Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner
Chapter 280 - 201: The Wealthy Widow with a Mine

At that time, Minamoto Tamako and Fushimi Roku didn’t pay much attention. The former simply thought, ’Wow, a century-old history, the royal family really has deep historical roots’; the latter was thinking, ’That rockery looks like it costs a lot, I wonder how much it cost to build such a garden’...

Only Yazaki Momo, due to her journalistic professionalism, noted everything down on a memo.

Now that she mentioned it, both Fushimi Roku and Minamoto Tamako realized something was off—if the Water Bell Cave was supervised by Prince Akihito, then the humming noise it made shouldn’t be some kind of mechanism, after all, who would cause trouble for themselves?

Yazaki Momo had done thorough research before she came, and she knew that most of the mountain in Arashiyama belonged to Prince Akihito.

Initially, she couldn’t understand why, if it was just to buy Wulin Temple, spend so much to buy other useless lands? It wasn’t until Minamoto Tamako mentioned the altered hissing coming from the Water Bell Cave that she understood what was going on.

In some mountainous areas, there may be natural gas springs, where natural gas naturally escapes to the surface from underground rock fissures, indicating the presence of natural gas in the area... In other words, the humming sound from the Water Bell Cave is actually the sound of natural gas.

What kind of treasure could allow a mother and daughter to live in comfort for a lifetime?

Of course, it would be a mine.

It’s crucial to know that Japan’s natural gas reserves aren’t rich, and oil resources are also scarce, highly dependent on imports. Yazaki Momo theorized, if it can provide lifelong security, there might be oil underground, with natural gas being just accompanying gas...

At that moment, she thought of this in the car trunk and was almost scared half to death by her own guess, hastily telling them to drive away.

"Ah... there’s a mine..."

Fujiwara Homare didn’t quite grasp the concept, since he doesn’t know any big shots in the mining business. In his eyes, power is more important than money; once you have power, money will come naturally.

But for Fushimi Roku, it was different. He knew well how lucrative being a mine owner was, and in Japan there are special cases where mining resources are privately owned, which implies immense profits...

The demon Kawai emerged, leaning over his ear, softly tempting, "If you could attach yourself to someone like Mrs. Nakako, such a widow, it would be a fortune impossible to attain in several lifetimes!"

Indeed, Mrs. Nakako seemed much less troubling than someone like Minamoto, gentle and devoted, and an elegant older beauty... Fushimi Roku instinctively glanced at Minamoto Tamako, sized her up for a moment, and then withdrew his gaze.

Seeing this, Minamoto Tamako furrowed her brows, thinking that Mr. Fu Jian’s look was strange, he must be plotting something bad.

But whatever he’s thinking is none of her business. She can’t possibly manage what’s going on in other people’s minds, otherwise she’d be the Pacific cop, wouldn’t she?

Besides, she’s cold, tired, and hungry now, soaked all over, spent the night running for survival, her ahoge even shot off by a bullet, leaving her dispirited with no energy to bicker with Fushimi Roku.

They waited four to five hours for the mountain road to be cleared by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Fujiwara Homare drove down the mountain wanting to rest, but was called back by his father; the others were taken to make statements, changed clothes in the police station’s locker room, and made do with a bento.

Burning the mountain is no small matter, especially when it involves a royal estate. The Director of Criminal Affairs personally interrogated, focusing on Yazaki Momo, repetitively grilling her, leaving her exhausted.

As for Fujiwara Homare, naturally he was ’interrogated’ by his father personally.

The Director of Police had changed clothes, held a bamboo sword in the dojo, his anger boiling over. As soon as Fujiwara Homare stepped in, he heard a thunderous shout from his father demanding him to kneel, startling him.

"What’s the big deal? I didn’t cause trouble..." Fujiwara Homare muttered softly.

No sooner had he spoken, his father turned around and slapped a sword onto his lower back, causing him to gasp in pain and reluctantly kneel.

The Chief commanded him to confess honestly or if he dared hide anything, the next strike would land on his face.

Before Fujiwara Homare could speak, urgent footsteps approached from outside the dojo, voice preceding presence, as they shouted "Where’s my son? Where’s my son!!"

Someone outside the dojo tried to stop, "Mrs. Fujiwara, the Family Head ordered not to enter..."

"Out of my way!"

Mrs. Fujiwara pushed aside the obstructer, bursting into the dojo, immediately spotting her son kneeling, with crumpled clothes, likely having taken a beating, her tears instantly flowed.

"Are you even human! My son barely made it back alive, and you beat him!"

Mrs. Fujiwara rushed over, lifting her son, checking him over, spotting the whip mark on his lower back, crying like the sky was falling, fiercely accusatory towards Fujiwara as she depicted him as a devil abusing his own son.

The Director of Police, commanding in professional settings and holding high status in the Fujiwara family, felt entirely helpless facing his wife, overwhelmed.

"I’m teaching our son, why should you, a woman, interfere..."

He hadn’t finished before his wife’s wrath exploded further, clutching his collar and crying a storm, referring to how he wasn’t like this when they married and tossing in gender equality, demanding to take their son back to her family, unwilling to let him suffer like this!

"I don’t care what trouble he’s caused outside. Once he’s home, he’s my son, nobody can bully him! As his father, you don’t look into external reasons, instead picking on your son’s faults? And you call yourself a Director of Police, seems like your position isn’t worth much!"

In former times, the Chief would simply ignore it, avoiding arguments with his wife. But this time was different; it involved a major case, a royal widow was still in the hospital being rescued, if his son’s hands weren’t clean, now was the time to amend, every second mattered.

The Chief explained the seriousness, his mouth parched, yet his wife remained obstinate, claiming to ignore him like a turtle chanting scripture. He was out of solutions, resorting to pretending, saying, "I’m discussing our son’s marriage arrangement."

"What? What?"

His wife perked up immediately, not even wiping her tears, eagerly asking which family’s daughter.

The Chief didn’t want to elaborate further; he said he needed to query their son’s opinion first, asking the mother to give them some privacy. His wife reluctantly stepped away.

"I’ll be right outside; if dad hits you, remember to call me."

Hearing this, Fujiwara Homare considered preventing her departure but was silenced by his father’s stare, left to helplessly watch his nurturing mother pull the dojo door shut.

"Alright, let’s hear it; I’ll help clean up your mess once I’m done beating you." His father casually locked the door behind him.