Gu Nianzhi carefully checked the bathroom to make sure there wasn't anything that shouldn't be there. Just as she was about to take off her clothes and shower, she heard a knock on the door.
Gu Nianzhi thought it must be the fat nun coming to deliver clothes, so she quickly covered herself and opened the door.
Sure enough, it was her holding some clothes. She smiled at Gu Nianzhi and said, "These were my old nun robes, and these are new underwear." She thought about it and said, "These are all the same size, so you can definitely wear them, but they might be a bit big."
This nun was too nice!
Gu Nianzhi had a good impression of her and shook her head with a smile. "It's okay, the underwear is more comfortable."
Taking the clothes from the nun, Gu Nianzhi began chatting with her. "May I ask your name?"
"I'm Josephine, and you?"
"I … I'm Cereus." Gu Nianzhi still only said her English name.
Josephine didn't suspect anything and waved at her with a smile. "Then, goodnight, Cereus."
Gu Nianzhi also said goodnight and watched her return to her room before gently closing the door.
Carrying the clothes Josephine had just given her, she walked into the bathroom. It was a small tank top and a pair of underwear.
Gu Nianzhi decided to take a good shower and wash her hair to get rid of the mud from the past few days.
She had been rubbing in the mud, climbing trees, and swimming in the river for the past few days, so her body smelled strange.
She almost didn't care about the smell of the soap and didn't care if it was too alkaline or bad for her skin. She directly used the soap to lather in front of the sink, then wiped it on her face to wash.
Taking off the dirty coat she had worn for a few days, Gu Nianzhi walked into the shower to wash her hair.
After showering, she used the soap to wash her bra and underwear by hand.
The soap was indeed very alkaline, so her body and face were tight after washing. Gu Nianzhi really wanted to apply moisturizer to her body again.
However, she couldn't find any face care products in the room, so she could only give up.
After washing, she was so sleepy that she collapsed on the soft four-poster bed and fell asleep almost immediately.
…
In the Reverend's room, the Reverend finished reciting a rosary and was about to go to sleep when she heard the phone in the room ring.
Who would be calling her at this hour?
The Reverend Mother was startled. After thinking for a while, she answered the phone.
The signal in the Alps was not good, so mobile phones were basically useless here, unless they could use the Copernicus satellite navigation system, which was not affordable for ordinary people.
Needless to say, this was a small monastery, so they still used the very old landline.
"May I know who you are?" the Reverend Mother asked politely.
There was a slight pause on the other side. The German was a little stiff, but the grammar was correct. "I'm an agent from the Munich Regional Police. We received news that a fugitive has just escaped into your monastery."
The Reverend Mother stood up and asked nervously, "What? What fugitive are you talking about? "
She suddenly thought of the girl that Josephine had let in to shelter from the rain. She looked so beautiful, but she really wasn't a good person?!
Someone on the other side of the phone chuckled and said, "It's a girl. She's very pretty. You should have met her, right?"
At this point, the person on the other side of the phone called from the police station. The Reverend Mother had no choice but to believe it.
Moreover, there was indeed a suspicious girl staying in their monastery, and Josephine had kindly taken her in, but she had lied!
The Reverend Mother's expression turned serious. "She's a fugitive? How do you know she's here? If you knew, why didn't you arrest her immediately? "
The woman on the other side of the phone answered patiently, "We have a GPS tracking system. We tracked her to your monastery based on her phone signal."
"Oh." The Reverend Mother believed her and nodded. "What crime did she commit?"
The other party didn't answer directly, but said tactfully, "What crime did she commit will depend on the court's verdict. Our mission as police is to arrest her first. We hope you can cooperate with us and help us."
She then added, "This person is very cunning and suspicious. I hope you don't give her away and just keep her under control. Our people are rushing over to your monastery. As long as you keep her under control for a few hours, our people should be here early tomorrow morning. You can hand her over to our people then. "
The Reverend Mother was extremely nervous and asked, "Is she that powerful? Will she hurt people? Your people have to come quickly! We don't have many people here! And they're all women! "
"En, got it." The man hung up the phone after he finished speaking.
The Reverend Mother put down the phone, feeling even more uneasy.
