Chapter 103: Special Project Briefing

Tao Zhiming once again arrived at the headquarters of Saijou Real Estate, which had been specially decorated for the occasion. Upon entering, he immediately noticed the large sign: “Saijou Gokurakucho” Special Project Briefing · 12th Floor Conference Hall.

Yet, his first stop was the president’s office on the 9th floor. As expected, Hiroshi Omiya was already there.

“Tarou, you’re early!” Hidekaze Kinoshita greeted him warmly, a broad smile on his face. Omiya also stood up, displaying genuine friendliness.

Tao Zhiming spoke eagerly, “I didn’t expect the press conference to be held so soon after confirming the partnership.”

“We can’t let the Mori Group’s Roppongi New City steal the spotlight,” Kinoshita said, inviting him to sit down. He glanced at Omiya with a smile. “Tarou, you still don’t know the details of the Saijou-Youwa collaboration, do you?”

Tao Zhiming waved his hand dismissively. “The specifics are core secrets, so they’re not my main concern. But judging by how pleased both presidents are, it must be a mutually satisfying agreement.”

Hearing this, Kinoshita took the initiative to elaborate. “Exactly. Before, I only told you that Youwa put in five billion yen. But in fact, President Omiya has prepared an exceptional start-up plan as well.”

Tao Zhiming sensed that Kinoshita was deliberately showing his trust in him by revealing more about the collaboration right in front of Omiya.

The plan was for Saijou Real Estate and the Youwa Consortium to jointly establish a new company, Youwa Future Commercial Real Estate, which would be solely responsible for the development and management of the Saijou Gokurakucho commercial district.

The first step was to fund the recruitment of top-tier designers to complete the architecture and landscaping based on the “Saijou Gokurakucho” concept.

Youwa Consortium would hold controlling shares and even gain naming rights as desired. The condition for Kinoshita to forgo these privileges was that if Youwa Future failed to commence construction within a year or complete it within three, Kinoshita would have the right to repurchase Youwa Future’s shares, reversing control and reclaiming decision-making authority over the commercial district’s development and disposition.

Both sides found the terms fair and reasonable, which in turn reflected Saijou Real Estate’s commitment to the project.

Only Tao Zhiming, who witnessed it all, knew that Kinoshita was a sly old fox with no good intentions hidden.

He didn’t truly care whether Saijou Gokurakucho was completed. As long as Youwa helped hype the land, that was enough.

Perhaps the land was already sufficiently hyped, and Kinoshita might secretly conspire with the Inagawa-kai to sabotage Youwa Consortium’s ability to fulfill its obligations, thus reclaiming equity worth more than its current value and cashing out even further.

What surprised Tao Zhiming was that Youwa was willing to inject five billion yen in capital right at the establishment of Youwa Future Commercial Real Estate, while Saijou Real Estate only contributed the land as equity and retained a veto right over the land’s disposition.

From Tao Zhiming’s perspective, both Youwa Consortium and Hiroshi Omiya were no fools.

He couldn’t quite understand why Omiya and Youwa dared to gamble so boldly.

By now, Tao Zhiming was certain that these powerful players were all positioning themselves around the monumental event of the national railway’s privatization.

There had to be a bigger plan behind Kinoshita’s moves. Could it be that Youwa Consortium was fully involved in Kinoshita’s grand scheme?

With these questions in mind, when the time came, they all proceeded to the 12th-floor conference hall.

Now, the hall was set up as a press conference venue. Well-dressed men and women gathered in a bustling crowd as the event finally began.

To create a grand spectacle, several ceremonies were scheduled for the day.

In addition to the joint venture signing for Youwa Future Commercial Real Estate, there was the establishment of Saijou Cultural and Entertainment, a subsidiary of Saijou Real Estate, and Youwa Trading’s launch of Youwa Premium, a retail supermarket subsidiary.

Moreover, a global bidding announcement was made for top-tier architectural design firms.

The design fee reached a staggering two billion yen—over ten million US dollars—making it one of the year’s most prestigious projects.

Reporters, specially invited from all sectors, swarmed the venue, marveling at the audacity of this collaboration.

Standing on stage, Hiroshi Omiya spoke generously: “Tokyo has become one of the world’s most unignorable mega-urban regions. Neon City boasts the largest concentration of upper-middle-income people globally. This dazzling era calls for a lifestyle of the future! This collaboration between two powerhouse companies aims to pioneer a new global model of urban living! Along the Tokyo Bay waterfront, we will attract the eyes of the entire world…”

Listening to Omiya’s eloquent speech before the camera, Tao Zhiming, hidden among the crowd, smiled quietly.

The words perfectly matched Neon City’s current bubble mentality. Of course, the true heavyweights mostly pretended ignorance, fully aware of the dangers lurking beneath the city’s glittering surface.

After all, although efforts had been made to control the exchange rate, it had yet to be fully stabilized—after a brief modest depreciation, it started appreciating again.

Tao Zhiming glanced at Kinoshita, who wore a broad smile.

The largest single investment in the entire project was probably that design fee.

By generating momentum during the design phase, once the design results were revealed—combined with preliminary cooperation agreements with other major brands—the Saijou Gokurakucho concept would become a sensation before a single brick was laid.

Tao Zhiming was certain of one thing: before the bubble fully burst, the speed of making money through real estate development would never match pure land speculation.

He simply didn’t know how these two companies and their backers intended to leverage the Saijou Gokurakucho project in practice.

Today, he resolved to uncover the truth.

At the very least, he needed to understand how Kinoshita planned to play the game—and with whom.

Amid the lively scene, Tao Zhiming remained inconspicuous.

Meanwhile, executives from both companies had already left together.

Hiroshi Omiya, as if speaking from the heart, said to Tao Zhiming, “Although you still have your studies at school, this ‘Saijou Gokurakucho’ project embodies your efforts; you must devote more time to making it a reality.”

Tao Zhiming, keeping up appearances, replied, “Of course! Before even receiving my diploma, I’m already drawing a consultant’s salary from Youwa Future. I’ll do my best!”

Kinoshita beside them appeared deeply moved. “Even now, I can hardly imagine a young man like you getting paid this much before graduating university.”

Tao Zhiming responded humbly, “I’m deeply grateful to the presidents for their appreciation—it’s quite overwhelming.”

Besides the 52 million yen annual consultancy fee from Saijou Real Estate, Youwa Future also offered him a contract.

This further confirmed Tao Zhiming’s suspicion that Kinoshita’s payments had ulterior motives.

Of course, Tao Zhiming maintained a perfectly modest demeanor, never showing greed.

The consultancy fee from Youwa Future was 12 million yen annually, which he even declined once.

Yet Kinoshita still refrained from making him justify the value of the 52 million yen consultancy fee again.

During the luncheon, when Kinoshita inquired about his schedule after school resumed, Tao Zhiming could only answer wearily, “I’m a bit busy now. Recently, Professor Akihito Yamamoto appreciated my work and invited me to assist on a research project, helping him complete an important paper. But please rest assured, President Omiya, I will ensure sufficient dedication to the ‘Saijou Gokurakucho’ project!”

Kinoshita’s pupils suddenly constricted.

Akihito Yamamoto?

Could it be Professor Akihito Yamamoto from the University of Tokyo?