Living in Tokyo, all I want to do is laze around.

Ah Ling...where are you...?

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###Chapter 495 A Snowy Dinner in Hakodate###

Living in Tokyo, all I want to do is laze around.

The melancholy topic didn't last long.

Out of kindness, Uesugi gave some money to the man who had given up everything to find his wife, so that he would have a place to stay for the next few days.

The other party repeatedly declined, but Uesugi was adamant and reminded him to take care of himself by mentioning his wife's situation, which finally made him accept the tens of thousands of yen Uesugi offered.

"Please leave your contact information..."

Wen Yinlin spoke to Shangshan with an expression of gratitude yet suppressed emotion.

Uesugi could understand this feeling, and the phrase "great kindness needs no words of thanks" was a particularly apt summary.

As I stepped out of the ramen shop, snowflakes were falling outside, and my footsteps made a sound like the snow being compressed.

"This can't go on. What if you still can't find a job? What kind of visa do you have?"

“A tourist visa, for three years,” Wen Yinlin said.

"Then you can only stay here for a maximum of 180 days a year, money is a problem."

Can I work here?

Uesugi glanced at him, confirming that he had genuinely come to Japan to find someone without knowing anything. "You can't work on a tourist visa; if you get caught, you'll be deported."

"I see..." Wen Yinlin was speechless for a moment. He obviously hadn't figured out what to do with the tens of thousands of Ye Ji he had just borrowed.

I have no money, so I can't go back to China; I have no money, so I have nothing to eat.

In situations like this, the only option is to work illegally.

Illegal labor...who can really explain all the ins and outs of it?

That's why Uesugi thought this guy was incredibly brave to dare to come to a foreign country to find someone when he had nothing.

......

......

Following the location information Hanabi sent him, Uesugi arrived at a sukiyaki restaurant called Asori.

This classic Western-style decor gives off a very refined feel. Even the tables and chairs are square and round. The difference between a star-rated restaurant and an ordinary restaurant largely lies in the level of refinement in the decor.

Standing in front of this restaurant, and then thinking back to that ramen shop where a bowl of tonkotsu ramen only costs 500 yen.

Uesugi suddenly felt like he came from a middle-class family.

Thinking about it that way, it makes sense. Hanabi-chan's family has never been short of money since she was a child, and even after marrying her, she has always been a little rich.

So neither of them had any worries about expenses, even though a cantaloupe cost tens of thousands of yen and a bunch of grapes cost five yen.

Thinking of Wen Yinlin's pitiful state on the street because he had no money, Uesugi couldn't help but sigh: It's so good to be rich.

Entering the store and climbing the wooden stairs to the second floor, Uesugi looked at the numbers on each room and found the Japanese-style private room that his mother and the others had booked in advance.

“nini~!”

Little Ai was the first to discover him.

She rushed over and grabbed one of his legs.

"Oh, you've been walking for so long? Hanabi called you sixteen times."

Mrs. Uesugi glanced at Uesugi standing in the doorway, her tone accusatory. It was as if Hanamaru Hanabi was her own daughter.

Uesugi could only sigh silently in his heart. After all, he knew that in his mother's heart, Hanabi Hanabi had always been the one who "married down" to him, and that he should take good care of Hanabi as a man who had married into the family.

It's normal that she prefers fireworks; any mother-in-law would like such a good daughter-in-law.

Of course, this excludes those in morning dramas.

"Don't say that. Maybe Xiao had something to do and that's why she didn't answer the phone."

Mrs. Hanamaru laughed as she turned Hanamaru Hanayu, who was lying on the tatami mat, so that she would notice the newly bought toy in front of her.

Sure enough, my mother always spoke to outsiders.

Uesugi walked to the cushion next to Hanabi Hanabi and sat down, supporting himself on his knees.

Today we're having Japanese sukiyaki. According to Mrs. Hana-maru Hanabi, there's nothing more suitable than eating sukiyaki in winter.

The shop thoughtfully has windows, and the snowy day outside the second-floor window, along with the street in the night sky diagonally opposite, offers a unique experience when enjoyed from inside the little house.

"What a pity, the fathers won't be able to eat any."

"They seem to be constantly busy."

“There’s no way around it, fathers all have to earn money to support their families,” Mrs. Hanamaru said, placing her hands on the table in front of the fruits and vegetables, her beautiful purple eyes looking at Uesugi across from her. “Little one, don’t go and become a policeman or anything like that in the future. You’ll be busy all the time. G, there’s really no need to be so busy. Even if you live off the family fortune, it’ll be enough to live off for a lifetime.”

“Network engineers too,” Mrs. Uesugi quickly added. “Your dad has been busy for so many years, but he doesn’t earn as much as I did when I was a manager at the restaurant.”

