Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard-Chapter 835 - 494: The Man Who Abandoned Everything to Come to Hokkaido for His Wife (Part 2)

Chapter 835: Chapter 494: The Man Who Abandoned Everything to Come to Hokkaido for His Wife (Part 2)

"The process was very simple. I asked, and she gave. That’s how simply we began."

Wen Yinlin finished his ramen, picked up the fragrant tonkotsu broth, and drank it.

After a while, he put down the bowl and said to Uesugi Sakura again:

"We have known each other for three years. At first, we often went to bars with friends and greeted each other. Then we became familiar and got to know each other. We started talking, talking about life... Through her, I learned about my past world... I was a university student aiming for a doctorate, with studying as my whole life. She, on the other hand, was a singer with the goal of survival, with life as her everything.

"Surprisingly, we shared a common dream: to open a café."

Uesugi Sakura: "..."

"Before meeting her, I felt like a machine that only knew how to study. But because she was there, smiling and playing the guitar by my side, it seemed like the world was painted with vibrant colors... Uesugi, I wonder if you can understand that kind of feeling?"

His expression was complex. Although his tone was calm, between the lines, it was filled with memories of longing.

Uesugi Sakura could relate to this feeling. Hanamaru Hanabi running and smiling before him, her white dress warm and flowing under the sun, her sweet smile as she turned to look at him, also gave him that same feeling.

"We planned everything together, the next five years, ten, thirty, even planned for a lifetime! But just as we were about to move to the next stage, as I was preparing to propose to her, she... disappeared."

Wen Yinlin, recalling something he didn’t want to, grabbed his hair with both hands.

"Disappeared?" Uesugi Sakura asked in astonishment, "Wasn’t there any sign?"

"There were signs... Our café, which we gambled everything on to open, encountered a fire, an unexpected fire. Many things were lost then, including half of her eyesight... At the time, I was still participating in my postgraduate political theory exam. By the time I received the news and rushed there, she was already lying in the hospital, her eyes bandaged, unconscious...

"I... I... I can’t imagine what kind of situation she faced alone, she must have been helpless, desperately putting out the fire, she must have hoped for someone to help her, hoped that someone could prevent the fruits of her labor from being consumed by flames... And me? What was I doing then? I was taking an exam, my phone was off, blissfully unaware of her despair, even smug because I was doing well in the exam...

"Because of this matter, I didn’t continue with the rest of my postgraduate exams this year, planning to give up my studies temporarily to take care of her... But just when I made up my mind to accept everything and was ready to take her out of the hospital and propose to her the next day... she... suddenly disappeared!"

Wen Yinlin stared at the empty soup bowl for a long time, then sighed lightly.

"I never minded her, and I was willing to accept her future self. If I could have told her sooner, made her understand this sooner, maybe it wouldn’t have come to this."

Uesugi Sakura finished listening to this brief story.

Outside, only the ramen-eating uncle next door was discussing over drinks, while the atmosphere sank into silence.

He could understand Wen Yinlin’s feelings. Every word he said was filled with an unspeakable pain in his heart.

Uesugi Sakura now understood why this person was willing to give up everything, even if penniless, to come to another country to find someone.

It all boiled down to that one word.

After paying for the tonkotsu ramen, Uesugi Sakura looked at him and thought of the first time he saw him: a particularly lonely-looking young man, curled up by a snowy bench at night, hugging his legs, burying his head, holding a powerless phone, the foreign snow wetting his entire body.

Maybe he was moved by his sincerity, or maybe it was because his dream was also to open a café.

Uesugi Sakura couldn’t help but worry about this guy who didn’t understand anything yet still came to Hokkaido.

Wen Yinlin gave a wry smile, turned his head towards Uesugi Sakura, and said: "I often think, if only I were a bit more handsome."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because she often said she liked handsome guys... During the few months after she left, I’ve always been thinking if I were more handsome, maybe she would have been more reluctant to leave me?"

Uesugi Sakura interrupted him: "I don’t think that’s what she meant, she was probably just joking with you."

"Probably..." Wen Yinlin lowered his head again, his face and eyes reflecting a sense of defeat.

This blow was really big.

Thinking about it from another perspective, if Hanamaru Hanabi suddenly lost an eye to fire and silently disappeared from his side, Uesugi Sakura could not imagine what kind of mindset she would have in the coming days.

With her inferiority complex, Uesugi Sakura was really afraid she might do something desperate.

She was always someone so considerate of others, yet not treated kindly by the heavens...

Uesugi Sakura didn’t know what words to use to express such feelings.

Wen Yinlin, who came all the way to Hokkaido from China, probably felt the same way.

Uesugi Sakura patted his lonely back, saying: "Those who are sincere will eventually become a couple. As long as you keep going, there will be hope one day."

"Thank... thank you, Uesugi, I also understand, I can’t give up because if even I give up, who else would care about her? Her family, parents, younger siblings all died in that earthquake more than 10 years ago... I cannot give up, nor should I."

"Sakura-kun."

Outside in the pitch-black exterior, at the wooden entrance of the ramen shop, Hanamaru Hanabi standing under the lamplight, wearing the beret she usually wore, the scent of the snow-covered day enveloping her, with tiny snowflakes on her shoulders and hair.

Uesugi Sakura turned back at the sound.

"Hanabi, why did you come out?"

Hanamaru Hanabi walked in, approached Uesugi Sakura, first noticing the unfamiliar person sitting beside him, nodded slightly out of courtesy as a greeting.

"Sakura-kun, this is?"

"Uesugi..." Wen Yinlin was surprised, not for any other reason, just because of the almost flawless face of the girl before him, and her mesmerizing violet eyes.

"Just met, Wen Yinlin, he’s Chinese, you can call him Wen-san."

"Hello."

The dark Hanabi was a little different from Hanabi.

When facing strangers, she appeared much more generous.

Conversely, she also became much colder, less friendly and warm.

At least in Wen Yinlin’s view, she was a foreign beauty with a quite cold demeanor.

Hanamaru Hanabi gave a small reproachful look toward Uesugi Sakura: "Sakura-kun, why didn’t you answer my calls?"

"Huh?"

Uesugi Sakura finally took out his phone from his pocket.

Wow, sixteen missed calls.

"Sakura, kun." A questioning tone.

"I accidentally set it to silent." Uesugi Sakura showed her the phone screen, smiling as he spoke.

Hanamaru Hanabi turned her face away in slight annoyance, then said to him: "Mom and Aei are already at the restaurant, if Sakura-kun has no other matters, come quickly for dinner!"

With a huff, the girl’s silhouette disappeared at the door.

Uesugi Sakura felt her anger. It’s true, what girlfriend... no, wife wouldn’t be angry after calling sixteen times with no answer. Not to mention Dark Hanabi, even Little Hanabi would be mad.

Wen Yinlin finally had a chance to speak, he asked: "Uesugi, the one just now was...?"

"My wife."

Wen Yinlin was even more surprised, he hadn’t expected that the first time he saw such a young and beautiful woman, she would already be married: "You’re married?"

"Yes."

However, looking at Uesugi Sakura’s handsome face, and the expensive-looking silver watch and clothes, Wen Yinlin didn’t feel that huge difference anymore, especially because of the appearance of the beautiful girl, who, though he didn’t understand, obviously cared for him; he recalled his soon-to-be-married girlfriend.

Once, he too was this happy... Someone who cared, someone who called him for dinner at night...

He looked into the snowy night outside adorned with little points of light, feeling even more melancholic.

Ah Ling... Where on earth... are you?