The package has assigned me way too many objects.

After dinner, because they had to catch their flight, the family didn't stay long and set off to leave.

Before leaving, Chu Yinan noticed that Yan Liu had left a note on the floor in the entryway. Curious, she asked, "Aunt Liu, is it wrong to throw away trash? Or is there something written inside?"

"It's not throwing away trash, it's a gift for someone else!" Yan Liu pinched Chu Yinan's nose helplessly.

*

After the long-awaited tourists left, the scenic area returned to its tranquil state, with each guesthouse quietly nestled in the mountains.

A woman entered the guesthouse where the three tourists had just stayed briefly. As soon as she entered the entrance hall, she saw the piece of paper on the ground.

[From beginning to end, there was no fox spirit in the hot spring inn; it was all a facade created by Minagawa Bijin to mislead outsiders.]

She fabricated marital discord, feigning illness to justify her seclusion. She would then change her clothes and move about the house, never revealing her true face, creating the illusion that a nobleman had taken a new mistress. However, regardless of the rumors, the nobleman himself most likely never saw this "fox spirit beauty," because it was all an act by Minagawa Beauty for the public.

The voyeur Zhang San discovered that the Minagawa beauty and the female fox spirit had equally exquisite figures, simply because they were the same person.

The fox's death witnessed by the traveler was orchestrated by Minagawa Bijin to cover up the blood at the crime scene. She then stole and killed one of her husband's pet foxes, claiming the blood was from the fox and that a rat had killed it. The decrease in foxes, coupled with the appearance of a mysterious woman at night, led to the legend of a fox spirit spreading throughout the area.

Even if someone asks, and the nobleman directly denies the existence of such a woman, people will only assume that he is intentionally keeping a mistress and doesn't want others to know that he is raising a fox spirit as a mistress. Furthermore, out of fear of the nobleman's power, the villagers won't say much.

When the noble couple quarreled, Minagawa Beauty's complaints would deepen the villagers' and travelers' suspicions of a "fox spirit." Minagawa Beauty often said things like, "That woman is like this and that," which, to the male nobleman, would lead him to believe that his wife was referring to a Western maid, and that his affair with her had been discovered. However, given the already widespread rumors, outsiders hearing Minagawa Beauty's complaints and cries would subconsciously assume that "that woman" she was referring to was the mysterious "fox spirit."

[After the noble family leaves, the body is discovered on the hill behind the village. Through a series of misleading statements, the villagers will believe that the male noble colluded with a fox spirit to kill Minagawa Beauty, disfigure her body, and cover up the truth, presenting her as an unidentified woman who died in the wilderness.]

The woman who actually died on the back mountain was the blonde, blue-eyed maid from the Western Regions wearing white silk. Since Minagawa was a local, to conceal her identity, disfiguring her face would suffice; there was no need to destroy her hair and scalp. The only possibility was that her hair would give away something.

The male nobleman's subsequent disappearance implies that he too died at the hands of Minagawa Beauty. With no further evidence or witnesses to prove the truth, all subsequent speculation remains just that—speculation. I don't believe in the existence of fox spirits, hence this speculation.

The woman read the contents of the note repeatedly, then carefully put it away as if it were a precious treasure.

I just casually told this story to a child who was up late at night, and I received such an unexpected response.

The old woman appeared behind the woman and sighed, "Quan, why stay here? In a few years, when we old bones are gone, you will be all alone."

“I have my own plans,” Minagawa Izumi replied softly.

------

P.S.: This story is a heavily modified version of a Kindaichi story, I forget which one, I read it when I was a kid. I only remember that there was an element of sex and seduction of the landlady, so I have a general impression of the story.

Epilogue of Chapter 113

When Chu Yinan and his group returned home, Bei Yutang had just taken off her shoes and hadn't even had time to put on her slippers when she hurriedly rushed back to her room in her black stockings.

"What's wrong with Yutang? Should we go back to our room and change?" Chu Yinan helped her sister put away the little leather shoes that were carelessly tossed around in the entryway.

"He probably got some inspiration and rushed back to write. I wonder if he'll publish it as a book or as game text." Yan Liu took off her high heels and led Chu Yinan to the bathroom to wash her feet and face to wake up from the fatigue of the journey.

Yan Liu unconditionally supports her daughter's work, but whether she is truly interested in fairy tales is debatable. After all, everyone has their own interpretation of Hamlet, and if you're not on the same wavelength, stream-of-consciousness writing is unlikely to resonate with anyone.

However, this time, Yan Liu was involved in the entire process of Bei Yutang's research. She roughly knew what direction Bei Yutang would take and what the framework of the research would be. She was very much looking forward to seeing how far Yutang could bring out Chu Yinan's "dream inspiration".

After washing her face, Yan Liu pulled Chu Yinan to rest on the sofa, and then tried to contact Heinrich.

