Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

The screen went black instantly.

Toyokawa Hidehiko stood there in a daze.

Just...hung up?

No further threats? No bargaining? No "compromise" offered?

Is that... the end?

A strong sense of uneasiness instantly gripped his heart.

The other party's behavior is not logical... What benefit can Kimura get from doing this, other than completely enraging him and pushing things to an irreversible point?

What made him feel even more terrified and unbelievable happened the next day.

Just when he was still thinking about how to deal with Kimura's sudden "table-turning" behavior, whether to actively show weakness and seek reconciliation, or to mobilize resources and prepare for a head-on confrontation...

Kimura really turned the table over.

There were no signs, no room for maneuver.

All of the "black material" about Star Entertainment that had previously only been circulated anonymously on the Internet was suddenly accompanied by irrefutable evidence and directly delivered to major mainstream media and...judicial authorities through some special, untraceable channels!

Detailed accounts of hidden contracts! Bank statements showing illegal fund transfers! Even... the testimony of a key witness in the artist's "accidental" death, which was covered up for years!

The chain of evidence is complete! The direction is clear! The evidence is irrefutable!

In an instant, public opinion completely exploded!

Xinghui Entertainment's stock price plummeted like a free fall! Major partners announced the complete termination of their partnerships and reserved the right to pursue legal action! A special task force from the tax bureau stormed the company and seized all accounts! Even the Metropolitan Police Department established a special task force to investigate the criminal case involved!

Kimura...he didn't choose to use those "chips" to continue to pull and bargain with him!

He chose...to detonate directly!

Throw out all the "chips" at once without hesitation!

Why... why is this?!

Toyokawa Hidehiko was completely stunned!

He couldn't understand it at all! What good would it do to Kimura?!

This near-suicidal attack would certainly drag Xinghui Entertainment and Toyokawa Hidehiko into the abyss, but could Kimura himself, and the Soryukai behind him, remain unscathed?!

Wouldn't it be self-defeating to make these evidences of illegal activities public?

This is simply the most stupid, self-defeating, and even self-defeating behavior!

This was illogical! This did not conform to any pattern of behavior he understood!

That madman...that damn madman! What the hell does he want?!

In the face of Kimura's completely unconventional and purely "malicious" behavior, Toyokawa Hidehiko's calculations seemed so ridiculous.

.........

The night in Tokyo is still noisy and prosperous.

For some people, it is a very difficult night, but for some people it is a very interesting night.

For example, at this moment, Jiujo Renji was sitting at the desk in the hotel room, eating melon with relish.

He browsed the latest news about Star Entertainment and Toyokawa Hidehiko that was constantly refreshing on the screen.

Plummeting stock prices, suspended projects, tax audits, criminal cases...a series of negative news that is enough to cause any large enterprise to collapse instantly swept across the entire financial pages and social media like a tsunami.

Hidehiko Toyokawa and the Star Entertainment under his control are now at the center of the storm and are on the verge of collapse.

All this happened after his unpleasant video call with Kimura.

The speed, brutality and severity of the consequences far exceed the scope of normal commercial retaliation.

When Kujo Renji saw the news, a somewhat...strange look appeared on his face.

The note that Kimura left before said that he would give him a "gift".

Could it be...that this is the "gift"?

Jiujo Renji suddenly couldn't understand the train of thought of his former subordinates...

Were they already so talented before, but I didn't realize it?

Or is it that after being hurt, their repressed nature erupts?

Just when he was puzzled, an encrypted mailbox icon suddenly flashed in the lower right corner of the computer screen.

It's an anonymous email.

The sender's address was a string of meaningless gibberish, but Kujo Renji guessed the other party's identity almost immediately.

He clicked on the email. The body of the email consisted of only a short sentence, with a familiar, cynical tone:

[Ms. Toyokawa, this is just a small gift, not a token of respect. I hope it helps you calm down.]

It’s Kimura after all!

He suppressed his urge to complain and continued reading. There was a video attachment below the email.

He hesitated for a moment, then clicked on the video file.

The video is clear, seemingly shot in a luxuriously decorated office. The camera shakes slightly, as if it were handheld.

In the center of the picture, a man in a high-end suit, with his hair meticulously combed, is... kneeling on the ground?!

And...that man's face...is clearly Hidehiko Toyokawa!

In the video, Hidehiko Toyokawa's face was ashen, veins bulged on his forehead, and his body was trembling slightly due to humiliation.

But he still followed some invisible instructions and kowtowed to the camera very reluctantly, again and again!

boom! boom! boom!

The dull sound of the head bang is particularly clear in the quiet video.

"..."

Jiujo Renji looked at this extremely shocking scene and was speechless for a moment.

“Eh?! Eh?!”

In my mind, Toyokawa Shoko's exclamation was even more shocking! She was obviously also shocked by this video!

“T-This is…! How could he…?! How did he do that?!”

Although she hated Toyokawa Hidehiko, she still felt...inexplicably uncomfortable and absurd when she saw him in such a humiliating state.

What shocked her even more was that Kimura was actually capable of doing this?!

However, just when the girls were shocked and puzzled by the video, a new email came from that anonymous email address.

The content was equally brief, with a sly air of a successful prank:

[Ah, sorry, sorry, Ms. Toyokawa. I almost forgot to mention that this video... is actually an AI synthesis.]

