Bishop Peregrino smiled coldly, in the manner of a duelist saluting a good opponent. You're going around in circles, talking about people, going around the truth, and feints from time to time. And once you attack, your target will be fatal. These people are there for fun, but they become your target, and you will pierce their hearts.

"Some of you should remember one thing," said the speaker. "Maxus was about thirteen years old, and so were you. Playing with him on the hillside grass behind the school. You're attacking harder than usual. You threaten him with stones, and you beat him with the blade-like kapim leaf. You gave him a slight injury, but he endured. Try to hide from you. Stop. Then one of you hit him in the stomach hard, and it hurt him more than you think, because by that time he was already suffering from the disease that would eventually kill him. He was not used to his fragility and pain then. It felt like death to him. He was cornered. You're killing him. So he hit you. ”

How did he know? That was so long ago. Who told him what had happened? It was just out of control, that's all. We didn't mean to, but when his arm came out, his huge fist was like a kick from Kabra -- he was going to hurt me --

"It could be any of you who fell to the ground. Then you know that he is stronger than you feared. However, what scares you most is that you know very well that you deserve retribution for your actions. So you call for help. And when the teachers came, what did they see? A little boy was crying and bleeding on the ground. An older kid of adult size had a little bruise here and there, and said I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. The other half-dozen kids were saying that he had just hit him. For no reason, they began to beat him to death. We want to stop him, but he's so big. He often bullied the kids. ”

Little Greg was fascinated by the story. "Mentirosos!" he cried out. They're lying! A few people in the neighborhood were eating and laughing. Koyula shushed him.

"So many witnesses," said the speaker. "The teachers had no choice but to believe the allegation. Until a girl stands up and coldly tells them that she has seen it all. Marcus acted to protect himself from a completely unjustified, ferocious, painful attack by a group of boys who behaved more like Exams, like dogs, than Marcus Ribera's. Her story was immediately accepted as truth. After all, she is the daughter of the Venerables. ”

Greg looked at his mother, his eyes sparkling, then jumped up and announced to those around him, "Amam?eolibertou!" But she maintained that expressionless look, refusing to respond to the momentary emotion they had for her child. They looked away again, feeling offended.

"Nuo Wanhua," said the speaker. "Her aloof demeanor and sharp mind make her a person who is as unsocial as Macao among people. No one could have figured out when she had ever made friendly gestures to anyone. But here she is, saving Macau. Well, you know the facts. She's not actually saving Macao - she's trying to prevent you from getting away with it. ”

They nodded, smiling knowingly, the friendly expressions of those people just being rejected by her. That's Ms. Nuo Wanhua, a heterobiologist, too good for the rest of us to deserve.

That's not how Marcos saw that. He had been called an animal so often that he almost believed it. Nowanhua showed sympathy to him when he was a human being. A beautiful girl, a gifted child, the daughter of His Holiness, usually like an unreachable goddess, condescended to him, blessed him, and granted his prayers. He adores her. Six years later he married her. Isn't that a love story?"

Ella looked at Miro, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "It's almost going to make you like that old bastard, isn't it?" said Mi** abruptly.

Suddenly, after a long pause, the voice of the speaker erupted, louder than before. It shocked them, woke them up. "Why did he hate her, beat her, despise her children, and why did she endure this, this strong-willed woman? The church may not allow divorce, but separations are common, and she won't be the first person in Miracle Town to leave her husband. She could leave him with her tormented children. But she stayed. Both the mayor and the bishop advised her to leave him. She told them to go to hell. ”

Many Portuguese laughed, and they could imagine the silent Nowannis scolding the bishop himself and glaring at Bosquina. They don't like Nuo Wanhua much, but she's the only one in Miracle Town who can turn their noses up at authority and walk away.

The bishop remembers what happened in his room more than ten years ago. The words she uses are not exactly what the speaker quotes, but the effect is the same. But he was alone. He didn't tell anyone. Who is this speaker, and how can he know so much about things that he could not have known at all?

After the laughter stopped, the speaker continued. "There is a bond that binds them together in a marriage they hate. This bond is Mako's disease. ”

His voice was softer now. The Portuguese listened nervously.

