Chapter 136: Nohara Family Meeting! Father Ginnosuke Nohara Dead Serious! Clear Division Between The Brothers!
When the Toyota Land Cruiser returned to the Nohara family’s courtyard, the laughter filling the old house, imbued with warmth and joy, bubbled up like boiling water.
The car doors opened, and the two brothers got out one after another.
“You two… you drank and still dare to drive?!”
However, what greeted them was not a warm embrace, but Tsuru Nohara’s roar, filled with lingering fear and chiding.
This usually gentle mother, at this moment, was like a lioness whose inverse scale had been touched; hands on her hips, her eyes, which always carried a loving smile, burned with a fury that could incinerate both her sons.
“Especially you! Hiroshi!” Her fire was precisely aimed at the eldest son, who was still grinning foolishly, “You’re a ‘company president’ with a reputation now, how can you still be so ignorant?! If… if something were to happen, what would you have me and your father do?! What about Ikuna?!”
This scolding, full of “motherly” worry, was like a perfectly timed bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the tipsy feeling that had arisen from the alcohol in Hiroshi Nohara’s mind.
His tanned face instantly turned a liverish color. He quickly lowered his head, like a child who had done something wrong, nervously rubbing the corner of his shirt, mumbling apologies, “Mom… I… I was wrong…”
“Alright, alright, Tsuru, you too, say a little less.”
Beside them, Ginnosuke Nohara, acting like the most competent “pig teammate,” walked over swaying, holding his beer mug. His old face showed no trace of worry; instead, it was filled with a sense of pride, as if thinking, “My son is truly something.”
He heavily patted his eldest son’s shoulder, his eyebrows twitching up and down with pride, “What’s this? Back in my day, your old man, when he was drunk as a lord, could still ride a bicycle home from town in the dark! The drinking capacity of us Nohara men, just like our courage, is top-notch!”
“Shut up!” Tsuru Nohara shot him a fierce glare, a warning in her eyes potent enough to instantly evaporate any alcohol.
“Mom, don’t blame Elder Brother, it was me who told him to drive.” Hiroshi Nohara walked forward with a smile, gently pulling down his mother’s hand that was still held mid-air. His voice was gentle but carried a power that could soothe the soul, “Don’t worry, Elder Brother drives very steadily. Besides, in the countryside like this, you can’t even see a ghost at night, it’s very safe.”
“You, you!” Tsuru Nohara looked at her younger son, who could always twist logic to sound so convincing. Her anger eventually turned into a helpless sigh.
She tenderly tidied his slightly wrinkled collar, her eyes still unable to bring herself to scold him, “Alright, alright, come in and sit. The matter… it’s all settled, right?”
“Of course!”
Before Hiroshi Nohara could speak, Hiroshi Nohara, like a child eager to show his teacher a perfect exam paper, puffed out his chest. His tanned face was full of excitement!
“Mom! You have no idea! Today… today was like a dream!”
He excitedly waved his calloused hands in the air, trying to describe today’s fantastical journey, which had overturned all his perceptions, with the most exaggerated body language.
“Chairman Suzuki of the Agricultural Cooperative, and Manager Oshima of Akita Bank, they are usually no-nonsense important figures in our city! But today, in front of Hiroshi, they were like… like mice seeing a cat! They were so polite! So respectful!”
He paused, glanced at his younger brother, who was calmly sipping sake beside him, and his honest eyes were filled with an uncontainable admiration and awe. His voice rose by eight octaves,
“You didn’t see! When Hiroshi pulled out his pay slip, that Manager Oshima’s eyes almost popped out! He immediately approved a three-hundred-million yen loan for us! Three hundred million! The interest… the interest is even lower than what we get for savings!”
“Boom—!”
Three hundred million!
This number, like a real atomic bomb, detonated in the simple little hearts of Tsuru Nohara, Misae, and Ikuna!
“Th-three hundred million?!” Tsuru Nohara’s teacup clattered to the tatami, the boiling tea spilling everywhere, but she was oblivious. Her face was now filled with undisguised shock and bewilderment.
“Hiroshi-kun… you… how much do you earn in a month?” Misae’s large eyes, which had already turned into symbols, sparkled with undisguised fanaticism. She hugged Hiroshi Nohara’s arm like a small koala clinging to a golden leg, her voice so sweet it could cause a sugar overdose.
“I know this!” Hiroshi Nohara again jumped in, his demeanor as if he wasn’t talking about his brother’s income, but announcing his own lottery jackpot win.
