The snow was falling heavily, and the scenery outside the window had all turned white.
As time goes by, the sky becomes darker and darker.
There was another knock at the door.
Hattori Heiji stood up and opened the door.
"young people..."
Toriop found a pair of glasses from somewhere, and his eyes, which looked like crescent moons when he smiled, were looking into the box through the glass lenses, "Aren't you going to have dinner together?"
"Your pocket watch is broken?" Ye Gengyi was lying on the bed, and a calm voice floated over: "It's only 4:30 now."
"Desserts are of course best eaten by the stove."
Toriop shrugged disapprovingly, "However, it still seems like you don't welcome me."
"Heiji, invite him in for a cup of coffee." Ye Gengyi said.
"Such a sudden change of attitude is too deliberate." Toriop complained, but still followed in.
There was no room for a chair in the aisle between the two beds.
Ye Gengyi was lying on the bed, and Toriop had to turn his head to look at the owner of the other bed and asked, "Can I sit down?"
"Please."
Hattori Heiji looked at the visitor curiously, and then asked: "Are you a detective too?"
"Also?" Toriop's voice dragged out.
It seemed that he was afraid that the other party would not be able to hear what he meant.
Hattori Heiji was very alert and was not provoked into reporting his home.
"Drink coffee..." Ye Gengyi sat up from the bed and pushed the cup on the table.
Toriop took it, picked it up and smelled it, then frowned: "...It's cold."
"Excellent judgment." Ye Geng clapped his hands twice in a serious manner.
On the side, Hattori Heiji twitched the corners of his mouth, feeling that Saradagi-san today was strange.
"Don't you have any questions to ask me?" Toriop put the cup back on the table.
"For example?" Ye Gengyi asked.
Toriop smiled and looked at Hattori Heiji: "Young man, what about you?"
"What's in Car No. 4?" Hattori Heiji asked.
"Oh, you are so direct..."
After Toriop finished sighing, he thought for a moment and uttered one word, "Goods."
"goods?"
"Yes, at least that's what the shipping manifest says."
"It should be some illegal trading items, right?" Hattori Heiji said bluntly.
"Why do you think so?" Toriop asked.
"Because that's what your expression tells me." Hattori Heiji said.
"Hmm?" The smile on Toriop's face remained unchanged, "So you think my friend, the train conductor, might be a criminal?"
"I..."
"Heiji."
Ye Gengyi interrupted their conversation and said, "Mr. Tori, you don't look like you are answering the question."
"Oh, sorry, professional habits, you know..." Toriop smiled, "I am a well-known detective."
"Okay, Mr. Detective," Ye Gengyi asked, following his topic: "If you are just here to chat, then..."
"No, friend, wait a minute..."
Toriop hurriedly said, "I want to say, can we exchange boxes? God, you can't imagine how annoying the prayers of the nun and the noble lady are. They simply make it impossible for me to rest. Of course...as a reward, I can also tell you a secret."
"I'm not interested in your secrets."
Ye Gengyi refused: "However, we can go have dessert together."
"What are you waiting for?"
Toriop pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose and stood up: "Let's go, young people."
...
"Hello!"
The chef in Car No. 2 is very dedicated.
Hearing the movement, he raised his head, and there was a smile even in his voice.
Toriop went straight to the cook's table.
Seeing how skillfully he picked up the dinner plate, Hattori Heiji suspected that this was definitely not the first time this guy had taken this train.
"Brother Gengyi, we..."
"Don't ask anything, just eat first."
Several people chose a table relatively close to the inside.
In Toriop's words, it's quieter here.
However, both Ye Gengyi and Hattori Heiji knew that in addition to being quiet, they could better observe people entering the restaurant.
Not long after, the second group of passengers came in.
They were the old woman's two servants.
When the chef saw them, he immediately enthusiastically took out a plate of side dishes that looked like sausages to serve them.
Hattori Heiji looked over there and then at the cake in front of him.
By the way...didn't they say the steak was delicious tonight?
After eating so many desserts now, I really don’t know if I can eat anything else later.
In fact, Hattori Heiji's concerns were indeed correct.
Before 5 o'clock.
When the third group of guests arrived at the restaurant, they happened to pass by them in front of the door.
Military officer, wealthy businessman.
A strange pairing, and both men were suspected of carrying guns.
Hattori Heiji pretended to glance over there casually, but he didn't see anything suspicious.
When we arrived at Car No. 3.
Toriop squeezed into Ye Genichi and Hattori Heiji's box again.
"After all, our friendship is based on eating dessert together. You can't bear to see me listen to that annoying prayer again, can you?"
"No change." Ye Gengyi refused decisively.
"It's so heartless, then...see you tomorrow." Toriop stood up directly.
The door is closed.
Hattori Heiji immediately rushed back. He first rummaged through his bed, and then imitated Toriop's appearance when he walked into the room, looking back and forth for locations where notes or other items might be hidden.
However, there was...nothing.
"What are you doing?"
When Ye Gengyi was talking, he was standing on the storage table and going to open the ventilation window.
"Uh, looking for something," Hattori Heiji thought this conversation was weird, "Saraichi-san, what are you..."
Ye Gengyi did not answer, but continued to ask: "What are you looking for?"
"I thought he would leave a note or something, but it seems like he didn't." Hattori Heiji scratched his head, "So, Brother Sarada, what are you..."
"Pour the coffee." Ye Gengyi stretched his hand out of the window, grabbed the coffee cup and poured it hard to prevent some water stains from getting on the glass.
After doing this, he looked at the puzzled look of a certain black man and explained:
"If coffee is exposed to the air for a long time, the fungi in the air will attach to the coffee cup in a very short period of time, and some organic components contained in these fungi can cause allergic reactions and diseases in the human body."
"Brother Gengyi..."
Hattori Heiji hesitated to speak.
To be honest he was skeptical.
Of course, it was not that he doubted this explanation, but that he simply did not believe that the act of opening the window to pour coffee could be caused by some kind of fungus.
Combined with the strange behavior of the two people in the restaurant in the afternoon.
Hattori Heiji finally couldn't help it and whispered: "Brother Sarada, you discovered something, right? Is it related to carriage No. 4? Is there... something wrong with the food we eat?"
"Well..." Ye Geng nodded, "It's the same as you thought, but are you sure you want to know the answer?"
