Hearing what he said, the other three children burst out laughing, and Mr. and Mrs. Ponson's faces turned unhappy.
Hitzfeld knew why.
Judging from the regional distribution, the northern part of Farrington, also known as the New Lunso area, is relatively better than other areas.
This kind of good not only includes the living environment, but also educational resources.
In a normal public school, at the middle school level, there will be at least 40 to 50 students in a class, and some may even have more than 100.
This is not because there are too many students, but because there are too few teachers.
Due to the limitations of the times, people with knowledge are rare. Most of these people have good backgrounds and have many ways to make money to support themselves. There is really no need for them to become teachers and face poor children all day long.
If we further calculate whether these people have the talent to teach, the number of people filtered out will be even smaller.
The small number of teachers makes it difficult to form a small class model, and most public schools have large classes.
Moreover, many teachers have multiple roles. Those who teach languages usually also teach literature and history, and those who teach mathematics usually also teach handicrafts.
But Newlonso School is a public school serving wealthy areas and does not have to face these difficulties.
The tuition is expensive, so few students can attend. There may be only a dozen or twenty students in a class. Bieber said that a line of 20 meters is already the last.
I asked the other children one by one and found out that except Bieber, they all had good grades.
Lina is always ranked first, while Coakley and Ini float in the top five.
“How do you go to school and get home every day?”
"There are school buses!" Pang Sen popped up to help add: "Public school starts at 9 am every day. Students don't go home at noon and finish school at 3 pm. They are all picked up by school buses!"
"Have they ever skipped school?"
"there has never been!"
"How do you get along with your classmates at school?"
"Very good! I promise they are all the best behaved!"
Hitzfeld looked at the smiles on Ponson's face, glanced across, and found that the four children were all in a low mood at the moment.
Bieber, in particular, frowned, obviously not liking being judged like this.
"Let me ask you one more question."
She said, staring into her client's eyes.
"What time do you usually go to bed at night?"
"This one……"
"No later than 10 o'clock." Mrs. Ponson said, "I will watch them. Everyone must go to bed after 10 o'clock."
"Is it always like this?"
“It’s always like this.”
"No exceptions?"
"This……"
She pressed the issue repeatedly, and Mrs. Ponson suddenly felt a huge pressure.
She didn't know what Hitzfeld wanted to know, but his attitude always made her feel that... there seemed to be something wrong with her answer.
"Oh, nothing, actually."
Hitzfeld suddenly smiled, stood up and nodded to them.
"There's nothing else to ask for now. I plan to go to the church in front and take a look."
"Need me..." The short and fat man immediately came up.
"No, thank you Mr. Ponson, but there is still Sheriff Daisy. You still have to accept their formal investigation. I won't bother you anymore."
"Ok."
Hearing her say this, the man's eyes flickered.
"Then I wish you good luck."
Leaving the house at 15 Enling Road, Hitzfeld walked to the side of the road, stamped his feet slightly, and exhaled.
"Did you find out?" she asked Ethan.
"If you mean that he has feelings for Lady Sinlai." Ethan nodded, "But I'm afraid he also knows that you have discovered it."
In the family that was supervised to go to bed at 10 o'clock every night, the man knew that the neighbor widow went to bed at 11 o'clock every night, and he was very sure of this when he described it before.
He wouldn't believe that there was no such thing as bad thoughts behind it.
But this is not the point at the moment.
Bill Ponson's plot is only at the "thinking" stage for now, so he certainly cannot be convicted. Moreover, this matter does not help the case much, and speaking out will definitely cause the Ponson family to change their attitude.
He supported Hitzfeld's decision to take the cold approach. He felt that she was becoming more and more tactful in handling these matters, not much worse than those old agents.
"He didn't dare to say it."
Hitzfeld was not afraid of the threat. He smiled and saw a big white dog running towards him across the street.
"Let's go," she said.
"Let's go to the church in front."
Chapter 18: New Lunso Cathedral
The New Lunso Church is not far away. Starting from the northernmost end of Enling Road, walk straight back and you will arrive in about 30 minutes.
On the way, they also passed Huishi Orchard, a car repair shop and Chengbei Park. Hitzfeld and Ethan first went to Chengbei Park for a while, looked at the lake, rockery and woods inside, and then ran to the repair shop, pretending to be a lost traveler to ask them if they could get to the orchard through the iron gate next to Enling Road.
"This... I think this definitely won't work." The dirty mechanic said while scratching his head.
He stuttered a little, and he didn't know if it was natural or if it was because of seeing Hitzfeld.
"why not?"
"I... I'm not sure... But I have only seen people from the church go in and out through that door. They were all truck drivers and helpers. Sometimes they were pulling goods in, and sometimes they were driving half-grown saplings in."
The guy told almost all the information he knew, and then pointed to the spire of a building not far ahead and said, "If you really want to go to the orchard to play, it's not impossible. As long as you donate enough supplies to the New Lunso Altar, you will be invited without reminding me."
"Okay, thanks for clearing up the confusion."
Leaving behind a Goli silver coin, the two men and the dog returned to the sidewalk and began to discuss the Hui Shi Orchard.
Huishi Orchard, the word Huishi is not a brand name, but describes the nature of the orchard.
From the perspective of attracting believers and growing stronger, everything the Mechanical Sun Goddess Cult did was far from satisfactory in Hitzfeld's opinion. Because they held too few religious activities, it was as if they didn't care whether anyone wanted to believe in them.
