Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

That 800 million yen prepaid card was actually a "special business fund" allocated to him by the company. He had to apply to the factory's finance department for every purchase, and the factory would also reconcile the statements, follow up with customers, and check whether Miyamoto was taking the opportunity to cheat.

Aside from disliking women, Boss Sugita has one very good quality: he is meticulous and nitpicky.

The factory is not doing well. It's tough, everything's tough!

Xiuming hung up the phone and waited for about five minutes before the public phone rang.

Miyamoto called, and the two introduced themselves.

Ayako introduced Hideaki to Miyamoto using the identity of a tenant who ran a "100-yen supermarket".

Furthermore, Miyamoto also had some impression of the time when Hideaki took Riko to sell dolls.

"Hello, Mr. Yamanaka, Ayako said you need a pickup truck, is that right?"

"I need it tonight. Can you drive over? It would be best if it was around 8 pm, because it will be almost 10 pm after I finish delivering the goods. I have booked two technicians at 'Night Paris Soap Paradise' in Kabukicho Ichiban-gai. Thank you."

"Oh?" Miyamoto's voice was filled with surprise. "Oh dear, it's just a small favor, isn't it too much of a waste?"

"Please don't be so polite. We need to continue our relationship in the future, otherwise I would feel guilty."

“In that case…” Miyamoto’s voice suddenly lowered, “Does my sister know? If she does, she’ll definitely tell my wife…”

"How can we men tell women about things that happen between us?" Hideaki said, staring wide-eyed at Riko, who was standing beside him, speechless.

"Good brother, I'll park the truck in front of Ayako's studio at 8 p.m. sharp. See you there."

The small truck cannot be used during the day, but it can be driven home after get off work. Miyamoto has been secretly driving the small truck and has done several moving jobs. It's easy for him, but he earns too little. He can only afford to go to a mid-to-low-end brothel once a month, which costs 15000 yen.

Chapter 54 Did my father-in-law also buy [financing-type variable insurance]?

After hanging up the phone, Xiuming first took Riko to various commercial streets to collect information on supermarkets with poor performance, and recorded them one by one. They also exchanged contact information with the supermarket managers to keep as a source of daily necessities for purchase.

While wandering around, I even came across a place that was selling at a loss because its lease was expiring.

Xiuming has seen too many shops that announce their leases are due three years in advance and then sell them off at a loss.

He took Riko for a walk around the supermarket. The shelves were almost half empty, and daily consumer goods were almost completely sold out, but alcohol and various electrical appliances were still firmly on the shelves.

He then made a point of going to the back warehouse to take a look. It hadn't received any new stock for two or three days, and the floor was littered with plastic bags and cardboard boxes.

It seems this supermarket really can't stay in business anymore.

The cashier was also the boss, a short, chubby middle-aged man in his forties with a tuft of white hair at his temples.

The biggest reason he couldn't continue operating was that the bank stopped lending him money after learning about his business situation.

This is a problem of "credit crunch".

As early as the end of 89, when the stock market capitalization reached its peak and began to decline, banks should have immediately adopted a strategy of lowering interest rates to prevent the housing market from collapsing due to price drops.

But they did the opposite, raising interest rates and causing housing prices to continue to climb. Countless people tightened their belts and cut back on spending to buy a house.

This has led to a downward trend in the overall economy, and the continued decline in the stock market has also affected the real estate market.

Two days ago, I saw a news report on a financial channel at Ayako's house. The banks belatedly announced an interest rate cut, but it was too late; no one was optimistic about the housing and stock markets anymore.

Residents and investors alike deposit cash into short-term bank accounts, while some simply hide it at home, refusing to make any long-term investments.

This is already a period of deflation: there is no confidence in future economic development, and any investment will result in losses.

Everyone stopped consuming and investing. Consumers believed that goods would continue to depreciate, so they held onto their money and waited. Investors also felt that earning interest was more profitable than investing.