“We’ve all come back from our vacation, and this girl still hasn’t come home. It’s outrageous. I’ll see if I can get in touch with her. If I still can’t get in touch with her this time, I’m going to be like Minagawa Beauty and run away with Xiao Chu Nan in a bucket.”

"Aunt Liu is already very beautiful even if she's not the most beautiful woman in Minagawa!"

"You're so sweet-talking~" Yan Liuxin was overjoyed and happily patted Chu Yinan's head. "Next time, when your dad comes back, say it again in front of Yutang and her!"

Heinrich, who usually doesn't carry a cell phone, probably heard Yan Liu's threat and answered the video call this time. However, Heinrich only waved to Yan Liu and Chu Yinan to show his face before quickly switching to voice mode.

"Good afternoon. It's not convenient for me to turn on the video right now. I'm watching the video recording of Xiao Chunan's case. Have you all returned from your trip?"

The only places where family members can access video recordings are police stations and prosecutor's offices. It's not really convenient to make video calls, as it involves issues like case confidentiality.

Yan Liu knew that Heinrich was concerned about Chu Yinan's situation, so she stopped complaining.

"Yes, I was just talking to Xiao Chunan about how you hadn't come back yet when you called. Yu Tang has finished her research and is already back in her room working overtime."

"They've started working on it again? I've read Yu Tang's book three times carefully. It's very well written. When I read it, I felt like she had poured her feelings about how she kidnapped her younger brother into the story." The sound of turning pages came from the female father's microphone, probably from looking at the case files compiled by the police station.

"I think Yu Tang is just thinking about how to kidnap me so that she can prank me without any worries!" Chu Yinan scoffed, but was also curious whether Heinrich would watch the video of that naked hunky man.

The incident occurred because Qilin abused its authority to control the port machinery without authorization. This matter could not be known to others, otherwise it would earn the company the bad reputation of having "a strong aggressive desire for AI".

This is a rather delicate situation. If the citizens of the artificial island are not protected, some people will accuse the AI ​​of lacking the ability to cope with emergencies. However, if it demonstrates the ability to handle any unexpected event, some people will start to "reflect" on whether the power of AI will threaten human safety.

Therefore, the scene of the "mechanical frenzy" at that time is still characterized as: top hackers, with the assistance of gray AI, invaded port machinery.

To make things more plausible, Qilin also found a distant, unclear surveillance camera and extracted its high-magnification zoom footage for the police station, so as to avoid accusing the AI ​​of intentionally destroying all the surveillance footage (although that was actually the case).

“Do you have any photos of guesthouses or hot springs? I’d like to see them,” Heinrich said.

"No, Xiao Chunan and Yutang filmed a video of watching the sunrise, but we didn't get to soak in the hot springs. It seems the water purification equipment was broken or something, which is a pity, but it's understandable. The scenery there is great, but it's too desolate. It's expected that it would be in disrepair over the years. We're already very satisfied with the clean and beautiful environment."

Yan Liu is a very optimistic person and can give a relatively positive evaluation of most things. If it were someone else who went for a stroll in that desolate scenic area, they might come back and criticize it for being "backward" or "lacking hot springs".

"Yes, I'll be going back tomorrow morning. Could you please prepare an extra breakfast while you're there?"

“Okay, I’d like Xiao Chunan to help us prepare breakfast tomorrow,” Yan Liu said with a smile.

Heinrich was silent for a moment, then said, "Eating lemons in the morning isn't good. How about I have someone make some and pack it up to take back for you?"

Discrimination! Why do you have such a big problem with Aunt Liu saying I'll make breakfast?

Chu Yinan doesn't force people who don't know how to appreciate things; this female father doesn't deserve to taste the deliciousness of lemons!

*

*

“Delia, you’re here too.” Heinrich sat down, next to the maid who had just finished the follow-up investigation.

The statement contained surprise, but the tone wasn't particularly surprised, as there had been some prior knowledge of the situation.

The light blonde maid was surprised by Heinrich's sudden appearance. She lowered her head slightly and said:

　 “Yes, Miss Heinrich, I didn’t expect to be kidnapped along with the young master, but I’m glad I was able to take care of him. May I ask... when do you plan to return to the main family?”

"It doesn't matter whether you come back or not, everyone is living happily. If you see Chu Nan in the future, don't call him by such a strange name, and don't disturb my life here." Heinrich said calmly, his gaze fixed on the surveillance screen on the tablet.

The screen quality on the tablet is at most 480P, which is hard to imagine in this era, but the blurry picture recorded the mechanical frenzy at the cargo terminal.

The naked man standing in the bright light defeated the kidnappers from outside the region in such an illogical way; it's hard to judge whether that man was kind or malicious.

"Didn't you really see what this man looked like at the time? He shouldn't have been far from Chu Nan."

