Chapter 13: I Want to Start a Business

The next morning, Xiao Ai, feeling powerless, slipped out from Zheng Yi’s embrace. She gave him a push, despising her own weakness and incompetence from the night before, and once again took on the role of Zheng Yi’s pillow without hesitation.

Then, without a hint of attachment, she crawled out of the bed, drawing a clear line between them.

Last night was merely a temporary arrangement.

Now, she was determined and resolute.

Zheng Yi blinked and reached out to stroke Xiao Ai’s head.

Xiao Ai endured silently.

Though she made no resistance, her expression clearly betrayed her ongoing inner struggle.

She had not lost her fighting spirit.

Zheng Yi felt a sense of satisfaction.

He placed his hand on her head repeatedly, conducting a test of submission.

Though Xiao Ai did not bare her teeth or claw at him, it was evident she had yet to be fully trained by Zheng Yi.

After breakfast, feeling refreshed, Zheng Yi did not go to work. Instead, he headed to a special villa complex to visit his father in detention.

Sumitomo Saburo was leisurely watching television.

Upon seeing Zheng Yi enter, he merely gestured to the butler to pour him a glass of juice.

“How’s it going at the bank?” Sumitomo Saburo inquired.

“Boring,” Zheng Yi replied, shaking his head. “All day, it’s either laundering other people’s assets or helping companies plan their IPOs. Not interesting at all.”

Monotonous to no end.

Just killing time was equally dull.

Sumitomo Saburo gently stroked the kitten in his arms.

“Weren’t you fond of this kind of leisurely life before?”

“I’m planning to start a business,” Zheng Yi said.

“Starting a business is good,” Sumitomo Saburo smiled.

The kitten glanced at Zheng Yi before curling up and licking its fur in Saburo’s arms.

“I’m going to open a construction company,” Zheng Yi added.

“A construction company?” Saburo chuckled. “That’s a good idea.”

With the real estate market in Japan so bleak, starting a construction company is hardly a sign of entrepreneurial insight.

Even if I had all the money in the world, I wouldn’t let you squander it like this.

“Don’t you want to invest in me?” Zheng Yi asked.

“Investment? Sure, sure,” Sumitomo Saburo continued to feign senility.

Zheng Yi gave him a sidelong glance through his nostrils, knowing his biological father didn’t support his desire to venture out.

Defiantly, Zheng Yi said, “I don’t want your money. I need your support. A construction company needs lots of cement and steel. I need the family businesses to sell to me at low prices.

And if the family’s construction machinery could be rented to me cheaply, that would be even better.”

Sumitomo Saburo looked at him and said, “The family businesses are now managed corporately with clearly defined functional departments. It’s not like I can do whatever I want.

Besides, I have no position in the company. Coming to me is pointless.

And do you even have the funds to start a construction company?”

Zheng Yi smiled. “Isn’t Sumitomo Bank going to give me a loan?”

“Don’t even think about it!” Saburo exclaimed loudly.

Starting a business with empty hands, especially down a dead-end path, is madness.

“Dad!” Zheng Yi said earnestly. “Now is the perfect time to buy low!”

“Real estate won’t recover for at least a decade or more,” Saburo said.

If real estate is bleak, construction is even worse.

Saburo took out a bank card and handed it to Zheng Yi, speaking sternly: “If you want money, just say so. Don’t try to scare me with talk of starting a business.”

This biological father truly thinks I care about this little bit of money?

“I don’t want it. I’ll have money soon,” Zheng Yi said, pouting.

“Soon?” Saburo eyed him suspiciously.

He put the kitten down and said seriously, “You’re not short-selling copper mines with outsiders, are you?”

“Of course not!” Zheng Yi denied sharply. “How could I? My uncle has been propping up copper prices. There’s no way I’d go against him.”

“Hard to say,” Saburo shook his head.

Everyone knew that when you warned your uncle back then, he gave you a harsh lecture.

You’ve always been petty since childhood. Could you not retaliate?

Besides, there are other conflicts between him and our family.

“Really not?”

“Really not. I’m short-selling on my own,” Zheng Yi whispered.

He hadn’t contacted outsiders.

Anyway, copper prices are bound to crash sooner or later; he just wanted to quietly take a sip of the soup.

Saburo nodded.

Thankfully, no outside traitors involved, so not a family disgrace.

“You should consider a different business,” Saburo suggested.

Better to find Zheng Yi something to do than let him harm the family.

But a construction company is absolutely out of the question.

Slapping the table, Zheng Yi declared, “Trust me. I’m a one-of-a-kind entrepreneurial genius!”

In the end,

Zheng Yi’s father agreed to support his startup.

Since Zheng Yi had his own funds, the family would not invest in him, but all construction-related businesses would establish close cooperation with Zheng Yi.

However, borrowing money from Sumitomo Bank was out of the question.

No results, no loans.

You can ruin your uncle, but not the family’s industries.

Just as Zheng Yi left the villa, Sumitomo Saburo saw a news report on television.

A former employee of Sumitomo Trading Company exposed that the head of the nonferrous metals trading department, Naka Yutaka, had engaged in massive illegal trading in the international copper futures market.

He used Sumitomo’s strong influence in the copper market to manipulate prices for huge profits by hoarding large quantities of copper and building massive long positions in the futures market.

It was obvious copper prices would continue to fall.

The international short-selling groups would surely follow suit immediately.

Saburo’s mouth twitched slightly. That little upstart.

…

His uncle was about to lose money, and Zheng Yi, saddened, bought a firework tube to celebrate at home.

“Bang~”

Xiao Ai, doing her homework, was startled like a cat under stress by the explosion, her fur standing on end as she jumped up.

Seeing that Zheng Yi held a firework tube, she sighed in relief and carefully removed the decorations from her head one by one.

“Xiao Ai, I’m so sad.”

Xiao Ai silently looked at him; the smile on his face hardly seemed sorrowful.

“My uncle’s company is in trouble and will lose a lot of money.”

That was truly delightful news.

To see a member of a wealthy clan lose money was as sweet as honey.

“I’ve quit my job, so I won’t be working anymore.”

Joy lifts the spirit; this was good news.

Zheng Yi stroked Xiao Ai’s head and continued, “Here’s another bad news: my uncle is losing money, but I’m going to make a lot.”

That was truly disheartening.

“Another bad news is that I’m starting a business.”

When it rains, it pours—all the bad news came at once.