Chapter 83 The Disaster of the Grandfathers

 Two hours later.

 In the ceramics classroom.

Mino Muneyuki looked at his watch anxiously.

 A while ago, he made a detailed murder plan and planned to carry it out today.

Now, the victim is here, the target of the crime is here, and there are witnesses... However, it's almost time to get off work, but he still can't find an opportunity to kill him.

 As for the reason…

Meinong Zongzhi silently glanced at Jiang Xia beside him, who kept asking him various questions and followed him wherever he went.

 Master Ceramics: "..." Why is this guy so clingy!

Obviously I am just a tourist here to experience pottery, and my job is a high school detective, why do I have to study pottery so seriously!

Mino Zongzhi took a deep breath, feeling a little headache.

 He did have the idea of ​​"challenging the detective". But that kind of "challenge" refers to using one's own highly technical murder to challenge the detective's insight.

Rather than openly strangling his son-in-law in front of a detective, challenging the detective's force level and alarm speed.

 …

He was followed by the annoying Jiang Xia until get off work time.

Mino Muneyuki watched helplessly as his son-in-law finished his work, left the pottery classroom, and returned to the yard of Kikuemon's house connected behind.

  …” This means that today, he has no chance to carry out the murder plan.

Mino Zongzhi silently wiped his face and had to reschedule the plan.

Now, he just wants to send away this group of guests - especially the too annoying detective.

However, even this humble wish could not be realized.

 —When guests are leaving with handmade pottery.

 A middle-aged woman walked into the classroom from the back door and stopped them:

“Kikuemon said that he would like to invite you all to come and sit at home.”

　　When she said this, her eyes always fell on Jiang Xia, with a little curiosity and scrutiny.

Meinong Zongzhi's eyes twitched twice, and he quickly left without seeing anything.

 He had already guessed why Kikuemon invited people over.

 …

 Everyone has some unique hobbies.

Of course the same goes for Kikuemon, the national treasure-level ceramic master.

—He is very interested in all kinds of bizarre cases, has been paying attention to relevant reports, and is familiar with famous detectives.

 A while ago, Kikuemon noticed "Jiangxia", a rising star in the industry.

 He read the few cases that Jiang Xia had solved many times. The more I look at it, the more I feel that this is truly a talent. He also believes that Jiangxia is a potential stock and will definitely be able to solve more bizarre cases in the future.

 …

This afternoon, Kikuemon found out that Jiang Xia was here, and he was immediately excited. He specially asked his daughter-in-law to invite someone over to chase stars up close.

Since we have invited him, of course it is impossible to invite only Jiang Xia.

 Others, together with Jiangxia, sneaked into Kikuemon's house.

 …

 Arrived in the living room, after visiting some exquisite works.

Jiang Xia and others sat down at the table.

Opposite the coffee table, Kikuemon stroked his beard, and with a straight face, he gave Jiang Xia a lot of opinions in a serious manner: the theme was that he felt that he solved the case too quickly, resulting in not enough suspense and expectation.

However, soon, Kikuemon was exposed by his daughter-in-law as a groupie:

“Dad, it’s popular now to encourage education—you might as well say directly that you think highly of him.”

As he said that, his daughter-in-law took out a book of newspaper clippings, opened it and faced Jiang Xia, and said with a smile: "Look, they are all cases you have solved."

 The old man's face froze.

Jiang Xia took a look at it and nodded, but secretly felt that this newspaper clipping was not as good as the one he put together.

Suzuki Sonoko and Mao Lilan said "Wow-" and showed proud expressions, although they didn't know what they were proud of.

Toru Amuro felt speechless and took a sip of tea, feeling that his vigilance was in vain. —As soon as he entered the door, he found Kikuemon looking straight at Jiang Xia with strange eyes.

　　Originally, Toru Amuro was still wondering whether Jiang Xia was too enthusiastic when asking for information and exposed his flaws, which led to him being targeted by the shrewd old man "Kikuemon".

