Tokyo Three Generations

Indeed, life is unpredictable.

"Why?" After a moment of stunned silence, Jun Takasaki couldn't help but ask, "How did things get investigated to this extent?"

He didn't ask why the bidding process went wrong.

Because there's no need to ask at all. It would be strange if there weren't any problems with such a large-scale project that involves the country's cultural strategy.

Bribing relevant political and official figures, engaging in private collusion with other financial groups, and bid rigging are all things that would inevitably be done; it would be strange if they hadn't.

Ultimately, the state and conglomerates have always operated under these unspoken rules.

The real problem isn't that "there's a problem," but rather "who treats the problem as a problem."

Simply put, this is definitely not a legal issue, but a much more significant and potentially fatal political issue.

"Why was there no warning before such a major change?" Jun Takasaki asked again.

This was also what puzzled him the most. After all, such a major change could not have happened without prior warning, but the Toyokawa family only found out at the very last moment, which was the most terrifying thing.

Normally, if there were really any changes at the government level, the news would have already reached Toyokawa Kiyoshi, and then he would have taken appropriate measures, smoothed things over, and settled the matter.

This either indicates that the Toyokawa family's connections in government are no longer effective, or that a more "powerful" force is pulling strings behind the scenes, directly targeting the Toyokawa family.

Either outcome is terrifying.

Seeing how quick Takasaki Jun's thinking and reactions were, Toyokawa Kiyotaka's eyes flashed with a hint of admiration amidst his anger.

This kid remained calm under pressure, his thinking remained organized, and he even understood the underlying logic of things. He's truly a talented individual. Given time, he might indeed become a pillar of the Toyokawa family.

He quickly put those distracting thoughts aside and began answering Jun Takasaki's question.

"Yes, that's the problem. Everything was very rushed. We were only notified at the last minute, which is very unusual... I used my connections to investigate carefully and found out that this was the result of someone putting pressure on us from the shadows."

"And who is the one putting pressure on you?" Jun Takasaki pressed.

“It was the Teiai Group,” Toyokawa Kiyoshi replied in a deep voice. “They submitted a letter of protest and some evidence of violations, which ultimately led to this major incident and caught us off guard.”

“Teiai Group…” Jun Takasaki frowned, then suddenly realized what was going on.

Teiai Group is also a large conglomerate in the country, with a size comparable to, or even slightly larger than, Toyokawa Group; and its chairman, Hyodo Kazutaka, has been a prominent figure in the business world for fifty or sixty years, wielding astonishing influence.

With him involved, it's no wonder things have become so passive.

In such confrontations between conglomerates, law and evidence are not so important; what matters is "power," or rather, who is better able to win over power.

"Then who is their backer?" Jun Takasaki asked.

"Then there are many. Chairman Hyodo has been a powerful figure in the business world for many years, and he has remained unshaken. The politicians he has secretly sponsored and the officials he has bribed are simply countless..." Toyokawa Kiyoko gave a bitter smile.

However, he immediately slammed his hand on the table again. "However, the Toyokawa family isn't afraid of him. It's just that we didn't expect him to target us like this, so we were caught off guard and tricked... Heh, if he insists on making trouble for us, then we're happy to oblige!"

It's no wonder he was so angry. Although the land redevelopment project was only worth a few hundred billion, the initial public relations expenses and resource integration costs were at most a few billion. Even if it were all lost, it wouldn't be a crippling blow to the Fengchuan Group.

The problem is, they can't bear the humiliation.

Kiyotaka Toyokawa had just replaced his father-in-law as president, but he suffered such a blow as soon as he took office. How will the outside world view him? And how will he win over the people in the group?

The power of a conglomerate is built on both its money and its reputation, so the loss of its intangible "goodwill" is even more unacceptable than the loss of money.

For this reason, in Toyokawa Kiyotaka's view, the Teiai Group's actions were nothing short of the most serious provocation, almost tantamount to a direct declaration of war.

Even now, he still doesn't understand why the Di'ai Group suddenly did this to him, but he will never back down and must protect the reputation of the Toyokawa family.

Seeing Toyokawa Kiyotaka's expression, Takasaki Jun roughly understood what the other was thinking.

"So what would you like to do?" he asked again.

Before he arrived, Toyokawa Kiyotaka had been in his office for a long time, and besides smashing things in anger, he was naturally thinking about how to solve the current predicament.

The simplest way, of course, is to go after the Di'ai Group.

Since the Teiai Group has already provoked the Toyokawa family, the Toyokawa family will naturally not back down, but will retaliate according to procedure.

However, just as there are procedures such as recalling embassy members and issuing ultimatums between two countries before going to war, there are also certain "procedures of engagement" to follow when conglomerates clash with each other.

