novelraw Chapter 136: Nohara Family's Strategy! Father Nohara Ginnosuke is Extremely Solemn! Clarifying the Brothers' Division of Property!
Chapter 136: Nohara Family's Strategy! Father Nohara Ginnosuke is Extremely Solemn! Clarifying the Brothers' Division of Property!
When the Toyota Land Cruiser returned to the courtyard of the Nohara family, the warm and joyful laughter in the old house was like boiling water, bubbling with happiness.
The car doors opened, and the two brothers stepped out one after the other.
"You two... daring to drive after drinking?!"
However, what greeted them was not a warm embrace, but Nohara Tsuru's roar, full of lingering fear and reproach.
This usually gentle mother was currently like a lioness whose reverse scale had been touched. Hands on her hips, those eyes that always carried a loving smile were burning with an anger sufficient to turn both her sons to ashes.
"Especially you! Semashi!" Her firepower was accurately aimed at the blockhead eldest son who was still giggling sillily: "You are now a 'President' with status and face, how can you still be so ignorant?! What if... what if something happened? What do you want me and your dad to do?! What do you want Ikuna to do?!"
This reprimand full of "motherly" worry acted like a perfectly timed basin of cold water, instantly extinguishing the slight lightheadedness in Nohara Semashi's heart caused by alcohol.
His tanned face instantly flushed the color of pig liver. He hurriedly lowered his head like a child who had done something wrong, awkwardly rubbing the corner of his clothes. He mumbled incoherently in apology: "Mom... I... I was wrong..."
"Alright, alright, Tsuru, say a few words less."
Nohara Ginnosuke on the side, however, acted like the most competent "pig teammate" right now. He held his wine glass and swayed over. On that old face, not only was there not a shred of worry, but it was overflowing with a pride conveying "my son truly has guts". He patted his eldest son's shoulder heavily, his eyebrows dancing proudly up and down: "What's this? Think back to those years, your old man here could get dead drunk and still ride a bicycle in the dark from the town back to the village! The men of our Nohara family, our alcohol tolerance is just like our courage, absolutely top-notch!"
"Shut your mouth right now!" Nohara Tsuru glared at him fiercely. The warning flavor in that gaze was sufficient to make any alcohol evaporate instantly.
"Mom, don't blame big brother, it was I who told him to drive." Nohara Hiroshi smiled and stepped forward, gently pulling down his mother's hand that was still raised mid-air. His voice was gentle, yet it carried a stabilizing power: "Rest assured, big brother drives very steadily. Besides, in this rural area, you can't even see a ghost's shadow at night;
it's very safe."
"You, ah, you!" Nohara Tsuru looked at this youngest son of hers who could always make crooked logic sound perfectly reasonable, and that anger ultimately transformed into an exasperated sigh.
She heartachingly straightened his slightly wrinkled collar, that gaze still unable to bear scolding him: "Alright, alright, hurry inside and sit. The matter... is settled, right?"
"Of course!"
Before Nohara Hiroshi could open his mouth, Nohara Semashi, like a child eager to show off his perfect score exam paper to a teacher, violently pushed out his chest. That tanned face was incomparably excited!
"Mom! You don't know! Today... today was simply like a dream!"
He was so excited that those large, callus-covered hands waved wildly in the air, attempting to use the most exaggerated body language to describe that fantasy journey today that was sufficient to overturn all his cognition.
"That Chairman Suzuki of the JA, and Branch Manager Oshima of Akita Bank, normally those are big shots in our city whose words carry absolute weight! But today, in front of Hiroshi, every single one of them was like... like mice seeing a cat! So polite! So respectful!"
He paused and glanced at his younger brother beside him who was calmly sipping sake. Those simple eyes were filled with irrepressible awe and admiration, and his voice rose by an octave:
"You guys didn't see! When Hiroshi took out his pay slip, that Branch Manager Oshima's eyeballs almost popped out! He finalized it right on the spot, approving a three hundred million loan for us! Three hundred million! And the interest rate... the interest rate is even lower than the interest we get from depositing money!"
"Boom——!"
