Chapter 3304: As if mourning one's parents

Hearing that the master, the eldest daughter, and the big star Tawana had arrived, everyone around perked up.

Although the appearance of Fei Ke Xin's good friend surprised everyone, a good friend is still just a friend, not Fei Ke Xin herself being present, and the person who is supposed to attend now is, in Japan, someone with great influence—he is Mitsui Yoshitaka, the head of the Mitsui family.

Mitsui Yoshitaka is very low-key, and being low-key is a shared trait among all successive heads of the Mitsui family; generally, in such large gatherings, he rarely participates, but this time he appeared in person mainly because he dotes excessively on his daughter, who is a fervent fan of Tawana, and as a father, he naturally wants to show more enthusiasm.

Soon, several black-clad bodyguards cleared the way, and a middle-aged couple in their fifties walked in, accompanied by a young woman in her early twenties with a distinct anime style.

Accompanying the trio was a white couple; the woman was the world-renowned Tawana Svet, and the bearded, sturdy man holding her hand was her boyfriend, professional baseball player Trevor Kennedy.

As soon as these five entered, the guests inside began clapping and cheering, with many even shouting excitedly, the most frequent cries being "Mr. Mitsui" and "Miss Svet."

Needless to say, Mitsui Yoshitaka in Japan is like the head of the Samsung family in Korea—anyone who sees him must show utmost respect, and Tawana Svet's fame is astonishingly high; there are indeed many genuine fans present, such as Xiao Churan and Dong Ruolin.

However, what is puzzling is that the Mitsui family of three all wore smiles, clearly genuine happiness, but Tawana and her boyfriend Trevor Kennedy at this moment wore grim faces, looking somewhat dejected and bitter.

At this moment, Sasaki Sachiko said to Ye Chen and the others beside her: "This couple is Mr. Mitsui Yoshitaka and his wife Mitsui Ya, and the girl beside them is their only daughter, Mitsui Kokomi."

Dong Ruolin asked curiously: "For such a major family's head, there's only one child?"

"Quite normal." Sasaki Sachiko said: "These years, Japanese people are increasingly unwilling to have children; now Japan has many schools where teachers outnumber students, some schools have only single-digit student numbers, and it may get even fewer."

Dong Ruolin nodded: "I can understand low birth rates; nowadays, young people in Japan and Korea seem not too keen on having children, but for such a wealthy family, not wanting children is truly rare—wealthy big families usually have many children."

Saying this, Dong Ruolin added: "Let me speak my mind—no gender discrimination intended—but with such a big family business, shouldn't they have a son to inherit?"

"No no no." Sasaki Sachiko shook her head: "For these upper-class big families in Japan, having a son is far less suitable than having a daughter; nowadays, everyone increasingly prefers daughters."

"Ah?" Dong Ruolin was even more astonished and couldn't help but ask: "Why is that?"

Sasaki Sachiko lowered her voice: "In Japan, it's fine to have no son as long as you have a daughter; the son-in-law can marry into the family and take the wife's family name, thus effectively having one's own son. Besides, the family estate isn't meant for any one person; even if the son-in-law later manages the estate, he's merely managing it for his son or daughter, and the family has strict laws ensuring the estate passes down through the family surname generation after generation."

Sasaki Sachiko continued: "Moreover, having a son is actually like buying a lottery ticket—having a son is easy, but having a capable son, especially one capable of managing a trillion-yuan estate, is less probable than winning the lottery; but adopting a son-in-law is different: the logic is, if you have a trillion-yuan estate plus a daughter, you can pick any outstanding man from millions to be your son-in-law, and very few can resist such a powerful temptation—this is like the Japanese saying, it's as hard to have a son who gets into Tokyo University as climbing to heaven, but to get a Tokyo University son-in-law, you just need to go to Tokyo University, close your eyes, and grab any male student."

Dong Ruolin couldn't help but smirk: "So it can be like that..."

Sasaki Sachiko laughed: "This is a very normal tradition in Japan, so many big families have only one daughter; the renowned Ito family also has only one daughter."

"I see." Dong Ruolin unconsciously nodded lightly.

At this moment, the five led by Mitsui Yoshitaka had already arrived at the center of the party venue.

A small stage had been built directly ahead, reserved for important figures to speak, so Mitsui Yoshitaka ascended the small stage amid the crowd's escort.

After mounting the stage, someone handed Mitsui Yoshitaka a microphone; upon taking it, he smiled and said: "Thank you all for coming to today's party; we are honored to have invited the renowned American female singer Tawana Svet, whose talent leaves even me, who never follows stars, in awe, and has made my beloved daughter worship her endlessly; please give her the warmest applause to welcome her to Tokyo!"

As Mitsui Yoshitaka's words fell, thunderous applause erupted on site.

Everyone turned to look at Tawana Svet and her oily-looking little-bearded boyfriend.

Tawana Svet seemed to struggle to squeeze out a smile to the crowd and said: "Thank you, thank you everyone, and thank Tokyo."

"Strange." Dong Ruolin couldn't help but mutter: "How come I feel Tawana today doesn't seem very happy?"

"Yes." Xiao Churan also nodded: "She looks like she's forcing a smile—could there be something unhappy with the Mitsui family?"

"How could that be." Sasaki Sachiko lowered her voice: "This time, Mitsui Kokomi invited Tawana and her boyfriend to stay at her family manor—a treatment very high; even many big shots don't get to stay at the Mitsui residence; this time, because Mitsui Kokomi likes Tawana, the Mitsui family's reception and service for Tawana are of the highest standard; if this still doesn't make her happy, that would be too outrageous—even if the Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives came to Tokyo, she wouldn't get this treatment."

Dong Ruolin couldn't help but gossip: "Could it be that she quarreled with her boyfriend? Look at her face—all downturned, clearly listless and spiritless; maybe her boyfriend was flirting with another woman and she found out?"

Xiao Churan quickly said: "Ruolin, stop guessing wildly—those rumors are just baseless guesses."

Dong Ruolin hehe-laughed: "I'm just curious! Her energy at every concert is usually high; she shouldn't be so listless before a performance—I'm worried about her performance quality later."

Ye Chen then said: "You all look closely at her and her boyfriend—though both are very unhappy, like mourning parents, they've kept their fingers tightly interlocked, not letting go even for half a second; from this we see they both need each other now, proving Ruolin's guess is wrong—they're not arguing; on the contrary, they should be facing some hardship together, with a sense of weathering the storm."

"Facing together?" Dong Ruolin curiously asked: "Facing what hardship? They lack neither money nor love; besides making money, they're just flying private jets around the world dating and showing off love—what hardship could such a couple have? Could it be their parents don't approve of them being together? Impossible!"

Ye Chen laughed: "Maybe it's just bad news from their hometown, making them feel like mourning parents."

"Bad news?" Dong Ruolin asked in surprise: "Such winners in life—what bad news could they have?"

Ye Chen laughed: "Haven't you seen the news? Their hometown is now entirely red across the land; if I remember correctly, these big stars are all of another color."