National Tide 1980

Although I know the approximate address, there are too many clubs in Seven-chome.

Minister Ji Mao took his son Ji Mao Ce along an alley on the side to the road behind the main street. Many shops with the same business scope are clustered here, at least hundreds of them.

So even though we knew Chixia Club was nearby, the neon sign was mixed among the "thousands of flowers" and it was really hard to find.

Jimao and his son searched for the name of the store with wide eyes, and almost bumped into pedestrians on the roadside several times.

Finally, their behavior attracted the attention of a "careful person" who stayed here all year round.

"I would like to ask you two customers, which store are you looking for?"

A short lady with a scarf on her head stood in front of Yoshimo and his son, holding a basket of tulips, and took the initiative to inquire about their destination.

"We're looking for the Akaka Club. I heard it's near Seven-chome Middle Street. It should be here, right?"

"It's almost here, but on the other side of this building. I can take you there."

The flower girl said, changing direction and giving directions to the two people next to her.

Arriving at the place soon, Yoshimo and his son followed the flower girl to the main entrance of the building, which was indeed very spacious and grand.

As the flower girl pointed to a neon sign above her head, Yoshimo and his son looked up from the bottom along a long line of colorful light boxes hanging on the wall, and finally found their target.

The third neon sign is "Chixia Club".

Speaking of which, this was the same path they took in the first place, but they missed it unexpectedly.

Maybe it's because the greeting boards are made more delicately and compactly?

All in all, it’s really a bit of a dumbfounding situation.

"Buy a bouquet of flowers! Give this bouquet of flowers as a gift to Mama-san at Chixia Nightclub!"

The flower girl also knew that the breakup was imminent, so she looked at the father and son one last time full of hope and made a request that was difficult to refuse.

"How much does a bunch of your flowers cost?" Jim Maoche asked.

The flower girl smiled and replied, "One thousand yen."

It should be said that although the price is on the expensive side, it needs to be treated differently in a special place like Ginza.

Especially at such a late hour, the flower girl is rewarded for guiding the way.

So Jimao Ce only hesitated for a moment before touching his wallet. He thought it was fair.

Unexpectedly, the moment he opened his wallet, Minister Yoshimo suddenly interrupted, "Give her two thousand yen and she won't take the flowers."

Ji Maoche was confused for a moment by his father's order, and a puzzled look suddenly appeared on his face.

However, his doubts were completely suppressed by his father's stern face.

When he found his father looking at him seriously, his attitude was serious.

He didn't dare to say anything else, so he could only follow his father's instructions and simply added another thousand yen bill and handed it to the flower girl.

There is no doubt that this is an unexpected surprise for the flower girl.

She took the money, which was twice as much as she expected, bowed gratefully, and left.

Not only that, because out of fear of his father, Ji Maoche also suppressed his curiosity and did not immediately ask his father why.

As a result, his silence earned him a look of approval from his father, which made him feel more at ease.

And soon, he himself discovered the reason why it was inconvenient to ask.

For no other reason than because there are various entertainment venues in buildings like this, even at night, the entrance and exit doors are open to facilitate the entry and exit of guests.

The signboard of Chixia Club showed that the club was on the third floor. If they wanted to go upstairs, they had to stand in front of the elevator and wait for the elevator to come down.

And this building has twelve floors, and there are shops of this kind on each floor.

So there were a total of seven or eight guests waiting for the elevator in front of the elevator door.

They are all middle-aged, carefree people, and most of them are professionals who use company business expenses at a glance.

There are also two people dressed more casually. I don’t know if they are musicians or painters.

In addition, there was a tall and thin male waiter standing at the door of the building.

He looked to be in his mid-thirties, wearing a dark brown big-brimmed hat like a conductor's, dark brown clothes and trousers like a conductor's, and dark brown boots. It seemed that he had been watching their actions in front of the door just now.

Especially when they saw Yoshimo and his son sending the flower girl away with money and walking to the elevator of the building together.

The male waiter at the door confirmed that they were guests coming to the building, and skillfully took off his big-brimmed hat, revealing his brush-style hairstyle, and bowed deeply to them.

"Welcome!"

If you think about it, you will know that in such public view, it would be a bit embarrassing for Yoshimosuke to ask his father why he gave him two thousand yen instead of flowers.

Soon, the elevator came down.

The male waiter in uniform watched all the waiting guests get on the elevator.

He stood upright and bowed in front of the door again.

"Please go away!"

In this way, the respectful posture was maintained until the elevator door closed.

As a result, the elevator was on the lowest floor where Yoshimo and his son were going.

As soon as they arrived on the third floor, the two of them were the first to get off the elevator.

