The next morning, amid the chirping of insects and birds, Nok opened his closed eyes and kissed the morning light.
"Well--another beautiful day."
Nok jumped out of bed and landed on the floor. He opened the shabby closet, took out a white linen robe and put it on. Then he went downstairs to get water from the well in the backyard to wash himself.
As soon as Nok arrived in the backyard, a crisp greeting came from a distance.
"Good morning, brother Nok."
"Ah, good morning, Lillian. You got up so early again."
Nok yawned and responded listlessly to the little girl.
Lillian John, twelve years old, is the oldest child in the abbey besides Nok. When he was five years old, he was brought back by Father John and became the second child of the monastery besides Knock.
She is the adopted daughter of Father John and the sister of Nok.
After Father John passed away, he took the initiative to take care of other children and housework, taking a lot of pressure off Nok.
"Yes. I don't know why, but I feel like I slept very comfortably last night, and I feel particularly energetic when I wake up today."
Lilian responded to Nok's words while helping Nok get water to wash his face.
When Nok, who was washing his face, heard this, he paused slightly with his hand movements, and then said with a nonchalant smile: "That's a good relationship. Don't work too hard on yourself. With brother Nok here, you will definitely live a good life. "
Although Nok said this, he felt relieved in his heart: It seems that the sleeping spell last night did not have any adverse effects on the little guy.
Lilian smiled brightly and said, "Well, I believe in brother Nok."
Looking at Lilian with a bright smile, Nok touched her slightly messy hair with a wet hand lovingly, and said in a positive tone: "Well, in order to live up to Lilian's trust, after finishing morning classes, My brother will go earn money and we will have extra meals in the evening.”
"Okay! Then I'll get the little guys up. There are a lot of clothes to be washed today. If you finish washing them early, I can use my wages to buy more brown bread."
"Well, go ahead."
Seeing Lilian jumping and running into the dormitory, the smile on Nok's face gradually faded, and his fingers had been tightened into fists before he knew it.
It's all about money!
In Knock's vague memory, although the monastery was not wealthy, it never worried about food.
As a young man, he sat at the dining table every day at the urging of Sister Meili, prayed before meals with other novice nuns and novice priests, and then enjoyed soft and delicious white bread and jam.
Occasionally, you can also eat turkey and steak on God’s Day.
But such days changed ten years ago.
Many monks (the collective name for novice clergy practitioners.) have left the monastery one after another, leaving only him and old nun Mei Li.
Then old Sister Meili fell ill, and Father John came.
Before her death, old Sister Mellie entrusted Knock and the monastery to Father John.
Then, there was no more meat and jam in the days when Nock and Father John lived together, only white bread and water.
Later, Lillian came, and the white bread turned into brown bread, but the portion was still plenty.
But as time went by, there were more and more children in the monastery.
The arrival of Crowell, Ashley, Hawkes, Hywell and Avril caused the black bread to be broken into two pieces.
Later, during the two months after Father John's death, there was not even a piece of black bread on their table for three days.
These were the children who secretly went begging on the street without telling Nok.
In this way, the only black bread entered the stomach of Nok who would only hide in the room and feel sorry for himself.
So much so that when he figured out that when he walked out of the room, four of the six younger siblings had already fallen ill, leaving the two older children, Lillian and Crowell, still struggling to take care of the four sick ones.
Even though Nok tried his best to cure the six people later, the six little guys still had problems with hunger and were severely depleted.
So much so that Lilian, a twelve-year-old child, looked older than other people's ten-year-old child.
Because of this, even if Nok kept hunting dark creatures to obtain materials and sell them on the black market, the money he earned was not enough to buy medicine to make up for the losses of several children.
Not to mention getting the kids a good meal.
Therefore, even if Lillian and the others could not buy a pound of black bread with their wages for washing clothes, Nok did not interfere with them.
"thank God,
Give us delicious food,
Fill our hungry bellies.
Amen! "
At the dinner table, Nok and the children prayed before the meal and began to enjoy the hard-earned breakfast.
"Clowell, I'm going out in a minute. You have to take good care of your brothers and sisters and don't cause trouble to Lillian, do you understand?"
"No problem, Brother Nok. Crowell promises to complete the mission and will not let outsiders bully us."
"Well, remember to come back as soon as you encounter those guys playing wooden tricks. They don't dare to break in, so don't provoke them anymore."
"Oh, got it."
The main reason why Nok said these words at the dinner table was that this little guy Crowell was too naughty and dared to secretly play tricks on the followers of the Natural God.
