CH-025

Encountering the person involved while gossiping is truly extremely awkward.

Fortunately, this wasn’t a melodramatic film set; Shu Li didn’t see the theatrical “limp hand, falling tears, choked voice, and the turning to run that no one could stop.”

Shu Li spent a second re-evaluating and realized his mind had wandered too far.

That should be a classic trope of dog-bl00d romance dramas.

Father Simeon didn’t realize the air had frozen; he only noticed a cold-faced child had arrived—the one who had previously found him by the edge of the forest and called for the Constable.

However, after hearing earlier that he was looking for Father Alis, the child had left on his own.

He thought they wouldn’t cross paths again.

“I didn’t expect you to come see me,” Father Simeon was somewhat surprised, “Thank you, I’m much better now.”

Leslie was pulled back to reality by Father Simeon’s voice; his pupils flickered slightly and quickly returned to calmness, suppressing the inner turmoil within his bottomless eyes.

The sound of his boot heels clicking against the floor was very distinct.

The boy walked up to Father Simeon with a cold face and stuffed a coarse burlap bag into the other’s hand without a word.

The heavy bag had just landed in Father Simeon’s palm when Shu Li heard the crisp sound of metal clinking together.

Father Simeon also immediately realized it was filled with money.

“Don’t go looking for the priest of Savoy.”

When Leslie spoke, his tone was flat, but his voice was like tempered ice, his gaze deliberately avoiding Shu Li who stood to the side, “He is too high and mighty, even meddling in other people’s family affairs at will.”

Shu Li clearly heard the undisguised resentment and dissatisfaction in his tone, but said nothing, not wanting to bicker. After all, he had indeed accidentally rubbed salt in Leslie’s “wound,” especially since the other was still a minor. If it were an adult, Shu Li might have felt the person was quite petty.

He hadn’t pointed fingers at someone else’s family or commented at will.

Hearing Leslie’s words, Father Simeon recognized this gloomy youth as the rumored Leslie, the son of the Duke of the Northern Territory, known for his eccentric and reclusive personality.

Various rumors about him involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

After a flash of surprise in his eyes, Father Simeon quickly regained his composure. While pushing the small cloth bag back to Leslie, he smiled gently: “Thank you for your kindness, but Father Alis has already helped me solve my problem. I don’t need donation money.”

Hearing this, Leslie turned to look at Shu Li, his thin lips unconsciously pursed into a tight line.

Dissatisfaction, displeasure, and annoyance were all written on his face.

The moment their eyes met, Leslie turned his gaze away, appearing quite fed up.

Truly a moody child.

Shu Li thought to himself, while his face continued to maintain a peaceful smile.

Just as the atmosphere began to turn subtle, the footsteps of Constable Reilly broke the silence. He spotted Leslie at a glance and wondered why he appeared here. But soon, he noticed the money bag in Leslie’s hand; his heart softened, and he greeted warmly: “…So you’re here! I just did a lap around the entire church.”

However, after Constable Reilly approached, he felt an unknown stagnation in the air, not knowing what had happened here. He wasn’t a particularly sensitive person himself and soon tossed this bit of subtlety to the back of his mind.

Reilly reached out toward Father Simeon and handed him a box of small ointment, saying: “Our herbalist Yvonne dislikes the church, so she didn’t want to come over. However, I told her the basic situation. She entrusted me to give you the ointment for healing, saying you can use it yourself.”

Reilly added: “If there are other symptoms, you can go to the town library to find her or find a doctor elsewhere.”

Father Simeon had initially thought coming to the Savoy pasture would be fraught with difficulties and that he would suffer coldness or rejection, but in this sequence, starting from his fainting, people had continuously helped him, solving his worries and difficulties, and even sending him donation money and ointment.

“…Thank you.”

Father Simeon was very grateful.

Shu Li carefully observed his state from the side; seeing that his emotions had recovered somewhat, he also felt a sense of relief.

Now he just had to wait for Raymond to send him back.

Come to think of it, he had done a lot today.

Shu Li had only been lost in thought for a moment when Father Simeon suddenly turned to ask him, a look of concern flashing in his eyes, saying: “Father Alis, that herbalist definitely doesn’t hate you. Don’t take it to heart.”

This concern was too sudden.

Shu Li responded: “It’s fine. This is a very normal thing.”

Father Simeon didn’t think it was normal; at least the news he had overheard from the tavern earlier was that the people of the Savoy pasture quite liked him. If they really wanted to express liking, they shouldn’t be so cold; at least they should get along peacefully and amicably.

But he couldn’t give guidance to people from another pasture, so he only phrased it: “I thought Father Alis was very popular in the Savoy pasture?”

As soon as these words fell, Leslie beside them answered instantly, his tone flat yet frigid: “He’s not.”