Three hundred million!
This number, like a true atomic bomb, exploded thunderously within the three simple little hearts of Nohara Tsuru, Misae, and Ikuna!
"Three... three hundred million?!" The teacup in Nohara Tsuru's hand dropped onto the tatami with a "clatter", spilling scalding hot tea all over the floor, yet she remained completely unaware. Only undisguised shock and sluggishness remained on her face at this moment.
"Hiroshi-kun... you... how much money can you earn in one month after all?" In Misae's large eyes, which had long turned into dollar signs, undisguised fanatical light flashed. She hugged Nohara Hiroshi's arm like a little koala bear hugging a golden thigh. Her voice was so sweet it could make one sick.
"I know this!" Nohara Semashi seized the conversation again. That posture was as if he wasn't talking about his younger brother's income, but announcing that he had hit the jackpot in the lottery.
He extended one finger, and under their increasingly burning gazes, used an almost oath-like, solemn tone to articulate word by word:
"Ten million! Yen! Every month!"
"..."
The entire room instantly plunged into a bizarre, pin-drop silence.
Nohara Tsuru felt as if her brain had been thoroughly turned into mush by a high-speed blender!
She stared blankly at her youngest son who was sipping tea with a calm and indifferent expression. That heart, already somewhat weathered by reality, almost stopped beating at this moment!
"Hi... Hiroshi... you... you couldn't possibly be... robbing banks, right?" Her voice became somewhat hoarse due to extreme shock, and in her gaze was even a trace of an instinctual fear belonging to a mother concerned her child had strayed onto the wrong path.
"Mom, where is your mind going to?"
Amidst this dead silence filled with shock and absurdity, Nohara Hiroshi's voice was as calm as an unfathomably deep lake.
He set down the teacup, looked at his family members whose expressions were thoroughly stupefied, and a dumbfounded helplessness surfaced on his face.
"This ten million is the sum total of my salary at the television station, the bonuses from my three projects, plus the royalties and manuscript fees from my two mangas. Every single cent is perfectly clean."
He paused, and under their faces that still had "I don't believe it" written all over them, slowly tossed out the ultimate trump card sufficient to completely reassure them.
"Moreover, this is merely the smaller portion."
"What?!" Everyone was even more shocked. This was still the smaller portion!?
"The true main event is the year-end ad revenue shares and the television station's extra performance bonuses." The corners of Nohara Hiroshi's mouth curled up into a calm and indifferent smile. That posture was as if what he was about to talk about wasn't money, but a trivial matter.
"If no accidents occur, at the end of this year, this dividend alone will probably... be around two to three hundred million."
"..."
The entire room thoroughly lost its voice.
This time, even that Nohara Ginnosuke who normally feared neither heaven nor earth and prided himself on having "seen the big world", seemed as if he had been struck directly by a thunderbolt spanning heaven and earth!
He sat blankly in place. All expressions had faded from his usually sly and slightly perverted old face, leaving only a numbness and emptiness that comes from being thoroughly crushed by absolute astronomical figures.
Two... two to three hundred million?!
He felt that all the alcohol he had drunk in his entire life, added together, wasn't as intoxicating as these few words at this moment!
"Hiroshi-kun..." Misae's large eyes had completely lost their focus.
She felt that what she was hugging wasn't the arm of a man.
But rather, a walking, breathing money-printing machine!
"This... how is this possible?!" Nohara Tsuru, this traditional housewife, finally recovered a shred of reason from that shock sufficient to stop a heart. Her voice was full of unbelievable trembling: "The television station... how could they possibly pay you so much money?!"
"Mom, you don't understand this."
Nohara Hiroshi patiently explained. His tone was like that of the most professional financial analyst explaining the most basic business logic to his clients: "Our TV Tokyo is different from other companies. To incentivize frontline producers like us, the station has clear regulations. For any successful project, a portion of the ad revenue and merchandising profits it generates will be taken out as bonuses and distributed to the core creative team."
