In Papa's antique shop, the apprentices are busy preparing the tea. Before the three of them sat down, Jenkins deliberately flipped the sign at the store entrance to "rest", and then asked the two women the purpose of coming here.
"This is...my friend Miss Broniance...my friend at church."
Miss Audrey introduced softly, but still seemed a little reluctant.
"Oh, hello, nice to meet you, Mrs. Bronyance."
"Miss Broniance."
She corrected that Jenkins immediately reached out for a handshake, but the woman just offered him the back of her hand. Jenkins nodded knowingly, and kissed his hands according to standard etiquette.
"Your etiquette is very interesting, and it seems to have some northern colors. When I was young, I stayed in the Hampawa Kingdom for a long time, and I had a good relationship with the royal etiquette teacher."
The woman smiled and said, while carefully looking at the entire store. Her eyes rested on the cat on the counter for a moment, and then moved away naturally.
The dozing cat stood up and adjusted an angle to continue lying down. It didn't like this uninvited woman.
So did Jenkins, whose inspiration told him that this woman had another purpose.
"The Kingdom of Hampavo? Yes, my etiquette teacher did stop there too, but that noble lady..."
He was telling a lie that he had fabricated for a long time, but the door of the store was pushed open again at this moment. Walking in was Robert Williams, Jenkins' father, still carrying a huge black suitcase in his hand.
Seeing the cat on the counter, he knew that Jenkins was in the store, but seeing that he was talking to someone, the handsome middle-aged man wanted to wait a while. Eyes moved to the faces of the three talking, and Robert frowned.
"Oh, father. What can you do?"
Seeing that Robert rarely came to the store to look for him, Jenkins immediately thought that something happened at home. He abandoned the two women and stood up, asking in panic as he walked:
"What's wrong? At home..."
"It's okay, I have some business matters to ask you."
He stood on the mat by the door and shook the suitcase in his hand at Jenkins, and there was a sound of rocks rolling inside. But Robert still did not look at Jenkins's face, but at Miss Broniance's.
Something must have gone wrong, and from what Jenkins knew, Father Robert was as dedicated a man as he was.
"Sorry ma'am, did we meet somewhere before?"
If other men said something like that, it would be an accusation, but Jenkins knew Robert.
"Sorry sir, I think we..."
Miss Broniance was displeased and wanted to deny it, but her eyes suddenly narrowed:
"Williamette?"
She said in surprise, then looked again at Jenkins, then at Robert—their faces were very similar. Of the three Williamette children, Jenkins was the closest in appearance to Robert.
"Oh, I remembered!"
Robert's eyes widened, and he pointed at the other party very impolitely, with a scary voice, as if he had discovered that his son actually had many lovers:
"God, I remembered, I remembered. You are the female fortune teller who smuggled with me on the same boat when I fled to Nolan thirty years ago!"
"You are not dead?"
"You didn't die?"
Robert and Miss Broniance spoke at the same time.
Jenkins didn't know what happened for a moment, so he signaled Miss Audrey to say something with his eyes. She shook her head slightly, apparently not knowing what was going on.
"Father, do you... know this guest?"
"Yes Yes."
Robert looked very excited. He stuffed the suitcase into Jenkins' hands, and then introduced quickly:
"I really didn't expect to meet old people after so many years. Jenkins, you should know that I fled from my hometown 30 years ago. At that time, this lady was on the same boat as me, but disappeared midway. I thought... so you It's very lucky that he didn't die."
"I feel lucky too..."
Miss Broniance had already adjusted her expression. She stood up and left the table in front of the fireplace and walked to the door, still looking at the faces of Jenkins and Robert:
"I remember that when I left that ship, the entire ship had already been infected with the plague. I didn't expect you... this is really lucky."
Even so, the woman still has this strong disbelief in her heart. She no longer cared about the purpose of coming to the antique shop today, and chatted with the excited Robert for a few more words, and after saying goodbye politely, she took Miss Audrey and left quickly.
"Teacher, what exactly are you going to do?"
After making sure that neither of the two people in the store could see the outside, Miss Audrey shook off the middle-aged woman's hand angrily.
"Teacher, what are you going to do today, and why do you know Jenkins' father."
"Today was such a surprise... well, since you want to know... it was a mission when I was young..."
Miss Broniance's face was very serious, but it didn't seem to introduce what she was doing at that time:
"The problem is not with that mission, the problem is why that Mr. Robert Williams is still alive."
"What's the problem? Although the fatality rate of the plague is high, it is not impossible to recover. Maybe he has better luck?"
Miss Audrey said nonchalantly, and the two walked towards the alley together. On one side of the alley, there is a pile of household garbage that exudes a peculiar smell. These garbage should have been there for a long time, because it is still covered with snow from the previous few days. The black cat, which was rummaging for food, heard the footsteps, turned around and growled at the two women, and then quickly ran towards the depths of the alley.
"The problem is not the plague. The problem is that on the ship on the way back from the mission, I had a fortune-telling for Mr. Williamt. His fate has revealed that he will die there, and he has no future at all."
said Miss Broniance, and held out two fingers:
"After I was thirty years old, I only made two completely wrong divinations. One was because I was not mature enough when I was thirty, and the other was because it involved the plan of a great god. Now tell me, Audrey, William What is so special about Mutt... Or, what is the purpose of you coming and staying in Nolan?"
"I?"
Miss Audrey stretched out her hand angrily and pressed down the middle-aged woman's fingers, showing no demeanor in front of Jenkins:
"What am I for, don't you really know? Mrs. Broniance!"