Chapter 3: Strange guest

There is a hill called Cuiling in the northwest of Kalibo. The mountain is not very high, but it can overlook the whole city, and you can even see the port and the bay.
The monastery of San Sabaron in Kalibo was built on top of the mountain.
The news of "the heretics attacking Kalibo" reached the church before Ding Mu arrived, thanks to Father Modillo riding a donkey with considerable strength, just as others panicked at the dock and the city While running around, Father Modillo was already a donkey and went straight to the monastery to report.
Therefore, when Dingmu and Harji came to the outside of the monastery, they were greeted by two closed doors and a pair of vigilant eyes in a series of narrow windows.
Ding Mu didn't think that things would become like this, or that he didn't understand the extent to which the Europeans of this era were afraid of pagans.
Looking at the dangling figures behind the window, and then thinking about the tragic phenomenon of chickens and dogs in the city now, Ding Mu feels that he may soon become the most unpopular person in Kalibo.
Ding Mu was thinking wildly, and the two thick wooden doors of the monastery like a castle suddenly opened a crack, which revealed Modillo's half-fat fat face.
"Greek, where are the pagans now?" Modillo asked first, and then felt like he was too timid. The whole person squeezed out of the door, but after standing outside, he was not at ease. Looking back, I seemed afraid that the two doors would close at any time. "The priest of this church asked me to ask you about the heretics," and when he said this, he suddenly shouted and shouted, "Is those heretics approaching Cary?" It ’s a wave, just tell me for God ’s sake! "
Ding Mu looked at Modillo blankly. Although he could understand it roughly, Modillo's apparently transposed voice made him sound strenuous because of the panic. The silly look made the deacon, who had been terrified, finally went mad!
Modillo could n’t remember how he grabbed the Greek kid ’s collar in front of him and shouted inexplicably. As a result, he was dragged down by Gila and several priests who rushed out of the monastery. On the ground, the mouth was filled with foam, and at the same time, with the mouth squinted and the eyes squinted, I didn't know at all.
Many years later, people saw such an incomplete record in a pile of dusty old papers in the San Sebalon Monastery in Kalibo:
"On February 17, 1496, we lost our beloved brother ... His body was possessed by the devil, and he was completely engulfed in madness and illusion that we could not understand. After finally determining that the poor brother could not be saved After that, we had to shut him down in the deepest part of ... But even then, the devil ’s cry could still be heard in the middle of the night ... "
On the same day, the monk on duty in the monastery wrote down a small thing in the book of the day:
"According to the order of the dean, a young man named Alexander Juliant Gumbre was taken in. This is a Greek from Crete. His job is to take care of everything but cleaning that is not suitable for monks. In return for his secular work, he will get clean water, black bread and lard soup. "
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In the early morning, a small door by the wall of the Monastery of Saint Seballon opened gently, and a figure pushing a wooden car walked along the path towards the top of the mountain in Cuiling.
Kalibo's mornings are cold and dry, mainly because in winter, the southern coast of Sicily will be ravaged by the Mediterranean monsoon.
This weather will last for a whole winter, even if it has entered the spring, it will still be like this for a long time.
Ding Mu has been in this era for more than half a month.
Although the time is not long, the previous world seems to have become so far away that sometimes it wakes up late at night, lying in the corner of the cold stone house, listening to the whine of the wind outside the window, it will think that the previous twenty years ago, just It is a real dream that makes people unable to extricate themselves.
At first, Ding Mu still did not give up his efforts to return to his own world. He thought of many ways, including many jumped from a height, plunged into the cold water, and carried his head against the wall. Dangerous tricks, but many attempts have ended in failure.
Ding Mu once planned to jump into the water because he had fallen into the Arno River for drowning for hundreds of years, but when he stood on the cliff and looked at the icy sea water below the Ionian Sea, Ding Mu Mu first shivered and shrunk the neck that was exposed outside the collar, and then he told himself that it seemed good to stay in this era.
This also made Ding Mu finally understand that he could no longer return to his own world, and destiny was destined to survive in this strange world.
Just wanted to live here, but it didn't go well.
Although the city of Kalibo is not large and has a population of several thousand, Ding Mu is definitely the kind of "celebrity" in Kalibo that is "a kind of" brother's faceless, but there are brothers' legends everywhere ".
The farce of the "infidel invasion" was not revealed long before it was exposed, but there are many things that are outrageous.
Because of the fear of the terrible enemies in the far east, for a time, the city was like the end of the world. Some people cried and shouted, some screamed in despair, and a woman confessed to her husband with guilt that his son who had been raising for many years was actually a species of others There is also a famous miser in the city who shouts and throws a lot of gold coins into the crowd.
