Tokyo: Starting with taking on his wife's debts

Has Hideaki-kun arrived yet? I haven't seen him.

Was it when that handsome guy in black came in?

I've forgotten what I was like back then. I must have been a total fangirl... Did they find out about me?

Xiuming invited me to dinner, but here I am thinking about someone else...

Suddenly, a guilty feeling of having cheated welled up from the bottom of my heart, and I wanted nothing more than to run home.

But when I think about my future career, bonuses, salary... as well as the promises I made to my colleagues and team leaders, and the grand vows I made in front of the jewelry store...

I'll give it my all...

The "thump-thump" of the waitress knocking on the door seemed to strike Tachibana's heart.

She barely dared to breathe, quickly took off her shoes and placed them at the door, then frantically tried to recall how to begin her speech.

"Come in!"

As the door slowly opened, Xiuming's casual and relaxed voice rang out.

Tachibana didn't dare to look directly at Hideaki. She lowered her head and hunched over as she shuffled into the room, trying to catch a glimpse of Hideaki's location out of the corner of her eye. The familiar black-clad figure in her vision startled her, and then her eyes widened.

Although it was only a view from behind, it looked very familiar.

The waitress closed the door, glanced at the stunned Tachibana with slight surprise, and whispered, "Ms. Tachibana, please."

"Ah... okay, alright..."

Tachibana responded instinctively, taking small steps around the low table until she reached Hideaki's side, finally seeing his face.

Xiuming was placing slices of beef on the teppanyaki grill. The Kobe beef tenderloin, with its perfect balance of fat and lean, sizzled as soon as it hit the grill, and the aroma wafted into my nose, making my mouth water uncontrollably.

I haven't had lunch yet.

He raised his eyelids and met Tachibana's wide, seemingly electrifying eyes, and raised an eyebrow.

Then, he picked up the small white plate in front of him, scooped the seared Wagyu beef into it, handed it to Tachibana, and said, "You must be hungry! Try it and see how it tastes. I made it especially for you~"

"Ah, okay, thank you." Tachibana quickly took the small plate with both hands. The beef slices on the plate smelled delicious and looked very appetizing... but...

Tachibana held the plate without daring to move; she was a little confused and couldn't figure out what was going on.

My mind is in a mess, and my feelings are complicated. I'm both delighted that the person in front of me is the abstinent male god I saw on the first floor, and bewildered because the male god is Xiuming.

It shouldn't be Hideaki, right?

But he clearly looked like he'd known me for a long time. Did he get plastic surgery?

To look this handsome, it must have cost a lot of money...

Tachibana lowered her head and cautiously peeked up, only to meet Hideaki's ambiguous smile.

Tachibana's heart skipped a beat, and her face suddenly felt incredibly hot; she wanted to smother her face with the plate.

In a daze, I recalled a heartfelt remark I made to my close female senior from university, who often stayed out all night:

"Tachibana-chan, if you never date and have no romantic experience, you'll never know what men like... There are so many simps at school, they're fed and clothed, and they're willing to be ATMs... It's so much better to use them to gain experience. When you meet your Prince Charming in the future, you won't be caught off guard..."

"Go and do something else!" Xiuming waved to the waitress. "We can handle it ourselves."

The waitress glanced at Tachibana, who had her head down and her face was flushed, with a "worried" look, then slowly retreated to the door and closed it.

“I know you have a lot of questions, let’s talk while we eat,” Hideaki picked up a pair of silver-plated ivory chopsticks and placed them next to Tachibana. “Try them quickly, or they won’t taste good when they get cold.”

"OK, thanks……"

With a trembling voice and shaking hands, Tachibana picked up her chopsticks, carefully picked up a slice of meat, turned slightly to the side to cover her mouth, put it into her mouth, and secretly glanced at Hideaki again. He had that ambiguous smile in his eyes again.

Tachibana's expression froze, and she didn't even dare to chew the meat in her mouth, afraid of making a fool of herself.

