The ferocious man who looked like a gardener called out quickly when he saw his master approaching.
"I didn't know there would be visitors today..."
The man whom the gardener called "Sir" came over and looked at the group of people outside the iron gate.
"This old man with a blank face said he wanted to come in and take a look." The gardener pointed at Dr. A Li with disdain.
Dr. A Li couldn't bear it anymore: "Silly look? Come on, I'm a scientist!"
"Scientist?" Mitsuru Mamiya, the husband of Mamiya's eldest daughter and his wife's wife, repeated.
Yuan Huaiyu smiled and said: "This is Dr. Ali, a famous inventor! He has invented many useful things!"
When Conan heard this, he wanted to laugh a little.
He knew that Dr. A Li's inventions were generally of no use, and the so-called inventor was, at best, just a weird old man who loved to invent.
But after Mamiya Man heard what Yuan Huaiyu said, he suddenly showed an interested expression.
"Then your mind...should be much better than that of the rest of us, right?"
Mamiya Mitsuru rubbed his chin and said to himself thoughtfully.
"Okay, come in! Why don't you just stay here for the night?" Mamiya Mitsuru said, "You may not know the situation here. It's still a long way to find a place to stay at night!
"
"That's great!" Dr. Ali immediately agreed.
"But sir, I didn't know that my wife would..." The gardener wanted to object.
"Just tell her that she is my friend." Mamiya said nonchalantly, "My mother-in-law looks like her, so there is no need to tell her too much."
Seeing that the master had given such instructions, the gardener Tabata Katsuo opened the iron gate for the group of people outside without saying anything.
"That look?" Dr. Ali looked at the gardener curiously, not knowing what Mamiya Mitsuru meant.
"I'm old and have some dementia," the gardener explained.
Several people filed in and walked into the courtyard of the castle.
I saw that the courtyard was neatly kept, with shrubs and trees staggered far and near, lush and lush. Walking in the courtyard felt like walking into a park.
“So beautiful!”
“What a big courtyard!”
Sounds of admiration kept coming from the mouths of Didan Sansi.
Seeing that everyone spoke so highly of the courtyard he took care of, Tabata Katsuo's face looked a little better.
When they passed by the lawn, Ayumi jumped up and ran to the side as if she had discovered some treasure.
"Wow! Arima!"
Everyone followed.
The lawns are mowed and clearly delineated, criss-crossing the lawns.
On the lawn, in the square grid divided by the vertical and horizontal lines, there are sculptures as high as a person.
The sculptures are in black and white and come in various shapes. When Conan and Haiyuan saw this scene, they explained to the confused Didan Sansi:
"These are chess pieces."
"It's not just the chess pieces, look at the turf under your feet, it's also what the chessboard looks like."
Dr. A Li looked at Mr. Gardener: "Is there anyone here who likes to play chess?"
"I don't know." The gardener shrugged, "I just followed the instructions of the previous master, that is, Master Zhenzhao, and arranged it like this every day."
"And Mr. Zhenzhao seems to be following the last words of the great master who passed away fifteen years ago."
"Previous master? Then the one just now..." Dr. Agasa was a little confused and looked at Mamiya Mitsuru who was talking to the maid.
"It's Madam's second husband, Mr. Man. Mr. Zhenzhao came here after he died of illness six years ago."
There was a sad look on the gardener's face: "Later, my wife also died in the fire four years ago..."
"Fire?" Yuan Huaiyu frowned slightly.
"Isn't there a charred tower over there? The lady's bedroom is over there."
The gardener pointed to a dilapidated and blackened tower beside the castle.
"My wife went back to Japan to celebrate the birthday of my wife. But when I arrived in the middle of the night, there was a fire before dawn."
"Not only the madam, but also the friends who accompanied the madam, as well as more than a dozen maids and servants who had served the madam for a long time, also died in the fire."
The gardener had unconcealable sadness on his face: "The only ones who survived were us servants who had been employed for a short period of time, the madam who was living in the annex due to the cold, Master Man and...
"
He pointed to the young man holding the chess statue in the lawn: "The man over there is the only son of Madam and Master Zhenzhao, Mr. Gui."
"He came back two or three days before the fire. He has been studying abroad since he was a child. That was also the first time I saw him. It was even the first time for Mr. Man to meet him because my wife had been with Mr. Man after she got married abroad.
Living abroad.”
There was some confusion in the gardener's words: "But after the fire, the two of them stayed here, as if they were possessed by something..."
The gardener led a group of people into the main entrance of the castle. Three huge portraits were visible in the spacious hall.
The gardener pointed to the portrait of the old man in the center and said, "This is the great master."
"This one on the left is Madam." The gardener pointed to the portrait of the beautiful woman on the left, and then pointed to the serious man on the right, "This is Mr. Zhenzhao who has entered the marriage."
There seemed to be some nostalgia on the gardener's face: "Mr. Zhenzhao respects the great master as a historian very much. My wife is also very fond of this and often says to Mr. Zhenzhao..."
"Dad is just an intellectual who likes to reason. Right?"
An old voice sounded from the side. A haggard old woman with white hair and age spots on her face struggled to push her wheelchair closer.
"Madam!" the gardener said in surprise.
The visitor is the wife of the Mamiya family and the current nominal head of the family, Masuyo Mamiya.
The gardener quickly took off his hat and said, "Sorry, I reminded you of something unpleasant."
"No need to apologize." Masuyo Mamiya said calmly, "I am used to the days when he is not around."
"It's just like the pattern of banknotes and the size of the passport have changed. It's hard to get used to it at first, but as time goes by, it won't matter."
She sighed lightly, looking like an elderly man lamenting the passage of time.
"Time is very scary. All the joys, sorrows and joys will disappear with it."
"By the way, who are they?" Masuyo Mamiya looked at the people on the side.
"Oh, he is my master's scientist friend." The gardener introduced her.
"Scientist?" The lady lowered her head, the expression on her face disappearing into the shadows.
"That's really exciting... Then we must ask them to solve the mystery left by the old man..."