Chapter 1263

Before the sky had even brightened, Naoki Nagayama and Akina set off on the journey home.

They hadn't seen their baby for two consecutive days; even after attending the celebration banquet following last night's concert, the Nagayama couple decided to return early, hoping to see the little one as soon as she woke up.

"Is it really okay to just leave like this?" Naoki Nagayama asked. "Mr. Terabayashi and the others are still here..."

"Daijoubu!"

Akina shook her head.

"We already talked about it yesterday; Mr. Terabayashi still has some wrap-up work here and will return to Tokyo with Michael Jackson's team."

In fact, the next stop on Michael Jackson's Japan tour was Tokyo. The effect of this duet was excellent, and both the organizers and Burning Productions wanted to see if they could collaborate more.

However, next time it wouldn't just be a duet; Akina would also perform her own songs.

On one hand, it was to share the pressure of being the lead singer, and on the other, it was to hype up the buzz. After all, one was the King of Pop and the other was a top-tier idol; the topic generated would absolutely drive the entertainment industry wild.

"We also said we'd invite Michael to our home for hospitality, right?"

Naoki Nagayama continued,

"We have to let him meet little Xia Hua."

"Haha, we did say that~" Akina laughed. "Then we need to prepare for the reception..."

The blue Porsche sped along the highway between Yokohama and Tokyo. There were very few other vehicles on the road, either trucks and vans or night-shift taxis rushing to finish their shifts.

The morning light gradually brightened, and the sky shifted from a hazy blue to a clearer hue. In this very morning, Naoki Nagayama and Akina returned to Shanyingyuan~

The sound of the iron gate opening startled the butler and Eitaro. The enthusiastic dog naturally came to greet his owners at the first opportunity, acting as affectionately as if they hadn't seen each other in half a lifetime.

After walking into the house, they could see people already busy in the kitchen; one figure was Mari Nonaka, and the other was Chieko Nakamori...

The elders never liked to sleep in, nor were they used to having the nanny prepare all the breakfast, so they had come to help as well.

"Akina, Naoki?" Chieko Nakamori was very surprised. "Why are you back so early? Didn't you say it only ended yesterday?"

"Okaasan, because I missed Hua-chan so much, I couldn't sleep well... so we came back early!"

Akina greeted her mother with a smile and then asked eagerly,

"Is Hua-chan awake?"

"Not yet..."

"Then I'm going to see her!"

Saying this, Akina went straight to the second-floor bedroom, ignoring even the "breakfast" Chieko called out from behind.

Naoki Nagayama helped explain from the side:

"Akina has been missing her ever since we called the night before last; this is the first time she's been away for so long."

Before, even when she went to work, she would return the same day at the latest, or she would bring her along when going out. Separation anxiety isn't just something children have; sometimes it's even more severe for mothers.

"Ah... being a mother is just like that. It's most severe with the first child."

Chieko Nakamori nodded in agreement,

"It was the same when I had Akie; I always wanted to stay by her side... but later, after having Akina and the others, it got much better."

"Naoki, you must be tired from driving, and you haven't had breakfast yet, right?"

As she spoke, the topic shifted to Naoki Nagayama, and Chieko Nakamori began to bustle about preparing breakfast for him.

"Arigato~"

Facing such warmth, Naoki Nagayama could only accept with a smile... actually, he also wanted to go see little Xia Hua~

The scene shifts to the other side, where Akina opened the door to the side bedroom on tiptoe, and sure enough, she saw the little one still sleeping in bed.

Because she had her familiar blanket and pillow and such, it didn't matter that she was sleeping in the side bedroom.

Akina walked over gently and lay down beside her to watch her daughter's appearance—the tiny nose, the tiny mouth, the smooth and tender cheeks, and the chubby body... she couldn't get enough of looking at her~

Fine breathing came from her; this vibrant little life was the treasure she had carried for ten months... Akina couldn't help but pull the little one into her arms~

Perhaps feeling the familiar scent, little Xia Hua slowly opened her eyes and then saw the familiar face.

After being quite dazed for a while, the little one finally reacted; it turned out the person beside her was Mommy:

"Ma~ma~"

Upon hearing this, Akina's eyes moistened instantly, but she reacted immediately and hurriedly controlled her emotions:

"Hua-chan... you're awake~"

"Mommy~"

"Eh~"

Little Xia Hua called out several times in a row and then grinned, completely forgetting the sadness of not seeing Mommy for the past two days, happily crawling into Akina's arms and wiggling her little body to express her joy.

Akina also immediately began playing with the little one, kissing her cheeks again and again, soothing the emotions of being apart.

"Hua-chan, are you hungry now that you're up?" "Shall we go wash your face and then have breakfast?" "..."

