The "mountain whale" in Tatsuo Uchii's mouth does not refer to the legendary creature that lives in South America and floats in the Andes Mountains, he is said to be himself, and "mountain whale" is a more euphemistic term for wild boars.

Kiyomi Ruri is clear about this, because her mother sometimes calls pork "mountain whale meat", which is probably a habit she has developed since childhood.

For example, those who eat sheep and rabbit meat must be grounded for five days, and those who eat pig and mutton must reflect for two months, and eating dog meat is a serious violation of the law, and they must be hung up and beaten, and eating beef is a great crime, and only the nobles can barely satisfy their hunger.

Well, at that time, beef was a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, and the aristocracy ate beef to cure diseases.

It was because of this unfortunate "meat ban" that the domestic pigs were forced to become extinct, and the hunters were lucky enough to kill the wild boar and it was not easy to sell, so they gave the wild boar meat a nickname "mountain whale meat", and set up a stall to sell, and others asked about it as a whale in the mountains, and those who bought it could eat it with confidence.

Of course, you can eat the fish in the mountains, but you can't say that you can't eat fish.

Of course, there is another saying for "mountain whale", which refers to the wild boar as the king of the mountain, just as the whale is the king of the sea.

Wild boars are actually very fierce, crazy sometimes more fierce than bears, rampage, sharp fangs, rubbing is injury, stabbing is death, but also equipped with natural armor, invulnerable, vitality is very tenacious, dragging the intestines can run for a day, easy to get killed. That is, human beings have developed firearms, and without firearms, it is not people chasing wild boars, wild boars can chase a group of people. Even if you have a shotgun in your hand, it's best not to mess with it, it's definitely the most dangerous prey in the mountains and forests, and the possibility of an accident is extremely high, and it's not uncommon to die.

After all, in ancient times, you want to kill the wild boar with bamboo arrows and bamboo spears, the difficulty is really high, and the wild boar does not value the fixed territory, and often wanders out of the deep mountains, runs into the human fields to eat and drink and destroy, according to my character, of course, to supply it and don't make trouble, even call it by name, to call the honorific title "Mountain Whale Lord".

Kiyomi Ruri knew the meaning of "Mountain Whale", and also knew that Takeshi Nanahara was testing Tatsuo Uchii, so he didn't care about this, and asked curiously when he went out: "What did you just say that "Okinoshima Four Scrolls" suddenly appeared in Hirano, what does this mean?" ”

Nanahara Takeshi was looking at the photos of "Okinoshima Shichi-saki" repeatedly, and said casually: "Didn't he say it, because Edo Kaijo will live here." ”

"Tell me more." Kiyomi Ruri knows what "Edo Kaijo" means, and she doesn't get very distracted in liberal arts, but she has only read the first year of high school, and she hasn't studied comprehensively enough, and she can't think of it anymore, so she is very curious.

Nanahara Takeshi absentmindedly explained: "At the end of the Shogunate Movement, the Tokugawa Shogunate surrendered without a fight, and Edo opened the castle peacefully, without bloodshed and without a battle to defend the city, but not everyone surrendered willingly, and some of them went into exile in Hokkaido under the name of 'Tokugawa Detachment' and established the Republic of Ezo.

These people did not come to the establishment of the country empty-handed, they either collected, or stole, or robbed, and took a lot of property from Edo, and the "Okinoshima Shichi-in-maki" originally collected by the Tokugawa shogunate probably disappeared at that time, but at that time Edo was very chaotic, and there were often arsons or fires, so that everyone could not figure out whether the "Okinoshima Shik-in-maki" was burned, stolen, or swept away.

