Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Two Women: Boundless Love Accompanying You Forever

In the Senba neighborhood of Osaka, there is a tradition of strictly disciplining apprentices.The bosses pass on the etiquette, rules and experience of doing business to the apprentices through oral instruction at work, and they are very serious. This is the outstanding performance of Osaka businessmen to maintain their reputation.It is precisely because of the strict requirements that the boss will unceremoniously slap the apprentices wherever they do not do well, regardless of their age. As a well-known store in the Shuaba district, the fifth generation bicycle shop has stricter control over apprentices.Every day very early, the five-generation boss would urge everyone to get up, and the young apprentices who heard the boss's yelling must get up immediately. If they moved a little slower, they might be scolded by the boss: "You are so slow, why don't you get up?" Hurry up, turtle! You are here to work, not to be lazy and sleep! Come on, hurry up!"

Whenever the boss loses his temper, a woman will always come out to dissuade him: "Mr. Wudai, they are all children, so their movements are naturally slower. Don't worry, good habits are formed gradually!" This person who persuaded the boss of Wudai It's the proprietress of the car shop. The proprietress is a kind and loving woman who gives the apprentices mother-like care and warmth in their daily life and work.She is in her thirties, with a plump body, a head of black and bright hair, a round face, light eyebrows, a pair of clear and bright eyes, always smiling.The proprietress's clothes are simple but well-fitted, and she looks simple but elegant.She was born in a poor family and did not study much, but her behavior and conversation are quite like everyone's, kind, intelligent and educated.In the eyes of the apprentices of Konosuke Matsushita, the proprietress is the most beautiful person in the world.

The five-generation couple has no children, so they treat the apprentices in the store as their own sons. The food and daily life of the apprentices are all taken care of by the proprietress, who is busy from morning till night.When the apprentices' clothes were torn, the proprietress took them to mend.In addition to helping the business in the store every day, I also go to the street to buy vegetables and cook.Every day when the meal was served, the apprentices would be devoured after hearing the clear and warm voice of the proprietress. Although the owner of Five Generations Phuket is very strict with the apprentices, he takes good care of the apprentices. He always lets the apprentices eat first and looks after the store by himself. He doesn’t eat with the proprietress until the apprentices finish eating, and the food is the same as that of the apprentices.The five-generation couple gave the apprentices the care and care of their parents, which made the store a family-like intimacy that is different from other stores.

Whenever Konosuke Matsushita needs to go out to do errands, the proprietress will always help him tidy up his clothes, and carefully teach him how to speak and how to thank each other to be polite.The kindness and care of the proprietress taught Konosuke Matsushita many principles of life and dealing with things, and also made Konosuke Matsushita, who was wandering in a foreign land, feel warm in his heart. However, because Konosuke Matsushita is young and short in stature, even if he exerts all his strength, he will be slower than other apprentices at work, and sometimes it is inevitable to say wrong words or do wrong things. At this time, the boss will mercilessly Give Konosuke Matsushita a slap in the face.As an apprentice, Konosuke Matsushita replied with tears in his eyes: "Hay!" No matter how wronged he felt, he couldn't show it.At this time, the proprietress would always hold him in her arms and comfort him, saying: "Aji, don't be wronged! The boss is for your own good, and he hopes you can do better to be so strict with you. Don’t hold grudges in your heart, you have to correct it! Aji is also a small adult, and only when he is sensible and hardworking can he do great things, isn’t he, Aji!”

Konosuke Komatsushita curled up in the arms of the proprietress, and really wanted to never come out for the rest of his life. After listening to the consolation of the proprietress, he felt as if his mother was by his side, so he secretly made up his mind to work harder in the future.In this way, under the care and care of the proprietress, Konosuke Matsushita's life became easier, and he did not often cry when encountering difficulties and being wronged. Konosuke Komatsushita was unfortunate. He left home to earn a living alone when he was only 9 years old, but he was also lucky. He met a kind-hearted couple of five generations, and met a gentle and loving woman—the proprietress.Although she is not the mother of Konosuke Matsushita, she gave him meticulous maternal love, making him less desolate and miserable in a foreign land.

Once, five generations of bosses wanted to take a group photo in front of the store to celebrate.This was very exciting for the young Konosuke Matsushita, and he didn't even sleep well the night before the photo shoot.On the day when the photo was taken, Konosuke Matsushita put on new clothes and went to work with a client first, but the client was very busy that day, so Konosuke Matsushita failed to return to the store on time.After finishing the work, Koyuki Matsushita ran back to the store, but the photo shoot was over.Looking at Konosuke Matsushita who was sweating profusely, the boss said: "Aji, we want to wait for you to come, but the photographer has other guests, so let's take another photo next time!" Before the boss finished speaking, Times Feeling aggrieved, Konosuke Matsushita burst into tears.