Even if the banks shout themselves hoarse, accusing them of "maliciously refusing to buy houses," "maliciously hoarding interest," and "having no understanding of the country's difficulties," it won't make a difference.

To resolve deflation, only "reflation" can provide a complete solution, requiring government intervention: lowering tax rates, issuing tax refunds, providing government subsidies, repurchasing government bonds, and having the printing presses run overtime.

Actually, the quickest and most effective method is to airdrop money. The United States does this frequently.

Japan's response was to print money and inject capital into banks, encouraging them to lend it out.

Everyone knows what kind of people banks are.

They need a large cash reserve to repair their loss-making balance sheet, given their significant real estate investments over the past few years.

Having lost so much money and fearing how to explain it, a windfall suddenly fell from the sky, finally managing to patch up the hole. Now, they are much more cautious about their future plans.

They were unwilling to take any more risks, so they significantly raised the lending threshold. If things didn't look good, they would immediately withdraw the loans. They didn't care if the borrowers lived or died; they just couldn't afford to lose money.

Although the willingness to lend is showing a lack of enthusiasm, so much money can't just sit idle. So, they issued a strict order to their employees to set lending targets. After all, no matter how high the threshold is, there are always suitable candidates.

Clearly, the supermarket owner no longer meets the lending criteria.

Xiuming explained his purpose, and the boss even asked if he needed a warehouse for storage, offering to waive the first month's rent.

Regarding the storage warehouse, Hideaki's plan was to "occupy" Ayako's space, since she was just sitting there anyway, so he didn't ask for the rent-free warehouse.

Afterwards, Hideaki asked Riko to select some goods in the supermarket warehouse.

Riko showed great enthusiasm, holding the plan written by Hideaki and strictly adhering to the "100-yen supermarket" principle, selecting ten boxes of tissues that would not expire.

She looked at Xiuming with trepidation.

Is it because you'd rather do nothing than make a mistake and be scolded?

Xiuming almost laughed out of anger, but in order not to dampen her enthusiasm, he gave her a thumbs up.

"Riko-chan, you're amazing! That was a very wise choice. But you could be a little bolder. I look forward to seeing what you do in the future!"

"I'll do my best," Riko said, her cheeks flushed as if she'd been injected with adrenaline. She nodded demurely, pursing her lips. "Thank you, honey..."

"Mr. Yamanaka, please let your wife choose some more!" The shopkeeper said dejectedly. "I don't have time anymore. This is the purchase order. If you buy everything, I'll give you 30% off the purchase price..."

It's April 29th now, and the deadline is May 1st, at which point I have to move everything out.

Xiuming took the purchase order, and it was indeed the actual purchase price. They wanted to sell it at a 30% discount—a complete fire sale? Were they trying to make a living?

You can get it all for 200,000 yen.

The boss gave a bitter laugh: "My wife mortgaged our house to the bank to buy an insurance policy. If we can't pay the interest by the end of the month, our whole family will be homeless..."

The boss was referring to "financing-type variable insurance," which has been selling like hotcakes, especially in recent months, both in the banking and insurance sectors.

Their main customer base is actually middle-aged and elderly people who are not very familiar with investment and financial management, especially those who own their own homes and live alone.

"I understand your situation very well, but I'm really sorry, there's nothing I can do to help."

Xiuming returned the purchase order to the boss, but most of the items were not suitable for his business positioning, so he had no choice but to refuse them.

To express his apology, he bought two bags of rice at his purchase price and took them home to eat himself.

The final selection included daily consumables such as paper towels, instant noodles, cleaning agents, and garbage bags.

They also ordered two more shelves and a simple POS machine, and told them to come and pick them up at 8:30 pm.

Having wasted a lot of time here, the sun was already setting. When Xiuming and Riko walked to the intersection and looked back at the supermarket, the golden sunlight shone on the deserted entrance, where the supermarket owner was sitting on the steps smoking.

"Honey, Mom said Dad seems to have bought that kind of insurance too..."

