Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard-Chapter 836 - 495: Dinner in Snowy Hakodate

The melancholic topic didn’t last long.

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

The man refused several times, but Uesugi Sakura was firm, reminding him to take care of himself because of his wife’s situation. Only then did he accept the money from Uesugi Sakura, which was a few tens of thousands of yen.

"Contact information... you should at least leave one."

Wen Yinlin spoke to Uesugi Sakura with a grateful yet suppressed expression.

Uesugi Sakura understood this emotion well and thought that "a great favor is beyond words of thanks" was a perfect summary.

Outside the ramen shop, snowflakes were falling, and there was the sound of compacted snow underneath their footsteps.

"Continuing like this won’t work, what if you can’t find her in the end?" Uesugi Sakura asked, "What kind of visa did you get?"

"Tourist visa, three years," Wen Yinlin replied.

"Then you can stay here for up to 180 days each year, which is plenty of time, but the money is a problem."

"Can I stay here and work?"

Uesugi Sakura glanced at him, confirming that he had really come to Japan looking for someone without any prior understanding, "With a tourist visa, you can’t work. If you’re caught, you’ll be deported back to your country."

"I see..." Wen Yinlin was at a loss for words, clearly not having thought about what to do once he spent all the few tens of thousands of yen he had just borrowed.

No money, can’t go home.

No money, nothing to eat.

In such a situation, the only option is to take illegal work.

But illegal work... who can really understand the ins and outs of that world?

This is why Uesugi Sakura thought it was incredibly brave of this guy to come to a foreign country to find someone with no support at all.

...

...

After bidding farewell to Wen Yinlin, Uesugi Sakura followed the location information sent by Hanabi and arrived at a sukiyaki restaurant named Azoli.

The classic Western-style decor gave off a refined vibe, even the tables and chairs were perfectly square and round.

The difference between a gourmet restaurant and a regular one largely lies in the attention to detail in the decor, always maintaining cleanliness down to the smallest detail.

Standing in front of such a restaurant, Uesugi Sakura recalled the privately-run ramen shop where a bowl of tonkotsu ramen was just 500 yen.

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

Come to think of it, Hanabi’s family never really lacked money since childhood.

Marrying her, she always remained a little heiress.

Both of them weren’t concerned about spending, even if a cantaloupe cost tens of thousands of yen and a bunch of grapes cost five Noguchi Hideyo notes.

Thinking about Wen Yinlin shivering on the street due to lack of money, Uesugi Sakura couldn’t help but lament: It’s great to have money.

Walking into the store, he climbed the wooden stairs to the second floor. Uesugi Sakura looked at the numbered rooms, walked down the corridor, and found the Japanese-style private room reserved by his mother in advance.

"nini~!"

It was little Aei who spotted him first, running over to hug one of his legs.

"Sakura, you’ve been out walking for so long? Hanabi called you sixteen times, you know."

Uesugi’s wife’s gaze shifted to Uesugi Sakura standing at the doorway, her tone carried a questioning feel, almost as if Hanamaru Hanabi was her biological daughter.

"I accidentally pressed my phone to silent mode."

Uesugi Sakura could only sigh inwardly, knowing all too well that his mother always saw Hanamaru Hanabi as having "married down" to him, urging him to take care of Hanabi as a supportive husband.

It’s natural that she favored Hanabi, as anyone would love such a wonderful daughter-in-law.

Of course, except in morning dramas.

"Don’t say it like that, maybe Sakura had something going on and couldn’t answer the phone."

Mrs. Hanamaru smiled as she spoke, turning the lying Hanamaru Hanami over so she would notice the new toy in front of her.

Indeed, mothers always speak for outsiders.

Uesugi Sakura walked over to the cushion beside Hanamaru Hanabi, propping himself up on one knee to sit down.

They were having Japanese sukiyaki today, as Mrs. Hanamaru put it, there’s nothing more appropriate than having sukiyaki in the winter.

The snowy scene outside the second-floor window, with the street in the diagonal night scene, provided a unique flavor within the small room.

"What a pity, the dads won’t get to eat this."

"They seem to always be busy," Uesugi’s wife muttered.

"There’s no helping it; dads have to work to support their families," said Mrs. Hanamaru, placing her hands on the table in front of the vegetables and fruits, her beautiful purple eyes looking across at Uesugi Sakura, "Sakura, you better not become a policeman or anything like that, busy all day long. There’s really no need to be that busy; we have more than enough from what we have to last a lifetime."

"Network engineer too," Uesugi’s wife quickly added, "Your dad worked so many years and still didn’t make as much as I did back when I was a restaurant manager."

Back then, to prepare for pregnancy, Uesugi’s wife resolutely chose to quit her job.

From what Uesugi Sakura knew, the family actually had enough money, and with his father’s salary, they had savings for future needs.

If that’s how it was for Uesugi Family, then Hanamaru Family was even better off.

Initially thought of as rural folks from Shikoku coming to Tokyo, they were unexpectedly middle-class now.

Uesugi Sakura truly needed to thank his father, for if it weren’t for his efforts in Tokyo, he wouldn’t have the lifestyle he has today.

Playing with Hanamaru Hanami, Uesugi Shin suddenly crawled over, her big eyes constantly watching him. Uesugi Sakura reached out to hug her body and sat her down in his lap.