"Is it because they are not nice to you?"
Malt nodded. "They're not even my biological child, how good can they be? Would I go deaf if they were?"
deaf?
Something flashed through Cuihua's mind, and she suddenly remembered it, grabbing Maiya's hand.
"You, you, are, from, Dong, Liu, Zhuang, right, right?"
Malt shook his head, seemingly unsure, clearly unfamiliar with the tremor in the pronunciation of the word.
Cuihua thought about the family from last night, who were indeed heading towards Dongliuzhuang. And she happened to be deaf, not congenitally, but acquired due to a fever. Could this... indicate something?
Unfortunately, in her memory, there were only a few words describing this fourth sister.
She burned her ears as a child, and as she grew up, Cao Amei kept disrupting her life. She married a man who was born deaf and died at the age of forty.
In order to verify whether she was really her sister, Cuihua suppressed her excitement, grabbed Maiya's hand, and used gestures and words to make Maiya understand that she wanted to take her home.
Unexpectedly, Maiya had her own ideas: "I want to go wandering on my own, I'm not going anywhere."
Wandering?
This girl is so naive. How could she possibly wander alone?
But how can I explain it to her? It's so complicated, she might not even understand.
So Cuihua wrote the characters for "household registration" on the ground, but Maiya didn't recognize them. "What is this? I can't read."
Cuihua sighed. Another blind man. Come to think of it, not everyone is as lucky as them to be protected by the Tao family.
Deaf, illiterate, and from a young woman's family, where could she possibly wander off to?
Even if they bring her home, people will ask where her previous household registration was, so they can transfer it over and complete the household registration transfer process.
This is the simplest case. Maiya's situation is different from Daya's. Daya is left unattended, but Maiya is not. Once she goes back, she won't be able to get out. It's impossible to bring her back to their home without spending some money.
Moreover, once that family finds out where they are, there will be endless trouble later.
In the blink of an eye, Cuihua had already imagined countless possibilities.
In her previous life, Maiya lived a good life. She had a harmonious marriage and worked hard to become wealthy. But wasn't it Cao Amei who came to ask for money every day? Who could squander money like that?
What family would want a daughter-in-law who always sides with outsiders?
Leaving aside whether the sisters will get married in this life, the household registration transfer alone must be carried out secretly, without letting the people of Dongliu Village know.
Cuihua was thinking a lot; perhaps she had already decided that the deaf girl in front of her was her younger sister.
Because the characteristics are too obvious—Dongliu Village, deaf girl—these all match up. The only thing that needs to be confirmed is her background. This requires secretly inquiring about it. Once her background is confirmed, we can inquire about Lao Si's life trajectory from Da Ya. As long as it matches up, that's fine, isn't it?
"Eat!" Just as Cuihua was staring blankly at the woods in the distance, Maiya handed her the grilled fish.
Looking at the dark, grilled fish, Cuihua was a little confused, but then she was also impressed. She was able to pull her out of the river, catch the fish, and even start a fire. Not only was Maiya's swimming skill top-notch, but she could also start a fire in the wild.
The fish is a bit burnt, which is a bit of a waste. Look at the skin, oh dear, it's all charcoal.
Cuihua broke off a piece, but before she could even bite into it, she suddenly remembered her basket. She quickly looked around frantically, then felt like crying.
"Oh no, my meat is definitely gone! It's the first day of the Lunar New Year, and we're eating fish here. The house must be in complete chaos!"
Cuihua suddenly stood up. Maiya, who was happily munching on a dark fish, saw this and quickly pulled out a basket from behind her.
"You're looking for this? I fished it out too. Quickly check if anything's missing?"
When Cuihua saw her basket, she made a sudden, large movement. She was dressed so thinly and hadn't eaten for two meals. Suddenly, she felt dizzy and her body slumped forward. Maiya quickly caught her.
"Your health isn't good. Hurry up and eat the fish. You still have everything, what's the rush?"
Cuihua smiled shyly and expressed her gratitude through gestures and words, while Maiya waved her hand dismissively.
"I already said, I only saved you because it was a coincidence, and also because you're a decent person. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered with this. Hurry up and eat. These clothes are almost dried. Put them on quickly. I should go back to my own life now. I don't have to be a slave to the Ding family anymore!"
What kind of life did she have these past four years? She used to swim so freely in the sea, but when she woke up, she found herself on a different planet.
Four years have passed. She is filled with bewilderment and curiosity about this world. Before, it wasn't that she couldn't walk, but that she didn't understand the situation and dared not walk. Now it's different. She has a pretty good understanding of this world. With all the strength she has, she refuses to believe that she can't survive.
Cuihua realized that she was about to leave, so she quickly pulled her to sit down and asked her.
"What kind of fish is this? It doesn't have many bones, unlike the common carp or grass carp. Did you catch it from the river? It's huge!"
Although the fish was burnt, it still weighed four or five pounds. If it wasn't cooked through, it wouldn't be cooked at all.
Eating fish now is like eating steamed buns. Although it's a bit fishy, the fish is so tender that it's simply a delicacy when you're hungry.
Although Cuihua tried her best to slow down her speech, Maiya still couldn't understand until Cuihua gestured.
"Oh, it was caught in the river. I don't know what kind of fish it is."
"I brought those from the sea; you don't have any here. Our saltwater fish tastes the best."
After the cotton-padded clothes are dried, malt will knead the clumps of cotton to make them as warm as possible.
In their region, during winter, the land animals all wear fur, but she is a mermaid, so she doesn't need to keep warm at all.
But she couldn't do it here. It wasn't her own body anymore. She was so weak that a gust of wind could blow her over. If she hadn't secretly replenished her nutrition, where would she have the strength to do all the endless work that the Ding family did every day?
The worst part is that you do the work but don't even get to eat. You only get scraps of food for her cat every day. She's not even fit to be a human being.
She didn't want to continue serving such a family.
After eating a fish, Maiya and Cuihua felt much better. After smoothing out their cotton-padded clothes, they could still wear them, but they certainly wouldn't keep them warm anymore. Even old cotton-padded clothes are better than new ones that have been washed.
She changed into a warm cotton coat, turned off the fire, and slung her beloved basket over her shoulder. Thankfully, the meat inside was still there.
"Come home with me, and you'll be my sister from now on. I won't mistreat you, and there are no outsiders in my family, only girls."
Cuihua spoke softly, enunciating each word clearly, gesturing and touching her throat as she finally managed to convey her meaning to Maiya.
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