CH-022

The soil in the Savoy parish was more fertile than imagined.

After the rain, the entire land began to thrive along with it; even the seeds Shu Li worried would not sprout broke through the earth one after another.

Shu Li was originally an agricultural novice with no experience, and he believed that most of the agriculture in the parish was rain-fed, so whether things sprouted or not was entirely up to fate.

But the current situation was very pleasing. While pulling weeds, Shu Li began to fantasize about a future of unlimited fruits and vegetables. However, this daydream didn’t last long before Shu Li felt something was wrong.

The shape of weeds is usually quite distinct; they are generally pointed and grow in clusters.

If there was no way to judge whether something was a weed, he would set it aside for now and wait until Elder Jager or the others were free to ask for details.

The problem now was that even though Raymond had given him the same seeds, the newly emerged sprouts had varying leaf shapes, appearing as though they didn’t belong to the same family or genus.

Shu Li thought about it back and forth and felt that something had gone wrong with the seeds Raymond brought back from Carson City.

Shu Li himself couldn’t understand the differences between seeds; unless the appearance of the seeds was very obviously different, he wouldn’t get it.

Given that Raymond had already blamed himself many times because the goods he brought back repeatedly had issues, Shu Li didn’t plan to say much this time, but just let nature take its course.

Anyway, the wheat was definitely not a problem.

Those seeds were taken directly from the wheat ears.

As for these in front of him……

“They should at least be edible, right?”

Shu Li muttered to himself, gently flicking a rounded wide leaf with his finger.

Not long after he drifted off, Cecilia appeared behind him and smiled: “Lord Alis, no need to be too anxious. Wait another two or three weeks, and these vegetable and fruit seedlings will quickly shoot upward.”

Because Elder Jager and Raymond usually did carpentry work, the church farmland and domestic affairs were handled by Rona, Cecilia, and Raymond’s wife, Lisa, in rotation. Now, because Shu Li was also tinkering with a plot of land behind the church, Cecilia proactively volunteered to help take care of it.

A big reason why the church was unsuitable for farming was the difficulty in obtaining water.

When seeds first hit the ground, they need a large amount of water to soak into the soil. Even with Shu Li helping, Cecilia spent two or three hours just watering, which made Shu Li feel very uneasy.

Consequently, that night Shu Li drew a design for an automatic waterer, intending to place eight water storage tanks in the field.

The water source would be the church’s faucet.

Water would be supplied by the faucet, passing through U-shaped pipes into the storage tanks.

A siphon device would be installed on the water delivery pipe so that once the storage tank was full, the water could be discharged from it.

If the water flow needed to be controlled, one would only need to adjust the height of the storage tanks.

Making these tools would still require help from Elder Jager and the others.

However, the next day Cecilia said it wasn’t necessary to be so troublesome; these vegetables and fruits didn’t need to be watered that frequently and wouldn’t need as much water as the first time.

“Besides, Lord Alis probably doesn’t know how much water to give, right? How big would the storage tanks have to be?”

This one sentence successfully stumped Shu Li.

Although this indeed made Shu Li stop mentioning the automatic waterer, he had been secretly observing Cecilia’s workload lately.

Even if it couldn’t be used this year, it must be prepared before replanting next year.

In Cecilia’s eyes, their priest seemed to always be anxious about his healthy little field.

Thus, they had the scene just now where Cecilia comforted him that the seeds would grow soon.

Hearing Cecilia say that, Shu Li’s eyes flickered slightly. He didn’t respond but quickly shifted the topic following her words, moving as flexibly as a person with social anxiety sidestepping between two people on the street, yet it was exceptionally conspicuous.

“…Is it time for the public Mass?”

Shu Li asked knowingly, his finger unconsciously stroking a leaf. As expected, Cecilia’s thoughts were led astray, “Father and brother are both preparing to ring the bell.”

She paused, her gaze landing in the distance, “I wonder how many people will come today?”

Shu Li had absolutely no expectations regarding this.

Because he hadn’t been very proactive in building a presence before the townsfolk, and it was impossible for him to wait like a person waiting for a rabbit to hit a tree for an opportunity to gain favor to descend.

“I’ve only been here for two months; even if no one comes, it’s normal. There’s plenty of time in the future, it’s fine.”

This time it was Shu Li’s turn to comfort Cecilia.

The sound of the bell came from the church.

After straightening the priest’s robes used for preaching, Shu Li walked toward the front hall.

Passing through the side door from the backstage, he immediately saw Elder Jager’s family and Herens, as well as Finnian, who hadn’t left after delivering milk in the morning.

Finnian explicitly stated he would not participate in the activities; he just heard that Shu Li’s maltose from before was made from unleavened bread and planned to beg for a bit of maltose before leaving.

Shu Li opened the Bible on the stage to put on an act. After the hymns, he began the Liturgy of the Word, which consists of scripture reading and preaching.

After changing into the priest’s preaching robes, Shu Li went to the church.

From the backstage area, he saw Elder Jager and Herens—as expected, they were all familiar faces.

Only halfway through the story, several small heads quietly peeked out from the church door.

