Tianjin people will never lose SAN

Chapter 33 Portrait of the Saint
In the monastery, Liu Yonglu called Sister Lucy and told her that before stealing the diary, there was one thing she must not forget, which was to pay the money for the private work.

After stealing the diary, you may not have time to go back to the monastery to pack your things. You can leave your daily luggage here, but it is best to take valuables with you.

"Mr. Dou, this is the recipe for the egg tarts. Come with me and pick out the antique yourself."

Liu Yonglu and Xiaohu lived in the monastery for two weeks. Aunt Lucy felt relieved and even a little embarrassed. She thought it was inappropriate to charge such a small reward for the little boy who had helped so much.

"Okay, I'll pick some." The egg tart recipe was just a page of paper, which Liu Yonglu folded and put in the certificate. He walked in a square step and followed Sister Lucy into the monastery's chapel.

There was an inconspicuous small wooden door on the left wall of the chapel. After Aunt Lucy unlocked and pushed it open, a long downward staircase appeared in front of Liu Yonglu.

Wow, the things are hidden well enough. Liu Yonglu couldn't help but increase his expectations. The staircase was very long, with an oil lamp hanging on one side. Aunt Lucy lit the lamp while leading the way. Liu Yonglu smelled a strange smell of mold and dust in the deep spiral staircase.

After walking for about a minute, the two finally reached the bottom floor. Liu Yonglu felt that this underground space was at least five or six meters deep. Due to the darkness, he could not see the outline of the room clearly.

As they were walking, Liu Yonglu felt his left leg rub against something hard. He touched it with his hand and found it was made of stone.

"Sister, why do you have a stone pillar underground? It's so heavy. Aren't you tired?"

"A stone pillar?" Sister Lucy turned her head slightly and took a closer look at the oil lamp in her hand. "That's a stone coffin."

"What the hell!?"

Although Liu Yonglu was brave, he was also somewhat superstitious. When he heard that it was a coffin that jumped up half a meter high, he quickly moved away from that side. However, he had just moved sideways for two steps when he bumped into another sarcophagus.

"Okay! Sister, are you interrupting me? I'm not taking antiques, I'm taking me here to rob tombs!"

"All the previous bishops of the monastery will be buried in the monastery's basement after their death." Sister Lucy thought it was natural. She was not making this up. This was the rule not only in the monastery of Excel, but also in all the churches of the Virgin Mary in Mosessade.

"Tsk, if I had known I would have asked you to just pick one for me and bring it up." Liu Yonglu was also a little scared, but then he thought, since he had already come down, he might as well pick something before leaving.

The two walked for dozens of steps, passing by countless sarcophagi, and finally came to a wooden frame.

"Mr. Bean, you choose."

"What are these? They are not buried with the dead, are they appropriate to take?"

"Servants of the Saint never need worldly objects to be buried with them. These are all personal belongings of successive bishops. After their death, these things will all belong to the church. It's okay, Mr. Dou, you can choose whatever you want."

When Liu Yonglu heard what everyone said, he stopped standing there and started to choose.

First he removed the large items, such as the bronze candlesticks on the table and the bundles of religious books. These things were too heavy to carry back by himself.

He also casually pushed aside some silk fabrics. These things had been left in the basement for a long time without anyone taking care of them, and had already become moldy and rotten. They would fall apart if you pulled them.

Finally, in the corner, Liu Yonglu found a picture frame that was half a person's height. The picture frame was leaning against the wall. There was nothing special about the brass material. The key was the content on the frame.

In the picture, a beautiful classical girl sits on a wooden chair. She is wearing a patterned robe woven with thick yellow-brown threads. Her hands hang naturally on her knees, and her face has a peaceful expression...

As soon as the peaceful impression appeared, Liu Yonglu felt that her description was not quite accurate. Her expression became very solemn and sacred, as if she was facing thousands of prostrate believers who were praying and worshipping her. She could respond to these wishes, but she couldn't help wanting to laugh in her heart...

No, she was not solemn, she was just laughing. She was laughing at the group of mediocre mortals in front of her, laughing at their piety and blind faith. They believed firmly in something called language and firmly believed that it was full of profound power, but they didn't know that language was the root of all chaos.

Gradually, the girl's face became unclear. Her eyebrows and eyes were still so harmonious and beautiful, but Liu Yonglu felt it was becoming more and more blurred. This impression projected in his mind had nothing to do with vision. It was a more primitive and purer thought tendency.

He seemed to be able to find the answers to all his questions from the girl's face, but he couldn't ask any questions because all words were futile and could not summarize the thoughts in his mind.

In the silent confrontation, he felt the light. It was not brought by the oil lamp in the nun's hand beside him, but the halo emanating from the painting and the girl's face.

The halo gradually condensed into a golden sphere. The surface of the sphere was like crumpled tinfoil, with deep and shallow dents. It could no longer answer the question, but it generated a huge doubt.

This question only concerns Liu Yonglu. It is his own unique problem, a fundamental problem that troubles and entangles him.

The question was projected into the golden sphere, and ripples appeared on the surface of the sphere, as if the sphere was thinking about his question but could not find a suitable answer.

The ball of light shook violently, and it began to change shape again. Countless human figures emerged from the ball...

"Pa" Liu Yonglu in front of the picture frame only felt someone pushing his shoulder. He turned his head and found that it was Aunt Lucy.

"Sister, how long have I been looking at this painting?"