By this time, I saw that there was no one else in the corridor.

There was no need for Ji Maoce to ask any more questions. Minister Ji Mao stopped himself, took the initiative to mention what happened just now, and revealed his intentions in a low voice.

"Ace, were you curious just now, why did I ask you to do that?"

"Yes, Minister."

"Have you figured it out now?"

"this……"

Ji Mao's stupidity forced Minister Ji Mao, as a father, to remind him again.

"I remind you again, this is Ginza. It's not an ordinary place."

"So...so...father thinks the bouquet is too shabby and can't give it away?"

Fortunately, this son is not too stupid, and he finally guessed a little bit of Minister Yoshimo's thoughts.

Otherwise, Minister Yoshimo will really lose all his patience and may not be willing to waste time talking to such a stupid son.

"You're right, you can't give away a bouquet like that. You can only make do with fooling the waitress who is not very popular. You have to understand that in any club in Ginza, Mama-san is the most important person. I know you. Celebrities are also the most popular. Only fools would do such stupid things.

"Then if that's the case, why do we have to give the flower girl an extra thousand yen?" Ji Maocue asked again.

"For the same reason, this is Ginza. You should remember the waiter at the door, right?"

"Yes, remember." Ji Maoche answered honestly, but he still didn't quite understand what his father meant.

"That person is here every day to guard the door and is responsible for greeting and seeing off guests. In other words, he is also one of the most well-informed people about this building. If there is a store in this building that Mama Sang wants to know about a certain customer If there are more situations, I will definitely ask him to pay attention. On the other hand, if any customer wants to know about a certain store in this building, he will probably talk to him, so I will do this if we often do it in the future. If we come to patronize this place, our actions will likely be spread to others through that person's mouth. After all, no store likes generous customers, which is very important if you want to be a popular customer. "

"Oh?" Jim Maochu was deeply touched by his father's words, and he couldn't help being surprised by his father's foresight.

"Why do you look like this? Are you surprised? Let me tell you, the reason why I have been strict with your behavior since childhood is because many times, details can determine everything. Ah, by the way, take out your lighter and have a look ?”

"Huh?" Jim Maoche was also surprised by another inexplicable request from his father. He really couldn't catch up with his father's unexpected thoughts.

But due to the attributes of a good son, he still did it.

"As expected, it's a bargain of 100 yen. Don't let anyone see this kind of thing, throw it away quickly."

Following Minister Ji Mao's order, Ji Mao Ce followed it with fear and fear, and quickly disposed of the plastic lighter in his hand - kicked it to the dark corner of the wall.

But it wasn't over yet. Minister Yoshimo immediately focused his attention on his shoes, and then took out his handkerchief and handed it to him with great dissatisfaction. He looked around and whispered, "Give your shoes a good wipe."

No matter how obedient he was, Ji Maoche couldn't bear it at this time. He really felt that his father was a little too cautious.

After all, it’s not like going to work in the morning. It has just rained a little. How can any office worker’s shoes remain as bright and discernible as they were in the morning?

Besides, my father’s handkerchiefs are not cheap, costing 2,000 yen each, just to clean my shoes...

"Minister, this..."

"Idiot, why are you hesitating? Let me tell you, every store and every staff here is good at judging people by their appearance. They can roughly determine your origins based on your clothes and conversation, so you should pretend appropriately. Being rich is a must-have for every man who goes to a bar in Ginza. If you want to get something from this place and don’t want to spend money in vain, you must learn this skill.”

"Also, listen carefully to me. At midnight, it is usually the time for customers to leave various business places in Ginza. Ginza bars do not have any clearly marked prices. What they have is just a white note with the words The amount you have to pay tonight is based on what standard? Don’t ask. If you ask, I will tell you that there is only one standard for calculation, and that is the look in the eyes of Mama-san or the store manager. If you have money, I'll charge you more. If she thinks you're worthless, she'll charge you more. If she has compassion for you, she might charge you less."

“But no matter what, as long as you get such a small piece of paper, you must take out your wallet without hesitation to pay the bill. If your eyes stay on the small piece of paper for three seconds, then you will be looked down upon. If you dare to tell Mamasang, ‘It’s too expensive, can I get a discount?’ Then it will be difficult for you to step into this store next time.”

As Minister Yoshimoro said, "Do you understand?"

Ji Maoche had woken up in shock and truly understood the good intentions of his father's lesson.

He didn't dare to hesitate, responded, and quickly bowed and polished his shoes.

That's not all. As a father, Minister Yoshimoo waited for him to stand up straight again and tidied his tie before taking him inside.

At this time, Ji Maoche no longer had any relaxed mentality, and now he only had the utmost attention in his heart.

