National Tide 1980

Since Taniguchi and Kagawa hang around Ning Weimin every day, there is no need to go to the company except for reimbursement of expenses recently.

Therefore, their gathering time is much more flexible.

There is also no need to do it on a weekend like most people do.

August 28, 1985, although this day is Wednesday, Sunday.

But for the Taniguchi family, it was a good day to treat guests.

So this morning, Taniguchi got up early at seven o'clock, intending to help his wife Kayo.

Unexpectedly, he was rejected by his wife.

His end, as he usually encountered, was that his wife kept scolding him for being useless.

His wife, who was still nagging her about her misery, was kicked out of the kitchen like a thug who invaded her territory.

The mouse could only sneak away and ran to the living room dejectedly to eat his rice and miso soup.

But Taniguchi was not angry, because he understood the source of his wife's dissatisfaction very well and could sympathize with her emotional anxiety.

For no other reason than the fact that Japanese people almost never have dinner parties at home.

Especially when receiving colleagues and bosses from the company at home, there is no such tradition.

Since ancient times, the Japanese have regarded it as a virtue for a wife not to participate in her husband's work, and they do not like to bring official business at home at all.

Throughout Japanese history, we can find that even the emperor and shogun almost never visited the homes of their ministers and retainers.

Occasionally, it will be recorded in the history books as a major event.

What's more, there is another biggest problem in reality.

That’s why living in Tokyo is not easy.

Land is at a premium here, and most families face the problem of small houses and insufficient living space.

It is better for people who live in the countryside to open several rooms when entertaining guests.

In addition, when serving home-made meals to entertain guests, whether the guests can be satisfied is a question.

At the same time, the home must not look messy, which is something that housewives find difficult to deal with.

If it is not done well, it will be self-defeating and lose face.

Moreover, not every family has nannies and maids. Once she focuses on taking care of her guests, the housewife will not be able to take care of other household chores and children.

So the actual situation is that, except for certain times such as New Year and Bon Festival, Japanese people almost don’t want anyone to come to their homes, and social gatherings with others are usually held in restaurants outside.

As for this time, the reason why Taniguchi violated such a conventional rule of life was entirely because he was short on others and short on others.

Don't look at the gifts that Ning Weimin gave to Taniguchi. They were nothing to him, but in Taniguchi's eyes, they were all valuable.

In addition, Taniguchi has been eating Ning Weimin's work meals for free recently, and sometimes Ning Weimin will drag him to the izakaya after get off work to continue drinking.

He even took the bills for consumption to the company for reimbursement, and got himself a lot of private money.

Taniguchi was already embarrassed by being so honored.

So just for the purpose of giving back, when I discovered that Ning Weimin always pays special attention to and collects Japanese people's daily dietary preferences, knowing that Ning Weimin is doing research and preparations for opening a restaurant, Hou Taniguchi will Send out such an invitation.

It's not always good to have things come and go. It has to be fair and reasonable.

Why not let Ning Weimin, who has always been interested in what Japanese families like to eat, experience the home-cooked food of Tokyo people for himself.

But then again, although this sentence relieved Taniguchi's psychological burden, it caused endless trouble to his family.

Not to mention his wife's reluctance, even his children blamed him for it.

I thought it was extremely reckless for him to invite colleagues from the company and foreigners he had just met for a few days to his home without permission, which brought great inconvenience to all the family members.

As a result, the cold reception towards him spread. In the past few days, the family members had almost formed an alliance, and no one talked to him.

Starting the day before yesterday, my son ended his summer vacation by himself and ran back to college early.

My daughter has also been going out to see her friends since early this morning and said she would not be back until evening.

This all means avoidance and disgust.

On the other hand, although my wife expressed dissatisfaction, she was not vague in her actual support.

Yesterday, I went to the supermarket and bought tens of thousands of yen of ingredients. I was busy until midnight just preparing the ingredients.

Needless to say, Taniguchi felt deeply guilty about his family's reactions, and he was also very grateful to his wife.

So, after breakfast that day, he volunteered to help his wife run errands to buy mackerel.

Before going out, he solemnly expressed his gratitude to his wife.

This is not a sign of being disrespectful, but rather a feeling that it should be the case. If you don’t say thank you, you will feel uncomfortable. Only by saying it can you feel relaxed.

Unexpectedly, this sincere expression had a miraculous effect, and my wife's mood actually improved.

After Taniguchi put on his shoes at the entrance, his wife Kayo actually left the kitchen to see him out and tidy up his clothes.

From this intimate gesture, Taniguchi clearly realized that his wife had begun to understand.

But when parting, my wife frowned and asked again worriedly.

"The child's father, is it really okay?"

Taniguchi, who woke up from the joy, was a little puzzled.

"What? Why do you ask?"

Kayo's face was full of worry, "Although the main guest invited today is a Chinese, he is also a cadre of the Chinese branch, right? He is nominally your boss. And he came to Tokyo to open a restaurant, right? I always feel that he is just a cadre of the Chinese branch. Serving such an important guest with stewed pork and a little grilled fish is a bit neglectful. Is it really okay to just rely on home food? How about buying some steak?"

Taniguchi repeatedly waved his hands to comfort him.

