Chapter 123: The Man with Ten Billion Yen (Requesting First-Day Subscriptions)

"In any case, I already belong to you entirely..." Runa Onodera suppressed the fluttering in her heart, unable to stop herself from asking with concern, "But how can you just lend them so much money so casually? What if they can't pay it back?"

"They will pay it back." Tao Zhiming felt this was an unexpected windfall. "But it will take two or three months. So, for these two or three months, they will have no choice but to focus on working for you."

"...Won't this put a strain on your funds?" Runa Onodera still felt that 20 million was a huge sum.

Tao Zhiming smiled comfortably. "Not at all. Runa, I can tell you a secret that even Yosuke couldn't get out of me."

Runa Onodera thought of Yosuke Ueno, who had asked several times during lunch and was still dwelling on it before he left, and she felt a sense of being deeply trusted.

"Yesterday, I was busy all night long. As of now, I am someone who possesses ten billion yen."

Tao Zhiming said this lazily, but Runa Onodera couldn't help but open her mouth in surprise.

"So!" Tao Zhiming pinched her nose again. "In front of those housewives, you must have absolute confidence! In the future, they will all be hanging on your every mood!"

He finished speaking, put on his coat, and walked toward the door with a jaunty air. "I'm heading out now."

Runa Onodera stood up to see him off, then reached up to touch her own nose.

Even though she was a few years older than him, why... did he always treat her like a child, with that tone and those gestures that felt so natural?

Yet, such actions made her feel incredibly happy...

...

After finishing the phone call, Tsuneaki Kudo scrambled over to Ichiro Kawasaki's office. "Section Chief, Tao-kun wants to withdraw 3 billion yen in funds!"

"3 billion?" Ichiro Kawasaki stood up abruptly. "Did you hear that right?"

"How could I have misheard?" Kudo said. "He asked me to process it as soon as possible!"

"To withdraw funds, as long as he has it in his account and it doesn't involve trading operations... there is no reason to refuse." Ichiro Kawasaki didn't know what Tao Zhiming was planning, but withdrawing such a large amount at once made him feel a bit nervous.

Could it be that he really wasn't going to invest or trade with Nomura Securities anymore?

He gritted his teeth, picked up the phone on his desk, and started calling Tao Zhiming. "...Tao-kun, it's me, Ichiro Kawasaki. I heard from Kudo that you want to withdraw 3 billion yen?"

"Is that a problem?"

"...Of course not. But the market is quite volatile right now, and for such a large amount, I need to verify it. It's just procedure..."

Tao Zhiming said immediately, "If the volatility is great enough that I need to top up my margin, you can just remind me. I have a use for these 3 billion yen right now, and don't I still have over 8 billion with you? What are you worried about?"

"...I understand." Ichiro Kawasaki finally confirmed that he wasn't planning to withdraw entirely from Nomura Securities and sighed with relief. "I will process it for you right away!"

Tao Zhiming hung up, put the phone in his bag, and walked into the bank. When Kumina Maehara saw him arrive, she quickly stood up and bowed.

"I need to make a transfer." Tao Zhiming handled the simple one first. "20 million yen, transfer it to Runa Onodera's account."

Kumina Maehara felt a jolt inside, but kept her expression neutral. "Very well."

Transferring 20 million yen to that lady in one go? The scale of it was simply too large; it was like pocket money to him.

"Do you remember her account number?" Tao Zhiming asked with a smile.

"Of course. After all, she came in with you, and I was the one who opened the account..."

Tao Zhiming nodded. Seeing a SoftBank-published magazine on the side, he picked it up, flipped through it, found the contact information left by the publisher, and dialed the number.

The phone rang for a long time without anyone picking up.

Tao Zhiming tried the advertisement partnership number, but still, no one answered.

"It seems... the morale has completely collapsed." He muttered to himself, then said to Kumina Maehara, "Kumina, is this magazine ordered by the bank through an agent, or obtained directly from the publisher?"

"Ah, this... I'm not sure yet. But whatever you want to know, Tao-kun, I can go and ask!"

Tao Zhiming smiled. "That would be a trouble for you. I would like to contact the president of this SoftBank."

Kumina Maehara nodded earnestly. "I will find the contact information as soon as possible and let you know, Tao-kun."

After the money was transferred to Runa Onodera, Tao Zhiming asked, "Kumina, serving corporate clients doesn't fall under your department's scope, does it?"

"That's right, we specialize in high-net-worth individual clients." Kumina Maehara's heart skipped a beat. "Does Tao-kun have other needs?"

Tao Zhiming took a piece of paper from his bag. "For the foreign currency account I applied for earlier, please convert 100,000 US dollars into it, and then transfer 50,000 US dollars to this account."

Japan had passed a new Foreign Exchange Act in 1980; since then, Japanese residents had been free to exchange their bank deposits into foreign currency.

Tao Zhiming didn't want to go through any channels just to avoid standard fees for such a small matter, so he had Kumina Maehara handle it directly.

Setting up an offshore company required some capital. 50,000 US dollars was for the setup fees, plus some expenses for people acting on his behalf, so he had converted a little extra.

