Why it never ends

Chapter 1109 Low Fever

The candles brought from the shed were still burning, in the silence, in the stillness.

The old man stood up and held the candle in his palm.

"I can see that you still have great determination," she whispered, "so this conversation doesn't have to end tonight. You have many questions, and I have many answers. We can talk for many nights."

Hesta nodded.

"Good night, Salima—"

"Call me by my name." Hesta didn't wait for Yunis's translation, and directly extended his hand to the old man, "My name is Jane Hesta, you can call me Jane... Jane."

The old woman hesitated, but still held the hand of the person in front of her. She didn't nod until Eunice told her what Hesta had just said.

"simple."

The old woman held the candlestick in one hand and pinched the tip of Hesta's middle finger with the other. She leaned down gently and pressed her forehead against Hesta's finger twice.

The old man did not explain what he was doing and quickly turned and left.

Jiahoduolei immediately chased after him, and even though Younis called out to her from behind, it was of no use.

"...Don't chase me. I'm going back to my room." Hesta shrugged. "How about I take you to Stella's place now? When Gahodore comes back later, I'll just ask her to sleep at my place. It's too late now."

Eunice had no choice but to agree.

……

That night, Gahoduolei was very silent.

When she entered the room, Hesta and Victoria were already sitting on their beds. They had spread out a blanket for her in the empty space between the two wooden beds. Both of them were reading, looking very focused.

"…What have you been doing standing there?" Hesta asked.

"I don't want to sleep between you two," said Gahoduolei, "The sight is too heavy, and I can't sleep at all."

Victoria immediately turned on the bedside lamp after hearing this. She put the book on the low cabinet next to her and got into bed. "I'm going to sleep. Good night."

Hesta was still flipping through a book, but he moved towards the window.

Gahodore still didn't get close to her bed, but looked around the room carefully. Opposite the bed frame of Hesta and Victoria were the four small beds of the children. At this moment, they were all asleep, and the sound of their even breathing was comforting.

There was a desk near the door with many documents piled on it in a mess. Gahoduolei wanted to take a look, but was afraid of arousing Hesta's suspicion. Until she suddenly found a collection of Elf's poems in the corner of the desk, all her attention was suddenly focused on the cover of the poem.

"You read Alf, too?"

"No," Hesta said, "I haven't read poetry in years."

"...I knew it," Gahoduolei snorted, her cheeks trembling slightly, "Then why are you reading this recently? Did anyone recommend her poems to you?"

Hesta glanced at Jiahoduolei with a subtle smile: "Who else could it be? Your teacher Boheng."

"..."

Although she had guessed it a long time ago, when she heard the answer from Hesta, Jiahoduolei still felt a sour and stabbing pain in her heart.

"Oh," she kept her voice calm, "do you like it?"

Hesta turned a page of the material in his hand, his voice still steady: "Which one do you mean?"

Gahodore turned her head almost immediately, looking at Hesta on the bed with a little anger: "Elf!"

"I can't really understand it," Hesta didn't look up, her eyes were still focused on the materials in her hands, "If you have time, you can talk to me--" "Poetry cannot be explained clearly, and those who don't understand it will never understand it!"

After saying that, Gahodore put the book back on the desk, and without even taking off her coat, she simply lifted the quilt and lay down - of course, with her back to Hesta.

Hesta dimmed the light slightly.

……

The next morning, Hesta came to Pakat's room as promised.

However, as soon as I knocked on the door, I heard Stella shouting inside: “Come in.”

Hesta realized something was wrong, pushed open the door, and saw Stella sitting beside Pakat's bed, while Pakat, who always got up early, was still lying in bed.

"…are you sick?"

"I have a slight fever."

"Want to go downtown?"

"No, she just ate something and needs to sleep for a while," Stella said, "She took antipyretics at night. If she gets feverish again later, we'll see."

Before he finished speaking, Pakat, who was lying on the bed, looked at Hesta and said weakly, "...Now that you're here, I don't have to go look for you."

"I can come back later," Hesta went to Pakat's bed with concern, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Pakat's brows remained frowned, and he looked much weaker than before.

"If it's an infection—"

"It's not an infection," Pacat said, his voice a little impatient. "It's exhaustion."

Hesta moved the chair closer to the bed and put her hand on the back of Pakat's hand: "I'm sorry..."

"I have something to tell you," Pacat said. "You must answer a few questions for me seriously, directly, and without any lies, even if they are well-intentioned."

Hesta's eyes were equally serious. "I will answer all your questions seriously and directly, without any lies, even white lies."

"Your cooperation with Qianxin is to exchange for their mercury needle ability users - is this a short-term cooperation or a long-term one?"

“I hope it’s long term.”

"why?"

"First, I need to figure out what's going on with their Kasyapa. The twelve children we brought here are just the beginning." Hesta's voice was very soft. She looked at Pakat as gently as possible. "Second, piety can be a wedge—"

“To what extent can you influence their decision-making?”

"It depends on what kind of decision it is, and how much I want to influence it," Hesta said. "Pakat, stop talking about this, and tell me the specific problem. You have details to tell me, right? What did you talk about with Aji when you were patrolling alone?"

Pacat's eyes turned cold. "They deliberately changed the wording in my email and replaced all the neutral terms with women..."

The old man looked at Hesta. "You don't seem surprised."

"Although it is almost a community maintained by women, there is still a clear distinction between those who actually make decisions and those who do the work," Hesta whispered. "I discovered this when I first went there."

"Well, let me ask you one more thing. You must tell me honestly whether you know this or not." Pacat said, "Do you know where the 'orphans' they collected came from?"