Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard-Chapter 834 - 494: The Man Who Abandoned Everything to Go to Hokkaido in Search of His Wife

Chapter 834: Chapter 494: The Man Who Abandoned Everything to Go to Hokkaido in Search of His Wife

"Looking for a wife?"

"Well... not exactly a wife, since we haven’t married yet, but she has agreed to my..."

I didn’t expect that he was actually here because of a breakup.

Uesugi Sakura looked him over again and asked puzzledly, "You... a college student, spending all your savings to come here from China to Hokkaido, even preparing only a week’s worth of money for food, traveling across several city streets, just to find a girlfriend?"

"Quite ridiculous, right..."

Wen Yinlin chuckled self-deprecatingly, his down jacket covered in snow, combined with a tone that seemed like a sigh, made his current situation appear quite bleak.

"...In China, there’s a type of person online called a ’bootlicker’. I used to watch videos of these people for fun, but when it happened to me, I realized that people just haven’t met someone they truly like. If it’s not true love, who would be willing to travel so far to be a ’bootlicker’?"

Uesugi Sakura understood this term, and his remark seemed more like a tease.

"Ah, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Wen Yinlin, ’Wen’ as in culture, ’Yinlin’ as in the silver grove of ginkgo trees."

"Uesugi Sakura, Uesugi Kenshin, Sakura is a rather rare character, originally meaning an oar for rowing."

"Zhuo? With a wood radical and the excellent ’zhuo’?"

"That’s the traditional character."

"Sakura? With a wood radical and Zhai? That’s really uncommon, though there’s a line in ’The Songs of Chu’ that goes ’osmanthus oar and orchid leaves.’

Uesugi Sakura didn’t expect the other person to recognize the character ’Sakura’, clearly a well-educated individual.

After hearing his name, Wen Yinlin turned around and searched himself for something consumable with a social attribute. He pulled out a pack of Chunghwa cigarettes, opened it, and asked, "Would you like a cigarette, Uesugi?"

"No, that’s not necessary," Uesugi Sakura waved his hand to refuse, "I don’t smoke." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Ah, I see." Perhaps thinking he had nothing to offer, and with the items in his hand being shakingly cold, Wen Yinlin’s expression appeared somewhat embarrassed, and his actions became much more restrained.

It was still snowing, and the time had passed 7 PM.

The weather became even colder at night.

"Alright, let me take you to get a bowl of ramen." Uesugi Sakura said after hesitating for a while.

"Ah? I... it’s very embarrassing... I don’t have anything to give you..."

"You don’t need to give me anything, a bowl of ramen costs at most 1000 yen, for me, it’s pocket change." Uesugi Sakura tried to appear affluent, to reduce the other person’s sense of burden.

"Then... thank you..."

Accepting the goodwill of others for no reason made Wen Yinlin blush slightly, but he knew that this was not the time to worry about pride. He had been hungry here for two days, and his stay at the guesthouse had already expired.

Uesugi Sakura led Wen Yinlin to a private ramen shop they had passed earlier.

The ramen shop had counter-style seating, with a space that felt quite Japanese in its compactness, but it didn’t feel cramped. Instead, the combination of lighting and ramen aroma made it feel very cozy.

An old lady was bustling around inside, along with a young waiter, probably her grandson helping her out.

Uesugi Sakura ordered a tonkotsu ramen for Wen Yinlin and sat next to him.

"Aren’t you eating, Uesugi?"

"Not right now."

Wen Yinlin was actually a very shy person. Often, he kept words to himself, but having left his hometown and come to this unfamiliar Hokkaido, having wandered around different towns for half a month, not only did he run out of savings, but he also ran out of phone credit.

He didn’t understand Japanese, so everything here seemed bewildering.

Now, having met someone who spoke Chinese and even offered him ramen, he poured out his heart like an opened chest:

"I first met her at a bar."

"Your... wife?" Uesugi Sakura watched him devour his noodles.

"Let’s use ’girlfriend’ for now... she merely accepted my proposal, hardly a wife... Honestly, I feel a bit unworthy of her."

The steam from the ramen clouded up Wen Yinlin’s glasses with a thick white mist, making him look like a down-and-out scholar.

"Sometimes I feel like a fool, having believed those online rumors that women are like beasts, demanding a dowry of hundreds of thousands, eating away after marriage, having a princess syndrome, and doing no housework... But the reality is, those who talk irresponsibly often have married lives as happy as can be.

"My perspective changed after meeting her.

"She’s a singer, a small one, performing in bars with a daily pay of no more than a hundred yuan. The first time I saw her, she was playing her guitar in a dark corner, the chaotic neon lights failing to illuminate her face. That scene etched her into my memory... Can you guess how I first struck up a conversation with her?"

Uesugi Sakura thought for a moment, "Did she play a song you liked? Or did you request a song she liked?"

"No," Wen Yinlin said with a smile as he ate a mouthful of noodles, "I lost a game with my classmates and was forced to take a dare to talk to her."

"..."

Indeed, everyone’s first meetings are bizarre and varied.

With a nostalgic tone, Wen Yinlin recalled, "Her name is Zhai Weiling... The dare was to get a girl’s WeChat. In a bar, it’s most convenient to go to the dance floor for a WeChat, since most girls would give it to you. But I wasn’t confident, nor did I dare ask those seemingly open girls, so I approached her, who wasn’t very noticeable.