CH-034

Carson City had somewhat more of a night market atmosphere compared to the quiet village life.

The night market generally lasted only until around eight o'clock in the evening, after which only taverns remained open while the vendors packed up and left. With the duke's wedding celebration approaching, the entire city would run day and night for three consecutive days and nights, from Sunday through Tuesday.

For Band's family, those would be the busier days — likely with no time for fun. And so Finnian, the moment they parted ways, asked when they could all go out and play together.

Shu Li had agreed to meet up with Finnian after putting down their things.

This wasn't for the sake of going out to play — mainly he wanted to understand the situation at Finnian's end.

Band's sister — Finnian's aunt, Sona — ran a bread shop in Carson City.

The shop's regular offerings were round or oval-shaped country loaves, mostly made from barley or other coarse grains. These were somewhat softer than rye bread and were particularly popular with the women and children of Carson City. In addition, they also provided the more refined white bread made from wheat flour, though this was mainly to add variety to their product range and wasn't kept in large quantities on the shelf.

Along the road, Shu Li had heard that the shop's bread used traditional methods with hops yeast for fermentation, so the bread had a softer texture than countryside bread with less of that sour taste. Though very popular, hops yeast was more expensive than one might think — it could take months to complete the fermentation process.

This question then lodged itself in Shu Li's mind and immediately called up memories of his earlier meal planning.

When he first arrived in Savoie pastoral district, not wanting to attract discomfort or attention from those around him, he had kept a low profile and cooperated with everything. Whatever they ate, he ate too. If something was unpleasant, he'd just eat less. As time passed, without anyone noticing, their diet had become somewhat more refined under Shu Li's influence — no longer just about filling the stomach, but also about taste, texture, and presentation.

In simple terms: he didn't like unleavened flatbread, and he didn't like hard black rye bread.

And so, when conditions allowed, he had begun experimenting with homemade yeast with Elder Yager's family. Making yeast at home wasn't as difficult as people imagined. Whether from fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, or even old bread dough, natural yeast could be cultivated from all of them.

The difficulty had two aspects: first, judging whether the yeast had produced the "normal fermentation sourness" or the "rotten, contaminated smell from mixed bacteria"; and second, correctly feeding and maintaining homemade yeast. Some people could keep their yeast alive for years — take the old starter people talk about for steamed buns, which could even be passed down through generations.

Bread made with yeast had a superior texture, and would no longer be so hard it could double as a weapon. Elder Yager's family all loved it.

Shu Li had naturally also thought about selling the softer bread to increase Elder Yager's family's income. But one factor was that Elder Yager's family didn't want to compete with the only bread shop in the town; another was that truly filling bread was still the original hard bread. Most people in the pastoral district made their living through physical labor, and something filling mattered more. For these reasons, Shu Li hadn't pursued any business ideas — given how poor the pastoral district was overall, even if he somehow turned a profit, the consumer base simply couldn't support it.

So he also didn't venture into things that might cause neighborly friction.

But now, hearing that Finnian's aunt ran a legitimate bread business, Shu Li brought along the homemade Yager-brand yeast as a thank-you gift. They had after all received much care from Finnian's family all along, and this was something to be done.

Beyond that, Shu Li had also taught Finnian and Band that they might try bringing cream to Carson City to test the market. The cream here — what the textbooks called Chantilly cream — was not the modern version with added flavorings or stabilizers, but rather the most original method: simply whipping cream until fluffy. With cream, not only did bread have richer possible preparations and better presentation, even the dishes could become more diverse. For instance, adding whipped cream to a stew or soup would not only make the texture smoother and richer, but also add a faint milky sweetness, making the whole dish more refined.

However, without any mechanical assistance, homemade Chantilly cream was extremely laborious. In Elder Yager's home, it was something made as an occasional treat — making it every day would exhaust one's hands too badly. But at Finnian's home, since the whole village could make their own butter, making cream was considerably easier than for ordinary people. Because cream was one step before butter was fully formed — for them, it was simple.

*

Now, under the wide night sky of Carson City, the soft warm light of the bread shop glowed. The shop was on a cobblestone corner street, with an old handcarved wooden sign hanging above the door reading "Schneider's Bread Shop." Pots of blooming petunias sat on the windowsill, and the display window inside was now bare and empty.

The door was already closed.

