Chapter 258: A Golden Land Overflowing with Honey

"Is it too late to regret now?"

If there was a place that he would not go if he knew about it in advance, then Qingshuijian's intuition told him that it would be better not to go.

"Although I don't want you to go to that kind of place, but I heard that Aunt Qiuzi lost her job recently, right?"

Shimizu Mi did not tell Sakurai Haruka about Hoshino Akiko's unemployment, so I guess it must have been Sakurai Shio who told her.

But to be honest, Akiko Hoshino has been busy looking for a new job these days.

Judging from the slightly worried expression on Qingshuijian's face before she went out just now, the progress of her job search does not seem to be very optimistic.

To be honest, the competitive pressure in society has been increasing in recent years, and among those scrambling for jobs there is both a large number of young people and those with high education levels.

Especially at someone like Akiko Hoshino's current age, she has no advantage in any other aspect except work experience.

"Could it be possible to find her a new job by going to the place that the senior sister mentioned?"

Shimizu Mi felt that no matter how much Sakurai Shio liked to tease him, she would not ask Sakurai Haruka to torment him in the middle of the night.

"It's not Auntie Akiko...it's you."

"……I?"

……

Just because of what Sakurai Haruka said, Shimizu decided to get up and go with her to the so-called dangerous place.

Although he spoke vaguely like Sakurai Shio before, Shimizu Mi had actually considered beforehand whether he should find a part-time job during this holiday.

After all, in Tokyo, it is quite common for high school students to work part-time.

When walking on the street, you can often see high school girls wearing maid, catgirl or other cosplay costumes on the roadside, distributing flyers for maid cafes.

Qingshuijian tried to find some part-time jobs some time ago, but most of the stores either did not accept part-time students or only recruited girls.

As expected, female high school students are more popular than male high school students.

But the reality is indeed like this, whether it is handing out flyers on the street or working at the front desk or as a waiter in a store, most of the people are young girls.

Feeling the sadness of being a boy in high school, Shimizu followed Sakurai Haruka, leaving the park path they came from and coming out onto the open road.

Since Sakurai Haruka said that just now, Shimizu Mi decided to go with her to take a look first.

As soon as I got to the road, my ears immediately became noisy, with the honking of cars passing by and the occasional conversations of pedestrians passing by on the street.

Sakurai Haruka still didn't tell Shimizumi where they were going, but just said it wasn't far from here.

Therefore, Shimizu had no choice but to continue following her silently.

Walking on the street, the trees on both sides are tall and lush with their branches and leaves stretched out. Under the moonlight and sparse street lights, mottled light and shadows occasionally appear among the green leaves, swaying gently in the night breeze.

Amid the swaying shadows of the trees and the gentle evening breeze, the street lights lengthened the shadows of Qingshui and the other person, interweaving them with the light and shadow on the ground.

As Shimizu followed Sakurai Haruka further, the noisy sound of cars began to gradually dissipate from his ears, and even the number of pedestrians he met on the road gradually decreased.

After walking for about ten minutes, Shimizu followed Sakurai Haruka across an intersection and entered an unfamiliar street. All the previous noises disappeared from their ears.

The whole street was eerily quiet.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there is no sound at all. Occasionally, you can still see a few people walking towards you from the opposite direction.

But at this time of year, there is absolutely no other place near the city center that is quieter and less crowded than here.

After walking for a few more minutes, Sakurai Haruka stopped outside a restaurant called the Royal Okubo Hotel.

When they arrived at the bottom of the hotel, Shimizu was a little overwhelmed by the size of the hotel. Even the dim light that illuminated the building had a sense of luxury. It was obviously not a place for high school students like them to come.

It felt a bit like the high-end restaurants in the movies where you might be turned away if you weren't dressed formally enough.

While Shimizu was thinking about this, Sakurai Haruka had already walked forward.

In other words, is this the so-called dragon's lair and tiger's den?
Shimizu was a little confused, but when he followed Sakurai Haruka into the hotel, the feeling under his feet suddenly became noticeably different.

When you step on the carpet that covers the entire hall, it sinks softly, making you wonder if this is the venue for some ceremony?
The overall decoration and layout of the hotel reminded Shimizu of the high-end hotel that Sakurai Shio had booked when they traveled to Hokkaido not long ago.

