Chapter 211: The Best Card

Awazu Hideki discovered something was wrong, but he didn't show it, instead piling up a smile.

"May I ask if you are Teacher Oonuki's mother?"

The woman nodded and then pushed open the door.

"Why don't you come in and talk in detail, Masakazu went out, and it will take a while before he comes back."

Awazu Hideki waved his hand, "No, actually I came to find you."

After saying this, he handed the gift in his hand to the woman, "To thank you for your support for Teacher Oonuki, the editorial department specially prepared a gift for you."

The woman smiled "How embarrassing," but her hand naturally took the gift.

Awazu Hideki saw her accept it, then politely declined the suggestion to come in for tea, said "Goodbye," and left.

He just wanted to get away as soon as possible and then investigate slowly. But if he left without doing anything, it would be even more abrupt.

Can only hope this woman doesn't think too much and just thinks he is an ordinary editor from "Tokyo Youth."

After leaving Oonuki Masakazu's home, Awazu Hideki walked for about two blocks, then found a phone booth, inserted a phone card, and called Dacheng Lixiang.

After the call was connected, he reported the situation one by one.

Dacheng Lixiang, upon learning the situation, requested him to stop other unimportant proofreading work and focus on investigating this situation.

In addition, an extra fund was allocated to him.

After obtaining the funds, Awazu Hideki immediately found a detective agency with cooperation experience and requested a thorough investigation of Oonuki Masakazu—including his family relationships, asset status, interpersonal contacts, and relationship with "Tokyo Youth."

After receiving the commission, the detective agency arranged a veteran detective to conduct about two weeks of follow-up investigation on Oonuki Masakazu himself.

Setagaya Ward, Aoyama Detective Agency.

Awazu Hideki and a middle-aged man with a plain appearance sat on the sofa and chatted about the results of this investigation.

"Awazu-san, this is a series of photos I took."

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he placed a stack of photos on the coffee table, and Awazu Hideki lowered his head, picked up the photos, and looked at them.

In these photos, a gloomy-looking dry and thin man is either playing steel balls or hugging a woman and drinking.

Awazu Hideki raised his eyebrows and asked: "Ando-san, please briefly talk about your harvest."

The middle-aged man nodded and began to talk.

"The family relationship of the investigated person is relatively simple, but his growth environment is a bit bad. His father is an alcoholic and has domestic violence, and his mother is gossipy and calculating. Because of the influence of his parents, the investigated person's temper is also a bit bad, and his interpersonal relationship is poor without friends."

Awazu Hideki nodded. According to the photos provided by the other party, it can be seen that Oonuki Masakazu himself gambles and is lustful.

The middle-aged man continued: "According to the gossip among their neighbors, I also learned one thing."

"Please tell me."

"When Oonuki Masakazu himself entered the Mystery Literature Newcomer Award, his mother shouted in the shopping street that her son would become a great writer, which caused some people's disgust. After failing to win the award, their family became a laughing stock instead."

The middle-aged man took out a notebook and continued to read.

"But he did enter this award after all, so soon a publisher contacted and published his work, but the final sales of this work were still unsatisfactory. This also led to the bad economic situation of Oonuki Masakazu's family, and even received low-income benefits for a period of time,"

Awazu Hideki frowned and asked again: "Don't his parents have jobs?"

"His father has an unstable job at an izakaya. His mother has none. But the reason for their bad family situation is that Oonuki Masakazu himself often spends money lavishly."

Awazu Hideki sighed. This person has already contracted so many bad habits before becoming famous, even if he wins an award, he probably won't go far.

Just when he was sighing, the middle-aged man said again: "But in January, their family's economic situation suddenly improved."

He pointed to a photo of the other party drinking on the coffee table.

"According to my conversation with the supermarket boss in the shopping street, the wine he originally drank was cheap inferior wine, but in the middle of January, he suddenly started buying high-end foreign wine lavishly, and even bought high-end Wagyu beef."

Awazu Hideki pressed: "What improved the economy? What does it have to do with 'Tokyo Youth'?"

The middle-aged man shook his head.

