Chapter 434

After a brief silence, the people in the office finally couldn't hold it in, lowered their heads, and muffled their laughter, their shoulders shaking.

Bai Bufan breathed a long sigh of relief, a narrow escape from death.

Fortunately, it seems Ding Sihan's aunt's faith wasn't very loyal, otherwise, it definitely wouldn't have been this reaction.

That's good.

Because if it were in front of those truly devout believers who hold the doctrine as the golden rule, he would have caused trouble just now.

Damn it, it's all Lin Li's fault.

He was clearly just helping him explain that hell joke.

Now it's great: the one playing the hell joke is him, but the one worried and afraid is himself.

Bai Bufan turned his head, preparing to scold him angrily, but found Lin Li slightly frowning, standing up, making an extremely standard sign of the cross with his hands in front of his chest, looking at him with a solemn and grave expression, carrying a bit of compassionate condemnation:

"Bai Bufan, how could you say such contemptuous, such vulgar, such blasphemous vocabulary in the Lord's sanctuary, toward the Lord's glory, toward the only Holy Son—Jesus Christ—who was born to redeem us?"

Bai Bufan: "?"

You motherfucker.

When did you join the church, traitor!

Lin Li took a deep breath and spoke in a chanting tone:

"Lord, please forgive this lost lamb; his heart is blinded, he speaks wild words, and has committed the grave sin of blaspheming the Holy Name—"

"His ignorance and stupidity led him to make a great mistake, just as it is written in the scriptures, 'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.' What he called 'Nail-Jesus-Machine' is actually the holy cross you willingly endured incomparable pain to save the world—"

"Merciful Lord, your love is long, wide, high, and deep. Please watch over this poor sinner. I know there is still a trace of weak conscience in the depths of his soul, but it has been poisoned too deeply by the filth of the world. For the sake of your infinite mercy, please cleanse his tongue, forgive his rebellion, and extinguish... your heart's anger—"

Bai Bufan: "(；゜ロ゜)?"

Lin Li, why are you so proficient at this?

Did Lin Li even memorize the contents of the Bible?

But then, Bai Bufan also felt it was reasonable.

After all, there is a god-man logic: "When a man completely respects women, it means this man knows all the points of not respecting women, and this is already not respecting women." So, for Lin Li, who respects Satan the most, isn't it normal to be familiar with the Bible?

Reasonable.

But before Bai Bufan could complain about anything, a loud voice suddenly came from outside the corridor: "Good!"

Father Qiu's figure appeared at the door, following the voice.

A deep joy appeared on his face. In a room full of playful young people, suddenly hearing such a standard, compassionate, directly quoting scripture, and Catholic-doctrine-compliant prayer—especially since this prayer was pleading for a "lost lamb"—it was simply like a clear spring in the noisy world!!

Ding Yu said that her niece and her classmates had no religious beliefs, but now it seems that is not the case.

"Well said!"

Father Qiu couldn't help but praise again, his voice filled with obvious excitement, and he stepped forward quickly.

Before Lin Li and Bai Bufan could make a move, Chen Yuying, Ding Sihan, and Qu Wanqiu, the three of them, actually left the back of the table with tacit understanding, stepped forward, and vaguely blocked the space between the priest and the two boys.

Lin Li, Bai Bufan: "..."

This, this is the taste of distrust again.

The two looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders with some amusement.

Why still not believe in them?

Could it be that if this priest excitedly came to communicate with them, the two of them would go up and ask the question "Mr. Priest, do you like six little children?"

How is that possible? That would be too disrespectful.

Although Father Qiu was a bit surprised by the girls' reaction, at this moment, his attention was not on them.

He stopped, his expression solemn and gratified, his burning gaze fixed on Lin Li, this fellow traveler:

"So young, yet able to have such deep insight and a broad, compassionate heart! Child, your prayer is full of power, full of trust in the Lord's grace and pity for lost souls!"

Lin Li: ovo.

Nodding obediently.

Bai Bufan lowered his head; he couldn't listen anymore.