Shu Li stepped up to it quickly and found it locked, exchanging a glance with Herens.

How were they supposed to find someone?

Shu Li peered through the gap in the window to see if anyone was moving inside. "Should we knock?" Herens thought a knock on the door would solve it.

But their parish priest sometimes behaved like a newly grown cat — brave one moment and timid the next. Faced with nothing more than walking up and knocking, he could stand outside for half a day, with an expression of serious and careful deliberation on his face, pondering this perfectly trivial matter as though it were momentous.

Similar things had happened on other occasions. For instance, Weya and Xia had their own toys and said no one was allowed to touch them — whoever did would make them angry. Of course, for an adult this was something that went straight in one ear and out the other. But one time, when it rained and the two girls forgot to bring in their toys and left them at the church doorway, and the next morning when they came back to retrieve them, they found the priest had built a tiny rain shelter for the two little toys using a box.

At this point, the priest suddenly asked very seriously: "Since the shop is now closed for business, does that mean we can't enter through the front door? Do we need to find the back door?"

Herens had his own thoughts, and respecting the priest's thoughts was not at all contradictory. So in response to Shu Li's one comment, Herens immediately acted on it: "Then let's find the back door."

They had barely set off when a string of copper bells rang out with a clear, crisp sound.

Band's voice came through: "You could have just knocked when you arrived. We're all in the back kitchen."

Shu Li had arrived in ordinary civilian clothes, blending into the crowd without standing out. It was only when Band caught a glimpse of him through the window that he recognized this slow-to-knock visitor as Father Alistair.

"Come in!" Band proactively opened the door again, and didn't leave until both of them had entered the shop.

The shop's interior was clean and warm, with pots of blooming petunias still gracing the windowsill, and a faint bakery fragrance mixed with the sweetness of herbs drifting through the air.

"Sona, Father Alistair is here."

As the voice fell, the proprietress walked out from the back kitchen. Her brows and eyes were cast from the same mold as Band's, with a resemblance to Finnian as well, all sharing a similar quality of determination and brightness. Only on different people did it manifest in different colors.

The proprietress was gentle and resilient. Band was steady and reliable. And Finnian was bright and ardent, with a restless edge that wouldn't be contained.

"Father Alistair, I've heard about you for a long time," Sona said with a smile. "Thank you so much for saving Finnian before."

At this, Shu Li stepped to one side and introduced: "It was actually Herens here who saved him. I wouldn't dare take the credit."

Herens immediately waved his hands: "If it weren't for Father Alistair's guidance, I wouldn't have known where Finnian was."

Shu Li said: "This isn't something bad, so why do you always insist on giving it to me?"

The two of them began yet another round of deferring to each other, and Sona interrupted their exchange without leaving a trace, with a smile: "The Herens beside you doesn't look like a hunter at all — more like the knight beside a young bishop, with the same upright bearing."

This was one remark that complimented both Herens and Shu Li at once, but it caused Herens's expression to freeze, his smile unable to surface in time. It was as though those words had inadvertently struck something in an inner corner of his being.

Because his expression shifted subtly, even Band and Sona — with no particularly sharp instincts — sensed something was off. They found themselves at a loss for how to say the next line.

Before Shu Li could speak, Finnian stuck his head in from the back kitchen, mouth still full of cream, and said: "If you don't come soon, I'll eat everything."

Band turned and scolded immediately: "You little wretch — I told you not to eat ahead of time!" He started to drive Finnian out of the kitchen.

Finnian ducked back into the kitchen.

Sona smiled: "I'm so sorry — our boy is too much of a handful."

From just on the other side of the wall, Finnian argued his case: "How am I a handful? You can't talk about me behind my back — Aunt Sona!"

Shu Li said gently: "I think Finnian is very endearing."

Sona couldn't help laughing: "Father Alistair saying that is too kind. I've heard that Finnian has been much better-behaved at home these past two or three months — it must be thanks to Father Alistair's careful guidance."

Shu Li didn't feel he deserved this credit at all, because the change was obviously Finnian's own reflection and self-correction after the kidnapping incident — not wanting to worry his parents — but those weren't words Shu Li should be saying.

Besides, both sides could say some polite things in a social setting, and her remark was just that — a pleasantry to be taken at face value.