"I didn't see clearly. The police and prosecutor's office have already opened an investigation into the identity of this mysterious man. His existence may not be malicious. He only knocked out those kidnappers." The maid named Delia answered whatever came to mind.

"That's good. After Glory Island is integrated, remember to remind those idiots at home not to come looking for trouble." Heinrich's tone turned slightly colder at this point.

"Understood. May I thank the young master? He was the one who helped us untie the ropes. I am simply expressing my gratitude and condolences as a fellow victim."

Heinrich hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded: "Okay."

Chapter One: Face Masks, Bad Civilization!

This year's pollen season arrived half a month earlier than usual, but that's not a big deal these days.

An unusual cold or warm current, or an abnormal ocean current, can alter the timing of flower blooming, providing geography test takers with several real-world examples.

Bei Yutang really hates pollen season, as it makes her nose and respiratory tract uncomfortable, so a mask becomes a necessity. But some interesting things happen when she wears a white mask.

"Chu Nan, why are you staring at me like that?" The slender girl, who was packing her schoolbag to go to school, turned around and looked at her younger brother.

Chu Yinan was still lying on the bed, staring at Bei Yutang with a confused and uneasy look in her eyes.

He usually doesn't stare at his sister like that, except when Bei Yutang wears a mask. It's only with difficulty that he can recognize her face. Once she puts on a mask, Chu Yinan's face blindness kicks in.

This must be due to a problem with his brain's processing of visual images. When half of the familiar girl's features were covered, he couldn't recognize Bei Yutang at all. It was as if those eyes were spinning in front of him, which made him very uneasy. That's why he really disliked going to the hospital, because there were too many people wearing masks.

“Even though this week is a long week, with classes from Monday to Friday and internships on Saturday, you’re putting your mask on way too quickly! We’re not even ready to go out yet!” He wanted his sister to take off her mask, at least not before going out.

"But I need to get used to it beforehand, otherwise it will be too uncomfortable to breathe through the mask when I go out later."

Bei Yutang walked to the bedside and climbed onto the bed. Chu Yinan would back away in fear when he saw her face. Bei Yutang gradually cornered her younger brother until he had nowhere left to retreat, and she watched his amusing reaction with a smile in her eyes.

After a moment of silent "standoff," looking at Chu Yinan's solemn little face, which was on high alert, Bei Yutang couldn't help but laugh as she took off her mask and touched her pink forehead to his nose.

"I'm not kidding you anymore, get up, or you'll be late."

"You childish brat! What's so fun about a mask!" Chu Yinan was furious and helpless. He knew his sister was just teasing him with the mask, but he couldn't do anything about it.

This is similar to how some people have a fear of blood or needles; it's not something that can be overcome simply by gritting your teeth.

Seeing that he was getting a little temperamental, Bei Yutang put her mask back on and looked at him. Chu Yinan immediately became obedient in front of her and started leaning back to look at her again.

"Still being cheeky, huh?"

Faced with her sister's question, Chu Yinan shook her head repeatedly.

So why is there a specific category for face masks in current doujinshi? Chu Yinan still doesn't have the courage to appreciate or study this kind of learning material; just looking at the cover makes him feel physically uncomfortable.

I've even seen some actresses who work in adult films wear face masks as underwear before, which is so ridiculous.

Fortunately, Aunt Liu is not allergic to pollen. Otherwise, if she came in early in the morning and both of the elders in the family were wearing masks, it would be impossible to stay at home.

By the way, it's been a week since the family vacation ended, and Heinrich, who was supposed to come back the next day, still hasn't returned. Aunt Liu even joked that Chu Yinan's special food had scared Heinrich away.

I'm used to it.

I'll definitely be back sometime soon.

*

After breakfast, the siblings went to school.

A gentle breeze wafts through the streets, carrying the sweet fragrance of flowers, but also the allergen of pollen.

However, the scent here is indeed quite floral, but it's a different story on the west side of Changfeng Island, near the sea. That street is entirely planted with photinia, which is quite a nightmare.

The summer school uniform for girls looked amazing on Bei Yutang, highlighting her excellent figure. Her plump thighs, visible beneath the pleated skirt, were longer than those of many girls. The glossy skin beneath her black bodysuit was faintly visible, making it hard to tell whether it was the matte finish of the stockings or the reflection of her long, white legs.

"Yutang, have you finished your manuscript?" Chu Yinan tried hard to tell herself not to look at her sister's face.

"It's all done. Actually, I finished the first draft the day after I got back. Then I polished it by tens of thousands of words. Once it's proofread, it should be ready for publication to see how it goes." Bei Yutang said it casually, as if it were her own business.

Have you decided on a title yet?

“Minagawa Fox House? I’ll just use ‘Fox’ as the author this time.” Bei Yutang didn’t seem to care much about the title.

"This is too casual!" Chu Yinan thought to himself, what if the book's title causes it to be completely ignored? It was based on material from his dream!