Chapter 20: Counting Money

As soon as Tao Zhiming was out of sight of the Sumitomo HR officer, he took out the envelope, ready to count his money. The envelope, custom-made by Sumitomo, was rather large and quite thick, which filled Tao Zhiming with anticipation.

To be honest, his performance today wasn’t as proactive as it had been at Tomokazu two days ago. Back at Tomokazu, he had deliberately tossed out some alluring but problematic ideas to make himself stand out and squeeze more money out, while also laying some traps for Hiroshi Omomi, who seemed to have a chip on his shoulder.

But at Sumitomo, in a group interview scenario, it wouldn’t do to stand out too much. Even so, Tao Zhiming felt he’d done well in the afternoon’s interview. Sumitomo Realty was by no means short on money; their offer shouldn’t be any less generous.

Opening the envelope, he found not only an offer letter filled out on the spot, but two stacks within. Judging by the thickness, one must be fifty bills of ten thousand yen each.

The other stack, once he took it out, revealed bills of various colors. A thick pile of shopping vouchers with differing denominations. Tao Zhiming couldn’t tell at a glance how much was there, but it was clear Sumitomo was showing their financial muscle by adding a generous amount of vouchers on top.

These vouchers could be used as cash at participating stores. Still, Tao Zhiming planned to convert them. The problem was, though he knew this in theory, he had no idea where to exchange them. A pawn shop, perhaps? There must be places like that.

He’d arranged to meet Kusakabe from the bank at nine, but after checking the time, he decided to head straight home. It was already dark, and carrying several hundred thousand yen in cash around as a young-looking student was just asking for trouble if he ran into the wrong yakuza. Not every yakuza was as circumspect as the two from last night, who held back because they knew who he was.

When Tao Zhiming arrived home and opened the door, he found Runa Onodera had brought little Miyako over again.

Yosuke Ueno, who was chatting and laughing with Miyako, looked awkward when he saw Tao Zhiming return.

“Tao, you’re back early?” Runa Onodera asked in surprise. “Did the information session... go well?”

“It went fine,” Tao replied. “I was worried dinner would run late and it’d be rude to leave halfway, so I just came back early.”

“So you haven’t had dinner yet?”

Tao Zhiming nodded. “A bowl of ramen will do.”

But Runa Onodera protested, “How could that be? After a long day, you should eat well. Let me see what ingredients we have in the fridge…”

With that, she bustled off like a homemaker. Tao Zhiming just smiled quietly. Showing up every day—was she getting used to the place? The offer he’d made was certainly appealing, and besides, he hadn’t made any untoward advances.

“Yosuke, why so quiet?” Tao Zhiming loosened his tie and sat down.

Yosuke Ueno slumped. “Because it’s embarrassing. Leaderless group discussions are just too hard…”

“You decided to go at the last minute, so you weren’t prepared.” Tao offered him an out. “Did your group end up arguing?”

Yosuke nodded helplessly. “The problem was, no one wanted to lead, and they all nominated me.”

“A disaster!” Tao Zhiming sympathized. “But honestly, you should use the same courage you show when refusing me out in the world! Why are you always so polite and accommodating with strangers?”

He thought back to how Yosuke had urged him to sell his house just because Runa Onodera looked pitiful.

This kid must be a bit of a masochist deep down.

“That’s enough, don’t rub it in. What about you, did you catch anything?” Yosuke tried to change the subject.

Miyako listened with wide eyes as the two older boys talked. She wasn’t so afraid of Tao Zhiming anymore.

“Of course I did.” Tao suddenly thought of something. “You’ve got a lot of cash, right?”

“…Why do you ask?” Yosuke grew wary.

Tao took out the shopping vouchers. “I haven’t counted them yet. Miyako, come help your big brother count these!”

He started dividing up the vouchers by denomination, with Miyako handling the 500 yen ones.

Yosuke blinked. “They only gave you shopping vouchers?”

“Of course not. There’s also half a million yen in cash.” Tao didn’t even look up. “Want to buy these vouchers at a discount? Or tell me where I can sell them.”

Yosuke looked aggrieved. “Half a million plus a pile of vouchers? Hey! Do I look so needy that I have to buy shopping vouchers at a discount?”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Tao retorted. “I just want cash—there’s nothing I need to buy right now!”

From the kitchen, Runa Onodera kept glancing back at their banter, her eyes flickering with words left unsaid.

“Five hundred… one thousand… fifteen hundred…” Miyako was counting the five-hundred-yen vouchers.

