Chapter 2507-2519 [Part-time Job Crisis]

"There are a few missing firing pins on the speaker tube. No wonder the songs it plays are always missing a few tones." The expert detective was indeed different from other clueless detectives. He quickly came up with an idea. Jiang Xia said under Yuuki Haruna's eager gaze:

"This is not a quality issue, it is probably caused by human wear and tear - its previous owner deliberately ground the firing pins flat, probably to convey some message to the person who got it."

"Send a message?" Yuuki Haruna became nervous. "Could it be that Mr. Shugo really has an accident? For example, he has been imprisoned by someone?"

"Let me think about it." Mao Lilan has a great talent for music. "This song should be "Come on, Spring". If so, then the missing notes of this music box tune are RA, DO and RA."

"RADORA?" Suzuki Sonoko tried to read them together. "Uh, it sounds like the name of a monster... Maybe it's not the melody here, but the lyrics? - I remember the lyrics of this sentence are 'I wait for you to break out of the cocoon', so the missing words are MO, DE and RU."

"MODERU" is pronounced together..." A noun came out of her mouth, and Suzuki Sonoko's eyes lit up, "This is the pronunciation of 'model'! Could this matter be related to a handsome model? - Let's go to the modeling agency and check. As long as we search all these companies, we will definitely find the person named Akigo."

Jiang Xia shook his head: "It's too slow to find him this way, why not go directly to his residence and take a look."

"Residence, huh?" The two high school girls realized it later and looked at him in surprise, "Do you know where he lives?"

Jiang Xia pointed to his cell phone, demonstrating the police's clever use of it: "I asked the police officer from the first search section to help check it, and the results should be out in a while."

Yuuki Haruna: “…”

No, he is indeed a master detective, he can actually use the police!

…

With Qiu Wu's pager number, a string of addresses and landline numbers were soon sent to Jiang Xia's mailbox.

Jiang Xia gave the number to Yuuki Haruna, who dialed the number carefully and the call was soon picked up by the other end.

After a brief conversation, Yuuki Haruna hung up the phone and brought good news: "It sounds like the person on the other end of the phone doesn't sound like Mr. Shuwu... But when he heard that I wanted to return the music box and pager, he immediately became very enthusiastic and said that I could go to his house right away."

"..." Suzuki Sonoko felt something was wrong, "Doesn't this sound a bit like a trap?"

Yuuki Haruna laughed and said, "Mr. Akigo's family knows that he communicates with me frequently, so they must be welcoming me as his electronic pen pal. And even if it's a trap..." There's still a detective here!

——Just as she intuitively felt that Mr. Qiu Wu, whom she had never met, was a kind old man, her intuition also told her that Jiang Xia did not seem to be afraid of these things.

Sure enough, Jiang Xia nodded: "Then let's do as they said and pay them a visit directly."

…

Soon, the group followed the address and arrived at Mr. Qiu Wu's house.

This is an independent courtyard with a sports car parked in the parking lot. It looks like a wealthy family.

Yuuki Haruna jumped out of the taxi and came to the gate. She rang the doorbell and found it was broken, so she had to say, "Hello, is anyone there? I'm Yuuki Haruna. I just said on the phone that I would come to visit."

Her clear voice echoed in the corridor, and soon a middle-aged woman came out quickly.

"Welcome! Come in." The middle-aged woman said enthusiastically, but suddenly froze. She looked at the four people at the door, "...so many people?"

Yuuki Haruna quickly said, "These are my friends. They happened to be free today, so they came here with me."

The middle-aged woman frowned, looking a little embarrassed.

At this time, another young man walked out of the corridor. He patted Mrs. Ogata who was standing at the door in a daze and said, "Mom, stop being in a daze and invite the guests in first. It's rare for the legendary Miss Haruna to visit us, so of course the host must show the proper attitude towards guests - she is Grandpa's biggest spiritual support over the years, and she can be considered our family's benefactor."

Yuuki Haruna was startled: "'Grandpa'?"

"That's right." The middle-aged woman came back to her senses. She smiled and introduced herself. "My name is Ogata Kazuko, and I'm the hostess of this house. You can just call me Mrs. Ogata. This is my second son, Ogata Shiro."

"As for your pen pal..." Mrs. Ogata looked at Yuuki Haruna and sighed, "Since you're here, go burn some incense for him first."

"?!" Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko looked at each other: That Mr. Akigo... is gone?

…

Soon, everyone walked through the living room and came to the room where the ranking was enshrined.

There was a portrait hanging on the wall of the room, and it showed an old man with a very kind face.

"Mr. Akigo..." Yuuki Haruna instantly confirmed that this was her pen pal. She was a little confused, "He has passed away?"

Mrs. Ogata nodded. "He passed away suddenly at the end of last year."

Suzuki Sonoko looked at the broad-faced old man on the wall, rubbed her chin, and hesitated to speak. After a long while, she couldn't help but whispered to Mrs. Ogata: "Was this old man... a model when he was alive?"

Mrs. Ogata looked confused: "Huh?"

Suzuki Sonoko scratched her head awkwardly: "..." It seems that it is not the case... Damn, she thought she finally solved the riddle. So what do the worn-out notes in the music box mean?

Jiang Xia looked around and suddenly realized something. His eyes looked into the courtyard through the wall.

He thought of the neat living room of this family and asked Mrs. Ogata, "Just now I saw a lot of fresh refreshments in the living room. These need to be prepared in advance. Did you know that guests were coming?"

Mrs. Ogata laughed and said, "It was just a coincidence that Miss Haruna came to visit us. In fact, we have another guest today."

She pointed at the tablet and said, "My father-in-law had a lot of collections when he was alive. He seemed to be worried about those things, so he specially appointed a lawyer to take care of his inheritance..."

Mrs. Ogata turned around and looked at her watch. "According to the time, the lawyer should be here soon. I'll go out and take a look. Please do as you please."

Having said that, she turned and walked out.

The small room became silent again, but soon the silence was broken by a sigh.

Suzuki Sonoko looked at the tablet on the wall, feeling somewhat frustrated: "I didn't expect that this gentleman was not only not a model, but was also dead... What should we do next?" Is this just a formality? This is not the same as the detective commission she imagined...

Jiang Xia seemed to sense his classmate's regret. He thought for a moment and didn't rush to say goodbye. He just said, "Since we're here, let's go see the lawyer first."

(End of this chapter)