She got up and paced around the house, still worried.
She pushed open the door to Josephine's room, but she was already asleep. She could only go back and sit in her room until it was almost dawn. Finally, she came up with a solution.
…
In the morning, the monastery's kitchen started making breakfast.
There weren't many people in the monastery, and there wasn't a designated chef. The nuns took turns to make breakfast.
With the Reverend Mother's status, she didn't have to take turns, but today she went to the kitchen and said that she would make breakfast for everyone.
The nuns who were assigned to make breakfast were very happy. They thanked her profusely and went back to sleep.
The Reverend Mother took out flour, eggs, and yesterday's fresh blueberries in the kitchen, planning to bake blueberry bread and blueberry cake.
These were the two things she was best at, and they tasted better than those sold in shops and restaurants.
…
Perhaps it was because she was suddenly in a new place, but Gu Nianzhi was a bit uncomfortable in her bed.
She slept for four hours in the beginning, and after the extreme drowsiness and exhaustion passed, she woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.
She remembered sleeping only four to five hours a night in the wilderness a few days ago because she was too nervous and couldn't relax. Even when she was at her most tired, she couldn't sleep too much.
She would wake up as soon as the drowsiness subsided.
Sometimes, she also thought about it. This deep sense of insecurity seemed to be rooted in the depths of her memory.
It was the same for the first two years when she was with Huo Shao. She could only sleep three to four hours a night, and she would wake up from nightmares in the wee hours of the morning.
Huo Shaoheng had obeyed the military's order to be her guardian, but at the time, he was only a 22-year-old young man with no experience with children.
And this child wasn't a toddler who could be hugged, coaxed, or given candy to turn her tears into smiles.
This child was a twelve-year-old girl. She wasn't a child, so she couldn't be hugged or coaxed. She definitely couldn't be given a candy to turn her tears into a smile.
Huo Shaoheng had no choice. When she woke up from nightmares, he would quietly sit by her bed and gently pat her shoulder from time to time to let her know he was by her side and that she didn't need to be afraid.
As he patted her, Gu Nianzhi gradually fell asleep.
She always remembered the mornings after waking up from nightmares. When she opened her eyes, she would always see Huo Shaoheng sleeping soundly on her bed. His young and handsome face had a weariness and heaviness that didn't match his age.
Later, he really gave her a sense of security, and she stopped crying. It was as if she had grown up overnight and didn't make Huo Shaoheng sad anymore.
The longer she was with him, the more secure she felt. She slept longer and longer at night, and eventually even stayed in bed …
Huo Shaoheng saw that he was overreacting, so he began to urge her to wake up every morning to exercise with his soldiers.
She was young and weak. In the beginning, she could only run one kilometer, then two kilometers, three kilometers, and finally, she could run ten kilometers of cross-country running.
Because of this, she hated running.
Before she knew it, the bizarre nightmares of her youth gradually faded away, replaced by the nightmare of running every morning!
Thinking of this, Gu Nianzhi couldn't help but smile.
Sitting up, she looked out the window at the still dark sky. Her stomach growled, and she was so hungry.
She didn't know if there was anything to eat here.
Gu Nianzhi couldn't sleep, so she went to the bathroom to wash up.
Seeing that her bra and underwear from yesterday were dry, she changed into her own bra and underwear, then put on the nun's uniform that Josephine had given her.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she couldn't help smiling.
The woman in the mirror with big eyes and a bright smile on her face was obviously a fake nun!
She made a face at the mirror and drew a cross with her right hand. Then she quietly opened the door and poked her head out to look.
The long hallway was quiet, and not a single person could be seen. Everyone was probably still sleeping.
Gu Nianzhi looked at her watch and saw it was only four in the morning. Most people were sound asleep at this time.
Sniffing the air, she wasn't surprised to smell the aroma of baking food. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the hallway. Was the kitchen making breakfast?
When she was in the military, they usually started making breakfast at this time. It should be the same in the nunneries, right?
She remembered that monks and nuns all had morning prayers, so it must be the same for nuns?
So this was probably the time to start making breakfast?
Gu Nianzhi felt even hungrier.
Rubbing her temples, she thought she should be more diligent. She was unfamiliar with the place and people, so she had to be diligent to leave a good impression.
