Chapter 91: What Kind of Bed Should Be Put in the Laboratory?

“Is that the resolve with which you study the way of the sword?” Ueda Natsuna taunted from behind, then glanced at Lin Qiyu, who was walking quietly at his side with her schoolbag in her arms.

“...Young Lady, we have dinner with Professor Yamamoto, and there are materials to hand over to him,” Tao Zhiming muttered, already switching on the machine.

Today Lin Qiyu had come here as well, naturally for a reason.

The research room was beginning to take shape now. One desk held the Bloomberg terminal, and another was piled high with books and stationery.

Besides the bookshelf, there was also a single bed that could serve as an extra seat.

The sight of that bed made Ueda Natsuna feel even more stifled.

What kind of “Financial Sword Laboratory” was this, with a bed in it?

When she was not at school, these two were helping the professor look for materials, lingering in this room—how ambiguous it all seemed!

How could such a thing happen on the territory of the Kendo Club?

Ueda Natsuna’s attention was fixed on the bed, but Lin Qiyu was looking at the machine.

That thing was terribly hard to learn; those English commands—who knew how Tao Zhiming had memorized them so quickly?

Clearly, when the half-Japanese Nick Sada had come for training before, Tao Zhiming had been handling the machine for the first time.

“I’m joining the dinner later too!” Seeing Lin Qiyu already seated at another table beside the machine, concentrating intensely, Ueda Natsuna suddenly said.

Tao Zhiming did not even turn his head. “Sure. Professor Yamamoto knows you so well—he won’t mind an extra mouth at the table, will he?”

“What? Isn’t it you who’s treating Professor Yamamoto?”

“He said I’m still a student.”

“...The professor doesn’t know you’re rich?”

“He does. He says he has more money than I do.”

Ueda Natsuna had nothing more to say, though her heart felt a little uneasy.

It looked like a discussion within a research group; if she were to go along on a whim, would that be very rude?

But looking at the two heads leaning a little too close together, she gritted her teeth. She had to go.

...

“Ah, that was a great help.” At the dinner table, after the meal had been finished and the dishes cleared away, Professor Yamamoto Shinzai looked at the first batch of materials Lin Qiyu had sorted out and sighed with genuine feeling. “This Bloomberg terminal is truly valuable. The efficiency is so much higher.”

Tao Zhiming smiled and said, “A professional team made this machine. All sorts of financial materials over the years, whether policy or market news, have been carefully entered into the system from newspapers and other media.”

“Indeed...” After briefly examining the thoroughness of the materials, Yamamoto Shinzai set them down on the table and looked at him. “You’ve worked hard, Dairo. Little Kobayashi said she still hasn’t learned how to operate that machine at all. Your learning ability is very strong. To be honest, I hadn’t expected you to find useful material so quickly at first. I must apologize for underestimating you. How rude of me.”

Tao Zhiming hastened to reply humbly, “Please don’t make us feel so uneasy, Professor. Being able to find what you needed so quickly is probably because boys tend to be more interested in mechanical things. Commands involving computers aren’t Kobayashi-senpai’s native language, so her progress was a little slower than mine. But she’s improving quickly, and she’s very smart.”

Ueda Natsuna glanced at Lin Qiyu beside her.

Now she understood that Lin Qiyu was an international student from Huaxia; “Kobayashi Yu” was merely a Japanese name the professor had given her for convenience.

But it had to be admitted: to be in graduate school at only twenty, and to have been accepted under Professor Yamamoto Shinzai, she was indeed a very clever girl.

And so beautiful, too.

“By the way,” Yamamoto Shinzai’s voice pulled Ueda Natsuna’s attention back, “Natsuna, you haven’t given up on the idea of joining the research group, have you?”

“...I’ve already given up. I wouldn’t get dinner otherwise; I heard you were treating us...” Ueda Natsuna deployed the tactic she had prepared long ago.

That was it: relying on familiarity to act spoiled.

Yamamoto Shinzai was amused. “As long as you haven’t not given up, that’s fine.”

Ueda Natsuna lowered her head, aggrieved. So I’m not worthy, then?