"It shaped his life, from the moment he was conceived. The union of genes given to him by his parents was such that from adolescence his glandular cells began a process of steady and inexorable transformation into fat cells. Dr. Navio can tell you better than I can tell you how it is going. Marcau knew about the disease as a child, his parents knew about it before they died of cyclotronia, and Gasto and Sida learned about it through the genetic testing they performed on everyone in Lusitania. They were all dead. Besides, only one person knew about it, the one who had inherited the Xenobiologist's papers. Nuo Wanhua. ”

Dr. Navio was puzzled. If she had known about it before they got married, she must have known that most people with his disease were infertile. Then why did she marry him, since she knew perfectly well that he had no chance of having children? and then he realized what he should have understood a long time ago, that Macao was not a rare exception to the pattern of the disease. No exceptions. Navio's face flushed. It is impossible to speak of what a man is about to tell them.

"Nowanhua knows that Ma Kau is dying," the speaker said. "Before she married him, she also knew that he was absolutely completely infertile. ”

It took a while for the meaning of these words to be fully understood. Ella felt like she was burning inside. She didn't have to turn her head to see Miro's stiffness and his cheeks turn pale.

The speaker continued, even as the whispers of the listeners grew louder and louder. "I've seen genetic scans. Marcos Maria Ribera never fathered a child. His wife had children, but none of them were his, and he knew that, and she knew he knew it. It was part of the contract they made when they got married. ”

Muttering turned to grunting, tickling turned to whining, and then, when the noise reached its highest point, Kim jumped up and shouted, screaming at the speaker, "My mother is not a silver woman! I'm going to kill you, for you she's a bitch!"

His last words echoed in the silence. The speaker did not answer. He just waited, his eyes fixed on Kim's angry face. It wasn't until finally Kim realized that it was his, not the human voice, that said the words that still rang in his ears. He shuddered. He looked at his mother, who was sitting on the floor beside him, now less straight, slightly bent, looking at her hands trembling on her knees. "Tell them, Mother," Kim said. There was too much pleading in his voice that he didn't want to carry.

She didn't answer. He didn't say a word, he didn't look at him. Even if he didn't know anything more, he knew that her trembling hands were a confession, and that she was ashamed, just as what a man said was the truth, and if Kim had asked God Himself, God would have said so. He remembered that Father Matru had explained the punishment of hell: God had spurned the destroyers, they mocked the creative power he had given them, and they had so little virtue that they were not worthy of anything better than the amoeba. Kim was bitter in his mouth. The speaker speaks the truth.

"Mamae," he mocked loudly, "Quernf?dep'rafazer-me?"

People gasped. Orhado immediately jumped to his feet, his hands clenched into fists. It wasn't until this that Nowanhua reacted, holding out a hand as if to stop Orhado from beating his brother. Kim barely noticed that Orjardo was inclined to protect his mother, and the only thing he could think of was the fact that Miro didn't. Miro also knows it's true.

Kim gasped heavily, and turned away, looking dazed as he made his way through the crowd. No one was talking to him, but everyone was watching him go. If Nueva denied the accusation, they would believe him and would reproach the speaker for accusing His Holiness of the daughter for such a crime. But she didn't deny it. She heard her own son accuse her of immorality, but she said nothing. It's true. Now they can't wait to hear it. Few of them really cared. They just wanted to know who was the father of Nowanwah's children.

The speaker calmly continues his story. After the death of her parents and before the birth of her children, Nowanhua had only loved two people. Pippo is her second father. Nowanhua's life was anchored with him, and for a few years she tasted what it was like to own a home. Then he died, and Nowanhua believed that she had killed him. ”

The people sitting near Nowanhua's family saw Koyura kneeling in front of Ella and asked her, "Why is Kim so angry?"

Ella replied in a low voice. "Because dad is not our real father. ”

"Oh," Koyula said. "And now the man is our father?" she sounded like she hoped so. Ella shushed her.

"The night Pippo died," said the speaker, "Nowanhua showed him something she had discovered, something about Cyclopsy and the way it acted on the flora and fauna of Lucitania. Pippo has seen more from her work than she does. He rushed to the forest where the pigs were waiting. Maybe he told them what he found. Maybe it's just that they guessed. But Nowanhua condemned herself for showing him a secret that a pig would rather kill than keep.

"It's too late to cancel what she's done. But she can prevent it from happening again. So she blocked all the files that had the slightest connection to Cyclone or what she had shown to Pippo that night. She knew who would want to see the documents. That's Lipo, the new alien. If Pippo is her father, then Lipo is her brother, and even more than a brother. Pippo's death was unbearable enough, and Lipo's death would be even worse. He asked for those documents. He asked to go through them. She told him she would never let him see them.

