Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 18 Are they really not siblings?

There was a pile of old newspapers in the room, all of which were borrowed from other people's homes, from the Linville City Journal to the Daily Observer, to the strangely named Friday Evening Post. Metien had borrowed every newspaper that could be found on the market. At this moment, she was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a copy of the Pravda newspaper jointly issued by the sect in her hand, reading it with great interest.

Alice was leaning against the window with a broom in her hand, looking lost in thought. As for Lingge, he was still in the chapel downstairs, receiving believers who came to pray and informing them of the upcoming closure of the church.

Together with the people who came to participate in the seven-day ceremony in the morning, I am afraid that this matter will soon spread to the Holy Cross District and the White Citizen District - the few believers of the Holy Goddess Church are basically concentrated in these two districts.

After reading the last line of the report, Metien put down the newspaper, looked a little excited, and chattered: "The newspaper mentioned that the negotiation meeting between the Linwell City Religious Mutual Aid Association and the City Parish Committee will be held on the Saturday of the second week of November, that is, November 11. Seventeen churches, including the Red Prayer Society, the Divine Providence Church, and the New Cross, have announced that they will send representatives to attend the meeting; and the City Parish Committee will be fully responsible for the negotiations by the city parish general director, Mr. Clermont, the bishop of the Linwell Cathedral, Mr. Longning, the tribune of the committee, and Mr. Longdenel, the representative of the believers. They have stated in an interview that they will face up to the religious demands of folk religious groups, listen carefully to the reasonable suggestions of non-Orthodox church believers, ensure that the implementation of the "Religious Decree" meets the needs of Linwell City's political and economic development, and do their best to provide a more comfortable religious atmosphere for the general public..."

Alice, who had just returned to reality from her trance, couldn't help but twitch her lips when she heard this: "This official language is really a set of official words. You don't believe it, do you, Metien?"

"Why don't you believe it?" The pink-haired girl blinked her eyes, full of doubts: "They said it in an interview. Many people know it, so they shouldn't lie, right?"

"That only proves that they farted in front of a lot of people."

Alice snorted softly: "According to what you said, the Religious Decree is a policy that will be implemented throughout the country and even the entire Western Continent. Do you think they will change their minds because of the protests from some churches in Linville City? I don't think so anyway."

“Then why negotiate?”

Metien blushed, "Sister Alice, what you said is... too vulgar. Ladies shouldn't talk like that."

Do you believe this yourself?
Metien silently glanced at the dust at her feet. Alice noticed her look and quickly put down the broom. She coughed lightly and said, "Don't worry. I'll start cleaning now and make sure your room is clean."

"Mrs. Maggie?" Metien thought for a moment and replied, "She is a very good person. She is gentle to everyone, never gets angry easily, and is very strong. Since her husband passed away, Mrs. Maggie has raised six children alone, but she has never complained. Instead, she has managed the family very well. Everyone on the street says that she is a virtuous and hardworking person!"

"Because not only do they fart, they also want everyone to hold their noses and admit that the fart smells good." She waved the broom, raising a cloud of dust, and said indignantly: "Isn't that cheap? Too cheap!"

However, if we have to be on guard against the other party, why should we give so much care?
This contradictory attitude is really confusing.

"Hmm?" Metien hesitated this time, and said uncertainly, "It seems rather calm, because he has this attitude towards everyone. But I think Lingge is more concerned about Mrs. Maggie. You should have noticed this when you registered the information this morning. Mrs. Maggie received relief food many times, and once received a sum of money to treat her youngest son's fever, which was the largest expense of the church in the past six months. I think Lingge must have seen that Mrs. Maggie was too tired to take care of so many children by herself, so he took special care of her. In fact, Lingge is a very gentle person, right?"

"I'm not a lady, I'm just a maid."

"Ah?" Metien was confused: "Why do you suddenly ask this, Sister Alice?"

"Oh, right." Alice looked up after just two minutes of scanning and asked curiously, "Metien, do you know Mrs. Maggie? What do you think of her?"

She tried to speak well of her brother whenever she could, but Alice curled her lips slightly, thinking that this was all nonsense, as he had told her to be careful of Mrs. Maggie in the morning.

The pink-haired girl had no interest in her pretentious way of cleaning. She sighed softly and began to pick up the newspapers on the floor. Her excitement subsided a little, and she became pessimistic about the prospects of the negotiations again.

