John/Praia/Akford have been annoyed lately.

Autumn is coming.

Drinking the last sip of water from the cup, John/Praia/Akford held the wooden bowl and sighed silently.

Autumn was approaching, and it was almost time for the parish deacon to inspect the diocese, and Praia was distraught at the thought of it.

In the past two autumns, Praia has received the parish deacon twice, and it is enough to understand that the big nose, who will soon come again, is not a good figure to get along with, but this troublesome figure has enough weight to profoundly affect his future through the third round.

"Pastor, the brook is ready......"

A low call came from the door, and Praia nodded slightly, put down the cup, and left the hut.

Pastor John, Pastor Praia, Pastor Akford......

Pastor......

Praia smiled bitterly, being called so by the villagers every day, Praia sometimes felt a little embarrassed, because his identity was actually just a vicar, and only through the recognition of the third inspection could he really get the divine product.

But now it seems that through this inspection, it may require his own family to pay an additional price.

Praia is well aware that this result cannot be attributed entirely to the meanness and severity of the big nose. When I ask myself, Praia also quite understands that his achievements in presiding over this church are indeed not outstanding, and he cannot even be said to be completely competent without being too critical.

But can I be blamed for this?

It has been three years since she came to the remote village of Ekri, and the excitement and passion that she had just put on her robe had long since dissipated, and Praia was exhausted and frustrated by the numb villagers and poor life all day: the original pretended piety was still pretended piety, the original ignorant villagers were still unable to understand the sermon, and the tithes that could not be satisfactorily completed were now the same lack of two pounds.

In a word, what was the faith and devotion in the village three years ago, and what it is now, has hardly changed.

After working so hard for so long, I can hardly see any effect and effect.

Such a result could not but make Praia doubt the choice he had made back then.

"Pastor ......"

With another low call, Praia came back to his senses, and he had entered the church, and a small jar of water had been set up in front of him, and André was looking up at himself.

Pray early.

Praia sighed silently again, took out the canon, and prepared to start his daily homework.

At this moment, the door of the church was slightly dark, and a small black shadow flashed in.

Kindness?

Praia turned around, and by the church door, a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy stood on the right side of a pillar, his right hand on his chest, quietly looking at the position of the altar.

This is a very standard prayer posture, Praia nodded slightly.

The church does not prohibit the villagers from entering, but the villagers are short of time and have heavy labor, and rarely have time to come to the church, especially during the morning prayer time without holy food and any other benefits, and they will not come in and waste time.

But now it's a teenager who comes in.,It's the age when there's not too much trouble.,About because it's a place where there are no games.,Feel curious or pass by.,Walk in and rest.。

This is the youngest son of old William, and Praia remembers this child, this child's name is Los, and for some reason recently, he washes his face and clothes all day long, and cleans himself up, but he will not be annoying.

Little Loz's posture was accurate and quiet, and Praia ignored it and went back to the preparations for the morning prayer.

The preparations were scarce, and after a few minutes, Praia opened the book made of thick parchment and began to chant with André in praise of the Great Lord.

This process lasted for more than ten minutes, and André knocked on the chime, Praia closed the canon, took up the altar, and replaced it with the water from the stream that had just been brought in the morning, and the morning prayer was over.

After completing this daily work, Praia pulled out another thick book, also made of parchment, and motioned for André to sit down on a stool and begin teaching today's lesson.

Again, this is a job that cannot be sloppy.

Speaking of which, regardless of life or experience, Andre is very similar to himself, he is the second son of a knight, and he was sent to a priest to study theology at a young age, and when he grows up, he will find a way to find a divine product.

It is because of this similarity that Praia teaches every day with great dedication, and at this time he quickly sank into the content of the teaching.

Time passed quickly, about twenty minutes later, after the day's morning teaching, Praia closed the book, and André stood up, when there was a sudden slight movement by the church door, and little Los walked out of the church softly.

Praia then discovered that the youngest son of old William had not quietly left until now.

Would a completely incomprehensible theology course be curious?

Praia thought it was a little strange.

