Chapter 9 A man who has always been single is a real man

Chitose was called back to the store by Mr. Nagano to help. Fujii Itsuki wanted to help the welfare home prepare dinner, but the director disagreed.

In the words of the dean, you have been traveling all day and then took the bus back early the next morning. You are exhausted from the journey, so you should settle down in your new home first.

That’s okay.

According to the location information provided by the dean, Fujii Itsuki took the tram to the door of a villa south of the center of Otaru City.

The nameplate next to the door - the table has the words "Jiuhua" written on it.

Pulling his suitcase, Fujii Itsuki looked at the building in front of him through the carved iron gate with his chin pinched.

It is a very large, three-story villa, built in Western style with red bricks. The area including the yard is estimated to be more than 300 square meters.

Judging from Fujii Itsuki's historical knowledge, this is probably a building left over from the Taisho period. People in the Taisho period liked to build this kind of Western-style building, built with red bricks and equipped with Western-style doors, windows and partitions.

Then, wealthy people in Japan like flowers and plants in their gardens, so they decorate the areas around their buildings with flowers, plants and ponds.

It's inside this house.

There are quite a lot of Western-style houses like this in Otaru, most of which are relics left behind by wealthy people in the past.

That’s right, the Jiuhua family is indeed the Jiuhua family that was once a famous merchant in Hokkaido.

Fujii Itsuki just felt that the house was so big that it would be a hassle to weed and clear snow.

After waiting for five seconds, the intercom next to the door was connected and an inquiring voice came out.

"Who?"

"I."

Perhaps having recognized Fujii Itsuki's voice, the person on the other end of the intercom paused:
"Pervert uncle?"

"Call me Fujii Itsuki." Fujii Itsuki had a blank expression on his face.

"Come in first and wait for me at the door."

As soon as he finished speaking, the intercom was hung up.

There was still a little snow in the sky and it was still a bit cold outside.

Fujii Itsuki originally thought that the girl would deliberately make things difficult for him before letting him in, but he didn't expect her to be so straightforward.

Two seconds after the intercom was hung up, the carved iron gate of Jiuhua's villa opened.

What comes into view is a cobblestone path that leads directly to the large red brick villa.

The lawns on both sides were covered with white snow, huge rocks were piled around the frozen pond, and a dwarf pine tree was covered with white snow, extending crookedly outside the iron wall.

It's a fairly large courtyard in front of the house.

Fujii also saw a snowman beside the path, near the pond. It had a carrot nose, a smile on its face, a red scarf, and raised a hand made of branches, as if waving to welcome the people at the door.
That little girl did it?

Quite free time.

I pulled the suitcase up the stairs and came to the main entrance of the villa. After standing at the door waiting for two minutes, the door suddenly opened a crack.

Jiuhuayue's head just popped out from the gap. She pried the door open with both hands. The beret on her head was gone, and her purple eyes were clean and shining.

The girl half closed her eyes:

"Why do you smell like cigarettes?"

"What stressed-out adult doesn't smoke?"

"Let me confirm again, are you in danger?"

"It's not dangerous. On the contrary, you will be very safe after I come. At least you don't have to worry about thieves targeting this house."

"There's nothing valuable here."

"A thief wouldn't think that this is the Kuka family, a wealthy man's house left over from the Taisho period."

Jiu Huayue was not interested in what he said and continued to ask, "Do you have any quirks, such as liking little girls?"

"Do you think I would tell you about this fetish?"

The girl immediately wanted to close the door.

Fujii Itsuki stretched out his hand to stop him.

"Just kidding, I'm a serious teacher. Didn't the dean tell you that?"

"I don't see anything serious about you."

"You are so serious in your free time. You are just asking for trouble."

"Not only did the dean say you're good, they also agreed to let you move in." Jiu Huayue lowered her head and muttered softly.

"What are you talking about?"

Jiu Huayue raised her head, full of vigilance, "Let me make it clear first, it's not me who agreed to let you move in, nor do I trust you, a perverted uncle, it's my parents' request, and for the sake of the dean, I reluctantly agreed to let you move in."

"If the dean hadn't asked me to keep an eye on you, I wouldn't have come to live with you."

"I need to tell you a few rules first. You can only move in after you agree."

"You speak first."

"First, my first impression of you was very bad, so I really don't like you. I can even say I hate you."

"I agree. I don't like you either, a girl who is not frank."