"Specifics are still under investigation. But through tracking, I found that a black high-end business sedan would often stop downstairs at their house on Monday nights. Then a masked person would hold an envelope and walk into their home, and bring out a thick document bag. So I suspect they should be trading through cash."

Awazu Hideki pondered, feeling more and more wrong.

Generally speaking, when the editorial department and writers settle manuscript fees, they often transfer directly through the bank. After all, it is very inconvenient to put a large pile of cash.

Unless there is some special reason?

"Ando-san, please continue to investigate. It is best to take a front photo of that masked person. In addition, it is best to know the specific content in that document bag."

Hearing this request from Awazu Hideki, the middle-aged man revealed a bitter smile, "Awazu-san, your second request is a bit difficult."

"If you can know the news inside, the remuneration is easy to discuss," Awazu Hideki met his gaze and said seriously: "As an old customer, you should know that I don't lie."

The middle-aged man pondered for a while, gritted his teeth and agreed.

At worst, buy some wiretaps and micro-cameras, he really doesn't believe he can't handle it!

After leaving the detective agency, Awazu Hideki immediately returned to the "April Youth" editorial department and reported all the investigation results to Dacheng Lixiang.

After finishing everything, Awazu Hideki said: "Editor-in-Chief, there are indeed some transactions between Oonuki Masakazu and 'Tokyo Youth,' but the content of the transactions between the two is still unclear."

Dacheng Lixiang carefully looked at her capable subordinate, "Awazu, you actually know it yourself, right? Besides writing manuscripts, what else can there be between writers and editors?"

Awazu Hideki hesitated for two seconds and then said: "I have indeed thought about this possibility, but I flipped through the periodicals of 'Tokyo Youth' since January, and didn't see any works signed by the other party."

Dacheng Lixiang laughed, "What if it's not convenient to sign, or if it's signed with someone else's name?"

Awazu Hideki muttered: "Ghostwriter? This is not very possible!"

He had indeed imagined this possibility, but subconsciously denied it directly.

Because "Tokyo Youth" is the industry's number one literary periodical, it will inevitably attach great importance to its reputation!

If this matter is exposed, it will inevitably cause great resentment from readers and the public!

No matter from which angle, it is completely a loss that outweighs the gain!

Dacheng Lixiang asked back: "What if 'Tokyo Youth' has a work that has to find a ghostwriter?"

She paused and listed some conditions before, "According to the investigation results of that detective, the other party's economic situation was in January, Awazu, think carefully, what happened to 'Tokyo Youth' during that period?"

Awazu Hideki frowned and thought for a while, then said: "Screen adaptation of 'Detective Kamimura'?"

Dacheng Lixiang nodded and then said: "Not only that, at that time, the style of 'Detective Kamimura' changed, so we also found Teacher Akiwara to discuss and ask him if he thought the other party was plagiarizing."

"But Teacher Akiwara thinks the other party didn't plagiarize, just borrowed," Awazu Hideki followed her words and then said: "Editor-in-Chief, you mean..."

Dacheng Lixiang leaned on the back of the chair and stated her guess in a certain tone.

"I make a guess here. Because of some problems, the author of 'Detective Kamimura,' Furuya Masaaki, wanted to give up serialization. But 'Tokyo Youth' was talking about screen adaptation at the time, so they found Oonuki Masakazu as a ghostwriter to replace him and continue serializing."

She continued: "In this case, around 'Detective Kamimura,' Furuya Masaaki can continue to take royalties, 'Tokyo Youth' can use screen adaptation to drive sales, and Oonuki Masakazu gets a remuneration to solve the economic dilemma."

Awazu Hideki nodded subconsciously. According to Dacheng Lixiang's speculation, everything is very reasonable!

This also proves why "Tokyo Youth" and the other party had to use cash for docking, because it couldn't be seen!

And Dacheng Lixiang laughed. She was originally worrying about how to defeat "Tokyo Youth" and become the industry's number one. Now it seems that this point is not a problem at all!

After all, the other party has already sent the best card to herself! ===== CHAPTER 212 =====