After breakfast, the other children started morning classes as usual, while Elena took breakfast to take care of Benitez, who was still resting in bed.
The orphanage is not large, and Benitez's room is only a few minutes away from the restaurant.
The wood-and-stone structures unique to the British region are sturdy, but they are undoubtedly quite poor in terms of moisture-proofing.
As soon as Elena opened the door, she felt the unique humidity in the lakeside house. She frowned. The girl put down the tray in her hand, walked to the window, and opened the window.
The cool breeze in the early morning sweeps away the dampness in the house, refreshing people.
"Fortunately, you are here, otherwise the orphanage would be in a mess now. Thank you for your hard work."
A thick middle-aged man's voice came from behind Elena. She turned around and saw Benitez standing up from the bed and half leaning against the wall. Although his face was still a little pale due to the cold and migraine,
However, compared to the sluggishness of the past few days, my spirit is obviously much better now.
"If you hide it from me next time and secretly go boxing to make money, I swear I will never care about you next time."
The silver-haired girl snorted and walked to Benitez's bed aggressively, her lake-blue eyes filled with reproach.
If there was a selection of good people, Benitez would definitely be among the top.
Benitez was born into a poor family, and his parents had no money to send him to school. He used to take drugs and mix in society. When he asked a priest for help, he was kicked out of the church. Fortunately, a Spanish brotherhood took him in and allowed him to accept
Education, becoming a priest.
Thinking of his helpless childhood experience, Benitez simply built an orphanage next to his small church, relying on government subsidies, social donations, and his own income as a priest to care for the orphans.
Elena was one of the orphans he picked up from the streets of London at that time. You must know that Elena, who had just traveled through the world six years ago, could not even speak coherent English. If she was not lucky enough to meet Benitez, she might
Even surviving is difficult.
However, as the children grew older, the orphanage's funds became increasingly tight.
Unwilling to give up on the orphans, Benitez had no choice but to work part-time jobs in neighboring towns in order to raise funds. A few days ago, he even secretly went to the city's underground boxing ring to box.
If it weren't for the severe migraine attack caused by the wind and cold, which forced Benitez to confess to Elena for help, Elena might still be kept in the dark and enjoy three sumptuous meals a day with peace of mind.
.
Elena angrily picked up the bowl and handed it to Benitez, while complaining in a barrage of questions.
"There should be a lot of money left from betting on last year's World Cup? Why do we want to fight black boxing? And we have agreed that I will figure out the financial resources of the orphanage. Drink the soup first——"
Although she was not a senior football fan in her previous life, because of the song "Don't cry for me argentina", she still vaguely remembers the tragic Argentina led by Maradona this time. She still made a lot of money with those few upsets.
Six thousand pounds.
Even if the orphanage's buildings are renovated and everyone's meals are increased, it stands to reason that at least there will not be any difficulty or embarrassment that would require Benitez to go to the underground boxing ring.
Benitez blew on the soup bowl in his hand, took a sip, and replied in a calm tone.
"I saved the six thousand pounds for you. The savings from the previous orphanage were used to renovate the house and provide three meals."
"Why?! Who asked you to save it!"
Hearing Benitez's answer, the silver-haired girl waved her arms like a cat with exploded fur, angrily glaring at the man in front of her and questioning.
If it weren't for the fact that his body had just recovered, Elena would even have the urge to pounce on him and hit him.
Benitez shrugged, swallowed the omelette in his mouth slowly, looked at Elena who was showing her teeth, and curiously pointed to the empty bowl in his hand and asked.
"Then tell me frankly, what is this? You know that the last time the Wildlife Conservation Society came to your door because you were frying fish in the lake. Besides, I don't know when a new species suddenly appeared nearby.
It’s called the Scottish round-faced fat chicken breed.”
Every time she asked this question before, Elena always found an excuse to fool her, so Benitez has always been curious about the source of this free chicken soup these days.
Elena spread her hands and admitted openly, "Okay, this is actually owl soup."
"O...OWL?! Are you the devil?!"
Benitez made a strange purring sound from his throat, and opened his mouth so wide that he could stuff an egg as big as it into his mouth. He looked at Elena with a shocked face.
——He originally thought it would be some other kind of wild bird. After all, various birds live on the shores of Loch Lomond all year round.
"That is to say, these past few days have been... Oh, my Jesus! You must be the devil!"
Benitez, who had almost recovered, suddenly felt a headache again. He raised his left hand and rubbed his eyebrows. "Fortunately, we are not in the Middle Ages. Otherwise, you will definitely be sentenced as a witch. Only wizards in legendary stories can do this."
Eat the owl."
"No, in fact, as far as I know, the Chinese used to eat it, but now they consider it to be a protected animal. Apart from that, it tastes really good, and I guarantee that these are not wild animals in the lakeside reserve."
Elena blinked, smiled flatteringly, raised her right hand and swore, and then continued to explain with a serious face.
"Owls have good medicinal value. They nourish yin and replenish deficiency. The meat is more tender and smooth than ordinary chicken. After removing the internal organs, the whole body can be used as medicine. The most important thing is that owl meat contains some medicinal ingredients that can relieve pain.
