*Chapter 364: The Beautiful Female Teacher*

The high-rise apartments at Jianghai Mansion are considered upscale, with a classical European-style decor across the two floors.

From the flooring and walls to the spiral staircase, ceiling, and floor-to-ceiling windows, everything exudes a luxurious and elegant atmosphere. The apartment is also well-equipped with modern appliances, giving it a contemporary feel.

Link looked around and found it quite nice, but compared to Ivanka's apartment, both the layout and the design were a level below. This difference couldn't be made up with money; it was more about the aesthetic taste.

If he had time in the future, he might ask Ivanka for help with the design.

In the small living room, Link handed a gift to Yui-chan. It was a hand-drawn Chinese landscape painting album. Though not expensive, it was unique and interesting, with some collectible value.

Yui-chan waved her hands repeatedly when she saw the gift, saying that she had been paid for this business trip and that he didn't need to go to the trouble.

Link said it was a local souvenir and not worth much, also serving as a token of respect.

After some hesitation, Yui-chan reluctantly accepted the album.

Link glanced around the small living room and asked where Miss Sasaki was.

Yui-chan said Sasaki was upstairs and would be down shortly. She also apologized, saying that she had been busy with other things and hadn't prepared properly to welcome him, asking him to wait for three minutes.

Link nodded, saying he had plenty of time today, so there was no rush, and she could take her time.

Yui-chan placed her hands on her lower abdomen, bowed to thank him, and then slowly exited the living room.

Link took off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack. The rack also held clothes belonging to the two female teachers. Yui-chan’s clothes were mostly simple and elegant, resembling those of an ordinary urban girl, while Sasaki Nozomi-chan's clothes were mostly branded, fashionable, and stylish.

Out of courtesy, he didn’t pay much attention to their clothes. When he returned to the small living room, a basket of fruit, a pot of fragrant tea, and two celadon tea cups had been placed on the small low table, and a faint fragrance filled the air.

“Mr. Beck, sorry to keep you waiting.”

Yui-chan rushed out of the study, holding a book.

Her medium-length hair, which had been loose, was now tied into a ponytail. She had added a light blue women's blazer to her outfit, and her slippers had been replaced with small white shoes. Combined with her tall figure and sweet, charming smile, she looked even fresher and more radiant.

Link secretly praised Yui-chan. No wonder she was known as Japan’s “national wife” in the hearts of movie fans—she was indeed beautiful.

“Mr. Beck, shall we begin the lesson?”

Yui-chan brushed her hair away from her ear and knelt down in front of the small low table.

“Teacher Yui, please guide me.”

Link nodded and sat cross-legged on the soft stool opposite her.

Seeing his awkward sitting posture, Yui-chan looked down shyly, her ears turning slightly red.

When she first came to China, she was afraid of heights and wasn’t used to flying, so she experienced severe airsickness and suffered greatly before arriving. Additionally, her mood was affected by her father’s situation, so to get back at this playboy, Yui-chan suggested that if he wanted to learn Japanese quickly, he should switch to a low Japanese-style table and kneel on the carpet during lessons.

Link agreed to her suggestion and quickly arranged for a low table, tatami mats, and two Japanese-style screens, exceeding her expectations.

However, when it came to sitting, Link mentioned that he was an athlete and that kneeling could hurt his knees, so he could only sit cross-legged.

Seeing his willingness to cooperate, Yui-chan didn’t push further and secretly felt a small thrill at successfully teasing a big shot.

But after a few days of interaction, she discovered that this so-called playboy wasn’t a bad person. He was handsome, elegant, intelligent, talented, and polite—quite different from the lecherous villain she had imagined, who only bullied girls.

Getting to know him better, Yui-chan felt secretly ashamed. If Link ever found out she had been pranking him, would he be angry?

“Mr. Beck, if you’re uncomfortable sitting like that, we can move over there and sit on the sofa. The effect might be slightly less, but it won’t be too bad.”

Yui-chan pointed to the small sitting room next door, speaking in a gentle tone.

“It’s fine. Sitting here to study Japanese does make things feel a bit calmer.”

Link replied casually.

One advantage of sitting at the low table was that he could talk to Yui-chan face to face.

With just a three-foot distance between them, he could look into her big, dark eyes, admire her fresh, delicate face, and notice how her big smile revealed eight white teeth while her slight smile made her lips curl upward, forming dimples that made her look sweet and soft, with a contagious charm.

*Being close to a girl who can provide emotional support could greatly enhance the efficiency of learning Japanese.*

“Mr. Beck, if you don't mind, let's start the lesson. Please turn to page twelve in the booklet. Today, we will learn how to express everyday household items in Japanese,” Yui-chan said as she opened the booklet.