Who knew, it was for this reason...

 …

 Kikuemon is the center of this division.

 Of course the guests he invited and other people in the family had to come out to see him.

There are actually not many people in the family - Kikuemon and his junior brother Minou Muneyuki, one has lost his son and the other has lost his daughter.

 So, apart from the two old men, there were only three male apprentices in the family and Kikuemon's daughter-in-law.

 …

The apprentices came to the living room and saw Jiang Xia, and couldn't wait to ask: "Which one did you choose?"

—Just now, after Kikuemon decided to invite Jiangxia over as a guest, the family made a bet: using the most precious pottery in the house as a teacup for Jiangxia. Then let the detective choose a collection in the exhibition hall as a gift, betting on whether Jiang Xia can find it, and the treasure is in his hands.

"Don't worry, I haven't told him yet." Kikuemon waved his apprentice away and looked at Jiang Xia.

He raised his hand and gestured in the direction of the display cabinet: "This room is full of my precious works. You can choose one of them as a meeting gift from me."

The daughter-in-law smiled and added to the outsiders: "Every piece is a fine product with a market price of not less than one million."

"!" Mao Lilan and Conan were shocked. They didn't expect someone to give such an expensive thing casually.

Suzuki Sonoko has a muted reaction to the price. She has many toys worth hundreds of millions at home, which are being piled up in the warehouse and gathering dust.

However, this kind of reward souvenir gives people a different feeling.

Suzuki Sonoko leaned into Jiang Xia’s ear and enthusiastically offered advice: “Choose a good-looking one!”

 …

Beside him, several young ceramic artists looked at Jiang Xia with a little bit of amusement in their eyes.

There are specialties in the arts. Although Jiangxia's detective skills are very much appreciated by Kikuemon, when it comes to appreciating pottery, this detective will probably be blind.

They couldn't help but think about the surprised expression Jiang Xia might have shown when he was finally informed that the one he was holding was No. 1 after picking it for a long time.

Just as he was thinking happily, he saw Jiang Xia lowering her head and silently staring at the cup in her hand.

Disciples: “…”

 Wait, wait a minute...where are you looking? !

 …

Jiang Xia is indeed not good at appreciating pottery, but he can "prophesy".

He knew that the most expensive teacup was probably in his hand.

 Toru Amuro was drinking tea silently.

At this time, after hearing the "rules of the game", he quickly moved his eyes and landed on the cup in Jiang Xia's hand.

Toru Amuro certainly doesn’t understand what “prophecy” means.

However, as a dedicated intelligence agent, he collected a lot of information about "Kikuemon" during this mission. The tea cup next to it has been featured in relevant magazines - it is Kikuemon's proud work and has a price tag of nearly 10 million.

Under the sweaty gazes of several apprentices, Jiang Xia rubbed her tea cup, feeling a little confused.

He is not short of money, and he doesn’t like drinking tea.

To be honest, although the tea cup in his hand is recognized as a high-quality product, its color is too plain and does not fit his aesthetics at all.

He actually took a fancy to a clay pot with a unique pattern on the cabinet - it was very large and had a wide opening. It was a good seedling for growing potted plants. It was much more practical than the teacup in his hand that couldn't even grow a few garlic sprouts.

Jiang Xia was silent for a long time.

Mao Lilan and the others were still looking at the display cabinet at first.

Later I found that Jiang Xia and his mysterious detective boss were both looking at the tea cups.

So he returned to the coffee table without knowing why, and followed the trend and looked over.

The Kikuemon family originally wanted to see "precious images of laymen identifying treasures through intuition," but they didn't expect that the situation would turn out like this.

 The daughter-in-law, who was in charge of the finances, gradually lost her smile.

 —That tea cup is a treasure worth tens of millions!

 Previously, when she saw Jiangxia learning pottery, he had one problem after another, like a layman, so she didn't stop him when Kikuemon proposed the plan.

Who knows now…

 (End of this chapter)