A Single Person's Infinite Wonderful Life

Li Wei said, "In Hokkaido, the development should be more balanced, right?"

Among all regions of Japan, Hokkaido is arguably the least noticeable. For residents of the three major metropolitan areas, Hokkaido is a remote and harsh place, a typical "countryside".

The girl said, "It's not so much that it's balanced, but rather that the development of cities is all pretty much the same and terrible. Due to the shortage of public funds, the development of cities has stagnated for more than ten years. Now it's just barely surviving. But with the aging population and declining birth rate, Hokkaido will also decline rapidly in another ten or twenty years."

Li Wei said, "So that's how the locals think. I saw in the travel guide that Hokkaido seemed pretty good."

The girl asked, "Li Weijun, have you seen the anime 'Sakura Quest'?"

Li Wei shook his head. Although he was a long-time otaku, he hadn't watched every anime. With so many anime, there were bound to be works he hadn't seen.

The girl said, "That anime tells the story of a college girl trying to save her hometown's economy. To be honest, Hokkaido is putting a lot of effort into promoting its tourism industry in order to save itself. If it doesn't try to make a struggle now, it won't have the strength to do so later. Everyone knows that their hometown is declining, but no one has a good solution because, apart from the three major metropolitan areas, all other regions are declining, and no one can escape it."

Li Wei sighed inwardly, realizing that the development of a matter is only affected by various factors and is often not determined by personal will. Hokkaido's location destined him to have limited development and he could only rely on his past achievements to survive.

After leaving the urban area, the intense sunlight on the ground disappeared, so the two of them could see the brilliant starry sky when they looked up.

The two of them lay down on the clouds, their hands behind their heads, gazing at the night sky.

Li Wei turned his head to look at the girl's profile and smiled, "Only without the light pollution of the city can we see such a beautiful starry sky. Seeing such a view makes me feel better."

The girl said, "But if ordinary people want to enjoy such a night view every day, they can only live like primitive people. I heard from my classmates in college that if you go camping in the deep mountains, you can see such a night view. But camping is too troublesome, and I don't have that much time to experience it."

The girl didn't say one more thing: camping gear is too expensive. For her, such non-essential spending should be saved whenever possible. It's not worth spending money on various equipment for camping trips that she only goes a few times a year.

·Requesting flowers·· ······

As someone who studied applied economics, she is more disciplined in her spending habits than the average person. Any unnecessary expenses that even cross her mind are immediately rejected.

Li Wei said, "Aren't we going to Cape Soya to watch the New Year's sunrise? It'll be a good opportunity to experience camping. I've had my camping gear for a while now, but I've only practiced how to assemble it. This is my first time actually camping."

The girl smiled and said, "Right now, all the guesthouses near Cape Soya are closed. Apart from a few general stores that are still open, it's hard to find a place to eat. But for us now, that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Li Wei smiled and said, "Of course."

Time flew by as the two chatted, and soon the clouds crossed the strait and entered the skies above Hokkaido, getting closer and closer to their destination, Sapporo.

The clouds were moving very fast, and it didn't take long for them to reach the skies above Sapporo. Sapporo is one of the largest cities in Hokkaido, but in terms of development, it can't compare to a metropolitan area like Tokyo. There are naturally far fewer skyscrapers than in Tokyo, and the architectural style is relatively old. It's clear that the peak of the city's development was forty years ago, which gave Li Wei the feeling of watching an old tokusatsu film from the Showa era.

The girl leaned against the edge of a white cloud, looking down at the city night view with an excited smile on her face, and said, "It only took a little over an hour to get home, that's so fast! Now leave the directions to me."

Li Wei thought to himself, if it weren't for the need to hide his strength, he could activate the pre-prepared coordinates and use teleportation to save time traveling, taking only a few seconds from departure to arrival.

Guided by the girl, the cloud stopped above a residential area. Li Wei controlled the cloud to lower its altitude, and the two found a relatively secluded spot to jump down. Then, Li Wei took the package out of his mind space and held it in his hand.

The landing site wasn't far from the girl's home; the two walked for only a few minutes before arriving at their destination.

Chapter 1. The Girl's Parents

Before the two stood a simply designed but sizable detached house. In Tokyo, due to the higher land prices, most ordinary families' detached houses do not occupy a very large area.

