Tokyo Soft Rice King

"Sister Hong?"

"Little brother, can you carry me back? I'm drunk and can't walk anymore~"

Kuroba Akira gave a helpless smile. Last time he had no choice but to carry the sloth-like Tashiro Hongxiang back home, but today she seemed to be just acting coquettishly.

It wasn't far from Kobayashi's house, just about another fifty meters. Hei Yuming felt that he could still carry it with his current physique, so he half-knelt and agreed.

"Okay, come on up, I'll carry you back."

"Great~ Good brother, you love your sister~"

After being carried on Hei Yuming's back, the royal sister Hongxiang laughed slyly, then shouted in her heart, "The opportunity has come! It's your turn!", and then pushed the socially anxious Hongxiang out.

Because she was not carried up suddenly and she was conscious this time, Hongxiang, who was mentally prepared for social anxiety, was not particularly panicked, but just a little nervous.

"Um, um, Senior..."

"Huh? Did she change to Miss Hongxiang?"

"Yes... the other me suddenly pushed me out..."

"Haha, so I'm carrying two people at once, huh? Pretty impressive, huh?"

"Um... that's right, Senior... you can just call me by my name..."

This is also the main purpose of the temporary substitution. Tashiro Hongxiang wants Kuroba Ming to change the way he addresses her.

"Oh? Then what should I call you? Hongmei? Xiangmei? Hongxiangmei?"

If calculated based on the age in the previous life, 24-year-old Tashiro Hongxiang is six years younger than 30-year-old Kuroba Akira, so she can indeed be called a younger sister.

"It's all fine, as long as it's not honorifics... After all, you're older than me, senpai."

"Indeed... but calling her my sister feels weird... and there's also the risk of her being exposed..."

How did you call newcomers in the company in the past?

Hei Yuming tried to recall. He only called the people he didn't know well by nicknames, and the ones he knew well... they all added "Xiao" (small) to their names, like Xiao Zhang, Xiao Li, etc...

Thinking of this, Hei Yuming came up with another funny name.

"Then I'll call you Xiaohong."

"Isn't this name too cute? It doesn't seem to suit me... I'm already 24 years old..."

"Wouldn't it be nice to be a little cute? Or maybe calling you Xiao Honghong would be even cuter. Which one do you want?"

People always compromise, so I'll leave it out.

After hearing more shameful names, the socially anxious Hongxiang still chose the nickname Xiaohong.

"Then Xiaohong is better..."

"Okay, Xiaohong! And I'm Xiaoming! We'll be good friends from now on!"

Only time travelers would understand the joke about Hei Yuming, and the queen Hongxiang in her heart laughed heartily. Now the two classic characters in the Chinese textbook are together, except for Xiaogang.

But she hopes Xiao Ming and Xiao Hong can be more than just friends... Come on! Another me... No, Xiao Hong Hong!

"Ah, but it's still the same as before. I will only call you Xiaohong when there are no acquaintances like now, okay?"

"Yes, I understand. I have made sure to remember that I can only call you Senior in private."

"Okay, if you call me Senior, I'll call you Xiaohong...haha..."

Hei Yuming couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"What, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a little nostalgic. It reminds me of when I used to work."

Although being a corporate slave is painful and the work is shit, Kuroba Akira gets along very well with some of his colleagues. It's probably because of them that he was able to persevere... Even though he lost his life in the end...

Xiao Ming carried Xiao Hong back to Xiao Lin's house and put her down at the door.

When I opened the door, Zi Zhigong was waiting to greet me as usual.

Murasaki, who was originally worried and anxious because Kuroba Akira came back later than usual, immediately felt relieved when she saw that he came back with Tashiro Hongxiang.

At this time, Tashiro Hongxiang, who had changed back into the role of the queen, stretched out her hand, embraced Murasaki Nomiya, and held all her younger brothers and sisters in her arms, giving them facial cleanser service equally from left and right.

Then she excitedly announced the reason for her good mood.

"Little brother! And sister Ziyin! I finally quit my job!"

Both Kuroba Ming and Murasaki Nomiya showed surprised expressions.

Although he had heard that Tashiro Hongxiang was going to resign, he didn't expect her to do it so quickly, so Kuroba Akira asked.

"Huh? Have you resigned already?"

"Well! Since I've decided to be Ziyin's manager, I might as well quit early! The handover is complete! Starting next week, I won't have to go to work!"

In other words, Tashiro Hongxiang has completely gotten rid of her corporate slave status and officially returned to being a free person (without a job).

No wonder he was so happy and even went out for a drink. After all, this kind of feeling of relief is rare in life.

Royal sister Hongxiang said with a look of amusement.

"You have no idea the expression on my supervisor's face at the time. His mouth was so wide open, it was hilarious! He probably never dreamed I would resign, hahahaha! Served him right!"

"After all, 'you' do have real abilities..."

Although Tashiro Hongxiang's social skills are not good, she has a level 4 makeup proficiency and is a master-level talent.

Moreover, the shady company had assigned Xiao Honghong so much work, and now that she had resigned, those jobs could only be assigned to other slaves, but those others were not qualified for the job...

If there is a mistake in one link, problems will arise in a series of subsequent links, and the entire company's business will be in chaos.

It's like the feeling of cutting a major artery during layoffs. Although it was Tashiro Hongxiang who took the initiative to resign, the real mastermind behind her resignation was Kuroba Akira.

"But if you quit your job so suddenly, will you have any problems with your life?"

"Don't worry, I still have savings... Let me take a look..."

After letting the two of them go, the royal sister Hongxiang took out a passbook from her bag and opened it to show it.

"Here! This is all my savings!"

"Um……"

Hei Yuming counted the digits and found that it was seven digits, starting with one.

