Chapter 156

"Ah, I knew Dad would end up like this."

After a few days, Mao Li Lan returned to the Mao Li Detective Agency.

The result was exactly as she had expected.

Without her, the house was truly a mess.

Inside the detective agency, Dad's desk was covered with cigarettes, beer cans, and all sorts of trash.

This looked nothing like a detective agency.

"Ran, why are you back?"

Mao Li Lan's father, Kogoro, looked at Ran with slight embarrassment.

"What do you think, Dad?"

Her smiling expression made Kogoro even more embarrassed.

"I thought the trouble with Mom's side was bad enough."

"Who knew that the trouble on Dad's side wouldn't let me rest easy either."

"One turned the agency into a mess, and the other stuffed the fridge with a huge amount of seasonings."

"Both are bad at housework, and neither is any good at cooking."

Ran's complaints grew sharper and sharper.

She truly felt that these parents were completely unreliable.

In fact, she felt that if it weren't for her, this family would have collapsed.

Kogoro could only passively take it.

"And Dad, you should hurry up and apologize to Mom."

"Hah!?"

"Why should I apologize to her?"

Seeing Dad's stubborn look, Ran bluntly hit the key point with a blank expression.

"Because Mom is very popular over there."

"I also heard that many excellent prosecutors are pursuing her."

"Dad, you need to be careful."

"I don't want to call someone else Dad in the future."

Kogoro's entire face turned dark.

That shock was truly quite severe.

He knew many people were pursuing Eri, but he didn't know that Ran had found out after just a few days.

Heaven knows what kind of pursuit tactics they are using over there.

This created a strong sense of crisis in his heart.

He absolutely did not want his daughter to end up calling someone else Dad.

I'll talk to Eri later.

This problem is quite serious; we really can't let things develop like this.

"And Dad, is there any work at the agency recently?"

"Yes, what's up?"

Although they were all trivial jobs with very low fees, at least there were still some jobs.

"I'm more worried that with the agency in such a terrible state, you might not have received any work for a long time."

"Ran, you're underestimating me."

"Your Dad can still get some work."

"Hmm, I believe that."

Ran pouted.

"Finding lost animals is definitely no problem for Dad."

"Also, Dad has investigation skills; he's also great at investigating infidelity."

She never doubted Dad's professional ability.

As a former police officer, Dad had his own methods for investigation and evidence collection.

Dad's methods from his police work can be applied to detective work; otherwise, Dad wouldn't have resigned from the police and devoted himself entirely to the detective agency.

It's just a pity that deduction is not Dad's strong suit.

Otherwise, Dad wouldn't have jumped with anger upon seeing the newspaper report about Shinichi.

"Dad, let me remind you, Valentine's Day is coming soon."

"I think Dad should make a gesture, so that so many male prosecutors don't go give Mom chocolates."

"It shouldn't be... that bad, right?"

Kogoro's eyes started to drift.

He really wasn't sure if it had truly become like that.

But he knew that if he was really too negligent, there might come a day when Ran calls another man Dad.

"Anyway, I've already warned you; if Dad still has his wife stolen from under him, then that's Dad's own problem."

These words made Kogoro gradually develop a sense of crisis.

Ran is living with Eri now; heaven knows if Ran really saw male prosecutors going to see Eri.

Whether for work reasons or personal reasons, this made him feel quite uncomfortable.

"Don't talk about me."

"Do you have plans for Valentine's Day yourself?"

No sooner had he spoken than Mao Li Kogoro couldn't help but want to slap himself.

Truly, he brought up the very topic that should have been avoided.

"Yes, I do."

"Recently, I've implicitly joined another club at school, and the club has its own activities."

"There's a classmate in the club who helped me; this Valentine's Day, I plan to give him chocolate to thank him for his constant help."

Mao Li Kogoro looked at his daughter strangely.

"What do you mean by 'implicitly joined' another club?"

"It means joining without being an official member."

"I'm a member of the school's Karate Club, and if I don't want to quit, this is the only way to join another club implicitly."

Only then did Mao Li Kogoro understand what implicit joining meant.

But precisely because he understood, he understood even less.

"Would the president of your Karate Club be willing to let you go?"

"No, he wouldn't."

"But quite a lot of people have joined that club."

"Even if quite a lot have joined..."

"There's Sonoko, and Young Ladies like Sonoko."

"..."

Good heavens, that's the real key, isn't it?

At that moment, Mao Li Kogoro felt he had finally grasped the truth.

It wasn't that he didn't want to interfere, but that he simply couldn't.

Even if he knew his daughter was in Sonoko Suzuki's club along with a bunch of other Young Ladies, he wouldn't dare to make a scene.

He was starting to understand the president of the Karate Club.

It wasn't that he didn't want to interfere; it was that he simply lacked the courage to do so.

If he truly interfered, whether the Karate Club would still exist afterward would be another matter entirely.

If he didn't stir up trouble, perhaps everything would remain fine.

If he did stir up trouble, their star player might even leave with them, and the club itself would likely suffer.

Since the outcome was already known to be like this, it was better to just turn a blind eye.

Besides, the star player didn't intend to quit the Karate Club anyway.

Mao Li Kogoro tried to guess the Karate Club's feelings in this situation.