It was estimated that there would be no answer from Metien, so Alice stopped talking and changed the subject, which was also a topic that she was interested in: "Um, I would like to ask, are you and Lingge siblings?"

Six children? Alice was secretly shocked and asked her, "So, what is Ling's attitude towards Mrs. Maggie?"

"Because Lingge is very strange." Alice expressed her doubts: "You are obviously brother and sister, but he never calls Mr. Yang Ke father. Isn't this very strange?"

At the same time, I added silently in my heart: It's just as strange as you never call Lingge brother.

"Of course, if you can't tell me, just pretend I didn't ask." She was prepared for the worst and took precautionary measures: "Don't mention this to Lingge either." "It's not that I can't tell you. Basically everyone on the street knows about it." Metien blinked, her pink braids swaying behind her head: "Lingge and I are indeed not siblings."

噔——!
Alice's orthopedic radar responded, and she hurried over and lowered her voice like a thief: "Is it true? So Lingge was adopted?"

"Yeah." Metien nodded to confirm Alice's guess. Just as the latter was inexplicably excited and kept muttering "This game should be for all ages", she added: "But, I was also adopted by my father."

"Ah?" Alice was stunned: "Is there such a thing?"

"That's exactly what happened." Metien nodded his head seriously. "My father adopted me from an orphanage in Lunwitin, and then brought me to Linweier City. On the way, he adopted Lingge. Because he is older than me, he became my brother."

Alice didn't expect such a secret to happen. She was stunned for a moment and said, "Mr. Yang Ke is such a good man."

"Of course!" Metien raised his little head proudly. "My father is the best man in the world. Everyone thinks so because he has always been helping others. The rule of distributing relief food during the seven-day ceremony was established by him. When he was still alive, many people came to pray to the goddess every day!"

It turned out to be the case.

Alice understood immediately that Tianxin Church had once been glorious, but it declined under Lingge's leadership. That was true. With his expressionless face and deadly cold tone, he was not suitable to be a pastor at all. He was more suitable to be a judge. He must be very imposing when sentencing someone to death.

What a loser.

After criticizing from a moral high ground, she gained a psychological advantage over Lingge and felt that she would no longer be afraid of him.

"So, he doesn't call Mr. Yang Ke father just out of habit?" Alice asked.

“No.” Metien shook his head and gave an unexpected answer: “He used to call me father like me, but after my father passed away, he changed his name for some reason. I asked him several times, but he didn’t explain, so I stopped asking.”

Alice also felt strange when she heard this, and guessed, "Could it be that Mr. Yang Ke's death stimulated him?"

"Maybe." A trace of trance flashed across the little girl's eyes, and she murmured, "My father died of a serious lung disease. At that time, I was still in Sunday school, and Lingge was studying history at Linville University. When he came home during the holidays, he found that my father was not in a good condition, so he sent him to the church hospital in the Grasswood Garden for treatment, but it was still too late. I didn't even get to see my father for the last time. I heard it all from Lingge. He said that my father's last wish was that Lingge and I could live a peaceful life."

He raised his head slightly, his eyes melancholy: "Since then, Ling Ge has become much quieter. He dropped out of Linville University and took over the affairs of the church. Then, I dropped out of school too. I wanted to study medicine and save more people suffering from illness. But because I am not old enough and not smart enough, I can only take the pharmacist qualification exam first..."

It turned out to be the case.

It was the first time that Alice knew about Medien's original intention of studying medicine. She felt a little pity for the little girl. She reached out and gently stroked her hair, comforting her: "That's impossible. Medien is very smart. She will definitely become a great doctor in the future!"

"Yes!" Metien smiled at her and nodded vigorously: "Thank you, Sister Alice!"

“Okay!” Alice picked up her motivation, turned around and started cleaning the room, and said with full momentum: “Since you want to be the greatest doctor, then I must also be the best maid! In the dictionary of genius players, there is no word impossible! Come on, come on, come on!”

I never said I wanted to be the greatest doctor! Besides, isn't your goal too low?

Metien complained silently in his heart.

She didn't notice that when Alice turned around, a thoughtful look appeared on her face: two adopted children, an adoptive father who died suddenly, different names for each of them, and neighbors whose situations were unknown... This guy Lingge was really mysterious.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)