She didn't want the nuns to think she was a lazy glutton. Also, she was begging them to take her in, but she acted like a big boss the moment she arrived. How could she let them bring her food and drinks?
Thinking of this, Gu Nianzhi quietly walked in the direction of the aroma.
Following the aroma, she found the kitchen and saw a tall, thin nun with a tense expression. She was putting dough into the oven.
There were even a few fresh blueberries on each of the dough balls.
She was probably making blueberry bread.
Gu Nianzhi immediately lost her appetite.
She had been eating blueberries in the wild for the past few days, and she felt nauseous. She really couldn't eat anymore.
Thinking about this, Gu Nianzhi quietly walked in and coughed softly.
The Reverend Mother turned around and saw an unfamiliar nun standing at the door. Frowning, she asked, "Who are you?" Then she remembered that this was the "fugitive" who had stayed with them yesterday!
The Reverend Mother immediately became nervous and unconsciously gripped the flat spoon in her hand.
Gu Nianzhi saw how nervous the nun was and felt a bit strange, but she didn't show it on her face. She politely said in English, "Hello, I am Sister Josephine. She let me stay here yesterday. May I ask who you are?"
The Reverend Mother confirmed her identity and couldn't help looking her up and down.
Although she didn't like pretty girls, this pretty girl spoke English with an authentic Oxford accent and was polite. She didn't seem like a vicious "fugitive" at all …
The Reverend Mother's impression of her actually improved a bit.
Gu Nianzhi saw the elderly nun staring at her with a frown and felt a bit strange.
Suppressing her strange thoughts, she said with a smile, "Are you making breakfast? Can I help you? "
The Reverend Mother's heart skipped a beat. She discreetly walked to the oven and blocked the bread she had just put in the oven. She said with a straight face, "No need, you can go back first." She turned to look at the oven and ignored Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi was very strange about the nun's attitude.
Perhaps Josephine had left her with such a good impression yesterday that she didn't react to the elderly nun's cold attitude.
She stood at the door and stared blankly at the nun's back. She didn't know whether to stay or leave.
The Reverend Mother faced the oven and took a deep breath. She took out a small bottle from the inner pocket of her nun's uniform and was about to drip some onto the bread when she instinctively turned to look at the door.
She didn't expect the "fugitive" to still be there and watching her!
The Reverend Mother panicked and quickly turned around with her hands behind her back. She said unhappily to Gu Nianzhi, "I told you to go back and wait for breakfast. Why aren't you leaving yet?"
Gu Nianzhi blinked. She didn't understand why this person was so displeased with her.
She wasn't going to be a freeloader. She would definitely pay. Was she afraid she wouldn't be able to afford it?
Gu Nianzhi always felt that the nuns here shouldn't be so snobbish, but she didn't know what exactly was going on.
"Sorry to disturb you." Gu Nianzhi bent her knees slightly and gave a standard palace salute.
The Reverend Mother was shocked and clasped her hands behind her back even tighter.
Gu Nianzhi didn't say anything else. She smiled silently and turned to leave the convent's kitchen.
But she was still hungry …
Gu Nianzhi looked at the carvings above her head and decided to go back to drink more water. If that didn't work, she would go out and find some berries to eat.
Taking two steps forward, Gu Nianzhi couldn't help thinking about the past when she was with Huo Shaoheng and the others because the aroma from the kitchen was too tempting. She learned about the kitchen and food.
For example, in Huo Shaoheng and the others' training, there was a rule that when they were out on a mission, if they didn't see how the food was made, they shouldn't eat it.
She didn't understand it at the time and had asked Yin Shixiong before, but how could you keep staring at how the food was made in the kitchen? Would you still be able to work? You're not a chef.
※ ※ ※
This was 4,000 words, and two chapters were combined into one.
After 12 o 'clock tonight, I'll start updating. I'll post one update after another.
Because of the system delay, the first chapter might only be available at 12: 10 or 12: 15.
If you can't wait, you can go to bed first and read it tomorrow morning.
It would take about an hour to finish all 20 chapters.
20 chapters, explosive!!! 100,000 words!!! Seeking monthly votes!!!
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