As Fang Zheng sat on the plane back home, he felt utterly refreshed.
Ah, finally no more being crammed onto the same set with those damned detectives and lawyers. My hometown has plenty of room and nowhere near as much bullshit. Going back will be so much more comfortable.
Once I get back, I'm having soup dumplings, beef noodles, lamb paomo, chopped chili fish head... This world is still in the early nineties. If Fang Zheng remembered correctly, this was practically the last golden age of Chinese folk snack craftsmanship. Once full marketization came along another ten or twenty years later, those folk snacks would all become fast-moving consumer goods and lose their current flavor.
It would be a good chance to take Haibara and Akemi out for authentic Chinese food, lest those pathetic Japanese restaurants give them some bizarre impression of Chinese cuisine.
With such wonderful expectations in his heart, Fang Zheng drifted into a deep sleep.
When he woke after a good nap, he discovered that Akemi and Haibara, seated beside him, were chatting enthusiastically with a girl nearby.
The girl looked sixteen or seventeen. She wore an ordinary school uniform, was very pretty, had waist-length black hair, and seemed lively and cheerful overall.
"Ah, Mr. Fang Zheng, you're awake."
Seeing Fang Zheng wake up, Akemi hurriedly greeted him.
"Listen, this young lady is amazing. She says she's going to China to meet a friend."
"She's a pen pal..."
Hearing Akemi's words, the girl spoke somewhat bashfully.
"We met in Tokyo a year ago, so I wanted to go over suddenly and give her a surprise."
"Oh-ho..."
Hearing the girl's answer, Fang Zheng's first reaction was... She's loaded.
This was the nineties. A high school student dared to fly abroad alone to meet a pen pal?
"But wouldn't