Chapter 73 A fruitful journey

Because this was a small gathering, it was not a buffet, but a traditional meal sharing system based on the number of people. There were only some fruits and desserts on the long table in the middle, and several children from the detective team were waiting for the doctor to share cakes with them. Xiaolan saw them coming, stood up from her chair, and waved to them.

"Lan, we are here. Do you want to eat anything? It will probably take another hour for the food to be served." The location arranged by Yuanzi was relatively remote and not noticed by other people. At this moment, she put aside her image as a young lady, slumped in the chair, and pounded her sore thigh without caring about her image.

Xiaolan pushed the fruit and cake in front of her to Yuanzi, "Eat some of this first. What do you want to eat? I'll get it for you."

Yuanzi ate two mouthfuls of fruit without any image, "No, I have to stand next to my dad on stage later. If I eat too much, it won't look good in the photos. I can hold on for a while."

Uncle Maori was playing with his phone nearby. Hearing this, he glanced at Yuanzi and said, "Being a young lady is also very hard~"

Sonoko sat up straight and spoke righteously, "Of course. Although it's just a gathering of friends, it's in the name of the Suzuki family after all, and there are also reporters taking pictures... Oh... I'm so tired..."

Xiaolan frowned with distress, "I'll get you some chocolate, it's good for resisting hunger but won't fill your stomach."

Sonoko nodded with emotion, "Thank you for your help, Lan."

"Let's go, Hiro and I can go get some food too." Kazukage Yayoi stood up, "You girls can chat for a while."

"Give me another plate of honeydew melon." Uncle Maori suddenly interrupted.

"Okay, does anyone need anything else?" He Jing Yayoi looked around and saw that no one else had any needs, so he left his seat with Zhu Fu Jingguang to get food.

"Yayoi, are you planning to have one of each?" Zhufu Jingguang asked from behind.

"If we take them all back at once, it will be too obvious and we will definitely be criticized. Let's just stand by and eat before going back." Kazukage Yayoi volunteered to go get food because they wanted to eat cake. The two of them quickly shared more than a dozen kinds of cakes, picked a few cakes that they both thought were good, and took some fruits and chocolates back.

"Suzuki, come here, let's take a little of each flavor of chocolate. And this apple pie tastes good, you try it, Mori. Mr. Mori, here are your ham, melon and sherbet white wine." Kazukage Yayoi and Morobushi Kagemitsu took a lot and distributed them to everyone in turn.

"Boy, come on!" Uncle Maori stood up and took the ham, honeydew melon and aperitif. He had wanted to drink for a long time, but it was not easy to drink in front of so many children. When he saw He Jing Yayoi bringing the wine, he naturally took it happily.

"Dad! Drink less!" Mao Lilan said in an unhappy tone, frowning and warning.

"It's okay, Mr. Mori. The alcohol content of this wine is very low. One or two glasses will be fine." Of course, Kazukage Yayoi would not get Kogoro Mori drunk. It was just an aperitif with an alcohol content of about 10%. Uncle Mori would not get drunk after a few glasses.

Morobushi Kagemitsu also took a glass of Alsace sparkling wine. Kazukage Yayoi also wanted to drink, but he was only 17 years old and not yet of legal drinking age. He could only eat a chocolate with a liquor filling, but it was so sweet that he frowned. When Morobushi Kagemitsu saw this, he handed over a glass of juice with a smile. Sonoko quickly swallowed two chocolates and was busy helping her parents. Dr. Agasa and the children also returned to their seats.

"Brother Yayoi, are you guys going anywhere else to play this afternoon?" Ayumi likes this older brother who gives her a card as soon as they meet, and most importantly, he is very handsome.

"No, we stayed in the game room the whole time, and we even won two prizes, look." Kazukage Yayoi showed Ayumi the obsidian and gray crystal bracelet.

"Wow, this is so beautiful, Conan. How about we go to the game hall later? I also want a bracelet." Ayumi looked at the bracelet on Kazukage Yayoi's hand with starry eyes, turned around and said to Conan.

"But I'm not very good at playing." Conan scratched his head awkwardly. He was not good at arcade games. For this kind of thing, teacher Judy from the FBI might be more suitable. Unfortunately, she was not on this cruise ship.

"What color does Ayumi like? We should be going to the game hall to play for a day tomorrow. How about I change one for you and Ai then? Ai, what color do you like?" Kazukage Yayoi was originally planning to play games for another day, so helping the two girls change two bracelets was just a piece of cake.

Ayumi cheered softly, "Really? Thank you, Yayoi-nii. Ayumi likes pink and Ai likes red."

Ai wanted to refuse, but after hearing Ayumi had already told her her favorite color, she had to add, "If you can only change one, please give it to Yoshida-san."

Ayumi pouted in dissatisfaction, "No way, if you can only change one, please change it to the one Ai likes!"

Kazukage Yayoi smiled and rubbed the two girls' heads, "Don't underestimate Hiro and me, it's just two bracelets, it's easy."

After all, the bracelets were not expensive compared to the NS, estimated at 6,000 yen, while a NS was 40,000 yen. They could exchange a NS in one afternoon, enough for them to exchange for 6 bracelets. If it weren't for the fact that it was a bit strange for elementary school boys to wear bracelets, he could have given one to each of them. As for Mao Lilan and Sonoko, bracelets were too personal, so he still wouldn't give them to them, after all, both of them had boyfriends.

"Thank you, Brother Yayoi!" Ayumi bowed politely to express her gratitude, and Ai also nodded to express her gratitude.

"By the way, speaking of Mr. Amuro," Conan suddenly asked in confusion.

