Chapter 239
The night was deep and dark, and the Sacred Heart Church in Hongkou stood quietly in the darkness, as silent as the other buildings around it.
Who could have imagined a building like this? Three or four hundred people were crammed together, all of them elderly, weak, women and children who had fled from the war zone.
Bang bang, two light knocks on the door. The people crowded in the church who were half asleep suddenly opened their eyes wide, and were certainly frightened, but no one made a sound. They all stared at the church door anxiously.
Looking at the one-armed priest who kindly took them in, he gently opened the door a crack.
The priest carefully looked out from the crack of the door, and squinted his eyes to see the figure in the darkness. He recognized it as another nun from the suburbs. Why did she come here so late at night?
"Come in first." Without asking any questions, the priest opened the door a crack.
The nun came in holding the door, and one of her feet could not touch the ground. Someone immediately handed her a chair and asked her to sit down. The priest wanted to close the door and look outside at the dark shadow standing not far away.
"Won't the other person come in?"
Sister Xia Lina closed the door gently. It was obvious that the other person did not need to come in: "Reverent Jacquinot, Father John has also gone to heaven." Sister Xia Lina said sadly.
"My condolences, my child." This is unfortunate news. So many people have died since the bombing began, and there is not a single piece of good news.
"The most important thing now is that our church has been destroyed, and there are still a dozen children there. I'm here to seek your help. I hope you can take us in," Sister Xia Lina pleaded urgently. "They face raids several times a day there, and we can't hide any longer."
"Don't worry, kid. Of course I'm willing to take you in, but there's a blockade outside the International Settlement. I have to find someone to open a pass." Getting a pass is the most difficult part. Those little guys are like they've taken the wrong medicine. They can go crazy at any time and are as difficult to communicate with as devils.
"If you can take the child in here, don't worry about anything else. Someone will send the child here."
"?" The priest was puzzled. Could it be in the International Settlement?
The nun stood up with the help of the wall, opened the door a crack, and said to the people waiting outside, "The priest is willing to take the children in. Mr. Rong can go and bring them over."
The priest also looked out from behind the door with curiosity. There was also a man wearing priest's clothes. What was more obvious was that he was an Oriental with black hair and black eyes. Reverent Jacquinot was also very sure that he had never seen such a young and handsome Oriental priest.
"Okay, I'll send them over one by one, and you guys should be ready to receive them."
The man disappeared into the darkness silently after he finished speaking. Sister Xia Lina seemed to be completely unconcerned about what the man could do, and she trusted him very much.
"That one too?"
"A very good oriental doctor."
"An Eastern doctor?"
"Yes, no medicine or knife is needed. Just two pricks with a needle will make the patient feel much better." Sister Xia Lina said with great admiration: "He also treated my ankle, and it is much better than when it was first injured."
"Are you communicating in English?"
"Yes, Reverent Jacquinot, you know my oriental languages are not very good. Fortunately, Dr. Rong can speak English."
"Are you hiding somewhere in the International Settlement?"
"Hide in our old church, that's where Father John prepared it."
"Then how did you get in tonight? The entire concession is heavily guarded and has become an isolated island."
"I don't know, Father. The mysterious Orientals always have some methods that we can't imagine."
They didn't have to wait long. After three hymns, there was a gentle knock on the wooden door of the church.
The door was opened quietly as well, and a child about 10 years old with a frightened and confused look on his face entered the church holding a sleeping baby. When he looked outside, there was nothing there and no one in sight.
The priest asked in broken Chinese: "How did you get here?"
The child took a while to understand what the priest was saying. He scratched his hair in confusion and said, "I don't know. I was sent here blindfolded."
In this way, in the second half of the dark and windy night, the church door would be knocked every now and then, and the children nearby, holding babies or packages, would quietly come to the church that was blocked in the International Settlement.
The sky was slightly brighter, and the last person to be sent in was Sister Lin. This time the door was knocked gently, and the priest immediately opened the door, even a little impatient.
He was really curious about how that person had gotten these people in, because when they opened the bundle, they even found a copper candlestick from another church, which was used to light candles before the Lord.
The moment he opened the door, the man seemed to be about to leave. The priest's clothes looked natural on him. His tall and slender figure was different from most Oriental people he had met. He did not have the hunched inferiority complex or the fear of losing his life at any time.
Hearing the sound of the door opening completely, Rong Zhou turned his head in confusion and met the eyes of the priest who opened the door.
Facing those distinct black and white eyes, I suddenly forgot the questions I had prepared and even said a hastily and awkwardly in English: "Hello."
After he finished speaking, he realized that he was speaking English. Just when he was about to change to an oriental language, the handsome young man also greeted him in English. He had forgotten that Xia Lina had said that he could speak English.
"Hello."
"I heard from Xia Lina that you are a skilled doctor. I wonder if you could stay and help. We really need a skilled doctor here." In order to make his words more convincing, the priest opened the door of the church completely. In the dim church, there were many oriental faces, all of them looking out with their eyes wide open behind the priest.
Rong Zhou's throat moved, but he couldn't even say no under the countless gazes.
This Western priest with a high nose and deep eyes is protecting hundreds of Orientals. As an Oriental, I cannot just leave at his request.
The bearded pastor didn't understand why he was so impulsive to want to keep him.
Curious? A little, but delving into someone's private affairs just to satisfy your curiosity is quite rude.
Perhaps the other party was too decisive in leaving, perhaps wanting to get to know this outstanding and handsome gentleman.
Was it because he was a doctor? Meeting a skilled doctor was incredibly rare. Asking him to stay and help was absolutely the right thing to do, but it also felt a bit…
He tried to come up with various excuses for his abrupt request. "If you have other things to do, forget it. But is there a way to contact you? If anyone here is sick, they can go to you."
Rong Zhou looked up at the brightening sky and said, "If there's a separate room, I can stay here. But I prefer quiet and don't like being disturbed. I need enough sleep at night."
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