Obviously, they must have heard the bell and knew there was an activity at the church, so they ran over.

Shu Li noticed the movement from the stage, his gaze shifting slightly.

Noticing that he seemed to notice them, the children “swish” retracted back again.

Shu Li saw the process clearly but didn’t show any extra expression, nor did his voice change.

After a while, the group of children summoned their courage again to peek and look around secretly. However, Shu Li already knew not to focus his attention on them. After two or three rounds, the children’s courage gradually grew; they wouldn’t just take one peek and hide themselves, but huddled together as if for warmth, leaning against the doorframe to listen to the story.

One of the youngest children, with the dullest reaction, found he couldn’t see the situation inside no matter what, so he walked toward the door entrance. Just as Shu Li looked over, he also happened to look up.

Their gazes met instantly.

“……”

The child’s eyes were wide and round; he remained motionless, even forgetting to hide.

Shu Li slowly looked away, pretending he actually hadn’t seen him, and never looked toward the door again. However, by the time he was distributing unleavened bread, several children had already sat in the last row of the church at some point.

Seeing Shu Li look over, they were only nervous for a moment this time and did not run away.

“Why is your unleavened bread so bad?”

Finnian clearly said he didn’t want to eat it and wouldn’t eat it, but when Shu Li started distributing the unleavened bread, he wanted to line up again. After taking a bite, he frowned and said with a face full of disgust: “No wonder everyone doesn’t like coming to be believers anymore.”

Shu Li’s attention was drawn by Finnian’s words before he moved his gaze from the faces of the little guests and said: “This wasn’t made to attract believers in the first place.”

“No, no, no, you’re being too rigid like this.”

Finnian argued his point, saying: “You should learn from our Harvest Festival. We have baskets and baskets of delicacies at the Harvest Festival every year, laid out from beginning to end on a long table over ten meters long. No need for promotion, everyone comes to participate and takes the holiday to heart. If you made things a bit tastier, I would come to support you for all future Mass ceremonies!”

Shu Li looked down at him and responded indifferently: “Oh, I see.”

Finnian was a bit stunned.

Lately, he found that Shu Li seemed to be getting better and better at “perfunctorily dealing with him.” Previously, he would seriously respond to all his pestering, but now he only nodded, smiled faintly, and then moved on.

Even though he wasn’t a believer, he came every single day; how could Shu Li be so cold to him!

Hmph!

Finnian was very dissatisfied.

Seeing Shu Li just walk past him like that, he intentionally stepped on Shu Li’s heel to stop him from leaving. Meanwhile, he bit into a mouthful of unleavened bread, preparing to make a face at him and mock him back.

As a result, before his expression was set, he received a light tap on his forehead.

“—!”

It didn’t hurt at all.

But Finnian still unconsciously released the shoe and stared blankly at Shu Li’s back for two or three seconds. He couldn’t say why, but he just felt that for a priest, a grown man, to counter a child so weakly was particularly funny.

The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curl up; he just felt an indescribable happiness in his heart.

In the next second, he naturally followed behind Shu Li again, continuing to bother him as he distributed bread to others, chattering incessantly: “Those stories of yours are too simple; I remembered them all as soon as I heard them just now.”

Shu Li didn’t look back, only responding indifferently: “Maybe it’s because I told them well?”

Finnian was about to fire back, but he forgot that the church was Shu Li’s home turf. As soon as those words fell, he was surrounded by the proselytizers.

Elder Jager and Herens crowded around, speaking one after another in the tone of those who had been through it.

“Lord Alis indeed speaks very well, very simple and easy to understand, and very moving.”

“Finnian, if you are interested, come and listen more.”

“Lord Alis is the best priest!”

…Right, right, right, your Lord Alis is the best in the world.

Finnian couldn’t help but complain internally.

After distributing the bread, there should have been a concluding ritual. However, because there weren’t many believers, the entire public Mass ended there; the whole process did not exceed thirty minutes.

On the other hand, Shu Li took out the maltose he had prepared long ago and walked toward the children.

Because he knew this time that no one wanted to eat the unleavened bread.

To interject here, the reason Shu Li made so much unleavened bread back then wasn’t entirely because he held expectations for the townsfolk, but because he wasn’t good at using the kitchenware here. Thinking that if he made more, he could also eat it as his own meals, he calmly made a heap of it, firmly believing he could endure this plain, tasteless, and rock-hard bitterness.

Now he had become smarter; he made the unleavened bread extremely small so everyone could finish it in one bite, leaving the rest to be made into staples and small snacks, which included the maltose that both Cia and Via liked.

As soon as the children saw what they wanted, their eyes began to shine. Especially the smallest child; his eyes were completely glued to the sugar, and he couldn’t help but lick it as soon as he got it in his hand.

Looking at them so excited, their little hands tightly holding the sugar, Shu Li suddenly hesitated—should he find an opportunity to teach them not to eat things from strangers casually?

……Even though the stranger was himself.

Before he could speak, a voice popped out from the group of children asking: “Mr. Priest, if we are all your believers, will you make candy for us to eat every day? This is really delicious!”