I originally wanted to really force that old man to his knees, but he was too ungrateful, and the talks fell through. I've got no choice but to use some technical tricks to slightly 'restore' my original plan to cheer you up. Is the effect okay? I'll just make do with it.

【By the way.】

This method of 'fabricating evidence' and 'confusing the public' was often used by our boss in the past. It was incredibly effective and time and again. Ms. Fengchuan is incredibly clever, so you might want to learn from her. You might find it useful in the future.

"..."

"..."

Looking at this "supplementary explanation" containing a huge amount of information, Kujo Renji and Toyokawa Shoko in his mind fell into an extremely subtle and indescribable silence at the same time.

Kimura Seiichiro

I think you are really thinking about it.

......

PS: This chapter has 7,000 words, which can barely be considered three and a half chapters. I will take a short break today. Sorry, sorry.

Chapter 88 Xiaoxiang, who is Jiujo Liansi? (1w)

Although Kimura Seiichiro's "gift" and the incident at Xinghui Entertainment ended in a comedic way for the time being, the warning it brought forced Jiujo Renji to put another more important and more difficult matter on the agenda.

——Investigate the true situation within the Toyokawa family in depth.

Although it is ridiculous that Toyokawa Hidehiko jumped out this time, it also exposed a problem:

Why is he?

To be honest, from Kujo Renji's perspective, Toyokawa Hidehiko's ability can only be considered above average, and his vision is limited. Although he has great ambitions, his skills and courage are slightly lacking.

The resources he can mobilize are only a part of the huge Fengchuan Group.

Is such a person really qualified to be the leader of the opposition faction within the Toyokawa family who can compete with the shrewd head of the family, Toyokawa Sadaharu?

Kujo Renji was deeply skeptical about this.

But what is strange is that apart from Toyokawa Hidehiko's actions this time, there seems to be no other obvious hostility from within the family directed towards Toyokawa Shoko.

This seemed to be somewhat different from what he had expected, namely, the internal strife within a large family with turbulent undercurrents and numerous factions.

Are others hiding too deeply?

Or...is there some key information that he hasn't yet learned?

He decided to have a good chat with the "real person" in his mind.

"Xiangzi."

He spoke in his mind, his tone more serious than usual:

"Regarding the Toyokawa family...besides Toyokawa Hidehiko, what other relatives do you know? What are their positions? What's their relationship like with your grandfather?"

However, faced with Kujo Renji's question that hit the nail on the head, Toyokawa Shoko fell into a long silence.

After a while, she replied somewhat unsurely, "I'm not sure."

As if she felt that her words were too meaningless, she quickly added an explanation:

“I didn’t have much contact with those relatives since I was a child.”

Xiangzi's voice was filled with a subtle embarrassment.

"Grandpa doesn't seem to like my dad and I interacting too much with them. Aside from necessary family gatherings during the holidays, I've barely spoken to them. As for their perspective, I have no idea."

Ask three questions.

Kujo Renji was speechless.

But on second thought, this seems to be consistent with Toyokawa Sadaharu's training method of deliberately "marginalizing" Shoko and isolating him from the core power of the family.

Of course, even if Xiangzi himself cannot provide much useful information, based on the basic family power structure and human nature, some general factional conflicts can still be inferred.

Toyokawa Sadaharu was an adopted son-in-law who married into the Toyokawa family and eventually inherited the position of head of the family.

This is itself a huge "original sin" in traditional Japanese families that attach great importance to blood inheritance.

Those collateral relatives with more "orthodox" blood ties would inevitably feel resentful and covetous of Toyokawa Sadaharu's status and power. They would likely use this as an excuse to demand the weakening of the head of the family's power or attempt to gain more family resources and voice.

Among them, members of the side branches like Hidehiko Toyokawa, who have certain abilities and ambitions and hold some real power, are undoubtedly the representatives with the highest voices and the most likely to challenge the authority of the head of the family.

As for Toyokawa Shoko...although she is the direct granddaughter of Toyokawa Sadaharu and has the nominal "legitimate" inheritance rights, her identity has become somewhat embarrassing in this complicated family infighting environment.

On the one hand, she would inevitably be regarded as the representative of Toyokawa Sadaharu's "main family" and would naturally stand in opposition to the side opposition factions; on the other hand, because of her mother's early death, her father's "incompetence" and her own long-term marginalization, her foundation was unstable and she lacked sufficient supporters and actual power.

This situation makes her easily become a pawn in the game between various forces, or even a target of attack and sacrifice.

Through some analysis and deduction, Kujo Renji and Shoko roughly outlined the potential power structure within the Toyokawa family, and listed several collateral relatives who had been relatively cold towards Shoko in past family gatherings or were close to Toyokawa Hidehiko as targets that needed special attention and vigilance.

During this discussion about family infighting and power struggles, Shoko Toyokawa actually felt a little awkward and dazed.

After all, not long ago, her dream and goal were just to form a successful band and have the ability to support herself and her father.

But now she is seriously analyzing the factional struggles within the family, discussing how to deal with potential enemies and how to survive in this realistic and cruel game of power.

This huge change made her feel a strong sense of strangeness.

It seemed as if she was calmly analyzing the pros and cons with Kujo Renji, and even occasionally offering some rather "scheming" suggestions, but she was no longer the simple and even somewhat naive Toyokawa Shoko of the past.

But at the same time, an indescribable sense of excitement was quietly growing in her heart.