The Split-Actress in Conan's World

Kyoto, the residence of the Fujiwara family.

Like every old-fashioned family in Kyoto, the Fujiwara family's mansion is a large Japanese-style building with a courtyard as the center and scattered living rooms around it, embodying the clan concept of Yamatoism.

However, the Fujiwara family is different from these old-fashioned families. It is not stubborn, but rather has a trendy vitality. Otherwise, they would not have come up with "Weiyang" when other families named their eldest daughters "XXzi" or "XXye".

But at least one thing is certain: for these clan lineages, no matter how trendy they are, they can never lose the recognition of their surnames. This was also the most direct conflict that led to the divorce between Fujiwara Mio and Rin Soramei.

The car stopped at the gate outside the old house. The gray-haired old butler got out from the passenger seat, walked to the back seat, bent over and opened the door.

When Lin Chiyu got out of the car, what he saw was a mansion sandwiched between the new and the old.

"You can go to the tea room to meet the patriarch first. Of course, you can also go back to your room to tidy up first. Your room has always been reserved for you." The old butler said gently.

After a while, he added as a reminder: "The patriarch will stay in the tea room for about three hours every day, usually from 1 to 4 in the afternoon."

It is now around 2:30 in the afternoon.

Lin Chiyu understood his hint, nodded slightly, and walked towards the residential complex.

"Do you want to leave him alone for a while?" Ilos lay on his shoulder, raised his paw to tickle his beard, and yawned.

"If he really has such a strong control over the entire Fujiwara family, then this car would not be parked at the gate, but outside the tea room."

Lin Chiyu thought quietly in his heart, "Since he only let someone hint in this way, it means that I have a choice, and it is he who wants to see me, not me who wants to see him."

"That means I have some kind of value, and it's a value he can't ignore."

Iros chuckled and said, "Your brain works pretty fast."

"Let him hang out for a while and see where he stops. That way I can determine how much control he has over this family and how important I am."

Rin Chiyu narrowed his eyes and opened the side-sliding Japanese-style door. "If there is no strong means until four o'clock, then it's not me who is going to see him."

He looked down and saw a pair of wooden clogs placed at the door. He walked past them without hesitation and walked into the entrance. He took out a pair of cotton slippers from the top shelf of the shoe cabinet and put them on.

According to his habit, it is impossible for him to just place the shoes he wants to change at the door like this, so it can only be someone else's arrangement.

Test?

Stepping onto the tatami, Rin Shakuha walked into the house. The first thing he saw was the low table in the living room and the cushions around it for kneeling. He frowned slightly.

"The room in my memory isn't like this, right?" Ilos' gloating voice sounded in his ears. He licked his paws, enjoying the fun.

Fortunately, when he walked into the living room, he saw a modern computer desk and a standard standing chair, as well as a mahogany wardrobe instead of a closet that suited his aesthetic.

Standing at the partition between the living room and the living room, Lin Chiyu clearly felt the unpretentious contrast between the old and new eras in the two rooms.

interesting.

He knew that it was not done by the patriarch, or even by anyone in the mansion that he could remember, because he had spent his high school and college years here, and they all knew that he was more adapted to the pace of modern life.

Putting these traditional objects in his room was not a provocation but a test to observe his preferences. Only someone who was completely unfamiliar with him but attached importance to him would do this.

He walked casually to the closet, which was filled with clothes of familiar styles from his memory, except that they were not old clothes from a few years ago, but new clothes of the same style.

"This is a gesture of goodwill." He made a firm judgment.

But the question arises again, since we have already judged his aesthetic taste and habits through the arrangement of his room, why bother to change the layout of the room to test him?

Or in other words, why is he so obsessed with presenting this contrast between the new and the old in front of Rin Shakuha?

Suddenly there was a hurried knock on the door. Lin Chiyu walked over and heard a childish voice calling out, "Brother Chiyu, Brother Chiyu, are you back?"

He opened the door and saw a little girl who was just as tall as his ribs standing outside. She had two pigtails, a round face, and big, blue eyes. She looked like she was still in elementary school.

He quickly dug up his memories about the girl. In his memory, she was shorter and her face wasn't so round, making her look petite.

Fujiwara Kaka is the daughter of his mother's younger brother, so she should be considered his cousin.

It’s just that the age difference is a bit big, and the little girl is only in the third grade this year.

During the time he lived here, he relied on his last name, Rin, to not have to obey the rules of the clan leader and other adults, so he lived a very carefree life, in stark contrast to the other children who were strictly disciplined.

But sometimes he would secretly take other little ones out to play. In this case, even if these little ones were caught by their elders, they would not be scolded or punished. The adults would only grit their teeth and scold Lin for being unruly.

So the kids all like him very much.

