I, Hiroshi Nohara, the star of Japanese cinema!

Misae put down her knife and fork and was about to stand up to take it, but Nohara Hiroshi had already stood up, made a "eat in peace" gesture to her, and walked slowly to the living room.

"Hello, this is the Nohara family." He picked up the phone.

"Nohara-kun? It's me, Suzuki Seito."

A familiar yet somewhat tired voice came from the other end of the phone.

Nohara Hiroshi was very familiar with this voice.

A smile appeared on his face: "Suzuki-senpai! I didn't expect to receive your call so late. Haven't you rested yet?"

He has always respected Seito Suzuki.

"Haha, I can't sleep. I can't sleep."

Suzuki Seito on the other end of the line let out a dry laugh, one that was filled with uncontrollable excitement and pride. "I just saw the ratings report from Kanto TV's Tokyo headquarters. Nohara-kun, you... you really are... I was right about you! 'The Wonderful World's Stories' has a 21.95% audience rating! You've created a miracle!"

His praise was full of genuine admiration.

"You're too kind, Senior." Nohara Hiroshi just smiled calmly, "This is the result of everyone's joint efforts."

"No, this is different." Suzuki Seito's tone became serious. "I know very well that this achievement is 99% due to you alone, just like with 'Anzhiju'! You... you have grown to a level that even an old guy like me needs to look up to you."

He said this with such sincerity that Nohara Hiroshi could even hear from the phone the sense of satisfaction and pride that belonged to him as a half-leader.

The two chatted happily.

There is no barrier at all.

But after the greetings, there was a long silence on the other end of the phone, with a bit of hesitation and an awkwardness that was difficult to speak out.

Nohara Hiroshi did not urge him, he just waited quietly, with some speculation already flashing in his clear eyes.

"Senior." Nohara Hiroshi finally spoke first. His voice was gentle, carrying a calming power: "Do you... have something you want to tell me?"

"...Alas." From the other end of the phone came Suzuki Seito's helpless sigh.

"Nohara-kun, I, an old man, am calling you today because I want to... I want to be shameless and ask you for a favor for a good-for-nothing." Suzuki Seito said.

"It's about Hashimoto-senpai, right?" Nohara Hiroshi said calmly, and was the first to express his guess to avoid embarrassing Suzuki Seito.

"Yes."

Suzuki Seito's voice was filled with a hint of surprise, which then turned into a deeper bitterness: "That bastard."

"I... I just found out too. It was his wife who called me crying. She said... that guy, after coming back today, was like crazy, locked himself in the room, crying and shouting, smashing things, and got drunk. She had never seen him like that before, and the kids were so scared that they sent them to their grandparents' house."

Suzuki Seito's voice was filled with the bitterness of a man who had failed to live up to his potential. "I asked around for a long time before I found out that he... he was disciplined by the TV station. He was transferred back to the Kanto station to work as a... data organizer in the logistics department."

"This... How is this any different from firing him? This is clearly making him, socially, dead!"

Nohara Hiroshi didn't say anything.

Of course he knew that in this country with strict hierarchy and extreme emphasis on face, this kind of punishment was more humiliating than direct dismissal.

Many Japanese people are in similar situations, and some even hang themselves from trees because they cannot bear the humiliation.

After all, Neon's face and dignity...

Sometimes they are so weird that they take it more seriously than anyone else in the world, but they don't respect their lives at all and leave whenever they want.

"Nohara-kun, I know that bastard betrayed you and our entire Kanto faction. He deserves it."

Suzuki Seito's voice was hoarse, almost pleading. "But, he... he was my first disciple after all. He's talented, but... he was blinded by jealousy and ambition for a moment. I... I just can't bear to see him ruined like this."

"So, Nohara-kun, can I...can I ask you a favor?"

Suzuki Seito pleaded, "I know this request is excessive. But... could you... go to his house and see him? His house is not far from yours, in Jiangdong District. You... you go and persuade him, even if it's just to scold him and make him sober up. Don't let him... really lose his mind and end up in a desperate situation."

"I understand."

As Suzuki Seito waited anxiously, Nohara Hiroshi's voice immediately responded, "Senior, don't worry, I'll be there right away. Hashiji Ichirō was once a comrade-in-arms, so of course I can't watch him go to hell in vain."

"Then... thank you so much! Hiroshi-kun!" Suzuki Seito was so excited that he used honorifics.

After hanging up the phone, Hiroshi Nohara returned to the restaurant.

Misae was looking at him with a worried look in her eyes. "Is it about work?" she asked softly.

"Well, a former colleague of mine had some problems." Nohara Hiroshi walked up behind her, leaned over, and kissed her gently on the cheek. His voice was gentle: "I'm going out for a while and will be back soon. You can eat first, you don't have to wait for me."