Why are you staring at me? I'm going crazy... Don't you eat?

“You did a fantastic job today, a precise shot, you deserve praise,” Xiuming placed a glass of orange juice next to her, then picked up another one. “Cheers, let’s celebrate.”

"Ah, thank you," Tachibana breathed a sigh of relief. If we could talk about work, that would be great. I'm good at flattery... She quickly picked up her orange juice glass and gently touched it to her lips. "You were right... You, you are the stock market guru of the new era. I, I am nothing."

"You have such a sweet tongue," Xiuming almost laughed out loud, putting down his orange juice glass and flipping the slices of meat on the hot plate as he spoke.

"Even the best trader wouldn't make much money without the help of an excellent sniper like you, let alone such a lovely and beautiful sniper. I'm increasingly looking forward to our future collaboration."

"Thank you," Tachibana's heart pounded. He praised me, saying I was sweet-talking, cute, and beautiful. He said we'd have more to work on in the future, and he was looking forward to it... He carefully took the small bucket of orange juice, then stood up and filled Hideaki's glass. "Thank you for your appreciation. I... I will work hard and definitely won't let you down..."

"Are you only in charge of the motherboard business? Do you do anything else?"

As Xiuming spoke, he picked up another slice of grilled meat, put some on her plate, then put some on his own plate, added some dipping sauce, and popped it into his mouth, chewing as he made a humble gesture of seeking advice.

She seemed very nervous, like a delicate flower. She got excited after just one compliment. No wonder she had a book called "How to Chat with High-Quality Men" in her bag. She must have just bought it!

This was just casual conversation, trying to find a topic she was good at and ease the tension.

Xiuming certainly knew the answer to the question.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board market is the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section. Tachibana worked at Sanyo Securities, which was not as prestigious as the four major securities firms: Nomura, Daiwa, Yamaichi, and Nikko. It was just a medium-sized securities firm.

However, with a nationwide sales network in Japan, the small company's sales strategy is the same as that of the Big Four securities companies. They are all "securities department stores" that sell all kinds of financial products and have computer management systems of the same scale as the Big Four securities companies.

"We also do investment trust business..."

When it came to her areas of expertise, Tachibana couldn't stop talking once Hideaki intentionally guided her.

She got more and more excited as she talked, grabbed a bottle of 55% ABV Japanese whisky that was reddish-yellow, tore off the cap, poured herself half a glass, and started talking as she drank.

The conversation started with the company's various financial products with all sorts of names, then moved on to the sales targets assigned by the company, and then the sales staff began to set their own sales goals on a weekly basis... and then break them down to each day...

"We have to clock in at 7:30 in the morning and don't get off work until 11 p.m.... To meet our sales targets, we have to keep making phone calls and looking for clients... Sometimes clients who have already agreed to a deal will cancel their orders... The worst thing is when they suddenly cancel their orders before the sales deadline..."

At this point, she talked about her experience at Yihe Securities.

Perhaps it was because Xiuming had a face different from the "Xiuming" character, or perhaps she couldn't hold her liquor, which speaks to the difficulty of "Xiuming jumping off the building".

A few months ago, when the deadline for the sales target of an investment trust product was approaching, their team was worried about the sales target. Suddenly, Hideaki, who had jumped off a building, submitted an order for 700 million yen. This order not only saved their team, but also saved the performance of the entire investment trust department of the branch.

Xiuming, who jumped off the building, was treated like a hero. The entire department cheered for him, applauded, and lifted him up and tossed him into the air.

After that, "Suicide Xiuming" became neurotic, always in a daze, and spacing out... Then, debt collectors came to his door.

It was only then that everyone learned that the 700 million yuan deal that "Suicide Xiuming" had negotiated before was secretly covered by a loan because the client suddenly cancelled the order.

He could have asked his supervisor to cancel the transaction, but he didn't.

"I still remember that dishonest customer who cancelled his order. His name is Naoto Sugita. Because of this incident, the Kyoto branch was shut down by the head office, and the stock price plummeted... It wiped out a month's salary for me... My 250,000 yen is gone... This is so hard for me..."

