Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Officer Matsumoto wanted to say something more, but seeing Mrs. Sato's resolute attitude, he could only swallow his words and bow slightly to her.
"We apologize for disturbing your rest. If you recall any other clues later, please feel free to contact us."

After saying that, he and Lin Xiuyi turned around and left the apartment.

Officer Matsumoto took out his phone and checked the time; the screen showed it was almost 10 o'clock.

He turned to look at Lin Xiuyi beside him, a guilty look on his face: "I'm sorry, Lin-kun. You just flew back from the United States. You should have been resting, but as soon as you landed, I dragged you around to run around to investigate cases, keeping you busy until so late."

He scratched his head, his tone becoming increasingly embarrassed.
"I'll take you back to the izakaya now; you must be exhausted. We can deal with the rest tomorrow. The First Investigation Division should still be investigating that phone number; I'll let you know as soon as I have any news."

……

The police car slowly pulled up in front of the Maoli family's building. Lin Xiuyi got out of the car, and as soon as she stood up, her brows furrowed involuntarily.

In the darkness, the izakaya run by the Mori family was surprisingly lit up, with warm yellow light shining through the windows, and the sounds of revelry could be faintly heard coming from inside.

Lin Xiuyi was immediately puzzled. He and Yukiko were not at home, and without a cook, the izakaya could not operate.

Logically, the store should be completely dark at this time, so how could there be someone inside?

And judging from the voices, there was more than one person.

Lin Xiuyi stepped to the door of the izakaya, and before he even pushed it open, he could clearly hear a complaint coming from inside: "Kogoro, why are you such a crybaby tonight! If you keep this up, we won't be able to win any more cards tonight!"

Immediately following was Kogoro Mouri's familiar, somewhat smug shout.
"Haha, stop complaining! Look, I'm 'going to the doctor' again! I'll win soon, and you're all doomed to lose this round!"

"Crybaby"?
"See a doctor"?
Lin Xiuyi became increasingly confused as he listened outside the door, and eventually pushed the door open.

The tables and chairs of the izakaya had been moved to one side, and a mahjong table was placed in the center.

Kogoro Mouri and three young men who looked to be around his age sat around a table, each holding a mahjong tile.

The area under the table was littered with cigarette butts, empty beer cans, and snack wrappers. The once clean and tidy izakaya was now a mess, resembling a garbage dump.

When Lin Xiuyi pushed the door open, Kogoro Mouri was drinking water from a cup, and he caught a glimpse of the figure at the door out of the corner of his eye.

Upon recognizing Lin Xiuyi, he was so startled that he choked and spat out a mouthful of water onto the mahjong table, splashing it all over the table.

"Shui-Shuiichi? Why are you back?" Kogoro Mori hurriedly put down his cup, his face instantly filled with panic.

He grew up with Hayashi Hideichi and Kisaki Eri, and knew his good brother's temperament all too well.

Lin Xiuyi loathed gambling, especially mahjong, a game that was easy to get addicted to. In the past, he would sneak away to play pachinko, always hiding from Lin Xiuyi, for fear of being caught.

Now look what's happened! Not only did he bring people home to play mahjong, but he also made a complete mess of the izakaya. He's practically walked right into a trap.

Seeing Lin Xiuyi's furrowed brows and sharp gaze fixed on the mahjong tiles on the table, Kogoro Mouri's heart pounded. He quickly waved to his three other mahjong partners, "You guys go ahead, we can play another day!"

The three young men were clearly not done having fun yet, muttering things like, "Why are you leaving so soon after we got into it?" and "Kogoro, you're such a coward." But under Hayashi Shuichi's watchful gaze, they reluctantly stood up, grabbed their coats, and hurriedly left the izakaya.

Once only the two brothers were left in the shop, the air instantly became quiet, with only the ticking of the wall clock remaining.

Kogoro Mouri rubbed his hands together and broke the silence with a dry laugh: "Well... Shuichi, let me explain. You and Eri went to summer camp in America, and I had planned to go to the movies with Ruri, but Yukiko-nee said her film crew needed an extra and called Ruri away at the last minute."

As he spoke, he secretly observed Lin Xiuyi's expression. Seeing that the other party did not speak, he continued.

"I had nothing to do at home by myself, so I thought of some of my classmates from the baseball team and invited them over to play mahjong together to pass the time."

"Really, we were just playing around, there was no gambling. The stakes were helping out in club activities afterwards. The loser would have to clean the baseball club's equipment room..."

Before he could finish his rambling explanation, Lin Xiuyi interrupted him.
"I was outside the door just now and I heard someone call you a 'crybaby'? And what's this about 'seeing a doctor'? Does it have anything to do with your mahjong game?"

"Crybaby? Go see a doctor?"

Kogoro Mouri froze, scratching the back of his head, looking completely bewildered.
"Did we just say that? Could it be that you misheard, Shuichi? I don't remember it."

“I heard it clearly at the door, how could I have misremembered it?”

Lin Xiu frowned and repeated what she had just heard.
Kogoro Mouri thought about it carefully for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh and laughed in realization: "Hey! So that's how it is! Shuichi, you must have misheard!"

"They weren't calling me a 'crybaby,' they were complaining that I kept 'calling cards' all night, which means eating or ponging cards when playing mahjong."

“I kept calling out cards, which disrupted their rhythm, which is why they were complaining.”

He was afraid that Lin Xiuyi still didn't understand, so he explained again.
"As for what I said about 'seeing a doctor,' it actually refers to 'ready to win' in mahjong! It means you're just one tile away from winning. I was just one tile away from winning, which is why I was so excited."

"Oh, right, you don't usually play mahjong, so you probably don't understand these terms. No wonder you got confused."

Kogoro Mori was trying to explain the rules of mahjong to Shuichi Hayashi, but Hayashi interrupted him directly.

Does Japanese mahjong also have wind tiles representing the four cardinal directions (East, South, West, North)?

"Yes, I have!"

Kogoro Mouri nodded, seemingly puzzled.
"At the beginning, seats are determined by drawing cards randomly, and then in each round, seats rotate in the order of East, South, West, North. Why are you suddenly asking this?"

As he finished speaking, he saw Lin Xiuyi turn around and walk quickly to the landline in the izakaya, pick up the receiver and start making a call.

Kogoro Mouri leaned over to take a look and discovered that Hideichi Hayashi had dialed the phone number for the Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigation Division, which immediately puzzled him.

How come you've already contacted the Metropolitan Police Department as soon as you got back?
The call was quickly answered, and Inspector Megure's tired voice came through: "Hello, this is the First Investigation Division. May I ask who you are?" (End of Chapter)