Chapter 77

Because this children's welfare home is built in the mountains, in addition to the inconvenient transportation that leads to frequent shortages of supplies, it has more advantages in terms of geographical environment and land area than those built in prosperous areas.

Just walking from the gate to the courtyard, there are bamboo forests, lawns, streams, rockery and other scenery. If people didn't know that this is just an orphanage, they would even mistakenly think they have come to a tourist attraction.

"Guests, please look at the rockery over there. Although it is not very high, the stones used to build it are very solid, and there are many passages in the middle. So the children here like it very much and often play hide-and-seek in the passages."

Lihua played the role of tour guide, pointing out the sights along the way and introducing them to everyone. She even squatted down and looked at Conan, the only child in the group, and asked:

"Little brother, do you want to take a closer look at the rockery tunnel?"

Conan was being stared at by so many eyes, so he didn't want to do anything that was too inappropriate for his age, so he smiled and answered:

"Okay! Thank you, Sister Lihua, my name is Edogawa Conan."

As he said this, he turned around and looked at Mao Lilan:

"Sister Xiaolan, do you want to go to the rockery too?"

Ran Mouri was worried about Conan being alone, so she naturally followed him.

Maori Kogoro sighed at the bamboo forest and stream:

"Xingchuan, I didn't expect that you could live in such a good environment when you were a child. It's really great. No wonder you became a cartoonist when you were in high school. It must be because you were influenced by nature that you are so talented, right?"

The corners of Xingchuan Heming's mouth twitched. Just when he was about to perfunctorily dismiss the matter, he heard Kagano Satoshi, who had been standing far away, yelling and jumping in front of Maori Kogoro and saying incredulously:

"What are you talking about, mustache uncle? Life here is hard! There are not enough cotton clothes in winter, and there are endless mosquitoes in summer. It takes half a month to eat meat. If you want to go to school, you have to walk on the mountain road to the village school every day. Apart from the larger space and more rocks, what's good about it?"

Maori Kogoro was so embarrassed that he kept shaking his head:

"Ahaha! So that's how it is? I didn't expect Xingchuan had such a hard childhood, hahahaha..."

Seeing that Kagamino Satoshi had rarely taken the initiative, Hagiwara Kenji immediately took advantage of the situation and said to Hoshikawa Kazuaki:

"Look, Xiaoxing, Xiaozhi was standing so far away just now, but he could still hear the conversation between Maori-senpai and Xiaoxing clearly. It seems that Xiaozhi really cares about you, Xiaoxing. Isn't that right, Xiaozhi?"

As he said this, he winked at Kagamino Tomo, signaling him to stop being awkward and come over to talk to him.

Kagino Tomo turned his head to the side and pretended not to hear.

Seeing his friend in trouble, Date Kou laughed in an unkind way.

Conan followed Lihua to the rockery. After all, he was not a real child, so he was not very interested in this place for hide-and-seek. He pretended to be interested and took a few casual glances. He suddenly noticed that there was a protruding stone on a remote high place on one side of the rockery that was deliberately surrounded.

"Hey, Sister Lihua, what's going on with that fenced-off area over there?"

Lihua took a look and explained with a smile:

"Last month, it was discovered that the stones there were loose and could fall off at any time. So the teachers at the orphanage decided to fence off the area and forbid the children from playing near it to avoid danger. Fortunately, there is no tunnel built on that side, and the children usually don't go there to play, so it has been left untouched."

Conan felt something was strange:

"But since there is a danger of rocks falling, why don't the teachers find professional workers to repair it? After all, there are often children playing here. No matter how you fence it off, there will still be danger, right?"

Since Lihua took over the internal affairs of the welfare home, she has already understood these situations. After hearing Conan's question, her face inevitably became a little embarrassed.

However, she had no experience in dealing with this kind of question, so after a moment of hesitation, she finally answered:

"In fact, it was because Teacher Bei Dao said that the cost of hiring workers to repair the rockery was too high. For the current welfare home, it is really difficult to afford such expenses, so he brought other teachers to fence off this place. Fortunately, the children are very obedient and never climb over the fence, so it has been like this."

Conan's eyes widened in disbelief, thinking that this reason was too absurd. No matter how frugal the welfare house was, it was impossible for it to leave such a big hidden danger unaddressed, right?

And as far as he knows, Hoshikawa Kazuaki has donated all his monthly royalties to the welfare home. Considering Hoshikawa Kazuaki's fame, that amount of royalties is not a small amount. Even so, can't it alleviate the welfare home's financial problems?

"But Sister Lihua, the funds for the welfare home... uh... "

Mao Lilan was afraid that Conan would say something impolite, so she covered Conan's mouth from behind and apologized to Lihua:

"I'm sorry, Miss Lihua, Conan has caused you trouble."

Lihua waved her hands quickly and said:

"Of course not. It's no trouble at all."

Mao Lilan then leaned over to Conan's ear and whispered:

"Conan, stop asking such sensitive questions. It's very rude!"

Conan's face immediately turned red as his mouth was half covered by Mouri Ran from behind, and his struggling movements suddenly stopped.

He nodded dazedly, feeling like a roasted shrimp.

Mao Lilan then let go of her hand with satisfaction, but worried that Conan would continue to ask questions, she took the initiative to suggest:

"Now that we've finished looking at the rockery, why don't we go back to Dad's place?"

As he spoke, he pointed behind him, and then he heard Lihua beside him say happily:

"Ms. Xiaolan, you have discovered it, right? Yes, there is a small path in the middle of the lawn, which leads to the bamboo forest where Xingchuan and the others are."

"Um?"

Mao Lilan turned back with a puzzled look on her face, and then she realized that she had pointed in the wrong direction just now because she was holding Conan. She had originally intended to point to the gravel road she had walked on, but she actually pointed in the direction of the lawn.

Lihua thought that Mao Lilan had discovered the path hidden in the lawn through observation, and kept praising her:

"Ms. Xiaolan is really observant! This road is so hidden that even people in the orphanage often can't find it. I didn't expect that Miss Xiaolan could find it so easily."

"Ha, hahaha, is that so..."

Mao Lilan was too embarrassed to tell her that she just randomly pointed at the correct answer by chance. She could only smile awkwardly and accept the compliment.

When the three of them walked through the path in the middle of the lawn and returned to the bamboo forest, Maori Kogoro was holding hands with the helpless Hoshikawa and Akira, bragging about the cases he had encountered. Conan knew immediately that he was afraid that Hoshikawa and Akira would be dissatisfied with their cooperation, but he was too embarrassed to ask for their help, so he kept bragging along the way.

As Conan was about to walk over, he passed by Kagamino Satoshi and the others and overheard Date Kou asking him:

"Xiaozhi, since you sent a warning letter to Xingchuan and Ming, you must have found clues that someone was going to harm Xingchuan, right? Can you please tell me what you found?"

Conan was immediately unable to move. He took advantage of Ran Mouri's inattention and, relying on his short stature, he decisively sneaked behind Satoshi Kagano to eavesdrop.