He extended one finger, and under their increasingly fervent gazes, he said word by word, in an almost solemn tone of oath,
“Ten million! Yen! Every month!”
“…”
The entire room instantly fell into an eerie, pin-drop silence.
Tsuru Nohara felt as if her brain had been thoroughly churned into mush by a high-speed blender!
She stared blankly at her younger son, who was calmly sipping tea. Her heart, already weathered by reality, almost stopped beating at that moment!
“Hiro… Hiroshi… you… you didn’t… rob a bank, did you?” Her voice was hoarse from extreme shock, and her eyes even held a hint of a mother’s instinctive fear of her child going astray.
“Mom, what are you thinking.”
Amidst this silence filled with shock and absurdity, Hiroshi Nohara’s voice was as calm as a bottomless lake.
He put down his teacup, looked at his family’s utterly stunned expressions, and a helpless, almost tearful smile appeared on his face.
“This ten million is the sum of my salary at the television station, bonuses from three projects, plus royalties and manuscript fees from two manga. Every cent is clean.”
He paused, and on their faces, still filled with “I don’t believe it,” he slowly delivered the final trump card that would put their minds completely at ease.
“And, this is just the small part.”
“What?!” The others were even more shocked. This was just the small part?!
“The real main event is the advertising revenue share and the television station’s performance bonus at the end of the year.” A faint smile played on Hiroshi Nohara’s lips, his demeanor as if he were about to discuss something trivial rather than money.
“If nothing unexpected happens, by the end of this year, this dividend alone will probably be around… two to three hundred million.”
“…”
The entire room fell completely silent.
This time, even Ginnosuke Nohara, who was usually fearless and considered himself “worldly,” seemed struck by a thunderbolt that split heaven and earth!
He sat there blankly, all expression gone from his old face, which was usually full of cunning and lechery, leaving only a numbness and emptiness completely crushed by an astronomical figure.
Two… two to three hundred million?!
He felt that all the alcohol he had drunk in his life combined didn’t make him as dizzy as these four words right now!
“Hiroshi-kun…” Misae’s large eyes had lost their focus.
She felt that what she was holding wasn’t a man’s arm.
But a walking, breathing, printing press!
“Th-how is this possible?!” Tsuru Nohara, the traditional housewife, finally regained a sliver of reason from the heart-stopping shock. Her voice trembled with disbelief, “How could the television station… give you so much money?!”
“Mom, you don’t understand.”
Hiroshi Nohara patiently explained, his tone like a professional financial analyst explaining basic business logic to his client, “Our Tokyo Television Station is different from other companies. To motivate us frontline producers, the station has clear regulations: a portion of the advertising revenue and peripheral profits generated by any successful project will be distributed as bonuses to the core creative team.”
“As for me,” he spread his hands, his demeanor casual yet a bit boastful, “An Shizhi, World of the Strange, Super Change Change Change, for these three projects, I happen to be the chief producer, chief director, and chief planner.”
“So, at the end of the year dividend distribution, others get one share, and I get three.”
This explanation was like a key, instantly unlocking the minds of everyone present, whose imaginations had long been limited by poverty!
They finally understood.
It turned out that in this world, there were indeed people who could earn wealth through talent that ordinary mortals like them could never reach in lifetimes!
“My son indeed! My son, Ginnosuke Nohara!”
Amidst this silence filled with shock and awe, Ginnosuke Nohara’s fiendish laughter erupted without warning like thunder!
He suddenly jumped up from the tatami. His old face, which had just been full of numbness, was now radiant with almost frenzied ecstasy!
Like a lion suppressed for half a lifetime, he paced excitedly in the small Japanese-style room. His thick eyebrows, identical to his son’s, twitched up and down with pride, looking like two caterpillars on drugs!
“I knew it! I knew it! My Ginnosuke Nohara’s son is definitely no ordinary person! Hahahaha! Two to three hundred million! Then, our Nohara family will be one of the wealthiest families in Omagari City, no! In the entire Akita Prefecture!”
As he laughed, he thumped his chest heavily, his voice so loud it almost lifted the roof, “Then, let’s see who dares to call us villagers! Let’s see who dares to look down on us Nohara family!”
His smug and arrogant demeanor made Tsuru Nohara shake her head, both amused and exasperated.
But her eyes, etched with fine lines by the years, yet still clear and bright, were also filled with immense pride.
The entire Nohara family was immersed in a warm atmosphere filled with hope and longing.
However, amidst this harmonious atmosphere, Ginnosuke Nohara suddenly seemed to remember something of great importance.
