Chapter 10 The Dinner

Evening, eight o'clock, in the dining room of the villa.

Apart from the maid, Oliver, all the other suspects were seated on either side of a long table. Officer Dumpty stood by the dining room door, his posture seemingly casual, but in reality, he was closely monitoring everyone in the room.

The atmosphere in the dining room was very oppressive, with little conversation. Everyone sat there, thinking about their own worries. Of course, this was normal... A brutal murder had just occurred under this roof. Apart from a weirdo like Feng Bujue, who could maintain a good mood?

"The moonlight is beautiful tonight, don't you think?" Feng Bujue's figure appeared at the door, attracting everyone's attention. He looked very excited, seemingly sending a signal to everyone, hinting that he had already found the real culprit.

However... due to his previous behavior, the Lovecraft family did not have a good impression of this great detective. Although his reasoning was clear, convincing, vivid, and plausible... but in the end, these messy slanders of his all had very obvious loopholes, the kind that ordinary people could see through at a glance and refute with a single sentence.

"Too bad I don't have a mold, otherwise I would make a batch of mooncakes for dessert." Feng Bujue said, walking towards the dining table, with a large paper bag of unknown origin under his arm, seemingly filled with many things.

Aunt Oliver pushed a small cart and entered the dining room behind Jue-ge. The cart had three tiers and was now full of dishes.

"Your kitchen is really good, Mr. Lovecraft." Feng Bujue sat down in the seat directly opposite the host and casually placed the paper bag under his chair. "I have been to some so-called 'high-end restaurants' that are all name and no substance. They have luxurious facades, luxurious dining environments, luxurious tableware, and luxurious prices. But the kitchen is a dirty and chaotic mess... full of buzzing and crawling invertebrates, and the chefs are mostly undercover agents sent by those animals to humans, because their only talent is to use their hands to create disgusting dark matter."

"If you want to use a compliment as a way to start a conversation..." Colton looked at Jue-ge coldly and replied, "Just say the first sentence, there's no need to take the opportunity to share your unpleasant past experiences with us."

While they were talking, Oliver had pushed the cart to the side of the dining table. Because the tableware had already been set up in advance, she now began to serve the dishes directly.

Henderson saw this and stood up from his chair, walking towards the cart: "Let me help you, Oliver."

"No, you sit down, Henderson." Jack quickly got up and came over, pressing the old butler back into his chair. This second young master was still nice to the servants at home, and he was too embarrassed to let an old man who had just fainted in the afternoon help with the dishes.

Before long, a plate of appetizers had been placed in front of each person.

Feng Bujue obviously didn't intend to be polite with this family. Not only did he not get up to help, but he also grabbed half a bottle of red wine from the middle of the table and poured himself a glass.

"Hmm... domaine_de_trevALLon, 1985..." Feng Bujue only took a sip before picking up the wine bottle to look at the label. "Heh... life is full of surprises." This sip was a real bargain; in real life, this bottle of red wine could probably be exchanged for a game pod...

"Oh? Do you know that winery?" Mrs. Odette said. "My husband also likes it very much, and we order a batch from there every year."

"Ah... I know about it." Feng Bujue shrugged. "It's just... my financial conditions don't allow me to make bulk purchases at famous wineries in southeastern France every year... The only commodities I can hoard in bulk are probably toilet paper and carbonated drinks."

"Oliver..." Miss Nancy on the other side of the table suddenly spoke. "Did you make this dish?" She looked at the contents of the plate in front of her, with a hint of doubt on her face.

"No, today's dishes were all made by this Mr. Feng." Oliver replied and pushed the cart, preparing to go to the kitchen to get the soup. Usually, she, Barton, and Henderson had their meals separately from the master and his wife. And Dr. Powell's home was in town, and he usually went back before evening. Therefore, the situation of more than a dozen people gathering at a table for a meal like today was rare.

"Oh?" Nancy turned her head to Feng Bujue. "I can't tell... you have this skill. This charcoal-grilled asparagus with salmon roe is already at a professional level, right? Compared to a detective, I think you are more suitable to be a chef."

While people were talking, Feng Bujue was adding red wine to his wine glass. It seemed that he didn't plan to hand over the bottle in his hand to anyone until he had finished drinking it. "There are many jobs that I am capable of, this is nothing."

"Hmph... a good cook is a beggar in his old age." Jack stuffed a piece of asparagus into his mouth. Judging by his attitude, he was clearly trying to pick a fight.

"There's my booger in your plate." Feng Bujue only took a second to calmly utter a very lethal sentence.

Jack's expression changed drastically, coughing and choking, nearly suffocating.

"Hehe... just kidding." Feng Bujue said two seconds later. "The plates were all randomly placed on the cart, and you distributed them yourself. How could something like that happen?"

"You..." Jack wanted to curse, but at this table... there were elders and ladies. He really couldn't lose his temper, so he could only wipe his mouth with a napkin and swallow his anger.

"See, my analytical skills are still convincing, right?" Feng Bujue smiled.

"Alright, Mr. Feng." Colton said. "Let's stop with the jokes." He stared at Jue-ge. "You restricted our freedom and claimed that you know who the murderer is, but you are still unwilling to say it." He took a breath. "Odette said that you went to the kitchen to help more than an hour ago. I thought you were just using the excuse of helping to ask her and Oliver questions, but I didn't expect you were really cooking... What exactly do you want to do?"

"Hehe... what do I want to do?" Feng Bujue picked up his knife and fork and began to devour the appetizer in front of him. "You are asking the obvious, Mr. Lovecraft." He chewed the asparagus, making a clicking sound, not caring about revealing the food in his mouth while speaking. "Isn't everyone here looking forward to a reasoning show? Ha... don't worry, the famous detective Feng Bujue will not disappoint you, I will now present a good show."