"As for me." He spread his hands. That posture was calm and indifferent, yet carried a trace of Versailles bragging: "'Yamishibai', 'Tales of the Unusual', 'Kasou Taishou'—these three projects, I happen to be the Chief Producer, Chief Director, and Chief Planner for all of them."
"Therefore, when it comes to year-end dividends, while others get one share, I take three."
This explanation acted like a key, instantly unlocking the mental shackles of everyone present, whose imaginations had long been limited by poverty!
They finally understood.
So it turned out that in this world, there really were people who could rely on talent to earn wealth that ordinary mortals like them couldn't achieve in several lifetimes!
"As expected of my son! As expected of Nohara Ginnosuke's son!"
Amidst this dead silence filled with shock and awe, Nohara Ginnosuke's demonic laughter erupted without warning like a sudden clap of thunder!
He jumped up abruptly from the tatami. That old face, which had just been numb, was now overflowing with an ecstasy nearing madness!
Like a male lion who had been suppressed for half a lifetime, he excitedly paced back and forth in this small Japanese room. Those two thick eyebrows, practically identical to his son's, danced up and down proudly, like two caterpillars tripping on drugs!
"I knew it! I knew it! The son of my Nohara Ginnosuke is absolutely no ordinary creature! Hahahaha! Two to three hundred million! By that time, our Nohara family will be the richest family in all of Omagari City, no! In all of Akita Prefecture!"
Laughing, he slapped his chest heavily. His voice was so loud it almost lifted the roof: "By then, let's see who else dares to say we are country bumpkins! Let's see who else dares to look down on our Nohara family!"
That arrogant appearance of a petty person finding success caused Nohara Tsuru on the side to shake her head, both angry and amused.
But those eyes of hers, already etched with fine lines by the years yet still clear and bright, were similarly filled with immense pride.
The entire Nohara family was immersed in a warm atmosphere, brimming with hope and longing.
However, amidst this joyous and harmonious atmosphere, Nohara Ginnosuke seemed to suddenly recall some immensely important matter.
The ecstasy on his face instantly retracted.
Instead, he surprisingly frowned, looking at Nohara Semashi and Nohara Hiroshi, these two sons, his expression turning solemn.
And as he pondered, he grew increasingly serious.
Making everyone present sense something.
"Ginnosuke?" Nohara Tsuru opened her mouth, wanting to inquire.
But Nohara Ginnosuke cleared his throat and waved a hand at Nohara Tsuru and Misae: "Alright, alright, it's getting late. Tsuru, take our daughter-in-law to the inner room to rest first. I... I still have some serious business to discuss with the two men of our family."
"Serious business?" Hearing this, undisguised suspicion surfaced in those eyes of Nohara Tsuru that were always gentle as water.
She looked at this old man of hers who normally did nothing proper besides drinking and looking at beautiful women. The distrust in her gaze almost spilled out.
But when her gaze touched the rare, deeply solemn expression in her husband's small eyes, she paused slightly, and then, as if she understood something.
She nodded and pulled the somewhat confused Misae into the inner room: "Let's go, let the men chat among themselves."
As the Shoji door was slowly closed, the entire living room instantly fell silent.
In the air, only the clearly audible breathing of the three people and the tireless chirping of autumn insects outside the window remained.
Nohara Ginnosuke didn't speak immediately.
He merely walked to the family altar, respectfully lit three sticks of incense, pressed his hands together, and bowed deeply three times to the ancestral tablet that was already covered in a thin layer of incense ash.
That posture was unprecedentedly pious.
Only after finishing all this did he slowly turn around and sit down cross-legged again in front of the low table.
He looked at these two sons before him, one steady as a mountain, the other wise as the sea. All the unruliness had faded from that old face usually brimming with slyness and perversion, leaving only a deep gravity belonging to a father.
"Alright."
He slowly exhaled a breath of murky air. It was as if that breath carried away all the unruliness and frivolity of half his life.
"Now, it is time to talk about the true, serious business of our Nohara family."
The warm and joyful atmosphere in the living room was at this moment instantly replaced by an unprecedented, almost solidifying solemnity.
Nohara Hiroshi's gaze, which had been slightly lazy due to slight drunkenness, instantly became clearer.
