"Oh, by the way."
At some point, Satoru Gojo had vanished from the main seat, only to reappear like a ghost beside a middle-aged man who was reaching up to wipe away sweat, causing the man's entire body to stiffen.
"Let me guess—did someone take half of the offering money while doing the books a few days ago and go play pachinko with it? You should know, gambling back in the Meiji era was punished by cutting off the pinky finger."
"I... I am terribly sorry!"
The middle-aged man shuddered violently and immediately prostrated himself on the floor.
"I promise I'll never do it again! Head of House, give me one more chance! Don't cut off my finger!"
"Alright, alright. The Gojo family isn't the Yamaguchi-gumi."
Satoru Gojo grumbled inwardly; this guy really couldn't handle a scare.
"However, I believe I've said this before... such issues are absolutely not permitted, right?"
His expression and tone turned icy and stern. For a moment, the meeting room fell into a dead silence.
"You know what to do."
Needless to say, this guy's position would be filled by someone else very soon.
The clansmen held the power of the Six Eyes in high esteem, so most bowed to him unconditionally and followed his lead. The rest were conservative elders who occasionally voiced opposition, and inevitably, there were a few bad apples with crooked intentions who only thought of personal gain.
Fortunately, no one could hide anything from Satoru Gojo's eyes.
By the time the morning meeting ended, it was nearing noon.
The other clansmen had withdrawn, leaving only Satoru Gojo and Xiao Yu in the room.
He chewed on his pen as he thought, casually doodling an angry, hands-on-hips cartoon cat wearing sunglasses onto a rejected financing proposal, quickly scribbling several annotations next to it.
Some might wonder: why work so hard? Was it just because of the "big pie" promised by Renya Karasuma?
How could that be? Satoru Gojo had long since made it clear that he didn't believe a word of that old geezer's flowery rhetoric.
It was just that half a year ago, when he first returned to the Gojo family, he realized the severity of the situation. This family was truly broke.
Merely maintaining the outward appearance of a great clan and paying the servants' wages was already a feat. Most of the clansmen were content to stay within their small patch of shrine land, living off their past glory, never thinking to boldly build new industries, and even pathetically skimping on food and clothing.
Thinking back to his memories of being pampered from childhood in the Jujutsu world and comparing it to the shabbiness here, Satoru Gojo's teeth practically itched with frustration.
Besides that, his original plan to establish free schools had also fallen through.
No way. He needed to make money!! Now! Immediately!
He naturally possessed an extremely keen instinct for investment, and his mind held many money-making methods that were ahead of the times, not to mention the countless pieces of knowledge hidden in the books within the System Mall.
Thus, under his drastic reforms over the past six months, the Gojo family's real estate, catering, handicrafts, and other diverse industries had advanced together. Total assets had successfully seen a net increase of over two billion yen, and the overall economic situation had improved by more than just a little. Of course, there was still a significant gap compared to the absurdly wealthy Suzuki Financial Group.
It didn't matter. There were still several years before a certain Reaper High Schooler would be knocked out and turned into a primary school student. There was plenty of time.
He would change everything.
Just as he had turned this lifeless mansion from six months ago into a place full of vitality.
At that moment, Satoru Gojo's stomach growled as he was planning the blueprint in his mind.
Oh no, Level 1 Alert!
"Xiao—Yu—"
Satoru Gojo tossed the pen aside and said in deep grief, "If lunch doesn't include caramel pudding cream puffs, mango mille-feuille, and vanilla tiramisu, I'm going to die!"
Xiao Yu replied expressionlessly, "I will prepare the finest coffin for you."
"Is your heart made of stone?! You poisonous-tongued, emotionless maid!"
"To be precise, it is a microchip."
Satoru Gojo was about to haggle with her when he saw an old woman watching him with concern from the doorway.
It was Gojo Rika.
"Grandma Rika?"
The elderly woman had her hair pinned up meticulously. Her brow carried a steadiness settled by time. On her dark gray kimono was an embroidered eye-shaped pattern with dots and star-like symbols on either side—the Gojo family crest.
"Head of House." She approached and sighed. "You've been sleeping for only three hours a day for a long time now. I know you value the development of the Gojo family, but you must also care more for your own body... Do not overwork yourself."
Despite being the conservative elder who usually loved to contradict Satoru Gojo the most, she was now showing the affection of an elder for a junior.
"I'm fine, don't worry, Grandma."
Indeed, with the Reverse Cursed Technique, he could stay energetic even without sleep.
Hearing this, Gojo Rika gave him a long look.
She had watched the changes in the Gojo family over the past six months with her own eyes. Those of the older generation had long since fallen behind the times; even if they wanted to bring glory to the Gojo family, they lacked the strength.
It was quite shameful. The entire future of the clan actually rested on the shoulders of this young man who was not much older than her great-grandson.
"You've truly worked hard, Satoru."
In this moment, she did not call him Head of House.
"Ah, leave it to me with confidence."
As if reading her thoughts, Satoru Gojo's eyes curved into a smile, looking more dazzling than the midday sun outside.
"After all, I am the 'Lord Divine Child.'"
That was the sentiment, at least.
However, the "Lord Divine Child" also had time for slacking. After lunch and replenishing his sugar levels, Satoru Gojo leaned back contentedly in a lounge chair in his room, holding a round, cute cat in his arms.
Yes, a live cat.
It was an all-white Ragdoll cat, looking as though it were piled together from the purest snow. Its eyes were like deep blue lake water, and it had a moist pink nose.
It had lived in the Gojo manor for several years. The clansmen all knew it, and everyone had given it different names like "Snow Princess," "Cloud," "Hanako"... and so on.
Yet, the cat had never acknowledged a master and simply roamed the vicinity. It wasn't until Satoru Gojo returned that it took one look at him and clung to him without any fear, showing extreme intimacy.
And so, he had somehow ended up with a pet cat.
Unfortunately, Satoru Gojo was originally a dog person, but for some reason, he was very popular with cats, who always took the initiative to rub against him and snuggle. Well, since things had come to this, he could only accept it.
Wait, does that sound a bit like humble-bragging?
In any case, after careful consideration, he finally gave it a good name. However, when he casually told Gin during his downtime, the other man only sneered.
"Daifuku? You call that a name?"
Tsk, that guy really has no taste. No wonder he spends all day in that black trench coat.
Speaking of which, ever since he became busy developing the family and stopped participating in organization missions temporarily, the two of them hadn't met for a long time. It was one thing for him not to pick him up at the airport, but he had remained unseen ever since, acting all mysterious.
Despite so many years of friendship, he wasn't even as good as Daifuku, who had only been raised for a few months.
So annoying.
Thinking of this, Satoru Gojo indignantly took out his phone, took a beautiful photo of Daifuku, and sent it to Gin.
[Image.jpg]
See this super cute cat? *^_^* You'll never have one in your entire life.
After it was successfully sent, he felt quite refreshed.
Daifuku tilted its head in confusion, wondering what exactly its owner was so smug about.
Satoru Gojo continued to pet the cat until he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in?"
It was the manor's old butler, Gojo Heikichi.
He was in his early fifties, diligent and serious—a 1:1 replica of a butler template from a movie. Except his hair was a bit thin.
He bowed to Satoru Gojo and informed him, "Head of House, Young Master Kaito and Miss Nakamori have come to visit. They are currently waiting for you in the drawing room."