This city known as the “City of Gold” and “City of Faith” is Seville. With its amazing prosperity and wealth, it attracts travelers, pilgrims, navigators and adventurers from all over the world. The gorgeous Seville Palace is located here.
When Agape disembarked, it was the busiest time of Holy Week. From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, throngs of pilgrims walk through the streets and majestic squares, walking barefoot on roads paved with sharp gravel and carrying wooden loads behind them. of the cross until his feet bled, staining the ground red. This imitates the scene of the crucifixion of Jesus, the idol they most worshiped and believed in in their lives.
After bidding farewell to Captain Aiden, Agape handed over the priest's letter and a letter of self-recommendation. He, Lily and Mrs. Hetty lived in this huge city for a dizzying two weeks before finally receiving a reply from the bishop.
Following the guidance of the attendant, he walked into the palace, walked through the many corridors, stepped on the thick carpets of red, gold and brown, and waited for an reception at the door of the study of Spanish Bishop Juan Fonseca.
Before coming, there was still a lot of anxiety in his heart, but now it has turned into a kind of stability like a broken jar. What's the worst? My ability is not false, and my sincerity is not false. I have experienced real hell. Even if I was expelled from the court after meeting the bishop once, it can be considered that I have worked hard.
With this determination, Agape entered the study and bowed deeply.
As one of the most powerful officials in the Spanish court, Juan's living room can be called simple and concise. The Haarlem tapestry embroidered with large impatiens flowers has been washed and used, and a few bells hang from the white porcelain vase from the East. Orchids and primroses, the air was cold and peaceful, and a vague metallic smell lingered on the tip of the nose. Agape thought for a moment and suddenly realized that it was the smell of coins.
"Greetings to you, Mr. Bishop." Agape said softly, "I...I may not be the person you are looking for, but I think I will not disappoint you."
Bishop Juan did not speak, he buried his head On the desk, the tip of the quill was dipped in ink and made a slight collision sound with the mouth of the bottle. When writing, the paper was rubbed and rustled.
So Agape stopped talking.
It's funny to say that when he was a slave on the island, he encountered more than a hundred times more difficulties than this. Without a good sense of patience, a normal person would not survive long. He kept bowing, I couldn't help but compare the difference between the past and the present in my mind.
As time passed by, his waist began to ache. As a sequelae of childbirth, this was not a good feeling. Another twenty minutes passed, and his spine couldn't help but ache. The attendants came and went quietly. They didn't dare to speak. They only looked at him with vague eyes, which fell on Agape without surprise.
——Agape came to the conclusion that it was still more difficult in the past, and the bishop's power was really decent.
After a while, the bishop put down his quill and raised his head. He looked at it and commented: "It seems that you are from a humble background and are a commoner. People with good backgrounds will definitely not endure it for such a long time." Well, I can't believe it,
Agape thought, worse than a commoner, I was once a slave.
"Your guess is not wrong," he said, "I do not have a good family background."
After waiting for a moment, since the bishop had spoken to him but before he asked him to get up, Agape straightened up. In his sight, Bishop Juan himself was old and cold, and his gray hair was like a ball of steel wire, stubbornly sticking to his high forehead. His cheekbones were very sharp, and his chin was too pointed and too long. On his thin, hook-like fingers, he wore an ancient heraldic ring, which was tapping the parchment on the table.
He was old and frail, and his son had died in a shipwreck not long ago. However, no one could see the shadow of this unfortunate incident on his face.
"I haven't asked you to get up yet," Bishop Juan said.
"Oh, okay." Agape said, then bent down again.
Bishop Juan's eyes widened slightly. He stared at Agape for a while, with an uncertain expression. After a while, he said coldly: "...Get up, sir."
Agape didn't know why, and he didn't. Knowing where he had poked him, when he got up, the bishop asked: "Since you said you will not let me down, tell me what you can do?"
Agape replied: "I can plant lilacs. Three of the trees survived, but unfortunately they were burned to death in the fire. I also know very detailed methods of growing cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper, but I have never started planting them because I couldn't find the seeds." He
said After simply saying this, he stopped talking and just looked at the desk in front of the bishop. Juan Fonseca frowned, opened his mouth, and remained silent for a long time.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"Well, then I must admit," said the bishop thoughtfully, "I was expecting some popular court code, some garish self-adulation, gorgeous parallels and flattery, and grandiosity. But your... simplicity, yes, simplicity, moved me, young gentleman." "
Let's stop talking nonsense." Juan leaned back on the large seat, "To be honest, I I was looking forward to the legendary Thousand-Eyed Crow, but what came to me was his old master... I won’t say whether I am disappointed or happy, but the only thing I can determine is that I will not and cannot put my chips in now Betting on you is not in line with my rules."
Disappointment rose uncontrollably in his heart, and Agape's expression showed a hint of uneasiness.
"Therefore, I will make an assessment." The bishop continued, "I have sent out more than one search team, and like you, there are more than one 'Gardening Masters' who have come to recommend themselves. If you are as capable as you say, Just show it to me."
