Lama Wang was not surprised by the Queen Mother's approval.
"I have always felt that it would be too unfair to let him go to the front line to be an officer." He said to the Queen Mother: "I told Xiao Guo before that it would be better for this child to follow me for training from now on, and let him be the next patriarch. It’s worth it.”
"I'm afraid he won't be happy." The Queen Mother said with a smile: "For such a boy, we have to expect him to inherit the family business. Sooner or later he will be recruited into the army."
"I think he should try harder." She began to express her worries about Guo Kang's adoptive father: "I told him last time that this one was simply not enough. But he was still embarrassed - Hi, He’s such an old man, and he doesn’t know how to be shy. Next time, I’ll help him and his wife ask for some medicine, and I’ll try to give it another try.”
Lama Wang opened his mouth, but couldn't answer the question.
"This child, I think, is the one we love. Come, let grandma take a look." The old queen pulled Guo Kang and looked at it: "What you said is like old Peter - speaking of it, You weren't secretly born by Xiao Guo and those foreign girls, and he was afraid that Huang Yatou would be unhappy, so you had to be shot in by Ottoman cannons, right?"
"..."
The others were stunned for a moment, and Lama Wang didn't even know what to say.
"This child was dug out of the rubble, not shot in by artillery. I was still at the scene at that time." He had to explain: "While cleaning, there was a child crying in the half-collapsed shed. Xiao Guo went to take it out for him. I happened to be on the front line of the city defense and was close, so I was called over to baptize him."
"That's it." The Queen Mother actually looked a little pity: "Hey, that's not bad. There is a folk saying among Italians that children born in storms are stronger and more resilient. This kid was born under artillery fire, he must be a Promising one.”
"Don't worry about your many younger brothers and sisters. They will compete with you. We in Rome are short of people everywhere right now. And in these war-torn times, having an older brother is more important than anything else. They have to count on you." She He has already begun to comfort Guo Kang in advance.
"I heard from Constantine that Po Nu still likes to bully you. This girl is very stubborn. Don't trust her. If she messes with you next time, grandma will help you teach her a lesson. Okay?"
Guo Kang caught a glimpse of Tuo Huan smiling proudly at him and nodded.
He himself didn't care much about it, but Tuo Huan, the Queen Mother and others seemed to take it very seriously. Even though he said this in public... he probably understood the Queen Mother's simple thoughts, so he was very grateful.
"Don't worry too much." Tuo Huan also came over and said, "Grandma is not only an elder, but also my father and your father's teacher. If you have any family matters, just ask her to help you."
He seemed very happy, and he probably had his efforts behind the scenes to allow the Queen Mother to speak publicly for Guo Kang, so he couldn't help but show it off to others.
"Yes." The Queen Mother nodded repeatedly. She pushed Tuo Huan aside and reached out to call Theodore, who was standing outside the crowd, to come over.
"I raised this child myself. If anything happens in the future, just ask her to tell me. You two, please get along well." She said meaningfully.
Everyone around him had expressions of understanding. Theodora lowered her head, feeling a little embarrassed.
Tuohuan muttered in confusion, indicating that he was helping this time, but Theodora intervened halfway to cause trouble. Lama Wang quickly hit him with a whisk and pulled him behind him.
After greetings, the Queen Mother invited everyone to enter the monastery and come to the reception hall.
"Zoe, bring the tea leaves and make them for everyone." She ordered a tall girl who came up to her in Greek: "A new guest is here today, so everyone should write carefully."
The girl named Zoe bowed and retreated.
"Oh, let me introduce you. This person is actually an old acquaintance of Xiao Guo and I." Lama Wang then took advantage of the opportunity to call the Tianfang teacher over and introduced with a smile: "He is from Granada. Muhammad, we all call him 'Old Sea Urchin'."
"What kind of nickname is this?" The Queen Mother couldn't help laughing.
"Wish you all the best, Queen Mother." Muhammad stroked his chest and bowed, and said in fluent Greek: "This name was given to me by others when I was young. At that time, I liked to practice martial arts, and because my family was a tax collector, I look for people to cause trouble every day. Others thought I had a bad temper and was covered in thorns like a sea urchin, so they gave me this nickname."
"I really can't tell." The Queen Mother said, "Lao Wang praised you as a sensible and generous person before."
"Maybe it's because I have experienced many changes." Muhammad sighed: "These years of experience have taught me that it is useless for a person to be brave and aggressive."
"My family actually lived in Cordoba, which used to be the second largest city in the entire continent of Europe and Africa. Oh, the largest city was your Constantinople." He recounted: "Then At that time, Cordoba was the center of the western world, where countless wealth gathered. Scholars, merchants, and craftsmen were bustling, making the city a center of economy, culture and education."
"However, these are gone now." He sighed: "The Kingdom of Castile occupied Cordoba and wreaked havoc. These people are too barbaric and have no idea of the value of the long-term accumulation of civilization. They could neither use wealth effectively nor understand philosophy. From that time on Cordoba's glory faded."
"When I was a child, I thought this was because the emirs in Granada and other places were too cowardly and tolerated the pagans and even surrendered to them. As long as we restore the piety and bravery of ancient times, we can protect our homeland and solve these nasty problems. Barbarians. But later, the Castilian army came to plunder the town where my family was located and massacred the residents. I discovered that the 'bravery' trained in these street fights was actually of no use at all."
"The 'brave boys' who were running rampant on the streets with me were completely unable to defend the town. Some of them were killed in the chaos, and more people..." He smiled bitterly: "Their performance was even worse than usual. It’s even worse for ordinary residents who are bullied by them.”
"The residents of the Cross Church are all trying to fight for their homes and property. But these people saw that the situation was wrong, and most of them abandoned the oaths they swore in the name of Hu Da and fled directly - according to them, maybe now It’s not the time for martyrdom yet.”
"My father died in the attack. My uncle tried his best to get my mother and sister out, but they thought the entire peninsula of Andalusia was gone. So we went to Morocco, then to Tunisia, and finally to I went to Egypt and Syria. It was in Syria that I got acquainted with His Excellency Godaeus and others."
(End of chapter)