"Second, we are just taking what we need from each other. I will deal with my parents, and you will deal with the dean while renting a house for a few days to find your job. There will be no other intersection between us."

“That makes sense.”

"Third, your room is on the first floor. You are never allowed to go up to the second floor without my permission, or I will kick you out and make you sleep in an ice cave."

"Even if I go out, I won't be stupid enough to sleep in the snow."

"Fourth, you are responsible for the hygiene of the first floor. You must clean it twice a week. If there is a lot of snow on the courtyard road, you are responsible for shoveling it. If you fail to do so, I will directly deduct your deposit."

"Your house is so big, and you leave the entire first floor to me to clean? I'll be exhausted."

"Sweeping the floor doesn't mean you have to clean everything. The furniture is basically covered with dust sheets, and I didn't take them down. And, most importantly, no smoking!"

When Fujii Itsuki heard that smoking was forbidden, he immediately refused, "This is an unequal treaty."

"I am the owner of the house!" Jiuhuayue emphasized.

"I'm just a temporary landlord. If that's how you want to arrange it, then I don't have to live here anymore. I'll find a place to rent on my own. I don't tolerate people's bad habits."

When Jiu Huayue heard this, she was stunned for a moment, then she walked out of the door in her plush slippers and pushed his back to rush out.

"Then go away. You are not welcome here."

This pretty girl is really childish and extremely stingy.

Fujii Itsuki smiled in response.

"Come on!"

"No hurries."

When she was about to push him down the stairs, Fujii Itsuki stood firm, cleared his throat, and said to the girl behind him:

"Since the rent is cheap for a few days at your place, I can take care of small things like cleaning and snow shoveling, although I hate doing these troublesome things. Of course, there's no question about cigarettes. At most, I won't smoke in front of you."

Jiuhuayue stopped moving and looked at Fujii Itsuki who turned around with an expression of disbelief, "You said you want me to stay, so I'll stay. Do you think this is your home? Please respect yourself."

After saying that, he continued to push him out.

"You can't say that. We were just trying to negotiate. We are in the negotiation stage."

"Come on!"

"I haven't come to you to settle the score for you throwing hot water on me this morning. We can talk it out if we have anything to say."

"Hurry, go!"

Jiuhuayue used all her strength to push Fujii Itsuki's back, but he still didn't move.

Fujii Itsuki suddenly saw several pots of green plants covered with snow in the courtyard and became excited.

"Girl, you have potted plants at home. Let me tell you, there are some rules for growing potted trees."

"That's my dad's! I don't want to hear it!"

"I know you don't want to hear it, but I still have to tell you, in case you kill the plants, your dad will be unhappy. First of all, you must not put these green plants here." Fujii Itsuki did not forget to chatter while feeling her exerting force on his back.

Jiu Huayue pushed him for more than ten minutes and listened to his nagging for more than ten minutes.

The girl didn't give up until she was completely exhausted.

"Why are you so nagging?"

“I’m a high school teacher.”

"You don't look like a teacher at all."

"It's definitely not the case now. I've resigned. And as I said just now, work and life are two different things."

Fujii Itsuki saw her supporting her knees with her hands.

"tired?"

"Just now, you were making fun of me, right?"

Jiu Huayue knew that she had an eight out of ten chance of getting him away, and she had no way to do anything with him, so she could only glare at him fiercely.

"Hmm, silly girl, guessed it?"

"I'm a stingy person--"

"You said I was stingy. I just said I could find another house. Who got angry all of a sudden and didn't want me to live there? I'm afraid someone is jealous of me."

Jiu Huayue's expression turned into one of disgust. "How narcissistic and shameless. No wonder you still can't find a girlfriend even though you're in your twenties."

"A man who has always been single is a real man. Isn't it good to spend money on himself?"

"Then spend your whole life on yourself."

"Well," Fujii Itsuki shrugged, "this is not bad."

"."

Jiu Huayue finally realized how thick-skinned this guy was.

This guy said that work and life are two different sides, so does that mean he would be more serious when he was a teacher?

No, it definitely won't be like this.

This guy is just a perverted uncle.

Jiu Huayue's expression became more serious. She frowned and said:

"I don't like you very much. It doesn't matter if you don't do what I asked you to do. It's okay if you don't have to pay the rent. I only ask one thing from you now."

"explain."

"You must never tell anyone about what happened yesterday."