He looked at his old man who normally did nothing but drink and look at beautiful women, not doing a single proper thing. Actually, at this moment, a deep solemnity akin to a family head discussing matters emerged on that weather-beaten old face.
He knew the subsequent conversation probably wouldn't be relaxed.
Nohara Semashi even subconsciously straightened his back. All the silly smiles had faded from his tanned face.
He looked at his father's small eyes, which appeared exceptionally bright under the dim yellow light. That simple, honest heart uncontrollably began to pound violently.
"Dad, please speak." His voice was steady, like the most solid earth in autumn.
Nohara Ginnosuke didn't immediately speak.
He just slowly fished out a crumpled pack of Seven Stars cigarettes from the pocket of his undershirt that had already been washed until it was somewhat white.
He pulled out a cigarette and stuck it in his mouth.
Using that large hand, rendered somewhat rough by years of labor, he struck a match.
"Sss——"
A tiny flame danced in those profound eyes of his, illuminating the deep laugh lines on his face, and also illuminating that deep anxiety of a father that had long been weathered by life until it resembled hard stone.
Nohara Ginnosuke took a deep drag.
The spicy smoke swirled in his weather-beaten lungs. When he exhaled, the wreathed smoke made his already serious face look even more blurred, and also increasingly full of majesty.
"Money."
Nohara Ginnosuke slowly spat out this heavy word, sufficient to cause any familial affection to sour.
"Our Nohara family, now, has money."
His voice wasn't loud, but like a massive boulder thrown into a calm lake, it stirred up massive waves in the minds of his two sons.
"Semashi, you said earlier that our Kabushiki Gaisha will have two hundred acres of land by the end of the year. Hiroshi, you also said that your year-end dividend can be two to three hundred million."
He paused, those small eyes sweeping sharply like a falcon across these two sons before him who had already exceeded his scope of understanding.
"I've lived for over fifty years in this life, and all the money I've seen added together doesn't even amount to a fraction of what you two earn in a year. I am very happy, truly, I am proud of you."
His voice carried pride.
But quickly, that pride was replaced by a deeper worry for the future that belonged to a father.
"However, I am even more happy, but also more afraid."
He forcefully crushed the cigarette butt in his hand into the ashtray. That gaze, like an old man who had seen countless rises, falls, honors, and disgraces in the long river of history, was full of the wisdom of seeing through everything.
"Since ancient times, because of this thing called money, have there been few instances of brothers turning against each other and father and son becoming enemies? No need to look far, just look at the Yamamoto family in the neighboring village. His two sons, fighting over those few acres of poor land, beat each other until their heads bled, and to this day they vow never to interact with one another until death."
"Our Nohara family, right now, it's not a few acres of poor land. It's hundreds of acres of land, and in the future, it will definitely be a family fortune of hundreds of millions."
"Right now, you are full-blood brothers, your relationship is good, better than anything. But what about ten years from now? Twenty years from now? When you all have your own families, your own children, human hearts... will change."
These heartfelt words, like the sharpest knife, accurately sliced open the veil of warmth wrapped in familial affection and coziness, laying that cruelest, most realistic problem bloodily before everyone.
Nohara Hiroshi fell silent.
He knew that what his old man said was the truth.
It was also the eternal, unchanging tragedy of human nature that had been staged in this world for thousands of years.
But on Nohara Semashi's tanned face, it instantly flushed the color of pig liver!
He abruptly stood up, his robust body trembling slightly due to extreme agitation. In those simple eyes, a monstrous anger of being misunderstood by his closest family erupted!
"Dad!"
His voice was resonant, full of unquestionable resoluteness: "What kind of words are you saying?! Am I, Nohara Semashi, the kind of person who would fall out with my own blood brother over money?!"
He pointed at his chest. That voice was like a battle drum struck for his own innocence!
"This Kabushiki Gaisha, from beginning to end, was held up by Hiroshi alone! The first startup capital, he provided! The money to buy the car, he provided! Even that three hundred million loan, he used his own reputation and income to guarantee it for us! What about me? Besides exerting some physical effort, what else have I, Nohara Semashi, done?!"
