Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Chapter 288 If you're going to steal something, go find the Phantom Thief Lady!
"Shut up!"

Ruyue Fengshui suddenly roared, and turbid tears welled up in his eyes.

"Back then, I was just confused for a moment! That's the shame of my life... It's all that bastard Sai's fault!"

Master Kisaragi ran his trembling fingers over the shards on the ground, as if caressing a painful memory.
"More than ten years ago... I was a poor painter... I worked hard to paint every day, but I could barely make ends meet."

His gaze gradually became unfocused, as if he had returned to those difficult years.
“Until that day, Sai, who specializes in art, approached me and said he could make me famous and a well-known painter… I couldn’t resist the temptation and agreed to work with him.”

“Sai first arranged for people to exaggerate the value of my works, and then he spent a sky-high price of 200 million yen to buy this painting, ‘Mount Fuji’… In reality, I didn’t receive any income at all; the money was just transferred from one hand to the other.”

"After that auction, just like Sai said, I suddenly became a famous painter in Japan. Wherever I went, people looked at me with admiration, and people kept coming to me to ask for my paintings, but..."

At this point, Master Ruyue gritted her teeth and stopped talking.

Kudo Yusaku softly continued, "Everything comes at a price. Sai made you famous, and in exchange, you have to keep drawing for him."

Ruyue Fengshui closed her eyes in pain: "That's right... Over the years, I have tried to get rid of him several times, but each time he used this painting and what happened back then to threaten me, and in the end I could only compromise."

He took a deep breath, his voice low and hoarse.
"I originally thought that I would only regain my freedom after Sai died, since that guy is already over sixty years old and won't live for many more years."

“However, after hearing that the Beika Museum of Art was going to exhibit this Mount Fuji painting, I became impatient again. My original plan was to have someone steal the painting and destroy it... that way, I could get rid of Sai completely.”

"And then you contacted them? These guys were robbing people at gunpoint in an art museum. What if they hurt someone?" Lin Xiuyi was speechless. "You could have just found a reliable person to steal the painting!"

"For example, the Phantom Thief Lady?" Yusaku Kudo pushed up his glasses, a hint of teasing and amusement in his smile. "If she were to do it, she could easily steal the painting."

Lin Xiuyi glared at him irritably. As expected, Tomizawa Chikage's big mouth had been recognized by Kudo Yusaku.

“I don’t know the Phantom Thief Lady…” Kisaragi Mine smiled bitterly. “These guys are gangsters I met at a nightclub. I never expected them to make such a big deal out of it…”

His voice trailed off: "I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

"You should save those words for the judge and the reporters," Inspector Megure shook his head and handcuffed Master Kisaragi and the bald thug together.

……

Kisaragi Mine was taken to the Metropolitan Police Department.

As a renowned master painter, his arrest was like a bombshell, causing a huge uproar in society.

Not to mention, the reason he was arrested was because he planned the robbery of "Mount Fuji" at the Beika Art Museum.

The media reporters who arrived on the scene were like a group of sharks smelling blood, immediately blocking the Metropolitan Police Department completely.

Flashes of light went off one after another, and the blinding white light made Lin Xiuyi, who had just stepped out of the Metropolitan Police Department, unconsciously squint.

Damn, no wonder Yusaku Kudo pushed this onto me and refused to even come to the Metropolitan Police Department. He must have expected this to happen!

Fortunately, having learned from their previous two interviews, the Tokyo media reporters dared not cause any more trouble when facing Lin Xiuyi, and obediently asked their questions.

"Mr. Lin, how did you discover that Master Ruyue had a problem?"

"I heard that you and Yusaku Kudo solved this case together?"

Has the famous painting "Mount Fuji" really been destroyed?

...After spending more than an hour hastily dealing with the reporters, Lin Xiuyi felt like her throat was on fire.

He quickly hailed a taxi and fled the Metropolitan Police Department as if he were escaping.

After so much had happened, it was already past 8 p.m. when he returned to the izakaya.

Lin Xiuyi had originally planned not to open for business tonight, but when he got out of the taxi, he saw the izakaya brightly lit and Kogoro Mouri standing at the door to greet customers.

"Shuichi, you're finally back!" Upon seeing his friend, Kogoro Mouri rushed to greet him.

"How did you operate while I was gone?" Lin Xiuyi was a little confused for a moment.

“Of course it’s because Yukiko is back,” Kogoro Mouri laughed. “Last week, she said she would come back every weekend from now on.”

"I actually forgot about this..." Lin Xiuyi slapped his forehead and hurriedly walked into the izakaya.

"Onii-chan, you're back!" Reiko greeted her joyfully.

“Master!” Furuya Rei followed behind.

"You haven't gone home yet?" Lin Xiuyi asked in surprise. "If you stay any longer, there won't be any trams going back to Beika."

“Master, even if I go back, I’ll be all alone at home,” Furuya Rei scratched his head, a hint of loneliness on his face. “Anyway, tomorrow is the weekend, so let me stay here tonight. I can sleep at the shop!”

Since he had already said that, Lin Xiuyi, as his master, could not object any further.

Besides the two little ones, Eri Kisaki and Midori Orikasa were, as usual, one busy calculating accounts at the cashier and the other moving between tables and chairs, busy serving customers.

"Wang!"

Wangcai also came closer to its owner, wagging its tail proudly, as if it wanted to show off something.

Surprisingly, Pudding, the little dog that Midori Orikasa had taken in, was also with it.

Lin Xiuyi patted the dog's head and then walked towards the kitchen counter.

"Hey, our great detective is finally back," Yukiko, dressed in a chef's uniform, said with a smile as she saw Hayashi Shuichi approaching.

She was wearing Lin Xiuyi's chef's uniform, and the stray hairs on her forehead were slightly damp with sweat, sticking to her smooth forehead.

"Thank you for your hard work," Lin Xiuyi said sincerely.

It's not easy for a girl to come back, let alone work so hard at an izakaya.

"You know that much," Yukiko snorted. "Hurry up and help this chef out, we're running out of ingredients!"

Seeing that she refused to give up her position, Lin Xiuyi had no choice but to become a kitchen helper.

Busy until 11 p.m., Lin Xiuyi was worried that Yukiko would be too tired, so he closed the shop early.

Reiko and Rei Furuya are both children and couldn't stay up all night, so they went back upstairs to rest.

Although Furuya Rei had said he could sleep at the shop at night, Lin Xiuyi didn't want to mistreat his apprentice and still let him sleep in his own bedroom...

(End of this chapter)