CH-004

The crumbling state of Shu Li’s inner emotions was not written on his face.

After all, the old and young of Yage’s family were counting on him for their future livelihood.

He couldn’t let them feel that just because they had consumed 8 silver coins (400 Huaxia coins) of Shu Li’s money, they were now taking Shu Li’s life.

Shu Li himself had to maintain the consciousness of being the pillar of the family.

But on the way back, he clutched his copper coins, repeatedly regretting that had he known, he should have finished that glass of apple juice, even eating the apple puree at the bottom of the glass clean.

That single glass had cost him two copper coins.

Two copper coins could buy five kilograms of flour at the general store.

If he just made noodles or steamed buns every day, he could have eaten for ten days!

Shu Li let out a deep sigh.

After returning, Shu Li quickly re-examined the assets of the entire church.

This was originally what he should have done as soon as he arrived at the parish.

However, Shu Li had never done this type of work before, nor did he have any experience in managing an enterprise.

In his mind, he was just taking up a post, and there was no need to worry too much about anything.

Thus, during these days, he had only been preparing for the Mass, memorizing Bible stories and dogmas from morning till night. Besides that, he helped repair musical instruments and simple tools, and then engaged in continuous rehearsals.

The dark clouds of financial funding had not appeared in his heart at all.

Consequently, when Shu Li opened the box containing the land deeds and the list of church items, he suddenly thought of a cruel sentence—”The moment a person truly understands reality is the moment they realize that everything they come into contact with costs money, and that money is far beyond what they can afford.”

Church Assets:

1. A small church that is already 68 years old.

2. Two small church farm plots: a rye field and cabbage (the size is not even enough to keep Yage’s family of seven warm and fed).

3. Basic ritual props (one old Bible, one new, a proper altar, candles and holy water just restocked, enough to last three months).

4. Eight clergy members (Shu Li and the Elder’s family: none have salaries, all rely on faith for support, and some church expenses are even earned by Yage’s family).

5. Money Shu Li brought with him: 45 silver coins (which will be used to cover all daily expenses and church repairs for the entire church for the next quarter).

Shu Li pored over the words on the list for half an hour but did not see a single mention of the word “food.”

The old Zhong family said that food is the people’s heaven.

Without food, it is equivalent to the sky collapsing.

Shu Li hung his head, feeling that sitting in the chair, he looked a round older than Elder Yage.

He even had an absurd thought: while he hasn’t completely started the job yet, he should take the remaining 45 silver coins and run away!

Whoever wants to preach in this ghostly place can come and preach.

Anyway, he was an atheist.

However, Shu Li was soon hemmed in by reality again.

He thought of how Elder Yage’s family had worked diligently for this church for over 20 years. If they hadn’t been burdened by this church, their whole family could have gone to other larger towns to make a living. He also remembered that when he appeared, Elder Yage’s family had smiles as if they were seeing the sky clear up.

Shu Li also recalled the male lead’s childhood memories in the novel.

Even if there were no descriptions of Yage’s family in those memories, given Leslie’s madness in being able to dig up dead bones and scatter the ashes, it was hard to say he wouldn’t vent his anger on Yage’s family.

Even setting that aside, if he left like this, the new priest might indiscriminately call Leslie a demon, and it was unknown if that person would treat this family of believers well.

In the long run, it wasn’t worth it for Shu Li to run away over the food issue.

Because seven or eight years in the future, wars would break out in other parts of the continent.

At that time, the flames of war would be continuous, while the male lead’s homeland would always be in the peaceful rear.

Even if he could transfer back to this Savoy parish before the war, returning here then and meeting the people he had once abandoned would be far too embarrassing.

Therefore, running away to the ends of the earth over a catering problem was too ridiculous.

Shu Li sighed.

Will tomorrow’s Mass really manage to attract anyone?

The next day arrived as scheduled.

Before the Mass began, Elder Yage took his eldest son, Raymond, to the church attic. They gripped the rope with both hands and heavily rang the ancient bronze bell. The tolling of the bell was like layers of ocean waves, echoing far and wide, attempting to wash away all the dust and darkness of the world.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

They rang it a full twelve times.

When the bell stopped, before Elder Yage had even come downstairs, he excitedly shouted to Shu Li below, “Lord Alis, it has been a long time since I heard such a sound.”

Downstairs, Shu Li looked up, his gaze following the curve of the bell tower, and waved his hand with a smile.

The bell for the morning Mass had already rung; next was to wait quietly for the visit of the faithful.

However, forty-five minutes passed, and the church still had no outside guests.

