Chapter 142: 141 Colors and Lost Property

With her twin brother's "enthusiastic help," Melanie ultimately couldn't escape this beating—in fact, she even got a super-doubled edition.

"Slap!"

"Ouch!"

"No screaming!"

After her slender five fingers snapped tightly together and delivered a vicious smack right onto Melanie's bottom, Anna's two delicate brows knit together directly, and she said through gritted teeth:

"How old are you? And you've already learned to frame people!"

"I... I... I really wasn't framing anyone!"

Squirming forward on her belly like a grub, but then getting yanked back again, Melanie looked at her sister's face, redder than an apple, and sensing that Anna's next basic attack would most likely land a critical hit, hurriedly defended herself:

"That theology teacher always claims to be pious, but he couldn't even get right the color of the underwear the Twelve Knights wore when they died for the gods—so his piety is obviously fake! My writing to the Church was a perfectly reasonable challenge!"

"And you still say that!"

After three rapid-fire critical hits in a row, stacking up her attack speed, Anna panted and said furiously:

"How could the scripture possibly record something so boring! You're just making things up!"

"Sister, Melanie isn't lying this time—the scripture really does say so."

Hearing this, William, who was nearby, pulled the scripture out of his schoolbag, flipped through it, then held it out, and explained with a perfectly solemn little face:

"Look, this passage has the Twelve Knights' own account after their investiture... 'My god favors white, and so I follow white; beneath, I wear garments of purity; without, I don a crimson robe...'"

So the Twelve Knights' everyday clothing, from inside to out, should all have been white; only because they wished to show reverence toward the god they worshipped did they voluntarily step down a notch and wear robes of other colors on the outside—but their underwear should still have been white.

The scripture doesn't state this directly, but if you're familiar enough with its clauses, you can actually figure it out."

"..."

This... did I hit her wrongly again?

Looking at William's confident, reasoned explanation, Anna couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, her voice unconsciously dropping a little, and she said, lightly biting her lip:

"But... but this isn't really a proper doctrinal question, so even if he couldn't answer 'white,' that still isn't a reason to report him..."

"No—the theology teacher did answer it."

William shook his head and said:

"He was very angry, but after flipping through the scripture for a while, he still said the Twelve Knights' underwear color should be white."

"Then why did you two still..."

"Because white isn't the correct answer."

After flipping a few more pages of the ***scripture, William pointed at the passage above and said to Anna with an utterly serious face:

"What Melanie asked wasn't what color the Twelve Knights usually wore, but what color their underwear was when they died for the gods.

And according to the scripture, they first underwent three months of trials in the great desert, and the moment they finally emerged from the desert they went off to die for the gods—there was no time in between to change or wash their clothes, so their underwear hadn't been changed for a full three months, and should have been yellow."

"..."

"..."

Looking at Anna—whose forehead's veins were twitching wildly, whose pretty face went from white to red, red to purple, purple tinged with black—Melanie hitched up her pants and scrambled to her feet in one go, then threw herself straight into Hearing Li Ang's arms.

"Big Brother, save me!"

Can't save you! This one really can't be saved!

Sidestepping Melanie's flying-tiger pounce, and at the same time twisting his body to dodge the arms reaching for his thigh, Hearing Li Ang cast her a rather pitying glance, then sensibly stepped aside to clear the path.

Don't blame Big Brother for being disloyal—mainly look at how furious your sister looks. If I saved you, she'd probably want to smack my butt too. So just take your beating obediently!

After a chaotic, chickens-flying-dogs-jumping chase, Hearing Li Ang glanced at Melanie, who was bawling as if her parents had died, figured Anna's anger had probably been vented for the most part, and stepped in to hold her back.

"Alright, alright, take a break first—listen to you panting.

"

"I'll beat her even if I'm panting!"

"Mm-hmm, beat her! I definitely won't stop you this time! If we don't educate her properly, she's going to go astray!"

Going along with Anna's wishes, and sternly "rebuking" Melanie a few times with a straight face, Hearing Li Ang reached out to gently stroke Anna's back, helping her, whose lungs were weak, even out her breathing, then softly requested:

"But I'm a bit pressed for time—I have to go to the bureau to work overtime soon, and it's strangely cold out today... Dear Anna, could you deal with her later, and first help me find two blankets?"

"You just go on protecting her!"

Seeing through Hearing Li Ang's "lure-the-tiger-away-from-the-mountain" ploy at a glance, the sickly young girl shot him an annoyed glare, then struggled out of his arms, and huffily walked toward the bedroom. With a creak, she opened the peeling-paint wardrobe and began searching for blankets.

Giving Melanie a "why aren't you hiding yet" look, and watching her tiptoe into the inner room, Hearing Li Ang slowly followed her into the bedroom, and comforted his sister, who was squatting in front of the cabinet:

"Actually you don't need to worry too much. Melanie is a bit of a little imp, but she's never bullied anyone—she just has a tougher personality and can't stand being taken advantage of.

William is the same—a little sly but never harms anyone. The two of them may not be easy to put your mind at rest, but they're actually good kids... Anna?"

"Hm?"

Apparently startled by Hearing Li Ang's words, Anna couldn't help but tremble slightly, then resumed the movements of her hands. With her back to Hearing Li Ang, she somewhat flusteredly rummaged through the blankets while nodding repeatedly and saying:

"Mm-hmm... they... really aren't bad, just still a bit immature—they'll be fine once they grow up... Oh, by the way, do you only need blankets? Should I bring a thick coat too?"

"Blankets are enough—the bureau is still pretty warm."

Watching his sister's slightly flustered movements, Hearing Li Ang instinctively frowned, then asked directly:

"Anna, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

The sickly young girl shook her head, turned around holding two neatly folded blankets, and forced a slightly strained smile: "I just realized I lost something, and I'm a bit worried I didn't bring it along when we moved."

"I see..."

If this had been Hearing Li Ang a month ago, he might still have been fooled by her words, but the current Hearing Li Ang had long since grown accustomed to reading people's expressions—even without invoking Hearing Heishanyang's soul-vision, he could tell Anna was clearly hiding something on her mind.

"Then you look for it first. If you can't find it, in a few days I can go back to Old Soldiers' Alley with you, and we'll search for it together."

"Mm-hm."

After finding a bag and packing the two blankets inside, Hearing Li Ang walked out of the bedroom to the front door, picked up the shopping bag resting on the shoe cabinet, and quietly pressed his fingertip against the ram's horn.

"Anna, the thing you just lost—was it that family portrait with only you and Mom and Dad?"?!!!

Watching Anna's soul in the spirit vision instantly fill with terror and panic, Hearing Li Ang slowly put on his shoes while speaking in a gentle, soft tone:

"Actually, my birthday isn't the day you told me about. I might not even be blood-related to our parents, and you're not my real little sister either, right?"