Chapter 289: The Founding of Tsutaya Bookstore

Akiwara Yuto knew that the Jingfan Publishing House would not let the matter rest; after all, the conflict of interests between the two sides was irreconcilable.

But what he hadn't expected was that Jingfan Publishing House had actually established a specialized Industry Management Division under their Intelligence Department, specifically to analyze and target him.

Although no specific methods had been announced yet, it is easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark.

Who knew when the other side would resort to underhanded tactics?

However, now that he had received an early warning from Dacheng Lixiang, he could be a bit more cautious.

After hearing the intelligence, Akiwara Yuto expressed his gratitude.

"Editor-in-Chief Dacheng, I will remember this favor."

After Dacheng Lixiang waved her hand to indicate there was no need for such formalities, he took the initiative to say goodbye and left the office.

Watching Akiwara Yuto's retreating back, Dacheng Lixiang had some different thoughts in her mind.

On one side was the most sought-after detective fiction writer in the market over the last two years, and on the other was Jingfan Publishing House, ranked fourth among the big four publishers.

She wondered what kind of outcome the conflict between the two sides would eventually produce.

……

A week later, after the funds from the Kejia Pavilion were received, Akiwara Yuto handed over all the payments to Anjiu Jin Gangyi.

The other party received the money and very readily signed a series of agreements.

However, at the final stage of registering with the government department, Anjiu Jin Gangyi hesitated and did not sign.

He sighed, looked at Akiwara Yuto, and said, "Akiwara, you will surely make Anjiu Bookstore grow, right? After all, this has been my life's work for so many years."

Looking at his reluctant appearance, Akiwara Yuto instead sneered in his heart.

If it were truly his life's work, why was he persuaded by Jingfan Publishing House in just a few words, even going so far as to plan copyright fraud against him under the guise of bankruptcy?

But since this was the final moment, Akiwara Yuto did not want to create any complications, so he just said indifferently, "Rest assured, I will manage the publishing house well."

Anjiu Jin Gangyi thought Akiwara Yuto had agreed to his request, so he felt relieved, signed his name, and stamped it with his personal seal.

The two had no further conversation, and Anjiu Jin Gangyi turned and left the place.

Akiwara Yuto watched his retreating back, his mind pondering other aspects.

After a series of handovers, the actual operation of Anjiu Bookstore was now in the hands of Asano Aiko, Satake Maki, and other staff members of the foundation.

Fortunately, there had been a lot of cooperation between the two sides, so the employees at Anjiu Bookstore did not have much dissatisfaction.

However, since this publishing house was now under his name, shouldn't he change its name?

Otherwise, every time he heard the two characters "Anjiu," he would always feel uncomfortable.

Under the puzzled gaze of the registration staff, Akiwara Yuto stood in the office space for half a day before finally choosing a name that had been famous in his past life.

"Hello, I would like to change the company name to Tsutaya Bookstore."

Tsutaya Bookstore was a bookstore brand in Japan; in his past life, it could be called one of the most famous and influential bookstores in Asia.

In fact, the most surprising thing about it was that even in the midst of the collective collapse of the Japanese publishing industry, it could still climb step by step and achieve stable profits.

Therefore, Akiwara Yuto chose this name with the hope that this enterprise would also flourish.

The registration staff did not hesitate much and quickly agreed to complete the registration.

When submitting the documents, he politely said, "Tsutaya, that really is a good name."

Akiwara Yuto smiled and expressed his thanks.

After leaving the government department, he took a private car to Setagaya Ward and got off in front of Anjiu Bookstore—now the office address of Tsutaya Bookstore.

After getting out of the car, he began to size up the enterprise he had bought.

It was a three-story gray building, square and upright, covering an area of about 300 square meters.

The first floor was the bookstore, displaying a series of books published by the publishing house, with one wall entirely dedicated to his own detective and traditional works.

Besides that, there were some other popular books brought in from other sources.

However, compared to the dilapidated bookstore from a year ago, self-published books were basically nowhere to be seen; it was clear that these were all legitimate books.

Through the glass by the door, one could occasionally see some readers inside reading and purchasing books.

The second floor housed the Editorial Department, Marketing Department, and Finance and Personnel Department, divided into four offices, with about 30 people working there daily.

The third floor contained the conference room and the President's office.

In addition, there was a terrace.

Akiwara Yuto took a simple look around, then walked in and went to the President's office on the third floor.

There, Asano Aiko was already standing and waiting for him.

Upon seeing Akiwara Yuto, Asano Aiko walked up and asked, "Akiwara, regarding the candidate for President, who do you think is more suitable?"

Hearing this, Akiwara Yuto frowned and began to consider.

It wasn't impossible for him to hold the title, but how would he have the time to handle the affairs of this publishing house?

If he insisted on doing so, it would undoubtedly make the position of President a mere formality.

Asano Aiko? She still had to serve as his assistant and help with many other aspects of his work.

Satake Maki? Although she came from Anjiu Bookstore, her age and educational background were not enough to command the respect of the old-timers at the publishing house.

Just then, a name suddenly popped into his mind.

"Asano, what do you think of Xidao Zongtai?"

The other party was originally from Anjiu Bookstore and belonged to the senior generation, so there was no need to worry about conflicts between employees and management caused by an "outsider" being parachuted in.

Besides that, Xidao Zongtai was also very proficient in market and distribution operations and had always been handling the distribution of his own works.

After hearing this, Asano Aiko felt it was somewhat inappropriate.

"Akiwara, Xidao did do that kind of thing after all. If Jingfan Publishing House offers him higher benefits, will he be like Anjiu Jin Gangyi..."

In her view, Xidao Zongtai was a profit-driven person.

In this incident, she knew exactly what role Xidao Zongtai had played.

"Asano, Xidao is a smart man; what I can give him is more than what Jingfan Publishing House can," Akiwara Yuto responded.

Jingfan Publishing House was willing to spend a large sum of money to bribe Anjiu Jin Gangyi before because his copyrights were in the hands of Anjiu Bookstore.

But now that the bookstore had been acquired by him, the other party no longer had the motivation to spend such a large sum of money.

Moreover, this time, Akiwara Yuto was prepared to offer a certain amount of equity to keep the other party firmly on his ship.

Of course, he would also take preventive measures, such as planting a few "nails" among the employees and handing over the finances to an accounting firm for regular audits.

After clarifying his thoughts, he added, "Asano, you should serve as the Vice President of the publishing house; you don't need to come in every day to sit at a desk.

Besides that, I want you to notify Mr. Xidao to publish the work 'A Personal Matter' as soon as possible."

Asano Aiko showed a stunned expression, but still nodded in agreement……