I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 122 The Best in the World

After drinking Mayumi Aso's apprentice tea, Kitagawa Hide was wondering whether he should give a big red envelope to his eldest disciple and his youngest disciple, but he heard Yumeko's shouting from the honor display cabinet.

"Hideki~Hideki~" My wife Yumeko waved at him excitedly, holding the Nikon camera given by Kitagawa Hide.

Kitagawa Hide came to the honor display cabinet and found that quite a few people had already gathered there.

"What's wrong, Mengzi-chan?" he asked confusedly.

My wife Yumeko smiled and raised the Nikon camera in her hand: "Today is New Year's Eve, we want to take a family photo together for New Year's Eve, Xiujun, call everyone over~"

The Japanese call the last day of the lunar calendar year "Eve of New Year's Eve", which is similar to New Year's Eve. On this day, they will use various means to pray to the gods for blessings and send off the troubled old year, which is called "New Year's Eve".

There are innumerable ways to celebrate New Year's Eve, including thorough cleaning, placing potted plants such as pine, bamboo, and plum, which symbolize good fortune and luck, in front of the door, taking family photos, and so on.

Kitagawa Hide thought this was a good idea. Not only could he complete the big task of "Peter Cat" at the same time, but he could also increase the team's cohesion. He immediately waved his hand to gather everyone together.

Everyone stood in three rows, the children half-crouched on the ground, and there were two chairs in the middle, one for Kitagawa Hide and one for Agatsuma Yumeko. Everyone surrounded the two of them like stars surrounding the moon.

The background wall is made of new furniture customized by Hidetsuyoshi Kitagawa - an honor display cabinet connected to the wall.

The display cabinet has five layers in total, with glass sliding doors. Inside are all the trophies won by the movie "Akadashi". In the first compartment of the top layer, a golden gold-plated notebook is half-lying.

Ever since that day when he felt the love that Saito Rena, Agatsuma Yumeko, and everyone had for the award, as well as the indescribable sense of accomplishment, Kitagawa Hide customized this honor display cabinet to commemorate and display the many glories they have achieved along the way.

It seems that there are more spaces than awards now, but Kitagawa Hide believes that in time, this place will be filled with them.

Kitagawa Hide originally wanted to stand with everyone, but everyone unanimously requested that he must sit down to take pictures with my wife Yumeko. Unable to resist everyone's enthusiasm, he had to sit upright somewhat awkwardly and maintain his appearance.

When taking a group photo with a group of people, if only two people are sitting, it will attract too much attention. If your sitting posture is ugly, when others see this family photo in the future, all their eyes will be on you!
This is not good.

"Everyone, smile~" My wife Yumeko fixed the camera on the tripod, squinted her eyes to adjust the composition, and after setting the timer for taking pictures, she quickly ran over and sat down.

Kitagawa Hide slightly curved the corners of his mouth, and everyone started posing. However, after a while, Agatsuma Yumeko was still staring at the camera screen.

"Yuezi-chan, is there something wrong?" asked Kitagawa Hide.

Agatsuma Yumeko stood up with a hint of confusion on her face, as if she was not quite satisfied with the current composition.

She gestured repeatedly a few times, then waved at Kitagawa Xiu in distress, "Xiujun~ come and take a look~".

Kitagawa Hide stood up and ran to the camera. Amatsuma Yumeko tapped the screen next to him and said, "Hide, this distance is the best for shooting, but there is a lot of white space on the display case."

"What about shortening the distance?" Kitagawa Hide took a look at the composition and found that this was indeed the problem.

In order to include the display case and everyone in the photo, a large blank space at the top was unavoidable.

“Then some people won’t be able to fit into the photo.” Agatsuma Yumeko shook her head. The reason was actually that there were too many people in the photo.

Moreover, there were both men and women here, and some of them were not familiar with each other. If they were allowed to get too close to each other, they would feel unnatural and awkward.

"What's wrong, Mr. Kitagawa?" A puzzled voice came from the crowd.