Fujii Itsuki immediately understood the whole story, "No wonder you agreed to let me move in, you just wanted me to shut up, right?"

“.”Jiu Huayue just stared at him silently without denying.

"You're so pretty, aren't you afraid that I'm really a perverted uncle who has bad intentions towards you? Are you letting a wolf into your house?"

"I trust the dean."

"I see."

"Do you agree? If not, get out of here immediately."

"It's no problem to agree," Fujii Itsuki paused after hearing her words, "Then can you tell me why you had that thought yesterday?"

"."

The girl was silent for a few seconds, then raised her purple eyes. This time, she looked much more lonely. "It's none of your business."

Anyway, I'll stay at Jiuhua's house for the time being today.

Fujii Itsuki could see that the child quite disliked him and kept a considerable distance from him.

After entering the house, I never saw her on the first floor again.

This is normal. For teenage girls, even if they used to have a very good relationship with their father, they will dislike him a little bit at this age.

Not to mention the "perverted uncle" like me who said that kind of thing.

On the surface, she seems to be cold and doesn't want strangers to approach her, but Fujii Itsuki knows that in her heart she is quite afraid of herself because after all, she is a stranger of the opposite sex.

The reason why she was unwilling to answer her own questions was very simple. She knew nothing about herself, let alone trust.
night.

After Jiuhuayue handed the two keys to Fujii Itsuki, she had been hiding upstairs and did not come downstairs during dinner time. Fujii Itsuki did not even see what the child ate for dinner.

But it was none of his business.

Fujii Itsuki is not the kind of person who enjoys a refined life, so he went out and bought two buckets of instant noodles for his dinner.

I made the bed casually at night and went straight to sleep.

He had never slept in such a large room before, and the windows were big enough to see the entire sky and the snowy night.

Rich people's homes are just like this. He even felt that it was not as comfortable as the little bed he slept on in the orphanage.

During this time, Fujii Itsuki kept staring at the wind and snow outside.

He was thinking about how to keep the welfare home going.

This is a difficult question.

However, the dean also said that Zhujin’s regional representatives are currently vigorously promoting the development of the town’s fishery products and glass handicrafts.

The initial goal was not to market the product nationwide, but rather to raise awareness of Otaru City’s promising tourism industry as a tourist feature.

Then further expand the influence through travel bloggers such as TIKTOK and Twitter, and it is best to ask those vtubers who live broadcast to help promote it.

Finally, further promote and sell it online.

Fujii Itsuki is very optimistic about this policy. The Snow Lantern Festival held in Otaru City in recent years is quite good, and he often heard female colleagues discussing it when he was working in Tokyo.

The live streaming industry is also growing in Japan. The fans of those bloggers are all die-hard fans, and as long as they recommend it, there will definitely be sales.

If Shujin seizes the opportunity and officially takes advantage of Otaru City's tourism development, it will be possible to solve the problem of uneven regional development in Otaru City, and the welfare home will most likely be able to continue operating.

Now, the issue we are considering is the lack of caregivers in the welfare home.

The equipment in the welfare home, such as washing machines, also needs to be purchased and upgraded.

It all comes down to money.

He planned to invest all of the more than two million yuan in the maintenance and upgrading of the welfare home, regardless of whether the director agreed or not.

It seems that my new dream of opening a coffee shop will have to be postponed. I have to solve the nursing problem of the welfare home first.

Let’s go to the city tomorrow and find a job first.

Thinking of this, Fujii Itsuki smoked a cigarette, listened to the sound of wind and snow outside the window, and closed his eyes.

*
The next morning at seven o'clock, Fujii Itsuki got up.

I'm used to sleeping in a house of less than 20 square meters, so I really can't get used to sleeping in this big house.

He walked out of the room and checked the dishes and refrigerator in the kitchen, but found nothing.

Just right, I can eat instant noodles again.

When Fujii Itsuki was boiling water, he lit a cigarette out of habit, wondering whether he should make a bowl of tea for the child Jiuhuayue, but the doorbell rang unexpectedly.

It’s only seven o’clock in the morning. Who would come to see Jiuhuayue?

Doesn't she have many friends?

Fujii Itsuki finally found the intercom near the kitchen and connected the microphone.

"Who? If you're here to look for Jiu Huayue, I can help you call her."

"Brother Shu, it's me!" He said it with a smile, and you could tell it.

"Chitose?"

Why is she here?

(End of this chapter)