"Both of them knew exactly what that meant. Once he marries her, he will be able to remove the protection from those documents. They loved each other to death, and they needed each other more than ever, but Nuo Wanhua could never marry him. He would never swear not to read the papers, and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to keep it. He will definitely see what his father sees. He's going to die.

"It's one thing to refuse to marry him. It's another thing to leave him to live. So she didn't leave him to live. She made her pact with Mako. She would legally marry him, but her real husband and father to all her children would be, and indeed would be, Lipo. ”

Bruhina, Lipo's widow, roses scattered at her feet, tears streaming down her cheeks, wailing: "mentira, mentira. "Lies, lies. But her tears were not angry, but sad. She is mourning the complete loss of her husband once again. Her three daughters helped her get out of the square.

As she left, the speaker continued in a soft voice. "Lipo knew he was hurting his wife, Bruhina and their four daughters. He hated himself for what he had done. He tried to leave. Within a few months, sometimes years, he was successful. Nowanhua is also trying. She refused to see him or even talk to him. She forbade her children to mention him. Then Lipo would think he was strong enough to see her and not repeat the same mistakes. Nowanhua would feel so lonely with her husband, who was no match for Lipo. They never pretended that what they were doing was justified. They can't survive simply by leaving it for a long time. ”

Bruhina heard this, as she was led away. Of course, it wasn't much comfort for her now, but as Bishop Peregrino watched her leave, he realized that the speaker was giving her a gift. She is the most innocent victim of his cruelty, but he leaves her with nothing but ashes. He is giving her a way to move on with her life with knowledge of her husband's behavior. That's not your fault, he's telling her. You can't do anything to avoid this. The one who is at fault is your husband, not you. Blessed virgin, the bishop prayed silently that Bruhinga would hear what he was saying and believe it.

Lipo's widow isn't the only one crying. Hundreds of eyes as they watched her leave were filled with tears. The discovery that Nowanhua is a woman of annihilation is shocking but also delightful: the woman with a heart of steel has a flaw that makes her no better than anyone else. But it's unpleasant to find the same flaw in Lipo. Everybody loves him. Their generosity, his kindness, his wisdom were the envy of them, and they didn't want to know that they were all masks.

So they didn't realize until the speaker reminded them that he wasn't talking about Lepo's death.

Why would Marcos Ribera agree to do this? Nowanhua thought it was because he wanted a wife and the illusion that he would have children in order to avoid disgrace in the community. That's part of it. Most importantly, though, he married her because he loved her. He never really expected her to love him as much as he loved her, for he adored her, she was a goddess, and he knew that he was sick, unclean, an animal to be despised. He knew she wouldn't adore him, or even love him. He hoped that one day she would feel a little impressed. She's going to have some—loyalty. ”

The speaker lowered his head for a moment. The Portuguese heard what he didn't have to say: she never was.

"Every child born," said the speaker, "is yet another proof of his failure for Marcaus." The goddess still considers him worthless evidence. Why? He's loyal. He never hinted to his children that they weren't his own. He never broke his vow to Nowanhua. Shouldn't he have received anything from her? Every now and then it would be more than he could bear. He refused to accept her sentence. She's not a goddess. Her children are all mongrels. That's what he said to himself, when he kicked and punched her, when he yelled at Miro. ”

Miró heard his own name, but didn't realize it was something related to him. His connection to reality was more fragile than he had ever imagined, and today it had given him too many shocks. The incredible magic of pigs and trees. Mother and Lipo, lovers. Oanda was suddenly ripped from the position that was as intimate to him as his body, his ego, and now she was moved backwards, like Ella, like Koyula, to his other sister. His eyes were not focused on the grass, and the voice of the speaker became a pure voice, and he could not hear the meaning of the words, only a terrible sound. Miró had called out to that voice, had hoped that it would speak of Lipo's death. How could he have imagined then that he had received not the compassionate priest of a humanist religion, but the original speaker himself, with his keen mind and all too perfect understanding? Little had he known that under that sympathetic mask would lie Ender the Destroyer, the mysterious demon who had committed humanity's greatest crime, determined to live up to his name, by discovering what no one else had been able to discover in nearly fifty years after spending only an hour with the pigs, turning Pippo, Lipo, Oanda and Miro into a joke, and now slicing Ouanda from him with a merciless swing of the Blade of Truth, the only sure thing left for him, that merciless and terrifying voice。

Miró pursued its voice, tried to hate it, but failed, because he knew, could not deceive himself, he knew that Ender was a destroyer, but what he destroyed was an illusion, and the illusion must perish. The truth about the pigs, the truth about ourselves. Somehow, this man from ancient times could see the truth, and it wouldn't stab him in the eyes or drive him crazy. I must listen to this voice and let its power come to me, so that I too can look into the light and not die.