Shu Li was suddenly between laughter and tears, and it was a good while before he said: “For you to become my believers, you must have your parents’ consent. You have to bring your parents to talk to me, and then I will take you in as believers.”

“But Dad and Mom don’t like the church.”

Several children had bitter faces, feeling they had encountered the most difficult thing in the world.

Shu Li said patiently: “That is indeed a big problem. How about we wait until we grow up to talk about this matter? I’ll reserve spots for you.”

“What does ‘reserve spots’ mean?”

“It means that even if you aren’t believers yet, you can still eat sugar from my side. You can have priority enjoyment of believers’ benefits.”

“Really?!”

“Yes.”

Shu Li made the children happy in just a few words.

“However,” Shu Li’s tone shifted as he said, “if you become my preparatory believers, you cannot casually eat small snacks given by others, nor can you run off with them.”

The children couldn’t help but ask curiously: “Even those given by the uncles, aunts, grandpas, and grandmas next door aren’t okay?”

“Not necessarily; as long as it’s agreed upon by your mom and dad, it’s fine.”

“Oh, oh, oh.”

The children responded in a daze.

Seeing this, Shu Li gave them another example, saying: “Then let me test you now. If one day you are walking on the road and a complete stranger tells you he has very delicious things for you to eat, can you eat them?”

The smallest child’s voice popped out: “…Okay, okay……”

Shu Li smiled: “That’s not allowed.”

The smallest child was bewildered: “……”

“Why isn’t it allowed?” Shu Li scanned the group.

An older child summoned his courage and said: “Because we are the priest’s preparatory believers, we can’t eat candy from strangers. If we eat it, we won’t be able to eat the delicious things the priest prepares in the future.”

The smallest child hurriedly shook his head, “Then I won’t eat things from others.”

“Very smart!”

Shu Li smiled and then asked: “Then are preparatory believers the same as believers?”

The child who knew he could respond boldly said again: “No. We can only decide after we grow up.”

A child nearby immediately corrected, “No, you can also ask Mom and Dad.”

Seeing that they all took it in, even if they might forget later, Shu Li felt somewhat relieved in his heart.

Whether they understand or not is one thing, but if no one points it out, that won’t do.

When they have their own judgment in the future, he can change to a different explanation; for now, simply letting them understand they can’t casually eat things from strangers is enough.

Shu Li paused, suddenly remembering something: “I forgot to introduce myself to you; I am Alis. You can call me Mr. Alis, or you can call me Father Alis.”

The children became familiar very quickly.

Hearing his self-introduction, the children all said: “We know you! When Mom and Dad go to sleep at night, they often talk about you.”

This instead made Shu Li feel stifled.

He couldn’t imagine how he had become the center of other people’s conversations.

And “often”?

What was the situation?

Shu Li was certain he hadn’t done any good deeds to change the townsfolk’s views yet.

So, could it be that he had inadvertently done something to make them very dissatisfied? Would he be kicked out?

Worry, worry!

Before Shu Li could ask about the situation, he heard a knock at the church door.

He saw Sheriff Rayleigh take off his hat and gesture to Shu Li as a greeting, “Father Alis, someone has come to look for you.”

Looking for me?

Shu Li subconsciously looked toward the door; besides Sheriff Rayleigh, there was no one else. He asked: “Where is the person?”

“He collapsed right at the town gate.” Sheriff Rayleigh spoke of this with a bit of a headache, “He also determinedly refused to be supported or carried. Before losing consciousness, he also said he is undergoing asceticism and his cultivation cannot be interrupted casually. This is very troublesome; there’s no way to touch him at all.”

Completely incomprehensible.

Shu Li actually didn’t want to deal with it, but he suddenly had a flash of inspiration, changed his tone, and said: “Then take me to see?”

“Sure!” Sheriff Rayleigh was just waiting for Shu Li to say those words.

But after taking only two or three steps with the priest, he heard the priest suddenly ask: “Besides you, Sheriff Rayleigh, was anyone else there?”

“No… no, just me alone.” Rayleigh was startled by the priest’s words, “Why would you think that?”

The priest said calmly: “Because your words just now sounded more like a third-person perspective, relaying someone else’s words without using your own pronouns.”

Was… was it?

Rayleigh hurriedly recalled his words.

In the silence, the priest suddenly added another sentence, startling Rayleigh so much his heart almost stopped, “It seems that the personal relationship between Sheriff Rayleigh and the Duke’s son, Leslie, is much better than everyone imagines.”

“I don’t! Truly, impossible! How could I? How did you reach such a conclusion?”

“Then would you like to look into my eyes and say that again?”

Hearing this, Rayleigh could only raise both hands in surrender, “Please don’t tell anyone……”

“Of course.”

While Shu Li smiled and gave his guarantee, he also completed the entire probe.

He naturally added the result he wanted most: “However, if I encounter troublesome matters in the future, please have Sheriff Rayleigh speak more good words for me in front of the townsfolk. After all, I am a newcomer here and am not very well-liked.”

Rayleigh opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn’t get it out; his heart felt stifled instantly.

Unexpectedly, the people at the tavern spent every day pondering how to get along with the priest, yet here the priest actually thought he had made them dislike him.