Chris's face turned red. He often felt uncomfortable and wanted to take a shower, but he did not have the strength to draw water. He told his sister, but her sister said that men were not dirty. They all lived like this.
Mia turned her face away and stopped talking.
In her previous life, after she married into the Rivers family, the family's land was sold less than half a year later. Everything that could be pawned was pawned. Aunt Lisa, under Mrs. Lee's behest, sold Brittany to an out-of-town merchant for twenty ounces of silver coins as a concubine. She never returned since then.
She heard that the man was even older than her father.
Her mother took twenty ounces of silver coins and brought her younger brother to the prefecture capital to look for her father. After a few months, her mother returned alone.
Mia went home and asked where her brother had gone.
Her mother said that she had no money to have a meal, so she sold her brother.
Mia had seen through her mother. She was extremely selfish. She did not even care about her son, let alone her daughters.
She had to think for herself.
As for her younger brother and sister, she knew that they wouldn't be able to help her in the future. She couldn't rely on them either. Who cared so much? They could just take care of themselves.
Therefore, recently, she had only cooked two random meals at home.
Her mother's medicine was gone, but she didn't buy it. Her younger brother couldn't be bothered either. She went to Aunt Lisa's house every day to curry favor with Aunt Lisa, hoping that Aunt Lisa would arrange a good marriage for her.
She had just returned from Aunt Lisa's house.
Brittany's heart turned colder when she saw Mia's expression.
In this family, whether it was her mother or her elder sister, they were all selfish. There was no kinship at all.
Only this younger brother still looked like a human.
She could not be bothered to say anything else. She carried the bag in one hand and pulled Chris out with the other.
When she came to the kitchen, she found a place to hide her bag. Then, she rolled up her sleeves and planned to boil water for Chris to take a bath.
But when she walked into the water tank, it was empty without a drop of water.
Brittany could only take a bucket and turn around to get water from the well outside.
With her slender arms and legs, she finally managed to get a bucket of water and carried it to the kitchen with great effort.
She wanted to get a second bucket, but her arm was so sore that she could not lift it.
Brittany thought for a moment. This would not do. As dirty as Chris was, she would not be able to wash him clean without seven or eight buckets of water.
She waved at Chris. "Come, follow me to the village entrance."
Chris happily followed Brittany.
His mother didn't care about him, and Mia didn't care about him either. Only Brittany was willing to get close to him.
They walked to the village entrance and saw Sam sitting under a big tree.
When he saw Brittany, he quickly got up and walked over.
Brittany said without hesitation, "Um, I want to get water for my brother to bathe, but I can't lift the bucket."
The bucket was made of wood, and it weighed a few pounds. With the addition of a bucket of water, it was difficult to move it.
Sam nodded. "I'll carry it for you." Talking to a smart person takes less time.
They walked home again.
Along the way, the villagers kept sizing up Sam.
Everyone guessed that this was Brittany's husband and was very curious. Moreover, Sam was handsome and did not look like a country bumpkin at all.
Just like that, they went home under everyone's gazes.
When they entered the courtyard, he happened to see Mia coming out of the room.
When she saw Sam, her eyes brightened up, but then, she seemed to have thought of something, and her eyes dimmed again. She stood at the door for a long time before she went back to her room thoughtfully.