While the two were waiting for the train at the tram stop, Riko suddenly said something.

Riko kept in mind Hideaki's instructions to borrow money from her elderly father to invest in stocks.

This afternoon, she used Ayako's landline to call home, hoping to sound out what they were thinking.

Her mother, Mrs. Shizuka, answered the phone and told her about it. However, with the tacit approval of her father, Mr. Nobita, she also gave Riko 10 yen in relief funds.

Fortunately, Hideaki had already paid off his mortgage by then, so the bank didn't take the 10 yen.

"Oh, really?" Hideaki paused, then calmly asked, "Was it mortgaged with a hot spring inn? How much was borrowed?"

Actually, I had a slight premonition in my heart.

After all, Riko is an only child, and although he is now a fake son-in-law, he is indeed aiming for a real one in his heart, which means that he will definitely take care of them in their old age.

Neither her parents-in-law doubted her identity as a real or fake son-in-law.

However, their impression of them now is indeed quite bad; they are heavily in debt and their house is about to be seized by the bank.

Perhaps this touched a nerve with the father, who was worried about his daughter's future and wanted to ease some of the pressure on her. After all, inheritance tax is quite substantial.

“The house and hot spring hotel in my hometown have been mortgaged, and we’ve taken out a loan of 3 million yen. My mother says that we’ll have to pay 1800 million yen in interest next year.”

Riko lowered her head, feeling uneasy.

Just now, when Xiuming was talking to the supermarket owner, he said that the stock market will fall again next year, and 90% of the insurance company's funds flow into the stock market, so they can't give a single penny of dividends to their customers.

However, the family's hot spring inn is not doing well, with an annual income of only 500 million yen. To repay the loan interest, they rely entirely on the 13% to 15% return on investment promised by the insurance company.

Chapter 55 actually said that Ayako is my husband's wife? How outrageous!

“Don’t tell him about this, lest his heart can’t take it,” Xiuming said, holding Riko’s slightly cold hand. “When I go home for the New Year, I’ll bring back a truckload of money and have our father toast me.”

After all, the interest won't be paid until next year! The Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King is already booked.

Unfortunately, the old man has a heart condition, so he can't be too harsh on him, which deprives him of the fun of challenging his superiors.

"husband……"

Riko, suppressing her shame and impulsive emotions, nestled tightly against Hideaki's chest and whispered, "You're so kind... I'm sorry... I've caused you trouble..."

Although she has temporarily paid off her monthly mortgage, she still has more than 30 million yen in high-interest loans. Riko's heart pounds every time she thinks of those rampant debt collectors. Her only support is Hideaki.

Now, another debt has been added, and it's from a bank, which I have no choice but to repay.

All of this will fall on Xiuming's shoulders.

The next stop is a secondhand market to scout out the area, mainly to let Riko get used to the feeling of shopping in a market with a businesswoman's mindset.

In fact, buying back and reselling luxury goods at flea markets is also a very good entrepreneurial project.

Especially in the current environment of "from luxury to poverty", the nouveau riche who rose to prominence during the economic boom are now so poor that all they have left is money. They have been stripped naked and thrown back to the bottom, leaving them with only luxury goods.

Pawnshops are extremely popular.

Whether it's buying back Rolex watches at 10% of their original price, reselling luxury handbags to secondhand stores, or buying back home appliances at 10% of their original price to resell in Guangdong and Zhejiang, these are all excellent projects.

But it would be a bit much to ask Riko to do this job. What if a client comes to her crying and complaining? She's the type to take the blame for everything, even other people's mistakes.

Although Japanese law has a strict penalty system for selling counterfeit goods, including criminal detention and license revocation, the profits from counterfeit goods are so high that, as long as one doesn't get caught, one can earn in a month what would have taken three years to make.

Riko is only suited for businesses that require honest and straightforward operations, where cunning is not an option.

Hideaki and Riko simply strolled around the various flea markets, exchanged phone numbers with the vendors for items they liked, and arranged pickup times.