matter if you take it first..."

"Is it okay?" Reika Inoue was a little pleasantly surprised.

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter!" Ryoto Hirata laughed and replied, "We're so familiar!"

"Haha, Arigato~ Hirata-san!"

Reika Inoue revealed a sweet and sunny smile, as if it were the warm sun in winter, warming other people's hearts, making the uneasy heart settle down~

At this moment, Ryoto Hirata seemed to understand the feeling Kanji Nagao had when he first saw Rika Akana...

"As expected, a brilliant smile makes people feel warm..."

Reika Inoue, who was excitedly flipping through the novel, didn't notice, but seeing Ryoto Hirata's thoughtful expression, she asked:

"Hirata-san, what's wrong?"

"Ah..."

Ryoto Hirata looked at Reika Inoue in front of him, and suddenly felt a bit impulsive,

"I was thinking, if I want to find a girlfriend, I must find a girl who smiles as sweetly as Reika-chan!!!"

"..."

Reika Inoue, who heard this, was stunned, and even Ryoto Hirata was a little dazed.

The two people at the door didn't know what to say or do for a while... The atmosphere in the bookstore became a little cramped...

"Hirata-san, what nonsense are you talking about!"

Reika Inoue's face was a little red, she raised the novel to cover her face, and then stamped her foot... as if to avoid it, and as if shy...

However, she didn't leave~

The cold wind outside blew, and the air in the bookstore seemed to heat up, making Ryoto Hirata even want to unbutton his collar...

"Reika-chan, do you want to have lunch together?!"

"..."

The sunlight that had sneaked in from somewhere was shining on the cover of the novel that Reika Inoue had raised. The sketched male and female leads were smiling and watching the scene in the bookstore, "Tokyo Love Story"... it seemed to have been materialized~