Chapter 228: The Silence of the

Although the words Akiwara Yuto spoke on the program had limited impact on the Uemura Prize, they were a significant problem for the four commentators he had singled out by name.

These four commentators, including Takigawa Kanata and his peers, spanned fields such as book reviewing, news commentary, and veteran journalism. While their specific areas of expertise differed, they could all, without exception, be considered "public intellectuals."

For them, credibility was the most important thing.

Akiwara Yuto's words had tangibly caused their credibility to drop significantly.

After all, Akiwara Yuto's words were very reasonable; even the supporters of the four could not say anything in their defense.

During the previous awards incident, the four had published articles early on, arguing that Akiwara Yuto had awarded the prize to someone else out of jealousy, and they believed Akiwara Yuto should come out and "apologize."

But the series of events exposed later proved that their judgment was indeed flawed.

This caused many of Akiwara Yuto's loyal readers, as well as other members of the public, to send letters to the newspapers or companies associated with the four, demanding they stand out and apologize publicly to take responsibility for their remarks.

But the newspapers naturally could not agree to this demand; otherwise, it would be a slap in their own faces.

However, due to various concerns, the columns associated with Takigawa Kanata and the other three were basically suspended.

According to convention, this kind of behavior was just to avoid the limelight.

Once everyone forgot, they could come back out and continue being their "public intellectuals."

But for all of this, He Tian Xin himself could not accept it.

Takigawa Kanata and the other three were "old friends" with whom he had a relationship, and this time, it was under his suggestion that they had publicly criticized Akiwara Yuto.

If he didn't take the initiative to say something, he estimated that other old friends wouldn't come out to help him speak in the future either.

Under this concern and his anger toward Akiwara Yuto, He Tian Xin spent 3 days writing an article, criticizing Akiwara Yuto from his character to his works, preparing to retaliate against him.

But just as he was preparing to find connections to publish this article, Takigawa Kanata learned of the situation and took the initiative to call him to dissuade him.

"Mr. He Tian... please don't do this for now."

He Tian Xin was puzzled, but still asked patiently: "Why?"

Takigawa Kanata explained: "The current trend of public opinion is already on Akiwara Yuto's side. Publishing this kind of thing now won't salvage anything; instead..."

"Instead of what?" He Tian Xin pressed.

"It will make some members of the public think we are shamelessly refusing to admit our mistakes," Takigawa Kanata said helplessly.

He had already planned to avoid the limelight, preparing to come out and continue writing once the public forgot about this matter. If He Tian Xin published this article, it would undoubtedly make his previous efforts go to waste.

"Then we just let that brat Akiwara Yuto spout nonsense on television?" He Tian Xin said with dissatisfaction.

Takigawa Kanata sighed and said: "Looking at it now... we can only do so."

He felt he had truly had the worst luck in eight lifetimes to have gotten involved in this kind of matter.

When He Tian Xin originally entrusted him to write a PR piece to "teach" the newcomer a lesson, he had agreed without even thinking. After all, in his view, public opinion at the time was completely leaning toward his side, and Akiwara Yuto had absolutely no room to turn things around.

But what surprised him was that the "ghostwriting" scandal was exposed, and then the matter of Da Guan Zhenghe having improper intentions toward his parents in his works was also exposed.

However, the events had already occurred, and it was useless for him to regret it now.

He Tian Xin clenched his fists, trying to say something more, but finally loosened them.

He was not stupid either; his blood had rushed to his head at the time and he had wanted to write an article to "fight back," but thinking about it carefully, the article wouldn't achieve much effect after being published.

He was silent for a while, then said slowly: "I am sorry about this matter."

No matter what, Takigawa Kanata and the others were only criticized because they helped him; if he didn't say something, he estimated that this friendship of many years wouldn't have much left.

Takigawa Kanata feigned a few "it's okay"s and then hung up the phone.

When hanging up the phone, he sighed deeply several more times.

This kind of mess—he would never get involved in it again!

Regarding the "concession" of He Tian Xin and the others, Akiwara Yuto was not very concerned.

When he was recording the program, what he cared about most was the "Uemura Prize." As for scolding that group of "public intellectuals" who helped He Tian Xin speak, it was just incidental.

Upon finding that no one responded, he soon forgot about this matter.

He had other things to deal with.

5:00 PM, Tokyo, Minato Ward, Shimbashi area.

Akiwara Yuto and Satake Maki got out of the car, then let the bodyguards wait downstairs, and walked into a high-rise apartment building with more than 30 floors.

Under Satake Maki's guidance, he took the elevator to the 19th floor, turned right, entered a large door, and looked at the "new home options" Satake had chosen for him.

After touring all the rooms, he found that this house was actually quite good.

The area was about 100 tsubo, with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 entryways, and a private elevator.

The walls were basically floor-to-ceiling windows, and because of the "L" shaped layout, one could overlook the surrounding city scenery at 270 degrees and see the distant Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Bay.

As for the interior decoration, it was basically "Western-style" oriented, and all furniture and appliances were already equipped.

Akiwara Yuto felt it was much better than he had expected, and Satake Maki asked worriedly: "Is this house okay, Akiwara?"

Akiwara Yuto thought it was good, but still asked: "About how much does it cost?"

Satake Maki answered cautiously: "About 500 million yen."

Hearing this number, Akiwara Yuto was not calm.

Up to now, although there was no specific statistic, his various stand-alone books had already sold nearly a million copies.

After obtaining a large amount of royalties and avoiding taxes through the foundation, his book assets were only about 1 billion yen.

Such a house would actually cost him about half of his net worth.

Satake Maki added: "The price of this house 4 years ago would have been nearly 1.2 billion yen; now it is already about 700 million yen less than before."

Hearing this price, Akiwara Yuto subconsciously began to think.

The time when Japanese housing prices were at their highest was 1990, and then because of the contraction of financial and fiscal policies, they began to fall all the way.

At their highest, Tokyo housing and land prices fell by 70%, and only later did they recover to 50% of their peak.

Looking at it this way, it was not a loss for him to buy this house now, though he didn't expect it to have much investment value either.

Satake Maki said again: "Akiwara, if this place is not suitable, we can also consider another property not far away, though the property management might be a little worse."

Akiwara Yuto waved his hand and answered: "No, let's just take this one."

Isn't the purpose of earning money to spend it? Since the funds are still relatively abundant, then let's buy this house.

Moreover, what he valued most was the property management and the equipped security. In the case of having death threat letters, it was still necessary to pay more attention to personal safety.

Money can never be earned enough, and he still had many works in his mind that he hadn't brought out yet.

Since that was the case, putting himself in a dangerous situation to save some money was undoubtedly the most foolish decision.

After Akiwara made his decision, Satake Maki immediately called the owner of the house and the agent in charge of the procedures.

Because it was a full payment, Satake took the initiative to strike, demanding that the 500 million yen price be reduced by another 30 million yen, and included 3 years of property management fees.

Regarding this price reduction, the original owner hesitated for a while and then immediately agreed, because housing prices were falling continuously, and he also wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Just like that, in less than 2 hours, both parties signed the transaction contract, and the rest was to go to the relevant departments to handle the transfer procedures.

As for the moving work, a specialized company was responsible for it, and it would be finished within 2 days.

After everything was completed, Akiwara Yuto stood in front of the window, looking at the distant Tokyo Tower under the sky, feeling some emotion in his heart.

After various storms over the past year, he finally had his own house; it really wasn't easy!

But the higher one stands, the more problems one needs to consider; one still cannot slack off! ===== CHAPTER 229 =====