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Kapitel 43

Upon reflection, it was Hiromi who was in the wrong. He made a move on an unmarried girl and got her pregnant. But on the other hand, ignoring it wouldn't have made much difference to the Shibata family.

However, as Hiromi said, leaving it unchecked would violate moral principles.

It is clear that Yaohong is not a cold-blooded businessman in terms of personality.

He only became overly vigilant and defensive because he was lucky enough to earn an extraordinary amount of wealth. Originally, he was actually a very humane person with a bit of an older brother personality.

This is why he is called a hero.

Yao Hong presented Yang Zi with several new conditions, but Yang Zi, who had no intention of accepting any help in the first place, insisted on declining his offer. However, Yao Hong was also embarrassed by being rejected, so neither side would give in.

Yoko finally accepted it; her mother's illness made her originally resolute will waver.

Yao Hong proposed the following conditions:

First, until Kanako turns fifteen, all expenses for her upbringing, including tuition, will be paid by the Shibata family. There is no limit to the amount; they will pay as needed.

2. The Shibata family shall fully cover the medical expenses of Yoko's mother, Kinuko Yuzuki, until she is fully or nearly fully recovered or until her death.

3. Apart from the aforementioned child support, medical expenses, and any other monetary requests, regardless of amount, will not be accepted.

Fourth, he shall never meet with Shibata Hiroya again for the rest of his life, and shall never disclose any past events.

Fifth, for the above conditions to be correctly implemented, supervision by a third party is required.

"Actually, there are many more details in the article. But it basically consists of these five items."

After finishing speaking, Masuoka closed his notebook.

"Minami Kinuko's mother was named Kinuko?"

"Um."

Masuoka answered Fukizu's question indifferently.

"She used her mother's name as her stage name, but let's put that aside for now—"

Masuoka was eager to continue.

"The last item might be a bit hard to understand, right? Simply put, it's about having someone monitor her. Mr. Yaohong selected an honest and loyal young man from among the many employees of his affiliated companies and sent him to Yangzi's side. He was responsible for two things: judging whether Yangzi's application for tuition and medical expenses was legitimate and monitoring Yangzi to prevent her from meeting with Hongya. In the end, the person chosen was a young man named Amamiya..."

He was a young man who was about twenty-two years old at the time.

—What a flat, unchanging face.

This must be the man named Amamiya, but it's best not to say it out loud.

Masuoka's right lip curled slightly upwards, and he continued in a disdainful tone:

"Mr. Yaohong has a great eye for people. The choice he made was absolutely perfect. This man named Amamiya was originally a technical employee. He never complained and performed his job honestly and foolishly for fourteen years. Even though he wouldn't necessarily get a high salary or an important position if he returned to the company in the future, the company didn't give him any such guarantees. In most people's eyes, he was fired. I can't believe there is such a person. He's truly a perfect fit."

Masuoka's expectations revealed that he thought Amamiya's behavior was foolish, and his eyes were filled with laughter, as if he was mocking Amamiya who was not present.

"Then?"

Natsuki had absolutely no interest in such things.

"Feel sorry."

Masuoka probably often cultivated his sense of superiority by secretly imagining the life of the fool he considered Amamiya.

"Thanks to Amamiya, the agreement between the two parties was properly and consistently upheld. Kanako became Yoko's younger sister on the official family register, and Amamiya cared for her every step of the way. Later, when Yoko's mother died in Showa 15 (1945), Yoko even refused the funeral gift sent by the Shibata family through Amamiya, claiming that the money did not comply with the treaty. In fact, the money was not much to the Shibata family. I heard that Yoko also voluntarily stopped paying the medical expenses after her mother's death. Hmph, how proper."

Yang Yu is also a foolish woman—that's perhaps what Masuoka wanted to say.

"There's nothing wrong with that, is there? If everyone in the world were this virtuous, there would probably be no lawsuits, and all of you lawyers would be out of a job. What a wonderful world it would be."