If you look closely, you'll notice that even the uniforms worn by the ladies at the front desk are very similar.

However, Sakurai Haruka walked straight past the front desk and went straight to an elevator.

I pressed the elevator button, and with a "ding" sound, the indicator light came on and the elevator door opened quietly.

"We're not here to eat, are we?"

As for dinner, Shimizu had already eaten before coming.

"of course not."

Sakurai Haruka still didn't reveal much, but from what it looks like now, this place doesn't seem like a dangerous place.

The only thing that worries people is how much money they will spend if they spend money here.

But these should be revealed soon.

Shimizu followed Sakurai Haruka into the elevator and watched her press the button for the top floor.

This is a transparent elevator. As the elevator rises higher, the entire night view of Tokyo Bay appears before your eyes.

The lights of sailing ships, the taillights of vehicles traveling along the bay, and the bright lights of tall buildings add colorful colors to the night view of Makuhari.

The elevator ascended very slowly, perhaps because the floor was too high. In any case, it took several minutes for the elevator to reach the top floor.

Then, the elevator door made a "ding" sound again and slowly opened.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Shimizu finally realized where Sakurai Haruka had brought him to.

Some people say that this is a golden land overflowing with honey, others say that this is a sacred peach kingdom, but for Shimizumi, it is indeed as Sakurai Shio said, it is a place that he has absolutely no interest in coming to, and he even wants to turn around and leave now.

What appeared before Qing Shuijian's eyes was a bar that was generally dim. The lighting in the bar was soft and as low-key as candlelight.

The lights in the store were dim, but the waiters and other customers were not difficult to recognize.

The atmosphere here is obviously different from that outside.

Under the dim light, a young foreign woman in her twenties was playing piano jazz music.

Shimizu guessed that she was American, because foreigner and American were synonymous.

"Why did you bring me to the bar?"

Shimizu turned his head and looked at Sakurai Haruka beside him in confusion, and asked her with his eyes, "Are you kidding me?"

"I don't want to either...it's my sister..."

Just then, a beautiful sister with a fragrant body came over and started talking.

"Haruka, sorry to have kept you waiting."

Walking towards this side was the young foreign woman in her twenties who was playing the piano.

She has beautiful long golden hair of similar color to Sakurai Haruka's, and wears a shoulder-baring crimson dress, which outlines her graceful curves and creates a mermaid-like shape.

"Really, you're still as casual as ever."

The young beauty seemed to know Sakurai Haruka and came forward to help Sakurai Haruka tidy up the somewhat messy collar of her coat. "What does it matter..."

"Really? But if you keep being sloppy like this every day and don't dress yourself up properly, your boyfriend might cheat on you."

The other party's words made Sakurai Haruka's heart skip a beat. Her eyes widened instantly and she subconsciously looked at Shimizu Ken beside her.

In fact, Sakurai Haruka is not like many girls who would deliberately put on makeup and dress up, but she is definitely not sloppy at all.

And to be honest, Shimizu Mi prefers Sakurai Haruka's current natural look.

But then again, who is this young woman in front of me...

Noticing Qing Shuijian's slightly wary gaze, the other party glanced over and smiled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Haruka..."

In the middle of her speech, she tapped her chin with her index finger, looking as if she was thinking hard and racking her brains. Someone who didn't know her would probably think she was struggling to solve a high-level math problem.

"Uh, I'm... I'm... Haruka, how do you say that in Japanese?"

She looked at Sakurai Haruka for help and pulled her arm. Only then did Shimizu realize that the other person's accent did not sound like a local.

No, to be honest, her blonde and blue-eyed looks make her look like a foreigner.

Shimizu Mi also looked at Sakurai Haruka with a questioning look.

Then, Sakurai Haruka broke free from the other person's arm, frowned slightly, and said, "She... is my mother's sister."

Mother's sister?
When Qing Shuijian heard this, he was somewhat surprised and was stunned for a moment, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously opened slightly.

As for Sakurai Haruka's mother, Shimizu Mi already knew that she was a blonde beauty of European descent, but he didn't expect that she had a younger sister. No wonder he felt like he had seen her somewhere when he saw her just now.