"You're far too kind." Shu Li brushed it off and focused more of his attention on Herens beside him. He'd already gathered that Herens must have held some position in the church, but Herens was guarded about this part of himself. Shu Li didn't bring it up in front of him, only gradually easing away the pressure over time.

He hadn't originally planned to mention Herens at all when introducing them, precisely because he was afraid Herens might have connections to the Carson City clergy, or to certain clerics in the Northern Lands — and that Herens might run into someone who knew him. So he hadn't proactively mentioned any of this. But then, unexpectedly, Herens had talked privately with Elder Yager and was quite willing to come along. Shu Li naturally surmised that Herens had likely come from a more distant church, and thus had no fear of being recognized. But now he suspected Herens might have had some connection to a highly respected bishop, which was why just hearing that title could provoke a stress response in him.

Symptomatically speaking, his PTSD was quite pronounced — he was easily startled and easily anxious. It was likely precisely because he felt the church would trigger the traumatic events within him that he had specifically escaped to the ecclesiastically weak Savoie pastoral district. But given that he was also willing to participate in church activities, the church itself was not the root cause of his condition.

There were no serious complications for the moment — just continue watching and observing. Shu Li had no plans to intervene directly in his psychology.

But as they were all about to enter the back kitchen, Shu Li deliberately slowed his pace and made sure to bring Herens in alongside him — so he wouldn't suddenly come back from the depths of his memory to find himself stranded alone in the original spot.

As Shu Li entered the back kitchen, he suddenly thought about whether he should get a small animal for the church. Sometimes animal therapy could subtly work toward healing others — after all, he only had two hands, and sometimes it was beyond him to tend to so many people's moods and feelings.

"Herens, shall we find some time to raise a small animal?" he said.

Herens came to himself from just a moment before. At that moment he had seemed to return to a gray, rainy day in his memory, watching a woman cradling her child weeping, his own body ice-cold. He had not fully pulled himself back out of the emotion when a voice sounded in his ear and dragged him back to reality.

Herens blinked, his thoughts slowly gathering, and noticed Shu Li's hand resting lightly on his arm. "As long as Father Alistair likes the idea, I'll go up the mountain and catch one as soon as we get back," he said.

Shu Li hadn't expected it to be that simple and was pleased to see him returning to himself. He laughed and said: "Herens is too reliable." As he spoke, he gave his arm a pat and walked forward, letting Herens follow.

Herens immediately chuckled, his expression easing, and quickened his steps to catch up.

Sona's back kitchen was full of the fragrance of bread. She had used the sourdough starter Shu Li had brought an hour earlier to make bread, and the first batch was already out. Now they were comparing it with the bread she usually made using hops yeast.

"Comparatively speaking, the new bread has more chew to it, and an impressive feeling of fullness," Band commented. "I might like this one more."

Finnian said he still preferred the hops yeast bread: "The texture is softer and the flavor is much lighter. If I had to choose, I'd definitely eat this one."

Shu Li and Herens were just observers. Their role was to eat — not to evaluate. They hadn't even had dinner and had been saving their appetites since hearing that the evening would include a bread tasting.

Now, the hearty grain flavor of the bread in their mouths was so good!

While the others discussed, the priest and the hunter leaned against the table and chewed away in silence.

Sona thought for a moment and said: "Actually, I'd lean toward Father Alistair's option too. My hops yeast bread is popular with women and children, but the bread only lasts two days before it goes bad. Father Alistair's bread seems more like it could last five to seven days the way rye bread can — which could actually attract more traveling merchants to buy it. My business just can't grow when it comes to traveling merchants."

Finnian blinked and said: "Then just ask Father Alistair for his yeast!"

Finnian said it so directly, treating Shu Li so entirely as one of their own — speaking without measuring his words — that his dad gave him a knock. Finnian clutched his head and glared at Band with a disgruntled grimace.

Sona was the one who had been hesitating on this very point — she had already spent quite a lot on hops yeast. "Hops yeast requires hops and malt, and it can only be obtained from the yeast used in brewing. Brewing is managed by the church, and when I asked them for yeast, I paid a substantial donation every month."

This yeast was technically free and wouldn't cost money, but getting anything from the church to turn a profit through business — of course it wouldn't come without a price.

Shu Li quickly said: "This is made with black rye flour. I can show you how — it doesn't cost anything."