So it makes sense that these four paintings appear in Hirano now, but nine times out of ten, they arrived in Hokkaido at that time, were left to the people, or were simply privately collected by some guy who fled to Hokkaido, which can be regarded as an orderly inheritance in an alternative sense. ”

Kiyomi Ruri understood, looked at the photos on the leaflet and sighed: "So that's the case, I didn't expect a few simple paintings, and such a legendary story, so this is not a fake?" ”

Nanahara Takeshi nodded lightly: "At least I don't see any problems, from a historical point of view, it makes sense to be able to be picked up." ”

Kiyomi Ruri's curiosity was satisfied, and he felt very cool from the inside out, and said with some envy: "Then these four tattered scrolls, aren't they, these four famous paintings, it's 200 million yen?" ”

200 million yen, that's a lot of money, and she can't imagine how big it should be when converted into 500 yen. If she has 200 million yen, the first thing she will do is to hang Nanahara Takeshi up and fight, give him money after the fight, hang up and beat him again after giving the money, and then give him money after she is angry, and let him be an assistant to wash her dishes, shine her shoes, cook and eat.

Nanahara Takeshi was also a little drooling, and he couldn't go through time and space to pick up this leak first, and said regretfully: "More than 200 million yen, the monkey was dead at that time, and Ichinose Fan was no longer afraid of killing his head, although he still settled in Okinoshima, but he had already had contact with old friends again, and when several people visited him, he proudly displayed these paintings, which were mentioned in the codex notes left by those people, some saw drafts, some saw one or two of them, and some saw the finished product, calculate the time......"

He briefly recalled and synthesized the contents of those people's notes, "He spent two years to complete the creation in the ninth and tenth years of Keicho, and he died on a snowy day at the end of the tenth year of Keicho, then "Okinoshima Four Scrolls" is his last work, and the collection value is higher, if it is only sold for 200 million yen, even if it is more, I will buy it, this price is equivalent to picking it up for nothing."

If it is a normal auction, it is easy to sell more than 300 million, the pre-heating is good enough, the atmosphere is warm enough, and if there are enough interested owners, it is possible to sell more than 400 million yen. ”

400 million yen......

Kiyomi Ruri couldn't help but be more leisurely, if she had 400 million yen, according to Nanahara Takeshi's greedy character, she would be able to make him walk upside down in the future, right? I won't bully her if I'm fine, I will definitely give her a smile 24 hours a day, and provide for her every day, right?

She was imagining Nanahara Takeshi following her like a licking dog, and there was a gentle applause next to her, and a middle-aged uncle in his thirties exclaimed there: "This is Nanahara-san, I didn't expect to have such a deep understanding of the art industry, no wonder I can become a special consultant to the police station." ”

Eri Nakano and Ruri Kiyomi immediately looked over, and Ruri Kiyomi asked carefully, "Are you ......?"

The middle-aged uncle smiled cheerfully, "The contemptible person is a man in the flat hall, just now the director of the Uchii Pavilion asked me to wait for a few people to come over and assist the police in the investigation." ”

He is a person who has the kind of superficial enthusiasm that is unique to the service industry, and he deliberately stood in the corridor and waited, and he happened to hear the words of Takeshi Nanahara, and Kiyomi Ruri and Eri Nakano hurriedly thanked him, and politely said a few words "Excuse me".

Heikan Kazuo also invited them into an office with polite words and served them tea, while Kiyomi Ruri curiously continued the topic just now and asked, "Can you really auction 400 million yen?" ”

Heiguan Kazuo said with a reserved smile: "We will work hard to make the art treasure reflect its value and status, but the auction result is not good yet, we can only say that there is great hope." ”

Bastard, four tattered scrolls can really be sold for 400 million yen, Kiyomi Ruri decided to go home and rummage through her own warehouse, she vaguely remembered that she also seemed to have some tattered scrolls at home, and if there were famous paintings hundreds of years ago in them, they would be sent.

But she hadn't forgotten about the case, and still had the last hope that it was a fake, and asked tentatively: "During the public exhibition, has there been any expert appraisal, has anyone ever raised ......?"

A man in the Pingguan laughed dumbly: "The curator has gambled on his net worth and reputation, how can we ignore such a big business." We have repeatedly appraised the paint and paper to the painting style, and none of the three appraisers questioned it, especially since we not only collected these four works, but also many old objects inherited from the Tokugawa banner family, and we also collected them, all of which are genuine.