That's a little over one million yen.

It’s not too much, but not too little either. It’s a very subtle number.

It’s about four months’ salary for an ordinary office worker, and roughly equivalent to the cost of a long-distance trip.

"With my current savings, I can probably last a few months. My expenses aren't that high, after all. I don't buy expensive bags or clothes. I do buy a lot of cosmetics, but they're not for me. They're for someone else who uses them at work..."

"After all, to Miss Hongxiang, cosmetics are just for 'living'... No, your company is a funeral contractor, right? Why do you have to pay for the cosmetics for the corpse?"

"It's true that the company pays for the special materials used to repair the corpse, but the makeup after the repair is an additional service. It doesn't usually need to be too beautiful, but I always want the corpse to look more like a living person, so I put a lot of effort into it."

"So dedicated..."

I have to say that Xiaohong takes her work so seriously that it can be said that she is 'paid to work'.

"That's why I didn't save much money. From now on, I can only rely on you, Shion-chan, to be my big sister!"

The royal sister Hongxiang hugged Zi Zhigong again and rubbed her like a baby.

Zi Zhigong, who was relied upon by two people, also felt a lot of pressure and said with a wry smile.

"I'll keep working hard...I'll definitely make money for you two!"

In fact, the lady Hongxiang was just joking, but she didn't expect that Shizhigong was so serious, so she touched her head and comforted her.

"Well, Shion-chan, don't put too much pressure on yourself. My little brother and I don't expect you to produce golden eggs right away. Just take your time. After all, the competition in the entertainment industry is much more intense than working in a company..."

Then she smiled and said.

"At worst, I can just default on rent like my younger brother, and eat curry rice every day like him, right?"

The next second, the smile of the royal sister Hongxiang froze, and she heard the voice of Grandma Kobayashi coming from behind her.

"Humph! You don't have to eat if you don't like it! No one is forcing you to eat it!"

Royal sister Hongxiang quickly turned around and explained.

"Ah, that, mother-in-law, I don't dislike your cooking, nor do I really want to default on the rent. If I really have no money, I will go do odd jobs!"

However, Granny Kobayashi just stood with her hands behind her back and repeated what she had just said to Murasaki Palace.

"Hehe, Hongxiang, don't put too much pressure on yourself. Anyway, just settle the rent before you leave this house."

When to leave is actually decided by the tenant himself, and Grandma Kobayashi will not really kick people out.

Granny Kobayashi only teased Bai Zi with the rent verbally, but she never actually asked for the rent seriously.

She didn't care about the rent at all. After all, it was not as much as the money she spent on playing pachinko and mahjong every day.

The royal sister Hongxiang didn't dare to be too presumptuous in front of Grandma Kobayashi and seemed a little restrained, so Grandma Kobayashi made a suggestion to her.

"If Hongxiang wants to work, why not work for me?"

"Do you want to work for me, mother-in-law? What kind of work will you do?"

"Cooking? Anyway, I'm just a useless old lady who can only cook curry and hot pot... You know, when the old man was alive, I didn't cook so many meals. I'm lucky enough to cook for you every day, but that brat is still complaining..."

Being a gigolo and still finding fault with others is a bad habit that comes from being spoiled!

"Ha ha……"

Hei Yuming laughed dryly. Normally, he was the one who complained the most about curry, and after eating the class monitor's lunch box, he could no longer accept the extremely monotonous curry.

Even if it's curry, at least try a few variations, right?

However, when Kobayashi's mother-in-law cooked curry, she didn't even change the brand of curry cubes. It was so perfunctory.

"If it was just that brat, I would just give him something to eat as long as he could fill his stomach, but now Shion-chan is also eating at home, and I can't let the precious daughter of the Shionomiya family become malnourished."

After all, Grandma Kobayashi accepted money from Uncle Shizumiya, so it is impossible for her to really suffer any injustice.

So on the days when Hei Yuming was in school, at noon, Grandma Kobayashi would order takeout and eat with Shizhigong, and she would also tell her not to tell Hei Yuming, so that Shizhigong could eat alone.

Grandma Kobayashi continued.

"So, if you, Hongxiang, stay at home in the future, you'll be the one to cook. I'll pay for your meals and also your salary..."

"Mother-in-law, you don't need the salary anymore. Just think of it as rent. Leave the food shopping to me."

"Well... I'll leave it all to you then."

So it was decided that Tashiro Hongxiang would be in charge of cooking from then on.

"It's over... finally, it's all over... The cycle of curry hot pot... ends now!"

Hei Yuming was deeply touched and he could eat well at home from now on.

Looking at Hei Yuming's exaggerated words, Grandma Kobayashi shook her head and laughed.

"Then let's just order takeout for today. I won a small profit today, so I can treat you guys to something good."

"Yeah! Long live Granny Kobayashi! I want meat sauce pizza!"

The shameless Hei Yuming was the first to make a request.

"You kid...where are the others?"

Of course, Zi Zhigong listens to Hei Yuming. What he wants to eat is more important than what she wants to eat.

"I'll just be pizza too."

Tashiro Hongxiang also suggested, nodding her chin.

"Pizzerias also sell pasta, right? Then I'll order two pastas, ink pasta and garlic cream pasta."

The reason for having two servings is because the two personalities have different preferences for food.

"Then let's order pizza and pasta... Seriously, don't let the elderly eat such high-calorie foods..."

Grandma Kobayashi seemed reluctant, but judging from the corner of her mouth, she was actually smiling.

She also likes to eat fast food, but she eats very little when she is alone because there is no such atmosphere and she feels lonely.

Since her husband passed away, Kobayashi Mika has become an elderly person living alone, and her home has become very deserted.