The next day was a fine day, and the three roosters near the church's house began to crow early in the morning, causing Praia to wake up a full hour or two earlier than usual.

Looking at the sundial by the side door of the church, it was still early to pray, Praia got up and slowly walked out of the church and onto the village path.

Perhaps it was still early, or perhaps it was because of the approaching third tour and the imminent tithes that would soon be levied, Praia walked a long way this time, and when he came up with a few more commandments to persuade him to pay tithes honestly, Praia found himself unconsciously near the wooden bridge on the west side of the village.

This is an old trouble in the village of Akrya, about a little older, and because of the rain washing back and forth on both sides, this wooden bridge made of two logs is always very unstable on one side, and it is very difficult to walk when stepping on it, and because the soil on both sides is very soft, several villagers who live nearby have repaired it several times but it has no effect.

Just thinking like this, a villager with grass on his back suddenly walked on the other side of the stream, and walked to the wooden bridge, the villager did not step on the log on the right side as carefully as before, and stepped on the wood on both sides at the same time, and walked steadily, the whole process was light and easy, and the wooden bridge did not shake at all.

Praia couldn't help but sigh.

At this time, the villagers had already crossed the wooden bridge, and when they heard the sound, the villagers looked up and saw Praia, and hurriedly bowed respectfully and called out to the master.

"Good day, Avilia ......"

Praia put his right hand on his shoulder, thinking of the villagers coming over, and asked with some curiosity, "When will this wooden bridge be repaired?" ”

Avilia was a very cultured inferior person, and when he talked to the priest, he honestly lowered his head and looked at his toes, "Yesterday's yesterday was fixed." ”

"Did you fix it?"

"No, sir." Aviglia shook her head, "I didn't build the bridge, and I don't know who it was, but Adela told me that when I passed by yesterday morning, the children of the old William's family were here, and it seemed that a lot of stones were being brought up from below. ”

"Okay, I got it. Let's go, Avilia. Praia waved his hand, graciously allowing the inferior man to go about his work, and then slowly walked to the wooden bridge, looked closely at the rocking log, and easily saw a few stones compacted from the earth beside it.

Moving stones? Can little Loes build bridges?

Praia thought it was a little strange.

Chapter 19: The Priest (II)

After walking back to the church, soon it was time for morning prayer again, André fetched the stream water, finished the preparations, the door of the church was slightly dark again, Praia raised his head, and little Rose stood next to the pillar again, his right hand on his shoulder, and bowed his head slightly.

Oh?

Praia's movements paused slightly, but he was about to pray early, and Xiao Los was also very quiet, and Praia dispensably opened the thick tome.

In the following days, every time the Vicarior Praia began his morning prayers, he could see little Los standing quietly by the pillar, waiting until Praia and André had finished their teaching sessions before quietly leaving.

Praia felt more and more strange.

However, despite this, Praia never opened his mouth to say half a word to Little Rose.

Because this is not the first time this has happened, when he first came to the village of Ekri, Praia also met several villagers who came to attend the morning prayer every day, but when Praia began to approach the villagers, he realized that these villagers with little cunning just wanted to get a little benefit from him.

Serving the Lord and praying honestly is the most basic obligation of every lamb, and there is no reason to receive any special privilege for it.

Although he did not think that a child like Little Los, who was only thirteen or fourteen years old, had such scheming, Praia was not prepared to be overjoyed and look the other way.

Moreover, it is always a little strange for children to participate in morning prayer for several days in a row, maybe it is curiosity, maybe it is pretense, Praia does not want to be disappointed soon, not to mention, if Little Ross is really close to the Lord and serves sincerely, the Lord will naturally bless Little Ross and take care of him mercifully.

Domination is omnipotent.

Praia gently pressed each shoulder on each side.

Another afternoon, as the sun began to slowly set, Praia sat on a bench near the middle of the church, looking at the altar and meditating silently, when a villager walked in lightly.

"Master Pastor."

Praia slowly turned around: "Good day, Wolfe, what's the matter?" ”

"Master Reverend......" was watched by an old man, and Wolf was a little restrained, and his right hand involuntarily put up on the stool next to him.