Similar conversations continued until they carried the little one downstairs. Naoki Nagayama leaned in to greet the little one when she came down, but was quickly pushed away by Akina, who guarded her like a mother hen, not letting little Xia Hua get close to anyone else~

Then, this time, she didn't even use the special baby seat, just holding little Xia Hua at the dining table and feeding her with her other hand.

"Tsk tsk tsk~"

Naoki Nagayama shook his head while eating breakfast,

"Once she's back, she ignores everyone except her daughter~"

"Hmph~"

Akina rolled her eyes and was patted by Chieko Nakamori beside her.

"Young mothers are just like that... she'll return to normal after half a day~"

"Haha~"

The atmosphere at the dining table was very harmonious. After Naoki Nagayama teased her a couple of times, he took the opportunity to open the newspaper that had just been delivered in the morning.

Sure enough, the headline was that Michael Jackson's concert yesterday had been held successfully, and the cover photo was the scene of Akina and Michael Jackson on the same stage.

Actually, they could have just used Michael Jackson's photo; after all, it was his concert tour. However, putting Akina together made it seem like the international King of Pop and Japan's top idol singer were on equal footing, giving a sense of Japan and the United States standing toe-to-toe.

With the boiling economy of the bubble era, Japan's self-confidence was also constantly increasing, and they were comparing themselves to Europe and America both openly and secretly...

"Chieko-san, look~"

Naoki Nagayama handed the newspaper over, pointed to a figure under the stage in the cover photo, and said,

"Look, this is me... the newspaper even specifically circled it~"

The newspaper editor had circled Naoki Nagayama's position and even pasted his headshot while looking up at the performance into the cover photo... looking like he was smiling quite cheaply.

"Eh? Can you even be photographed at a concert?" Chieko Nakamori asked in surprise. "Naoki, were you actually that close?"

"Haha, yes, the best seat!"

Akina leaned her head over to take a look and also laughed:

"I said it, if there were reports, Naoki-san would definitely appear!"

"After all, we are a hot couple, we're always together~"

Naoki Nagayama and Akina were no longer surprised at all to see themselves in media reports, because the two of them often appeared in headlines; in fact, if they didn't appear for a long time, they would even feel a bit uncomfortable.

However, Chieko Nakamori was not so calm:

"Naoki, wouldn't you be bothered by these photos and reports?"

"It doesn't matter anymore; anyway, as long as they don't come near Shanyingyuan or spread rumors randomly, we'll just let the media be."

Naoki Nagayama shrugged; after all, being a celebrity and making a living in the entertainment industry, being reported on was a normal thing.

As he spoke, he flipped through other newspapers. In the current affairs section of the *Asahi Shimbun*, it had actually collected and summarized many reports of politicians and officials resigning...

The Recruit scandal was affecting more and more people. Many sensitive politicians felt the trend of a storm coming and believed that it was very likely that evidence of their bribery would be investigated next, so they simply resigned first.

Although resigning was a huge loss, once resigned, they were no longer public officials, and even if there was a public opinion storm, it would be much easier to hide...

"I've surrendered first; losing half is fine, right? You can't keep chasing me!"

This was the logic of resignation. Once the storm passed, after some maneuvering, maybe they could even return!

"So many high-society people have been affected!"

Akina had already finished feeding little Xia Hua and was eating herself. When she saw her husband paying attention to a piece of news, she also leaned over to take a look,

"Ah... there's someone I know!"

Naoki Nagayama sighed:

"Yes, this relationship network built by Recruit is truly vast!"

If it continued to develop steadily for a few more years and truly supported a Prime Minister to take office, Recruit would become a *zaibatsu* that no one could touch!

Perhaps Hiromasa Ezoe of Recruit didn't expect that this public opinion storm would force him into such a situation!

During this time, he was frantically looking for a mole inside the company, trying to find out who had leaked the evidence of his bribery transactions...

After breakfast, Naoki Nagayama spent some time with little Xia Hua before the driver who came to pick him up arrived.

He also wanted to spend more time with his daughter, but he had already promised Genta Nakai that he would go to Tree Friend Capital to hold the fort every day after he left. This was something decided beforehand and he couldn't break his word!

Naoki Nagayama also needed to communicate with several key members every day about the progress of the trading... after all, the other key members of Tree Friend Capital were currently helping him trade in countries all over the world!

When Naoki Nagayama arrived at Tree Friend Capital in Ginza, Zhouxiang Jinjing was waiting somewhat nervously.

"Naoki-san, good morning!"

"Hmm..." Naoki Nagayama nodded. "The operators have all arrived, right?"

"Hai, everyone has already arrived at the company!"

Naoki Nagayama said while walking towards his office,

"Tell everyone to go to the conference room; I'm going to hold a collective meeting in ten minutes... to clarify the investment strategy for this month!"

"Ah, hai!"