"Black rye flour?" Sona was momentarily stunned. She hadn't imagined the original cost would be this cheap and readily available — something no one here even liked to use. She stared at Shu Li and said: "Ah... This... you'd teach me?"

"Because Finnian has been looking after me all this time in ordinary life, this is just meant as a thank-you. Besides, there's no market for it where we are." And priests were also explicitly forbidden from engaging in commercial activities.

Finnian said: "That's exactly why I said she could just ask directly! The cream we made earlier — he taught us that for free too, without charging us anything."

Sona had no idea how this child managed to take advantage of people so shamelessly and with such a matter-of-fact air: "How are you so brazen?"

"I'm not brazen at all," Finnian said. "It's because Father Alistair likes me, that's why he's so generous with me. Isn't that right?" This last part was directed at Shu Li.

Shu Li was caught between laughter and exasperation. Should he say yes or no?

Finnian, whose mouth was quicker than anyone's, turned to Aunt Sona and said: "If you really want to be grateful, be grateful to me — give me money to go out and play. I'll take Father Alistair along for some fun, and then he'll like me even more. Doesn't that make sense?"

After this speech, both Band and Sona reached out at the same time to pinch Finnian's cheeks.

The bread tasting was naturally not yet over, since Shu Li still needed to teach Band and Sona how to use cream. Fresh cream couldn't be kept for more than five hours — especially without refrigeration, it was extremely difficult to preserve. And so putting it directly on the bread meant customers had to enjoy it right away.

Or they could use cream to make butter bread, small cream buns, or brioche — but that would require the more expensive wheat flour.

"It's not impossible," Sona said. She could specifically cater to nobles and wealthy merchants. "I've been thinking that with many wedding guests likely being nobility, I'd stock some wheat flour — not for white bread, but for something different."

This kind of candid remark was something Sona wouldn't have dared share with an outsider at first. But since Shu Li was generous and their whole family got along well with him, Sona naturally treated Shu Li as someone she could trust, sharing directly what inventory she had on hand.

"Then you can certainly try that," Shu Li felt confident it would work. Near-modern popular bread varieties were almost all inseparable from wheat flour. Once wheat production increased and wheat flour was no longer so expensive, even a small priest without much money like Shu Li would be able to eat more affordable food.

As the second batch of bread baked, Finnian was finally allowed to go out and have fun with Shu Li and the others. Before Shu Li left, he promised to bring the child back by nine-thirty that night.

Sona clasped her hands to her chest with a face full of relief and emotion: "Father Alistair, you are truly the kindest and most benevolent priest I have ever encountered!"

This was a believer who had participated in church activities.

"Thinking that our church still has someone like you — it truly puts one at ease."

Ha ha ha. Shu Li found it a little funny hearing this. Was he being treated as some kind of good-luck charm?

After Finnian and the two younger cousins left, he immediately told Shu Li and Herens: "My dad and aunt gave me a lot of money — tell me what you want to eat and just say it! I heard there are lots of new things from the south here. Things like fruit from the south — you can get them here. Just pick whatever you want!"

Shu Li and Herens exchanged a glance and smiled at each other in silent understanding. Since Finnian had mentioned fruit first, he was clearly curious about it himself.

"Let's go eat some first then." Shu Li made the final call.

The nearest stall was a fruit stand, carrying familiar apples and oranges alongside mangoes and pineapples — vibrant and eye-catching.

Hearing Shu Li's agreement, Finnian immediately led the charge to the stand, his eyes moving back and forth across the abundance of fruit. When Shu Li came close, he looked up and asked: "Which one do you want to eat?"

Shu Li wasn't particularly more interested in these fruits than he was in watermelons. He tilted his head slightly, about to ask for Herens's suggestion, when he noticed Herens's expression suddenly change, his gaze hardening and growing intent as it fixed on a corner of the crowd.

"......" Shu Li stilled, also about to follow Herens's gaze through the crowd, when his arm was caught by Finnian, who was completely absorbed in the fruit stall, tugging naturally and casually, oblivious to the shift in atmosphere.

Shu Li glanced at Finnian, then still chose to tilt his body and bring his ear close to Finnian.

Sure enough, Finnian confided without reservation in a low voice: "I want to try the one called pineapple."

"That one might be sour."

"How do you know everything?" Finnian widened his eyes, feeling as always that Shu Li seemed to know about everything. "Then I want something sweet — which one is sweet?"

"You could try mango?"