The ecstasy on his face instantly vanished.
In its place, he frowned, looking at his two sons, Hiroshi Nohara and Hiroshi Nohara, his expression becoming serious.
And as he pondered, he grew more and more serious.
Making everyone feel that something was amiss.
“Ginnosuke?” Tsuru Nohara spoke, wanting to ask.
But Ginnosuke Nohara cleared his throat, waved his hand at Tsuru Nohara and Misae, “Alright, alright, it’s getting late. Tsuru, you take your daughter-in-law and go to the inner room to rest. I… I have some important matters to discuss with our two men.”
“Important matters?” Hearing this, Tsuru Nohara’s usually gentle eyes revealed undisguised suspicion.
She looked at her husband, who was usually only good for drinking and looking at pretty women and never did anything serious. The mistrust in her eyes almost overflowed.
But when her gaze met her husband’s small eyes, she was slightly taken aback by his rare, serious expression, and then, as if understanding something,
She nodded, taking Misae, who was still somewhat bewildered, into the inner room, “Let’s go, let the men talk amongst themselves.”
As the paper sliding door slowly closed, the living room instantly became quiet.
In the air, only the audible breathing of the three people and the tireless chirping of autumn insects outside the window could be heard.
Ginnosuke Nohara did not speak immediately.
He walked to the shrine, respectfully lit three sticks of incense, clasped his hands together, and bowed deeply three times towards the ancestral tablets, now covered in a thin layer of incense ash.
His posture was unprecedentedly devout.
After completing this, he slowly turned around and sat cross-legged again at the low table.
He looked at his two sons, one steady as a mountain, the other wise as the sea. All the frivolity had vanished from his old face, which was usually full of cunning and lechery, leaving only a father’s deep solemnity.
“Alright.”
He slowly exhaled a turbid breath, as if expelling all the unruliness and flippancy of the past half-century from it.
“Now, it’s time to talk about the real, important matters of our Nohara family.”
The warm and joyful atmosphere in the living room was instantly replaced by an unprecedented, almost solidified solemnity.
Hiroshi Nohara’s eyes, slightly languid from his light intoxication, cleared up considerably.
He looked at his father, who usually only drank or looked at women and never did anything serious. On his weather-beaten old face, an expression of deep solemnity, like that of a family patriarch discussing matters, appeared.
He knew that what was about to be said would likely not be easy.
Hiroshi Nohara instinctively straightened his back. All the simple, honest smiles had vanished from his tanned face.
He looked at his father’s small eyes, which appeared exceptionally bright in the dim lamplight. His honest heart involuntarily began to pound.
“Dad, please speak.” His voice was steady, like the firmest land in autumn.
Ginnosuke Nohara did not speak immediately.
He slowly reached into the pocket of his old, faded T-shirt and pulled out a crumpled pack of Seven Stars cigarettes.
He took one out and placed it in his mouth.
With his large hand, roughened by years of labor, he struck a match.
“Szzzt—”
A small flame flickered in his deep, unfathomable eyes, reflecting the deep nasolabial folds on his face, and also reflecting the anxiety of a father, as unyielding as stone, honed by life.
Ginnosuke Nohara took a deep puff.
The acrid smoke swirled in his weathered lungs and when he exhaled, the smoke curled, further blurring his already serious face, making it appear even more dignified.
“Money.”
Ginnosuke Nohara slowly uttered this weighty word, capable of corrupting any kinship,
“Our Nohara family, now, has money.”
His voice was not loud, but like a giant stone dropped into a calm lake, it stirred up a thousand waves in the hearts of his two sons.
“Hiroshi, you just said that our stock company will have two hundred acres by the end of the year. Hiroshi, you also said that your dividend at the end of the year will be two to three hundred million.”
He paused, his small eyes scanning his two sons, who had already surpassed his understanding, like a falcon.
“In my fifty-plus years of life, the money I’ve seen combined is less than 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 soon, that pride was replaced by a deeper, fatherly concern for the future.
“However, I am even happier, and even more afraid.”
He fiercely extinguished the cigarette butt in the ashtray, his gaze like an elder who had witnessed countless rise and falls throughout history, filled with wisdom that saw through everything.
“Since ancient times, have there not been enough cases of brothers turning against each other, and fathers and sons becoming enemies because of money? Not to mention far away, look at the Yamamoto family next door. Their two sons fought like dogs over a few acres of thin land and haven’t spoken to each other since.”
“Our Nohara family, now, is not a few acres of thin land. It’s hundreds of acres, and in the future, it will be a fortune of hundreds of millions.”