The proprietress walked up to Matsushita Konosuke, wiped his sweat and tears, and said distressedly: "Aji, don't cry!" Then she took his hand and walked down the street. Along the way, Matsushita Konosuke let the proprietress hold his hand. The little hand stumbled on the road, sobbing.The proprietress brought Konosuke Matsushita to the photo studio, and the two took a group photo.This incident left a deep impression on Konosuke Matsushita. Until his old age, he still took out his treasured photo with the proprietress from time to time, not only because it was his first time taking pictures, but also because he was moved by the kindness of the proprietress.

Konosuke Matsushita has been wetting the bed since he was a child. One night, Konosuke Matsushita wet the bed again.Although he is cautious and never drinks water every afternoon, this time he wets the bed somehow.He didn't sleep well that night, and he couldn't help but think of his mother who was far away in a foreign land. In the past, in order to prevent Konosuke Matsushita from wetting the bed, his mother always woke him up in the middle of the night, and even if the bed was dirty, his mother would clean it up .But who can he count on now that he is alone, lying in the cold and damp bed?This is a problem he has had since he was a child, and it has not been cured.At the beginning, he always paid attention to it, and dared not drink water in the afternoon every day, but something went wrong this day.He couldn't sleep anymore because of his strong self-esteem, staring at the dark ceiling in a daze.In order not to let everyone find out, Konosuke Matsushita got up before dawn, rolled up the bedding and waited for the boss to call them up.

I don't know how long I waited, and finally heard the boss's call, and Konosuke Matsushita was the first to come out of the house.Just happened to meet the proprietress who fetched water, she was startled, "Aji got up so early today!" Konosuke Matsushita just said "Oh", and hurried out to work, for fear that others would know that he wet the bed. On this day, he was listless because of bedwetting and not sleeping well.Finally, when it was time to sleep, he was unwilling to get into the wet bed, but he had no choice but to lie down helplessly. "Huh? Why is the quilt dry!" Matsushita Konosuke felt "thumped" in his heart, what Matsushita Konosuke covered was a new quilt, what about his own wet quilt?

"It must be the proprietress who checked my quilt when she saw that I got up too early." "It's broken, what can I do, the bedwetting was discovered." Konosuke Matsushita felt so ashamed at the moment! However, there was one more thing that made him more difficult: "What if I wet the bed again tonight? I can't let the lady boss change the quilt for me every day, can I? What should I do?" So he decided to wait until he went to the toilet. He didn't sleep, but because he didn't sleep well last night, he worked for another day, and after a while, he fell into a sweet dreamland.