Kitagawa Hide and the other person returned to everyone and told them the problem.

"Is it too empty?" Saito Reina looked up at the honor display case and found that there was indeed a large empty space between the display case and the ceiling. If she could put some decorations there,
She looked at the blank space and suddenly asked, "How about hanging a painting there?"

Japanese people are extremely obsessed with Chinese characters, ancient poetry, calligraphy and paintings. Basically, middle-class and above families will hang some calligraphy and paintings at home to show off their status.

Even places like the extreme gangs like to put a painting like "The benevolent is invincible" on the wall to enhance the Confucian and Taoist atmosphere of the organization.

Saito Rena's proposal quickly gained everyone's support, but today is New Year's Eve and the shopping malls and shops have long been closed. Where can they get beautiful calligraphy and paintings?

"Let Kitagawa write a painting and hang it up!" Saito Rena knew that Kitagawa Hide could write calligraphy. Although his handwriting was ordinary, it was of great significance - it was much more precious than the calligraphy and paintings bought outside.

Upon hearing this, the eldest disciple Mayumi Aso immediately ran to find the "Four Treasures of the Study", placed the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone on the table, and countless pairs of eyes immediately looked at her expectantly.

Now Kitagawa Hideto was too embarrassed to refuse.

Fortunately, he had suffered from ugly handwriting in his life, so when he was practicing fountain pen calligraphy recently, he also took the time to practice a lot of brush calligraphy.

The reason was that when they were having dinner in Kyoto, Shizuko Kawaide told him that many important people particularly liked to ask famous writers for calligraphy for their collections.

They thought it was a bit cheap to ask for autographs and photos like ordinary fans, so they asked for calligraphy and paintings instead, which they could then hang up at home for guests to admire.

If Kitagawa Hide continues to be popular, sooner or later he will become a hot commodity in the eyes of chaebol leaders, politicians and celebrities. If they come to ask for calligraphy and their own calligraphy is ugly, wouldn't everyone be embarrassed?

Kitagawa Hide picked up the brush, took a deep breath, looked at the blank rice paper, and suddenly felt he had difficulty making a decision.

What should I write about?
Harmony and beauty?

Longevity?

New book selling well?

"Just write the four Chinese characters '天下一品'." Saito Reina suddenly leaned in and whispered, "Kitagawa, in the near future, you will definitely be able to become a great writer like that!"

This was said lightly and not loudly.

But after Saito Reina finished speaking, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

Some people were swallowing their saliva, some were stunned, and some were in disbelief.

To this day, everyone who can gather here has been conquered by Kitagawa Hide's extraordinary gift and talent.

They firmly believe that Mr. Kitagawa is a well-deserved "upper-class" writer, a star sun that they can revolve around.

Looking at the history of Japanese literature, there are less than twenty people who are worthy of the title and recognized by the world as "the best in the world".

Today, only seven of them are still alive.

Will Mr. Kitagawa be the eighth one?

After the shock, their mood suddenly became excited.

Why not?
When Mr. Kitagawa resolutely left Kodansha, came to Kawaide Shobo, and published "No Longer Human" in a style completely different from his previous works, weren't society and the literary world filled with doubts and denials?
When he was writing haiku, "I Am a Cat" and filming "Akadashi", weren't there enough such doubts?
But the result?

The honor display cabinet with trophies, medals and gold-plated notebooks behind it is the best answer!

"The best in the world?" Beichuan Xiu did not hesitate too much. He dipped the brush in ink and wrote down the four Chinese characters in a flamboyant manner. "Then let's take this one!"

The brush stopped moving and the ink dried up. Dangui Shirou volunteered to frame the Chinese characters, and then simply stepped on the shoulders of Senhara Masato and Higashino Keigo and hung it right above the honor display cabinet.

Everyone smiled and looked up, looking at the four shocking and highly anticipated Chinese characters!
The best in the world!
This time, Mengzi finally showed a satisfied smile when she returned to the camera. She gave everyone a thumbs up, then pressed the shutter and ran back to her seat at a lightning speed!