In order to prepare for pregnancy, Mrs. Uesugi decisively chose to resign. According to what Uesugi knew, the family had enough money, plus her father's salary, to cover their future living expenses.

If the Uesugi family is like this, then the Hanamaru family is even more so.

I originally thought my family were country folk who came to Tokyo from Shikoku, but I never expected that we would suddenly become middle class.

Uesugi really has to thank his father; if it weren't for his hard work in striving for Tokyo, he wouldn't have the life he has now.

Uesugi Kokoro, who was playing with Hanamaru Hanayu, suddenly crawled over. Her big eyes were fixed on him, so Uesugi reached out, hugged her, and pulled her into his arms.

From the first time he saw his younger sister, Uesugi felt that she was so small and frail, with hands, face, and feet that she was a creature even more fragile than a kindergarten child.

With this thought in mind, I couldn't help but tease her hands. She cried out what she wanted, and I tried my best to fulfill it.

Perhaps because of this period of contact with her, the little one would become particularly clingy whenever she met him, her jewel-like eyes shining with an indescribable light, peering into everything around her.

Listening to her baby babbling always reminds me of my earliest self. Was I also so hazy and innocent back then?

Uesugi tried to take a grape from the table, slowly peeled it, and fed it to her. She also used her drool-filled little lips to bite the grape into her mouth.

She's still really young now, but Uesugi can already picture her growing up, coming to him, her older brother from Tokyo University, with her summer homework in hand, asking, "How do I do this problem?"

"Yeeeeeeeeee~"

Uesugi understood that this meant they wanted more food.

As Mrs. Uesugi put the Wagyu beef into the pot, she said to Uesugi with great emotion, "Even though Akira has had much less contact with Kokoro since she moved out, Kokoro still hasn't forgotten her brother."

“Family ties are the bonds that bind us together,” Mrs. Hanamaru said, stirring the ingredients in the pot with her chopsticks. “There are some people you can never forget once you’ve met them… If you got along well when you were young, you’ll take care of each other in the future.”

Uesugi, holding Uesugi Kokoro who was playing with her phone, asked Hanabi Hanabi beside her:

"What does Hanabi think about family: blood ties or emotional bonds?"

"Of course it's feelings."

Hanabi Hanabi stared intently at him, her brows slightly furrowed, probably displeased that he hadn't answered her call earlier. "Blood ties are just a bond that strengthens feelings, but if those feelings are gone, no matter how strong the bond is, it will eventually break."

"Xiao, aren't there always strange murder stories in the news? Even if they are mother and son, they can't get along and may even become irreparably opposed."

"Feelings are the most important thing." Mrs. Uesugi agreed repeatedly.

The aroma of sukiyaki quickly wafted out of the pot, with the bubbling chicken broth boiling and churning below, and the beef slices rising and falling like waves.

The wafting heat warmed Uesugi, who had been spending so much time in the snow, and the air in the private room seemed to gradually become warm and cozy amidst the aroma of meat.

When the beef in the pot had almost boiled, Uesugi quietly picked up a piece with his chopsticks and put it into Hanamaru Hanabi's bowl.

When she picked up her chopsticks and looked away, she noticed the extra slices of beef in her bowl and glanced at Uesugi beside her.

Her deep purple eyes seemed to be saying something.

Uesugi smiled and said, "Don't be angry. I didn't do it on purpose. Consider this an apology."

Hanabi Hanabi immediately retorted in her distinctive, cute yet visibly dissatisfied voice, "This isn't enough..."

"Not enough? Okay, I'll give you a little more."

Uesugi smiled slightly, as if following his words, and reached out to pick up another slice of beef and put it into Hanamaru Hanabi's bowl, even choosing the best cut of beef tenderloin.

"Want more?"

"More." Hanabi Hanamaru's mouth seemed to be full of breath.

"Okay," Uesugi replied.

It's strange. She was clearly angry, and I was the one trying to comfort her, so why do I find her so much cuter now?

The way she ate the beef slices, her face, eyes, and eyebrows all seemed to express her dissatisfaction, and sometimes she would glare at me with her pretty eyes while eating.

"Firework Sauce".

"what."

"Would you like to eat more?"

"Eat."

"Then I'll feed you."

Hanabi Hanabi composed herself. She first looked at the two ladies feeding the two little ones, then turned back to him, her eyes seeming to say: Didn't you see the mothers over there?

Uesugi was just teasing her, of course. "It's okay, we're such good friends, they know that."

"No."

"Don't be afraid, I'll feed you."

"No."

"There's really nothing to be afraid of—"

As Uesugi was speaking, he suddenly noticed that Hanabi Hanabi was looking at him happily with a smile, which made him forget what he was about to say.

Why did you stop talking, sir?

"I..." Uesugi looked at her adorable smile and swallowed his words. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he whispered to her, "Are you sure you want me to feed you here?"

"But that's what you said, my lord."