Chapter 113: A Morning Encounter

“Ladies and gentlemen, our next destination is Ya’nan, the famous city of non-believers. There, I hope all of you can cast aside your worldly desires, temporarily set aside personal feelings, and contribute to the cause of our church, striving to plant the goddess’s flag across Ya’nan.”

Before officially returning to the church, Bishop Jijige delivered an impassioned speech to the crowd, then pushed open the church doors.

When Jijige returned, it was just after dawn. While the other clergy were still packing luggage in the hall, Jijige went straight to the dormitory area.

She still needed to discuss matters with those two.

Then, at Nanaya’s door, she witnessed the two of them, still groggy-eyed, walking out of the room together.

“Hey, who put this statue of Jijige at the entrance?”

Nanaya rubbed her eyes, still half-asleep, and tugged at Menglinna’s clothes, nearly pulling off her pajamas.

“What statue!” Menglinna quickly slapped away Nanaya’s hand, forcing a wry smile. “Bishop Ji, you’re back?”

“What are you two doing?”

Judging by their state, they had just woken up and had come out of Nanaya’s room together. Fortunately, she hadn’t informed them before leaving, or else who knows what she might have witnessed.

Jijige put on a very serious expression, crossed her arms, and said, “As the acting head of the church, I demand an explanation from both of you. During my absence, were you engaged in inappropriate male-female relations during work hours?”

“Bishop, have you gotten something wrong? We haven’t been engaging in any improper relations!”

Even caught red-handed, Menglinna chose to tough it out, continuing her stubborn denials.

“Do you take me for a fool?” Jijige was clearly not buying it. “Two single women walking out of the same room early in the morning—what else could it mean?”

Menglinna’s eyes darted around, and she put on a fawning smile. “It means they both have the habit of waking up early, right?”

“Right… right your head!”

Veins bulged on Jijige’s forehead. She wished she could grab the glib-tongued Menglinna and give her a few knocks on the head.

Just then, a staff member approached and said, “Bishop, the supplies we brought…”

She was about to continue reporting, but noticing Jijige’s expression turning sour, she tactfully withdrew.

Jijige took note and realized this wasn’t the time to discipline the two. She waved her hand. “Both of you go get yourselves sorted. I’ve brought everyone over now, so we need to handle the handover first. We’ll discuss this later.”

“Guh…”

Reluctantly, Menglinna had no choice but to drag Nanaya away.

“Sigh…”

Watching Menglinna lead the saint candidate away, Jijige couldn’t help but worry. She had only been gone for a short while, and they had already ended up in the same bed. If she had returned even later, what would have happened?

Especially since she had said something to her subordinate earlier. She couldn’t tolerate this sort of thing.

No, she had to come down hard.

“Now, regarding personnel arrangements: relieve Nanaya of her acting bishop duties, and I will take full charge of the church. As for Miss Menglinna, relieve her of her acting deacon duties and grant her the status of temporary lecturer. Later, based on her weekly preaching performance, we will consider whether to formally appoint her as a lecturer.”

Although the two had temporarily lost their positions as bishop and deacon, Jijige had asked them to help, so their treatment wouldn’t be reduced. Their salaries would remain the same, and they would retain their original benefits.

“Any questions?” Unsurprisingly, no one spoke. Jijige then adjourned the meeting. “That concludes the work arrangements. Everyone, return to your posts. Miss Menglinna and Miss Nanaya, please stay. I need to discuss your treatment with you.”

Clearly, this was a topic not fit for others’ ears. The rest of the clergy took the hint and closed the door behind them, leaving the three alone.

Sure enough, this was coming. Although Menglinna had spent the whole morning helping the new clergy unload cargo, leaving a good impression on everyone, those trivial matters couldn’t change Jijige’s attitude.

“Bishop Ji, we’re very satisfied with the treatment, so, um, we still have things to do…”

Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, Menglinna grabbed Nanaya’s hand, ready to make a run for it, but Jijige stopped her. “Hold on. You don’t seriously think I called you two here just to discuss treatment, do you?”

Menglinna forced an awkward smile. “Isn’t that it?”

“Definitely not.” Jijige stood right at the door, blocking Menglinna’s escape route. “Tell me honestly. Spill every detail of your improper relationship. Don’t hide anything, don’t lie, and don’t think I can’t find out!”

Faced with Jijige’s heavy accusation of improper female-female relations, Menglinna felt completely wronged.

First of all, this so-called improper female-female behavior didn’t apply to an outsider like Menglinna, nor did it fall under the jurisdiction of a local church. And moreover, there was no such improper relationship between the two of them.

At least in Menglinna’s view, she hadn’t actually had any special relationship with Nanaya. At least not yet.

“What is all this? We don’t have an improper relationship!”

In response to Menglinna’s protest, Jijige just sneered and challenged, “Then can you explain why I saw you walking out of Nanaya’s room together this morning?”

Of course, there was a reason. Since it was justified and she had anticipated this, Menglinna wasn’t flustered. She calmly replied, “Of course. It’s true that we slept in the same room, but that’s because…”

“To deal with the problem of feeling lonely and cold when sleeping alone?”

“Of course… no!”

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