Also looking at the "Nissan Silvia S15" parked here, and seeing the look of Ooka Momiji, Gao Yuan couldn't help but ask with a little curiosity:

"Miss Momiji, what's wrong?"

"No, nothing."

Ooka Momiji replied, "Mr. Akechi, please come with me." ”

As he spoke, under the leadership of Ooka Momiji, Takato followed him to the gate of the mansion, and then, Iori Wuji, who was accompanying him, stepped forward and knocked on the door that was closed at this time.

Soon, someone from the homestead came out and opened the door to everyone.

The person who came was a middle-aged woman in a brown kimono, and when she saw the person outside, she couldn't help but say respectfully, "It's Miss Momiji, please come here." ”

As he spoke, he led everyone into the mansion.

Walking into the gate of the mansion, Gao Yuan glanced at the wooden door that had been slightly precipitated by the years, as well as the quaint atmosphere revealed by the entire mansion building, and couldn't help but sigh a little: "Miss Hongye, this mansion is a few years old, right?" ”

"Mr. Wise sees it."

Hearing Takato's words, Ooka Momiji, who was walking in front, couldn't help but say, "This mansion was built at the end of the Edo period, and it is said that it was built for the ancestors of my family, the famous puppeteer of the time, Misui Yoshiemon. My uncle took a fancy to the scenery near this mansion and chose to come here as a place for him to recuperate after he retired. ”

Misui Yoshiemon? It's a familiar name.

Hearing this, Gao Yuan thought so.

It didn't take long for everyone to enter the mansion and come to the door of a Japanese-style room, and then the woman, after knocking on the door, respectfully opened the door of the Japanese-style room, and motioned for everyone to enter.

So, Ooka Momiji, who walked in front, was the first to enter the Japanese room, and Iori and Takato followed behind Ooka Momiji and walked in.

When you enter the Japanese-style room, you can see two people kneeling at the table in the center of the room.

In the main seat is an old man with gray hair and a dark gray kimono, who looks very healthy despite his sixtieth birthday.

Opposite the old man was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a suit and leather shoes and gold-rimmed glasses.

"Uncle, it's been a long time."

Seeing the old man, Ooka Momiji bowed respectfully and said.

"It's Momiji, you're here."

Seeing the arrival of Ooka Momiji, the old man responded with a kind smile, and then looked at Takato behind Ooka Momiji.

"This is a wise detective!"

"Be wise and lofty, and take the liberty of disturbing Professor Ooka."

Hearing what the other party said, Gao Yuan also immediately bowed and responded-that's right, this old man is Ooka Kiyosaku, who he saw his photo when he was investigating before.

Then, after a few brief greetings between Ooka Momiji and Ooka Kiyosaku, Ooka Kiyosaku signaled that the two could sit down, so Iori on the side bowed slightly to Ooka Kiyosaku and Ooka Momiji, and went out and stayed outside.

Ooka Momiji, on the other hand, walked to the side of the table, close to Ooka Kiyosaku's position, knelt down, and then gestured to Takato and let Takato kneel and sit beside him.

"By the way, I forgot to introduce it."

Seeing that the two of them were seated, Kiyosaku Ooka began to explain, "This is Professor Ayukawa of Naniwa University, and he is also the guest I have invited today. ”

"Tatsuya Ayukawa."

Nodding to Ooka Momiji and Takato, Tatsuya Ayukawa also said his name.

So Ooka Momiji and Takato also nodded at him in return. At this time, Takato and Ooka Momiji also understood whose car was outside the door, but they didn't understand why Ooka Kiyosaku deliberately put the meeting time of the two parties together.

"I don't have anyone here all year round, and I'm used to being quiet. So for the sake of convenience, I'm going to bring you together. ”

Kiyosaku Ooka said.

"Professor Ooka, you are too humble. Who doesn't know that you have already been full of peach and plum all over the world, as long as you want, your students will naturally visit often. ”

Tatsuya Ayukawa said, "I am honored to accept your invitation this time. I just don't know, why did you invite me here? ”

As he spoke, Tatsuya Ayukawa looked at Kiyosaku Ooka with a little confusion.

In this regard, Ooka Kiyosaku did not make a sound, but took out a wooden box from behind him, put it on the table, and carefully opened the box, only to see that a mechanism box was placed inside.

It is about 30 centimeters long, 20 centimeters wide, and 10 centimeters high.

"This is something I recently stumbled upon in the warehouse of this mansion."

Ooka Kiyosaku said, "Because this mansion is suspected to have been built for my family's ancestors by the master of the mechanism at the end of the shogunate, it is likely that this mechanism box in the warehouse contains something very important to my family. I took the liberty of inviting Professor Ayukawa to come and ask if I could figure out how to open the box. ”

"Professor Ooka is serious."

Tatsuya Ayukawa also said with some trepidation, "But, I don't know anything about this kind of thing, right?" ”

"Professor Ayukawa can take a look first and then draw conclusions."

Ooka Kiyosaku said, then looked at Takato, "If the wise detective has an idea, please help refer to it as well." ”

In this regard, Gao Yuan was not easy to refuse, so Ayukawa Tatsuya followed Gao Yuan, and came up to observe the detailed appearance of this mechanism box.

I saw that on the front and back of the box, there were many small squares with words written on them, but these small squares could be moved, because in the rectangle composed of these small squares, there was a vacancy in the position of a small square, so the rest of the small squares could be moved.

"This is ...... 'Huarong Dao', right?"

Looking at the style of this mechanism, Gao Yuan immediately reacted, and-

"The text on this ......"

Just as Gao Yuan was about to explain, Tatsuya Ayukawa was the first to say in surprise, "There is no kana, it's all kanji!" ”

"That's right, this is a puzzle game mechanism composed of Chinese characters called 'Huarong Dao'."

"But to be exact, this should be ancient Chinese, because the original owner of this mansion was a sinologist of my ancestor, so I have reason to believe that the mechanism on it was designed by that ancestor and the master of the mechanism." That's why I need the help of Professor Ayukawa, you, a professor of Sinology. ”

"But generally speaking, the mechanism of 'Huarong Dao' needs to accomplish a certain purpose before it can be solved. With so many Chinese characters on it, what kind of purpose is it required to achieve? ”

Tatsuya Ayukawa said with an embarrassed face.

"I guess it's going to form a sentence."

After fiddling with the small squares on the box, Gao Yuan suddenly said, "You see, the eight squares in the middle row have been moved to the squares in these grids, and if you look closely, their height is obviously lower than the squares on the side. Therefore, it should be necessary to find eight Chinese characters from these Chinese characters, form a sentence, and move them into these eight cells...... This is true of both sides! ”