"Okay, be careful." Meiya was as well-behaved as a cute little calico cat.

……

The black Toyota Crown Majestic glided silently in the night, and outside the car window was the city's never-ending bright lights.

Based on the address given by Seito Suzuki, Hiroshi Nohara quickly found the old-looking apartment building in Koto District.

The corridor was dimly lit, and the air was filled with a damp smell unique to old buildings.

He stood in front of the slightly mottled iron door and rang the doorbell.

'Ding dong! '

After a while, the door was opened from the inside.

The person who opened the door was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties. She was wearing plain home clothes and her hair was a little messy. Her face, which should have been quite pretty, was now full of haggardness and anxiety. Her eyes, which were red and swollen from crying, were like two ripe cherries.

"Excuse me... who are you looking for?" Her voice was hoarse and a little wary.

"Hello, I'm Nohara Hiroshi." Nohara Hiroshi introduced himself: "I'm a colleague of Hashiji Ichiro."

When the name came out of his mouth, the woman's body trembled violently, and a complex light mixed with hope and shame instantly burst out in her red and swollen eyes.

"You...you are Mr. Nohara!"

She subconsciously bowed, her voice tinged with tears: "I'm so sorry for letting you see our family in this state..."

She turned sideways and opened the room completely, making a passage.

A strong, almost pungent smell of alcohol instantly filled the room, mixed with the disgusting, sour smell of vomit.

The living room was a mess, with broken bottles, scattered cushions, and toppled furniture, as if it had just experienced a small typhoon.

And from the inner bedroom, there came a deafening snoring sound like thunder.

"He...he was like this after he came back."

Hashimoto's wife, a woman named Hashimoto Minami, welcomed Nohara Hiroshi in.

As he spoke, he wiped away the tears that kept flowing with the back of his hand, his voice filled with helplessness and despair. "I asked him what happened, but he wouldn't say anything. He just kept drinking and smashing things, shouting 'why' and 'why' over and over again... I... I was really scared. I've never seen him like this before."

She looked at Nohara Hiroshi with the look of a drowning person grasping at the last straw:

"Mr. Nohara, I heard from Mr. Suzuki that my good-for-nothing... is he... is he going to be fired from the TV station? Are we... are we going to lose this respectable job?"

Nohara Hiroshi looked at her face full of fear, was silent for a moment, and finally, reluctantly, nodded slightly.

Although being exiled to Guandongtai does not count as dismissal.

But it's almost the same.

How can a data clerk compare with the treatment of a fourth-level director and deputy section chief at Tokyo TV?

This action, like the last straw, completely broke Minami Hashimoto's nerves, which had already been stretched to the limit.

Her body suddenly went limp and she collapsed to the ground.

His face looked desperate.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Mrs. Hashimoto." Nohara Hiroshi subconsciously reached out to support this still quite pretty mature woman in her thirties, but when he thought of the differences between men and women, his hands stiffened slightly.

At this time, the collapsed Hashimoto Minami fell to her knees in front of Nohara Hiroshi without caring about anything!

A standard sitting position with forehead pressed against the cold floor!

It fully displays the plump figure of a mature woman.

"Teacher Nohara!"

Her voice, coming from beneath her lowered head, was filled with humble and desperate pleas: "I beg you! Please give him another chance! I know he did something wrong, he betrayed you, he deserves death! But... but he was also confused for a moment!"

"We have children and a mortgage. If...if he loses his job, our family...will really be finished!"

She raised her head, and her tearful face was filled with a determination to burn her boats.

"Teacher Nohara, as long as... as long as you are kind enough to save his job. I... I am willing to do anything for you! Anything!"

“…” Nohara Hiroshi was stunned.

This scene is so familiar.

The corner of his eye twitched slightly, and he remembered that he had clearly traveled to the world of Crayon Shin-chan, not some weird neon-hot world.

Nohara Hiroshi has always been a very self-moral person in his previous life.

So he took out a business card from his pocket.

Place it on the table next to you.

"This is my business card. Ask Hashiichi Ichiro to call me tomorrow." Nohara Hiroshi immediately left the room and slammed the door shut.

Went downstairs quickly.

I got back on my Toyota Crown and was speechless.

The car started, and when Nohara Hiroshi drove out of the apartment, he looked at the residential area, which was old but located in the main circle of Tokyo, and understood why the other party was so humble.

Mortgage and a decent life.

Working at Tokyo TV, whether it is benefits, treatment, or salary, is more than 30% higher than that of Kanto TV.

Besides, the salary at Kanto TV is already at a good level.

But this does not mean that the same is true for data clerks.

I guess he became a data clerk.

Then you can only get the most basic salary.

Welfare will also be greatly weakened.

Add to that social status and the evaluation among relatives and friends, it is basically like falling off a cliff.

No one can bear this.