Victor is a sturdy man in his early forties with a dark complexion, and he looks like he has been working long hours under the scorching sun.
"Nature's blessing!" he said. "I went fishing the other day, just like any other day. You all know that the magician's followers ask me to do this every day, and I am the best fisherman they can find. I was lucky that day. God gave me two nets of good fish, and I was very happy. The biggest of those fish was as long as my arm. You all know how happy a fisherman is when he sees a big fish, just like a farmer when he cuts wheat. I was so happy that day that I only focused on collecting the big fish, and the remaining small fish were thrown on the deck. When I remembered to put the small fish back into the water, they had been killed by the sun. Oh, the sun was too strong that day. These fish should have returned to the water and grown into big fish, but now there is no chance. I was too careless."
Victor looked regretful and nagging, giving people the feeling that he had lost a lot of money.
"Anything else?" Kara asked seriously.
"No, no more." Victor seemed a little nervous.
"The God of Nature knows everything. Think carefully about what you have done this week, especially after drinking." Kara stared into his eyes and emphasized.
"I, I..." Victor lowered his head and said in annoyance: "I had a fight with someone on the way back to the camp after drinking at the dock. We fell off the ridge and fought in the wheat field for a while, crushing some crops. But I swear, they were the first to start fighting. The idiot punched me in the face, right here." He pointed to his black face, but no one could see any trace.
"Duke, judge him."
"Duke! I swear, only two body-sized amounts of wheat were crushed!" Victor added anxiously.
"Shut up! Do you think you can bargain like you're at the fish market?" Kara shouted.
"Little fish, ten. Wheat field, ten. Concealment, thirty. A total of forty." Duke said.
"Do you think it's fair?" Kara asked.
"Fair," everyone said.
Victor had a sad face and lifted up his clothes. Kara started beating him hard with a branch.
Ji Yijun sneered and Catalina looked at him strangely.
"A bunch of idiots who can't even do kindergarten math, a bunch of idiots who talk incoherently, are actually judging crimes in a serious manner." Ji Yijun said disdainfully.
Catalina counted on her fingers and her face turned red. She whispered, "I can count. Sister Karanda taught me."
"What about multiplication and division? What about systems of equations? What about analytic geometry?" Ji Yijun asked several questions in a row, confusing Catalina.
Her face turned redder, but this time it was out of anger. She argued, "Of course you upper-class people have time to learn these nonsense things. We have to spend most of our time trying to earn a few pennies and not starve to death!"
"If you don't know how, just learn. Now you don't have to sleep outdoors anymore and can go to the newly opened night school at night. Otherwise, you will have to count with your fingers. How will you manage your husband's money after you get married?" Ji Yijun said.
Catalina didn't know what she was thinking about. She was stunned for a while and then stopped.
Ji Yijun pointed at the believers in the distance and said, "These people are the same. Instead of wasting time on these things, they might as well learn to be smarter! If this group of people are plotting something bad behind the scenes, I will wake up laughing in my dreams."
The two watched for a while, and one by one, the members of the Ascetic Order came out to confess their crimes, and then were beaten for trivial matters. Ji Yijun was a little too lazy to watch it. Catalina was almost the same, she asked: "Do we continue to watch? Or should we check somewhere else?"
"Wait. Look at this." Ji Yijun was about to leave when he suddenly noticed something had happened. Previously, adults were the ones who confessed and were beaten, but this time, a seven or eight-year-old girl and her mother were named by Kara.
"Lilith, tell me about your daughter's sin."
"Kara, Annie is only eight years old, and this is her first time to attend the 'Teaching Prayer'. Will she be guilty?" The woman named Lilith was a little thin, and looked very weak in front of the strong Kara. And her daughter Annie looked like she was made from the same mold, small in stature. She had been frightened by the punishment of whipping before, and now when Kara called her name, she hid behind her mother in fear.
"Everyone makes mistakes. You come to the 'Prayer of Teaching' but don't think about what mistakes you have made. Do you just want to get a little food after the sacrifice?"
"You know, I wouldn't think so. I just want Annie to understand the teachings of the God of Nature and accept the gifts of the God of Nature." Lilith said with a trembling voice.
"Then you should admit your sins. If you admit it, you are on the wrong path!"
"What are you talking about?" Lilith asked in surprise.
"You sent her to a school run by wizards!" Kara said, pointing at Annie.
