Conan: The Man Behind the Romance

Chapter 262: Firefly ∩ Ran ∩ Ai, Night at the Mori House

The visitor picked up the Sanshu Yezang, drank the cup of dark green wine, and bowed slightly to Yingsheng.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Liuying..."

Yingsheng raised his hand to interrupt him: "You don't have to make this trip in person. Thank you for your hard work. Go back and say hello to her for me."

The visitor hesitated: "But..."

Yingsheng shook his head slightly and leaned close to his ear: "You don't want to hand over those contraband items to me here, do you? That's a bit too arrogant. Just find a safe deposit box in a shopping mall outside, put the items there and give me the number plate, OK?"

The winery's method is simple and effective.

The visitor nodded hurriedly and whispered in his ear: "The president has encountered some troubles recently. There is a new group called 'Hidden Moon Group' that is expanding very fast. They have stronger official connections than us and are more powerful. We proposed to ask you for help, but the president has always disagreed."

Yingsheng glanced at him and said, "What do you mean now? Do you want to overthrow your superiors?"

The visitor shook his head quickly: "Of course not, it's just... just..."

Under Yingsheng's increasingly cold gaze, he struggled for a while, and finally gritted his teeth and whispered, "The president is a woman after all, and since you, Mr. Liuying, went there last week, the president's style of doing things has become more gentle, and now it has affected the profits.

Several elders in the club think that you are more suitable to lead us. They mentioned this matter to the president, and the president did not object, so..."

"We'll talk about this later. I'll contact Chiyoko later. Now, could you please give me a lewd smile? Of course, don't overdo it."

Yingsheng interrupted.

"..."

The man was speechless for two seconds, then grinned, rather stiffly. Yingsheng shook his head and finally said, "Go out for at least an hour before returning to your nest. Be careful of your tail." He patted his shoulder, leaned against the bar, and raised his glass for him:
"Walk slowly without sending."

The man was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and nodded quickly, then walked out quickly.

Yingsheng thought that this guy's performance was really bad, but it didn't matter. Seeing Xiaolan's curious face, he leaned over and whispered:
"Black market dealer, narcotics."

Xiaolan suddenly understood, but was still a little confused: "If it's a deal, why is he so polite to you?"

"I'm a big customer, and I pay you very quickly."

"Um...their boss is a woman?"

"Why, even you discriminate against women?"

"........."

Xiaolan was speechless. She felt that there was definitely something fishy going on with Yingsheng, but she didn't know where it was. Thinking about the original purpose of their fishing tonight, she asked, "Could it be that the person he represents is the one you want to introduce to Mr. Amuro?"

"..."

Yingsheng nodded: "Okay, you've discovered this. The person behind him is called Chris. It's now absolutely clear that he won't come tonight."

On the surface, Hotaru really wanted to convey this message to any companions of Amuro Toru who might be here.

Xiaolan thought for a moment: "Then we..."

"Of course we're going home. It's just the two of us, hanging out in a bar. We might as well just curl up on the sofa and watch a movie."

Yingsheng spread his hands, said goodbye to Jessica, picked up an ice cube that had not yet completely melted from the cup, turned around and walked out.

Xiaolan glanced at his back strangely, then turned back to look at Jessica: "How much?"

Jessica smiled: "It's free."

"........."

This made Xiaolan wonder if there was really some story between Yingsheng and this lady, but she didn't care too much and turned around to follow Yingsheng. When she walked to Yingsheng, she noticed that the ice on his hand had disappeared.

Pushing the door open, the cool air from outside instantly washed away all the humidity and heat. Xiaolan took a deep breath, and her brows relaxed a little.

Although this bar was not as scary as she had imagined, she still preferred the nature outside.

Beep beep beep——!
Cars honked constantly and the small square in front of the bar was also bustling with people.

Xiaolan raised her eyebrows slightly, it seemed like there was no difference?
"Do you feel that it's a bit anticlimactic?"

Walking to the street to hail a taxi, Yingsheng asked with a smile.

Xiaolan shook her head: "Fortunately, according to what Suigetsu-kun said before, we should take advantage of the situation with wisdom first. We don't need to do anything, which means the secret steps have been completed. I just didn't expect that the fish turned out to be Mr. Amuro."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you beforehand."