Konosuke Matsushita, who was drowsily asleep, felt that someone was pushing him to get up, and put clothes on him and asked him to pee.Konosuke Matsushita thought she was at home, so she couldn't help calling "Mom". When the proprietress heard it, she said, "Aji, what did you call me?" The proprietress was overjoyed.With this question, Konosuke Matsushita became fully awake, and he got into bed embarrassedly.The proprietress patted Konosuke Matsushita who was hiding under the blanket and said: "Aji, don't be shy, I will ask you to get up and pee every day until you can get up by yourself, and don't hide when the blanket is wet! After hearing these warm words, Konosuke Matsushita couldn't stop the tears from rolling down, and nodded vigorously.From then on, the proprietress would wake Konosuke Matsushita on time every night, and it took several months until he got rid of his bedwetting problem. This kind proprietress gave the young Konosuke Matsushita maternal love, gave him good guidance in dealing with things and being a man, and implanted the qualities of kindness and integrity into his heart.This is one of the two women who influenced Konosuke Matsushita's life and career, the proprietress of the fifth-generation car shop, and the other is his good wife—Miss Umezhi Iue. In 1913, four years after Konosuke Matsushita transferred to the electric light company, his mother Tokuko passed away.After the elder brother, second elder brother, elder sister, father, etc. passed away one after another, Konosuke Matsushita had only one relative left—his only sister, and the siblings naturally depended on each other.Konosuke Matsushita, who left his parents since he was a child, naturally takes his sister's advice as his final opinion, including all housework, and of course his marriage. Once, my sister sent a letter saying: "Mr. Hiraoka introduced a lady to you. I heard that she is very nice. Come and see if you want." Matsushita Konosuke promised his sister to go on a blind date, but at that time his income was not only salary , plus full attendance allowance and various bonuses, the total is only 20 yen.After deducting seven or eight yen for the boarding fee, there were only twelve or three yen left, and there was a popular social atmosphere at that time - people who saved small money would be regarded as small people and worthless.So Konosuke Matsushita squandered all the money like his colleagues.Konosuke Matsushita couldn't wear work clothes to go on a blind date, so he had to find a kimono, but there was no haori (formal dress), so he asked the women at the boarding house to make a haori for 5.2 yen to go on a blind date. At the blind date prepared by my sister, the lady kept bowing her head, and she didn't dare to look at Konosuke Matsushita, and Konosuke Matsushita was too embarrassed to look at the lady.After sending the lady away, the elder sister asked Konosuke Matsushita for his opinion, but Konosuke Matsushita could not answer whether it was good or bad. The elder sister said: "I think it is very good, it has been decided." Konosuke Matsushita believed in her sister's eyes: Miss Zhi is honest, healthy, and good at housework, and of course, she is not ugly." "Since my sister is interested, I think it makes sense, and I will listen to my sister." So Konosuke Matsushita agreed to the marriage. Marriage requires a fee, at least sixty or seventy yen.At that time, Konosuke Matsushita's monthly salary was 20 yen, and except for meals and daily expenses, there was only 5 yen left per month.In order to end his single life, he cut down on food and clothing, saved 30 yen within half a year, borrowed another 30 yen, and finally married Umeyuki Iue on September 4, 1915. Shortly after marrying Umeyuki Iue, Konosuke Matsushita, who had always been in poor health, began to experience symptoms of sweating and low-grade fever.However, this time he didn't have to work hard with his illness.Because he has been promoted to be the youngest inspector of the company by virtue of his ability. The work of this position is very easy. The inspector only needs to go to the customer's house every day to check the work completed by the technician the day before. It is enough to check 15 households a day. 20 households will do. Because the work is very easy, Konosuke Matsushita just took this opportunity to recuperate his frail body.His wife, Umeyuki Umeki, maintains their family with her husband's meager income, while at the same time looking for medicine everywhere.Umeyuki Iue, who manages the house well, makes some poor days full and happy.At that time, Konosuke Matsushita often said to his wife: "Umezhi, thank you for your hard work!" Hearing this sentence, the virtuous wife always smiled and said, "Matsushita-san, you are polite again!" With Umeyuki Iue taking care of the housework, Konosuke Matsushita got a better rest at home.But his restless personality was revealed again. He faintly felt the pressure of life, and recalled his father's expectations from time to time, and suddenly thought of opening a factory by himself, but when he thought that he had worked in the electric light company for seven years, and The current job is also very stable, and the basic life can be guaranteed. If the factory fails, how can I support my family?Thinking of this, he let go of the thoughts in his heart and didn't tell his wife. Konosuke Matsushita found that there was a big problem in the design of the lamp socket at work, so he began to study and improve the lamp socket while he was recuperating.He found a few light sockets, installed and disassembled them, and devoted himself to them. The sketches of improved sockets were piled up all over the room. Meizhi Jingzhi was very surprised to see him tinkering with the socket so wholeheartedly: "Matsushita-san, please take good care of your illness, what are you doing?" Konosuke Matsushita said: "Meizhi, don't worry about it, even if I tell you, you won't understand." Umeyuki Iue said: "Matsushita-san, is it possible that you are inventing something?" Konosuke Matsushita was very surprised that his wife saw through, so he took his wife's hand and said, "Meizhi, how do you know?" Meizhi Jingzhi said: "That's why I was right. I used to work as a helper in an engineer's house, and that engineer