There was a soft click.

A happy family portrait including dozens of people was quietly taken, capturing their smiles and joy forever!
When Jabami Rei reluctantly left the cafe with a bunch of New Year's cards, Kitagawa Hide and Agatsuma Yumeko were left in the huge "Peter Cat".

The Red and White Songs Contest was about to begin at 7:20, and my wife Yumeko hurried to the kitchen to prepare the soba noodles that she would eat later.

It is a unique Japanese tradition not to cook on New Year's Eve, so dinner can only be a platter of cold food.

The buckwheat noodles eaten with sauce here are similar to the dumplings eaten during the Chinese New Year next door. After eating them, the whole family can be "reunited and safe" in the New Year. It is also called "New Year Buckwheat".

There's also an interesting saying about this thing.

It is said that daughters are like Christmas cakes and must be married off before the age of 25, while boys are like the buckwheat noodles on New Year’s Eve and it doesn’t matter if they are not married after the age of 30.

Because Kitagawa Hide was already alone, Mengzi was worried about him spending the New Year alone at home, so she called her parents and told them that she would take a leave on the 4th to go home and visit them after the New Year.

When Mengzi's parents heard that their daughter had a boyfriend, and that he was the famous teacher Kitagawa Hide, they were so happy that they couldn't stop grinning. They wished that the two of them would just do what they should do during the New Year so that they could have a big fat grandson after the New Year. Naturally, they agreed and told them that it was okay if they didn't go home during the New Year.

At this time, Kitagawa Hide sat back in front of the computer desk, holding Pete while sorting out this year's gains and next year's plans.

The piece of manuscript paper that was scratched by Pete was replaced with a brand new one!

"Each piece of manuscript paper is worth 3 yen, and each haiku is worth 20 yen"

The fixed salary for the Japanese government’s anti-cult ambassador is 15 yen per month before tax (4/12).

Fixed salary for the honorary president of the "National Inspirational Commercial Law Strategies Lawyers' Liaison Association": 10 yen per month before tax (4/12).

"Hear the Wind Sing": Serial remuneration is 69 yen before tax, and royalties income is 3459 yen before tax (already received).

"Pinball in 1973": Serial royalties before tax 94.5 yen (already received).

"A Wild Sheep Chase": Serial royalties before tax 438 million yen (already received).

"I Am a Cat": Serial remuneration before tax is 1875 million yen, and royalties before tax is 1239 million yen (already received).

Royalties from "No Longer Human": 3.2 million yen before tax (already received).

Royalties from "Youth Trilogy": 1977 yen before tax (already received).

Royalties from "The Akuji Literature Award Serial Murder Case": 2123 yen before tax (already received).

Revenue from the movie "Akira": 2.7 million yen before tax (already received).

Income from the film and television adaptation of the "Youth Trilogy": 1 million yen before tax (already received).

Total income from haiku: 1194 million yen before tax (already received).

Group Portrait Newcomer Award: Prize money of 200 million yen before tax (already received).

Naoki Prize: Prize money of 20 yen before tax (already received).

Taxes paid: 2.231 million yen!!!

The current total deposit after tax is approximately 4.33 million yen, and the total principal and interest of liabilities is 0!

Kitagawa Hide stroked Pete with satisfaction. It had been ten months since he traveled through time and space, and nine months since he had copied novels. Not only had he cleared all his horrific debts, but he had also made a net profit of 4.33 million yen.

In addition, he has a sweetheart, a big boss who treats him seriously, and a group of good partners who never leave him.

I have my own little home and car, which I use to avoid the money-making entertainment companies.

He has countless die-hard fans like Yamada BBQ General and Kobayashi Ken who silently support him.

There are five super works that massacred the 1995 Oricon physical book annual bestseller list.

With the things in the honor display case, and.
He looked up at the Chinese characters he had written himself and chuckled.

“And a small goal to achieve next year.”

(End of this chapter)