Chapter 106: Remaking Hiroshi Nohara! Promoting Elder Brother To Farm Owner!
“Ahem!” Tsuru Nohara finally couldn’t listen anymore. She coughed heavily twice and glared fiercely at her own old man. The warning in that look was enough to freeze even the cold currents of Siberia.
Ginnosuke Nohara instantly shivered. His smug expression froze on his face. He quickly picked up the tea cup, pretending he hadn’t said anything just now, just a quiet, handsome man immersed in the tea ceremony.
The awkward atmosphere was instantly resolved by Tsuru Nohara with a gentleness and enthusiasm that was almost innate.
“Misae-chan, quick, try this. This sea urchin sushi is the signature dish of this shop. Hiroshi, that child, always said on the phone that he wanted to bring us here to eat it.” She picked up a piece of golden yellow, plump-grained sea urchin gunkan roll and placed it on the plate in front of Misae.
“And this one, wagyu beef. See if you like it.”
“This is sweet shrimp. Girls all like eating sweet things.”
Hiroshi Nohara watched from the side, completely dumbfounded.
He watched with his own eyes as his own mom, who in Omagari City, Akita Prefecture, could argue with the neighbor aunt over the price of a single green onion in the vegetable market for three hundred rounds, had now transformed into the most elegant and considerate noblewoman.
And Misae, who was always like a little sun full of vitality at home, had become a demure and quiet young lady from a good family, who only blushed and said “Thank you, Aunt” and “Aunt, you eat too.”
The two women hit it off immediately, as if they had endless things to talk about.
From the recent weather in Tokyo to this year’s rice harvest in Akita Prefecture; from Misae’s funny stories at university to Tsuru Nohara’s unique pickle recipe from her youth.
The atmosphere was so harmonious that Hiroshi Nohara even had the illusion that he and his father elder brother were the three superfluous outsiders in this private room.
He looked at his own mom’s genuinely fond gaze and Misae’s increasingly charming and alluring smile after relaxing, and a warm current suddenly surged in his heart.
In the memories of his previous life, the relationship between Misae and mother-in-law Tsuru Nohara in the plot was famously good.
Every time they returned to the old home in Akita, the two were as close as biological mother and daughter, leaving him, the biological son, and her husband out in the cold.
This destined mother-in-law and daughter-in-law bond had been predetermined from their first meeting.
This made Hiroshi Nohara quite satisfied.
……
After a dinner where host and guests enjoyed themselves fully, night had already deepened.
The Toyota Crown Majesta steadily parked at the entrance of a hotel that looked expensive just from the outside.
Hiroshi Nohara led his family and smoothly opened two adjacent luxury suites at the front desk.
He handed one of the room cards to elder brother Hiroshi Nohara: “Elder Brother, one room for you, one for Father and Mother. Rest well tonight.”
“Oh… oh…” Hiroshi Nohara held the exquisitely made room card, his palms sweating, feeling like what he held wasn’t a card, but a stack of walking Fukuzawa Yukichi.
Ginnosuke Nohara, under the brilliant crystal chandelier in the hotel lobby, was drunk with a flushed face, his eyes flickering with eager light.
He put his arm around his eldest son’s shoulder, lowered his voice, and said in a tone full of an experienced person’s wisdom: “Hiroshi, in a bit… you sleep first. Your old man plans to go out and experience Tokyo’s nightlife, to see how big this great Tokyo really is!”
As he spoke, his lecherous little eyes began to sparkle with excitement.
“You shameless old thing! Where do you still want to go?!”
A low roar full of suppressed anger sounded in his ear.
Ginnosuke Nohara stiffly turned his head, only to see his own wife Tsuru Nohara with a dark face standing behind him. Those eyes that were always gentle like water now burned with flames hot enough to incinerate everything.
“I… I’m not going anywhere! I’ll… I’ll go back to the room and sleep!” Ginnosuke Nohara’s drunkenness instantly sobered by half.
“Too late!”