painted and painted all day long. But, I think he can draw much better than you." Hearing what his wife said, Konosuke Matsushita felt embarrassed, so he told his wife the idea of ​​improving the socket. Umeyuki Iue said: "That's great! I was worried that you would feel bored if you were resting at home all day. It's all right now. Please rest assured to carry out the improvement work. Matsushita-kun, I support you." After hearing such words, Konosuke Matsushita felt very relieved, and felt that his wife was considerate. The outlet that Matsushita Konosuke worked so hard to improve was rejected by the director of the electric light company. He was disappointed and stumbled home.Ume Iue waited at home as usual for her husband to come home and prepared a delicious meal.Konosuke Matsushita tried to say to his wife after he got home: "Meizhi, I showed my improved socket to the director today. He thought it was good, but he refused to use it. I am very confident in the improved socket, and it will definitely be popular if it is put on the market. " Umeyuki Iue stared straight at Konosuke Matsushita and said, "What does Matsushita-kun mean to do socket business?" "Yes, since the company doesn't adopt it, I want to quit my job and concentrate on operating the socket. The prospect of this socket must be very good. What do you think, Meizhi?" After saying this, Konosuke Matsushita felt a little nervous. how to answer. "Matsushita-kun, have you really thought about it? Are you really willing to give up the position of inspector?" Umeyuki Iue asked. "Well, I dare not say that everything has been thought out." Konosuke Matsushita sighed, "I know that it will be very embarrassing for us to take risks. However, I don't want to be a small employee for the rest of my life. I want to make my own breakthrough. If my career fails, I will return to the electric light company at worst; if I succeed, I can fulfill my father’s expectations of me, and our lives can also improve. And I will not be reconciled if I don’t go out and make a fortune.” "Since this is the case, just do what you want." Umeyuki Iue said, "If a man doesn't go out and venture out, he won't achieve great things. Matsushita-kun, no matter what you do in the future, I will support you. Believe in you, Matsushita-kun." Hearing Meizhi's words, Matsushita Konosuke was very pleased, how touching it was to get his wife's support when he was at a loss, Matsushita Konosuke took his wife's hand, "Umezhi, I promise you, I will definitely do something What a career." Konosuke Matsushita said excitedly. With the support of his wife Meizhi, Konosuke Matsushita set up a small factory with 5 people and started production. However, due to lack of technology, the firing of bakelite shells for improved sockets has not progressed. Seeing the thinning Konosuke Matsushita, the clueless Toshio Iue, Yanjiro Morita, and Isaburo Hayashi were also a little discouraged. Umeyuki Iue could only silently support them, try to cook some nutritious meals every day, and The factory does some work within its capacity. There is no unparalleled road. When Matsushita Konosuke and the others were at a loss, they learned that the original electric light company colleague Tanaka-kun had mastered the technology of bakelite shells. Matsushita Konosuke personally visited and got the help of Tanaka-kun.Therefore, Konosuke Matsushita and others started production at full speed, and finally produced the first socket shell. "You really made it, congratulations, Matsushita-kun!" Umeyuki Iue looked at her husband and said, with pride and relief in her tone. But the next problem came again. After the improved socket was produced, it was not sold. Helplessly, two friends, Morita Yanjiro and Hayashi Isaburo, also wanted to quit.Facing Konosuke Matsushita who had a difficult start, his wife Umeyuki Iue gave him great comfort and support: "Matsushita-san, don't be discouraged. Since ancient times, those who can achieve great things have experienced many hardships Besides, just because you haven’t found a market, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. So Matsushita-san, please cheer up! I know the economy is in dire straits, but you can’t treat your friend badly because of this.” Matsushita Konosuke was very moved when he heard his wife's words. He didn't expect his wife to be so considerate of the overall situation. He said excitedly: "Meizhi, thank you, I will cheer up, and I will succeed!" "I still have some things here that can be pawned. Let's pay them tomorrow." Meizhi Jingzhi said softly. After sending away two friends Tomomorita Yanjiro and Hayashi Isaburo, there were only three people left in Matsushita Konosuke's factory: himself, his wife Iue Umeyuki and his brother-in-law Iue Toshio, but they did not give up and finally got a fortune to make electric fans Outlet order.But they no longer had any funds to purchase materials and molds. At this time, Umeyuki Iue took out the last few pieces of dowry jewelry and took off the bracelet on his hand and handed it to Matsushita Koyuki's assistant, saying: "Matsushita-san, take it as a pawn." , please continue to work hard!" It was with this fund that Konosuke Matsushita successfully earned his first pot of gold with his wife and brother-in-law, and began to move towards the world domination of Matsushita Electric. Many years later, Konosuke Matsushita, who had become famous, accidentally found an account book of pawning clothes when he was young from a pack of old documents in the warehouse of his house. According to the records on the book, from April 13, 1917 to August 1918, there were a total of He sent his wife's clothes, jewelry and other things to the pawn shop more than a dozen times.This account book faithfully records the embarrassment of Konosuke Matsushita's life and career difficulties at that time. Through the records, we can see Umeyuki Iue's full support for Konosuke Matsushita. During Konosuke Matsushita's life, Umeyuki Iue took care of her in every possible way in life, so that Konosuke had no worries; she helped Matsushita in career, so Konosuke Matsushita had to admire his wife's vision.Konosuke Matsushita and his wife worked together to create the Matsushita Electric Empire and achieve the myth of the God of Management.