Fujiwara Kaoru was the most playful one among them. She always pestered Rin Chiyu to take her out, and then pretended to be good when she came back to escape punishment.

"Just got off the plane." Lin Chiyu moved aside to let the girl in.

Fujiwara Kaka's smile froze when she came in and saw the layout of the living room, and then turned into horror.

"Brother Chiyu, how come you have become such a rigid old-fashioned person?!!"

But when she saw the layout of Rin Shakuha's living room, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Chiyu said casually: "I don't know who made my room like this, but the bedroom has not changed."

"It's good that you didn't change it yourself. I almost thought you were going to become that kind of boring adult!" Fujiwara Kaka patted her chest, indicating that she was shocked.

Is there anything sadder than the older brother who used to take you out to play every day when you were a child turning into an old-fashioned person who follows the rules?

"Where did you hear the news? Why did you come here so soon? I just entered the house not long ago." Lin Chiyu asked her.

"I overheard my father and the patriarch talking, and then I ran out to look for you when the Chinese painting teacher wasn't paying attention."

Fujiwara Kaka was full of anger, her blue eyes wide open: "You don't know what kind of life I've been living since you left! They didn't even allow me to go out. Every day I had to take Chinese painting classes or tea art classes. Every weekend I had to spend six hours learning flower arrangement. I wasn't allowed to mop the floor when I walked, and I couldn't make any noise when I ate. Even if I snored, they would wake me up and put me back to sleep!"

She looked sad and took out an old-fashioned keypad phone from her pocket. "Even the cell phone is only a piece of junky stuff that an old grandfather like me can use! I can only use it to play Snake and Tetris!"

Iros, who was on Rin Chiyu's shoulder, stood up and expressed sympathy.

"Mr. Yuanfang is chatting with the patriarch?" Lin Chiyu caught the details in her words.

"Yes, it's in the tea room next to the studio where I take Chinese painting classes." Fujiwara Kaka nodded.

"Okay, I'll go over there and take you out to play when I come back." Patting the little girl's head, Lin Chiyu went out and walked towards the tea room.

"Do you understand?" Ilos on his shoulder moved his ears and looked up at him.

"I probably guessed a few things."

Why did she show weakness implicitly after arriving at Fujiwara's residence, why did she change his room like that, and why did a little child like Fujiwara Kaka happen to hear the news of his return and successfully "sneak" out to find him.

After sorting all this out in his mind, Lin Chiyu had some vague ideas.

Iros, who claimed to know everything, smiled, lay back down, and closed his eyes to rest.

When Rin Shakuha walked to the door of the tea room, Fujiwara Takakata just came out. When he saw Rin Shakuha, he smiled kindly and nodded.

Lin Chiyu smiled back and knocked gently on the door.

"Please come in." The patriarch's voice was old, but deep. He was a little restrained when speaking, and seemed very gentle.

Hearing this, Lin Chiyu pushed open the door, walked in, and closed the door quietly.

The patriarch is an old man, but it is not entirely true. Although his hair and beard look completely white and his face has many wrinkles, his back is very strong and he does not have any age spots. When Lin Chiyu entered the room, he was still washing cups and making tea, and his hands were incredibly steady.

This patriarch of the Fujiwara family, who is also the father of Fujiwara no Mio and grandfather of Rin Shakuha, is only 70 years old this year.

His expression was very calm at the moment, and he was concentrating on looking at the boiling teapot on the small tea table in front of him. He looked very patient, and people did not realize that the previous series of tests were just casual arrangements made by the old man.

He knew how to advance and retreat, was tough but not rude, and his understanding of Lin Shakuha could be seen from every detail.

"sit."

Rin Chiyu looked down at the tatami, which was not soft enough for him, and then looked at the patriarch who was kneeling steadily, but did not sit down like him.

The patriarch raised his eyebrows slightly, without any surprise, and pointed to a corner: "There is a stool there."

Looking over there, Lin Chiyu indeed found a small stool, which was better than kneeling. He walked over, picked up the stool, and sat in front of the coffee table.

The clear tea was bubbling in the teapot. The patriarch quickly grasped the handle and quickly divided the hot tea evenly into four teacups inlaid with silver threads.

Lin Chiyu looked at the glittering silver threads on the teacup and said, "Isn't the tea ceremony about keeping a simple state of mind?"

"I am calm even when using expensive tea sets. Isn't this simple enough?" The patriarch raised the teacup and tasted it slowly.

“…”I couldn’t refute it.

"If you can only control your mood by controlling external objects, it means your mood is unstable." The patriarch's expression did not change, and he did not seem to be in a hurry to get to the point. He could even chat like this for a whole day.

"Thank you for your advice." After he raised his glass, Lin Chiyu also picked up the teacup in front of him and took a sip.

