Boom, boom.
The man heard the melodious church bells again.
He limped on the ground with a cane, and followed the sound of the church bell as he walked step by step to the tavern.
The door to the tavern was open.
The man reached out to hold the door frame and moved his body inside.
He glanced into the tavern. There was a group of soldiers in civilian clothes gathered in the tavern. This was not surprising. It was the army's rest time. The soldiers drank from their glasses and talked dirty words.
The person standing at the counter was not the tavern owner that day, but a waiter at work. He was wiping the counter with a rag.
"Beer is free today," the waiter said without raising his head.
The man was stunned.
Seeing that he didn't answer for a long time, the waiter raised his head and looked at the man.
"Are you new here to work?" the man asked. He had never seen this waiter before.
"Yes, I am the boss's nephew." the waiter said.
"Oh, where is the boss? Where has he gone?" the man asked.
The waiter looked at the man in surprise and said, "It seems you don't come here often. My uncle went to church. Today is my cousin's memorial service."
The man walked up to the counter and ordered a beer.
The waiter immediately walked out of the counter, opened the wine barrel, put down the wooden cup, and filled it with a full cup.
As he walked over, the waiter said: "Today is the day that my uncle commemorates my cousin, so the beer is free."
He took his chin and pointed at the soldiers who were drinking indulgently, and said: "Those are basically my cousin's comrades, in the same formation."
"Is he your uncle's youngest son?" the man hesitated for a moment and asked.
"Yes, you know my cousin?" the waiter said in surprise.
"No, I haven't seen it, I just heard it from your uncle."
"Oh, no matter what, feel free to drink. You will be charged after today." The waiter pushed the beer in front of the man.
The man took the beer, moved his feet, and walked into the pub step by step.
Outside the tavern, the boy who planned to steal something looked inside. There were too many people and it was difficult to get started. He hesitated and did not go in.
As the man walked in, the soldiers who were drinking and drinking also noticed him, turned their heads, and looked at the man's appearance.
Immediately afterwards, an exclamation suddenly broke out. In a corner, a strong man stood up abruptly. He was so excited that he couldn't believe it: "Consul?!"
The man looked up. He had a good memory and recognized him at a glance. He was Armin.
"Long time no see, Armin." The man said in a hoarse voice.
Hearing the exclamation of "Consul", the soldiers turned their gazes over one after another. Those who had seen the consul before also exclaimed one after another.
The man pulled out a chair and slowly sat down between them.
He took a sip of beer, and the sweetness of the barley and the bitterness of the wine exploded in his mouthpiece.
"Everyone, long time no see, don't get up for me," the man said.
Those soldiers who planned to stand up or had already stood up sat back.
"Consul..." Armin swallowed and asked worriedly: "How are you?"
"What's wrong?" the man asked.
"I heard that you...are not in good health." Armin said carefully.
The other soldiers leaned forward. The news of the Archon's unclear health could not be hidden. Almost everyone knew about it and was worried about him.
"Yes, a broken leg." The man said openly, then stopped talking and changed the topic, "I want to ask you, how is the war?"
Although during the days of recuperation, Cassel sent someone to send battle reports every day, the man was still a little worried that the deputy consul was hiding something from him out of consideration for his health.
"Hey, we executed the king and are preparing to put his son on trial. Consul, you must know better than us," Armin said excitedly, "I have a friend stationed at the front who wrote a letter saying that the nobles have already There is chaos, and they are all fighting for the king’s throne.”
Then, the man asked the remaining soldiers for confirmation, and then nodded with confidence.
"Consul, we are all waiting for you to get well," Armin took a sip of beer. He was illiterate, but remembered the man's speech, and said, "Look, here is a new world, and there is an old world waiting over there. overthrow."
"In the free beer?" the man said with a smile.
"Yes, free beer," Armin stood up and shouted with several soldiers. They took a sip of beer, laughed loudly, and then said: "Here's to Big Joe and Little Joe, here's to the boss's great son. .”
Big and small Joe Hugh... The man suddenly realized that they seemed to be the eldest and youngest sons of the tavern owner.
Armin sat down again and said, "Consul, did you know? Little Qiao Xiuer also died, and today is his memorial service."
"I heard about it from the boss's nephew."
"Yes, the boss came to the military camp specially last night and found us from tent to tent." Armin took a sip of beer and swallowed it. "The last time he did this was seven days ago. That day, Xiao Qiao Huer funeral."
"Then what?"
"On the day of the funeral, a group of us men burst into tears, including the boss, who almost broke his spine from crying. When he came here last night, he brought two legs of lamb and yelled and cursed at the top of his lungs, telling us to come today. Celebrating little Joe Scheure.”