"I'm just a figurehead! I'm just a lucky guy who benefited from his younger brother's light!"
He paused. All the anger on his resolute face had faded, leaving only a heartfelt, deep unease toward this massive favor.
"In the beginning, when Hiroshi said he would give me fifty percent of the shares, I... I already felt unworthy of it. Now that the company is getting bigger and bigger, I feel even less at ease in my heart. I... I can't take advantage of my younger brother this much!"
As he spoke, he turned around and looked at his younger brother, who had remained calm from beginning to end. That gaze was full of the indisputable decisiveness belonging to an older brother.
"Hiroshi, listen to me. Starting tomorrow, no, starting right now! The shares of this Kabushiki Gaisha must be changed! I... I at most want ten percent! The rest, all goes to you! It's what you deserve!"
These words were spoken powerfully and resonantly.
Like a giant boulder thrown into stagnant water, they instantly shattered completely that heavy gravity born from suspicion!
Nohara Ginnosuke watched this blockhead eldest son of his, who although seeming dense, was clearer than anyone when facing issues of right and wrong. In those small eyes, a trace of undisguised relief finally surfaced.
"Very good, Semashi!" He nodded in satisfaction.
However, amidst this warm atmosphere of "brothers living in harmony", Nohara Hiroshi's voice rang out helplessly.
He truly was very helpless.
"There's no need, big brother."
Nohara Hiroshi set down his wine glass, looking at these two family members before him, one agitated and the other relieved, a dumbfounded helplessness surfacing on his face.
"Fifty percent is fifty percent. This is what we agreed upon initially, no need to change it."
"No way!" Nohara Semashi didn't even think about it and stiffened his neck to retort: "This isn't fair! I..."
"Big brother."
Nohara Hiroshi interrupted him. He stood up and walked down in front of his older brother.
"Listen to me."
His voice was gentle, yet it carried an indisputable power.
"This Kabushiki Gaisha, to me, is not a tool to make money. Money, to me, is just a number. In Tokyo, for any project I casually do, the money earned is far more than the profit of this farm in a year."
These words, exuding a Versailles aura, smashed heavily into the hearts of Nohara Semashi and Nohara Ginnosuke like an invisible heavy hammer.
They knew this kid was speaking the truth.
"The reason why I wanted to establish this Kabushiki Gaisha, and the reason why I want to purchase land regardless of cost."
Nohara Hiroshi paused, a profound insight into the future flashing in those calm eyes.
"Is because I need roots. A stable rear guard that can allow our Nohara family to truly establish roots on this piece of land."
"No matter how prosperous Tokyo is, it is just a castle built on sand. Before long, an unprecedented storm will arrive. By that time, all prosperity will turn into bubbles. Only the land beneath our feet is the eternal reality."
"So, big brother."
He looked at his older brother, who had long been shocked beyond belief by his words. That gaze was filled with an indisputable entrustment.
"I handed this Kabushiki Gaisha to you, not for you to work for me. I wanted you to become the guardian of our Nohara family on this land. I need you, on my behalf, to guard the final path of retreat for our home."
These heartfelt words acted like a flash of lightning tearing through chaos, instantly illuminating Nohara Semashi's simple and honest heart!
"I..." He opened his mouth. That simple, honest heart had long been thoroughly filled with massive emotion and a sense of responsibility.
However, right at this moment, Nohara Ginnosuke's sigh full of vicissitudes sounded inappropriately again.
"Sigh..."
He lit another cigarette. That old face, which had just been full of relief, was once again shrouded in a deep solemnity belonging to a father.
"Hiroshi, I understand everything you're saying. However, human hearts are separated by a layer of flesh."
His voice carried a desolation of having seen through the impermanence of the world: "Right now, your brotherhood runs deep, better than anything. However, later on, when you have children, and your children have children... this human heart will always change. I do not want our Nohara family's descendants to fight like enemies over this bit of family fortune after I die."