Zhouxiang Jinjing nodded hurriedly; although Naoki Nagayama didn't come often, he was the true controller of Tree Friend Capital!

Naoki Nagayama, who arrived at the office, flipped through the investment report left by Genta Nakai to understand the general investment situation, and also had a draft for the meeting.

Although he wasn't too familiar with the specific business of the traders, as the boss, he just needed to point out the direction clearly~

Before long, Zhouxiang Jinjing knocked on the door and walked in:

"Naoki-san, everyone has already arrived at the conference room!"

"Ah... good, then let's go over too!"

Naoki Nagayama stood up from the boss's chair and walked towards the conference room with Zhouxiang Jinjing.

After walking into the conference room, one could see that the spacious room was already filled with investment managers in suits and elite attire, probably over 50 people...

Seeing Naoki Nagayama walk in, this group of investment managers all stood up to greet him... at the same time, they were also curiously sizing up this big boss who didn't often appear at Tree Friend Capital.

"Alright, everyone please sit down."

Naoki Nagayama sat in the main seat without ceremony, scanned the investment managers, and then spoke with a smile,

"Haha, you should all know me... but I don't know much about you yet... but it doesn't matter; for the next month, I will appear here often, and we will get familiar with each other slowly~"

"..."

The investment managers looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

It was still an investment manager who looked like he had more seniority who spoke up:

"President Nagayama... may I ask, our direct team leaders... has something happened to them?"

"Ah, this..." Naoki Nagayama continued, "I know everyone has been a bit strange these past two days, wondering why Department Head Nakai and your team leaders are all gone, and why no one told you the reason..."

Naoki Nagayama continued,

"I can tell you that they have gone on business trips to major global exchanges like London and Hong Kong to conduct some... business expansion... it's estimated to take more than a month..."

"And this month, your work will report directly to me!"

"... Hai!" XN

The investment managers were stunned for a moment, but still nodded to show compliance; after all, this company itself belonged to Naoki Nagayama.

Seeing that there were no troublemakers among the subordinates, Naoki Nagayama was quite satisfied... the guys in investment banking were all sharp, and it was impossible for them to offend their superiors without affecting their interests.

"For the next month, the accounts in your hands need to be conservative; don't touch high-risk stocks... mainly focus on stable stock trading in livelihood medicine, electrical machinery, and metal chemicals..."

"Reduce high-frequency trading, do not participate in futures, and keep stocks so that funds can be withdrawn at any time."

Naoki Nagayama stated the investment direction for this month; actually, he didn't know if there would be a butterfly effect that would make Black Monday come a week early or a week late, so he directly made Tree Friend Capital's investments conservative!

When the stock market crash comes, they can also be a bit more resistant to the decline~

If there is no stock market crash early, sell everything before October 19th and temporarily stop operations!

"!!!"

Hearing the boss's words, the investment managers in the conference room suddenly became noisy...

"President Nagayama, this will make our clients dissatisfied!"

"Yes, they will abandon Tree Friend Capital!"

"Tree Friend Capital's reputation in the financial world will also be ruined!"

"..."

Actually, what they cared about most was that everyone relied on commissions to make money, and Naoki Nagayama's investment strategy would make their income much less!

"Alright!"

Naoki Nagayama patted the table,

"If clients ask, you just say that Tree Friend's financial analysts predict that the stock market may experience turmoil this month and the risk is too high, so we have become conservative to avoid risks... it will return to normal after a while!"

"If the client doesn't believe it and wants to change people, then let them..."

Anyway, after this stock market crash, he would have tens of billions of dollars in assets, so if these wavering clients don't want to stay, then let them go!

"President!!" "How can it be like this?!" "Clients trust us..." "..."

Voluntarily giving up clients?

This was something the investment managers had never heard of!

Some investment managers looked at Naoki Nagayama with suspicion; does this guy even know how to invest?!

"In short..."

Naoki Nagayama ignored their discussion and continued to talk about his plan,

"You need to operate according to what I said this month... this month, let's just pretend Tree Friend Capital has become a conservative old man, all shrinking our heads, just need to avoid risks!"

When the stock market crash comes, these clients will know which investment bank is good~

"..."

Under the gaze of a group of investment managers, Naoki Nagayama walked out of the conference room leisurely, leaving the people inside looking at each other.

Now that the key team leaders were not there, and even the most important department head was not there, everyone was like a headless fly, and for a moment they had no clue.

"Are we really going to operate according to President Nagayama's plan?"

"Does President Nagayama really know how to invest?"

"We'll be scolded by clients on the phone, right!"

"What if the client is lost, is it my fault?!"

"No way, President Nagayama is the boss of the company... we can only listen to him~"

"..."

In misunderstanding and confusion, the investment managers of Tree Friend Capital slowly returned to their workstations.

Finally, under Naoki Nagayama's strong power, they began extremely conservative trading...