"Celebrate?"
"Yes, the boss asked us to celebrate that he returned to the embrace of the Lord and used his own sacrifice to gain victory... He also said a lot, I can't remember. In short, he asked us to celebrate."
The man nodded as he listened.
After chatting with the soldiers for a while, the man planned to leave. He wanted to go to the church.
"Goodbye, it's time for me to go."
The man put his crutches on the ground and walked.
"Archon!"
With a crash, Armin stood up first.
The man looked back.
Armin's lips trembled.
The soldiers around him stood up one after another, staring at the man's thin back.
Almost at the same time, they raised their right hands and saluted the man in unison.
"Archon, our Archon!"
Their voices are vibrating and involuntary.
Apart from this sentence, these soldiers didn't know what to say.
"Goodbye, my dear citizen."
The man supported his body with one hand, straightened his body, and returned the ring salute.
"May the Lord bless you."
The man winked, turned around, and walked out of the tavern step by step.
He went to the church alone.
The church bells are very melodious. They are newly minted bells that reverberate all the time.
The memorial service is a liturgical ceremony for remembering and praying for the deceased seven days after the burial.
The man walked down the street and approached.
The hiding child saw the man walking out and hurriedly followed him.
The tavern is not far from the church. Even with a cane and limited mobility, the distance between the man and the church is clearly shortened.
When he walked to the white arch of the church, he saw the tavern owner, dressed in casual clothes, sitting on a bench in the church.
A priest stood on the stage and preached scriptures of comfort and encouragement.
In front of the bench in the front row, a group of children in white clothes stood under the stage. They stood one by one with their hands behind their backs.
The man walked in quietly and sat next to the tavern owner.
The tavern owner thought it was an uninvited guest. He raised his eyes and saw the face of the consul.
He was stunned.
But the man said: "Qiao Xiu'er...his name is Qiao Xiu'er, right?"
"Ah...yes, Archon." The boss closed his surprised mouth and whispered: "Archon, you can always stun me."
"Sorry for interrupting your mood."
"No, actually not." The boss crossed his fingers, "I'm not in the mood."
"Not in the mood?"
"Yes, the time to be sad has passed." The boss straightened his body.
The priest's prayer is almost over. Next, it's time to go to the choir to sing hymns and bless the souls of the deceased.
What the children are going to sing is "Lord Above", a hymn that is often sung at masses and funerals.
The boss went on to say: "My eldest brother, Joe Hugh, they have all left. This is really an unrealistic thing. I wonder if you have similar feelings."
"I agree."
"Look, just a list on the bulletin board announced that my little Joe Huell has also left. This is really unbelievable. They are all strong and brave people."
After speaking, the boss turned his face and looked at the consul, his eyes gradually becoming moist.
"Their blood will water this place, right?" the boss said word by word.
"I believe," the man paused, "that there will be gardens here that they water."
The boss heaved a sigh of relief and sat back on the bench.
The children in the choir began to sing in unison, with moving melody and clear voice.
"Consul, let me tell you," the boss wrinkled his eyelids and trembled his lips as he murmured, "I had a dream the day before yesterday."
The man listened silently, the beast on his chest crawling quietly.
"My little Joe Huell, they picked the lock and got into the tavern, and you know, I locked the tavern every night."
"Big Joe Sewell is always so restless, and little Joe Sewell listens to his brother on everything. They stole all my beer, got drunk and made a mess everywhere."
"Then they crept up the stairs to my door and broke the lock on me."
The boss said with a smile on his wrinkled face.
"They came to my pillow together and shook me awake."
The man looked at the boss in disbelief.
The children in the choir sang carols to the Kingdom of Heaven, remembering the deceased, and sang every word.
"Hey, these two bastards are drunk!" the boss scolded with a smile.
The man stared at him and smiled.
Then, the boss covered his upper lip and nose, his eyes trembled and his voice was hoarse:
“They asked me if I was proud of them.”
The words paused here. The boss's voice was hoarse and his lips moved. He wanted to speak several times but didn't know how.
The man asked softly: "What did you say."
"'Yes, of course.' That's what I said."
The boss smiled, tears streaming down his face,
"These two bastards grinned at me and said, 'Hey, Dad, I thought you were never proud of us.' What two bastards, always."
After the boss, who had lost two sons one after another, finished speaking, the singing of the children in the choir stopped.
The last line of that hymn is:
The Lord is above,
Please accept this kind soul.
The Lord is above.
The boss clenched the armrests of the bench, stood up with all his strength, and clapped as hard as he could.
The children bowed and nodded to him naively.
He turned around and smiled at the man:
"So, the memorial service for my son is over."
