Chapter 30 Chapter Four

Not long after, the master, Miss Kaede, and Detective Ukai gathered in the living room of Hanamikoji's house, and of course my mother and I were also there.Xiao Ai is now calm again. "Ukai, what's going on? Explain it in a way I can understand." The master asked the detective to explain.I also asked my mother to explain. "What's the matter? Didn't mother go hunting with the master?" "Mom doesn't know, but hunting seems to be a lie. The master just pretended to go out and returned to the mansion immediately. He must have set a trap to lure thieves into the bait."

Indeed, as my mother said, it was the driver Hidenori Komatsu who took the bait.But what kind of trap is this?Why did Xiao Song attack Xiao Ai?I don't know why Xiaosong wants to bully the baby duck. The detective began to explain in front of the master: "In a situation where time and space are limited, how do the thieves hide the stolen gems? This is the focus of this case. But no matter how hard we searched the rooms of the suspects, no gems were found. Put forward two possibilities. The first is that the thief threw the gemstone out of the window, and the second is that the thief swallowed the gemstone. But after listening to it, I thought of the third possibility, which is the combination of the two possibilities suggested by Liuping It is also a well-known smuggling method."

"Smuggling method?" "Yes. Do you know the method of smuggling diamonds with ducks? To put it simply, it is to let ducks swallow the diamonds abroad and bring them back to the country, and then cut open the belly of the duck to take out the diamonds. But this method should not work now... ...Okay, now that I’ve said this, everyone should understand.” "That's it! I gradually understood." The master slowly stated his speculation: "The thief stole the gem from my study. He made too much noise while stealing and fled back to his room. The thief thought that the gem was still in the room. Things are not going well around me, I happened to find a duck on the balcony, and I had an idea to use the smuggling method of the duck to let the duck swallow the gems and then let the duck go, so the snow around the mansion is still flat...Is that so?"

"As expected of the teacher, the reasoning is really good. You think that the thief is using the duck that happened to be on the balcony, which is very sharp. Actually standing on the thief's side, making a loud noise is an unexpected mistake, and it is impossible to prepare for this in advance. It's a trick. So it should be like what the teacher said, it was done on a whim. But teacher, although I can't bear to make you feel embarrassed, ducks can't fly." "Well!" "How can a duck that can't fly happen to appear on the balcony on the second floor? What's more, if you put a duck that can't fly out of the window, it will just fall straight down, leaving obvious marks on the snow. Teacher, you don't even know this." know?"

"Hey, I just made a slight mistake! Don't keep pursuing it! Besides, you said that the thief used the duck method? And in fact, Xiao Song really wanted to catch Xiao Ai? Xiao Song wanted to catch Xiao Ai and take out the ruby ​​in his stomach, yes Bar?" "Teacher, I didn't say that the thieves used ducks in this case. Besides, Xiao Song didn't want to catch Xiao Ai. He just reached into the dog house and happened to meet Xiao Ai who was sleeping in it. Xiao Song's target was not the duck Xiao Ai, It's Lulu sleeping soundly together. I think Lulu should be a mallard?"

ah?I suspected for a moment that I had heard wrong.Detective Ukai seems to have said something very strange. I'm a mallard?What is a mallard?Is it a bird?i am a birdbaffling.I am a dog.Since my mother is a dog, of course I am also a dog.Right, mom... "I'm a dog, right?" However, mother shook her head with a sad expression. "Lulu, Mr. Detective is right. You are not a dog, you are a bird. You are a mallard." No way...my mind went blank. "Yes, Lulu is indeed a mallard." Ms. Feng said this to add insult to injury. "Well, excuse me for digressing, why does Hanamikoji's family keep mallards as pets?"

"It's a long story. This happened last spring when I went hunting with my grandpa. We encountered a bird's nest without a mother bird, and a chick just broke out of its shell. The moment the chick poked its head, it saw grandpa bring My Xiaotao...Mr. Detective knows about the imprint effect, right?" "Isn't it the behavior of the mother to identify the first thing you see at birth? Some birds are especially obvious. Oh, that is to say..." "Yes. The first thing this chick saw was Xiaotao when it was born, and then we decided that Xiaotao was its mother. We sympathized with this chick and decided to take it home and keep it as a pet. This chick is Lulu. If you think Xiaotao is your mother, maybe you think you are a dog."