Tsuru Nohara grabbed his ear and dragged him toward the room like dragging a bag of disobedient potatoes.
“Ouch! Ouch! A-Tsuru! It hurts! I was wrong! I really was wrong! Let go! Give me some face in front of the kids!!”
The shrill screams echoed in the resplendent hotel corridor, startling a passing waiter nearby so much that he almost dropped the tray in his hands. He looked on in terror, as if witnessing the filming site of some family ethics drama.
Hiroshi Nohara helplessly held his forehead and shrugged at elder brother: “Take care of Mom and Dad.”
Then, he pulled Misae Nohara, who was already shaking all over from holding back laughter, covering her mouth with shoulders shrugging, and hurriedly left this “crime scene.”
Once in the car, Misae finally couldn’t hold back and burst into a silvery bell-like giggle.
“Hee hee hee… Hiroshi, Uncle… he’s just too funny!” She laughed until tears came out, leaning on the passenger seat, gasping for breath: “You… you really don’t resemble Uncle at all!”
Hiroshi Nohara started the car and, hearing this, irritably glanced at her: “If I resembled him, wouldn’t the house be in chaos every day?”
“That’s true.” Misae nodded in agreement, then blinked cunningly and drawled: “But… in some aspects, I think you still have a lot of potential~”
“Oh?” Hiroshi Nohara raised an eyebrow, a dangerous curve hooking at the corner of his mouth. “For example?”
While driving, he reached out his right hand and accurately grabbed her restless soft hand that was poking his arm, giving it a gentle pinch.
Misae’s face flushed red in an instant. She tried to pull her hand back but it was firmly held by him.
“Looks like I need to punish you properly.” Hiroshi Nohara’s voice lowered a bit, carrying a magnetic hoarseness: “I think I need to prove to you that the ‘style’ of us Nohara family men is engraved in our genes.”
The car drove into the apartment’s underground garage. The moment the house door clicked shut, the whole world went quiet.
Hiroshi Nohara pinned Misae against the door panel and lowered his head to kiss her.
“Mmm… Hiroshi…” Misae struggled and called out: “The floor is too hard. My knees can’t take it.”
“Don’t talk.” Hiroshi’s voice trembled.
“…You… you’re just a bad guy!” Misae’s words were indistinct.
Only Hiroshi’s trembling voice sounded: “Then I’ll let you see how a bad guy disciplines a disobedient little girl.”
……
The next morning, when the first ray of sunlight filtered through the gaps in the blinds, casting mottled light and shadow on the floor, Hiroshi Nohara finally supported his waist, which felt like it had been plowed by a hundred cows, and struggled to sit up from the bed.
He let out a long breath, feeling every part of his body groaning under the strain.
The field was good land.
It was just that the ox was about to be exhausted to death.
He turned his head, looking at the messy battlefield beside him and the person who should have been lying there, but found it already empty.
A rich milk fragrance wafted leisurely from the kitchen direction.
Hiroshi Nohara put on pajamas and followed the scent. He saw Misae Nohara tying her oversized apron, humming an off-key tune, busy in the kitchen.
Her soft long hair was casually tied into a bun, revealing a section of fair and graceful neck.
The morning light plated her with a layer of soft golden edge. That serene, peaceful appearance instantly filled Hiroshi Nohara’s heart completely.
“Awake?” Misae heard the noise, turned her head, and bloomed with a smile brighter than the sunlight: “I warmed milk for you. Drink it while it’s hot.”
“No need to go to so much trouble. Not planning to eat breakfast at home today.” Hiroshi Nohara walked up, embraced her slender waist from behind, rested his chin in the crook of her shoulder, and deeply inhaled the fresh fragrance of her hair: “I plan to take the whole family to wander around Tokyo and eat out.”
“I know.” Misae turned around, tiptoed, and pecked his lips lightly. Her obsidian-like big eyes sparkled with cunning: “But this cup of milk isn’t breakfast. It’s… specially for you to replenish your body~”
“…”
Hiroshi Nohara’s temple instantly sprouted several clearly visible black lines.
