CH-010
Alan the shepherd boy walked for an hour along the main road from a small village next to the Savoy pasture.
The weather was fine, and the sunlight was brilliant and bright.
By the time he reached the church, a thin layer of sweat had formed on Alan’s forehead, glistening slightly in the sun. However, he didn’t feel very tired. It wasn’t until the priest inside the church brought him a cup of water that Alan felt a bit thirsty.
However, that water was quite warm…
Alan looked to the side and saw that by the priest’s hand sat a yellow clay water pot base with a hollowed-out pattern, containing a candle for continuous heating. On top of the base sat the teapot, with a wisp of faint white steam lazily rising from the spout.
The candle’s flame was small; for it to make steam rise like that, it must be because the priest kept the teapot on the clay base to heat and preserve its temperature.
Noticing Alan’s gaze, the young priest said casually: “The sanctuary lamp has to stay lit anyway, so I might as well use it to heat and keep the drinking water warm.”
“You know, boiling water can effectively kill the bacteria in the water…”
Noticing the shepherd boy’s expression becoming more confused the more he heard, the priest corrected himself: “I mean, it’s a kind of purification for the water. And warm water is better for the body.” These words seemed spoken to himself, because Alan didn’t understand at all.
Soon, the priest asked kindly: “By the way, do you want to eat a rock candy apple?”
Alan didn’t understand, but his intuition told him that this priest had a kind of fastidiousness that he couldn’t see through or guess, and which was exceptionally stubborn. He had never seen anyone specifically heat or keep water warm to drink it.
This unfamiliarity made it impossible for him to easily try to understand.
He lowered his head and stared at the cup of warm water for two seconds, his fingertips inconspicuously stroking the rim of the cup, but he never drank, nor did he reach out to take the proposed rock candy apple.
After a moment of silence, he looked up at the priest, his gaze carrying a hint of testing and hesitation: “I heard… the God here knows everything, right?”
The priest’s gaze was as gentle as water, but his tone betrayed no emotional fluctuations: “If you have something to say, you might as well say it directly.”
Alan lowered his eyes, a flash of hesitation crossing his face as he still wavered over his choice. After a moment, he finally stood up from his seat, took a deep breath, and toward the priest’s direction, rolled up his sleeves to reveal his two arms covered in scars—looking as if they were caused by intertwined wooden sticks or vines.
He didn’t speak, only looked down at the red welts on his arms that looked like the teeth of a comb, and then raised his eyes toward the priest’s direction.
The moment the two made eye contact, Alan’s eyes instantly filled with tears, as if long-suppressed grievances had finally found an outlet.
“Father…” Alan sobbed once and wiped his nose with his hand.
“It’s alright, tell me first what you experienced?” the priest guided him patiently.
Alan lowered his head, subconsciously sniffed his nose, and spoke: “My father often beats me at home… these were left by the beating he gave me a few days ago, they still haven’t faded.”
He raised his arms, his fingertips trembling slightly, “I’ve been scared all along, and I don’t know how to make my father stop beating me…”
He looked at the priest, a pleading tearful light in his eyes: “I heard that God is omniscient… then He must know how to save me, right?” After saying this, he subconsciously wiped his nose again.
The priest remained gentle throughout but also calm, making Alan feel very uncertain; his head slowly lowered, and he cried even more pitifully.
“Can I touch your wound?” the priest said gently at this time, “How long has this wound been there, can you tell me specifically? I want to know if it still hurts now?”
“Four days? Five days?” Alan thought about it and replied, “I can’t remember anymore. It doesn’t hurt that much now.”
He carefully scrutinized the priest’s handsome and elegant features. The submissive appearance looked exceptionally kind and considerate, very much like the old grandfather at the entrance of the village who often gave him candy—extremely easy to deceive, extremely easy to fool.
“Truly pitiful,” the priest sighed.