Ukai nodded sharply in response to Miss Feng's words, and returned to the topic to describe the case. "Lvlu decides whether she is a dog or a bird. At this time, it is not a problem. The problem is whether the thief uses a duck or a mallard. But as I said just now, a duck can't do this kind of thing, because poultry don't Fly. On the other hand, mallards are wild animals and have wings that can fly. Lulu, who believes that dogs are grown up as mothers, of course cannot soar in the sky like wild mallards, but it should still be able to fly to the second floor The window sill, you can also glide five to ten meters from the window sill on the second floor. Since you can fly so far, you won’t leave traces on the snow around the mansion, but only small duck footprints in the distance of the mansion. That’s right Komatsu made the mallard Lulu who happened to appear on the balcony swallow the ruby ​​and put it outdoors, this is the truth.”

"Well, that's how it is..." "I reasoned like this, and set a trap for the thief. The thief must want to get the gem from Lulu's belly as soon as possible. In this situation, the biggest obstacle is Xiaotao, the scary mother who is inseparable from Lulu. So I asked the teacher to pretend to take the gem tonight. Taking Xiaotao out to hunt, the thieves should think this is a great opportunity. As expected, Xiaosong put his hand into the dog house where Lulu slept, and instead exposed his crime." "It's so beautiful, Ukai. But, did you realize that the thief is Komatsu, or did you realize it was Komatsu when you caught the thief? Instead, I have always believed that the thief is Mizoguchi."

"I've almost identified it as Komatsu. Mizoguchi's room has no balcony, and the windows only have iron bars. But the mallard is a water bird with webbed feet, and it can't even stand on the fence like a sparrow, so it's impossible for Lulu to appear By the window of Mizoguchi's room, I decided that Xiaosong could use Lulu. But there is only one thing I don't understand, that is, why Lulu, who usually sleeps in the dog house, was only on the balcony outside Komatsu's room yesterday." After the detective finished speaking, both the master and Miss Feng nodded in agreement, but I couldn't agree.

Lie, lie, impossible, there must be something wrong.I slept in the dog house last night as usual, and it was impossible to stay on the balcony outside Komatsu's room.Right, mom..."I've been sleeping in the doghouse, haven't I?" However, my mother kept her sad eyes and shook her head this time. "You were drunk with wine last night, so you probably don't remember, but you suddenly got up late last night by yourself and went outside the dog house to spread your wings. Mom saw this scene in a half-dream. When you wake up in the morning, you stay in the dog house As usual, I slept next to my mother, so my mother also thought it was a dream... But it was true. Lulu, you went out drunk like this last night, fluttering your wings and flying for a while." Ahhh, even mom said so!I shook my head vigorously as if I heard horrible words. "Liar, lie. I'm a dog, I'm a dog. How can I fly, who can fly, who can fly!" "What are you talking about! Enough is enough!" Xiao Ai, who was watching my reaction, shouted impatiently: "Okay, show me clearly. Don't you have a pair of wings that are more magnificent than mine? The mouth is the same , look, you are very similar to me. You are not a dog, but a mallard, a bird like me, so we get along happily? Miss Feng specially brought me this duck to make friends with you. If you are If you don’t have a dog, Miss Feng won’t bring a duck, but a bitch home.” "No, no. I'm not a bird, I'm not a bird, I'm not a mallard, I can't be a mallard. I'm a dog, I'm a dog, I'm a dog, I'm a dog, I'm a dog, quack, quack, quack, quack , quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack guagua!" At this moment, I yelled frantically and felt strange. "Gah!" The chest tightness and abdominal distension I felt when I woke up this morning turned into a strong sense of vomiting, emerging from the depths of my body.I spat out the foreign object with a particularly loud cry. "Gugua!" Something flew out of my mouth.The detective immediately stepped in front of me and picked up the fallen object with his fingertips. "Ah, this is just right. Tofu doesn't need to cut open the child's belly." The detective carefully wiped the object with the cuff of his suit and held it up in front of the master.It was a small stone that shone red—the ruby. Proof that I was in the air last night.I stopped whining and asked Mommy instead. "I'm really a bird, right?" "Yes, you are a bird, a mallard." "I'm not a dog, am I?" "Yes, you are not a dog." Mother's tone was decisive, but as gentle as usual.With all my courage, I asked the most important thing. "Since I'm not a dog, mom isn't my mom anymore?" "Don't be silly. You are my child whether you are a bird or a dog?" When I heard my mother's words, something warm slowly moistened my eye sockets.Great.I am a mallard and my mother is a dog, so I should not be able to be a hound like my mother, but we are still mother and son.This has been the case so far, and it will be the same in the future. As if I wanted to hide my tears of joy, I let out a loud "melon".Xiao Ai also let out a "melon" together. Mom licked my face, gave a "woof", and shook her tail in relief.