Father Simeon clearly didn’t believe it, “Impossible!”

Shu Li was momentarily speechless.

He thought it was very possible.

Because he hadn’t actually done anything for the townspeople yet.

To be honest, he had previously thought about doing a “pasture infiltration,” showing his face more in front of the townspeople to gain favor.

He personally didn’t want to play god or trick people, so most of the ideas he worked hard to come up with were about how to bring practical benefits to the pasture. Among them, the most powerful project was accelerating the ripening of agricultural seeds to make them sprout early. He had even posted a notice in the square saying he could help with seed breeding; no one cared, and no one inquired.

As time went on, he began to realize his ideas were a bit too idealistic.

The townspeople didn’t lack that little bit of extra yield.

Everyone was a rational adult and wasn’t that easily moved.

However, what truly caused Shu Li to start “slacking off” was his personality.

He wasn’t particularly fond of socializing to begin with, nor did he like giving speeches in public.

In fact, seeing that no one came to the church, he was quite happy.

Like in his previous life, he could go out to play with friends. But if the other party stood him up at the last minute and said, “Let’s not go out today after all,” Shu Li would be even happier and more relaxed.

Plus, now he also had his own self-cultivated field.

Herens would occasionally send him meat, and Finnian also gave him milk or other homemade agricultural products every day. As long as he arranged things properly, he could live without relying on townspeople’s subsidies, so—

Recently, Shu Li had already stopped trying so hard.

Now being mentioned by a colleague, Shu Li had a sense of guilt as if a teacher were checking his homework, “…My work hasn’t been very well-done; so far I’ve only gained one new believer.”

Herens was already from the church, so it was essentially like Shu Li had picked up a ready-made one.

Hearing Shu Li’s dejected words, Father Simeon said hurriedly: “Don’t say that; I believe everyone likes you, they just don’t know how to interact with you.”

He himself had at least 15 believers already.

Father Alis must have even more!

Shu Li had no way to explain that he hadn’t done anything for the entire pasture yet. At this moment, he could only accept it haphazardly.

Whatever the other said, he just agreed.

The more Father Simeon spoke, the more he felt Shu Li was too humble, and his inner liking increased.

Before long, Raymond had been called over by Elder Jager, and the ox cart soon arrived at the door, completely breaking Shu Li’s predicament.

Shu Li hurriedly saw Father Simeon off.

Before the other left, Shu Li still returned the small potatoes Father Simeon had brought over, “I didn’t really help with much, and I don’t know if the suggestion I gave earlier will be useful. If it really is useful, when winter comes and I have a food shortage here, please look after me more, Father Simeon.”

Actually, with Elder Jager’s family helping out, Shu Li shouldn’t have too hard a time in winter.

However, Shu Li still hoped Father Simeon could continue to live strong, even if it was just holding onto a bit of expectation from someone else.

Or rather, sometimes people truly enjoy solitude, but they also have times when they want to dispel the feeling of loneliness. Shu Li also hoped Father Simeon knew that if he ever felt uncomfortable, he could come to the Savoy pasture anytime.

“Maybe we can eat hot pot together in winter.”

Father Simeon felt Shu Li’s goodwill; although he didn’t know what hot pot was, he still said, “…Thank you.”

Before Raymond departed, Shu Li gave a few extra instructions.

“Raymond, I’ll trouble you to accompany Father Simeon in Stone Hollow for one night today. See how things progress; if things don’t go smoothly, come back and inform me.”

Shu Li always insisted on doing things from start to finish, and if he was going to do it, he had to do it thoroughly.

Raymond agreed immediately: “Lord Alis, leave it to me, no problem.”

Before long, the ox cart departed toward the Stone Hollow pasture.

Watching the two figures in the distance, Constable Reilly sighed to Shu Li: “Father Alis is truly considerate.”

Leslie beside them didn’t speak, his gaze never leaving the path ahead, as if he disdained interacting with Shu Li. After standing for a while, Leslie left without a word.

The next day.

A night without dreams; Shu Li felt refreshed after waking up.

Just as he was about to step out of his room, a familiar scene before him made him stop in his tracks—

A stiff dead rat lay in front of the door.

It was exactly the scene from two months ago recurring.

Shu Li was truly between laughter and tears.

Because he suddenly realized who had placed the dead rat for him two months ago.

It must have been Leslie.

This child never played by the rules.

To those who were good to him, he showed no gratitude.

To those who were not good to him, he didn’t care either.

Appearing eccentric, heartless, and stubborn, yet he wasn’t entirely a bad person and still had some qualities of a good child.

Truly troublesome…

Shu Li felt that Leslie should learn from that famous social psychologist, Abraham Maslow.

Maslow had lived in an extremely negative growth environment since childhood.

His father died early.