Listening to the voice, Alan couldn’t help but want to laugh inside, but the timing wasn’t right yet.
Over the past few days at home, he had heard his parents talking about how a priest with great divine powers had come to the Savoy pasture town; the townspeople respected and feared him, not daring to get close. Consequently, a bit of a competitive spirit rose within Alan.
If someone like this were played for a fool by him, wouldn’t that make him stronger than anyone else?
He was just about to speak when he saw the priest use his thumb to scratch a mark on his arm.
A bright red mark swelled up.
Alan’s heart rate suddenly accelerated, and looking at the priest again, his gaze was clear and transparent, as if he had seen right through his soul. He hurriedly pulled back his hand and explained: “You hurt me…”
“Is that so?” the priest continued, “Just now, God whispered in my ear, saying that as long as you stay here with me for another half hour, your problem might be successfully resolved.”
Alan’s ears instantly turned hot, “No… it’s too late now, I have to go back. I can’t stay here that long.”
“Alright then.” The priest did not block him further, “If you have any more doubts, come back and find me anytime.”
Alan’s footsteps subconsciously retreated, as if under the priest’s words, what he encountered was not a God who would save him, but a scourge or a wild beast, “…I’ll come back tomorrow.”
As for whether he would really come to the church again tomorrow, that was a different matter.
“Mm-hmm,” Shu Li nodded very agreeably, “See you tomorrow.”
Just as Shu Li’s voice of confusion emerged, a clear and youthful voice rang out from the entrance of the church hall, “Finnian the shepherd boy, a loathsome liar and troublemaker from the neighboring village who likes to fool people and exploit others’ goodwill and kindness. Because he frequently runs away from home, it’s no wonder his parents beat him.”
“If you want to trick someone, don’t come here to have your fun.” Leslie’s attitude toward Finnian was very impolite, “Last time you tricked the bakery lady into crying, and this time you’ve set your sights on the priest?”
Leslie… is he a messenger of justice?
Shu Li muttered in his heart.
On the other side, Finnian did not lose ground, his expression changing from the previous shyness and fragility, “You’re a pariah yourself, what are you putting on an act in front of me for?”
Leslie strode toward him, driving him away, “Go back quickly!”
Finnian thought he was going to hit him, so his steps made an urgent wide detour; as he neared the door, he didn’t forget to make a face at him, “I’m only going back because it’s getting late. Don’t you think I’m afraid of you!”
Leslie stared at him leaving with piercing eyes and criticized Shu Li: “You know, if I hadn’t appeared, you would have been tricked by him.”
“…” Shu Li sighed and said, “I knew he was lying.”
“What?”
This time it was Leslie’s turn for his momentum to weaken, “I didn’t hear you expose a single lie the whole time.”
“There were many flaws on him: for example, he always subconsciously wanted to touch his nose, or for example, his wounds were red, but he said they were marks from being whipped a few days ago…”
Leslie frowned, “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Let’s start from the simplest part.” Shu Li sat down himself, poured a cup of warm water, and explained, “He said his father beat him, but those scars were as neat as if he had made them himself—no one beats that evenly and regularly.”
“So at the time I was thinking, why would he self-harm?”
“That’s why I purposely asked ambiguously to let him slip up. He said the marks were caused by his father a few days ago. People who have truly suffered many injuries know that bruises might stay red for the first two days, but after two days they start to turn blue-purple, and after five days they’re green.”
“So, you guessed these were scars he made himself, and they weren’t real whip marks.” Leslie’s brain moved fast and he immediately said, “So that’s why you said you wanted to touch them, to see if it was pigment?”
But Leslie still didn’t understand, “Then why make him wait for half an hour?”
Shu Li explained: “Because he could act so skillfully, it’s definitely not the first time he’s done it, so I guessed he might have urticaria. Sure enough, a scratch from a fingernail turned red; I imagine it will fade in half an hour.”