"Nuo Wanhua knows what she is. A woman, a hypocrite. She knew she was hurting Macaw, Lipo, her children, Brushinga. She knew she had killed Pippo. So she endured and even welcomed Makaw's punishment. It was her atonement. This atonement is not enough. No matter how much Macao might hate her, she hated herself much deeper. ”

The bishop nodded slowly. The Speakers did a very horrible thing to lay out these secrets in front of the whole community. They should have been said in the confessional. But Peregrino has also felt the power of this approach, which forces the entire community to discover the other side of the people they thought they knew, and then again, and again, and again, and each revision of the story forces all of them to reimagine themselves, because they too are part of the story, and likewise, have been touched by everyone hundreds, thousands of times, and until this moment no one has ever known who they are touching. It's a painful, terrifying experience, but ultimately it has a wonderfully calming effect. The bishop whispered sideways to his secretary: "At least the rumors will come from here - there are no secrets left to tell." ”

"All the people in this story are suffering," said the speaker. "They all made sacrifices for those they loved. They all inflict terrible pain on those who love them. And you, the people who are listening to me here today, you have also brought pain. But keep this in mind: Macau's life was miserable and harsh, but he could terminate his contract with Nowanhua at any time. He chose to stay. He must have found some happiness in it. As for Nowanhua: she broke God's laws that unite this community. She has also received her punishment. The Church will not ask for a terrible atonement like the one she inflicted on herself. If you are inclined to think that she may deserve some punishment at your hands, remember this: she has endured all of this, and has done everything for one purpose: to protect Lipo from being killed by the pigs. ”

These words filled their hearts with ashes of sorrow.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Orhado stood up and walked over to his mother, kneeling beside her, a hand around her shoulder. Ella sat beside her, but she bent over and cried. Koyula walked over and stood in front of her mother, looking at her in awe. And Gregor, who buried his face in Nowanhua's lap and wept. Those who stood close enough could hear him crying, "todopapaiémorto.n?otenhonempapai." "All my dads are dead. I don't have a dad anymore.

Ouanda stood at the mouth of the alley, from where she had left with her mother shortly before the end of the speech. She was looking for Miro, but he was gone.

Ander stood behind the platform, looking at the Nowanhua family, hoping that he could do anything to alleviate their pain. There is always pain after a speech, because a deceased speaker never softens his true feelings. But few people live a life full of deception like Macau, Lipo and Nowanhua, and rarely have so many shocks, so many messages, to force people to revise their impressions, of those they know, of whom they love. From the faces that looked up at him as he spoke, Ender knew that he had brought great pain today. He himself felt it completely, as if they had passed on their pain to him. It was Blushing who was most surprised, but Ender knew she wasn't the one who hurt the most. That title belonged to Miro and Oanda, who thought they knew where the future would take them. But Ander had felt the pain people felt before, so he knew that today's new wounds would heal much faster than the old ones. Nuo Wanhua may not have realized it, but Ander had lifted a burden from her, it was too heavy for her to bear.

"Speak people," Mayor Bosquina said.

"Mayor," Ender said. He didn't like to talk to people after a speech, but he had gotten used to the fact that there were always people who insisted on talking to him. He squeezed out a smile. "There are so many more people here than I expected. ”

"For a while, for most of them," Bosquina said. "By dawn they'll forget about it. ”

Ander was a little annoyed that she downplayed the matter. "Unless there's something major at night," he said. "Yes. Well, indeed, there will be major events. ”

It was only then that Ender realized that she was very depressed and almost completely out of control. He grabbed her elbow and put a hand over her shoulder, and she leaned gratefully against him.

"Speak people, I'm here to apologize. Your starship has been requisitioned by the Galactic Council. It's none of your business. There was a crime here, a crime so - terrible - that the perpetrator had to be taken to the nearest world, Trondheim, to be tried and executed. Use your boat. ”

Ander reacted in an instant. "Miro and Oanda."

She turned her head and looked at him keenly. "You're not surprised. ”

"And I'm not going to let them go. ”

Bosquina allowed herself to leave him. "Won't let them go?"

