At noon, Nihonbashi Muromachi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, inside the Lawson convenience store.

Koichi Kobayashi, a clerk, was standing on the outside of the cash register, holding half a bag of frozen cuttlefish balls in his hand, pouring them into an electric pot that had boiled oden on the counter.

After pouring it, he stirred it in the pot with a wooden spoon, and saw that the quantity of ingredients still did not meet the standards required by the new store rules. After hesitating for a moment, he poured the two open bags of konjac and radish next to him into it together.

Since the 7-Eleven chain took the lead in adding oden to its stores last fall, and it has been very popular with the public, convenience store chains in Japan have followed suit and put such a cauldron on in their own stores.

For customers, it is natural that they can buy hot oden at a convenience store at any time during the cold winter. However, for the store staff who work in the store, this new project has added a lot of work burden to them.

Just like now, just after the peak of passenger flow, Kobayashi Koichi used to only need to fill the shelves with short-sold bento boxes and sandwiches of the day. Now he had to find all kinds of ingredients from the freezer and fill the oden electric pot according to the quantity and category requirements of the new store rules.

Most convenience stores in Tokyo tend to have peak traffic in the morning and evening, but Kobayashi's store has the most customers at lunchtime due to its location.

The Nihonbashi area of Chuo-ku, where the Lawson chain is located, and the Marunouchi district next door, have the highest concentration of financial institutions in all of Tokyo.

In these two small areas. In addition to large financial institutions such as the Bank of Japan, HSBC, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, there are also hundreds of small and medium-sized banks, securities companies, trading companies, and investment companies related to the financial industry. It can be said that it is the center of wealth in the whole of Japan.

Since the beginning of last year, due to the economic downturn, coupled with the sharp decline in the Nikkei. The stock market was bleak. White-collar workers from banks and securities firms working in the neighborhood. In order to be frugal, many people choose to buy a cheap bento box at a convenience store for lunch.

As one of the few convenience stores in the entire neighborhood, noon naturally becomes the busiest time of the day. An hour and a half before that, Kobayashi and store manager Takagi. There is another old clerk, Sakai. All three were busy. I can't even squeeze in the time to go to the bathroom.

After the peak period of customer flow passed, the store manager Takagi and Sakai found an excuse to go to the alley at the back door to smoke and rest, and left all the follow-up cleaning and tidying work to Kobayashi, a newcomer who worked part-time.

Although Xiao Lin was very dissatisfied with this in his heart. But he finally found this stable job, but he didn't dare to resist the store manager's arrangement, so he could only curse in his heart that these two guys would better be caught by the inspector of the head office.

Just as he was muttering and wiping the counter vigorously, he suddenly heard a very noisy roar of motorcycles from far and near on the street outside the store.

Xiao Lin is no stranger to this voice. The apartment he now rents is located near Ukita Park in the Edogawa district, a well-known mob hangout in Tokyo. On the road next to his apartment, a similar sound of motorcycles can be heard almost every night.

He looked out of the window pane with some vigilance, and saw a large motorcycle with a strange shape parked in front of the convenience store, and two young men with strange hairstyles and leather clothes got out of the car.

After the two men parked their cars, they looked around for a moment, then removed a large brown paper bag from the back seat of the motorcycle, turned around and walked towards the door of the convenience store.

Kobayashi Koichi had never dealt with the rampant clan head-on in his life, and when he saw these two men who were obviously mobsters walking towards his store, his heart suddenly began to flutter nervously. He hurriedly walked behind the silver counter, as if the barrier of the counter could give him a little more security.

With the crisp sound of the bell on the door of the store, the two men entered the store and walked straight towards Kobayashi behind the counter. What made Xiao Lin feel a little strange was that the man at first had a beard on his face, and he looked very fierce, but he was holding a black hard-shell text clip in his hand very abruptly.

"Hey! Brother, are you the store manager here? The man walked to the counter, slapped Wen Jiàn heavily on the countertop, and asked Xiao Lin with a thick throat.

