What happened to Isaac?

"You go home later, don't go out to play recently, and be careful not to be caught to accompany your father," Isaac said during lunch, "Look at how tanned you are."

"You're not in vain!" said Xavier.

Isaac laughed.

"Hey," Xavier suddenly sighed, "what shall we do in the future?"

"You started thinking about this kind of thing at the age of ten? Don't think so much."

"I don't have a mother, and soon I won't have a father. I wish I was born by you, but I wasn't. How can I repay you? When can I work like you?"

"I didn't expect you to do anything, it's amazing to be alive." Isaac squeezed his thin arm.

"I'll grow up soon," said Xavier, "and I can be a laborer, too, and come home with you."

"What's your—well, drudgery for other people, what's the way out?" said Isaac. "And speaking of that, I remember hearing that there's a good young vicar from London in the church opposite. What do I say?" I will take you to find him sometime, and see if he is willing to teach you something, such as Latin, geography... Maybe you can be a priest in the future."

"Pastor? Do you make more money?"

Isaac laughed: "Silly boy."

**

The new young priest was indeed a good man, and he readily agreed to the request to teach, the only requirement being that Xavier converted to Catholicism.To the poor, professing any religion makes no difference, and conversion is not a shameful thing to do if there is an opportunity to feed oneself.

So Xavier became a Catholic after being baptized.From then on, Isaac, who was illiterate, had two manuscript copies of the Bible by his bedside, one in Latin and the other in English.Poor Xavier even closed his eyes at night and dreamed of reciting the book, and the muttering of Latin woke up Isaac.

"Can you stop reading?" Isaac asked.

"Have I? That's impossible," Xavier said.

……

Xavier is growing up day by day.

A few years ago, sometimes he would suddenly wake up from a dream when he was asleep, and murmur, "Don't hit me...I'm sorry..." But at this time, Isaac would always hold him in his arms and pat him very ungently. Caress him until he falls back asleep in a cold sweat.Ten years later Xavier talked to Isaac about it and kept complaining that he was literally knocked out.

Later, somehow, this became a reason for Xavier to sleep in Isaac's arms every day, and also urged Isaac to take a bath every day, otherwise he would not be able to sleep.

"Were you a young master before? Why are there so many things?"

Isaac didn't understand the relationship between whether he took a shower or not and whether Xavier slept or not.He has always been an unresponsive guy, until Xavier's weight was enough to numb his arm, one day he suddenly remembered to ask: "But why do you want me to sleep in your arms?" A way for individuals to sleep next to each other.

When the crib was about to sleep two people, Xavier's teacher came to find Isaac on the pier, sat down and talked with him for a long time.

That day, after returning home, Isaac told Xavier: "Next week, you can go to the monastery to study."

"Why?" Xavier asked. "And what do you do?"

"What should I do?"

"You don't even remember to take a shower, let alone clothes," Xavier said.

"...what does this have to do with you?"

"How can you be so sloppy? I'm leaving, who will remind you?"

"What does that say. As if I never lived before I met you."

"No way,? How can this work?" Xavier started talking anxiously.However, the unreasonable Isaac ignored his nagging, packed his bags for him, and embarked on a journey.

Once the narrow door of the monastery was closed, Xavier was completely separated from the pier, the waves and his Uncle Isaac.

In the first week, the monastery sent his teacher and Isaac a letter accusing Xavier of his improper attitude towards study.

Isaac was illiterate and did not know what was written on it.Until the rare holiday and reunion after a long absence, Xavier sat by the bed and read the letter to him, glanced at the contents of the letter, and said plainly: "I thought it was something. The teacher praised me for my good Latin literature, so I came here to tell him Your news."

"Oh! It turned out to be a good thing!"

Isaac was then gladly deceived.

However, after getting through the initial discomfort, Xavier did become one of the upper-middle-level students in the monastery.He is very pious, which is reflected in the fact that he can recite the entire "Bible" in Latin. At the same time, everyone loves to praise his humility. However, only Isaac knows that this guy has no ambitions at all and just wants to live a peaceful retirement life .When he was at home, Xavier read a book and did some labor every day, and then lay down on the bed and didn't get up.

"You should at least get out in the sun!" said Isaac.

"Well," Xavier murmured, turning the book upside down in his face, "why do you keep driving me out, Uncle Isaac?"

Why are you wrong?Isaac really wanted to ask that.When he was out, he would often meet nearby priests talking about Xavier with a smile, but he felt that Xavier was not as good as they said—and, as it turned out later, Xavier had the ability to live up to everyone's expectations.

After leaving the monastery, the 19-year-old Xavier could have been given the opportunity to serve in a diocese not far away, but he turned it down on the grounds that "the journey is too far away, and I still hope to stay and take good care of my adoptive father".This can make his strong and strong adoptive father Isa angry enough.

"Why are you so worthless?" Isaac said bitterly.

Because of this incident, Isaac looked at Xavier who was idle at home every day, and the more he looked at it, the more unhappy he was, and he often found fault with him.Although Xavier was very unhappy when he was made things difficult for him, he stayed at home unremittingly.

He looks very decent and is very sociable. He is occasionally invited to parties of high-class people, or he goes around as a tutor in other people's homes like a temporary worker; when he has nothing to do, he wanders to the pier to find a place. Sit down and watch Isaac from a distance carrying the box back and forth, and pass the whole afternoon like this.

"What are you going to do next?" Isaac asked.

"do not know."

"Guess what," said Isaac, "when you were ten years old, you were still thinking about how you would repay me in the future."

"I make money, too," Xavier said.

"The little you teach kids to earn?"

"You don't make much more than that as a priest."

"No matter what you do, you have to do it step by step. How can you achieve success all at once?"

"Oh! Don't teach me." Xavier threw the quilt over his head, covering all Isaac's next chatter.

At the end of the year, Isaac was in an accident and was hit by a cargo. He was fine, but he suffered from back pain from then on. When it was rainy, he fell on the bed and couldn't straighten up.This blow seemed to make him old instantly.Despite this, he still worked almost every day, and it seemed that he had exhausted all his strength just to get home, and he collapsed on the bed like an old horse that was overwhelmed and fell down.The room gradually began to smell of his unrestrained smoking.

Like a pillow stuffed with straw, Isaac was stuffed with the things that would kill him sooner rather than later.He supports the present body by overdrawing the future, but almost everyone who lives at the bottom is like this.

Xavier saw the change in Isaac.

Originally, he always rushed Isaac to take a bath regardless of the occasion. Now, sometimes seeing Isaac falling asleep, Xavier filled a basin with water, wet a towel, and wiped his face and body.

For example, on this day, it was dinner time, Xavier called Isaac but no one answered. When he entered the room, Isaac was snoring on the head of the bed with a wine bottle in his hand, flushed cheeks.

Xavier tiptoed over and sat on the edge of the bed, hearing the trembling rumbling in his chest, masked by his grunting.He brushed back the hair covering Isaac's face, and picked out two white hairs from the middle. Xavier bowed his head in silence for a moment, and no one could see his expression.

A drop of water fell on the corner of Isaac's eye, and then slid down his cheek, as if crying.Who is crying?

Xavier took a deep breath, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, fetched a basin of water, and unbuttoned Isaac's clothes. He paused while holding the towel before covering it hesitantly.

**

In heaven, the angels watching the live broadcast sat around the screen.

"This kid has taken a fancy to his adoptive father?" Angel A said while eating melon seeds.

"It's no wonder. The people on Earth like this one the most." Angel B said, making a big wave shape on his chest.

For some reason, Xavier, who was originally very melancholy and wringing out a towel, suddenly sneezed loudly.