However, in smaller cities outside the three major metropolitan areas, the average living space per person is much larger than in the larger cities because land prices are cheaper.

Decades have passed since Japan's real estate bubble burst. Outside of the core areas of its three major metropolitan areas, housing and land prices have been squeezed to near zero—a situation that China currently cannot match. In China, housing prices are linked to too many factors, making it difficult for ordinary people to simply lower them at will.

Li Wei said, "Won't this size feel too spacious for three people?"

The girl said, "No, the reason this house is so big is because many of the rooms are my dad's warehouses, used to store all sorts of goods. Our family doesn't actually need much space to live in."

Li Wei said, "Now that I'm here, I'm actually a little nervous."

The girl wanted to laugh inwardly. Now Li Wei was finally experiencing what she had felt before; she had been just as nervous when she was about to meet Li Wei's parents. She touched the bracelet on her wrist, a gift from Li Wei's mother. It looked very precious. Jade artifacts like this are inherently fragile, so to protect the bracelet, she had applied a thin layer of magical film to its surface to ensure it wouldn't be damaged.

The girl was a smart girl; she could understand the meaning behind the gift. It was proof that Li Wei's mother had approved of her. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have given her such a meaningful gift.

The girl had researched online and found that there was an old tradition in Chongguo where the man's mother would give her ancestral dowry items to her future daughter-in-law. This bracelet, which looked quite old, was probably a dowry item passed down from Li Wei's mother's elders. However, this custom is becoming increasingly rare, and it mostly exists only among wealthy families or those with even better conditions; ordinary people no longer follow this custom.

Jinchengzhai Qianye grasped Li Wei's hand and said softly, "Leave it to me for a while. Don't worry, my parents and uncles and aunts are a bit like me, they're all very easy to talk to."

The girl rang the doorbell at the entrance to the courtyard, and a slightly rounded female voice came through the doorbell.

"Hello, who are you looking for?"

"Mom, it's me, Qianye, I'm back."

"Hey? Qianye? Wait a minute, I'll open the door right away. You silly girl, you didn't even call ahead to come back."

A moment later, the two heard footsteps, and the front door of the house was suddenly opened. A middle-aged woman with a slightly plump figure, wearing a kitchen apron and holding a spatula, came out.

Although she had gained weight, one could tell from her face that she was quite a beauty in her youth. Li Wei knew very well that the girl's mother didn't deliberately maintain her figure and wasn't interested in makeup, because she and her husband had a very good relationship, to the point that they didn't care about appearances. Moreover, she was also the girl's father's "personal warehouse organizer." The couple worked well together, one handling external affairs and the other internal affairs. People who were always busy with work naturally didn't have time to pay attention to their appearance.

The middle-aged woman jogged to the door and saw Li Wei carrying things behind the girl. She paused for a moment, but still decisively welcomed the two of them in.

"Young man, come in quickly, the wind is too strong outside, it's going to snow tonight." After the two entered the courtyard, the middle-aged woman closed the iron gate again, walked in front of them, and opened the gate that had been accidentally closed.

The woman, named Kinjou Saiyuki (originally Kirishiro Saiyuki), was a descendant of a shrine priest. Unfortunately, her family's shrine was remote, and the offerings from believers alone were not enough to support her family. So, she ended her life as a shrine maiden early and started working while still in school. It was during this time that she met the girl's father, Kinjou Saiyuki Tadakuni, who was then just an ordinary high school student and part-time worker. The two developed feelings for each other while working and began a sweet and sour love affair, which eventually blossomed into marriage. Together, they worked hard to build their current family business.

Li Wei saw the shadow of his own parents in this loving young couple. Girls raised in happy families tend to have well-rounded personalities and are less likely to develop bizarre behaviors such as self-destruction or extreme materialism. In contrast, single-parent families are more prone to these problems.

Li Wei was also grateful to the couple for raising such an outstanding girl, which ultimately benefited him.

At the entrance, a slightly overweight middle-aged man wearing unkempt fluffy pajamas walked over with a curious expression and asked, "Honey, who is it? Is it the delivery guy?"