Kobayashi Koichi was a little panicked in his heart, and replied in a trembling voice: "Guest, the store manager is not here now, and I am just working here." ”

At this time, the man walking behind put the kraft paper bag he was holding on the counter, and when the paper bag fell, he made a "bang" sound, it seems that the weight of this thing is not light.

The beard patted the kraft paper bag in his hand, squeezed out a weird-looking smile at Xiao Lin, and continued: "Since the store manager is not here, then this good thing will be cheap little brother!" Come on, little brother, sign this agreement, and you can make a fortune! ”

After speaking, the beard opened the black text folder, took out two copies of the text from it and handed them to Kobayashi Koichi.

Sign a deal with the mobsters? Dangerous words such as "usury", "organ trading", and "life insurance fraud" suddenly flashed in Xiao Lin's mind, and his legs began to be so weak that he couldn't stand anymore.

Under the pressure of the eyes of the two men, he reached out to take the agreement with a trembling hand, his eyes glanced around, but he didn't dare to look at the content on the paper.

The bearded man ignored him for now, and together with his companion he unwrapped the brown paper bag and pulled out a stack of magazines from it. Then, his companion took the magazine and walked towards the bookstore's sales area.

Xiao Lin felt a little strange in his heart, and was even more worried that these two people didn't know what kind of damage they would do. His eyes followed the figure of his bearded companion, but he saw him walk to the magazine display in the store, pull out a dozen magazines in the front row and throw them aside, and put the stack of magazines in his hand.

"Huh? What exactly are these two guys here for? Could it be that Kobayashi Koichi was a little confused by the behavior of these two people, and couldn't help but look at the agreement in his hand curiously.

The title printed on the first page of the agreement is "Agent Shell Selling Cooperation Contract", and the content of the agreement. When Kobayashi took a cursory look at it from the beginning, he found that it was really a formal magazine agency sales agreement.

"When did the mob guys start selling magazines?" Just when Kobayashi Mitsuichi was wondering in his heart, the beard outside the counter suddenly reached out and grabbed his neckline, pulling him so that the upper half of his body was lying on the counter.

"Hey! I say! The beard picked up the badge pinned to the front of his work clothes, looked down at the name on it, and then continued: "I said Xiaolin-kun, don't grind. Hurry up and sign the agreement and get points. There are 300 magazines here, and you can earn 100 yen for every one you sell, and 100 copies a day is 10,000 yen. That's a lot better than you have a part-time job! ”

Kobayashi Koi was pulled half by his beard and lay on the counter. It fluttered violently like a fish out of water. It's easy to wait for the beard to let go of his hand. He was like a girl who had been raped, with his hands on his chest and standing up straight with his hands on his chest.

Although what he said just now about earning 10,000 yen a day made him a little excited, but. Out of instinctive wariness of the mobsters. Xiao Lin still whispered and refused: "Big brother." I'm just a part-time worker, and I need the permission of the store manager to sell magazines in the store. ”

Then. The bearded companion happened to come back from the book and periodical area, and when he heard Xiao Lin's words, he immediately scolded impatiently: "If you stupid person can't be the master, don't be wordy there, hurry up and get your store manager back!" ”

Kobayashi Koichi wished that he could let the store manager Takagi face the occasion in front of him at this time, but he didn't dare to leave the store to find the store manager at this time. There's this morning's turnover in the cash register, and God knows what these two guys will do when he's gone. If the money in the store had been stolen just as he was looking for Takagi, his job would have been unkept.

With that somewhat weird smile on his face at the moment, he raised his finger and pointed to the two agreements that Xiao Lin was holding in his hand, and said very kindly: "Little brother, you don't have to worry so much. I tell you that even if your store manager is here now, he will be happy to sign this agreement. ”

He paused for a moment and continued: "Hey, I said brother, your head office should have recently issued a notice asking you to pay attention to the safety of the store at night, right?" I've heard that last week, Ichikawa Ghost people smashed the window panes of seven or eight 7-Eleven and Lawson stores and threw gasoline-filled beer bottles into the stores for three nights in a row. ”

"We can do this kind of sabotage that doesn't require any special skills." Speaking of this, he suddenly laughed nervously and happily, raised his hands, raised his head and sighed in a yearning tone: "Hehe, if you throw a lit cigarette butt in after throwing away the gasoline bottle." Ah, that scene should be as dazzling as a summer fireworks display! ”

Xiao Lin was so frightened by his words that his teeth began to tremble, and he seemed to have seen the tragic sight of being trapped by the raging fire and unable to escape when he was on the night shift.