“Yoshi~”

“Mr. Beck, it's not quite appropriate to use ‘yoshi’ to express ‘okay’ here. It would be more accurate to say ‘hai’ or just ‘okay,’” Yui-chan corrected him seriously.

“OK!”

“Sorry for being late, Mr. Beck.”

Just as they were about to begin the lesson, a sweet, shy voice apologized from behind. Link looked up and saw that Sasaki Nozomi-chan had arrived.

Her outfit was quite sexy, resembling the attire of a female teacher from a certain type of Japanese film. She wore round, gold-rimmed glasses, a white blazer, and a tight pencil skirt. Her makeup was exquisite, and it was unclear whether she was wearing anything under the blazer. A hint of cleavage was visible at the neckline.

The hem of her skirt was short, and it would rise above her thighs when she sat down. She wore black stockings over her long, fair legs and high heels. Her walk was a seductive catwalk stride, with her long legs crossing as she moved, giving off a fashionable and sexy vibe.

However, her face was pure and delicate, with a serious, even slightly cold expression, reminiscent of a cool and reserved older sister.

She looked like an upgraded version of a female teacher.

Link glanced at her and greeted her in Japanese, “Good afternoon, Miss Sasaki. Your outfit is very beautiful.”

“Arigato! Link-san, you look handsome today as well.”

Sasaki Nozomi smiled sweetly and slightly bowed, making her cleavage even more noticeable, like a bright white line in a snowy valley, strikingly eye-catching.

Link smiled lightly, feeling an increasing sense of caution.

Sasaki Nozomi was quite famous in Japan's entertainment industry. After entering the entertainment world last year, she became popular in Japan with her sweet looks and sexy figure, earning the titles of Japan’s “Number One Beauty” and “Dream Girl” from many Japanese media outlets and netizens.

Now, with her dressing so provocatively for their lesson, it felt like she was trying to seduce him, which made Link even more cautious.

This caution wasn’t due to fear, but rather from learning lessons from the past.

The lesson was from MJ.

In the 1980s, MJ, through his ATV Music Publishing company, gradually acquired the rights to songs by The Beatles and other popular songs, amounting to over 200 hit tracks.

In the early 1990s, Sony Music, envious of MJ's music rights, proposed merging with ATV Music Publishing, splitting the song rights equally.

This meant Sony Music would own 50% of the rights to MJ's songs and The Beatles' songs, while MJ would own 50% of all songs under Sony Music.

However, as Sony Music grew stronger, acquiring over two million song rights globally over the decades, the value of Sony/ATV Music Publishing soared from several hundred million to between $4 billion and $5 billion.

According to the 1995 merger agreement, 50% of that belonged to MJ, making his net worth over $2 billion.

This was a massive fortune, and Sony believed MJ was benefiting unfairly, demanding a change to the original agreement. When MJ refused, their relationship became tense.

Later, MJ faced numerous scandals and troubles, almost losing everything. Some Western media suggested these issues were partly related to this situation.

After MJ's death, Sony Music used various means to buy back the shares and rights to all of MJ's songs from his estate, becoming the world's largest music rights company. If this was a war, Sony was undoubtedly the biggest winner.

Link’s situation was somewhat similar.

He was the largest shareholder of Link Music and the owner of all the song rights under Link Music, including his three albums, as well as those of Lana, Mars, Wiz Khalifa, and Justin Bieber.

These song rights were the most valuable assets of Link Music and the reason Wall Street kept raising Link Music's valuation.

For example, the rights to Taylor Swift's first six albums were sold for $300 million in 2018, and Justin Bieber's entire catalog was sold for $200 million in 2021.

By 2018, the rights to the albums under Link and the other artists of Link Music were conservatively estimated to be worth no less than $1 billion.

This was a multi-billion-dollar pie that everyone envied. Since last year, there had been several attempts to propose financing and acquisition plans for Link Music, including by the Big Five record companies, partly because they wanted those song rights.

In reality, Link and Ivanka hadn’t planned to hold onto these rights forever. After two or three years of release, the income from these songs would significantly decrease, and selling the rights would still be highly profitable.

But before voluntarily selling those rights, he didn’t want anyone to touch that pie, nor did he want to be coerced.

So, when he saw Anzai Tadaharu sending two popular Japanese actresses as Japanese teachers, his caution grew. And seeing Sasaki Nozomi-chan dressed in a sexy teacher outfit for the lesson made him even more vigilant.

(End of chapter)