Reborn in Tokyo: From Heiress to Global Tycoon

Chapter 4 Admission Ticket

The meeting has ended.

Kenjiro led the clan elders to a joyous "victory celebration," as if the 5 billion yen had already become real gold and silver in their pockets.

The villa instantly became deserted.

The rain had stopped sometime earlier, the dark clouds had dispersed, and a beam of pale sunlight shone through the window onto the long table, illuminating the cup of tea that had gone completely cold.

Shuichi didn't move. He remained seated in the main seat, listening to the laughter fading into the distance in the corridor, then slowly turned his head, his gaze falling on his daughter with a complex mix of emotions.

Satsuki didn't rush to leave as usual. She stood quietly by the window, watching Uncle Kenjiro get into the black car downstairs. The innocent smile from before was gone from her face, replaced by a calmness that seemed completely out of place for her age.

"Satsuki," Shuichi's voice was a little hoarse, "come here."

Satsuki turned around, hugged the teddy bear, and walked to the long table.

"What you just said..." Shuichi stared intently into his daughter's eyes, trying to detect a hint of panic within them. "Was it unintentional, or did you do it on purpose?"

There was no expected coquettishness or denial.

Satsuki gently placed the teddy bear on the chair next to her, straightened her skirt, and then looked up and stared directly into her father's eyes.

In Xiu's eyes, Satsuki was still the same lovely daughter, but her temperament had undergone a qualitative change.

"Does Father think it's a bad thing to leave that factory, which could explode at any moment, to Uncle?"

Her voice remained soft and gentle, with a steady tone.

Shuichi was startled. His daughter hadn't denied it!

So, was that eye contact just now not my imagination?

"You knew that it was 'ready to explode at any moment'?" Shuichi pressed.

"I saw the reports in my father's study," Satsuki said calmly. "Raw material costs are rising, and inventory backlogs in the US are also increasing. My uncle only saw the number of orders, but not the risk clauses behind them. Borrowing money to expand production at this time isn't investment; it's gambling."

She paused, a faint sneer playing on her lips: "Since Uncle wants to gamble, let him gamble with his own chips. If he wins, the Saionji family will be honored; if he loses, it's a matter of dividing the family property, and the main family won't be affected. That's what you call 'separation,' isn't it, Father?"

Shuichi gasped.

He felt a chill run down his spine. This calm, cold-blooded, even ruthless analysis had come from his own 12-year-old daughter!

But he felt no fear; instead, he was overjoyed.

In this dog-eat-dog world of business, kindness is the greatest weakness. He had always worried that after his death, his frail daughter would be devoured by his wolfish relatives, leaving not even bones. But now it seems…

This isn't a little white rabbit at all; it's clearly a lion cub that hasn't grown up yet!

"Who... taught you these things?" Shuichi's voice trembled slightly.

"No one taught me." Satsuki walked to Shuichi's side and gently held her father's cold hand. "After Mom left, I thought that I couldn't be a little immature. Father is too tired. He has to deal with the foxes in the Noble House and take care of the wolves in the house. If I can only cry, then the Saionji family will really be finished."

These words shattered Shuichi's last psychological defenses.

He pulled his daughter into his arms, his eyes welling up with tears: "Satsuki... you've suffered so much. Dad never imagined you would..."

"Father," Satsuki gently broke free from his embrace, her expression turning serious, "Now that the factory bomb has been dropped, the money in our hands must be turned into real bullets."

She pointed towards the study: "Let's talk in the study. There are some things I want to show Father."

……

Back in the study of the main house.

Shuichi dismissed all the servants and locked the door himself. He no longer treated Satsuki as a child, but as a "heir" to be discussed.

"What do you want to show me?" Shuichi sat in his large office chair, his posture more upright than ever before.

Satsuki didn't speak. She took out a thick English original book from the top shelf of the bookshelf—the foreign language section that her father rarely read—and then took a notebook from her small schoolbag.

She opened her notebook, which was filled with neat English notes and various complex formulas.

"This is..." Shuichi stared in shock at the notes.

"In the last three months, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the U.S. Department of Commerce have all released publicly available data," Satsuki said, pointing to the data lines highlighted in red on her notebook. "I looked them up in the dictionary and managed to understand the gist of it."

(Of course it's fake; all this data is in her head. The notes are just to make her "genius" seem traceable.)

Satsuki stood beside the huge antique globe, like a little teacher.

“Father, look.” She spun the globe, pointing her finger at Washington, “The United States is currently like a giant suffering from a serious illness. They have a lot of debt (fiscal deficit) and have bought a lot of things (trade deficit). This is called a ‘twin deficit’.”

He'd heard about things like getting his head fixed a little bit.

"If you were this giant, burdened with a mountain of debt, and your creditors (referring to Japan and Germany) were constantly stuffing things into your house to sell, what would you do?" Satsuki asked.

"Trying to renege on the debt?" Xiu answered instinctively.

"No, defaulting on debts is too ugly; only scoundrels do that." Satsuki shook her head, a sly glint in her eyes. "As the world's overlords, they'll use a more 'respectable' method—making money worthless."

She picked up a red pen and drew a seesaw in her notebook.