"A portrait of the Saint? Just three or four seconds."

"Really? I feel like I've been watching it for half a year..." Liu Yonglu scratched the back of his head. He really felt that he had been watching it for a long time. Some scenes even lasted for hundreds of days.

"Mr. Dou, you were mumbling to yourself just now, as if you were asking a question, is there any difference between the marinade of gabacai and old tofu... What does that mean?"

"Hey... It's a matter of principle. Don't worry about it. What did you say just now? Is this your Saint?"

Although Liu Yonglu had lived in the monastery for half a month, he had rarely been to the chapel. Moreover, the statues in the chapel were all carved from pure white stone, which was much paler and more rigid than the painting in front of him. "This painting... was painted by the first bishop Fionaye..." Sister Lucy carefully observed the handwriting under the painting.

"When you looked at this painting before...didn't you feel anything wrong, like being dazed or having all sorts of random thoughts?"

"No, it's just a picture of a saint, but it uses the painting techniques that were popular at the time."

"Okay..." Liu Yonglu felt that the portrait was indeed quite fresh, but it was too large and he couldn't move it even if he wanted to. Finally, he chose a magnifying glass next to the portrait.

This thing is about the size of an adult's palm and is quite heavy. Judging from the rust spots on the frame, the material is not very valuable. The handle has also turned yellow and cracked, and it should be made of the teeth of some creature.

The lens of the magnifying glass was a little dirty, and there was a reddish-brown stain in the center. Liu Yonglu tried to wipe it off with the corner of his clothes for a long time but failed. He looked carefully with the help of the light and found that the stain was sandwiched between two convex lenses. He really didn't know how it was done.

"Okay, this is it." Liu Yonglu put the magnifying glass into his clothes pocket and prepared to find a pawn shop in New New Lent to sell it.

After selecting the things, the two turned around and left the basement, and the candles on both sides of the wall were extinguished by Aunt Lucy.

In the dead silence and darkness, the saint in the portrait suddenly turned her eyes and smiled strangely towards the stairs where Liu Yonglu disappeared.

……

In Liu Yonglu's guest room in the monastery, Xiaohu was squatting on the ground fiddling with two utensils prepared by Liu Yonglu. One was a basin, not big but quite wide, which was used by the monastery to wash livestock.

Now it is filled with fishy and dirty water from the stinking ditches, some thin and some dry. It is not only disgusting, but also full of stench.

A bucket, quite deep, which Liu Yonglu asked Sister Lucy for. It is usually used for washing clothes. Now it is filled with clean water.

Liu Yonglu was going to rely on these two guys to steal the keys from Lewis.

In Liu Yonglu's eyes, there are two main difficulties in carrying out this task!

First, Lewis was a very smart and cautious person. In fact, Liu Yonglu had found various excuses to go into the wax museum during this week and found that Lewis always kept a certain distance when dealing with people.

No matter how familiar he is with the person or how much he cares about the matter, he will still be cautious and vigilant. If you take the initiative to approach him and look for opportunities for physical contact, he will definitely be able to sense something is wrong given his personality.

So I have to let him come to me on his own initiative. Only in this way can he relax his vigilance.

The second is that the entire process of stealing the diary is a time-sensitive job. It won’t work if it’s too early in the morning. The key was taken away by himself. As soon as Lewis finished writing the diary and locked the drawer, the secret was exposed.

It’s not good to be too late. Lewis is asleep and I can’t sneak into his bed and steal the key.

So, time seems to be abundant, but opportunities are fleeting.

I could only get the key after 9pm and before 11pm, and then wait until he fell asleep before stealing the diary.

During this week, even though Liu Yonglu just ate barbecue and drank alcohol every day and didn't do anything else, he was always planning something in his mind!
"Xiao Hu, did you remember the words I taught you?"

"Swish, swish, a pound."

"That's right. Just push the cart and follow me, and don't worry about anything else."

Liu Yonglu was afraid that Xiaohu was not strong enough to move the wooden barrel, so he found him a cart. As soon as it got dark, around 7 to 8 o'clock, Liu Yonglu carried the basin on his head while Xiaohu pushed the cart and they set off.

Where did you go? Or go straight to the kebab stall. In the past week, there were the most people in Excel Town at 7 or 8 o'clock. Besides, the stall was close to the wax museum. I had to let Lewis know if I did this.

When we got to the stall, Liu Yonglu started yelling:
"Touch it, touch it, tenpence a touch."

"A little ten-penny trick of blessing and wealth."

"It doesn't cost much, but it brings a lot of luck. If you live in a village, you won't find this store anymore."

"Touch it. You've lived to be seventy-seven or eighty-eight, and your beard and teeth are grey and old, but you've never touched Fuling Water. You've lived in vain."

"Touch it and see if it works. Ten pence isn't a lot of money. Who wants to touch it?"

There were really some blind people who were waiting to eat lamb skewers, but when they heard Liu Yonglu's words, they were curious and paid the money to try it.

Liu Yonglu was holding the basin. He collected the money and walked towards the man, then let him put his hand in.

The unlucky guy put his hand into the basin and stirred it twice, then felt there was nothing special, so he pulled his hand out. He took a look and smelled it in the moonlight and was about to vomit on the spot.

At this time, Xiaohu followed behind with his cart and shouted:
"Swish, swish, a pound."

It's a new day again. Let's read some novels to relieve boredom, have a good laugh, and forget all the unhappy things.

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(End of this chapter)