Chapter 1021: The Hirai Family (Please Vote and Subscribe!!!)

At 5:30 in the evening, Domon Yasuhiro, who had just finished taking a shower, smelled the aroma when he came out of the bathroom. When he came to the living room, he saw that the aunt had already set up the pot and was placing burned carbon blocks at the bottom of the pot.

Fresh mushrooms, scallions, mushrooms, tofu, plump pork and soup are blended in the pot, steaming and fragrant.

"Come on, come on, sit down and eat!"

The village chief greeted Sakaki and the others warmly:

"I heard you were coming, so I went up to the mountain this morning to pick some fresh vegetables. I was lucky enough to catch a wild boar!"

"Are these all found on the mountain?"

Sitting cross-legged at the table, Conan once again used his acting skills, staring at the pot with a pair of innocent big eyes unique to children, as if he would drool at any time.

"The tofu is ordered by Zhongguang's family, and the green onions are pulled from the yard. Except for these two, all other dishes come from the mountains!"

What evil intentions can a child have?

The village chief didn't know, nor did his three sons. They all regarded Conan as an innocent and curious primary school student, who was also well-behaved and sensible.

Even though it was stormy outside, there was still a peaceful scene in the house.

Everyone sat around the table, with candles lit on the table. The dim candlelight shone on everyone's smiling faces, creating a harmonious atmosphere.

"Yukio, go get some bottles of juice."

Before the pot was cooked, the village chief skillfully tore open the packaging of Black Dragon Daiginjo, poured the clear liquid into the cup and said:

"Children can't drink."

The taciturn Yukio nodded, stood up and walked into the kitchen, and came back after a while with several bottles of orange juice.

"Thank you, big brother!"

Conan took the orange juice with both hands and said with a smile.

"Um."

Yukio responded in a muffled voice, his tense expression softening slightly.

Who doesn't love cute little kids?

certainly.

It would be better if Conan was a girl, she would be called an angel.

Weighing the cans in his hands, Conan stretched out his arms calmly and placed a few bottles of orange juice in front of Miss Miyano, Hattori Heiji and Kidd.

As soon as they got the cans, Miss Miyano and others noticed something strange.

All chilled.

This proves that Uncle Hirai has a refrigerator at home, and it's not that small.

When no one was paying attention, Kidd flipped the can and looked at the production date printed on the bottom, which was January 15th. There were still 3 months left before the expiration date.

In order to confirm his suspicion, Kidd raised his eyebrows at Conan and sent a secret signal.

After receiving the code, Conan understood it and ran to Aunt Hirai with a bottle of orange juice in his arms. He blinked his big eyes and said in a childish tone:

"Aunty drink orange juice!"

"What a good boy."

Aunt Hirai's heart almost melted. She raised her hand to scratch Conan's nose and said with a smile:

"You can just drink it. Auntie has a bad stomach and can't drink these chilled things."

"Then those three big brothers, do you want to drink?"

"Don't worry about them, they only drink alcohol and rarely drink water."

"oh"

Lowering his head, Conan's eyes flashed, he slipped back to his seat, and opened the can with a 'pop' sound.

On the other side, Uncle Hirai was exchanging cups with Domon Yasuki, and he didn't forget to bring Sakaki Makoto with him. The conversation was full of family and internal affairs, and it was very lively.

but

After talking, talking and laughing, all the information that should be collected was not left behind.

As we chatted, the topic began under Sakaki Makoto's deliberate guidance and the history of the development of Okutama Town came up.

As an old man who has witnessed the rise and fall of Okutama Town, the village chief talks endlessly about this, drinking one glass after another, and one cigarette after another, gradually getting drunk.

"I think our Okutama town was once glorious back then!"

The pale cheeks turned rosy. The village chief's eyes were blurred under the stimulation of alcohol. He gave a thumbs up and stammered:

"When it comes to wood, we are number one!"

"Do you know the giant tree?"

The village chief’s dancing gestures:

"If it is 1.3 meters above the ground and surrounded by more than 3 meters, it is considered a giant tree!"

"There are a total of 60,000 giant trees in Japan, and we in Okutama Town have 891 of them, the most among all cities, towns and villages in the country!"

"The Tama River uses 630,000 tons of water in Tokyo every day, of which 1,260,000 tons come from the Tama River, accounting for 20%!"

"Okutama Town covers an area equivalent to 10% of Tokyo, but its population is only 0.04% of Tokyo's. It is an abandoned land."

The topic was very serious, and the village chief sighed, with a hint of blame in his words:

"If the government would develop Okutama Town more, the village would not be in such a state of decline."

"What is the current source of income for Pingjing Village?"

Sakaki suddenly interrupted:

“We used to rely on wood, but now what do we rely on?”

As soon as the words came out, the table suddenly became quiet.

The three Hirai brothers were eating their food, their faces covered in mist and their expressions unclear, but Sakaki could still feel their vigilant and scrutinizing gazes.

"Didn't you open a hunting ground in the past two years?"

The village chief drank the expensive sake in his glass, smacked his mouth twice, and said:

"Most of the village's funding sources come from ticket fees and tourism subsidies from the town. We can barely make ends meet."

"I see."

After nodding, Sakaki no longer asked any more questions and buried himself in his meal. The lively atmosphere returned to the dining table.

After dinner, everyone stayed in the room idle and bored. The rain showed no sign of abating, but intensified.

"There's definitely something weird about this village."

Conan held an empty can in his hand, which he brought from the dining table:

"Look, the orange juice that Hirai Takami gave me was produced at the beginning of this year, and it will expire in 3 months."

"Is there any problem with this?"

Tsuchimon Yasuki asked doubtfully:

"No matter how poor Hirai Village is, it can't be so poor that it can't even afford orange juice!"

"Orange juice may be small, but the secret behind it is huge."

Hatsuori Heiji shook his head with a serious expression:

"First of all, this bottle of orange juice is iced, which means that Uncle Hirai has a refrigerator at home, and it is not small. You will understand why after listening to what I say next."

Tsuchimon Yasuki, who was about to ask a question, stopped, pricked up his ears, and listened attentively to the reason.

"Most convenience stores have clear regulations that the beverages they sell must be more than 6 months away from the expiration date, that is, half a year."

With one hand in his pocket, Hattori Heiji leaned against the window sill and said word by word:

"And tonight, the orange juice that Yukio Hirai brought out was less than 3 months away from the expiration date, which means that these orange juices were not purchased by him recently."

"After Conan's probing, we learned that no one in Uncle Hirai's family would drink iced orange juice, so the question is, why do they always have orange juice in the refrigerator?"

"You mean..."

Tsuchimon Yasuki understood a little:

"These orange juices were not originally prepared for us, do they have other guests?"

"That's right!"

The corners of his mouth rose slowly, and a gleam of light flashed in Hattori Heiji's eyes:

"Because there are often guests visiting, Uncle Hirai's family always has orange juice on hand. Hirai Yukio's action of taking out 10 bottles of orange juice at once indicates two possibilities"

"1. These guests just left and will not be back in a short time. Even if the orange juice is finished, Hirai Yukio has enough time to restock."

"2. There is still a lot of orange juice in stock at home, so much that 10 bottles of orange juice are just a drop in the bucket, so Hirai Yukio doesn't care how much we drink!"

At this point

Hattori Heiji showed a meaningful smile:

"Mr. Domon, now you understand why I inferred that Uncle Hirai's refrigerator is not small"