The mother who raised him was an extreme bigot, a believer who thought living was about atonement and that one must never have happiness. To give an example, once Maslow brought home a stray cat he particularly liked. His mother actually trampled the cat to death right in front of him.

In such an extremely distorted and oppressive environment, Maslow maintained an upward and benevolent mindset, later proposing humanistic psychology and positive psychology.

Look, how positive his mindset was, how healthy his personality was!

Shu Li shook his head. Just as he was about to clean up the rat, he heard Raymond’s anxious voice from afar as he rushed back, “Something big has happened! Lord Alis, it’s no good! It’s no good!!”

As this panicked voice fell, other sounds were also startled by Raymond, coming from all directions.

Finnian, who was the first to run over to deliver milk, spoke with a voice full of confusion and anxiety: “Oh my God! Father Alis, you were perfectly fine, how did you die?!”

Herens, who arrived a step later at a fast pace, had a tense face: “What danger did Lord Alis encounter?!”

Upon hearing Finnian’s words, Elder Jager’s pace quickened, followed by a tragic cry, “Lord Alis, don’t go! The Lord is unfair—!”

Shu Li: “…”

Rumors stop at the wise.

Shu Li first spent ten seconds cleaning up the dead rat before walking in front of the people, then he knocked the head of Finnian, who was talking nonsense and fearing the world wasn’t in chaos.

Finnian just blinked his eyes, pretending to be innocent, “Why hit me? I’m so well-behaved!”

Shu Li: “…”

Raymond had no idea what kind of little skit had just occurred.

He just wiped the sweat from his forehead and spoke directly.

“Lord Alis, that demon’s power is too strong. We persuaded the townspeople to take the bell down yesterday; although we didn’t smash it, we sent it to a distant town. But when night came, the children still started crying for no reason, and the most serious one cried until three in the morning.”

“This time, not only did the children hear sounds similar to bells, but even the adults heard sounds like knocking on the door inside their houses in the middle of the night.”

At this point, Raymond swallowed, his face full of tension, cold sweat seeping from his forehead again, “I spent the night on the ox cart with Father Simeon, wanting to hear the movement in the town. Both Father Simeon and I heard the demon’s voice.”

Shu Li: “What kind of sound did you hear?”

“We heard the sound of a demonic beast swallowing—heavy, loud, as if it were standing right next to us swallowing spit.”

Raymond paused and said: “Before it was even light, Father Simeon told me to hurry over and notify you. He told me to tell you that it’s no good, things are getting more and more serious!”

Noticing that Raymond’s body was constantly shaking, Shu Li placed a hand on his shoulder, “It’s fine, no need to panic, take me over to have a look.”

Raymond’s anxious and uneasy heart seemed to be soothed, and his emotions slowly calmed down.

“Yeah.”

Hearing this, Herens felt it was very serious, “I’ll accompany you as well!”

Hearing this, Elder Jager also hurriedly volunteered, “Let me go with you too! One more person means more strength!”

Shu Li knew there were absolutely no demons or demonic beasts in this world and wasn’t panicked at all by what Raymond said. He lightly waved his hand, his voice calm and steady, saying: “It’s fine, this isn’t some dangerous big deal. No need for so many people to go together.”

His understated words carried a power that made people unconsciously feel at ease.

He didn’t know how much shock his two simple sentences caused to the souls of Herens and Jager.

The two looked at each other, a light of shock and awe flashing in their eyes at the same time.

Before the two could leave, Finnian’s voice rang out, “I want to go see too.”

This sudden voice caused the air to stagnate slightly, and everyone’s attention instantly focused on Finnian.

But Finnian was completely undaunted, just looking straight at Shu Li, “You said before you wanted me to observe what you were doing. Give me a word, am I going or not?”

Elder Jager hurried to dissuade him, saying: “Nonsense, this is a demon, what can you do by going?! Lord Alis has the Lord’s protection, what if you get hurt?”

Finnian wouldn’t listen to Elder Jager’s words.

If they didn’t let him go, he would go secretly by himself.

The moment this thought emerged, Shu Li seemed to see through his thinking and said: “Finnian, if you promise to listen to me the whole way, I’ll let you go with us.”

Elder Jager said anxiously: “Lord Alis!”

Finnian threw the rope of his little sheep into Herens’s hand, sat on the ox cart, then leaned close to Shu Li with a face full of smiles, saying: “I have always listened to you very much. Can you tell me when I haven’t listened to you?”

Very clever, very much acting the good boy.

Shu Li shook his head with a laugh, then told Herens and Jager they didn’t need to worry.

He said: “We’ll be back by tomorrow morning at the latest. You don’t need to wait for us.”

The two couldn’t say anything more and could only show concern with their eyes.

“Let’s go!”

Finnian raised his voice.