The moment the middle-aged man, Jin Chengzhai, saw Li Wei, his smiling expression froze on his face, and at the same time, his eyes behind his glasses became sharp.

Jin Chengzhai Xue Si lightly tapped the middle-aged man on the back of the head with a spatula and said, "What kind of face is that? You old geezer, the young couple came back to see you, and this is the look on your face? Aren't you going to invite them in and sit down?"

Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang realized what was happening and, faced with his beloved, decisively chose to back down, stepping aside to let Li Wei and the girl into the living room. The indoor heating was on full blast, a completely different world from the cold outside. Although Li Wei and the girl weren't afraid of the cold now, the warmer environment was always much more comfortable.

Li Wei put the gift down, and the girl's mother came over with two cups of hot tea and placed them on the low table in front of Li Wei, saying, "You must have been freezing outside. Drink some hot tea to warm yourself up. Auntie will make you two of her specialty dishes."

The girl's mother had a very good first impression of the handsome Li Wei. As a housewife who frequently watched TV dramas, she had seen many handsome men, but those young men were all too effeminate. Li Wei, on the other hand, with his masculine and robust Showa-era style, reminded her of a young Ken Takakura, giving her a very reliable feeling. She also trusted her daughter's judgment; after all, her daughter studied economics and was far more intelligent and composed than the average girl. A boy who could make her smile so happily couldn't be a bad person.

The girl's father, Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang, coughed lightly and said, "Qianye, aren't you going to introduce the person next to you?"

The older man sighed inwardly. His daughter had grown up. Although such a thing was bound to happen sooner or later, when it actually happened, he still found it hard to accept. In his memory, his daughter was still that cute little girl from back then. But when he came to his senses, he realized that time had passed too quickly.

Chapter 4. Facing Elders

Jin Chengzhai Qianye knew that her father was a little upset, so she kept a calm smile and said, "This is Li Wei, a Chinese national, who is currently studying in Japan."

When Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang heard that Li Wei was from Chongguo, a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face. He said, "I see. No wonder he is so masculine and vigorous. Nowadays, young people in Japan are all effeminate. It is very difficult to find such a masculine young man."

Jincheng Zaizhong nodded in satisfaction. No father would like his daughter to bring home a "non-mainstream" person, and he was no exception. Although Li Wei had taken his little cabbage, he had to admit that Li Wei was a charming and charismatic young man. The first time he saw Li Wei, he was reminded of Kiryu Ma in his younger days in the Yakuza series of games he used to play. That was the ultimate masculine beauty. It would be hard to find someone like Li Wei among the increasingly weak young people in Japan today.

Jin Chengzhai Tadakuni exclaimed, "So they are citizens of that superpower across the sea. Their spirit and energy are just different. They are completely different from those Heisei otaku and Reiwa cross-dressers."

Li Wei saw through what young men were thinking and wanted to complain in his heart. The current global trend is that young men are becoming less masculine, and the number of young men who want to become "strong" is declining compared to the past.

A person's temperament is something that is cultivated, but their face is given by their parents. However, this resolute face must be supported by a strong physique. If he is not tall and strong enough, then such a face shape will make him look strange.

Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang said, "Young man, I'm more than ten years older than you, and I haven't figured out how to live my life, so don't be shy. Can we talk like peers? Shall we have a drink?"

Li Wei laughed and said, "I can drink, but I don't like strong liquor. I used to get into trouble because of drinking, so I quit. But if you want to drink, Uncle, I can drink with you until the end."

Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang laughed and said, "I can't drink much either. I usually just have a little low-alcohol liquor to satisfy my craving. A little alcohol is good for the mood, but too much is harmful to the body. It's a good thing not to drink."

Although Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang drinks himself, he doesn't want his future son-in-law to be a drunkard. Some people can't control themselves when they're drunk, and drunkards are more likely to commit domestic violence. Li Wei, a strong man, is a drunkard, and two or three adults can't hold him back. So, in his opinion, it's better if he doesn't drink.

Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang thought for a moment and said, "Li Wei, I'll call you that from now on. You're studying in Japan now. What are your plans for the future? After graduation, do you plan to continue your career here or go back to China?"

Li Wei smiled and said, "Although I don't plan to become a citizen, I've already bought a house in Tokyo, so I'll naturally develop my career here from now on."

Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang said in surprise, "Foreigners don't get loans when they buy houses here. You bought a house outright? You young man, I didn't realize your family was so wealthy."

Li Wei laughed and said, "My family only recently found out that I bought a house in Tokyo. I bought my first house with my own money. When I told them that I bought a house in Tokyo, the reaction of my elders was just like yours, Uncle."

Jincheng Zai Tadakuni himself is a businessman, so he naturally knows about Tokyo's housing prices. Li Wei said this with pride, so it must be a good location. To be able to do such a thing at such a young age is truly admirable.

Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang said, "Li Wei, how did you, a student, earn so much? I'm a businessman too, and I'm a little curious. Of course, if it's a secret that can't be told, then you don't need to tell me."

Li Wei laughed and said, "It's not a secret. I'm very sensitive to stocks and have always had the habit of trading US stocks. However, the threshold for US stocks is relatively high. I made my first pot of gold in the Chinese stock market. After studying in Japan, I made a lot of money in the Japanese stock market. Then I started to trade US stocks. Over the years, I've made quite a bit of money."

Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang looked envious and said, "I tried the stock market before, but I'm not cut out for it. I lost half of my investment, so I went back to my small business and didn't dare touch the stock market again. Li Wei, so far, how much have you made from the stock market?"

Li Wei held up three fingers.

Jin Chengzhai Zhongbang said, "Three hundred million Japanese yen?"

Li Wei smiled and said, "Thirty million US dollars."

The elderly man's hand slipped as he supported himself, nearly causing him to fall onto the low table. Although he couldn't remember the real-time exchange rate, he could roughly calculate the amount: thirty million US dollars was equivalent to about four billion Japanese yen. For him, this was an astronomical figure. Compared to this number, the wealth he and his wife had accumulated over half a lifetime of hard work was just a drop in the ocean.

Jin Chengzhai Qianye looked at her father's out-of-control appearance and wanted to laugh. However, neither she nor Li Wei cared much about these external riches, because it was too easy for cultivators to make money. Even though she was only half-baked, she could still swindle rich people with the skills she had learned. How much money they wanted was entirely up to her.

However, her parents are ordinary people, so their reaction is not surprising. The girl felt a little sad, realizing that she and her parents had unknowingly become people from two different worlds.

Now, all she can do is give her parents a good life and not let them worry.

The aroma of food wafted over, and Jin Chengzhai Xuesi said, "Stop chatting and come eat."

Upon hearing this, the three people went to the dining room. The detached house was quite large, so the internal functional areas were very well-organized. In the core areas of Tokyo, due to limited land area, most families do not divide the functional areas in great detail. Instead, they use ingenious storage techniques to make each area serve multiple purposes.

During dinner, Li Wei was asked all sorts of questions by the girl's mother. Fortunately, it was his first time here, and the girl's mother at least didn't ask him or the girl any awkward questions like when they were going to have children. But if he came again, that was another story.

After dinner, the girl and her mother washed the dishes in the kitchen, while Li Wei played shogi with the girl's father and chatted about all sorts of random things. As they talked, they started talking about games. Although Jin Chengzhai was over forty years old, he still loved games, and the girl's mother didn't look down on him for it. The two became more and more excited as they talked. They were both experienced old otaku, and they got along very well.

Towards the end of the conversation, when the girl and her mother came out of the kitchen, the two men were already laughing and exchanging game tips.

Chapter. Heading to Cape Soya

Japanese society is just as demanding as domestic society. In the eyes of the public, if an individual cannot do the right thing at the right age, then he is a waste of society.

Just like teenagers who play games are criticized for wasting their time, teenagers who play games are criticized for not having a proper job, and people in their thirties who play games are said to be a waste of their lives.

However, working overtime like a dog, being forced to drink alcohol by the boss to test obedience, and companies organizing all sorts of bizarre so-called team building activities—these morbid things have become commonplace in the eyes of the so-called public.

However, in Japan, the rebellious spirit of ordinary people has been aroused. Although all sorts of bizarre things are happening more and more often, ordinary people are also using their own ways to resist the world. It is precisely because of this that more and more adults are becoming addicted to games.