Taking the opportunity, Tao Zhiming asked, “Professor, you’ve focused particularly on the economic changes after the end of the gold standard and into the era of fiat currency because you want to think about building a new economic model from a financial perspective?”

Yamamoto Shinzai’s attention was drawn back at once, and Ueda Natsuna sighed in relief, spared further criticism or teasing.

But listening to the specialized terms coming from Tao Zhiming’s mouth, and to the way Professor Yamamoto discussed them with him so eagerly, Ueda Natsuna grew a little dizzy and stunned.

How could the two of them... be speaking back and forth so naturally?

Now she was starting to believe it: perhaps she truly was not worthy, while this Tao Dairo fellow... did have some real ability.

Tao Zhiming’s purpose was to glean even the faintest clues from Yamamoto Shinzai, and after talking for a while, he seemed suddenly inspired. “So that means my earlier judgment was right—that lowering interest rates would be hard to use as a cure for the problems in manufacturing. To resolve their plight, it really may still be necessary to imitate the experience of forty years ago and stimulate the economy through a massive investment plan...”

Yamamoto Shinzai’s eyes showed admiration. “For a third-year student to have thought this far?”

Yet at once, a fleeting trace of confusion appeared on his face. “But...”

He did not continue.

Tao Zhiming felt a little unwilling to let it go, and said with concern, “The house my parents left me is in Minato Ward, so there has always been a real estate company trying to buy it. A stimulating investment plan would make real estate skyrocket, wouldn’t it? So I really shouldn’t sell the house, should I?”

Yamamoto Shinzai sighed. “A house in Minato Ward? Then you certainly can’t sell it lightly.”

From his impeccably guarded words, Tao Zhiming could not extract any clue.

Thinking of this, he changed the subject and asked with a smile, “Professor, after I graduate next year I’m planning to buy a car. It feels like there are more and more cars in Tokyo. What kind do you usually commute in?”

“Why buy a car? If you aren’t leaving Tokyo, public transportation will only keep getting more developed and better. Buying a car just to sit in traffic is irritating, and a waste of time!” Yamamoto Shinzai only assumed it was casual chatter and answered offhandedly.

Tao Zhiming’s mind stirred, and he continued, “Once you’ve learned to drive, not having your own car would feel like such a pity. I’m even hoping that when I have time, I can drive myself to Hokkaido or Shikoku to travel!”

“Thinking of it that way, it does seem worthwhile. You are still at the most youthful age,” Yamamoto Shinzai said with a nostalgic smile. “Still, even for a trip, a small sedan would be enough!”

“But the highway to Aomori hasn’t been fully completed yet, has it? If I want to go play in Hokkaido, wouldn’t I still need a car with better performance?”

As expected, automobiles were something all men cherished. Yamamoto Shinzai really did grow enthusiastic and chat with Tao Zhiming about cars.

Ueda Natsuna and Lin Qiyu, who knew nothing of the deeper purpose, admired him greatly. Facing such a renowned professor, how had he, as nothing more than a third-year student and not even very familiar with him, found topics so effortlessly and talked with him so cheerfully?

And Lin Qiyu, for her part, was thinking more deeply: this Tao Zhiming seemed to be probing the professor for information through indirect means!

After talking for a while, Tao Zhiming said with a reflective air, “Perhaps when I’m older, I’ll come to love the rural scenery you mentioned. But for now, I’d still rather stay in Tokyo. If Tokyo could have an even more dazzling skyline and shoreline, the way a supercity like New York does, that would be even better!”

What he described was exactly the kind of view a young person would love, and Yamamoto Shinzai threw back his head and laughed. “In Tokyo, what other great metropolis is there to envy?”

He wore the expression of a man at the height of the Showa era’s confidence.

“To have been born into such a fine age!” Tao Zhiming looked equally full of anticipation, and then immediately brought the subject back. “Professor, what should we look for next? Which data and materials do you want us to search for?”

At this stage, Lin Qiyu also took part, most often pulling pen and notebook from her schoolbag and recording things swiftly.

Ueda Natsuna felt like a fool and took her leave first. After leaving the restaurant, she returned, frustrated, to the school nearby and practiced with a bamboo sword in the Kendo Club.

It was as though only within the way of the sword could she find more confidence.