"Eat your food, eat your food... Let's chat while we eat..."

So that's how I ended up having this connection with Sugita Naoto... Hideaki said, as he kept putting meat and vegetables into her plate.

She kept stuffing food into her mouth. Her slightly flushed face puffed up like a hamster's, and as she chewed, her eyes widened as she mumbled, "Are you Xiuming?"

After taking a couple of sips of wine, Tachibana was in a slightly tipsy state.

Not only did she not feel drunk, she even felt her mind was clearer and her thinking was sharper, completely unaware that she had become bolder.

The doubts that had been weighing on my mind were finally voiced.

"Who do I look like to you?" Xiuming asked with a smile.

“You look like a celebrity to me.” Tachibana blurted out, using the obsequious words of a salesperson, staring intently at Hideaki’s face, and continued, “Have you had plastic surgery?”

“Original, not altered.” Xiuming raised his left hand, rubbed his chin, and continued, “There were originally two Xiumings, one is gone, and the other is still alive.”

Now that we know her attitude toward "Shuming jumping off the building," we have no more concerns.

I thought she came to Tokyo because of "Hideaki's suicide," but it turns out she just came for a living and doesn't care at all.

But right now, I'm very important to her because of her performance.

Tachibana's slightly dazed eyes suddenly focused the moment Hideaki raised his hand, blinking four or five times in succession, as if regaining their clarity. Then she suddenly lowered her head and stopped talking.

"What? Aren't you going to give your opinion on this 'fake' Xiuming?"

First, expose a seemingly weak point to make her think she has something on her, and then, when she reveals her true intentions, take appropriate action.

"It's...it's fine..."

Tachibana's drunkenness had almost completely disappeared. Hideaki's response was only a small part of the reason. The biggest reason that sobered her up was the ring on Hideaki's left index finger.

It's not on the ring finger, but on the index finger.

He's single and looking for a partner, and so am I.

The gods have smiled upon me... My dream will now depend on my own efforts.

What should I do? Should I pretend to be drunk and fall into his arms? But with the table between us, it just doesn't look right...

"Alright! Let's eat."

Xiuming was slightly surprised, thinking he would have to say something harsh!

However, considering our current relationship as customer and salesperson, she seems to be pragmatic, which is good. I like such an open and honest person.

Tachibana, who had just been drinking and chatting happily, suddenly became reserved.

Supporting his right hand with his left, he held chopsticks in his right hand, picked up a piece of green vegetable leaf, turned his body to the side, put his head down and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly.

She fluttered her eyelashes, glancing this way every now and then before quickly looking away.

"If you want to look, then look openly," Xiuming said, sitting cross-legged with his left elbow on his knee. He raised his orange juice glass to the low table, gesturing for a toast with her. "Your furtive glances make you seem guilty, and they make me suspect you have ulterior motives. You wouldn't be thinking of sleeping with me, would you?"

"Cough cough cough..."

Tachibana choked on her orange juice and coughed violently to hide her embarrassment.

She really didn't know how to answer that question.

The aloof, aloof, and detached male god I had envisioned has fallen apart. But it's not all bad, actually; we had a very pleasant chat just now.

It seems like we have so much to talk about, I really want to keep chatting with him...

But what he said was so embarrassing. Should I answer "yes"? I might as well just die right there.

I can't let him know I'm a woman who loves money. After all, he's so rich, he'll definitely think I only care about money...

No, I need to go back and study some dating tips to figure out how to answer questions like this.

"Just kidding, don't be so nervous," Hideaki said, putting the remaining beef slices on the hot plate and putting them into his mouth as he flipped them. "I'll do one short-term trade tomorrow morning and another in the afternoon. 100 million yen isn't a lot, but it's not a small amount either. You'd better be on your guard. If you slip through my fingers, I won't let you off the hook."

"I guarantee the mission will be completed..."