"Mr. Shuiyue didn't hide it on purpose, I just realized it later. If I hadn't discovered it myself, I might have acted unnatural when talking to him. This kind of thing is very important, so of course we have to avoid such mistakes."

"Well, it seems like it wouldn't hurt for me to tell you in advance."

"I will do my best to make sure that Suigetsu-kun doesn't worry about this kind of thing again."

"Haha, I'll wait and see."

After getting in a taxi and asking the driver to drive to Mori's house, Yingsheng kept keeping an eye on the rearview mirror, but after all, he couldn't control the driving route to test whether there was someone following him. He couldn't be completely sure whether he was following him. He could only say that there was a car that looked suspicious.

Back at the Mori residence, Hotaroo and Ran went straight upstairs.

Pushing the door open, the detective agency on the second floor was empty. To be honest, this was the first time that Yingsheng entered here in an official capacity. Compared with the last week when he came here to give flyers to Maori Kogoro, the place had been renovated. The overall layout remained unchanged, but everything looked brand new.

Correspondingly, there is no breath of life at all.

Since that day Kogoro Mori left for Ginza, he never came back.

They walked up the stairs to the third floor, changed into slippers at the entrance, and entered the living room. Haibara Ai was sitting on the sofa watching TV with a pillow in her arms. When she saw the two of them come home, she just looked up and then looked away.

"Thank you for your hard work," she said.

Yingsheng stood at the entrance and looked around. The home was full of an everyday atmosphere. This was his first time here, but he inexplicably had a familiar feeling.

The most important thing is that Xiaolan didn't entertain him and went to the bedroom to change clothes.

Her clothes were stained with the smell of cigarettes. It was fine in the bar, but as soon as she left, it started to smell bad.

Yingsheng touched his chin and looked at Huiyuan Ai: "Should I say 'I'm back'?"

"..."

Huihara Ai looked up and said, "Whatever you want. Where are the things? The fish and...fish feed?"

"Go get it later. Someone might be watching this place right now."

Yingsheng sniffed his shoulder and felt that everything seemed okay. He walked over and sat on a sofa at the side. He glanced at the TV, which was playing a documentary about the gene sequencing project.

"What about Mingzhi?" Yingsheng asked.

"He's preparing materials in his room for the scientific seminar with the Suzuki Foundation tomorrow afternoon." Xiao Ai said. "He's the one who's working hard. I'm planning to rent a villa for you. Do you have any preferences?"

"If we want to continue the drug experiment, it would be better to set up a research institute instead of renting a villa. Wouldn't we then have to cooperate with the Suzuki Foundation? This aspect can be resolved, right?"

"I don't think you would trust others so easily, especially capitalists."

“That way…”

Xiao Ai thought for a moment and said, "If we want to be secretive, it would be best to buy a private hospital. That way, we can conceal the purchase of various instruments and equipment from the public."

Yingsheng nodded: "It's also convenient to get medicine this way. I've thought about it before and have a target in mind. It's the clinic my parents used to run and we'll expand it. Unfortunately, I don't know any doctors there, so I can only wait and see one later."

Xiao Ai had always lived in the shadow of the winery, so of course she didn't know the doctor. She nodded and continued watching the documentary.

Yingsheng looked at her for a few seconds and asked curiously, "Don't you feel bored?"

"What? A documentary?"

Xiao Ai raised her eyebrows, with a look of pity on her face, like a wizard looking at a Muggle: "Don't you know how great this cause is? It will reveal the mystery of human life."

Yingsheng was stunned for a moment: "I thought you would be disgusted by this."

"Why do I hate science? I just don't want anyone to use it to do evil."

Ai glanced at Yingsheng: "I actually think you have some bad intentions, but after you learned about Akechi's research project on 'memory manipulation', your first reaction was that this drug can be used to treat Alzheimer's disease. It makes me doubt my previous attitude."

Yingsheng was surprised and asked, "You were very wary of me before? I felt that you were as innocent as a real child."

"Not to you, but to drug A."

Xiao Ai sighed and said, "I used to think that it is impossible for humans to reverse time. If one tries to distort it, one will be punished. But now I am the beneficiary of this drug, and you have given me a glimpse of other directions.

I think this kind of research may not be really evil, it’s just the organization that is evil.”

Yingsheng smiled and said, "I hope I can always satisfy you, but what I was talking about before was not a documentary."