There's no way around it; after generations of management, the influence of conglomerates has become deeply entrenched. They have numerous unbreakable communities of interest in both the business and political spheres. Without any rules, conflicts between them would escalate into fierce infighting between two factions, which is not in anyone's interest.

Only by "fighting without breaking apart" and maintaining certain bottom lines can the position of these vested interest groups be best maintained.

Of course, this doesn't mean there aren't situations where someone gets carried away and decides to disregard the rules, but Toyokawa Kiyoko isn't that kind of person.

Since we need to "go through the process," the first step is to find a suitable intermediary as a communication channel, to get to know each other, reveal each other's bottom lines, and see what room for compromise and negotiation there is.

If the other party offers a reasonable price, then both sides will compromise and try to settle things peacefully. If the other party's demands are too excessive and the negotiations break down, then it will be a battle of wits, with each side using its own resources to fight it out.

That's why the first step is so important.

“We need to have serious negotiations with them first and find out their true intentions, so I plan to send a suitable representative to negotiate with them,” Toyokawa Kiyoshi said coldly.

Jun Takasaki paused for a moment, looked around, and realized that there was no one else besides himself.

He found it somewhat unbelievable, then pointed to himself.

"Are you saying I'm going to negotiate on behalf of the Toyokawa Group?"

Although it was a very serious occasion, and although Toyokawa Kiyotaka was very angry at the moment, he couldn't help but laugh out loud when he saw the boy's ridiculous actions.

"You? Are you even qualified? Don't be so overly self-important..."

His sarcasm made Jun Takasaki somewhat embarrassed, but also relieved.

I know my own limitations very well; at this stage, I simply do not have the ability to negotiate on behalf of the Fengchuan Group.

But then, why would Toyokawa Kiyotaka tell him so much? He was puzzled.

Fortunately, Toyokawa Kiyoko's next words easily resolved his doubts.

"While you may not be qualified to be the negotiator, you are qualified to ask that negotiator to come out of retirement—"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Jun Takasaki was still very confused. "Who are you planning to appoint as the negotiator?"

Could it be my father? Jun Takasaki couldn't help but think about it again, but quickly dismissed the idea—to be honest, his father wasn't qualified to be his father now.

"That's my father-in-law. Although he's temporarily retired, he served as president for many years and has a wide network of connections. He also has some dealings with Chairman Hyodo of the Teiai Group, so he's at least qualified to represent us and talk to him in person—"

...Toyokawa Noboru?

Jun Takasaki was completely speechless.

Although it was somewhat unexpected, it was indeed a very suitable candidate.

If you say I'm not qualified, then I'm actually quite qualified to invite him. After all, it was I who instigated the Toyokawa father and daughter to oust Old Deng.

But... is this really appropriate?

Having done what he did, Old Deng must be holding a grudge. If he were to ask Old Deng to represent the Toyokawa family in negotiations, wouldn't that backfire? What if Old Deng got angry with him or gave him a good scolding? Wouldn't that be embarrassing for him?

"I'm not questioning your choice, it's just... isn't it inappropriate for me to go and invite him?" Hesitantly, Takasaki Jun could only ask in a low voice. "You know the situation..."

"What? Scared? Where did your bravado go when you convinced me?" Toyokawa Kiyotaka sneered. "Anyway, since you were the one who instigated us to force him to resign, now it's your turn to ask him to come back and help. If you can't get him to come back, then you're incompetent—"

After a pause, seeing Takasaki Jun's increasingly unpleasant expression, Toyokawa Kiyoko's mood immediately improved.

So he added, "You and Xiangzi go together to invite him. My father-in-law will definitely hold a grudge, but he understands the importance of the bigger picture... At a time like this, he won't hold a grudge against two younger people. If I go to him, things might get even worse."

After hearing Toyokawa Kiyoshi's explanation, Takasaki Jun finally understood.

Moreover, with Xiangzi by his side, even if he gets scolded, there's someone to share the burden with—and, no matter what, Old Man Toyokawa has to consider his image; he wouldn't want to embarrass himself in front of his granddaughter, would he?

Thinking about this calmed him down.

"Okay, I understand, I will carry it out."

"Good that you understand. If you can convince him, then let's follow his arrangements. We don't have much time, so we must act quickly," Toyokawa Kiyoko urged again.

In fact, he wasn't very confident that he could persuade his father-in-law.

However, negotiations are a process of "courtesy first, then force," and he didn't expect them to solve any problems. It was just a formality. If the negotiations failed, so be it. At worst, everyone would overturn the table, and no one would gain anything from it.

While the Teiai Group could launch a sneak attack on the Toyokawa family and humiliate himself, he also had ways to make the Teiai Group suffer heavy losses as well, so that the world could see that although the Toyokawa family had suffered a blow, it had not declined.

Although he didn't want to take over the Toyokawa family, since he had already shouldered this responsibility, he had to bear it to the end. This was for Mizuho, ​​and also for his daughter...