"As for Mr. Amuro, he had some misunderstanding with the gentleman from 1003 next door. After the misunderstanding was resolved, he went to the medical room. Oh, that's the gentleman over there." As Kazukage Yayoi was talking, he saw a burly man in a neat suit and a man in a first mate uniform standing at the door chatting. The burly man was the one who had a conflict with Amuro Toru just now.

"Ah, it's Mr. Tsuchiya Yoshiki." Mao Lilan exclaimed in a low voice: "He is a famous karate master. I didn't expect to see him here."

"Who is it?" Uncle Maori put down his drink, his expression serious, "Lan, you don't like this kind of man who looks violent, do you? He even beat up that boy Amuro."

Mao Lilan looked at Uncle Mao Li speechlessly, her excited expression instantly frozen, "Really, he is not famous because he is good at playing, and it can't be said that way, he is a very good player. But he is famous for many inconspicuous players who will make rapid progress under him and get much better results than before. I think it must be because he is very good at teaching. I wanted him to teach me. However, I didn't expect that he would have a conflict with Mr. Amuro. Is Mr. Amuro okay?"

"Nothing happened. He lost something and Mr. Amuro bumped into him. He thought it was Mr. Amuro who stole it, but Mr. Amuro quickly proved his innocence." Kazaki Yayoi shrugged. "But he was very strong and strangled Mr. Amuro's neck until it turned red."

Everyone frowned upon hearing this, and seemed quite dissatisfied with Tsuchiya Yoshiki, so Zhufushi Jingguang took the opportunity to add, "And he hasn't apologized yet."

"Lan, you'd better not get in touch with this kind of person. He wants to beat Amuro just for such a small matter." Uncle Maori frowned, "He doesn't look like a very good person."

Mao Lilan nodded solemnly. Now she also felt that this was not a good person.

"That... what is that thing in your hand?" Uncle Maori glanced at it. "The box looks expensive. The things inside must be very valuable. What is this? Bribery?"

Conan rolled his eyes speechlessly. "Why bribe the first mate, the one in charge of ship safety and administration? If you want to bribe someone, you should bribe Mr. Suzuki... ah? They really went to see Mr. Suzuki together, huh?"

Tsuchiya Yoshiki secretly handed a black velvet box to Suzuki Shiro. Then Suzuki Shiro opened the box and showed a shocked and appreciative expression. After that, the three of them chatted for a while, and Suzuki Shiro took the box and walked to the front of the stage. Seeing Suzuki Shiro's actions, Conan and others were sure that they had misunderstood.

All the reporters who had been waiting at the front stood up and checked whether the frame of their cameras was suitable.

"Dear guests, before the banquet begins, allow me to introduce a gentleman and a precious item."

Shiro Suzuki took out a velvet box and slowly opened it in front of the camera. A sapphire the size of a ping-pong ball shone brightly, and with the help of the lights in the banquet hall, everyone could even see the dazzling light from the top of the gem for a moment.

Suzuki Shiro put on gloves and carefully took out the necklace. "This is the Dream of Hope brought by Mr. Tsuchiya Yoshiki. Please look, the cornflower blue wrapped in the center is the characteristic of the Dream of Hope."

“Oh my God!”

“It’s a dream of hope!”

"The legendary gem?!"

Seeing that everyone at the table had a puzzled look on their faces, Conan began to explain, "The sapphire was discovered in California, the United States in 1962. It is said that it was already in its current form when it was discovered, but to this day no one knows who polished and set it. The original discoverer was a miner who was trapped underground due to a mining accident and was successfully rescued after seven days, during which time he had no water or food. After being rescued, he said that he did not feel that he had spent so much time, as he always thought that he was in his warm home with his wife and children."

"Because he had fainted when he was found, he was holding the sapphire necklace tightly in his hand. When the sapphire shone through the light, you could see a top-grade sapphire with a purer color, cornflower blue, inside, so people called it the Dream of Hope. When the miner woke up later, the gem necklace was gone, making this incident a legend."

Conan paused, "Although I think it is most likely that the owner of this mine is doing false advertising. After all, after the mining accident, their reputation was very bad, and many people cursed them as black-hearted bosses, and their stock price plummeted. But after this story, people said that this was the place where the dream of hope was born, and with the blessing of the gods, his business became even better."

Although Conan explained the story in a very scientific way, the reporters were not expecting such a realistic story. So they kept asking questions about the version of the gods that were circulated. The noisy voices forced Kazukage Yayoi to look at the three people on the stage.

"It's indeed very beautiful, but it doesn't have any divine power. It's just an ordinary sapphire. If I have to say, it's just a little bigger than normal and contains less iron." Kazukage Yayoi lost interest after taking a look at it. It seems that Conan's version of the story is the real one.

Unfortunately, the reporters did not have this kind of judgment. They asked excitedly: "Excuse me, Mr. Tsuchiya. Is it because of the power of this dream of hope that the contestants you select have always been able to surpass themselves?"

Tsuchiya Yoshiki shook his head: "That's not the case. It still depends on the players' own efforts. Even if I let a beggar touch this gem, it's impossible for him to become a billionaire, right?"

The reporters' eyes lit up, like a group of jackals smelling blood: "In other words, you mean that this gem can bring luck to people as long as they touch it?"

"No, no, that's not what I mean. What I mean is that success still requires personal efforts." Although he said this, Tsuchiya Yoshiki's denial not only failed to dispel the reporters' doubts, but made them more convinced that the dream of hope does have magical power.

For those who work in the news, they will never believe what you say directly, but they will definitely believe what you deny and think that you are deliberately covering up something.

Tsuchiya Yoshiki did it on purpose.