The two twins responsible for singing could no longer bear to sit and wait; they sprawled on the pine-wood seat backs and began picking at insect holes and cracks.

Elder Yage and Raymond looked at each other. Although they had the answer in their hearts long ago, facing a situation where no one showed interest still left them feeling somewhat despondent.

For a long time, they had been waiting for a hope.

Then they waited and found Priest Alis. However, after this hope appeared before them, Elder Yage noticed that what they were actually waiting for was a miracle.

Hope is easy to wait for, but miracles are hard to find.

The young Priest Alis stood by the altar, checked the time again, confirmed no one was coming, and spoke, “Although an empty-floor Mass is a bit quiet, according to church regulations, since the date of the Mass has been announced, we have no reason to cancel it at will.”

He just smiled slightly and steadily like that, and Elder Yage’s anxiety vanished into thin air.

“Then let’s begin now!” Elder Yage called to the twins, “Little choir, come quickly.”

As soon as the two children heard they were being called, they immediately scrambled up from the chairs and ran over like little larks.

Raymond also quickly noticed that the children’s white skirts had been wrinkled by the chairs; he was about to reach out to help straighten them. Another person burst in like the wind—it was Yage’s daughter, Cecilia.

She shouted, “Lord Alis, Father, Brother! I know where everyone has gone?! The people who agreed to come are all there!”

Raymond suddenly became energetic, “Then let’s go quickly and bring them here.”

Shu Li: “…”

Better not.

Actually, staying quiet like this isn’t necessarily bad.

Anyway, the first Mass certainly won’t yield much effect.

It turned out that Yage and the others had already made many preparations for the first Mass.

While it was difficult to pull young people and children into the church, those elderly people with nothing to do were quite easy to move.

Thus, under Cecilia’s many days of persuasion, using the condition that “each person who participates in the Mass can receive a piece of rye bread,” she finally moved five or six old people to come and participate. As a result, when the Mass bell rang, Cecilia found that not a single person had arrived, so she went around to inquire for news.

Only then did she finally get some information.

Cecilia hurried over to tell the long-waiting members of the church, “A few days ago, didn’t the grandparents of the Ander family get murdered? Today everyone discovered that their neighbor, Granny Bessie, who makes apple pies, also met a tragic end. But this time, someone caught the murderer directly. The old gentlemen and ladies who said they would participate in the Mass have all rushed to judge that little demon.”

Hearing the term “little demon,” Shu Li’s eyes flashed.

This was an ominous premonition.

He felt he had guessed who it was.

Shu Li still asked knowingly, “Who?”

Yage’s daughter Cecilia replied, “It’s the Duke’s youngest son.”

“Everyone feels he is gloomy on normal days and will definitely do bad things; it’s said he even tortured and killed cats. Now, having been caught in the act this time and trying to run away, the constable definitely won’t let him go. If our Lord Alis takes this opportunity to follow and uphold justice for everyone, he will surely gain the trust of a group of people.”

“Speaking of which, the recent events with the Ander family have really terrified the old people in town.” Yage’s son Raymond also felt this incident could be a very good opportunity, “We can take the chance to comfort them! We will surely be able to harvest a group of believers.”

It was indeed true; the two groups in the world from whom it is easiest to earn are the elderly and children.

Shu Li felt this matter was likely to invite unnecessary trouble.

He spoke up, “If we go over now, the crowd will surely have dispersed. If they are willing to come, they will certainly come.”

But Raymond did not have such a Zen-like mindset and took the lead in moving everyone, “Believers are not easy to get. We should still go and take a look!”

Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go.

Although that was what Shu Li thought internally, under the gaze of the entire family, that sense of responsibility as the “pillar of the home” still drove him to follow and take a look.

The one point he had not said correctly was—”the crowd had not dispersed yet.”

It was said the constable was drunk and had not woken up yet. Because of this, everyone had not dispersed, insisting on waiting until there was a conclusion.

The surrounding crowd grew more and more crowded, and voices of criticism came thick and fast, one after another, aggressive and full of condemnation and anger.

“It’s him! Such a cruel heart! This kind of demon should be set on fire and burned to death.”

“This is a venomous snake, a venomous snake! If this kind of person becomes our lord, it would be terrifying!”

“When is the constable coming?”

These voices sharply pierced Leslie’s eardrums.

Leslie did not speak; his eyes were cast down, his brow slightly furrowed, and his wrist was being gripped by someone so hard his fingertips were white, devoid of bl00d.

However, the crowd did not wait for the constable; they only waited for a newly arrived young priest.