Seeing that you have a headache recently, I have been thinking about using owl to stew soup to help nourish your body. However, it is a pity that Gastrodia elata is only found in Asia. Otherwise, if I could stew a pot of Gastrodia owls
As for the soup, the taste is simply, tsk tsk tsk..."
Clang.
Just then, there was a strange noise on the window sill, which sounded like someone accidentally bumped into the half-open window.
Elena stopped talking alertly, turned her head and looked out the window, only to see a brown-black tabby cat falling from the eaves and falling on the open window sill.
I didn’t expect that there would be such a clumsy wild cat. It would stumble when walking. Life must be very difficult, right?
Elena blinked, grabbed a piece of meat from Benitez's bowl, squatted down, placed it gently in front of the wild cat on the window sill, and said with a smile.
"Kitten, eat, eat."
To her surprise, the next moment she saw the piece of meat, the tabby cat seemed to be seriously offended. The whole cat burst into flames and purred deeply, obviously very angry.
If you look closely, you will see that there is a strange square pattern around the eye sockets of this tabby cat. At a glance, it looks like a pair of glasses.
Elena frowned and looked at the cat squatting on the window sill. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but she seemed to see an expression of anger and condemnation just like a human being in the shining cat's eyes.
A vague thought passed through the silver-haired little Luoli's mind, and she always felt as if she had forgotten something.
Forget it, it's not a very important thing when you think about it. Since he doesn't accept food and still dares to lose his temper, such a kitten is not cute at all.
Shaking her head helplessly, Elena's eyes changed. She suddenly stretched out her hand like lightning, accurately grasped the soft skin on the back of the black cat's neck, lifted it up, and threw it out of the window without mercy.
"Meow meow!"
You know, rabies vaccination is very troublesome in this era, so it is better to try not to be scratched by wild cats.
After a brief interlude, Elena clapped her hands, looked at Benitez again, and said angrily.
"Anyway, I've confessed. Now it's your turn, why are you working so hard, even at the cost of earning money by doing black boxing?"
Benitez sat up straight, looked at the girl he brought back from the streets of London six years ago, and said after a moment of silence.
"You have wanted to leave here for a long time and go to the United States to study, right?"
"Why?!"
"You... were very worrying when you were a child. You would startle and talk in your sleep every night."
Benister said with soft eyes, "Although I can't understand most of what you say, I can still recognize some frequently repeated words."
Talking in sleep?! Fortunately, she usually talks in Chinese when she talks in sleep. Elena was frightened for a while, and then looked at Benitez in confusion and asked: "Word?"
"Well, for example, Harvard University, Silicon Valley, Microsoft, Wall Street..." Benitez frowned and tried to remember, "Most of the rest are some weird words, such as Apple, Blizzard, Amazon,
Facebook, Tencent, Alibaba..."
That's not a strange word, Elena's eyes flickered.
In another ten years, they will be almost the entire world of the Internet. As a reborn person, she is constantly thinking about how to get on this train to the top of the great era almost every day.
After a pause, Benitez reached out and rubbed the silver hair on Elena's head, "It's a big expense to study abroad. You shouldn't be confined to the Scottish Highlands by me and the orphanage. If you don't mind,
If so, I can find a way to apply for adoption."
"Father, Father..."
The silver-haired little Luoli had mixed feelings for a moment. He grabbed the big hand above his head and was about to say something with complicated eyes.
Tuk-tuk-tuk.
At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door, followed by Bran's timid voice.
"Father Benitez, although I have repeated that you are physically inconvenient many times, this woman who calls herself Minerva McGonagall still insists on visiting you in person, saying that she wants to talk about sister Elena's enrollment.
"
⊙?⊙!Wait...who is here?!
Elena's eyes suddenly widened.
Regarding Elena’s enrollment? Before Elena could object, Benitez answered loudly without hesitation.
"It doesn't matter. I'm almost recovered. Elena happens to be here too. Ms. Mag, please come in."
Benitez did not notice that at this moment, Elena, who was originally confident and ready to talk about her life plans, suddenly trembled and almost subconsciously wanted to climb out of the window and escape.
Magminerva?!
That cold-faced Professor McGonagall from Hogwarts?!
What were the fleeting vague thoughts before Elena suddenly reacted.
——Professor McGonagall is an Animagus who can transform into a cat.
Speaking of which, the tabby cat that she just threw out of the window after hearing the recipe for "Scottish Round-Faced Fat Chicken"...
It’s over, it’s time to cool down!
She didn't want to experience the feeling of being turned into some kind of small animal for violating school rules. It was hard to say for others. As a woman, Elena would never believe that Professor McGonagall would be so magnanimous and pretend that what happened before had not happened.
Pass.
Now, even if the knife was held to her neck, she starved to death on the street, or was hit by a car, she, Elena, would never step foot into Hogwarts.
————
(Meng Meng Da You Meng is begging for food, please vote for recommendations, 嘤嘤嘤, there is a chapter with more than 3,000 words!)