readease Chapter 384 Xiwu's Bowing Down
Chapter 384 Xiwu's Bowing Down
(Two chapters today too~ Thank you all for your continued support!)
January 23, 1991, Saionji Main Residence.
Winter flowers are more difficult to care for than spring flowers.
If the branches are too stiff and the water is too cold, and you use the wrong force, the cut will crack badly.
But it is precisely at times like these that the flowers delivered by the greenhouse become more and more exquisite: white plum blossoms, red buds, pine trees, nanmu, and a few pale yellow chrysanthemums grown in the greenhouse.
When placed on a long table, it's like forcibly stuffing winter and spring into the same bamboo basket.
Satsuki sat in the center of the flower room, wearing a light gray cardigan over a white turtleneck sweater. She wore no jewelry, and her hair was tied back with only a black ribbon, making her look like some kind of old-fashioned noblewoman receiving tutoring.
Of course, that's just what it seems.
Fujita stood outside the sliding door and announced in a low voice, "Miss, Chairman Tsutsumi has arrived."
Satsuki paused for a moment with her flower shears, then continued to cut the white plum branch diagonally and put it into the water dish.
"Let him in."
"Should we ask the head of the family to come over?"
"No need." Satsuki picked up another sprig of dandelion, twirled it between her fingers, and picked off an extra leaf. "Since Chairman Tsutsumi has come in person at this time, he can't be seeing Father."
Fujita bowed slightly and withdrew.
A few minutes later, footsteps came from the end of the corridor.
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi didn't bring many people with him, only Shimada and a secretary. Shimada stayed in the outer room, and the secretary tactfully stopped at the door. Only Yoshiaki Tsutsumi himself actually entered the flower room.
He was wearing a dark suit today, and his tie was perfectly tied.
His face showed neither anger nor his usual haughty composure.
This man was almost synonymous with a symbol in the Japanese business world in the past. Seibu's land, railways, hotels—these mountains of money supported him as he sat atop them.
But there was always someone loitering at the foot of that mountain.
"Chairman Tsutsumi."
Satsuki didn't get up, but just looked up at him.
"Is it cold outside? Would you like some black tea?"
Looking at the wide-mouthed ceramic vase in front of her, and then at the scattered flower branches on the table, Tsutsumi Yoshiaki suddenly felt like laughing.
He recalled a similar feeling a few years ago when he first realized this little girl was troublesome.
She was even younger then, with an innocent smile on her face, but holding a two-meter-long pile of garbage that could have blocked the Seibu Development Project.
Later came Romanée-Conti, The Club, and that Jimmy Liao plot of land that he still finds absurd to this day.
It's even more absurd now.
She sat there arranging flowers, as if the banks, warehouses, Pleasure House, and White Water Club outside were just a passing breeze mentioned in the weather forecast.
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi did not sit down.
"I've really messed up this time."
The flower room fell silent for a moment.
Gaoyue placed Nantian into the ceramic vase and gently adjusted the angle.
"What Chairman Tsutsumi said is making me a little scared."
"Are you scared?"
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi gave a cold laugh and finally sat down opposite her.
The tatami mats were soft, but the way he sat down was heavy, and the imposing aura made it seem as if the floor itself would sink half an inch.
"Satsuki Saionji, let's stop beating around the bush today."
"The Paradise Pavilion is your trap."
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi stared intently at Satsuki, seemingly trying to glean something from her actions, but she did not answer.
She took a white pebble from the small bowl next to her and placed it on the edge of the water dish to prevent the plum blossom from falling over too quickly.
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi stared at her hand.
"What I can't understand the most is not the Paradise Mansion itself."
His voice was very low.
"Seibu can make that kind of thing as long as someone is willing to spend the money."
"Glass domes, hot springs, membership-based systems, and resort palaces on snowfields are not particularly unusual."
"What I really can't understand is time."
Satsuki's fingers stopped on the plum branch.
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi looked at her, his gaze gradually darkening.
"When you started Gokurakukan, land prices were still rising, banks were scrambling to lend money, and everyone thought that the snowy land of Hokkaido could become Ginza. Even I thought that the land prices in Japan could continue to rise."
"But you just happened to start building that absurd palace at that very moment."
He paused for a moment, as if finally uttering the absurd thought he was unwilling to admit.
