Chapter 1648: Chapter 1648: The Old Fox vs. The Little Fox
Luo Ziling saw that Ishihara Tarou admitted it and didn’t say much. He just smiled and then picked up the tea cup, slowly sipping his tea.
After taking two sips, he commented, “The tea tastes good, and the tea art performance just now was also quite impressive.”
“I would like to learn the Taiyi Divine Needle from you. Are you willing to teach me?”
Seeing Ishihara Tarou straightforwardly put forward this request, Luo Ziling was slightly surprised. However, he did not show shock but instead asked Ishihara Tarou, “You wanted to apprentice under my grandfather back then but couldn’t. Do you intend to become his great-grandson student this time?”
“I assume you wouldn’t accept me as your apprentice, right?”
“Wrong!” Luo Ziling shook his head, “Since I’m willing to be the mentor to those other old men, I wouldn’t mind being your teacher, if you want to learn acupuncture skill.”
Accepting Ishihara Tarou as a disciple would be a great way to disgust the Japanese, and he would certainly be willing to do it.
Ishihara Tarou didn’t mind and chuckled, “What if there were different conditions? I merely want to learn the acupuncture skill.”
Luo Ziling retorted, “I wonder what price you are willing to pay?”
“What do you want?”
“It depends on your sincerity.”
Ishihara Tarou laughed heartily and did not speak immediately. Instead, he picked up his tea cup and gestured to Luo Ziling.
Luo Ziling also raised his tea cup in return.
After taking a sip of tea, Ishihara Tarou said, “I really underestimated you, so young yet so mature in dealing with people and situations.”
Luo Ziling also took a sip of tea and smiled, “Actually, our interactions are quite fortunate. If you couldn’t speak Chinese, and I didn’t understand Japanese, we couldn’t have communicated like this.”
With a smile on his face, Ishihara Tarou said to Luo Ziling, “I like Huaxia culture. As Ishihara Naka probably told you, our ancestors came from Huaxia. Perhaps our Huaxia bloodline is now very thin, but from the perspective of ancient Huaxia male supremacy, we are still descendants of Huaxia people.”
“But you no longer consider yourselves descendants of Huaxia,” Luo Ziling pointed out directly, knowing that this was just Ishihara Tarou’s way of getting closer, “Because decades ago, Huaxia was weak and was wantonly bullied by Japanese, so you were ashamed to consider yourselves Huaxia people. If it were during the Han and Tang Dynasties, when Han people held a prestigious position, at a time when everyone revered Huaxia, you wouldn’t change your surname or identify as Japanese. Instead, you would flaunt being Huaxia people everywhere, right?”
“Hahaha,” Ishihara Tarou laughed loudly, attracting the attention of Ishihara Wuji and Ouyang Feifei sitting to the side. After laughing a few times, he said, “You have indeed revealed the thoughts of our ancestors, yes, that should be it. Our ancestors immigrated to Japan during the Ming Dynasty. During the early Qing period, we adhered to Huaxia customs and continued the family line with a Huaxia surname. Changing our surname happened only about two hundred years ago.”
Luo Ziling squinted his eyes and asked, “May I know what surname Mr. Ishihara’s ancestors had?”
“Li, the surname of the Great Tang, it’s said we are descendants of Li Ke, the third son of Emperor Taizong of Tang, with a noble bloodline.” When talking about his ancestors, Ishihara Tarou showed a bit of pride, “But we never completely abandoned Huaxia culture because, in our eyes, Huaxia civilization is the world’s most advanced civilization. Even when the national power waned, it remained so. After all, during the Han and Tang Dynasties, Huaxia was too powerful, the center of the world, especially during the Prosperous Tang period. There is so much passed down from our ancestors worth a lifetime of learning and passing on. For example, the square characters, the Huaxia language.”
Seeing Ishihara Tarou showing off with pride, Luo Ziling couldn’t help but mock, “If I’m correct, your ancestors who came to Japan should be Japanese pirates, right?”
Ishihara Tarou felt a bit embarrassed at once, but he didn’t deny it, nodding, “Indeed, that’s the case. However, many of the so-called Japanese pirates back then were Huaxia people who were forced into piracy when they had no other way out. Later, not being accepted by the Ming court, they had no choice but to flee to Japan to survive and multiply. They were actually pitiable people!”
“Although you speak righteously, the term Japanese pirates has become pejorative and can’t be changed. Qi Jiguang, who exterminated the Japanese pirates, has become our national hero.” Luo Ziling, not wanting to hear Ishihara Tarou bragging about his ancestors’ glory, bluntly asked, “You haven’t told me what price you are willing to pay if you want to learn the Taiyi Divine Needle acupuncture skill.”
Ishihara Tarou asked back, “Couldn’t you teach me the acupuncture skill under the goal of promoting Traditional Chinese Medicine?”
“No, you can’t, because you are not surnamed Li now, but Ishihara, and your nationality indicates you are Japanese. Also, learning the acupuncture skill won’t benefit the Huaxia people, so if you want to learn, there must be a price.” Luo Ziling paused and added, “What I mean is, as long as what you offer is sufficient, I will teach you.”
“You have not only an outstanding medical grandfather but also a very shrewd mother. You’ve inherited all their strengths.”
“It seems Mr. Ishihara has investigated a lot about me.”
“No,” Ishihara Tarou shook his head, “The information I can access is limited. But we know some of the things you’ve done, and from those, we can infer your background.”
“I’m waiting for you to answer my question earlier,” Luo Ziling didn’t want to continue beating around the bush with Ishihara Tarou and brought the subject back again.
“One thousandth of the shares of Qingshan Pharmaceutical, which is under the Ishihara Family.”
Qingshan Pharmaceutical is a wholly-owned enterprise of the Ishihara Family, Luo Ziling knew this.
When Wang Zhenjun investigated the Ishihara Family, he found this information, but he didn’t tell Luo Ziling the stock price of Qingshan Pharmaceutical or the value of one thousandth of the shares. However, Luo Ziling could guess that these shares are of considerable value.
He honestly replied, “I won’t hide it from Mr. Ishihara, I don’t know how much one-thousandth of the shares are worth. So I don’t know the value of the reward you offer.”
“Currently, the stock price of Qingshan Pharmaceutical is 508 yen, which is equivalent to more than five US dollars per share, and the total share capital of Qingshan Pharmaceutical is five billion shares.” Ishihara Tarou did not state the specific price but left it to Luo Ziling to calculate.
“My math is always bad, but even with my poor math skills, I calculated it’s about 25 million US dollars, right?”
Ishihara Tarou nodded, “It’s roughly that amount. Do you think it’s worth it?”
“Worth it!” Luo Ziling nodded, then immediately shook his head, “But, I don’t lack money. So I don’t need shares of Qingshan Pharmaceutical.”
“Then what do you want?”
“A promise of equal value.”
“What kind of promise?”
“To make the Japanese understand the history of humiliation Huaxia suffered in those years.”
“That’s entirely unequal,” Ishihara Tarou shook his head, “I know what you mean, but it’s an impossible mission. If it could be accomplished, its value wouldn’t be just tens of millions of dollars.”