Kumina Maehara said while processing the request, "With the current exchange rate... if you had come yesterday, you could have converted a bit more."

Tao Zhiming smiled. "It doesn't matter. It's only an extra 100,000 yen or so."

Why would he shift his attention away from a major market trend that could earn him billions of yen just for this bit of money?

Kumina Maehara said, "You don't need to apply for it now, but you still need to file it. What is the purpose of this 50,000 USD transfer?"

"I have an investment abroad. Can I just write that down?"

"That's no problem." Many people had been purchasing assets abroad in recent years, and Kumina Maehara was no longer surprised.

The process for overseas remittances was a bit slower.

"Kumina, how long does it usually take to open a bank account for a newly established company?"

"Is Tao-kun planning to start your own company?" Kumina Maehara's eyes lit up. "With the scale of funds you hold, I can help speed up the review process when the time comes."

"Is that so? Then thank you in advance." Tao Zhiming smiled. "It's still in the preparation stage; I'm just getting to know the procedures."

Kumina Maehara immediately began explaining the process while waiting for some feedback on the paperwork.

Tao Zhiming gradually got a better grasp of things and complimented her, "Kumina, you are very familiar with all the business procedures."

"Not at all... These were things I learned after long periods of training upon joining the bank." She didn't mention that she had long expected that a wealthy young gentleman like him would likely manage his own businesses in the future.

She just didn't expect him to be preparing for it before even graduating from university.

As Tao Zhiming chatted with her, his phone rang. Ichiro Kawasaki said, "We have completed the withdrawal operation you requested. Because the amount is large, it went through a special channel, and it should show up very soon."

"Is that so?" Tao Zhiming asked Kumina Maehara, "Take a look and see if 3 billion yen has arrived in my account."

Kumina Maehara felt a jolt. She checked quickly and said, "Indeed... it just arrived."

Tao Zhiming nodded. The efficiency was quite high. It seemed that as a top-tier brokerage in Japan, Nomura Securities did have some special channels with banks for high-priority funds.

"Tao-kun... did you lose some money in the foreign exchange trades and decide to pull all your funds back?" Kumina Maehara was feeling quite restless. "Actually, our bank's wealth management is safer..."

"What are you thinking?" Tao Zhiming was in a good mood and teased her with a smile. "Who would curse me with losing money just for the sake of their own performance?"

"No... I am very sorry." Kumina Maehara was extremely nervous, stood up, and bowed to apologize.

"I didn't lose any. I just have a use for this money." Tao Zhiming didn't mention that it was pure profit. There were still billions of yen with Nomura Securities; that was enough. Besides, the plans to start a bookstore and dance hall, and to participate in Takeda Manufacturing, all required capital.

"That's good... Of course, I hope you haven't lost any money, Tao-kun." Kumina Maehara sat back down, feeling a bit sheepish.

Tao Zhiming added, "Later, I need to issue some personal checks and withdraw some cash."

"Some?" Kumina Maehara understood. "That means you need a checkbook."

Tao Zhiming had come specifically for the real estate he intended to buy for the bookstore and for the Takeda Manufacturing matter. As for cash, the largest denomination was 10,000 yen—how much could one suitcase hold?

With real estate costing tens or hundreds of millions, checks were much more convenient.

After handing over the distinctly retro item, Kumina Maehara reminded him, "Tao-kun, please be sure to remember how to fill them out and keep them safe. Your seal has already been registered. If someone comes to the bank holding a check issued by you, the money will be deducted directly from your account."

"I know how to use them."

Kumina Maehara was just fulfilling her duty to inform, so she added, "Tao-kun, there is one more thing I should remind you of. I don't know how you handled it before, but for next year's personal tax declaration, given the scale of your funds..."

Looking at the anxious Kumina Maehara, Tao Zhiming smiled at her. "Kumina, thank you for your concern. I have already made arrangements for these matters."

He knew she wanted to remind him about taxes and perhaps offer some advice on how to legally reduce them.

Given the scale of Tao Zhiming's income, if he were to file personal taxes properly, he might have to pay half of it in a year.

However, although Tao Zhiming wasn't fully versed in all of Japan's local practices, he knew clearly that at this level, establishing an offshore company was the most effective way to avoid taxes, and it also provided a high degree of confidentiality for his assets.

The advice Kumina Maehara would have given would only be helpful to an ordinary Japanese salaryman.

However, watching Kumina Maehara, who was bowing and saying, "It was presumptuous of me," Tao Zhiming suddenly teased, "Kumina, you seem to have some research into financial matters? Are you interested in working for me?"

"...Eh?" Kumina Maehara looked at him in shock.

Tao Zhiming smiled. "Think about it."

He turned and left immediately.

Someone capable of being hired by such a large bank clearly had talent, not to mention she was quite easy on the eyes.

It would depend on whether she was willing to give up the stable future of a large corporation.

Kumina Maehara stood frozen, watching his retreating back. Why would he suddenly extend such an invitation?

What a joke...

She had worked so hard to enter such a stable and promising place as a major bank!

Yet, why did her heart race when she heard that invitation?

Thinking of the 3 billion yen that had just been deposited into his account, Kumina Maehara felt her heart in total disarray...