He looked at the girl in front of him grinning like a little fox that had stolen some cream, feeling that his dignity as a man had been unprecedentedly challenged.
“Very good.” He said through gritted teeth, suddenly scooping her up horizontally and placing her on the cold kitchen counter: “Looks like last night’s lesson wasn’t profound enough. Today, right here in the kitchen, I’ll let you see properly whether I need to ‘replenish my body’!”
“Ah! Hiroshi! What are you doing! Put me down! Mom and Dad are still waiting at the hotel!” Misae cried out in surprise.
“They can wait a bit. No problem. Let them know that us Nohara family men are all full of vigor!” Hiroshi Nohara said annoyedly.
……
At nine in the morning, the black Toyota Crown Majesta hit the road again.
This time, the atmosphere in the car was filled with tourist-like excitement and novelty.
Hiroshi Nohara focused on driving, while Ginnosuke Nohara in the passenger seat was like a child entering the city for the first time, his whole face almost pressed against the car window glass.
“Wow—! A-Tsuru! Hiroshi! Quick, look! That building is so tall! The top is almost poking into the sky!”
“And that one! That big screen! Bigger than our village’s outdoor movie curtain!”
“My god! Tokyo women wear so little?! Too… too outrageous! Heh heh heh…”
In the back row, Tsuru Nohara, sandwiched in the middle, looked helplessly at the prosperous street scenes flashing by outside the window, occasionally reaching out to pat her eldest son beside her who was equally dumbfounded.
“Hiroshi, close your mouth. Drool is about to flow out.”
And Misae on the other side was like the most professional tour guide, smiling as she introduced the scenery along the way to these relatives from Akita.
“Uncle, that red and white iron tower ahead is Tokyo Tower.”
“Mother, we’re about to pass the Imperial Palace Outer Garden. The pine trees there are trimmed especially beautifully.”
“Elder Brother, see that street? That’s Akihabara, sells a lot of novel appliances.”
When the car finally entered Ginza’s inch-of-land-inch-of-gold commercial district and stopped at the entrance of Mitsukoshi Department Store, the Nohara family—except for the already accustomed Hiroshi and Misae—the other three were like they had been immobilized, completely awestruck by the gorgeous world built of luxury goods, neon lights, and surging crowds.
“Let’s go. First stop today, shopping.”
Hiroshi Nohara dashingly tossed the car keys to the valet, one hand pulling Misae, the other beckoning the still dazed family members, and strode into that temple symbolizing wealth and taste.
The next few hours were like a bizarre dream for Ginnosuke Nohara, Tsuru Nohara, and Hiroshi Nohara.
They watched with their own eyes as Hiroshi Nohara, like a king inspecting his territory, strolled leisurely through those rows of brand stores with astronomical price tags.
“This windbreaker is nice, Dad, try it.”
“Mom, the fabric of this kimono set suits your temperament.”
“Elder Brother, you have a good build. This suit will definitely fit.”
He swiped his card without batting an eye, as if those expensive clothes that could buy a cow in his elder brother’s eyes were just roadside stall T-shirts for a few hundred yen.
From casual Burberry windbreakers to formal Armani suits, to handmade top-tier kimonos.
Three sets per person, from inside out, completely renewed.
When the family emerged from the fitting rooms, all the sales assistants’ eyes went straight.
Ginnosuke Nohara, with his little belly sticking out, wore a well-tailored dark gray suit. That countryside rich bumpkin’s sleazy vibe was actually suppressed a bit, gaining some successful entrepreneur flair.
Tsuru Nohara changed into a light purple visiting kimono. Her gentle and serene temperament was accentuated even more elegantly and nobly, just like those noblewomen appearing at high-society banquets.
The biggest change was Hiroshi Nohara.
Years of physical labor had given him a natural clothes-horse figure. When he put on that straight black suit, paired with the tie and leather shoes picked by Hiroshi, the simple farmer instantly vanished.