"Hey, it doesn't matter. The meal you prepared is already very rich. Ning Sang will never be picky. He is a very easy person to get along with. You don't know that he even buys old clothes to wear. What a life. He is a very frugal person. What’s more, his purpose is to understand the dietary conditions of ordinary Japanese families. If he wants to eat in a restaurant, why should I specially invite him to my house?"

"That's true, but I still feel that it should be as generous as possible. After all, we are entertaining foreigners. If we really lose someone because of stinginess, it will affect all the citizens. Am I right?"

"Look what you said, what happened to our food? Your cooking skills are very good, better than the chefs in many restaurants."

The wife smiled at these words, but still ordered in a scolding tone.

"Oh, have you ever eaten in a high-end restaurant? Anyway, just go buy some steak and come back..."

"ok, I get it……"

"Hey, wait a minute, don't leave in a hurry. Do you know how much you need to buy?"

"It goes without saying that, including the guests, there are five people in total. Of course, I will buy five-person portions..."

"To put it lightly, a piece of steak is 1,200 yen, which is 6,000 yen for five people. If you spend your salary like this, our family will soon go bankrupt..."

"What do you mean?" Taniguchi was confused again.

"It's enough to buy two pieces. I'll fry them and make a salad. I'll cut the beef into small pieces and put it on top. It looks very filling. Maybe I can save some steak and do the same for my daughter at night... "

At this time, Taniguchi truly realized his wife's intelligence, and responded with an extremely happy bow.

"Okay, I understand. Don't worry, I will do it well. Mom, you are really capable!"

The joy and recognition he expressed were sincere, and his wife was a little happy and bowed in response.

"That's good, dad, please be safe on the road."

"Then I'm leaving. It's your fault at home."

I don’t know whether it was because he was about to entertain guests at home or because of his wife’s subtle change in attitude.

Taniguchi, who was getting dressed and going out, felt inexplicably that the weather today was really nice.

The sun is shining and the sky is clear, it will probably be a very pleasant day.

However, just inside the door behind him, Mrs. Taniguchi's mentality was not so optimistic, and the pressure was not relieved so easily.

You must know that the home is the housewife's workplace, especially when there are female guests coming, which involves the issue of personal honor.

She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of her husband's female colleagues and appear to be a mediocre housewife.

This kind of news will definitely reach the ears of everyone my husband knows in the company.

So in order to show her greatest value, of course she has to keep her home spotless and keep her guests well fed.

As a result, she has a lot to do.

Not only do you have to do a lot of hygiene work, but you also have to use all kinds of skills in the kitchen.

So after her husband walked out of the room, Taniguchi Kayo turned on the magic housewife mode.

While operating the vacuum cleaner, I also turned on the gas stove.

Taking care of both the living room and the kitchen, we fought with all our strength.

That kind of intense work intensity is no less than that of Pierre Cardon's employees who work overtime day and night in order to win a big overseas order.

Taniguchi, who returned home an hour and a half later, would never know how much effort his wife put in while he was away.

Just like magic, in such a short period of time, the already clean living room became more decent and bright, and the kitchen was filled with the fragrance of food.

But despite this, Kayo Taniguchi, who had created a miracle, could not gain a little peace of mind and calmness, but quickly became nervous again.

Because at a quarter past ten, guests started to come to visit us.

The first ones to come were not Ning Weimin, but sisters Kagawa Rinko, Kagawa Miyoko, and...

A man who Mrs. Taniguchi almost mistakenly thought was Ning Weimin, but actually came uninvited!

This person reported his name as Yujiro Sakai, but his true identity was Miyoko Kagawa's fiancé.

Needless to say, the Japanese, who are serious and calculating, do not like such surprises very much.

Especially on a day like this when we have a treat.

This is true even if the guest is well-dressed and brings high-end souvenirs such as Western-style mousse cake and flowers.

Taniguchi was doing better. Apart from the unavoidable surprise and some accidents, he could still remain polite and let the guests into the room.

But faced with such a scene, Mrs. Taniguchi, who came out to greet the guests, almost spit out a mouthful of blood.

Because she immediately realized that the dishes arranged as expected might not be enough.

Judging from the tall figure of this man, I am afraid that he would have to eat more than two people, and he would have to add more food.

What's the use of mousse cake?

That's only for dessert.

If the main course is not enough, such a high-end dessert will only embarrass the host even more.

Is this guy sincere?

Not to mention that the business card he took out showed that he worked for an insurance company.

Nowadays, these salesmen are notoriously difficult to deal with and are standard philistines!

Are you here to sell insurance?

And just when Mrs. Taniguchi was suspicious, the Kagawa sisters had already apologized for the incident.

Needless to say, they themselves knew that this was very disrespectful.

Originally, it was very rash when Kagawa asked if he could bring his sister.

Now there is one more person than promised, so of course I will be embarrassed.

But this change from passivity to initiative also blocked Mrs. Taniguchi's mouth.

Everyone has apologized, what else can she do? All I can say is that it doesn't matter, I still have to think of something to eat.

And her biggest wish at the moment is that Ning Weimin, who has not yet arrived, must never cause anything beyond the original plan.