"Ahem......" Praia coughed softly.

Wolf immediately remembered that the tables and chairs in the church could only be touched by inferior people like himself on very important occasions, so he quickly put his right hand back and rubbed them awkwardly, "Master Pastor, my mother-in-law fell into the middle water last night carrying water, and started talking nonsense this morning, and she never woke up, so she begged the master to give her holy water." ”

"It is the Lord who bestows holy water."

The villagers were accustomed to the nonsense and understanding of the villagers, and shook his head helplessly, Praia walked to the altar, took out the sacred scriptures, and after chanting for a few minutes, took out a small spoon, scooped out a cup of holy water from the altar, and poured it into a small wooden bowl that Wolf was respectfully holding next to him.

"Domination is omnipotent." Wolf bowed, slowly reversed his body, and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute."

Wolf turned around, and the priest pointed to the nail rake that Wolf was holding in his right hand, "It's time to harvest the grass these days, why are you still using this?" Is the scythe broken again? The church also has a few that can be lent to you for use. ”

Speaking of this, Wolfe's originally sad face changed a little, "Thank you, sir, I have finished cutting the grass yesterday, my sickle is fine, and I brought this to get rid of the thorns on the edge of the western field." ”

"Thorns in the western land?" Praia recalled, and soon remembered that there were a few stubborn thorns in the west of the village, which could not be cut by a knife, and the roots could not be dug up, and the oxen could not pull out, and the priest looked at Wolf's nail rake again in confusion: "Can you get rid of them with this?" ”

"I can't get rid of it." Wolf shook his head quickly, "This is just a convenient way to gather weeds and leaves, old William's little Loth has thought of a way, pile up a few piles of grass, dig a few holes, and set fire to several places at the same time, you can burn them, the thorns in their field have been burned for a few days, and they haven't grown any more." ”

Little Loos again?

"Okay, I see, you go, Wolf." Praia waved her hand, and her heart began to feel a little strange again, and at the same time, she quietly became a little more curious.

This quietly born emotion, near the end of the evening, suddenly increased to the highest level.

As André began to prepare dinner, and Praia began his routine pre-dinner walk, to the east of the village, and was about to reach the worst part of the village, the priest was surprised to see Holset, Freeman, and Richard leading their sons with stones and dirt, sweating profusely to occupy the road.

Seeing the leisurely priest, more than a dozen people quickly stopped, bent down and bowed.

"Old Hult, what are you doing?"

"Sir." Holset reached out to the top of the half-bald head and took off the hood that didn't exist at this time, "Before it's time to eat, let's fix the road." ”

"Build roads?"

Although there are only a dozen steps of road, it probably won't take much effort for so many people to work together, but this is the whole village's business, anyway, everyone has to take this road, how could Holset, Freeman, and Richard do it themselves?

Praia couldn't suppress the surprise in his heart: "The three of you started building roads?" ”

"Sir." Freeman also bowed, "It's not just us who build roads, Avilia, Wolff, and William Sr. are also working in front. ”

"Huh?" Praia was even more surprised, "Why do you want to repair this bad road?"

"Sir......" Freeman bowed again: "Laziness is a sin to be avoided, laziness makes a man ugly, and never goes to be good again......"

Laziness is a sin that should be avoided, it makes a person ugly and never good......

That's exactly what I said, but do you only remember it today?

For a while, Praia was speechless, but fortunately the honest Richard took over the conversation: "Master, we have to move the pasture for the last time in the next few days, and old William said that this road should be repaired, so as not to repair the wooden cart every day, and the delay is not worth the cost." ”

William Sr. ......

Thinking about William's taciturn appearance in his memory, Praia couldn't connect the idea of building roads with the old tenant farmer, and thinking about Freeman's usual distracted and panicked style, Praia didn't think that this guy could remember his sermons.

Case......

Thinking of the completely different behavior of William and Freeman Sr., and the fact that the lesson he had recently taught to André happened to be about precepts and sins, Praia naturally thought of the little figure who had been listening to the church every day lately.

Could it be that you can talk to this little guy?