"That's life?"

Xiao Ai thought for a moment and said, "It's okay. Now that I have just escaped from the organization, everything I see is new. Besides, isn't life like this? It's boring all the time. You can't expect every day to be exciting."

"I am shallow, but what about social aspects?"

Yingsheng asked again.

"I've long been accustomed to being alone in the organization, and now you're here too." Xiao Ai said casually, "I'm not really a child, don't worry too much about me. I'll speak out if I have any ideas."

"That's good. I'm always worried that I haven't thought it through. By the way, Fushahui has a new wallet. There are two styles. Have you seen it?"

Xiao Ai tilted her head and looked at him for a few seconds with a strange look in her eyes: "You wouldn't even want to tease a child, right?"

"........."

Yingsheng stretched out his hand, "Boom——" his head exploded: "How can you, a great scientist, learn to be in love?"

"it hurts."

Xiao Ai covered her forehead and shrank to the side, her lips pouting: "Because you are Firefly, and you are so nice to me for no reason, of course I will be wary."

Yingsheng curled his lips: "Can't I just be a good person?"

"I have investigated your information, and among them..." Xiao Ai paused, thinking of Xiao Lan at home, and lowered her voice a little, "There are two people who have lost everything for you. Can you be considered a good person?"

Yingsheng also whispered: "First of all, they volunteered, and I also tried to dissuade them. After all, I don't need their money, I only care about their love. Secondly, how do you know that the story ends after the two of them lose everything?"

Xiao Ai was slightly stunned, then asked suspiciously: "You went to help them again after that? Are you that kind?"

Yingsheng laughed: "You may think I am utilitarian, but think about it, after experiencing this ups and downs, will they have a deeper understanding of life, understand what "true love" is, and be more likely to love me?
Furthermore, if I force people into a desperate situation, what if they suddenly decide to kill me in revenge? I don't want to be on guard against such a thing every day.

By combining the two, I will not only help them, but also enable them to transcend their past lives.”

"!!!"

Xiao Ai was so shocked that she couldn't say anything for a long time. She stared at Yingsheng blankly. After a long moment, she sighed: "I have never seen a scumbag as bad as you."

"Well, I just pursue different things."

Yingsheng smiled and said, "Now you can understand a little bit, most of the time, I really just want to be nice to people. And even if it's just from a utilitarian point of view, making more good friends will always be beneficial to me."

Xiao Ai became more and more surprised: "People like you actually believe that good deeds will be rewarded?"

"Of course not, it's just... well, not completely at least. Just like what I just said, being a good guy will save me a lot of trouble, and I can focus on what I want to do.

Besides, you are my reward for your kindness, so it’s normal for me to believe you completely.”

Looking at Yingsheng's serious eyes and the gentle smile between his eyebrows, Xiaoai felt her heartbeat speed up for some reason. She immediately turned her head back and continued watching TV, humming softly, "As expected of a top gigolo."

Hotaru chuckled, "So, does Fusae need it?"

"You should keep it for Miss Lan. I'm just a child and I can't go out right now."

"Xiaolan has other gifts, and a luxury wallet, are you sure you want to talk about practicality?"

"…The scarlet one."

"OK, they also have children's sizes, you..."

"No, thank you! Also, I have to remind you that there are many reasons for passion killings. Even if you are nice to everyone, you may not be able to avoid it."

"Oh, okay, I've learned my lesson."

Yingsheng spread his hands, said nothing more, fell on the sofa, and watched the documentary with her.

After a while, Xiaolan came out after changing her clothes and watched TV for a minute. She felt dizzy for some reason, so she went back to her bedroom, got a copy of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", and sat opposite Yingsheng to read.

From time to time, the pages of the book turned gently between fingers, making a rustling sound, which intertwined with the sound of the TV naturally and harmoniously.

Watching the DNA double helix slowly spinning on TV, Yingsheng felt an unprecedented peace in his heart.

I don’t know how much time passed, ding dong!
Yingsheng received an email on his mobile phone.

He took a look, stood up, and looked at the two people who were looking at him at the same time.

"Let's go and scale the fish."

Sorry, I owe you two chapters. I have been seriously sleep deprived recently. I feel like I am floating in the sky when I walk. Slow down, slow down.

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(End of this chapter)