Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 344, Chapter 338: Specifying Some Side Hustles

"Hey, this is great! This is great!!" Upon hearing that he could pay part of the cost upfront and the rest after finding the "inheritance," Nakamura Misao became completely animated.

"So what is the percentage of this deposit?"

"Don't worry, it's not much. The deposit is only 30 yen. This amount is equivalent to Mr. Mori's travel expenses."

Compared to 200 million yen, 30 yen is simply the epitome of good value for money!
Please have a seat, I'll go get the money for you right away!

Nakamura Misao used his good hand to take out his wallet, and Ryoma Hayashi felt sorry for the money inside.

Fukuzawa Yukichi didn't have many cards, while Natsume Soseki had a dozen or twenty. Even if you counted all the coins in your wallet, you still wouldn't be able to afford Kogoro Mouri's appearance fee.

But Nakamura Misao wasn't worried at all, because besides him, there was also "two little mustaches" in the villa. It wouldn't be difficult for the two of them to scrape together 30 yen.

Shortly after Nakamura Misao left the living room, Ran Mouri and Conan returned together. As soon as they entered, Conan eagerly asked Ryoma Hayashi:

"Uncle Lin, what exactly did you say to that imposter Nakamura Misao? My sister Xiaolan and I were investigating him perfectly fine."

He suddenly ran out and dragged his accomplice away.

Conan is no longer pretending; he's directly convinced that these two are criminals, not Nakamura Misao himself.

"This is a very serious accusation. Are you so sure they are criminals and not the client?"

Lin Longma remained silent, only digging traps for Conan; Conan, in turn, remained silent, only stepping into the traps.

They are a perfect match.

"How could they be the clients? Remember the lipstick on the back of the stamp? Nakamura Misao should be a girl."

Even disregarding the lipstick, that 'mustache uncle' had been showing us around the entire villa, so he seemed to know the place very well.

Uncle Lin, do you remember what was written on the letter of authorization?

“Yes, I remember the client couldn’t even find the kitchen.” Lin Longma nodded in reply.

"That's right, how could a client who can't even find the kitchen be so familiar with the whole villa so quickly?"

Not to mention having to show guests around.

Conan smiled confidently: "I think you must have noticed something unusual about these two people, Uncle Lin, right?"
Otherwise, you wouldn't have used the contents of the letter of authorization to test them.

Yes, the things about Kogoro Mouri's assistant and the specific details of the commission were all tests that Ryoma Hayashi was using to probe these two people.

As mentioned before, while Nakamura Misao is most likely a girl, there is also a very small chance that she is a cross-dresser.

But if one of these two is indeed the real Nakamura Misao, the problem would be immediately apparent from their voices.

What did Nakamura Misao say in her letter of request? She felt that she was being spied on recently, which is why she wanted to ask Kogoro Mouri for help.

In other words, Nakamura Misao's letter of authorization to Kogoro Mouri was never for any inheritance.

Even in the letter of authorization, Nakamura Misao mentioned that this villa was an inheritance left to her by her maternal grandfather.

The client's gender is incorrect, and the contents of the letter of authorization don't match up. These two guys appearing in the villa clearly have nothing to do with Nakamura Misao. To be precise, these two guys are probably the "source" of Nakamura Misao's feeling of being spied on!
"That's true, and these two don't seem very bright. By the way, did you notice anything amiss when you were 'touring' the villa?"

"Speaking of which, there really is such a place!" Lin Longma thought of it as soon as Conan was mentioned.

Just as Conan was showing them around with his mustache, he discovered the ladder leading to the attic.

However, the attic was tightly closed, which made Conan even more curious. There was a small hole in the attic door, and just as Conan was about to sneak a peek into the attic, he was startled by what he saw inside.

A wide-open eye suddenly appeared in front of Conan. If Conan hadn't been so composed, he probably would have screamed out right then and there.

According to the man with the mustache, there's a mischievous cat locked in the attic. But can't Conan tell the difference between a cat's eyes and a human's?
There's clearly someone locked up in this attic!

According to Conan's deduction, Nakamura Misao, who sent them the letter of request, should be locked in the attic, as expected.

After explaining his reasoning, Conan then asked Ryoma Hayashi, "By the way, Uncle Hayashi, what exactly did you say to the thugs?"

Why do they seem so excited?

Conan was genuinely curious at this moment, because the behavior of that fake Nakamura Misao just now was very much like that of a victim who had been deceived.

What could Lin Longma possibly lie to them about in such a short time?
"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." Lin Longma kept Conan in suspense and didn't explain directly.

Soon, the two-pronged mustache and the fake Nakamura Misao returned to the living room. Compared to when they left in a hurry not long ago, they now had a white envelope that was neither too thin nor too thick in their hands.

"Assistant Lin, we've finally decided to ask Mr. Mori for help. This is our deposit; please check it!"

The fake Nakamura Misao handed the envelope to Ryoma Hayashi. Ryoma Hayashi opened the envelope and poured out the banknotes inside.

Unsurprisingly, it was thirty Fukuzawa Yukichi bills—the wear and tear on these Fukuzawa Yukichi bills varied, showing that they were old bills that the two of them had worked hard to collect.

'Three hundred thousand yen or a deposit?!' Ran Mouri and Conan were utterly shocked by the fake Nakamura Misao and the two small mustaches' behavior.

How much is Kogoro Mouri's appearance fee? Actually, there's no definitive answer to that.

Detective work is a profession that involves tailoring services to different people, but ultimately, even if a detective's fee for solving a case is expensive, it won't be outrageously high.

Otherwise, Kogoro Mouri wouldn't have excitedly set off from Beika to Tsukikage Island just because of a check for 50 yen.

Most importantly, Kogoro Mouri rarely seems to have the habit of collecting deposits when accepting commissions.

Otherwise, their family wouldn't be living in such dire straits—they don't accept deposits and have to pay for car rentals themselves, sometimes even scrapping the rented cars.
This is equivalent to setting up a stall to do business, but before you even start selling, all your initial investment has gone down the drain.

With only investment and no return, who else but the Mori family would be struggling financially?

Is it perfectly reasonable for businesses to collect deposits? I can't expect Detective Mori to pay for his own investigations, can I?
Is it possible to advance funds for being a detective?

Seeing Ryoma so brazenly bullying the "idiot," Ran and Conan instinctively moved a little further away.

They went to buy melon seeds for those two!

(End of this chapter)