The priest opened his arms as if to embrace this piety from the young man. He nodded slightly, with the joy of seeing the inheritance of faith, and continued to express his emotion:

"It is precisely because of this deep love that the Lord is willing to endure suffering for us! Your words are like the warm sun in winter, shining into this room and warming people's hearts! Being able to hear you make such a prayer full of love and forgiveness for your companion is truly the Lord's grace..."

After muttering a bunch of religious prayers, Father Qiu's eyes were full of sincere approval and strong encouragement.

Finally, he clasped his hands in front of his chest, made a prayer gesture, locked his gaze extremely seriously on Lin Li's eyes, his voice full of emotion, carrying complete agreement and blessing:

"Amen!"

Lin Li's eyes lit up, finally having a response: "Ah-front~"

Bai Bufan raised his head instantly, his mouth faster than his brain: "A grape tree~"

Although a bit surprised that Lin Li could find an angle to start a group fight even with this? But they are good brothers; the main thing is that if you dare to start a fight, Bai Bufan dares to follow up in a second!

Lin Li looked at Bai Bufan with gratification: "Ah-tender~ Ah-tender~ The green one just sprouted~"

Bai Bufan also entered the state ovo: "The snail is carrying that heavy shell~"

Lin Li ovo: "Climbing up step by step~"

The two's expressions gradually became cheerful, pointing at each other after singing a line.

The priest was stunned.

At this moment, a sense of bewilderment, where an emotion climbed to the peak and then suddenly collapsed into nothingness, swept over him. He was even a bit confused about whether he was in reality right now?

Not er? What are these two doing?

When his vision refocused and his brain barely turned, he found that the singing had paused, and Lin Li and Bai Bufan were looking at him with anticipation.

Father Qiu: "?"

Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing now?

What is this, is it his turn to sing?

Reading Lin Li's lip movements, Father Qiu subconsciously carried the residual inertia of his clerical position—"Amen?"

Lin Li's eyes were full of praise, nodding encouragingly, and then continued the song: "Ah-front!"

Bai Bufan followed up in a second: "Two yellow orioles~"

"Ah-hee~ Ah-hee~ Haha is laughing at it~"

"The grapes aren't ripe yet~ Why are you climbing up now~"

"Ah-yellow~ Ah-yellow~ Oriole don't laugh~ Wait until I climb up and it will be ripe~ Wait until I climb up, it will, be— ripe—"

During the time when Chen Yuying, Qu Wanqiu, and Ding Sihan were covering their faces or mouths, leaning against each other and shaking with laughter, the first half of this song had been passionately performed by the two.

Father Qiu: "(゜▽゜)?"

Who on earth am I? Where on earth am I? What on earth am I doing now?

Lin Li: "Father Qiu, your singing voice is actually quite good."

Bai Bufan: "Continue, continue, we still have half left to sing."

Lin Li: "OK, Father, come, you start."

Father Qiu looked at the two who were full of zest, his whole person like a little boy invaded by both a demon and a priest, stiff in place.

"Don't, don't, first, first stop singing, I, I, slow, I, I first, have to wait, slow down a bit, have something—"

He lowered his head, one hand waving powerlessly, the other hand unconsciously pressing against his pale lips, speaking incoherently.

Afterward, like a marionette, he turned mechanically and stumbled out of the office.

"Father,"

At the office door, Ding Yu, who had finished laughing and was preparing to return, bumped into the dejected Father Qiu.

After calling out once without a response, Ding Yu waved her hand in confusion: "Father? Father Qiu? Father?"

"No, nothing..." Father Qiu didn't even look at Ding Yu, waved his hand, and walked in the other direction like a sleepwalker.

Ding Yu looked sharply into the office at the three girls squatting on the ground laughing, and the two boys sitting in front of the desk, concentrating on organizing documents, turning their heads from time to time to exchange opinions, working seriously. She... was a bit confused:

"What happened?"

Ding Yu's question didn't get an answer.

