Tokyo, 1991: Starting as a bank clerk

Chapter 209 Selling Lingkong City? Impossible, absolutely impossible!

The next day.

The farewell ceremony will begin at nine o'clock.

The mourning hall was even more solemn than the night before.

The white curtains were replaced with dark gray drapes, and the number of wreaths on both sides was almost double that of when it was open all night.

It was the same guests from last night; they all sent wreaths.

The scent of white chrysanthemums and lilies hung heavily in the air, almost suffocating one.

The monks' chanting was even longer than last night.

During the intervals between the striking of the handbell, sobs could occasionally be heard from the family members' section.

Kiryu Yaya sat behind the guests.

Among the guests, Shuichi Kuroda and Hiko Kouda were also present, as was Yutaro Kamiya.

The farewell ceremony was conducted in accordance with the traditional Japanese funeral process.

The bereaved family offered incense, the guests offered incense, the monks chanted scriptures, and then came the "farewell ceremony."

The bereaved family and close relatives walked to the altar in turn to bid their final farewell to the deceased.

The next step is the final procedure before the coffin is removed.

Staff members removed bunches of chrysanthemums and lilies from both sides of the altar and distributed them to relatives and close guests present.

According to Japanese funeral customs, these flowers are taken to the crematorium and placed on the coffin before the body is cremated, as a final gift from the living.

Kiryu Yaya took a white lily from a staff member and placed it on Miyazawahara's coffin.

11:20.

The farewell ceremony has ended.

The door to the mourning hall was pushed open completely, and eight pallbearers dressed in black mourning clothes walked into the hall through the side door, stood in front of the altar, and then lifted the coffin covered with a white cloth.

The hearse was parked outside the main entrance of the funeral home.

The coffin was slowly lowered into the back of the hearse.

Keiko Miyazawa stood beside the hearse, watching the door slowly close.

She didn't shed a tear; she just stood there, looking at the black hearse for a long time.

Then she turned around, her gaze passing over the crowd and landing on Kiryu Yaya.

Kiryu Yaya stood not far away and nodded slightly to her.

Upon receiving the signal, Keiko Miyazawa turned and walked toward Yutaro Kamiya, who was standing outside the side door of the mourning hall.

Yutaro Kamiya was leaning on his cane, talking quietly with directors Matsubara and Inoue.

Seeing Keiko Miyazawa approach, he stopped talking and turned his head slightly.

"Please accept my condolences, President."

Kamiya greeted Miyazawa Keiko with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Director Kamiya, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Keiko Miyazawa asked earnestly, "May I speak to you privately for a moment?"

'

Yutaro Kamiya glanced at her and nodded.

"This way."

He leaned on his cane and turned to walk towards a relatively quiet corridor at the side and rear of the funeral home.

Kiryu Yaya did not follow.

His appearance would only make Yutaro Kamiya wary; it would be best to send Keiko Miyazawa to sound him out first.

If he remains firm, then Kiryu Yaya will look for another way to break through.

Yutaro Kamiya, leaning on his cane, walked slowly along the covered walkway for a while before stopping under the eaves.

"Keiko, please speak."

Ivy climbs all over the walls on both sides of the corridor, and the wind blows through the end of the corridor, making the stray hairs by Miyazawa Keiko's ears sway gently.

She stood in front of Yutaro Kamiya, not in a hurry to speak.

The elderly man in front of me, who is over seventy years old, still has a straight back, like an old pine tree that has been blown by the wind for seventy years, whose back has long since become one with the trunk.

"Director Kamiya."

Keiko Miyazawa finally spoke, her voice not loud, but clearer than ever before.

"What I want to discuss with you is about the land in Lingkong City."

As soon as she finished speaking, Yutaro Kamiya frowned.

"Lingkong City?"

"right."

Keiko Miyazawa nodded, not avoiding his gaze.

"I'd like to discuss with you the possibility of selling that piece of land."

After these words were spoken, the corridor fell silent for a moment.

Then, Yutaro Kamiya smiled.

"Huizi".

He spoke, his tone slower than before, with the patience of an elder to a younger person: "Do you know when your father bought that piece of land in Lingkong City?"

Keiko Miyazawa nodded.

"In 1950, my father spent a lot of effort to acquire that land. At that time, the location of Kansai Airport had not yet been finalized, and many people felt that the land was not worth the price."

"But my father said that Kansai needs a new airport. Itami is no longer enough and it will have to be built sooner or later. Rinku City is the future bottleneck."

She paused here.

"Father was right. Twelve years later, the government officially announced the site selection plan for Kansai Airport, and the land price in Rinku City doubled within six months."

Yutaro Kamiya did not respond.

He listened quietly, then slowly spoke, a hint of disappointment barely perceptible in his voice: "Since you already know, then you shouldn't have said such things."

His gaze fell on Keiko Miyazawa's face, with a heavy scrutiny.

"That piece of land is the foundation your father left to the Miyazawa Group for the next twenty years. Once Kansai Airport opens, the value of Rinko City will increase several times, even dozens of times."

"What's the difference between you selling it now and personally tearing down the Miyazawa family's future?"

Keiko Miyazawa did not avoid Yutaro Kamiya's self-illumination.

"Director Kamiya, I understand what you're saying."

Keiko Miyazawa's voice remained steady, unmoved by the old man's words.

"When my father bought that land, I was still in elementary school. He took me to see it once. At that time, it was still a wasteland, and the weeds were taller than me."

He stood on that barren land, pointed to the distant sea and said, "Keiko, do you see that sea? Ten years from now, there will be an airport there, and planes from all over the world will land there. This land will be the Miyazawa family's future bridgehead."

'

She paused slightly as she spoke.

"I haven't forgotten a single word of those words."

Yutaro Kamiya's gaze shifted slightly, but he did not respond.

Keiko Miyazawa continued, "But Director Kamiya, when his father bought that land, it was Showa 50. At that time, the Japanese economy was still growing rapidly. The location of Kansai Airport was just an idea. He gambled correctly with foresight and courage."

"But this is no longer Showa 50."

"It's now the third year of Heisei. Land prices are falling, banks are tightening credit, and the entire Kansai economy is declining. The Kansai Airport project is still in the land reclamation stage, and whether it can be completed on schedule is unknown."

"My father's judgment back then was based on a continuously upward economic cycle, but what if that cycle has already ended?"

'

Yutaro Kamiya frowned even more deeply.

"Huizi, are you saying that your father's judgment was wrong?"

"no."

Keiko Miyazawa shook her head.

"My father was not wrong; he made the right judgment in that era. But that era is not the same now."

"Director Kamiya, you've lived most of your life, so you should understand this principle better than I do: the right choice in one era may be a fatal burden in another."