"I know a thing or two about what they're accused of. ”

"You've been here for four days, and you've already known something I never guessed?"

"Sometimes the political axe will be the last to know. ”

"Let me tell you why you let them go, why we're all going to let them go to face judgment. Because the parliament took away our documents. Computer memory is embodied in the emptiness of all but the most basic programs, which control our energy supply, our water supply, our drainage. We won't be able to do anything tomorrow because we don't have enough energy to run any factories, to work in the mines, to power the tractors. I have been removed from public office. Now I'm just an acting police officer, overseeing the implementation of the Lusitania Evacuation Committee's directives. ”

"Retreat?"

"The colony's license was revoked. They're sending a boat to pick us all up. Every trace of human habitation in this place must be erased. Even the tombstones that mark the location of our deceased. ”

Ander tried to probe her reaction. He never thought that Bosquina was the kind of person who would bow down to a mindless authority. "Are you going to obey this command?"

"The supply of energy and water is controlled by Ansebo. They also control the fence. They can lock us up here, no energy, no running water, no water, and we can't get out. Once Miro and Oanda board your starship and head to Trondheim, they say they'll ease some restrictions. She sighed. "Oh, talk people, I'm afraid it's not a good time to be a tourist in Lusitania. ”

"I'm not a tourist. He didn't bother to explain his suspicions to her, and it was probably not a pure coincidence that Ander happened to be there when the council noticed the suspicious activity. "Can you salvage some of your papers?"

Bosquina sighed. "I'm going to have to take advantage of you, I'm afraid. I've noticed that all of your files are maintained by Ansebo, outside of this world. We sent our most critical documents to you as a message. ”

Ender smiled. "Okay, done right, well done. ”

"It's useless. We can't get them back. Or, um, yes, we can, but will notice it right away and then you'll be in the same predicament as the rest of us. And by that time they will clear everything. ”

"Unless you cut the Ansebo connection as soon as you copy all of my files to local memory. ”

"Then we're really rebelling. And what's that for?"

"In order to give Lusitania a chance to be the best and most important in the world. ”

Bosquina smiled. "I think people will take us seriously, but rebellion is not a century-old method. ”

"Please. Don't do anything. Don't arrest Miro and Oanda. Wait an hour, and then let me have a meeting with you and all the other people who need to be there to make a decision. ”

"Is it a rebellious decision? I can't think of why you should be present and speak for people when you make this decision. ”

"You'll understand at the meeting. Please, this place is too important to lose. ”

"What chance?"

"Make up for what Ender did in the xenoextinction three thousand years ago. ”

Bosquina gave him a sharp look. "Now I feel like you've just proven yourself to be nothing but a braggart. ”

She was probably joking. Probably not. "If you think I'm just blowing nonsense, you're too stupid to lead a community to anything. He smiled.

Bosquina shrugged. "Poisé?" she said. Of course. Anything else?

"Will you have a meeting?"

"I'll hold it. In the bishop's office. ”

Ender hesitated.

"The bishop will not go anywhere else for a meeting," she said, "and any decision to rebel is pointless, if he does not agree." Bosquina put her hand on his chest. "He probably won't even let you into the cathedral. You are an unbeliever. ”

"But you'll try. ”

"I'll try it, for what you've done tonight. Only a virtuous person can see people so thoroughly in such a short period of time. Only an impudent guy would say these out loud. Your virtues and your shortcomings - we need both. ”

Bosquina turned and hurried away. Ender knew that deep down, she didn't want to obey the Galactic Council. It was too sudden, too harsh, and they preemptively stripped her of her authority as if she had committed a crime. Submission was a confession, and she knew she had done nothing wrong. She wanted to resist, she wanted to find some workable way to fight back against the council, and then told them, be quiet, and wait. Or, if necessary, call them to death. But she's not a fool. She won't do anything to resist them unless she knows that will work and knows it will benefit her people. She's a good governor, Ander knows. She will be willing to sacrifice her pride, her reputation, her future, for the sake of her people.

He was alone in the square. Everyone else left while Bosquina was talking to him. Ender felt, like what a veteran must have, walking in silence on the battlefield of a long-ago battle, listening to the echoes of carnage in the breeze through the rustling grass.

"Don't let them cut off the Ansebo connection. ”

The voice in his ear startled him, but he recognized it immediately. "Jane," he said.