Finnian nodded right away and turned to the vendor, asking for a mango cut into chunks.

When Shu Li stood up straight and looked toward Herens again, he found that at some point Herens had disappeared into the crowd.

"......" Had he run into someone? Shu Li found himself involuntarily turning it over in his mind.

Finnian, having received his fruit, noticed their little group was short one adult: "Where's Herens? Isn't he eating? Did he go to the bathroom?"

Shu Li was brought back to the present by Finnian's question. Even so, among the three of them, the one with the highest combat capability was Herens. He generally wouldn't simply leave the two of them behind — if he was gone now, it had to be something more important than what they could imagine.

Shu Li said: "Let's find somewhere to wait for him. Hopefully he comes back soon."

Finnian had no concern whatsoever and cheerfully suggested: "That way we can also sit down and eat our mangoes."

The two found a small clearing beneath a large tree, facing away from the crowd. But just as they were about to sit down, they both noticed a child sitting in the shadows. Knees drawn up, arms wrapped around his own legs.

Finnian: "......"

Shu Li: "......"

Someone they knew!

After hearing the sound of movement, Leslie looked up and caught a brief glimpse of the two familiar figures. His gaze settled last on the box in their hands — the mango slices, yellow and full, rich with juice.

He unconsciously furrowed his brow. One hand went to his forehead, fingers roughly scraping through his own hair above his temple — the motion was brief, and his hair promptly fell flat again. The whole posture read as deeply impatient and deeply uncomfortable.

Shu Li was thinking he'd say there was someone here already and they'd find somewhere else. After all, the whole city knew that right now should be the time when Leslie was most out of sorts.

But Finnian looked positively warm and friendly — even taking the initiative to greet him: "Isn't that Leslie?"

Finnian pushed forward the mango box with a radiant smile: "Do you want some mango?"

Shu Li was genuinely surprised by Finnian — looking at him, it was like looking at a little angel.

In his mind he even conjured the image of "Finnian becoming Leslie's lifelong friend because of this one sentence."

How wonderful! A touching, healing encounter!

But in his memory, Leslie, whether he liked something or not, would usually say a few words. Right now, though, he was unusually silent.

Shu Li instinctively observed his expression, only to notice that his face had gone an unusual pallor, beads of sweat at his temple and the back of his neck, and his body trembled — a faint shiver, as though from cold.

"Excuse me." Shu Li said quietly, and before the words even finished leaving his mouth, he stepped forward and pressed his palm to the boy's forehead, withdrawing after barely a touch. "There are symptoms of a low fever."

He couldn't say whether it was poor health lately, or whether too great a psychological blow had brought his immunity crashing down.

Finnian said with worry: "What do we do then?"

Before the words had landed, Leslie said with stubborn hoarseness: "You don't need to meddle... Anyway, I'd only be known to exist if I were dead..."

With that, he hung his head again and curled himself up.

Shu Li understood at once — the reaction was too typical. Especially for a child this young, there was always the naive belief that if you hurt yourself badly enough, you could punish your parents and make them regret. But in reality, if a parent had already unconsciously or subconsciously been neglecting a child, how would they feel sad over the child's death?

Finnian, having encountered this kind of situation for the first time, instinctively looked to Shu Li for help.

Shu Li shook his head and said: "Let's go — clearly this person doesn't need us around."

The moment the words fell, Shu Li gave Finnian's shoulder a light pat and turned to leave. Finnian was still puzzled and about to ask, but caught the look Shu Li passed him.

Finnian immediately played along, raising his voice: "Then let's keep going to eat our mangoes. Father Alistair, are they really that good?"

Leslie listened to the sound of their footsteps and conversation growing distant, a bitter ache filling his chest, and his eyes stinging as well. He instinctively tilted his head back to try to hold back the tears, but in the instant he looked up, he saw those two hadn't gone far at all — and were standing not far away. Especially Finnian, who was making no pretense of it whatsoever, grinning blatantly at him, as though he'd known all along that he would look back.

His throat worked. He wanted to say something cutting, but couldn't produce a sound. His fingers unconsciously dug at the ground, dirtying his hands with dust and grime.

"Want some?" Finnian spoke up and said: "Even if you're going to die, you'd want to die on a full stomach, wouldn't you?"

And without waiting for Leslie to refuse, the two of them took great strides back into their own world.