Chapter 8 Day 1
A freight company's warehouse in Arakawa Ward.
"Sato, this is Maruyama Kotaro, he's from the same hometown as me, just call him Kotaro. Today is his first day of duty, this kid is quite strong, please help take care of him."
"No problem, Kashiwagi-san, leave it to me. Kotaro, right? Come with me."
Shirakawa Kaede was busy registering for school, and Kotaro also started his part-time job under Kashiwagi's guidance. Thanks to Kashiwagi's care, Kotaro was arranged to work as a loader in the warehouse of Kashiwagi's company.
The national economy is booming now, and people are needed everywhere. As a loader position that does not require much technical skills, most people can do it.
It was easy to arrange for Kotaro to join the company. However, he was not a formal employee of the company, but a dispatched worker.
Labor dispatch, does this term sound familiar to you? Yes, it is an outbound assignment. Compared with regular employees, there are no benefits or subsidies, and wages are paid on a daily basis.
The company does not bear any risk and can let them go at any time without any compensation disputes. Is there such a good thing? The capitalists are ecstatic.
This form of employment would later become the mainstream in China's temporary worker market, and Xiao RB had already become very familiar with it in the 1970s and 1980s.
"Kotaro, do your job well and don't cause trouble ."
Kashiwagi knew Kotaro's character and was afraid that he would not know how to restrain himself and cause trouble. Tokyo is not like a deer. No one will accommodate you. People who can't stand being wronged are destined to be eliminated.
"Don't worry, Uncle Kashiwagi, I understand." Kotaro waved goodbye to Kashiwagi, then turned around and bowed to Kashiwagi. "Sato-san, please take care of me in the future."
Although Kotaro was impulsive, he was not stupid. Since he was here to make a living and earn money to hire a better doctor for his mother, he should work hard and not be wronged.
Kotaro was very optimistic, and the assigned work was quite to his liking. Physical work, the last thing he lacked was strength.
Sato saw that although Kotaro looked a little rough, his attitude was not bad, and he was not picky like a rookie who didn't know his place. He nodded secretly.
"Well, your job is to put the goods delivered by the forklift neatly in the truck compartment. Save space and put as much as possible.
The most important thing is to be careful not to damage the goods, otherwise you will have wasted a day’s work, or even lose money.”
Sato took Toratarou around the warehouse, told him some precautions, and told him to be careful, then went about his business.
Kotaro watched the people coming and going in the warehouse and the forklifts running non-stop. He felt excited for his first day at work, but also a little confused and reserved.
"Hey, kid. Stop staring blankly and come over here to help."
Kotaro was stunned for a moment and pointed at himself, "Me?"
"Nonsense, who else could it be? You are the only one in the whole warehouse who is in a daze. You are indeed the 'golden egg' from the Northeast, so stupid."
The ridicule of the coworkers made people around laugh. That silly, black round head must be the "golden egg".
As a native of RB, Kotaro certainly knows what "golden eggs" means.
Especially the mocking looks and indifferent laughter from everyone hurt him deeply. Kotaro's thick eyebrows moved back and forth as if they came alive.
His face turned dark red due to anger, and he turned around to teach that guy a lesson. But when he was about to take a step forward, he held back.
The mother's pale face, Kashiwagi's care, and the promise to Shirakawa Feng to make a lot of money flashed back and forth in his mind.
Taking a deep breath, Kotaro loosened his clenched fists , and his eyebrows drooped as if they had lost their luster.
Seeing his frustrated look, the people surrounding him laughed even harder and even started pointing and talking at him.
"Hey, what are you guys doing instead of working? The trucks waiting to pick up the goods are lined up for a kilometer outside. We can't ship out all the goods today, so all of you have to stay and work overtime."
Sato appeared at some point and yelled at everyone to get to work. After everyone dispersed, he took one last deep look at Kotaro, patted him on the shoulder, and said nothing.
Kotaro, who was alone, pursed his lips a few times, then rolled up his sleeves without saying a word and started working.
Cardboard boxes were stuffed into the carriage one by one, and his waist gradually bent.
The shipments allocated to him should have been completed long ago. The strange thing was that every time there was only a little left, it would be filled up again the moment he turned around.
Just like a spring that never dries up, if you scoop up a bucket of water, another bucket of water will appear, as if it will never dry up.
I don't know if Xiaofeng is doing well. Exhausted, Kotaro lay on the tatami and thought at the last moment before falling asleep that going to university is actually pretty good.
…
Going to college is really good, at least that's what Baichuan Feng thinks at the moment.
April 1st was the entrance ceremony of Meiji University. On this day, all freshmen dressed in formal attire and participated in the school's collective activities.
The same is true for Shirakawa Kaede, whose clothes were bought by his mother in the city. Because Shirakawa Kaede is thin, and he doesn't like the wide-shouldered and baggy suits worn by Japanese people during this period.
After Kazuko cut it herself, it finally suited his taste.
A slim-fitting suit, a tall figure, and delicate features. It is true that clothes make the man.
This outfit instantly elevated his image to a higher level. He no longer looked like the dusty country boy he had been at the beginning.
Kiryu Juichiro, who shared the same dormitory, was styling his wild and unruly long hair in front of the mirror. What was even more stylistically was that his suit was actually white!
Thinking about walking to school with him later, Baichuan Feng felt a toothache. It turns out that some people need courage even to walk with him.
As for persuading him to wear the same dark formal attire as everyone else, Baichuan Feng had never even thought of this.
Just based on his bold move of jumping back and forth between Buddha and God yesterday , Baichuan Feng knew that he was not an ordinary person.
Speaking of another giant in the dormitory, Daiji Yamashita, the dormitory has long been deserted. Perhaps he is currently squeezed on the subway to Tama area.
His entrance ceremony was held at the Ikuta campus, and Shirakawa Kaede didn't know why he didn't live in the dormitory in Tama District, which was so close, but came to Suginami District.
It's a journey of thirty to forty minutes each time, what's the point?
Fortunately, most of the courses in college can be arranged by yourself, so you don’t have to rush back and forth every day, so you can complete the courses within two or three days a week.
After packing up, Shirakawa Kaede and Kiryu Juichiro went to the school auditorium together. There, the president of Ming University would give a televised speech via the closed-circuit television system, and all major campuses would receive the signal simultaneously.
In April, the grass grows and the birds fly. The most direct manifestation of this on campus is the pink and white cherry blossoms along the road, blooming in full bloom. The warm wind blows past, and the petals flutter.
This kind of beautiful scenery is especially loved by Kiryu Jiro. Under the cherry tree, the flashy white suit. The picture is too beautiful, Shirakawa Kaede dare not look at it.
If Shirakawa Feng hadn't pulled him back, this guy probably wouldn't even want to attend the entrance ceremony and would have gone to enjoy the cherry blossoms instead.
When the two arrived at the auditorium, facing the thousands of eyes that converged on them, Shirakawa Feng felt his scalp tingling. Especially when everyone noticed the weirdo Kiryu Juichiro, there were waves of exclamations, followed by excited cheers and laughter.
Alas, is my university life going to start from being a supporting role next to the protagonist who is the center of everyone's attention?
But think about it, these days even the Red Army can be promoted on campus with great fanfare, and students can hold parades at any time. So wearing a white suit doesn't seem to be a big deal.
In the magical and chaotic 1970s, the sparks produced by the collision between communism and capital, westernization and tradition, rural and urban areas could not be concealed even by the booming economy.
