My Years as a Copyist in Taiwan

Chapter 83 A Gathering of Mystery Novelists

Zhao Wen looked at the distraught President Ye Meili and touched his nose: "We have at least 120 billion yen that we can use to buy Toshiba. Well, we should have enough time."

Tokuma Bookstore Headquarters.

Just as Tokuma Yasushi finished listening to Zhao Wen's plan, the old man was held captive for several seconds.

He thought he misheard: "You're going to mortgage all the copyrights to your books and borrow 100 billion to speculate in stocks?"

100 billion yen.

This joke has gone too far, Mr. Snail!

Tokuma Bookstore's total copyrights and real estate holdings combined amount to just over 30 billion yen. How dare you take out a loan?

00 billion to speculate on stocks?

Zhao Wen was very familiar with the development history of Tokuma Bookstore. A few years later, at the peak of the Japanese bubble economy, Tokuma Bookstore's market value once reached more than 140 billion yen. However, after the bubble burst, Tokuma Bookstore struggled to survive until forty years later, when its market value finally returned to... 30 billion yen.

Putting inflation aside, sir, you've invested for decades and essentially broken even...

In 1982, the Japanese people were indeed all investing in stocks—mortgaging their houses to borrow hundreds of millions or tens of millions of dollars, cashing out when they made a profit, and if they lost money, they could just lose their houses—in those two years, almost no one lost money!

But 100 billion?

If this thing goes wrong, it's not just about losing a house.

Tokuma Yasuyoshi wanted to ask Zhao Wen: Do you know how much money 100 billion yen is?

But when he thought about how Zhao Wen's books had sold over 140 billion yen in Japan alone, and how Kodansha, that idiot, had given him a net profit of 25 billion yen after taxes, the old man fell silent.

Moreover, the offers from Warner Bros., the fifth-ranked Hollywood studio, which Kodansha brought up yesterday, for the film rights to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" for $50, and Disney, the eighth-ranked studio, for merchandise for $40, were all rejected by Mr. Snail.

900,000 US dollars, nearly 300 million yen!

Tokuma Yasuyoshi didn't remain silent for long, finally sighing, "Are you sure?"

"Okay. Uncle Tokuma, if you think it's too risky, you don't have to go through with it. Just find me a bank that can disburse the money quickly."

Tokuma Yasuyoshi gave a wry smile.

Not following? How could I not follow?

His motto in life is: You must have 100% trust in those you have identified as strategic partners!

It was because of this motto that he was able to lead Tokuma Bookstore to become the second largest entertainment group in Japan in just a few decades!

What the old man didn't know was that in the future, when he was branded a "traitor to the country," he would benefit from this motto.

"In that case, let's prepare the formalities. I'll provide the appropriate collateral. Have you gone to Kodansha yet?"

""

"I didn't go, but Mr. Fujino Shuji guaranteed it and said he would handle it."

"That's fine. That kid from the Saionji family shouldn't have any objections. Two or three billion yen is like buying a big toy for his family."

Copyright-backed loans were not a regular business of Japanese banks before the 1980s, but the period from 1982 to 1985 was the most frenzied period in the entire Japanese banking industry. Banks were extremely aggressive in lending, and bank employees even had lending quotas. If you didn't meet your quota, you would have your bonus deducted!

With the backing of companies like Tokuma Shoten and Kodansha, Snail Investment Co., Ltd. secured 15 billion yen from the Japan Industrial Bank a few days later. Saionji Muneaki directly contributed 3 billion yen in cash, while Zhao Wen himself already had over 200 million NT dollars. Together, they raised a total of 20 billion yen!

Ye Meili felt it was a bit magical; she truly deserved to be a great writer of fantasy novels!

She looked up at Zhao Wen, who was sitting opposite her.

"Mr. Wen, shall we begin?" Zhao Wen asked her to call him A-Wen, but Ye Meili, who was very particular about boundaries, stubbornly believed that calling him Mr. Zhao was too formal, while A-Wen was too intimate; Mr. Wen was just right.

"Of course. We must complete the stock purchase before the beginning of March 1983." Zhao Wen knew that Toshiba would take off on March 5, but he didn't dare to say it too clearly. He only hoped that Ye Meili would misunderstand and think that the all-powerful Mr. Snail had inside information.

Sure enough, seeing Zhao Wen's confident demeanor, Ye Meili didn't need to do any mental preparation before believing that Mr. Wen had come prepared!

But, when it comes to the specific month, or even the beginning of the month, this news is just too damning!

"Max out the leverage!"

"Ah!" This time Ye Meili was truly surprised.

During the Japanese stock market bubble, margin trading was very easy; leverage of up to five times was common. Ye Meili had access to 2...

00 billion becomes 1000 billion in an instant!

"Mr. Wen, there's something I need to clarify with you. Your requirement to complete the position building by early March, ship in July, and clear the inventory by September is entirely achievable with a base of 200 billion or even 300 billion. However, with full leverage, our position building will take several months, and Huang..."

'

"The daylilies are all cold!" Zhao Wen blurted out.

"Forehead....

""

"I understand. Leave professional matters to professionals. I don't care how much leverage you add, you make the decision." Zhao Wen readily admitted his mistake and stopped greedily pursuing maximum profit.

Anyway, according to the plan, as long as the shipments are completed by September next year, it won't affect his ability to snatch JSR.

In 1983, JSR was a company that "appeared to be making rubber, but actually had the future of photoresist hidden in it."

When Zhao Wen transmigrated here, this thing was still a key factor hindering the development of semiconductor materials in mainland China.

JSR is currently valued at tens of billions. If Zhao Wen invests 200 billion, he can become the largest shareholder and gain actual control. Then, at 85...

During the "honeymoon period" of 2018, JSR was allowed to establish a branch in mainland China. This was a true "hijacking" of the business. It wasn't about how much money was made, but about building up resources for the mainland.

While Mr. Snail was secretly plotting JSR.

In a corner booth of an izakaya in Shinjuku, three young mystery writers who would one day become incredibly famous ignored the owner's advice and continued to order drinks. They were Osawa Arimasa, Miyabe Miyuki, and Higashino Keigo.

Daecheol is the future chairman of the Mystery Novel Association.

Miyabe Miyuki is... the Queen of Deduction, and Mr. Snail's next target!

Everyone knew Uncle Dong; he passed away not long ago.

Those who write mystery novels are just like that; they like to get together with a few colleagues and chat about random things without any direction.

23-year-old Miyabe Miyuki had a cigarette in her mouth and a glass of wine in her hand. She had just finished telling a joke and was laughing so hard that her shoulders were shaking.

"Your turn, Higashino!"

Keigo Higashino took a big gulp of his drink, nodded, and blurted out out of the blue, "I read a mystery novel."

"I feel like my faith has collapsed."

Osawa and Miyabe were completely bewildered, staring intently at Keigo Higashino.

"I've loved mystery novels since I was little. But tell me, Meixue, how come Chang-ge has so many connections? How come he can write serious literature, young adult literature, children's literature, and even mystery novels?"

Do you think this science is scientific or not?

Daze flicked his cigarette ash and shook his head.

"That's not scientific."

Miyabe Miyuki also shook her head: "That's not scientific."

"But I saw it." Keigo Higashino's voice trembled slightly. "The book written by Mr. Snail—The Devotion of Suspect X."

Enjoy Little Flying Man