Upon hearing Natsuki's cheerful voice, Masuoka frowned.

"That's not necessarily true; she could also be trying to scam you."

"Fraud?"

"In fact, after that, when Mr. Hiroya was discussing marriage in 1947, another woman appeared who claimed to be Hiroya's lover. Upon inquiry, she claimed that the time when they started dating was actually in the spring of 1943."

No—

“When he eloped with Yoko, Mr. Hiroya already had another lover.”

"So, at such a young age (around twenty), you're already dating two lovers in rotation?"

Torakichi is a natural-born gossip, and he's particularly interested in these kinds of romantic escapades. He seems to have recovered from the shock of Minami Kinuko lying about her age.

"That's impressive."

"No, Mr. Hiromi never broke up with that lover back then and has been secretly keeping her as his mistress ever since."

"Huh, isn't that like having your cake and eat it too?"

Masuoka pushed up his glasses and glared at Yukichi.

"Still haven't figured it out? That woman—I haven't met her in person, but I've heard she's a prostitute. That's why I suspect that Mr. Hiroya and Yoko's scandalous elopement was actually a publicity stunt to conceal that woman's existence. Yoko needs money, while Hiroya wants his real lover to remain undiscovered, so they staged this whole thing—"

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Natsume said, disappointed.

“You’re overthinking it, uh, Mr. Masumoto.”

"I am Masuoka."

"If you just need money, why not just give it to her? Hiromi has plenty of money."

That's true—

"Furthermore, it doesn't seem right to create another huge incident just to hide the fact that you're seeing a woman. This will only make it harder for you to be with that woman. If you don't plan to get married, no one will know as long as you don't say anything. Obviously, no one knew back then, right?"

"Indeed, you're not wrong. But the Shibata family did suspect Yoko and her child at the time. Mr. Hiroya argued that the woman was just looking for trouble and was making baseless threats. But since it concerned the face of the prospective spouse, they eventually paid the woman a large sum of money to back out. The woman didn't say she had a child, so perhaps she really was a fraud. In any case, the woman disappeared after the war. Now it's impossible to confirm."

Masuoka's mouth was half open, and his conclusion was full of profound implications. He then continued.

"However, upon closer reflection, doesn't it seem like Yoko withdrew too gracefully? They were clearly so close that they eloped, but once she had the baby and her life was secure, she acted as if she had no interest in him at all. In fact, Yoko really did accept the conditions and never saw Hiromi again."

"What's wrong with that? Maybe this woman named Yoko really is a rare, animal-level keeper of her word. Since it's a good thing for you, why bother with her so much?"

Natsuki began to feel annoyed. What was the point of saying all this? Natsuki couldn't see any connection between this and searching for that girl named Kanako and being forced to listen to her birth story.

If every time a detective went to buy cigarettes, they had to listen to the old woman recount her life story, they'd probably smoke the whole pack in the store. Most clients ramble on about irrelevant details, thinking a detective can uncover the truth just by listening. If the truth could be revealed simply by hearing the details, then the person themselves, familiar enough to relay the information to others, would know best, making a detective pointless.

But Masuoka deliberately stopped.

"That's right, let's just consider it a good thing. In any case, Mr. Hiroya's marriage was put on hold, which is what is often heard in political marriages as waiting for the right time. In the end, it was decided that it would not be too late to talk about it when Hiroya became the general manager or chairman. But there was no follow-up, because the Pacific War broke out soon after. Of course, Shibata Yohhiro was in a hurry to get Hiroya married because he predicted that Japan was about to go to war."

"Ah, you want to make a fortune through war, huh?"

Masuoka frowned again and said:

"Yes. That's right."

Go on.

"However, no matter how farsighted Mr. Yaohong was, he could not have predicted that Hongmi would actually die in battle. Therefore, he felt extremely disappointed."

"Did Kanako continue to receive aid during the war? Could it be that the girl named Kanako went missing in the air raid and I'm supposed to go find her?"