To be honest, I didn't expect that a meeting in a nightclub would require so many things to pay attention to, and I learned a lot of knowledge from my father that I couldn't learn in the classroom.

He had a vague feeling that the club door in front of him was the real adult world.

Compared to that place, graduating from college, being hired by a bank, and even the recent promotion seemed less important.

It seemed that only by being accepted by the world inside, he could be considered a real adult.

There were several shops on both sides of the corridor, but none of them were the places they were looking for.

The Chixia Club was at the innermost part, and there was a heavy metal door at the entrance of the store.

There were several large metal characters lying on the door, which did not clearly show the name of the club.

And under these characters was a copper plaque with the words "Membership System" written on it.

Seeing this sign, Minister Ji Mao and Ji Mao Ce took a breath at the same time.

Because this also meant that this club had a threshold for guests, and good business was inevitable, and it seemed that it was not so easy to enter.

Just as they hesitated, the door "popped" and opened from the inside.

Then Ji Mao and his son saw two elderly, pot-bellied guests walking out of the door.

And the three waitresses who saw them off followed closely behind.

They were all very beautiful, with looks like models or actresses.

When they saw Yoshimo and his son, they knew they were guests and bowed with smiles.

From the outside, you can see that the club is like a liquor store.

A long row of several layers of bottles of foreign liquor and Japanese sake are neatly arranged in the decorative cabinet at the entrance.

Although the whole appearance of the club cannot be seen yet, the laughter, talking, and clinking of glasses are intertwined with the dim and hazy lights, like waves of air pouring out from the screen of the foreign liquor decorative shelf.

This undoubtedly shows how prosperous the business is.

However, in the bar behind the door, the bartender with a bow tie and a 50-50 parting showed a suspicious expression, as if he found that Yoshimo and his son were faces he had never seen before, so he quickly walked out of the bar.

"You... Is this the first time you two have visited us?"

"Yes, today is the first time." Minister Yoshimo replied.

Of course, he saw the other party's scrutiny, so he added another sentence.

"We are from Sumitomo Bank and would like to come in for a drink."

Even so, the bartender still glanced at them sharply.

"I'm sorry, our restaurant is a membership system, and we only provide services to members or friends introduced by members. Therefore, please forgive me, sir."

This made Minister Yoshimo a little embarrassed and a little sad.

If nothing else, in his career, he has always enjoyed high-level treatment.

Especially after he was promoted to the head office of Sumitomo Bank, he was the focus of all kinds of people trying to curry favor in almost all social occasions.

However, in recent years, with the signing of the Plaza Accord, the Japanese banking industry has begun to have a hard time.

Now he not only needs to kowtow to customers, but he can't even enter a nightclub in Ginza.

As one of the senior employees of the core enterprises of the Sumitomo Group, he thinks he should not be treated like this.

When did Japanese banks decline to this extent?

When he thought of this, he felt his self-esteem hurt and his heart ached faintly.

"Look at you, it seems like you are refusing, right?" Minister Ji Mao's tone became tough. He finally found this place, how could he leave like this? Moreover, it was in front of his own son, which was too embarrassing, and how could he talk about the dignity of a father? So he would not give up until he achieved his goal. "I am really sorry, please forgive the rules of this club. Unless you are introduced or accompanied by a member." The bartender's attitude was a little better than before, but there was a threatening tone in his tone. Such words made Ji Maoce, who was standing at the back, stunned and a little afraid. However, the old man was still shrewd, and Minister Ji Mao calmly showed Ning Weimin's card. "It is true that no member introduced me, but I know President Ning of Tan Gong Restaurant and Da Dao Trading Company. I also know that he is in there. I just came here to meet him today. I think he may be willing to be our introducer." This really worked, and the bartender's expression changed immediately. "What, you two are acquaintances of President Ning?"

"Yes, if you don't believe it, you might as well ask President Ning."

As he said that, Minister Yoshimao took out his business card and handed it over.

The guy in the bow tie hesitated for a moment, shrugged his shoulders, and bowed instead of extending his hand.

"No, I'm really sorry! Please follow me."

The bartender apologized to Igawa-kun softly.

"Please, come here. I will inform you. However, President Ning is very busy now, and I'm afraid he won't have time to meet you for a while. Do you mind having a drink first?"

The arrogance of this man just now disappeared, and he was like a different person in an instant, with a respectful look in his eyes.

This finally satisfied Minister Yoshimao's self-esteem a little.

And Yoshima Ce, who followed him submissively, also breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, he no longer questioned his father's words.

Sure enough, the club in Ginza is really not a place that ordinary people can enter casually.