But from the perspective of benefiting the world and the people, they have done such a good job that it is difficult to find much fault with them.
According to her understanding, not only the New Lunso Cathedral, but almost all churches in the city of Sala have Huishi Orchards.
Although it is called an orchard, it does not only plant fruit trees. The sect also cultivates fields and sows food. All the crops produced in the orchard will eventually be transported out to help the poor, and the recipients do not need to pay any price.
"It is said in the history books that it was because of the promotion of Huishi Orchard throughout the kingdom that Sara was able to quickly restore stability." Ethan also gave a very high evaluation of the system, "I don't know how many lives the cult saved in the process."
"It's really difficult." Hitzfeld tapped his chin.
Everyone dreams. The difficulty of coming up with an ideal plan is much easier than the difficulty of actually implementing 1% of it. So the real difficulty lies in execution and grassroots control.
Huishi Orchard, even if she hasn't entered it yet, just by hearsay and reading the records in books, she can imagine how huge the wealth is.
Fruits, wheat, rice, and perhaps even tobacco leaves, all of which can be sold for money.
Using these things to help the poor is definitely an extremely noble decision, but in the process, how to realize this idea and how many difficulties will be faced - for example, whether the farmers will withhold food; whether the priests and bishops will be corrupt - it is simply difficult for ordinary people to imagine.
She admires the fact that they have been able to promote this plan and are doing quite well so far.
She also wanted more and more to meet the person in charge of the New Lunso Cathedral.
After arriving at the church gate and paying a silver coin as a donation, they smoothly met Father Vander, who was in charge of the affairs.
After some identity explanations and with the help of Ethan's detective ID, which always worked, they were led by Father Vander to the backyard of the church and met Bishop Lanno who was resting there.
Bishop Lanno was very old... Hitzfeld thought he was the oldest person she had ever seen, and he must have looked to be over 100 years old.
Wearing a bishop's white robe and a golden wheel around his neck, the old man was lying in a rocking chair in a rather relaxed posture, his long, white beard with almost no trace of other colors even dragging on the ground.
They stood under a big tree.
A very, very big tree. Although it is not very tall, its trunk is extremely thick and its crown is huge, so it is very shady to sit under it.
"They told me in advance." Bishop Lanno said softly, "Please forgive the impoliteness of a frail old man. I'm afraid I can't stand up to greet you..."
It's a very unique voice.
It's a bit like smoker's voice, but much milder. The pronunciation is very unclear, and each word is strung together in a very rapid string, and it takes a lot of effort to make out the meaning.
"You weren't a local before, were you?" Hitzfeld certainly didn't mind the fact that an old man couldn't salute him, and pulled Ethan to sit next to him. "I heard your accent has a bit of the South, where did you live when you were young?"
"Oh... you figured it out." Bishop Lanno smiled and nodded. "I have worked in many jobs: farmer... sailor... reporter... milkman... horse manure worker... shoe seller... and finally came here, but I was born in the South."
"where?"
"In Nanxinze."
After a few polite exchanges, Hitzfeld stated his intention.
"Excuse me, but I think you must have heard about the murder that happened this morning."
"Yes, I heard."
"For the purpose of investigating the case, we hope to enter the Huishi Orchard behind the church to take a look."
"Do you suspect the murderer is hiding in the orchard?"
He said this lightly, but Father Vander, who was serving him, suddenly looked discolored and began to sweat on his back.
He kept winking at Hitzfeld, but it was no use.
She said firmly: "This possibility cannot be ruled out."
"Of course, we are just conducting a routine check. Because the backyards of the houses facing west on Enling Road are connected to the orchard, we cannot rule out the possibility that the murderer sneaked into the houses through these paths to commit the crime, so... please understand."
"Oh!" Bishop Lanno narrowed his eyes.
"This kind of confidence... is it worthy of a detective?"
Hitzfeld said nothing.
Ethan didn't say anything out of caution.
Lily ran away as soon as she entered the backyard. There was a circle of dense bushes around, and once she got in there, there was no trace of her at all.
"Okay." Bishop Lanno nodded, "I'll let Father Vander take you there."
"You need to wait a moment."
Hitzfeld was a little surprised because while he was waiting, Father Vander actually drove over in a small silver-gray Beetle.
"The orchard is huge." Father Vander stuck his head out of the car window. "It'll take you a long time to explore on foot."
After getting in the car, the priest drove out of the backyard, turned along a small road, and started driving northwest.
On the way, Hitzfeld was still collecting intelligence.
"Does Mrs. Shinley come here often to pray?"
"Yes, and every time she came she listened to the recitation of psalms in mourning for her husband."
"How often does this happen? How many times a week?"
"Most of the time it's three times, Monday, Wednesday and Friday."
"She's not coming on Saturday night?" Ethan was surprised.
The real prayer time is at this point, and Mrs. Sinley's arrangement is completely different from others.
"No." The priest confirmed, "She doesn't like crowds...too many people will make her uncomfortable."
"Who knows about this?" asked Hitzfeld.
Father Vander was about to answer when he suddenly seemed to realize something and turned his head and squinted at her.
"…Me, Bishop Rand, Sister Momosa, Gatekeeper Baird, and anyone who might notice a pattern in this process."