"What a pity, Mr. Natsuki. You've made a huge mistake this time. Yoko and her daughter evacuated to Shinshu with Amamiya and are safe and sound. Of course, they'll still get their money."

"Amamiya didn't go to war?"

"He has a congenital lung defect and was disqualified during the recruitment examination. I heard that his body could not withstand heavy labor."

"oh."

"Unfortunately, the treaty did not stipulate what should be done after Hiromi's death. They probably didn't expect this to happen at the time. So even after the war, the Shibata family continued to pay for Kanako's upbringing. That is, until Yoko accidentally became a movie star and no longer needed their support."

"How strange, this is good."

Xia Mujin had no desire to ask any more questions.

"This July—"

Masuoka's voice suddenly grew louder. Natsuki, though not startled, stared at the fast-talking lawyer with eyes just as large as Masuoka's.

—The old man—Momohiro Shibata, and—

"Mr. Yaohong has collapsed. After all, he is over 100 years old, and for a time everyone thought there was no hope. Considering the impact on both internal and external affairs, we will not disclose this matter for the time being—"

It seems the conversation is finally getting closer to the main topic.

Out of consideration for his father's feelings, Xia Mujin suppressed a yawn and continued listening.

Yaohong collapsed due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Considering his age of ninety-two, it was already a miracle that he was saved. But he not only survived, he recovered—a truly astonishing display of vitality. And so—

During this period when physical condition is still good—

Even a financial tycoon seems to become cowardly after surviving a brush with death. Perhaps his mind was filled with thoughts of repentance, constantly muttering that he had wronged Yoko too much, and that he should let her see Kanako. Now, Kanako was his only remaining blood relative. So it's understandable that he would think this way! But his relatives were in a state of utter panic.

After all, this concerns the issue of inheritance. Yao Hong, who lost all his family after Hong Mi's death in battle, later adopted a son, who is legally the heir. There is no doubt about that.

That being said, as a financial tycoon, Yao Hong is surrounded by countless people from all walks of life who covet his wealth, and their relationships are intricate and complex. The interests among these people are by no means easy to resolve, but they all have an unspoken understanding with each other.

It's not just about the allocation ratio. Even the complex legal procedures and tax calculations have been meticulously planned out. Considering Yaohong's position, total assets, and age, this is quite reasonable.

But the dying old man uttered a single sentence that was enough to overturn all these plans.

He gave all his property to Gachiko.

This is the old man's will. Not a fraction, not a percentage, but everything.

In this context, what's being discussed goes far beyond what most people imagine—it's not simply about including movable and immovable property, or any other assets. It's not just about shares. It includes his personal patents, sales rights, and everything else you can think of. This is a very significant matter.

He was a financial tycoon, a behind-the-scenes manipulator, a chaebol leader, and a hero—his connections were countless.

Status, reputation, wealth—before he knew it, he had been surrounded by formidable barriers that made him unable to move.

It's already quite good that there's still room to sit.

The great man who rose from nothing to his current position finally realized this before his death.

"Death ends everything, so it doesn't matter who inherits the property, right?"

"That's not the issue. This involves very sensitive political issues. For example, if Mr. Yaohong were to transfer all his shares to her, Yuzuki Kanako would become the largest shareholder of the related company. But she's just a middle school student, which is certainly not a problem to be underestimated. Mr. Natsuki, a company is no longer something that can be controlled by an individual's will. A corporation has a so-called legal personality, and even the founder cannot act so recklessly."

To be honest, Natsumi doesn't care about any of this, and there's no reason for him to listen to this guy's lectures.

“I can understand your feelings, but this is Mr. Yaohong’s will, so why not just do it? You claimed from the beginning that your words were the same as Shibata Yaohong’s, but after listening to you all this time, it doesn’t seem so.”

Masuoka was suddenly filled with excitement.

“I am not stating my personal opinion. I am simply explaining the ins and outs of the matter, recounting the twists and turns before reaching the conclusion. You don’t understand, Mr. Yaohong’s personal assets are enormous beyond imagination.”