What is the next number in this matchsticks series riddle?

I am sometimes honest
Sometimes dishonest
I can be sweet and also bitter
I can hurt you real bad and
also make u smile and blush ☺️
What am I?

Two friends were stuck in a cottage. They had nothing to do and thus they started playing cards. Suddenly the power went off and Friend 1 inverted the position of 15 cards in the normal deck of 52 cards and shuffled it. Now he asked Friend 2 to divide the cards into two piles (need not be equal) with equal number of cards facing up. The room was quite dark and Friend 2 could not see the cards. He thinks for a while and then divides the cards in two piles.

On checking, the count of cards facing up is same in both the piles. How could Friend 2 have done it ?

You are provided with a grid (as shown in the picture). Can you fill the squares with numbers 1-8 in a manner that none of the two consecutive numbers are placed next to each other in any direction (vertically, horizontally or diagonally?)

Count the number of times the letter "F" appears in the following paragraph:

FAY FRIED FIFTY POUNDS OF
SALTED FISH AND THREE POUNDS
OF DRY FENNEL FOR DINNER FOR
FORTY MEMBERS OF HER FATHER'S FAMILY.

A Japanese ship is sailing in the Indian Ocean. The captain of the ship feels tired and decides to take shower to be rejuvenated. He goes to take the shower after keeping his diamond-studded Rolex watch and gold chain on the table.
When he comes back after 15 minutes, he finds them missing. There are 4 crew members on the ship and he calls them one by one to ask them what they were doing in that duration.

Following are the answers:
1. Crew 'A' who is the cook replies that he was cooking mutton for the crew members.
2. Crew 'B' who is a housekeeper tells that he was sleeping in his room.
3. Crew 'C' who is the engineer says that he was checking on the generator.
4. Crew 'D' who is another housekeeper says that he was correcting the hoisted flag that was put upside down.

It took only a couple of seconds for the captain to find the thief. Can you find the thief too?

If,

6 / 7 = 2
3 / 9 = 7
8 / 2 = 6

Then

4 / 5 = ?

While handling a project, the landscaper is asked by the owner of the mansion that he wants four trees in front of his mansion that are exactly equidistant from each other.

How will he do it?

As a whole I am both
safe and secure.

Behead me and I become
a place of meeting.

Behead me again and I am
the partner of ready.

Restore me, and I become
the domain of beasts.

What am I?

It belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do. What is it?