"Dad, I’ve already discussed it with Cuihua. There are so many things to take care of at home, how can we let you live up there in the mountains? Cuihua and I can go, and I’m accompanying her back to ask if her second brother is willing to come over. If he is, we’ll have him stay on the mountain too," Gu Nian said.
"You’re just a kid; living on the mountain is not right!" Lin Sanshui definitely wouldn’t agree, "Besides, even if Cuihua is strong enough to do a man’s work, she’s still a girl who will need to get married in the future. That mountain is desolate; how can we let her go?"
"I can do it," Cuihua thought Lin Sanshui was doubting her capabilities and hurriedly nodded with determination.
"Go, go, go, off you go. This isn’t about whether you can or can’t!" Lin Sanshui, unwilling to continue listening to Gu Nian’s reasoning, said, "Alright, let’s do it the way I said. You two go ahead with what you should be doing, I’ve got to get busy too."
Cuihua looked to Gu Nian for help, asking, "What should we do?"
Gu Nian remained very calm, "Let’s go. We’ll talk more once we get to your house."
On the winding mountain path, Gu Nian was bundled up like a dumpling, sitting on an ox cart. Seeing Cuihua wearing only a padded jacket, Gu Nian asked, "Cuihua, aren’t you cold?"
She was told to wear more before leaving home, but she insisted that she wasn’t cold.
Gu Nian’s clothes were too small for her, so Cuihua couldn’t wear them.
Cuihua shook her head resolutely, "I’m not cold!"
Compared to previous years when she could only wear clothes made from reed flowers, this year she could wear a thick padded jacket filled with warm new cotton. She truly wasn’t cold at all.
Moreover, when she set out, she was forcibly wrapped with a big scarf and thick cotton gloves on her hands, with only her eyes exposed, and the rest of her body was tightly wrapped.
Gu Nian was genuinely envious of her, able to withstand the cold, unlike herself who felt she might freeze to death despite being dressed so warmly and bundled up so tightly.
Cuihua’s home wasn’t nearby; they had to pass through Qingshan Town and walk another half an hour to reach it.
It was Gu Nian’s first time visiting their home, which was surrounded by a small fenced yard with only three main mud-brick houses and a kitchen next to them. A couple of chickens were pecking around the yard, and a few children dressed in tattered clothes squatted on the ground playing with something unknown.
At first glance, it truly looked poor, no wonder they wanted to send Cuihua away back then.
With Cuihua’s appetite, she really wasn’t someone an average family could afford to keep.
"Big sister is back... big sister is back..." A child turned around, saw Cuihua and Gu Nian standing outside, quickly wiped his nose, and loudly shouted towards the house. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel⁂fire.net
"Cuihua’s back?" A woman hurriedly came out from inside, her deep blue clothes washed to near whiteness, patches almost covered her entire garment, her hair pulled back completely, and her stature rather short and thin.
Compared to Cuihua’s strong build, she really didn’t seem like Cuihua’s mom.
But when Cuihua stepped forward to call her ’Mom’, Gu Nian couldn’t help but smack her lips.
Cuihua’s dad wasn’t tall either, and her mom was so small, how did she end up growing so tall and big?
Is this a genetic mutation?
While Gu Nian was lost in thought, Cuihua was already surrounded by her younger siblings.
Clearly, her brothers and sisters liked her very much as their big sister.