Chapter 1202: Chapter 805: Friends
Patuo Monk didn’t seem surprised at all. On the contrary, he was very calm, clasped his hands together, and earnestly said to Maria: "You must be careful, many people in the town have seen those corpses, and every time a corpse appears, someone dies."
Next, Patuo Monk announced tonight’s tasks. Yang Xiao and the others first need to come to the Buddhist Hall to pray, then go to the morgue in the temple’s side courtyard to collect Ahmed’s corpse, and subsequently deliver the corpse to a cemetery outside of town for burial.
Juan didn’t mind, as they had executed their task last night, so it was Yang Xiao and Musa’s team’s turn tonight. However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, Patuo Monk’s next words made his relaxed mind tense up again.
"All of you must go." Patuo seemed to see through Juan’s thoughts, looking at him as he spoke.
"Um... Master, we indeed want to escort brother Ahmed on his final journey, but last night we were busy for most of the night, we are very exhausted and don’t have the energy." Juan feigned a difficult expression.
"Yes, we are really too tired, last night I was scared out of my mind, now when I recall it, my calves still cramp." Maria and the others chimed in.
This wasn’t just Juan’s issue; his entire team didn’t want to take any more risks.
But Patuo Monk was unmoved, "All of you must go; otherwise, we won’t have enough people. Some of you must send the corpse for burial, while others must take the temple’s prayer manuscripts to the town’s households to ward off disaster, which is also part of our duty."
As for the physical exhaustion, Patuo Monk was considerate and let them return to rest now, allowing them to rest until evening when someone would notify them for the meal at noon.
Juan kept his anger off his face, but in his heart he had already butchered Patuo Monk, thinking these monks in the temple were all bizarre, probably not a single good one among them.
After saying what needed to be said, Patuo Monk left with his people, and the group of Yang Xiao and Hutu also slowly headed back to their quarters.
After confirming no one was following them on the way, they began discussing tonight’s task arrangements in a flurry of voices, finally deciding that Yang Xiao, Musa Adila, and three others would send the corpse for burial, while Juan Datu’s team would distribute the manuscripts in the town’s households at night.
Juan’s team was relatively satisfied with this arrangement, considering that delivering a tragically deceased body for burial outside the town late at night sounded very unsafe.
After discussing, the two teams split up and each went back to rest, and the next meeting was at noon in the same dilapidated refectory, opening the lid of the wooden barrel, inside was still the dark, mushy stuff.
But to be honest, despite the unsatisfying appearance, the wild vegetable porridge tasted quite good, just too little in quantity to fill anyone up.
Sopa was the youngest among everyone but was very diligent, swiftly beginning to scoop the food for everyone.
Datou, who had gained an advantage last time, was silently lining up last again, making Yang Xiao sneer inwardly, this kid was smart, trying to do the same trick again.
But this time Yang Xiao was vigilant, he specifically waited for everyone in the line to stand before slowly moving, making himself the last one in the line.
Watching one person after another get their food, the line was getting shorter; Yang Xiao’s heartbeat quickened, staring at the bottom of the pot, anticipating the reward at the end.
Soon, it was Datou’s turn before him, Sopa swung the ladle, and "plop" the sticky porridge hit Datou’s bowl, then Datou immediately left.
But as they brushed past each other, Yang Xiao caught sight with the corner of his eye, shocked to find that the porridge in Datou’s bowl was noticeably more than anyone else’s, almost reaching the rim.
On the way back, Datou walked slowly, continuously sipping with his mouth.
"Chu Xi." Sopa spoke sweetly, breaking Yang Xiao’s thoughts.
Yang Xiao stepped forward, and Sopa gave him three scoops, but when he looked down at the rough ceramic bowl, the three scoops combined were still less than Datou’s.
"There’s some left at the bottom." Yang Xiao extended his bowl, as this was far from enough to eat, he saw very clearly, there was quite a bit left both at the bottom and the side, enough for at least one person’s portion.
But at this moment, Sopa showed a troubled expression and whispered, "Chu Xi, I... I haven’t eaten yet."
Only then did Yang Xiao realize, last time Sopa served herself, but this time she hadn’t, so technically this time Sopa was the last in line.
After Yang Xiao left, Sopa began scraping the bottom, but even after emptying the pot, it was only about one person’s portion, similar to everyone else’s.
The women gathered around one table to eat, Aisha Maria and the others were secretly watching Sopa’s bowl, no one was stupid; if Sopa dared to serve herself extra, none would agree.
Luckily she didn’t, as Sopa always gave the impression of being very honest.
Yang Xiao sat not far from Datou, eating his porridge slowly, but his mind was far from calm. He vaguely sensed that there was an unusual relationship between Sopa and Datou.
Sopa secretly gave Datou extra helpings.
You must know that as the food server, Sopa had many eyes on her, she clearly didn’t have the opportunity to eat extra herself, meaning she took the job just to let Datou eat more.
Risking herself for someone else’s gain — Yang Xiao absolutely didn’t believe there wasn’t something going on there.