Although the Savoy parish had no religious believers, the church’s power was external, and the crowd was unclear about this priest’s background, so they just let him walk to the front of the people.

“What happened?” The priest spoke as if he were the one in charge.

The one holding Leslie was a hunter.

He originally didn’t want to pay attention to this young man, but he couldn’t withstand the seven members of Yage’s family “whooshing” and completely surrounding him, carrying an aura that suggested if he bullied their family’s little priest, the whole family would skin him alive.

The hunter suppressed his impatience and disdain and responded, “When I was delivering fresh wild boar meat to Granny Bessie, I found the door open. Before I even went in, I saw Granny Bessie had died tragically inside the house. At that time, this child popped out. The kid had a guilty conscience; as soon as he saw me, he ran. After I caught him, he was inconsistent and told nothing but lies. If this isn’t the murderer, who is? We are currently waiting for the constable to come and settle the case.”

The priest then asked in detail, “What lies did he tell?”

“I asked him if he had a hand in the killing. He said no.”

The hunter glared fiercely at Leslie and said further, “I was asking him if he saw anyone running away from this house? He said, no.”

The priest said, “That sounds more like saying the child has nothing to do with the murder case.”

The hunter immediately gave a cold laugh, “The main point comes now. Then, I asked again, when he ran past Granny Bessie’s door, did he see that someone had died? He also said no.”

The fire of justice that hates evil burned in the hunter’s eyes as he said, “Such an obvious corpse was inside, and he passed by the door and said he didn’t see it?”

“If this isn’t lying, what is it? Can this be believed?”

When the crowd heard this, their indignant emotions were also ignited, and they all joined in the chorus.

“He is obviously lying! How could he not see? We can see the situation inside from here!”

“Yes! He is guilty!”

“Unless he is blind, otherwise he killed her!”

The priest remained unmoved and pointed out calmly, “There is a problem with your way of questioning. Children of this age group cannot distinguish the difference between ‘uncertain’ and ‘no’.”

The hunter’s brow furrowed, completely uncomprehending, “What are you saying?”

“The child said no because he might really not have seen it; he doesn’t know how to use ‘uncertain’ to explain the situation.” The priest glanced at him and suddenly asked, “Did you hear the bell today?”

The hunter was a bit hesitant but quickly responded, “I, I didn’t hear it.”

As soon as these words fell, the expressions of the surrounding onlookers also slightly changed.

The sound of a parish bell can cover the entire town.

If there were only one ring, it might have been missed. But the bell rang for a full twelve times.

“He might have been too nervous! Scared by Granny Bessie’s corpse, so he didn’t hear it, it’s very normal.”

“Exactly! What does this have to do with Granny Bessie’s death?”

“I didn’t hear it just now either!”

Voices from the passers-by quickly rose to defend the hunter.

The hunter now was the hero who caught the demon; everyone obviously trusted him more.

The hunter immediately adjusted his answer and said, “I’m actually not sure if there was a bell!”

The priest continued to say calmly, “Thank you for your cooperation. You also said no at the beginning, but later you adjusted your answer based on everyone’s reaction. This shows that the so-called ‘no’ is a subjective consciousness rather than a factual basis. Adults are able to clearly self-adjust their answers, but children do not understand the usage of ‘uncertain,’ so he will only say no.”

“In other words, when he says no, it might be that he really didn’t see it.”

Shu Li was just about to explain that Leslie also had no bloodstains on him after a crime at the scene. But the long-awaited constable happened to appear as well.

He gave a loud shout, “The priest is right! If the kid didn’t see it, he didn’t see it. If he didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t kill anyone. This matter ends here! Everyone disperse!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the constable took a club and knocked away the hunter’s hand that was holding Leslie, “How dare you brat be so rude to our Duke’s young master!”

The hunter immediately let out a cry of pain and his hand opened.

Leslie subconsciously rubbed his wrist and said coldly, “Can I go now?”

“Yes, young master, you may go! If there’s anything, just let them come and find me.”

The constable’s fawning posture was fully visible; the onlookers were angry but dared not speak.

After watching Leslie leave, the constable turned toward Shu Li’s direction and thanked him again, “As expected of the Priest, seeing clearly and able to see through to the truth! Thank you for speaking out for justice.”

Before these words had even settled, Shu Li only felt that his back had been pierced with countless holes by the gazes of the crowd, and his whole body felt both cold and hot, “…No need for thanks.”

This matter, of course, was not over yet.

The morning after the Mass.

Just as Shu Li was about to leave his residence, he smelled a foul odor coming from the doorway.

Opening the door to look, he found that outside his door, someone had thrown a dead rat.