"How?" Agape asked holding his breath, a tiny hope coming back again, making him slightly widen his blue eyes.
"Stop looking at me with those baby eyes of yours," the stern bishop frowned and scolded lightly, "Whoever you find of my attendants will tell you the rules. Go down! Don't continue to stand here, It disturbs my thoughts."
Agape was confused and walked out of the room. He followed the bishop's instructions and found an attendant. The other party didn't say much. He simply gave him a small packet of clove seeds and asked him if he needed any gardening tools. After everything was arranged, the attendant led Agape left and right, through the quiet and narrow paths, twists and turns. The winding corridor leads to a corner of the garden of the Palace of Seville.
It is early autumn now, and the palace garden is like a lush forest, full of sweet and rich floral fragrance. Cosmos rolls in waves of milky white and ginger in the low shrubs; wood sorrel is clustered together, fresh and lovely; blue-purple hydrangea blooms in clusters, so lush that they almost bend the branches. head. What's more, it's almost time for the sweet-scented osmanthus to bloom. Dots of golden buds have sprouted and flickered among the dark green leaves. Together with the orange and olive trees, they stand in the tall shadows.
"It's right here, sir," the attendant interrupted Agape's admiring thoughts, "This is your place." "
Excuse me?" Agape asked hurriedly, "My place, what does this mean?"
"It means that if you want to plant the things in the bag here, you can ask the garden servants for anything you need. Please rest assured that it is absolutely safe here. Your Excellency the Bishop will seal off this area before the results are produced. Anyone who breaks in casually will be sent to the Royal Prison of Seville for trial on charges of theft and theft of state secrets."
"But it's autumn now?"
"The Royal Palace of Seville has a greenhouse."
"But in autumn...how can we grow the plants in this bag?"
"I think this is a problem you need to solve, sir."
After explaining this, the attendant stopped talking. He bowed and retreated into the darkness.
This time, Agape stayed where she was.
He knew from the bottom of his heart that the bishop had posed a big problem for him. In other words, the bishop, who was so strict and unkind, had posed a big problem for everyone. Cloves need to grow in a warm and humid environment, and spring and summer are the best times for them to germinate. The excessive temperature difference between day and night in early autumn will only cause the seeds to die prematurely in the soil. Faced with this assessment, I am afraid that half of the people will retreat after learning the difficulty.
But I won’t, and I can’t retreat.
He made up his mind and took root in the gardens of Seville. He did not dig, water, and bury as soon as he came up, but first made a request to the bishop. He asked for a shelter. In other words, he asked for a small eaves in the Palace of Seville that could accommodate him. his family.
The bishop's attitude was ambiguous, but he agreed. As a result, Agape not only got a room in the palace, but Mrs. Hetty also continued to serve as a housekeeper and could take care of Lily's food and daily life.
To be honest, it was a very nice suite. Although it was a bit small, it had everything. The room was warm and comfortable. Agape screened some suitable soil from outside and shoveled it back. Then, he took out a sturdy wooden box with small grids from his luggage, filled it with soil, and planted the soaked seeds in categories. In order to distinguish the progress of each seed, he also got a special label.
It is worth mentioning that this meticulous method, which can be regarded as ingenious in the current era, was not taught to him by Black Crow, but Agape used his love for planting, his eccentric ideas, and practical actions. derived from the combination. He used this trick when cultivating wild roses, and he still uses this trick when caring for difficult tulips and delicate camellias.
In this way, the lilacs are cared for in a warm room. Agape was not idle either. In addition to checking the status of the seeds from time to time, he also made a thin wire mesh to cover the top of the large wooden box. This not only ensures smooth air circulation, but also ensures that the rampant rats in the palace will not visit at night and rummage in the soil.
Every morning, he let the hot sunshine of early autumn shine through the soil and shine on his hopes. In the afternoon and evening when the temperature dropped particularly quickly, he brought the wooden box into the warm room, where there was the flame of the fireplace and The steam of the hot soup and Lily's carefree and crisp laughter.
Two weeks later, his lilacs started to poke their heads out one after another. Twenty-three seeds produced seventeen new shoots that were so young that they were still shrinking in the air.
This was an expected result, neither good nor bad, but it made Agape breathe a deep sigh of relief - in a life that was turned upside down, it seemed that he had grasped the eternal normality.
He took care of the sprouts for a few more days, made sure that their condition was relatively stable, and then went to find the attendant.
"Excuse me, can I use the greenhouse?" Agape asked. "At this time, it is difficult to plant my saplings outside." The
attendant poked his head and looked at his flower field carefully.
"But, sir, I didn't see what you planted!" he said, "There's not even a bit of green in your land!" "
Well," Agape scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. , "I'm sorry that I didn't make use of your flower field, because I don't need those for my gardening..."
As he said, he led his attendants to see his achievements. As a result, when he saw the fresh green saplings growing in the wooden box, the poor man's face turned pale and he almost fainted.
"You, you can grow things without land!" the attendant stammered, "God, bless my eyes! You can grow things without land!"