Tao Zhiming had already finished with the ten-thousand-yen notes—ten of them.

That was decent. There were still plenty of five-thousand, two-thousand, and one-thousand-yen vouchers left. It looked like a nice round sum overall.

A thick bundle, maybe not quite the one million he’d fantasized about, but surely around three hundred thousand yen in shopping vouchers. Not a bad haul!

Yosuke watched with envy.

What a monster—just two outings and he’d already made as much as Yosuke’s first month’s efforts.

He resolved that tomorrow night, he should pay close attention in class with Kyoko.

“Three hundred thousand yen, just as I thought!” Tao finished counting, in a good mood. He took ten five-hundred-yen vouchers and handed them to Miyako. “Thanks for your help—here’s your reward!”

“Huh?” Miyako panicked, looking helplessly to her mother.

Runa Onodera hurried over. “Tao, you can’t possibly—”

Tao just counted out ten more five-hundred-yen vouchers. “For dinner, I’m counting on your cooking, Miss Onodera!”

He put the ten-thousand-yen worth of vouchers on the table. “Don’t refuse—I’m already getting hungry.”

Runa Onodera’s expression was complicated, but in the end, she bowed and thanked him, then returned to cooking.

Miyako stared at the pile of vouchers, her eyes sparkling. Tao Zhiming smiled, then waved the remaining two hundred ninety thousand yen worth. “Any idea where I can get cash for these?”

He asked Yosuke, who shook his head. “I don’t know any specific places.”

“Um… Tao, are you really going to cash out the vouchers? You’ll lose a fair bit that way…” Runa Onodera called from the kitchen.

Tao tapped the vouchers against his head.

She was right—Yosuke was just as sheltered as he was, but Runa Onodera had to be careful with every yen to make ends meet.

“Do you know, Miss Onodera?”

“Of course,” she replied. “Usually, you can get about ninety percent of the value. So you do lose a bit…”

“Ninety percent?” Tao did a quick calculation. “Doesn’t matter—I want the cash fast. Where can I go?”

“Actually… I’d like to exchange some myself. As for the rest, if you want it quickly, you could try the Shindo Group…”

“What?” Tao was momentarily stunned, but then it made sense—those guys would naturally be in that line of business.

“How much do you want to exchange, Runa?”

“I don’t have much cash on me…”

Tao immediately directed Yosuke, “Hurry up and lend Miss Onodera seventy thousand yen.”

He then counted out vouchers for her, making it ninety thousand yen worth. “Extra discount for you—seventy thousand cash for ninety thousand in vouchers. That’s less than eighty percent, so dinner better be delicious!”

Though his words sounded gruff, Runa Onodera felt a warm glow inside and could only bow again in gratitude.

Yosuke looked at Tao with a complicated expression. This guy really had a knack for things.

Without further protest, Yosuke got up to fetch the cash.

Tao Zhiming considered for a moment, then asked for the Shindo Group’s number.

When he called, a surprisingly polite voice answered, “Hello, Shindo Office.”

Tao couldn’t help but laugh—it sounded so proper.

He got straight to the point. “Is there a Mr. Yuta there? I have two hundred thousand yen in shopping vouchers to exchange. Can you send him over?”

“Shopping vouchers? How much do you want for them?”

“Nineteen hundred thousand,” Tao replied. “If our first deal goes smoothly, I’ll have more in the future and you can take them at ninety percent.”

“But normally we buy at eighty-five percent…”

“These are high-end department store vouchers from Sumitomo, and they’ll always be of that caliber. If you can’t do better, I’ll find someone else.”

“…Please wait, we’ll send someone over. May I have your address?”

“Tell Yuta it’s the student he met last night—he knows the place.”

Yosuke, just back with the cash, overheard and couldn’t help asking, “Um… If the yakuza are coming, is that really safe?”

“What’s there to worry about? It’s just a transaction.” Tao handed over seventy thousand yen to Runa Onodera, then put all the vouchers meant for her into the Sumitomo envelope and handed it to Miyako. “Miyako, hold onto these and don’t drop them.”

As Miyako looked up at this smiling big brother, she wondered why he seemed different from last night—he wasn’t scary anymore.

But then—

“Miyako, let’s see what else is on TV.”

She didn’t dare refuse and nodded reluctantly.

Tao Zhiming quickly turned his attention to today’s exchange rates and financial news.

“A money-making machine, aren’t you? Never a moment’s rest,” Yosuke muttered, recalling their wager, and couldn’t help but feel conflicted.