Fortunately, even if the neighbors no longer believed in the Holy Lord of Light, they still cared about the relationship between Sister Meili and Father John and protected the little guy.
Otherwise, the little guy will fall into the hands of the deists, and he will die or be disabled.
Even if Nok had the ability to retaliate afterwards, it would be of no use.
But Knock also knew that Crowell regarded himself as an idol, and when he heard the followers of the Natural God Church say bad things about him, he would naturally defend himself.
He couldn't blame the other person, so he could only remind him tactfully not to cause trouble.
Collowell, ten years old. He was the survivor that Nok rescued from the mission target on his first mission three years ago.
Therefore, Crowell even changed his last name to Lane, just to be closer to his idol.
After breakfast, Nok returned to the dormitory, changed into an ordinary outfit, put on his cloak, and took a bag with monster materials. Just as he was about to go out, nine-year-old Aisley ran away holding a worn-out rabbit doll. Come in.
The soft and frail Ashley held the rabbit in one hand and held onto Nok's robe with the other: "Brother Nok, there are guests at the church."
"Guest? Did he say what he wanted to do?"
Nok bent down and picked up Ashley from the ground. The weight of less than 40 pounds made Nok feel heartbroken.
This is the third oldest child after Lillian and Crowell, but is even thinner than the seven-year-old Hawks and the five-year-old twins Seawell and Avril.
Even five-year-old Avril weighs over 30 pounds!
This kid is too thin.
"I don't know. He was a very tall uncle. Although he wore a big cloak like his brother and hid his face in his beard, Ashley saw that the uncle was very unhappy."
Ashley, who was being held by Nok, was typing a report in a low voice and told all the information she had observed.
After hearing this, Nok thought about it and decided to change his clothes. After all, the way he was dressed now was not suitable for meeting people.
Regardless of whether the visitor is a guest or not, it is not easy for him to dress like this to meet people.
"Ashley, go and tell Lillian to take the guests to the side hall and remember to serve tea. I will be there soon."
Nok put Ashley down, patted her butt and ordered.
Ashley complained dissatisfiedly: "Brother Nok, Ashley is a lady, and a lady's butt cannot be photographed by men casually."
Nok was stunned, then laughed and said: "Sorry, sorry, brother has forgotten that Ashley is a lady. Brother promises not to do it next time."
Ashley nodded with satisfaction: "Then I forgive you, Ashley. But..."
Seeing Ashley's hesitant expression, Nok asked curiously: "But what?"
Ashley gritted her teeth, lowered her head coyly and said, "But if brother wants to take a picture, Ashley can secretly let him take a picture, just once, no more."
After saying that, Ashley covered her face and ran away shyly.
Nok looked at the small figure and suddenly couldn't help but smile.
He chuckled to himself: "Yes, I really have to thank you!"
Nok quickly put on his priest's clothes, took the Bible and walked quickly towards the front yard.
Entering the side hall of the church, Nok immediately saw a bearded man holding a tea cup in a daze.
This is a middle-aged man, probably between his thirties and forties.
There was no way, the man's brown beard covered his true age very well, and the haggard and worried look on his face made him look a few years older.
Nok could not accurately analyze the other party's age.
However, the other party was not here to cause trouble, and Nok was sure of this at a glance.
On the contrary, the other party is really a "guest", but the kind of "guest" who asks for help.
"Good day, distinguished sir. How can I help you?"
Nok smiled, breaking the man's thoughts.
The man hurriedly put down the tea cup that he had knocked over due to fright, and stood up.
But when he saw Nok's young face, he was still secretly surprised.
However, he quickly hid this surprise in his heart and adjusted his state.
"I'm sorry, dear priest. Although I heard that you are the youngest priest in England, I still didn't expect you to be so young and promising."
The man apologized and extended his right hand towards Nok.
Nok stretched out his right hand and shook it politely, and said with a smile: "Thank you very much. I am Nok Lane, you can call me Father Lane. If you don't greet me well, please don't look weird. Please sit down!"
"Oh, no, no. Thank you."
The two sat down facing each other politely.
The man hurriedly explained his purpose: "Your Excellency, Ford Holmes, I came here this time to confess to the Lord and to ask the priest to guide me, a lost lamb."
When Nok heard that the string was elegant, he immediately stood up and extended an invitation to the other party.
"I understand what Mr. Holmes means. Please come with me. The confessional is over here."