Regardless of the patriarch's mood, at least his skill in brewing tea is really good. Most of the astringency in the tea leaves has been boiled away, leaving just the right aftertaste, which further highlights the sweetness when you savor it.

Drinking tea with a true master can really make people feel peaceful.

"Some people always think that tea is like an antique, and new things like wine and coffee can bring more stimulation." The patriarch added a few more tea leaves to the teapot, his expression unchanged, as if he was speaking casually.

Lin Chiyu raised his eyebrows slightly, still holding the teacup in his hand, neither putting it down nor drinking from it.

"If we have to compare, I think it has nothing to do with the new or the old."

The patriarch looked over.

"Like tea, wine and coffee also need energy. Those who understand can naturally discover the beauty behind them, while those who don't are just pretending. It all comes down to whether you are willing to invest time and energy to understand them."

Hearing this, the patriarch laughed, and then he sighed with some regret.

"It's a pity that your last name is Rin... It would be better if that brat Kongming wasn't so stubborn."

Lin Chiyu pretended to listen attentively.

"You know, ever since Weiyang left home, I have been worrying about the issue of succession. I am already old, and the new generation is too young. The entire Fujiwara family is showing a trend of lack of successors."

"Originally I wasn't worried about this because Miyo is very smart and I'm happy with the partner she found, but the only problem is that she and Sora-Aki no longer like the Fujiwara family."

Lin Chiyu showed his doubt at the right time: "Don't like it?"

The patriarch put down his teacup, feeling a little regretful.

"You are a smart person. After staying here for a few years, you should be able to see that the other members of the Fujiwara family are a bit stubborn. They are too obsessed with the power of the Fujiwara family in Kyoto and have no vision of the overall situation. After Weiyang left, they all had ideas about the position of heir and their own ambitions. They tried to convince me to let them take over the position of the helmsman."

"Some of them think that the Fujiwara family should maintain the old order and hold on to the tradition of clan control over politics, while others think that the Fujiwara family should embrace the new order and take new steps towards the fields of science and technology and commerce."

"But they don't understand that the real dilemma of the Fujiwara family is not about the new and the old."

The chief patriarch raised his eyes and looked at Lin Chiyu: "Do you think your parents really fell out with the family because they didn't want to change their surname?"

Lin Chiyu pondered for a while, nodded, but then shook his head: "Yes, and no."

"You see, you, a junior, can understand it, but the rest of the family can't. They think that I'm determined to change Kongming's surname because I'm an old stubborn person from the old times, but that's not the case. If Weiyang was just a little girl, it wouldn't matter whether Kongming changed his surname or not, but Weiyang is the eldest daughter and the heir I've decided on. It's because I think highly of Kongming that I want him to change his surname, because only in this way can I completely tie him to the Fujiwara family's boat. And Kongming's reluctance to change his surname is because he has seen through the Fujiwara family's predicament and feels that it's hard to get what he puts in."

"At that time, Tokyo was not yet dominated by the Suzuki Group, and the political landscape in Osaka had not yet been finalized. It was a golden age, but the Fujiwara family had been trapped in Kyoto for too long and had developed a kind of inertia. Even if I handed over resources and connections to those clansmen who were capable of going out, they were unwilling to go to these new areas. Instead, they stared at the channels we already had, constantly scheming and dividing."

“By the time they realize they’ve missed the treasure, Tokyo and Osaka will have no room for us to intervene.”

The head of the clan looked a little tired. He looked at Rin Chiyu and said, "Times are changing. The influence of these famous families trapped in Kyoto will be weakened little by little, and they will eventually be completely left behind by the times. I can't hand over the power of steering to those idiots. The new generation has accepted the impact of new trends and their ideas are too radical. For the current Fujiwara family, blindly stepping on the accelerator will only cause huge inertia."

"Only you, who was born in the Fujiwara family, grew up in the Suzuki family, and also has the last name Rin, can tie the Fujiwara family to the ship of the new era and find a way out for us."

"Shakuha, are you willing to take over the Fujiwara family and become the helmsman?"

He looked at Rin Chiyu expectantly.

However, Rin Chiyu simply said -

"No."

"Why?" The head patriarch was puzzled. The reason why Rin Kongming was unwilling to take over this mess was because he had nothing and started from scratch at that time, and the Fujiwara family would only be a burden to him. However, Rin Shakuha himself has the power of the Suzuki family, and at the same time can inherit Rin Kongming's connections in Osaka. It would be a perfect start. Bringing in the Fujiwara family would not be a burden at all, but rather the icing on the cake.

What he didn't expect was that Lin Chiyu's answer would be like this.

"I don't want it. Fujiwara Shakuha is too ugly."

?

The patriarch almost dropped his teacup, and a huge crack appeared in his calm state of mind.