"I can make them think you've cut off your Ansebo, but if you do, then I can't help you. ”

"Jane," he said, "you did it, didn't you!, or how could they have noticed what Lipo and Miró and Oanda had been doing, and if you hadn't brought it to their attention?"

She didn't answer.

"Jen, I'm sorry I lost my connection to you, I'll never—"

He knew she knew what he was going to say;

But she didn't answer.

"I'll never turn that off again—"

What was the use of saying a sentence that he knew she understood? She hadn't forgiven him, and that's it, or she should have answered a long time ago, and told him to stop wasting her time. But he couldn't help himself to try again. "I miss you. Precious. I really miss you. ”

She still didn't answer. She's said what she must say, keep Ansebo connected, and that's all. For now. Ender doesn't care about waiting. Knowing that she was still there, listening, was enough. He is not alone. Ander was surprised to see that his cheeks were full of tears. Tears of peace of mind, he judged. The dissolution of fear. At one time, a crisis, people's lives were on the verge of ruin, and the future of the colony hung in the balance. And I was crying with peace of mind because a bombastic computer program was talking to me again.

________________________________________________________________

Ella was waiting for him in his little house. Her eyes were red with crying.

"Hello," she said.

"Did I do what you wanted?" he asked.

"I never guessed that," she said. "He's not our father. I should have known. ”

"I can't think of how you know. ”

"What have I done? I have called you to tell me that my father's, Macaux's, is dead. She began to sobb again. "Mother's secrets - I thought I knew what they were, I thought they were just her papers - I thought she hated Lipo. ”

"All I did was open the window and let the air in. ”

"Go talk to Miro and Oanda about it. ”

"Think about it, Ella. They'll always find out in the end. The cruel thing is that they haven't known it for so many years. Now that they know the truth, they will find their own way. ”

"Just like Mother? Only this time it's worse than Tongan?"

Ender stroked her hair and smoothed it. She accepted his touch, his soothing. He couldn't remember if his father or mother had touched him in such a gesture. They must have had. How else would he have learned to do that?

"Ella, will you help me?"

"You've done your job, haven't you?"

"It's not about talking about the deceased. I need to know how Cyclone works within an hour. ”

"You have to ask your mother - she's the only one who knows. ”

"I don't think she'll be happy to see me tonight. ”

Good evening, Mommy, you've just been revealed to be a woman of anniversity in front of all the inhabitants of Miracle Town, and have been lying to your children since their lives. So if you don't care, I'd like to ask you a few scientific questions. ”

"Ella, it's about Lusitania's survival. Not to mention your brother Miro. He reached out and opened the terminal. "Log in," he said.

She was bewildered, but she did so.

The computer does not recognize her name. "I'm blocked," she looked at him in alarm. "Why?"

"It's not just you. It's the same for everyone. ”

"It's not a system crash," she said, "and someone has killed the login file." ”

"The Galactic Council has wiped out all of the local computer memory. Everything is finished. We are seen as in a state of rebellion. Miro and Oanda will be arrested and sent to Trondheim for trial. Unless I can convince the Bishop and Bosquina to start a real rebellion. Do you understand? If your mother doesn't tell me what I need to know, Miró and Oanda will both be sent twenty-two light-years away. The penalty for treason is the death penalty. But just going to trial is as bad as being imprisoned for life. We're all going to be dead before they come back, or very, very old. ”

Ella stared blankly at the wall. "What do you need to know?"

"I need to know what the committee will find when it opens her file. Mechanism of action of Extendella. ”

"Okay," Ella said. "She'll do it for Milo's sake. She looked at him defiantly. "She really loves us, you know. For the sake of one of her children, she will be willing to talk to you personally. ”

"Good," Ender said. "It would have been better if she had come on her own. Go to the bishop's office, within an hour. ”

"Okay," Ella said. For a moment she sat there motionless. Then somewhere the nerve circuit was connected, and she got up and rushed to the door.

She stopped. She turned back, hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm glad you told all those things," she said. "I'm glad to know that. ”

He kissed her on the forehead and sent her on her way. After the door closed behind her, he sat down on his bed, then lay down and stared at the ceiling. He thought about Nuo Wanhua, trying to imagine how she was feeling right now. No matter how terrible it may be, your daughter is now rushing home to find you, convinced that no matter how much pain and shame you are experiencing, you will completely forget yourself and save your son at all costs. I am willing to exchange all your sufferings with you, Nuo Wanhua, for a child who trusts me so much.