It is conceivable that when the Kalibo people became angry after they knew the truth, if they were not the monastery's elder Kenneth, they accepted Ding Mu, who looked a bit poor at that time. According to the Europeans' hobby of grilling living people, Ding Mu may have already The Karibo citizens who were looking for him with lanterns everywhere in the middle of the night lit the sky lanterns.
It was just that Ding Mu soon discovered that life in the monastery was not much better than lighting up the sky lanterns.
This is because Saint Seballon is a real "monastery".
That is to say, people here do little other than meditation every day. The whole monastery is like a sleeping tomb. Although there are nearly a hundred people in the monastery, almost no sound can be heard.
It ’s a serious crime to speak here. Ding Mu once saw that a monk was lashed because he bumped into someone else ’s utterance. This made him feel unimaginable at first, but he soon enjoyed this kind of preferential treatment himself. ""
On the first day, Ding Mu was punished for refusing to eat and scrubbing the hall corridor floor for violating the countless mistakes of two fingers.
With a bucket in one hand and a huge horsehair brush in one hand, Ding Mu almost collapsed to the ground while standing in the hall large enough to be a basketball court.
All night, Ding Mu was constantly brushing the floor with the rough horsehair brush until the night was finally done, dragging two legs that could not be lifted into the stone house that belonged to him, Ding Mu doesn't even remember how he lay in bed.
Just closed his eyes, the bell awakened Ding Mu from his sleep.
At three o'clock in the morning, the morning prayer of the Monastery of Saint Sebalon began.
Although he couldn't sleep enough, Ding Mu still had to drag his sore body and pull the wooden cart to climb up the hillside behind the monastery. The mountain road was difficult to walk. The wooden cart behind him was very difficult to move, and his throat was so dry. A breath can explode from the lungs.
Ding Mu ’s first job every morning was to pull a wooden cart to the clear spring on the top of the mountain to fetch water, and then clean every corner of the monastery. He would wipe all the altars, icons, the floor of the terrifying prayer room and For each piece of glass, at noon, we will cook for more than 70 monks in the monastery. In the afternoon, we will take care of the vegetables in the yard at the back of the monastery.
There is no free time during the day. The only free time of the day is when eating, but the poor food will only make people feel more hungry.
Only late at night after a day of work, Ding Mu can lie down and rest, but even so, he can sleep only a pitiful three or four hours.
Then he would be awakened by the abominable bell and repeat what he had done before.
There are wells in the monastery, but it will be shut down in winter due to the drought. As a result, nearly a hundred people in the monastery will have to rely on taking water from the springs on the top of Cuiling Mountain.
Ding Mu ’s job is to push a wooden cart to the clear spring on the top of the mountain every morning to fill several large wooden barrels, and then pull the clear water back to the monastery and pour it into the huge stone sink.
Wait for this tiring task to finish, and then it is the beginning of the day's formal work.
Wipe the sculpture, shovel off the feces left by the seabirds on the terrace, fertilize the vegetable fields in the backyard of the monastery, and check that all the oil in the oil basin is full. Almost all these trivial tasks are Ding Mu Things to do.
In the afternoon, he helped the monks to move outrageously heavy bundles of various manuscripts from the library, and then he had to listen to the orders to pass various documents to the monks who were writing the scriptures.
When doing these things, there can be no sound. Ding Mu can only guess from the simple gestures of the monks what they want him to do, and even a few days later, Ding Mu began to doubt whether he always has this way. One day I will forget to say something.
This kind of work will not come to an end until very late, and then he can eat a dinner that is not delicious, and then go back to the transcribed room to continue working until late at night.
Ding Mu had to put the manuscripts back into the library after the monks left, and then cleaned the floor of the entire chapel, and waited for the monks to turn off the lights and rest before they could drag their tired bodies to lie down on his hard bed. Eye sleep.
But as if it was not long before the eyes were closed, the bell of Chenqi rang again!
Then, it is the endless repetition of the work of the previous day.
This kind of days that seems to never end has passed more than ten days, Ding Mu finally made up his mind to leave this place that will drive him crazy sooner or later!
leave here!
Once this idea is born, it can no longer be suppressed, but Ding Mu also knows that it is not easy to achieve it.
Medieval Europe is a chaotic era in which endless wars can break out at any time.
In addition to the large and small nobles everywhere, who like to provoke troubles everywhere, the crazy rampant thieves have also made this year more unstable, not to mention that there are those who are originally seen as lively and not too big, take the opportunity and pounce. Kings.
