Ayu's hometown is in the village of Shimojo in Nagano Prefecture, which is the border between Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures, not far from Kofu City. Hayashi Shuichi and Kanako left Kofu City by car at around 3 p.m., and were expected to arrive at Shimojo Village around 7 p.m.

Nagano Prefecture is also a famous tourist area, as is Yamanashi Prefecture, which was known as Shinano Province during the Warring States period, and Shinano Province was famous for producing excellent military horses, which made it a battleground for soldiers. It was here that the famous five battles of Kawanakajima between Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi took place.

After the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, it became a well-known ski resort in RB. Similar to Yamanashi, Nagano is also famous for its fruits, with the most well-known specialty being the Ichida persimmon, a popular dried persimmon that is often enjoyed as a tea by RB people. In addition, the soba noodles and horse meat sashimi are also rare dishes.

"Can we eat soba noodles at night?" As soon as he entered Nagano Prefecture, Hayashi Shuichi asked Kanako about dinner.

"You're a police officer, shouldn't you first talk about how to investigate the victim's situation?" Kanako teased.

"I said, I can't get enough of that kaiseki meal at noon! It's dangerous to drive hungry!" Lin Xiu said half-jokingly.

"Okay, okay, I got it, but it's hard to get Nagano, so I'm afraid I can't say it without trying the horse meat sashimi here, and besides, we're all here to fix the fake, so why don't we go out for a drink......" Kanako suggested.

……

In this way, the two discussed what to eat all the way, and time passed quickly.

After arriving in Shimojo Village, the two booked a local homestay with a good reputation on Airbnb, and easily solved the accommodation problem. Although it is called Shimojo Village, it is actually closer to a small town in China due to its developed tourism. Shimojo Village's shopping street is located in the center of the village, and as it is the peak tourist season, foreigners can be seen here from time to time.

Kanako found an izakaya where she could eat both horse meat sashimi and soba noodles, and the two of them asked for a pot of sake and a few side dishes to accompany the sake, and began to discuss their next plans.

"After all these years, I don't know if Ayu's family is still here!" Kanako picked up a ball of soba noodles, put it in a small dipping cup and soaked it, and then sucked it into her mouth. The soba noodles have a strong taste and the soup is delicious, especially in hot weather.

Lin Xiuyi only asked for half a portion of soba noodles because he still wanted to taste the taste of horse meat sashimi. He picked up the wasabi and polishing board from the plate and leisurely rubbed the wasabi mud. Lin Xiu wiped it for a long time, and finally got a little wasabi mud. He picked up a slice of horse meat and placed it on a small plate in front of him, lightly smeared a little bit of wasabi puree, and then dipped the soy sauce on the side that was not stained with wasabi.

When you put the horse meat slices in your mouth, they are not as tender as tuna, but they are very chewy. The spicy nature of wasabi and the saltiness of soy sauce mask the fishy smell of horse meat. Lin Xiuyi had never eaten horse meat sashimi before, but after eating it, he found that although the taste was very different from the sashimi he usually ate, it was unique, and Lin Xiuyi quickly liked this taste.

"It turns out that it tastes like this, it's really delicious!" Lin Xiuyi couldn't help but praise.

It's dinner time, and the izakaya is full of customers who have come out to relax after a day's work. While tasting the special cuisine here, Shuichi Hayashi and Kanako talk about the murderer of Ayu.

"Kanako, don't you think this Professor Saito is suspicious!" Lin Xiuyi suddenly asked in a low voice.

"Suspicious, but people have invited you to a good kaiseki meal, and you actually suspect him?" Kanako was a little surprised by Lin Shuichi's suspicions, and to be honest, she didn't think there would be any connection between Professor Saito and Ayu at all.

"According to our previous analysis, I think the motive of the murderer of Ayu's murder may be to embezzle money! And three years after Ayu was killed, how could he just happen to find Xinxuan's buried gold in the stream at the foot of Futu Temple Mountain?" Lin Xiuyi asked rhetorically.

"What's impossible about this? And there are three years between these two things, so it's too far-fetched if this can be connected!" Kanako asked unconvinced, she didn't mean to defend Professor Saito, but she didn't like the police to start suspecting people casually without evidence, after all, Kanako is just an ordinary person, so she will naturally consider things from the perspective of ordinary people.

"What I'm talking about now is just a hypothesis! You see, two major events occurred in the vicinity of Futu Temple in three years, Ayu was killed, and Shingen's buried gold was discovered. And the murder weapon that killed Ayu happened to be a rib in the Warring States period. No matter how I think about it, I think there is a connection between this rib difference and the four golden judgments. Moreover, this three-year period is also easy to explain. When Ayu died, it happened to be the end of the year, and Professor Saito discovered the time when the buried gold happened to be in the early spring. In accordance with the general practice of the Metropolitan Police Department, if a homicide investigation cannot be broken within one year, it will be treated as a backlog, and the case will be transferred from the Forced Offender Search-Homicide Search Room to the Special Search and Investigation Countermeasures Room. After all, the cost of handling cases is also to be considered, and if too much energy and resources are spent on cases that cannot make breakthroughs, it can only be a waste of taxpayers' taxes......" Lin Xiuyi carefully analyzed for Kanako, and said that the cost of handling cases, after all, the budget of the police department is not unlimited, and it is necessary to use good steel on the blade to play the greatest role. Not only the police department, but also the Ministry of Justice will also consider the cost. Even China's criminal law has a clause similar to that of ordinary citizens who commit crimes abroad, but according to China's criminal law, they can be sentenced to up to three years in prison and can no longer be prosecuted for criminal responsibility after returning to China.

"Then what do you want to do and inform the Yamanashi Prefectural Police to investigate Professor Saito?" Kanako asked curiously.

"That's not going to work, I don't have any evidence right now that Professor Saito is the murderer of Ayu. Even if the Yamanashi Prefectural Police were notified, they would not investigate Saito. Lin Xiuyi shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"Even if you're helpless, Lin Police Department!" Kanako was very happy to see Lin Xiuyi's deflated appearance.

"Whoever says that there is no now does not mean that there will not be in the future. As soon as Lin Xiu finished saying this, he took out a small plastic bag from his pocket with a proud face and put it on the table.

"It's ...... Professor Saito's business card?" Kanako asked with a confused expression.

"Yes, it has Professor Saito's fingerprints on it, I think we'll know the answer soon!" Lin Xiuyi picked up the wine glass, and then drank it all.