"But all the children in the camp are going to class," Lilith said. "The generous magicians allow the children to speak, learn numbers, and teach them magic runes. This is something we never dared to think about before."
"Huh, good thing? I prepare lunch for them every day. In class, they talk about all kinds of principles and knowledge, but no one has ever mentioned the God of Nature! We all know that everything is created by the God of Nature, but those who talk about this knowledge don't mention their creator! What will the children who get this knowledge think in the future? How can there be a place for the God of Nature in their hearts! Moreover, there is a teacher who especially likes to tell the story of a monkey fighting with the Emperor of Heaven. What is the Emperor of Heaven? He must be a false god! Isn't this blasphemy? Moreover, even if it is a false god, it is not something that a lowly monkey can challenge. The false god can only die at the hands of the true God."
"I, I don't know what you're talking about. We're leaving." Lilith pulled her daughter up and wanted to run.
"Stop! Stop them! Duke, Victor, catch them." Several men stood up and stopped the thin mother and daughter.
"Duke, judge their crimes! Figure out how to punish those who waver."
"I think..., I think..." Duke looked at the aggressive Kara and the thin mother and daughter in confusion, unable to make a decision for a moment.
"You're wrong! The teacher said that Sun Wukong is a hero, telling us that man can conquer nature. There's nothing to be afraid of in heaven. If it doesn't treat us well, we can defeat it." Annie suddenly said loudly behind her mother. Perhaps because Kara insulted the hero in her mind, Annie suddenly became very excited and was not so afraid of the fat woman in front of her.
Kara's face changed color. "Listen! What nonsense is this about man conquering nature? Tiny people are actually fighting against nature. It's too scary to give such a thing to children." When the people around heard Annie say this, their faces also changed. Lilith covered her daughter's mouth in horror.
"Don't you admit that sending her to class is a terrible thing to do?" Kara asked.
"I, I was wrong. But considering that she is still young, please let me take the punishment for her."
Kara hesitated for a moment and said, "You can take part of the punishment for her, but she must be 'taught' at least twenty times. This is the price of blasphemy. I am doing this for her own good. Otherwise, how can she face the God of Nature in the future?"
At this time, Annie broke free from Lilith's hand and said loudly, "Mom, don't listen to this bad woman. What she said is nonsense. Only bad people would be like her, hitting and bullying everyone. But what the teacher told us is all printed in the book! How can what is written in the book be wrong! Let's tell these things to the teacher, and the teacher will protect us."
Kara became furious and shouted, "Lilith, get out of my way!"
Lilith had never seen Kara so angry, and she was so scared that she took a step back without thinking, and Annie, who was glaring at Kara, was exposed in front of Kara.
Without saying a word, Kara swung the branch towards Annie. However, at this moment, a stone flew over and hit her hand, and the branch immediately fell to the ground. She screamed and looked in the direction where the stone flew from. She saw a young man dressed as an outsider and a girl walking out of the bushes.
Ji Yijun kept throwing a stone in his hand and approached the circle of people. When he came to Kara, he threw the stone at the big tree, and the fighting spirit carried the stone and shot out, smashing a deep hole in the tree with a bang.
It seems that Ji Yijun was quite lenient when he hit Kara's hand, otherwise her hand would have been blown to pieces. Kara and the others were just ordinary people, and they were all terrified when they saw Ji Yijun's blow.
Annie was still standing in front of him, and the thin little girl looked very lonely. Ji Yijun touched her head and said, "There is a saying that goes, 'It is better to have no books than to believe in all books.' It means that there are also many books that contain nonsense. However, you are right about the rest. This fat woman is indeed a bullshitter. You are very brave today, and I will tell your teacher."
When Annie saw Ji Yijun's dress, she knew that he was the same kind of person as her teachers. She suddenly rushed over and hugged Ji Yijun's waist, trembling and crying softly. Lilith watched from the side, stretched out her hands to hold her, but hesitated and let go.
While patting Annie's back, Ji Yijun glanced at everyone present provocatively. Seeing his sharp eyes, everyone lowered their heads and dared not look at him. Only Kara covered her hands and glared at him fiercely.
Ji Yijun snorted coldly and said, "Who ordered you to fight here? The camp has its own rules, prohibiting all private conflicts and lynching to protect minors. People like you who gather to fight, cause harm, and abuse children at the same time, all must be detained and disciplined!"