Even her own niece, facing her question, only looked up at the office and said to her, "Auntie, you can check the surveillance when you're in a bad mood," but refused to repeat what had just happened.

She only said some obscure and hard-to-understand words like "not human," "posting on Douyin would be marked as suspected AI generation, please pay attention to identification," "worthy of being 'one dog'," and "unspeakable."

Ding Yu didn't persist. Lin Li was still okay; she mainly didn't dare to understand the boy named Bai Bufan too deeply, for fear that he would say something rebellious again.

If she couldn't help but laugh again, that would be terrible. You have to know, next week at Christmas, they aren't just giving out eggs, but also rice, flour, and oil.

If she couldn't receive those, the meaning of Catholicism's existence would collapse.

The organizing work was originally only ten minutes of content; although there were some small episodes in the middle, it was finished quickly.

"Auntie, the organized things are all on the desktop. Is there anything else to help with?" After the five walked out of the office, Ding Sihan called out to Ding Yu at the door of the activity room.

"No." Ding Yu waved to the five, "Go eat! I've transferred the milk tea money to you, go buy it yourselves!"

"Okay!"

"I don't think it's okay, because this way Bai Bufan and I are afraid we won't be able to drink this milk tea."

"I think Lin Li is right."

"Lin Li, Yingbao told me to tell you to shut up; Bai Bufan, you just shut up."

Lin Li frowned: "Ding Zi, falsely conveying an imperial decree is punishable by death."

Bai Bufan frowned: "Why don't I even have the process of being threatened? Don't I have any face at all?"

Amidst laughter and talk, the five returned to the sanctuary. The believers were still singing, and one by one, they could really sing.

"Every time I hear it, I have different feelings. This time, I think it's not as good as the 'Snail and the Yellow Oriole' that the three of us sang." Lin Li evaluated.

"Indeed." Bai Bufan agreed.

Ding Sihan, Qu Wanqiu, and Chen Yuying quickened their pace, trying to distance themselves from the two and pretend they didn't know them.

But then, the three's footsteps suddenly stopped.

Because they saw the third person from the trio's chorus just now at the door.

I saw Father Qiu, who had stumbled away from them not long ago, now standing by the holy water font with a posture bordering on paranoia.

He wasn't like ordinary believers or tourists, symbolically dipping his fingers in water and making the sign of the cross on his forehead and chest.

Instead, his body was leaning forward, facing the font, while both hands were deeply immersed in the holy water, scrubbing vigorously, his eyes tightly closed, and he seemed to be praying devoutly in his mouth.

The volunteer who had been gently introducing the way to use the holy water was now standing on the side, looking confused.

Ding Sihan, Qu Wanqiu, Chen Yuying: "..."

They had experienced the holy water font.

Naturally, they also knew what role the holy water font played in the sect.

Why did Father Qiu feel that his body and mind were dirty? So hard to guess (*▽*).

A believer was also attracted by the priest's abnormal behavior and couldn't help but curiously ask the volunteer acting as the administrator: "Father... what's wrong? Do we need to help?"

The administrator came back to his senses, glanced at the priest, shook his head helplessly, and answered in a lowered voice:

"I'm not very clear either. I don't know what happened to Father just now; he came over from the back like this, muttering things like 'need purification,' 'need to repent and must confess,' 'demons and heretics have invaded the church,' 'the little boy is too terrifying'—"

"Ah?" The passerby's mouth opened in surprise upon hearing this, and their eyes immediately became nervous.

"No, no, no! Everything is fine here! I guess... maybe Father, um..." The volunteer hurriedly waved his hand upon seeing this, but paused, unable to find a more suitable word, so he had to say:

"Father might be feeling unwell."

Father Qiu, who was repeatedly purifying himself, also pulled his hands out of the holy water at this time, bringing up a small splash.

His expression was still a bit dazed. Noticing the questioning gazes from the administrator and the believer, he managed a reluctant smile, said a soft "it's nothing," and slowly began to walk, preparing to go to the confessional.

He needed to repent to the Lord.