It's also a bit lucky, but the director of Uchii first saw that family selling old goods at the stall, and found a broken knife with the Tokugawa family crest, so he was curious to go to his house to check, and accidentally found "Okinoshima Four Branches", which is completely impossible to forge. ”

Nanahara Takeshi was thoughtful, and it was a little familiar to hear this routine, but Kiyomi Ruri was completely dead, and asked back to the truth: "Heidate-san, I heard that on the night Matsuuchi-san was killed, you were with the director of the Uchii pavilion?" ”

"Yes, I wonder why you keep asking this question." Heiguan Kazuo complained vaguely and said with a smile, "The response to the public exhibition was very good at the beginning, attracting a lot of people's attention, and some people were even inquiring in private.

We first went to Shibayuan House, where we drank a glass of beer and a few bottles of small yaki, and then the curator felt a little tired, and invited me to go to Wenchuan House to take a bath and have a good massage to relax, a little squinted for a while, after coming out, he seemed to be a little drunk, I sent him home, but he still wanted to talk, and asked Mrs. Uchii to call to order takeout, I lived alone anyway, and I had nothing to do when I went back, so I accompanied him to continue drinking and chatting, and finally drank too much, and slept in his guest room. ”

Nanahara Takeshi interjected with a smile: "Do you remember the time when you were resting?" ”

"It's past ten o'clock...... "I was a little drunk at the time, and I didn't pay attention to the time, but it was nine and seven when I sent him home, so I can guarantee that I was with him from nine to ten o'clock, and I drank a lot of alcohol, during which he didn't even go to the bathroom, and it was completely impossible to run out and kill people, you really think too much." ”

Nanahara Takeshi smiled and asked, "Nine and seven?" Why do you remember this time so clearly? ”

Heiguan Kazuo didn't care and said: "After getting out of the taxi, the director of the Uchii Pavilion was a little dizzy, and he was afraid that Mrs. Uchii would blame him for coming back too late, so he casually asked me what time it was, and I glanced at my watch, so I had an impression." After a pause, he made his complaint more direct, "Director Uchii has hardly ever dealt with Matsuuchi-san, I really can't understand why he is on the suspect list, he has no reason to treat Matsuuchi-san like that......"

Nanahara Takeshi nodded and muttered, "Indeed, I haven't figured out what his reason is now. ”

Heidate Kazuo was stunned, and Nanahara Takeshi immediately laughed: "I mean, if he killed Matsuuchi-san, I didn't think he had any reason." ”

Heiguan Kazuo was relieved at this time, and said: "It is impossible for Director Uchii to do such a thing, he treats people very well." ”

Nanahara Takeshi smiled: "I can see that his personal cultivation is very good, so at that time, Mrs. Uchii ordered takeout, where did she order takeout?" Has the takeaway arrived? ”

"Of course." Heiguan Kazuo recalled it and said with a smile, "It was delivered in about fifteen or sixteen minutes, it was a mutton dish platter box from the Mutton Ball House, steaming, fresh and salty, and the food was very suitable at the moment, and I ate a lot." ”

Kiyomi Ruri flipped through her small notepad, and quickly found the Yoshimaru House mentioned in the police briefing, the police had already asked about the preliminary investigation, and the Yoshimaru House did receive a call from Mrs. Uchii to order food at around a quarter past nine on the night of the incident, and it was indeed sent to Mrs. Uchii's house to hand it over to Mrs. Uchii, coupled with the testimony of Kazuo Heidate, it can already be proved that Tatsuo Uchii did not have the time to commit the crime, and the person could not have been killed by him.

The most important thing is that he can't imagine that Tatsuo Uchii has any motive for committing the crime, so it's impossible for him to kill a person with ordinary friendships for no reason, right?

It is possible in mystery novels, but if the police want to send a suspect for prosecution, they must provide the murderer's clear motive for committing the crime and unquestionable human or physical evidence, otherwise the prosecutor will not be the first to do it, and it is impossible to send him to court.

There are only two suspects in total, the first fake hunter is definitely not, and the second is a real hunter, but there are witnesses and corroborating evidence, and the alibi is completely established, and it is impossible to commit the crime, is it possible that the "hunter reasoning" is bankrupt, and the murderer is someone else?

Kiyomi Ruri was very worried, and he looked at Nanahara Takeshi for a while and was worried.