“You are brothers now, and your relationship is good, which is better than anything. But what about ten years from now? Twenty years from now? When you both have your own families, your own children, people’s hearts can change.”
These heartfelt words, like the sharpest knife, precisely cut through the veil of warmth wrapped in kinship and affection, revealing the most brutal, yet most realistic problem before everyone.
Hiroshi Nohara fell silent.
He knew that his father was telling the truth.
And it was an eternal, unchanging human tragedy that had been playing out in this world for centuries.
And Hiroshi Nohara’s tanned face instantly turned liverish!
He suddenly stood up, his sturdy body trembling with extreme agitation. His honest eyes shot out a fiery rage of being misunderstood by his closest kin!
“Dad!”
His voice was loud, filled with an undeniable resolve, “What are you saying?! Do you think I, Hiroshi Nohara, am the kind of person who would turn against my own brother for money?!”
He pointed to his chest, his voice like a drumbeat for his own innocence!
“This stock company, from start to finish, was built by Hiroshi alone! The first startup capital, he provided it! The money to buy the car, he provided it! Even that three-hundred-million loan was guaranteed by his reputation and income! What did I do? I, Hiroshi Nohara, besides giving my strength, what else did I do?!”
“I’m just a figurehead! A lucky guy who benefited from my younger brother!”
He paused, all anger gone from his resolute face, leaving only a deep unease stemming from the immense kindness he had received, a feeling from the bottom of his heart.
“Back then, when Hiroshi said he would give me fifty percent of the shares, I already felt I didn’t deserve it. Now, as the company grows bigger and bigger, the more uneasy I feel. I… I can’t take such great advantage of my younger brother!”
As he spoke, he turned and looked at his brother, who had remained calm throughout, his eyes filled with the unquestionable decisiveness of an elder brother.
“Hiroshi, listen to me. Starting tomorrow, no, starting now! The shares of this stock company, I want to change them! I… I’ll take ten percent at most! The rest is all yours! It’s what you deserve!”
These words were resounding.
Like a boulder thrown into stagnant water, they instantly shattered the solemnity born of suspicion!
Ginnosuke Nohara looked at his eldest son, who appeared clumsy but was clearer than anyone else when it came to matters of great importance. Unconcealed relief finally appeared in his small eyes.
“Very good, Hiroshi!” He nodded with satisfaction.
However, amidst this heartwarming atmosphere of “brotherly affection,” Hiroshi Nohara’s voice appeared, full of helplessness.
He was truly helpless.
“No need, Elder Brother.”
Hiroshi Nohara put down his wine glass, looking at the two agitated and gratified family members, a helpless, almost tearful smile appearing on his face.
“Fifty percent is fifty percent. That’s what we agreed on from the beginning, no need to change it.”
“No!” Hiroshi Nohara retorted without thinking, his neck stiff, “This is unfair! I…”
“Elder Brother.”
Hiroshi Nohara interrupted him, stood up, and walked to his elder brother’s side.
“Listen to me.”
His voice was gentle, but carried an unyielding power.
“This stock company, to me, is not a tool for making money. Money, to me, is just a number. In Tokyo, any project I undertake earns far more than the annual profit of this farm.”
These words, filled with a Versailles-esque air, struck Hiroshi Nohara and Ginnosuke Nohara like invisible heavy hammers.
They knew, this kid was telling the truth.
“The reason I’m setting up this stock company, the reason I’m acquiring land regardless of cost.”
Hiroshi Nohara paused, and a profound insight into the future flashed in his calm eyes.
“Is because I need a root. A stable rear base that will allow our Nohara family to truly establish ourselves on this land.”
“No matter how prosperous Tokyo is, it’s a castle built on sand. Before long, an unprecedented storm will descend. At that time, all prosperity will turn to dust. Only the land beneath our feet is eternal truth.”
“So, Elder Brother.”
He looked at his elder brother, who was already utterly stunned by his words, his gaze filled with an unquestionable entrustment.
“I’m entrusting this stock company to you, not to work for me. I’m asking you to become the protector of our Nohara family on this land. I need you to guard our family’s last retreat for me.”
These heartfelt words, like lightning cutting through chaos, instantly illuminated Hiroshi Nohara’s simple and honest heart!
“I…” He opened his mouth, his honest heart already completely filled with immense emotion and responsibility.
However, at this moment, Ginnosuke Nohara’s sigh, full of world-weariness, sounded again, inappropriately.