These words were like the coldest basin of water, instantly extinguishing the blazing fire that had just ignited in Nohara Semashi's heart.
He looked at that unspeakable worry in his father's murky eyes, and then looked at his younger brother beside him, who although calm, also had a trace of helplessness flashing deep within his eyes.
His simple and honest heart, at this moment, was thoroughly crushed by an unprecedented massive force named "responsibility".
He knew he had to do something.
He had to do something that could completely reassure his father and his younger brother.
Thus, under the astonished gazes of Nohara Hiroshi and Nohara Ginnosuke, Nohara Semashi, this simple farmer, made a shocking move sufficient to move anyone.
He abruptly stood up and straightened his crisp Armani suit in front of that low table.
Then, his knees bent, and with a "thump", he kneeled heavily onto the cold tatami!
A standard Dogeza full of respect and resoluteness!
"Dad!"
His voice was no longer honest and foolish, no longer clumsy, but full of unquestionable absolute responsibility belonging to a man!
"You don't need to say anything more, I... understand everything."
He raised his head, two clusters of raging fire sufficient to start a prairie fire burning in those simple eyes!
"Starting today, I, Nohara Semashi, voluntarily relinquish all shares of the 'Nohara Agricultural Corporation'! I don't want a single cent of this fifty percent share! I request that you temporarily take it under your name!"
"In the future, whether this company makes or loses money, whether it splits or merges, it will all depend entirely on one word from you and my younger brother Hiroshi!"
"I, Nohara Semashi, absolutely will not have a second word!"
These words acted like the loudest bell of an oath struck for his own innocence, and also for the future of this family!
"Big brother..."
Nohara Hiroshi was completely stunned.
He looked at his big brother who, while appearing dense, was more responsible than anyone else at critical moments. That heart, already somewhat weathered by the memories of two lifetimes, was at this moment thoroughly submerged by an unprecedented, massive warm current named "familial affection".
He smiled wryly, shook his head, stepped forward, and tried to help his older brother up.
"Big brother, what are you doing? Quickly get up. I trust you, I've always trusted you. Dad... he's just overthinking."
However, Nohara Semashi remained motionless, like a stone statue rooted in the earth.
He merely looked at his father, his gaze full of unquestionable resoluteness.
"Dad, if you don't agree, I... I won't get up."
Watching this scene before him, Nohara Ginnosuke's heart belonging to an old father had long been thoroughly filled with massive emotion and relief.
He exhaled a long breath of murky air. It was as if that breath carried away all the worries of his half-lifetime.
He stepped forward and personally helped up his eldest son, who was kneeling on the ground and was a full head taller than himself.
"Good... good boy."
He patted his eldest son's shoulder heavily. In those small eyes, a layer of moist mist uncontrollably welled up.
He turned his head and looked at his youngest son who still had a helpless face. On that weather-beaten old face, an old fox-like smile full of relief finally bloomed once more.
"Hiroshi, don't blame me."
His voice carried the wisdom of someone who had seen through the impermanence of the world: "Some ugly words are better spoken upfront than waiting until faces are torn later. Our Nohara family can be poor, can be worthless, but absolutely cannot drift apart because of money."
"Dad, I know." Nohara Hiroshi nodded. Those clear eyes were filled with deep respect for this father who seemed unreliable but actually loved this family more than anyone else.
"Alright, alright! The serious business is finished!"
Nohara Ginnosuke slapped his thigh hard. That old face which had just been full of majesty instantly switched back to its signature smile full of perversion and impropriety.
He threw his arms around the shoulders of his two sons, those two thick eyebrows proudly dancing up and down, like two caterpillars tripping on drugs.
"Come, come, come! Drink! Drink! Today is a great, joyous day for our Nohara family! We won't go home until we're drunk!"
That demonic laughter echoed once again in this warm old house full of the traces of time.
Nohara Hiroshi also smiled softly.
Starting tonight, this family would no longer have any barriers and suspicions, leaving only absolute cohesion of unity and solidarity against outsiders.
This, was exactly the solidest rear guard he truly wanted, sufficient to withstand any storm in the future!
(End of Chapter)