“So letting him sit by himself for half an hour was to make his own lie collapse on its own.” Inside, Leslie was both surprised and impressed by Shu Li’s methods, but still had many doubts, saying, “Then when did you discover he was lying? The moment you saw the scars, you knew he was lying?”
“Not quite,” Shu Li smiled and said, “I mainly noticed that he kept subconsciously wiping his nose. People love to touch their noses when they lie—that’s common sense.”
Leslie frowned, “I’ve never heard of this common sense, you’re making it up, right? It’s not convincing at all compared to before.”
Shu Li gave up explaining and smiled, “God told me.”
Leslie didn’t speak, but just looked at Shu Li suspiciously, “…Are you actually a liar too? You’re lying as well.”
Haha.
Leslie said: “If God really saw it and knows everything, why didn’t you expose him in public, but instead just let him leave like that.”
Shu Li replied: “Because there’s no need to say such things too clearly.”
Leslie stated bluntly, “I don’t understand. He’s not the kind of person who will become your believer; even if he says he will on the surface, he’s actually lying to you.”
Shu Li explained: “There wasn’t such deep thought. Simply—if I explained it clearly to him, he would know how to make his lies more perfect. Isn’t it better that he’s this clumsy now?”
Hearing this, Leslie immediately distanced himself from Shu Li, “…Your true face is revealed, I knew you weren’t some good person.”
Shu Li smiled: “…” Too lazy to argue with a child.
Seeing Shu Li smile, Leslie grew even more suspicious; before leaving, he still dropped a harsh word, saying: “I will definitely kick you out! Don’t let me catch you slipping. I’ll be watching you constantly.”
Originally, Shu Li just let it pass.
Anyway, he didn’t care at all and it didn’t matter.
He didn’t expect him to have one last ultimate move.
Shu Li didn’t want to be entangled with this child overflowing with a sense of justice.
So, he called out to Leslie who was about to leave.
When Leslie looked over, his eyes darkened slightly, appearing as if he were listening to a distant and unreachable voice. After a moment, he looked at Leslie, his tone slow and solemn, “You have already entered here. I will give you a piece of advice: for the next three months, you had better stay in your own residence and stop running around everywhere.”
“…Are you threatening me?”
He was unhurried, as if he hadn’t heard the other party’s irritability and anger, hitting his sore spot in one word: “No, I saw it. A certain very important person of yours might be returning to the Savoy pasture.”
As these words fell, Leslie’s face turned pale; he clearly thought of someone.
His mouth opened slightly, but he couldn’t say a single word; he simply ran away without looking back.
Shu Li watched him run further and further away, and only then did he sigh. But suddenly, a chill rose from his spine—that feeling of someone staring at him from behind.
“…”
Shu Li worked very hard to suppress this discomfort.
He thought this matter was over.
However, when night came, Shu Li was getting ready to pack up and sleep.
Suddenly, the door to his residence was knocked on.
An unfamiliar yet familiar voice followed.
That voice was muffled; it took Shu Li a long time to recognize it—it was the voice of Herens the hunter.
His voice was tragic, “Father, I can’t take it anymore! I want to confess.”
In the middle of the night… is it appropriate to work overtime?
Shu Li’s heart was full of refusal, so he pretended to hesitate for a long time.
After a while, a sound finally came from inside the door; it was the priest’s cold reply.
“Sorry, God says you are not sincere enough. Perhaps, now is not yet the time for your confession.”
Herens’s mind was greatly shaken; he froze in place, unable to move for a long time. Then, he stumbled and ran away.
Shu Li didn’t care if he looked pathetic.
After all, accommodating others for a lifetime is the most tiring thing and the easiest way to cause internal friction.
Not to mention, no staff job nowadays is so outrageous that it pays no salary and demands 007.
Thus, he lay down with a clear conscience.
There are still many things to do tomorrow!
How should I put it, Shu Li feels that he is becoming more and more adapted to life here.
Happy!