"Right now, the dollar is too heavy and the yen is too light. This is not normal and it cannot continue. Americans have to force the yen to become heavier in order to save their factories and keep their workers employed (and thus get votes)."

Satsuki's voice was clear and crisp, and her logic was incredibly precise:

"This means that the yen will appreciate in the next year or two. Or even... skyrocket."

Xiu Yi broke out in a cold sweat. Although he had a vague feeling about it, he had never been so overwhelmed by his daughter's clear data and logic.

"If the yen appreciates sharply..." Shuichi muttered to himself, "then our dollar assets will shrink in value."

"That's right. If we still hold a lot of dollars or export factories, we're just waiting to die."

Satsuki suddenly raised her voice, walked to the desk, placed her hands on the table, and a domineering aura burst forth from her youthful face.

"But, Father, the opposite of risk is opportunity."

"Since we know the dollar is going to fall, why don't we give it a hand?"

Xiu Yi was stunned: "Give it a hand?"

"Short," Satsuki uttered, a term that was still somewhat radical within the Japanese aristocratic circles at the time.

"We need to convert all the yen we have into the maximum amount of cash through collateral and financing. Then we'll borrow dollars on the international market and sell them. When the dollar becomes worthless, we'll buy it back and return it to them."

"The difference between buying and selling, and the profit in between..." Satsuki stretched out her hands, gesturing a huge circle, "is a profit that a factory couldn't earn even if it made pants for a hundred years."

Shuichi fell completely silent.

He looked at his daughter. She was still the 12-year-old girl who should be wearing a sailor uniform, but in his eyes, it was as if a pair of huge, sky-covering wings had unfolded behind her.

This is no longer precocious. This is a prodigy. A "gift of genius" bestowed upon the Saionji family by heaven.

If someone tells him to "go all in and short the dollar," he'll think they're crazy.

But these words came from the mouth of his genius daughter who "studied desperately for the sake of the family," and they were well-reasoned and every point of logic was impeccable.

Shuichi took a deep breath, tremblingly pulled a cigarette from the pack, and lit it after three attempts.

"Satsuki," he exhaled a smoke ring, his eyes hardening with unprecedented determination, "tell your father the truth, how confident are you?"

Satsuki did not answer immediately.

She walked to the window and looked at the clear sky outside, as well as the Tokyo Tower that was faintly visible in the distance.

"Father, do you believe in 'power'?"

With her back to her father, she whispered:

"Americans need the dollar to depreciate, and although the Japanese (referring to the government) don't want to, they have no choice but to listen to their American daddy. That's the 'momentum'. Those who follow the trend prosper, and those who go against it perish."

She turned around, a smile of extreme confidence on her face, and held up one finger:

"100%".

"If we dare to gamble, in this round, the Saionji family will step over the corpses of countless bankrupts to ascend the throne of Tokyo."

Looking at his daughter's smile, Shuichi felt his blood boil.

He was a man too, with ambition. Watching his family decline these past few years had been more painful for him than for anyone else.

Now that the daughter has already paved the way this far...

"good!"

Shuichi abruptly stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, stood up, and at that moment, he seemed to have become ten years younger.

"I'll do as you say. I'll take the bet!"

He picked up the encrypted phone on the table; his hand, no longer trembling, was now full of strength.

"Connect with Credit Suisse. I need to utilize the entire credit line of the Saionji family."

While waiting for the call to connect, Shuichi covered the microphone, looked at Satsuki, his eyes filled with affection and pride, as well as the respect one would show to a partner of equal standing.

"Satsuki, only my daughter and I know about this. Outside, you're still that naive young lady who knows nothing, understand?"

Satsuki blinked, instantly concealing all her sharpness, and transformed back into that obedient little girl.

"Of course, Father. How could Satsuki understand such 'adult matters'? Satsuki just likes to read fairy tales in the study."

Shuichi smiled with satisfaction.

The call was connected.

"I am Shuichi Saionji. Immediately establish a short position in US dollars for me. Leverage? I want the highest possible. Yes, the current exchange rate is 250? Sell all of it!"

……

Watching her father issue orders in a roaring voice over the phone, Satsuki quietly left the study.

In the corridor, she gently closed the door.

There was no sigh of relief; her expression remained calm and serene.

The first step is complete.

By showcasing her "data-driven genius," she successfully gained "advisory authority" from her father. From this day forward, she is no longer just a mascot, but the shadowy brain behind Shuichi Saionji.

She glanced down at the notebook in her hand, which she was using to make a show of things.

In fact, apart from a few lines of real data, the rest of the paper consisted of English song lyrics and Shakespearean sonnets that she had casually copied down.

"Father is so easy to fool."

Satsuki chuckled softly, casually tore off the page, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can at the end of the corridor.

"However, this is for the best. A good CEO is one who is obedient and has the ability to execute."

She hummed a cheerful tune as she walked towards her bedroom.

Now that the initial funding has been secured, it's time to meet those so-called "aristocratic friends." In the bubble economy era, information was money, and that girls' school, which gathered the daughters of Japan's top zaibatsu, was the largest information exchange.

Outside the window, the setting sun, like blood, dyed the entire city of Tokyo a golden-red hue.

That's the color of money.