In his place was a burly, rugged-faced urban hunk full of mature masculine charm.
“I… I still feel… too wasteful.” Looking at the unfamiliar figure in the mirror, Hiroshi Nohara was still making his final struggle, saying painfully: “Hiroshi, these clothes… are too expensive. I do farm work at home, can’t wear such good clothes. How about… how about returning them? Cash would be better.”
“Who said to wear this for farm work?” Hiroshi Nohara laughed.
He didn’t argue with elder brother about frugality versus waste like when they were kids.
He just walked to elder brother’s side, straightened his tie, then asked in a calm but irrefutable tone:
“Elder Brother, let me ask you, how much land does our family have now?”
“Land?” Hiroshi Nohara was stunned for a moment, subconsciously answering: “Same as always, about five acres, roughly half a hectare. In our Omagari City, that’s a small rural landlord.”
“Mm.” Tsuru Nohara interjected from the side, “A while ago, people from the agricultural cooperative specifically came to find Hiroshi. They said the country has a new policy now, encouraging us farmers to consolidate land, buy more fields, establish an agricultural corporation, and do large-scale operations. That way, not only more subsidies, but bank loans are easier too.”
Hiroshi Nohara’s eyes lit up instantly.
Stock company! Agricultural management!
These words were like a bolt of lightning, instantly striking a switch deep in his mind.
He knew better than anyone that Neon Country’s seemingly prosperous economy was just the last carnival before the bubble burst. In a few years, that nationwide economic crisis would arrive.
By then, stocks would turn to waste paper, real estate worthless, countless white-collar workers who were glamorous in office buildings would be unemployed overnight, wandering the streets.
And the only thing that could withstand this storm, even go against the flow, was the most basic, indispensable real industries.
Like… agriculture!
A bold, even crazy idea rapidly took shape in his heart.
He turned around, looking at his elder brother with an unprecedentedly serious gaze.
“Elder Brother, let’s… partner up.”
“Huh?” Hiroshi Nohara looked bewildered.
“Establish an agricultural stock company!” Hiroshi Nohara’s voice wasn’t loud but rang clear: “We’ll integrate the family land and all the surrounding land we can buy! Make it a large modern farm!”
He paused, his gaze sweeping over his parents already stunned speechless by these words, and continued: “I’ll provide the money, management ideas, oversee and develop sales. Elder Brother, you provide the expertise, handle daily management and production. Us brothers, let’s do something big together!”
The entire counter fell into dead silence.
Everyone looked at Hiroshi Nohara like he was a madman.
“H-Hiroshi… you… you don’t have a fever, do you?” Ginnosuke Nohara was the first to react. He reached out to feel his youngest son’s forehead: “Do you know how much it costs to establish a stock company? That’s… at least tens of millions of yen to start! You…”
“Money’s not a problem.”
Hiroshi Nohara interrupted his father’s words. He pulled out his wallet from his suit pocket, drew out a pay slip, and handed it over.
“This is my bonus slip from last month.”
Ginnosuke Nohara suspiciously took the thin piece of paper. When he saw the number on it, his cunning little eyes instantly bulged like two copper bells!
“One… ten… hundred… thousand… ten thousand… hundred thousand… million…”
He tremblingly counted the string of zeros, feeling his heart about to jump out of his throat.
“Three… three million yen?! This… this is just your one month’s bonus?!”
This number exploded like a heavy bomb in the Nohara family’s hearts!
They knew Hiroshi was doing well in Tokyo, but they never imagined it was to this extent!
Three million yen!
This sum in Akita Prefecture was enough for an ordinary family to save for over half a year without eating or drinking!
And this was merely his one month’s bonus!
Hiroshi Nohara looked at his family’s completely shocked expressions and hooked a confident smile at the corner of his mouth.
He knew that from today on, his status in this family would no longer just be the “promising young son.”
He would be the true pillar of the entire Nohara family!
《Elder Brother Happiness Transformation Plan》’s first step starts from 《Nohara Agricultural Corporation》!
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