“Sigh…”
He relit a cigarette, and his old face, which had just been full of gratification, was once again enveloped in a solemnity befitting a father.
“Hiroshi, I understand all of this you’re saying. But, people’s hearts are unpredictable.”
His voice carried a desolation of seeing through the impermanence of worldly affairs: “You brothers have deep affection for each other now, which is better than anything. But, later, when you have children, and your children have children… people’s hearts always change. I don’t want our Nohara descendants to become like enemies fighting over this property after I’m gone.”
These words, like a basin of the coldest water, instantly extinguished the roaring fire that had just ignited in Hiroshi Nohara’s heart.
He looked at the unspeakable worry in his father’s cloudy eyes, and then at his younger brother beside him, who, though calm, also had a hint of helplessness flashing in the depths of his eyes.
His simple and honest heart, at this moment, was completely crushed by an unprecedented, immense power called “responsibility.”
He knew he had to do something.
He had to do something that would completely reassure his father and his younger brother.
Thus, under the astonished gazes of Hiroshi Nohara and Ginnosuke Nohara, Hiroshi Nohara, the simple farmer, made a surprising move that would move anyone to tears.
He suddenly stood up and straightened his crisp Armani suit in front of the low table.
Then, with a “plop,” his knees bent, and he heavily knelt on the icy tatami!
A standard dogezza, filled with respect and determination!
“Dad!”
His voice was no longer simple and honest or clumsy, but filled with the unquestionable, absolute responsibility of a man!
“You don’t need to say more, I… I understand everything.”
He raised his head, and in his honest eyes, two flames burned, capable of igniting a prairie!
“From today on, I, Hiroshi Nohara, voluntarily give up all shares in ‘Nohara Agricultural Corporation’! I don’t want a single one of these fifty percent shares! I beg you to temporarily place them under your name!”
“From now on, whether this company makes a profit or loss, whether it splits or merges, it will all be up to you and my younger brother Hiroshi to decide!”
“I, Hiroshi Nohara, will have absolutely no objections!”
These words, like the most resonant bell of vows, rang out for his own integrity and for the future of this family!
“Elder Brother…”
Hiroshi Nohara was completely stunned.
He looked at his elder brother, who, though seemingly dull, showed more responsibility than anyone else at a critical moment. His heart, weathered by memories from two lifetimes, was at this moment completely submerged by an unprecedented, immense warm current called “family affection.”
He smiled wryly and shook his head, walking forward to help his elder brother up.
“Elder Brother, what are you doing? Get up quickly. I trust you, I’ve always trusted you. Dad… he’s just overthinking things.”
However, Hiroshi Nohara was like a statue rooted in the earth, unmoving.
He just looked at his father, his gaze filled with unquestionable determination.
“Dad, if you don’t agree, I… I won’t get up.”
Looking at the scene before him, Ginnosuke Nohara’s heart as an old father was completely filled with immense emotion and gratification.
He let out a long breath, and it seemed as if all his worries of the past half-life were carried away with it.
He walked forward and personally helped up his eldest son, who was kneeling on the ground and was a head taller than himself.
“Good… good child.”
He patted his eldest son’s shoulder heavily, and a layer of moisture uncontrollably welled up in his small eyes.
He turned his head and looked at his younger son, who still had a helpless look on his face. On his weathered old face, a smile of gratification, like that of an old fox, finally bloomed again.
“Hiroshi, don’t blame me.”
His voice carried a wisdom that had seen through the impermanence of worldly affairs: “It’s always better to say the harsh words upfront, rather than waiting until later when things have fallen apart to say them. Our Nohara family can be poor, we can be unsuccessful, but we absolutely cannot be divided because of money.”
“Dad, I know.” Hiroshi Nohara nodded, his clear eyes filled with deep respect for this father who seemed unreliable but loved the family more than anyone.
“Alright, alright! The serious business is finished!”
Ginnosuke Nohara slapped his thigh forcefully, and his old face, which had just been full of authority, instantly reverted to its signature smile of lewdness and playfulness.
He threw an arm around both his sons’ shoulders, his thick eyebrows twitching up and down triumphantly, like two caterpillars on drugs.
“Come, come! Let’s drink! Let’s drink! Today is a joyous occasion for our Nohara family! We won’t go home until we’re drunk!”
That devilishly charming laughter echoed again in this warm old house, filled with the traces of years.
Hiroshi Nohara also smiled gently.
From tonight onwards, there will be no more rifts or suspicions in this family, only unity and absolute cohesion against external forces.
This, was the solid backing he truly desired, capable of withstanding any storm in the future!