Ding Mu is very skeptical about whether he can survive in such an era.
The Italian peninsula in 1496 is definitely the most chaotic place in Europe.
It's no wonder that Ding Mu didn't have confidence in himself. As long as he thinks that even a lot of nobles can't wait in this year, he feels that he wants to leave San Sebaron.
Even so, Ding Mu still did not waver.
Going outside may not know which day will die, but staying in Saint-Sabaron will be buried in this living tomb.
No matter what happens in the future, leave here!
Ding Mu thought to himself, stepping under his feet, pushing the wooden cart up a platform along the hillside.
This is a place where Cuiling is directly facing the city of Kalibo. Looking down from here, you can clearly see the entire pier and the bay further away.
Ding Mu turned his head and looked at the sea. These days he has developed this habit. Although he knows that this action is meaningless, but somehow, he will always look at the sea involuntarily. It seems that on the boundless sea, Something attracted him.
When Ding Mu stood on the hillside and stared blankly at the sea, a Clark sailboat, not very large, was slowly swaying into the Gulf of Kalibo, and the tattered sails that had fallen down told that the boat had been in the sea before. Suffering.
However, there are too many such ships on the Mediterranean Sea, so it has not attracted people's attention on the busy working dock.
After the ship docked, a man wearing a dirty and robe got out of the boat. His brown eyes looked at the neighborhood first, and then walked past several businessmen who were bargaining with the tax collector. Put a hood over the head and put a hood over the head, wrap the whole body in a gray robe, and head down and hurriedly leave the bustling wharf and walk along the mountain road towards the monastery halfway up the mountain.
When Ding Mu returned to the monastery, the second morning prayer just ended.
On the first day of his arrival at the monastery, Ding Mu had been told that the monastery of Saint-Sabaron followed strict Benedictian rules, which means that in this monastery, pray at least five times a day, each time There are strict rules for the beginning and the end. For example, the second morning prayer every morning must start on time at five o'clock.
After each morning prayer, Ding Mu had to deliver the prepared water and bread to the monastery ’s room. The other monks had to eat together, and the monk ate in his room, which also belonged to the dean. privilege.
Ding Mu carrying a wooden tray was blocked by a priest outside the Dean's house. Looking at the priest's index finger that was sealed on his lips, Ding Mu ate a drink and ate his food.
The priest shook his head slightly, stretched his thumb back, and pointed to the plate in Dingmu's hand.
Ding Mu put the plate on the ground and turned to leave.
This is the daily life in the monastery, boring, monotonous, looking for someone to speak is extravagant.
Do n’t talk loudly among the monks, even whispering may be regarded as a violation of the canon, which makes Ding Mu feel that if he stays, he will become a dumb or a lunatic.
He was ready to go back to his cabin, which was also a rare time during the day to take a short break. As he walked through the door, a low quarrel came from the depths of a corridor.
Even though the voice was very low, the anger in one of the voices still filled the corridor: "How could this be, isn't San Sebalon the safest place, UU reading www.uukanshu.com but what happened now?"
"This is also no way, no one thought of such a thing happening," another voice was calm but helpless. "This may be God's arrangement, maybe you should go back and tell them everything is over."
"No, this is absolutely not possible, there must be a way!"
The voice suddenly increased, just before Ding Mu had time to stop, the two figures came out of the corner of the corridor.
Seeing Ding Mu, the two seemed very surprised. At the same time, Ding Mu also recognized that one of them was the dean of the Monastery of Saint Sebaron, and the other was a middle-aged man in a gray robe.
Ding Mu immediately stood next to him and bowed his head slightly. Although disgusted in his heart, think about the whip that admonishes the monks, there is no need to be a hero.
The two didn't seem to expect to meet other people suddenly. The monastery's low face became more ugly. He stared at Ding Mu and then waved to the man next to him.
"Please pray for my soul," the middle-aged man bent down and kissed the dean's hand. "I pray for God's grace from you."
"Pious people can get grace, my child."
The monastery slowly withdrew his hand. He glanced at Ding Mu beside him again, slowly disappearing into the deep corridor.
"Pious people ..."
The man whispered to himself, then turned and walked in the other direction.
From beginning to end, the two didn't seem to take Ding Mu next to him seriously, but he didn't know why, he just felt uncomfortable.
This made him determined to tell himself: this monastery, really can't stay any longer.
Ding Mu shook his head and walked to his hut.
He didn't pay attention, and the Abbey who had left was looking at him with strange eyes.