"Hey, little brother! Oh no, it should be Kobayashi Koichi-kun. The beard suddenly changed to a serious tone and shouted Xiao Lin's name: "You see, our baby is parked outside now, and if it is seen by the police passing by, it will add a lot of unnecessary trouble." So, in order to hurry up, Kobayashi-kun, you better hurry up and sign this agreement. ”

"As for your store manager, I'm sure that if you relay what I just said to him, and he's not a fool, he'll support your decision. What do you think? Kobayashi-kun. ”

"Or, if you have to let the two of us leave with a grudge now, then, when I set off fireworks here one day in the future, do you think I should spray the words 'Kobayashi Koichi, die hard at night' on the ground as a reward for Kobayashi-kun?"

"Don't! Please, don't! Hearing his words, Xiao Lin screamed a little broken and stopped.

He knew in his heart that if he let this happen, everyone would think it was an act of revenge on him personally. Then, even if you are not injured in the fire, you will become the object of resentment of the head office, and not only will you not be able to keep your job, but you will also be afraid that your salary will be deducted as compensation. Moreover, the police are afraid that they will target themselves because of this and pull themselves to interrogate.

Thinking of this, Xiao Lin held up the two agreements, and said to Hu Hu with a sad face: "Are you guys really just asking me to help sell these magazines in the store?" What if I try my best, but few customers are willing to buy? ”

The beard patted him on the shoulder and comforted him kindly: "Xiao Linjun, the agreement is very clear, if we can't sell it, we will take it all back at that time." You don't have to worry about that. ”

"But there's one thing I want to sue you." He took out a magazine from the brown paper bag next to him and put it in front of Xiao Lin and said, "The possibility of a magazine like this not being sold should be very small. This is a magazine dedicated to first-class shops and clubs, the kind of information that many men dream of. ”

Then, the beard smiled a little obscenely and said, "Xiaolin-kun, looking at you like this, I'm afraid I haven't enjoyed a few women yet." Hehe, when you make money selling this magazine, you can also pick a shop here to enjoy it, there are many lovely ladies waiting for you to visit, and their service is first-class. ”

Kobayashi Koichi looked at the group of smiling bikini girls with attractive bodies on the cover of the magazine in front of him, and couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of spit. For a low-income migrant worker like him, the high-end shops and clubs in Kabukicho Street are full of mystery and are extremely desirable.

"This kind of magazine should be easy to sell, right?" He thought to himself. Although he only glanced at the agreement just now, he still roughly remembered the contents of it. It is a very formal consignment cooperation agreement, and there does not seem to be any harsh compensation and punishment clauses.

"Otherwise, I'll sign it, maybe I can really make a lot of money from it. Anyway, there is a threat from the mobsters, and Takagi's timid guy will definitely not dare to refuse. Moreover, if I signed the agreement, the guy Takagi wouldn't dare not give me a share of the money he earned! ”

Kobayashi Koichi, who had made up his mind, carefully read the agreement from the beginning to the beginning, and after making sure that there was no clause for high compensation, he picked up a pen and signed his name on both agreements.

"Yo Si! With such a decisive ability, Kobayashi-kun is a talent who can do great things in the future! With a smile on his face, he stretched out his thumb and praised it, and then said, "Then, please entrust these three hundred magazines to you, Xiaolinjun." I'll be back in two days, and I hope Kobayashi-kun can bring me good news by then! (To be continued......)

PS: Yesterday my father-in-law's 60th birthday, I was busy all day, and I drank a lot of wine, and I fell asleep when I went home. I will try to make up for this chapter in the next two days.