"Satsuki Saionji, how did you find out all this? In terms of information channels, I don't think Seibu is much weaker than you."
"Or did you know from the beginning what would happen?"
The air fell silent for a few seconds.
Satsuki suddenly smiled.
"Chairman Tsutsumi, you were the one who offered the price back then."
That's why I said I failed.
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi's eyes were frighteningly cold.
"How did you manage to do that?"
Satsuki finally raised her eyes.
"President Tsutsumi, have you heard the stories about casinos?"
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi frowned slightly.
"What?"
"A man sits at a gambling table, and everyone around him is betting on red. If he bets on black and wins, people will say he's lucky; if he wins a few times in a row, people will say he's daring; when red finally stops, everyone starts asking him if he knew the dealer's cards in advance."
Satsuki placed a red tung tree branch next to the plum branch, its red color resembling a drop of blood slowly spreading.
"But sometimes, the answer is quite simple."
"He just didn't get drunk with the others."
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi looked at her silently.
This answer says everything, yet says nothing at all.
Not drunk?
In Japan today, how many people can say they weren't drunk?
The Nikkei index has risen to an almost unreasonable level, and the price of one square meter of land in Ginza could even buy an entire farm in the American Midwest!
Bankers were eager to offer loans, entrepreneurs mortgaged their land again and again, and everyone firmly believed that Tokyo's prices would keep rising, Hokkaido's prices would keep rising, hotels would keep being fully booked, and tourists would keep queuing up.
"so what?"
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi placed his hands on his knees, his voice becoming somber.
"Now that things have come to this, don't try to say you didn't do it. It was Saionji who drove Seibu to this point, but now only Saionji can save Seibu."
He stared at Satsuki and spoke, word by word.
"I'm here today to ask you, what does Seibu have to pay for Saionji to stop?"
Satsuki chuckled softly after hearing this.
The laughter was soft, like a feather, lightly brushing past Yoshiaki Tsutsumi's anger, only making the fire burn even brighter.
"Don't say that, Chairman Tsutsumi."
As she spoke, she picked up the pruning shears and cut off a cluster of overly heavy red berries from the Nandina domestica branch.
"Isn't this just normal business competition? How can it be considered targeting?"
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi closed his eyes.
"So, what are your conditions?"
He couldn't be bothered to listen to her teasing.
Satsuki's smile grew even brighter.
She placed the cut red berries in her palm, looked at them for two seconds, then suddenly looked up and said in an almost cloyingly sweet voice:
"I... want you dead."
The air seemed to sink instantly.
Standing in the outer room, Shimada seemed to sense that something was amiss inside and subconsciously glanced towards the sliding door. Fujita didn't move, simply standing calmly by the door.
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi's face darkened completely.
Looking at Gaoyue, who was still smiling, he called her by her name for the first time.
"Satsuki Saionji, I'm serious."
"I'm serious, aren't I?"
Satsuki slowly stood up, still holding the small bunch of red naan fruit in her hand.
She walked around the low table, stood beside Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, and leaned down slightly, her smile unwavering.
"President Tsutsumi, think about it, you're currently the richest person in Japan."
She examined the tian guo in her hand and spoke casually.
"Japan's islands are only so big. If Saionji wants to get up there, wouldn't the only option be to pull the people up there down?"
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi's fingers slowly tightened.
"Japan isn't just about Seibu," Yoshiaki Tsutsumi said coldly. "Why target me? What about the other conglomerates?"
Satsuki tilted her head, as if she had heard an interesting question.
"Am I not trying to bring in other conglomerates?"
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi paused for a moment.
Then he thought of Osaka, and of the Hakusuikai.
It turned out to be the case.
He suddenly understood.
This young woman's reach wasn't limited to Seibu. Her target was never any one company, but rather everyone who was caught off guard after the bubble burst.
Seibu is just the most conspicuous, the fattest, and the easiest piece of meat for the whole country to understand.
Yoshiaki Tsutsumi chuckled softly.
"Little girl, you have such a big appetite, be careful not to overeat."
"No need for you to trouble yourself with that."
Satsuki put the bunch of naan fruit back on the table, turned around and went back to the ceramic vase to continue adjusting the angle of the plum branches.
"If Chairman Tsutsumi has nothing else to discuss, please leave."