242 A Lot Behind This (1/2)
”If you don’t know what to do, why not just hit him?”
”Huh?!” Ye Qingxuan was stunned. He had always thought that Charles’ ability to talk nonsense was amazing, but he had never imagined it was inherited from their professor! And Abraham truly was incredible—how did he suddenly come to this weird conclusion?
”Professor, no!” Ye Qingxuan almost jumped up in fright. ”If you fight here, you’ll probably lose the appraisal!”
”Uh, I’m confused again. Isn’t that the rule?” Abraham said awkwardly. ”In the military, if you bring it to the military court and threaten someone in their face, it’s normal to fight back, isn’t it?”
”No, no, no, it’s not normal at all! And what military did you come from? It’s so wild…” Ye Qingxuan thought.
”Then why don’t I do it?” Charles jumped up to add to the mess with the expression of a lonely elite fighter. ”Don’t worry, he’ll definitely lose to me for talking trash!”
”Oh, so you do know?” A stampede of what-the-f*ck’s charged across Ye Qingxuan’s mind. The appraisal had not even started yet but he was already close to breaking down.
Just as Charles was getting prepared, Ingmar was five steps away with a strange smile. Suddenly, the door opened. A majestic bell rang outside the Union. The sound was soul-shaking as if it rang in one’s heart, shaking all thought away. The echo resounded in one’s skull.
”The Westminster Church…” someone murmured. ”It’s nine forty in the morning so it’s not telling time. Why is it ringing?”
The room was silent as no one replied.
Under everyone’s gazes, a line of priests clad in black, and holding holy emblems and incense furnaces entered the Union building. They had come from the Westminster Church across the street, silent the entire way there. Plumes of incense smoke hung in the wind.
The warm scent drove out the cold dampness and evils in the wind, warming one’s body. However, the priests’ expressions were stern and cold like a god. They stood outside the hall and did not enter.
Amongst them, an old man with a holy crown walked out, entering the hall with his secretary. He wore a long black robe with a dark gold emblem. Silver thorns were pressed into his sleeve cuffs, seeming a bit old-fashioned and odd. But here, the old-fashioned style was incomparably solemn and dignified.
Ingmar’s frivolous outfit was nothing but dust before this robe passed down the Church for centuries. It represented the majesty of the Church; wearing it before someone was the same as the cardinal visiting.
”F*ck! I just invited them for the show, but I didn’t think they’d actually come…” Inside the building, Bayer wiped at his cold sweat. He hurriedly fixed his clothing and rushed down the steps to welcome the old man clad in black.
”Look down.”
In the silent crowd, Charles was looking around in curiosity but suddenly felt a kick from Ye Qingxuan. The oblivious Charles finally realized that, other than Bayer who represented the Musician’s Union, everyone else had lowered their head politely before the stern old man. He quickly copied them and said in code, ”What’s wrong? Who is that guy…”
”Senior, are you blind? You can tell just by his clothes.” Ye Qingxuan lowered his eyes. ”Who has the right to wear that robe other than the metropolitan archbishop?”
Who? Who else could it be!
Ye Qingxuan had realized who was arriving the moment he heard the bell. Otherwise he would have memorized that Church rituals for nothing!
In Anglo, only one person was qualified to wear the dark gold robe, have a bell ring when traveling, and represent the glory of the Church. That was the highest person in charge of the Anglo church and the Westminster Church—metropolitan archbishop Mephistopheles!
After he aged, he would be in reclusion except for presiding over the prayer sessions for the start and end of the year. Ye Qingxuan did not know why he appeared now, but he undoubtedly represented God and the Church wherever he went. Everyone must bow to him.
The holy theory stated: one must bow and not meet the eye of the God to show one’s sincere devoutness and awe.
”Wow, this effect is awesome.” Charles continued to say in code. Peeking at the old man, his eyes were filled with gossip and he muttered, ”Wow, is he really Mephistopheles? I heard that he had the chance to become a cardinal! Apparently he had a conflict with Knights Templar and was banished here. Ah, that must have been more than thirty years ago…”
”Senior, watch your mouth.” Ye Qingxuan really wanted to kill him. ”Don’t think that speaking in code is safe. Archbishop Mephistopheles is a highly-acclaimed musician. He’s one of the few grandmasters of the School of Choir!”