However, since she is the younger sister of Sakurai Haruka's mother, in other words, she is Sakurai Haruka's...

"Oh, I remember now. It's 'little aunt', right? Am I right?"

The other party asked in a very typical foreign accent.

"How would I know? Don't keep pulling me."

In stark contrast to this aunt, Haruka Sakurai speaks with a very standard Tokyo accent.

In fact, although Haruka Sakurai and Shio Sakurai inherited half of their mother's European ancestry, they both grew up in Tokyo, so apart from their half-mixed-race exotic looks, there is no problem with their accents.

After being treated coldly by Sakurai Haruka, her aunt showed a somewhat sullen expression, but after seeing Shimizu Ken standing nearby, she regained her interest.

"I heard from Xi that your name is Jian, right? Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Xia Lin, but my real name is a bit long, so you can just call me that."

The other party introduced himself and extended his hand to Shimizu.

"Hello……"

Out of politeness, Shimizu shook hands with her.

Then, Xia Lin smiled softly and said to the two of them, "Anyway, come in and sit for a while."

At this moment, someone grabbed the hem of Shimizumi's clothes. When he turned around, he saw Sakurai Haruka puffing up her cheeks a little unhappily.

"..."

"what happened?"

"Nothing, I just feel uncomfortable when I think about going into a store like this."

Sakurai Haruka kept rubbing the hem of Shimizumi's clothes with her fingertips, as if she was in a bad mood.

After she mentioned this, Qingshui Jian had indeed never been to such a place. After all, he never drank and had no interest in it at all.

But after all, wasn't it Sakurai Haruka who brought him here? And if he keeps rubbing his clothes like this, they will become pilling.

"Really? What do you mean by this kind of store? I have a formal business license. Don't think of this as some messy store."

Xia Lin spoke as if he belonged to this bar, tapped Sakurai Haruka on the forehead, and turned to walk into the bar.

Immediately afterwards, a waitress came forward and bowed to Shimizu Mi and Sakurai Haruka.

The waitress did not ask questions like "How many people are there?" or "Do you smoke?". She kept a step and a half distance from Qingshuijian and the other man and led them to the bar seats by the glass window.

After sitting down on a chair at the bar, Xia Lin walked over to the slightly dimly lit back of the bar while wiping the glass.

"What do you want to drink?"

"no need."

Sakurai Haruka refused directly and took out the oolong tea that Shimizu had just bought and put it on the bar.

Seeing the bottled drinks that didn't fit in here, Xia Lin sighed with some worry.

"Haruka, sometimes I really wonder, are you really the daughter of the Sakurai family?"

Sakurai Haruka ignored him, gently unscrewed the lid and took a sip.

"What about you, handsome boy?"

I wonder if Sakurai Haruka's foreign aunt has forgotten the pronunciation again. She clearly knows Shimizumi's name, but still uses this name.

"I don't need it either."

Shimizu Mi also rejected Xia Lin's kindness. After all, the legal drinking age in Japan is 20 years old, so even if you are an adult at the age of 18, you cannot drink alcohol.

By the way, what on earth are you doing here today——Shimizu asked Sakurai Haruka with his eyes.

"Didn't Haruka tell you?"

After Xia Lin noticed the eye contact between the two, he asked.

"It was my sister who told me not to say it..."

"Ah... now that you mention it, it does sound like something Shio would do."

"Excuse me, what exactly is this..."

Shimizu seemed to be the only person at the scene who was unaware of the situation.

"Ah, here's the thing. Actually, my bar is in need of a manager."

"administrator?"

So this bar really is hers.

Although the bar is not very large, to be able to open such a store in the center of Tokyo, it must have certain strength.

But if you think about it carefully, Sakurai Haruka's company seems to be engaged in the field of construction engineering, so it should not be difficult to open a bar in such a location.

"Well, I have to go back to my country in two days because I need to take care of some personal matters. It will probably take a while for me to come to Tokyo next time, so I want to find someone to help me manage the bar temporarily."

Although Xia Lin spoke uneasily with a poor accent, Qing Shuijian could barely understand the general meaning.

But what does this have to do with asking him to come here today?
Then, Shimizu saw Sakurai Haruka and Xia Lin both looking at him...

(End of this chapter)