My Pretty Sweetheart novel Chapter 1393

I nodded. My mind was a little muddled.

We waited for the children to finish eating. As it was already very late, the woman slept on the ground in another room similar in size to the one we were in. Bobbie said that the conditions here were like this, and asked us to just bear with it for one night. We would return home the next day.

Sheridan was worried that I would be cold at night, so he took out all the blankets he could find in the house. However, it was still not warm enough, so I huddled together with a few of the children for warmth.

In the middle of the night, my feet were so cold that I couldn't fall asleep. I involuntarily curled up in bed and then the voice of the little girl came from beside my ear, "Madam Reid!"

At first, I thought I had heard wrongly. After pausing for a moment, the voice of the little girl came again. "Madam Reid, are you asleep?"

This time, I was sure that the child was calling me. Feeling a little stunned, I answered her, "No, what's wrong?"

Turning over, I sat up and saw that the little girl was already squatting beside me. She looked at me and said softly, "Mommy told me that I have to follow you to the city for some delicious food tomorrow. Can you take my eldest sister, Susan with you too? She also wants to go to the city."

I froze for a moment. Then I pulled her close to me and covered her cold body with a quilt. I said, "What's wrong? Why do you want to bring your sister along with you?"

The child did not seem to know anything at all. Although she was wary of me, she still could not help but say, "Madam Reid, you smell nicer than mommy."

I couldn't help but smile and waited for her to answer my question.

However, the little girl seemed to have been completely distracted by the fragrance of my body. I asked again, "Abby, why does your eldest sister want to go to the city? How old is she?"

She retracted her attention and thought for a moment before replying, "She is seventeen. Mommy said that it's time for her to get married, but she doesn't want to. Susan has studied a lot. But daddy doesn't want to let her study anymore now. He wants her to come back and get married, but she doesn't want to. So mommy locked her up in the bullpen. She hasn't eaten for several days. Mommy said that if she refused to get married, she would let her starve to death."

Abby's words shocked me. I didn't know what to say for a moment, but I still asked calmly, "Can you take me to her?"

She nodded, stood up and was about to leave barefooted. I stopped her and whispered, "It's cold outside. You have to put on your shoes and clothes first."

However, she replied indifferently, "It's okay. I'm not cold. My brothers and sisters used to be barefoot in colder winters than this. Mommy said that I would get used to it. I'm used to it now, so I don't feel cold anymore."

I pursed my lips and stopped talking. Then, I followed her out of the house. She led me to a door and opened the lock. "Susan, are you asleep?" she whispered.

There was a faint noise of someone shuffling around inside, and then a girl's voice whispered back, "Not yet."

Abby gently pushed the door open. It was dark inside, and I couldn't see anything. I was worried when I saw her enter. Before I stepped in, Abby looked back at me and whispered, "Madam Reid, don't come in. It's very dirty inside. There is a lot of cow dung on the ground."

Then she said to the person inside the bullpen, "Susan, I've brought Madam Reid here. You can beg her to take you to the city with me so that you don't have to get married."