Chapter 375 Feel Bad for Matthew
“Mm. I am Veronica’s friend. I am here on a trip.” Caleb was a police officer. As it was a requirement he needed to meet in order for him to solve cases, he had to be able to read commonly used sign language phrases. That was why he understood it when she first signed to him.
Oh—so you are Veronica’s friend. I heard them talking about you and the others earlier. The girl continued to sign, her smile brimming with joy.
That smile, so extraordinarily bright without any impurity, was so pure it was hard for one not to like it. He walked to her side and asked, “My name is Caleb Shaw. How should I address you?”
I am Abby Wright. She signed him a self-introduction, the smile still on her face. Right at this moment, a plump middle-age woman came stalking in their direction. Her face looked murderous as she pointed at Abby and scolded, “What are you being all wishy-washy for, Abby Wright?! Hurry up and wash these blankets!”
Caleb noticed that the woman was holding a blanket in her arms. Judging from the color alone, he could tell there were at least three blankets Abby had to wash.
It being Christmas aside, it was a freezing cold day where the temperature was more than minus 10 degrees. The villagers could only wash their clothes if they were to break the frozen ice of the reservoir.
And this middle-age woman is actually making such a young girl wash so many clothes and blankets!
Caleb, who has always been a man of few words, couldn’t help but ask, “Shouldn’t you be visiting houses during Christmas? Why are you making her do so much laundry?”
The villagers lived in self-built houses that stood alone. Everyone would usually go door-to-door to offer their wishes on Christmas every year.
In addition, there was a custom of wearing new clothes on Christmas. However, Abby’s aqua coat had probably been washed so many times the color had faded. There were also several patches on it.
Caleb didn’t know that there were still people who wore clothes like this in this time and age.
The woman proceeded to drop the blankets beside Abby before she glared at Caleb and sassed, “Busybody.”
She then pointed at Abby. “Get done with the washing quickly, you hear me?!”
Abby nodded in reply. After that, she glanced at Caleb with a look in her eyes before she lowered her head and continued to do the laundry.
He didn’t say a word as he stood by smoking a cigarette while listening to the sound of water splashing as the soft mallet noisily hit the clothes.
A while later, Abby put the clothes in a big basin and started with the blankets.
However, the first blanket she washed was too thick and heavy; she couldn’t even carry it after it got wet. She suddenly slipped, and she would have fallen into the water Caleb wasn’t one step ahead of her.
“Be careful,” he reminded her while holding her by her arm. “Are you alright?”
The girl went pale from the shock of almost falling into the water, but she soon turned around and smiled brightly at him while shaking her head.
After she put down the blanket, she signed to him. Caleb Shaw, right? Thank you, Caleb.
Her soundless greeting somehow made his heart skip a beat.
He threw the cigarette butt aside and said to her, “I’ll help you with it.”
It is fine. The water is too cold. She was in the middle of signing when he had rolled up his sleeves and took the wet and heavy blanket from her.
He knew the water was cold, but he only realized that it was piercingly so when he touched it himself.
Now that he was closer to her, he noticed how pitiful she was with her hands covered in chilblains and fissures.
It baffled him how there still was such a pitiful young lady in this century.
With a swoosh, Caleb wrung the blanket before putting it on the slabstone. Abby first smiled sweetly at him, and then smeared some laundry powder on the blanket before she beat it hard with the mallet. Caleb must have been standing too close when she did the chore, which was why the foam from the wash splashed all over him.
She was stunned at first, but she quickly signed. I am sorry; I didn’t do that on purpose. You… She pointed at the spot he was standing a while ago. It might be better if you stood somewhere further.
He lowered his head to look at the foam all on the legs of his trousers, and he couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s okay.”
He then stepped aside so that he wouldn’t interfere with her work.
Out of his sense of responsibility as a police officer, Caleb waited for her to be done with the washing, as he was worried that she would fall from washing laundry that was too heavy for her. He was about to take his leave when he realized that the clean laundry had piled into a hill in her basin. There was no way Abby could carry the basin with her.
“Let me help you with it.”
He stepped forward to help her, only for her to put two blankets back on the slabstone, and stumbled away while carrying the basin.
Abby had to go uphill to return home from the river. Even though the path had turned icy and slippery from all the snow, she had on a pair of boots that should have prevented her from slipping.
She looked as though she was about to reach her destination when she suddenly lost her footing, and, along with her basin, slipped down all the way to where she started from.
Seeing how miserable Abby was, Caleb rushed toward her and pulled her up by the arm. “Are you okay?!” he blurted out.
Instead of looking at him, she stared at the clothes that had fallen out of the basin, which had now been stained with mud. She rather angrily and stubbornly picked up the clothes, turned around, and walked back to the slabstone by the river. She then sat down and washed them again.
Even if she didn’t speak, Caleb felt upset seeing her bring her hands up to her face to wipe away her tears from time to time.
But then again, she wasn’t the only pitiful person on earth. He couldn’t possibly have sympathy for everyone.
With his brows furrowed, he decided to head back to Veronica’s house. The ‘spectators’ had already left by the time he got there.
Matthew was still chopping wood when Veronica brought him a cup of hot tea and saw Caleb.
“Where have you been?” she asked. “I thought you were lost. I was going to go look for you.”
“I’m alright. I only went to take a walk around.”
As Caleb said that, he suddenly thought of the incident from earlier, and he pretended to casually bring it up. “I happened to see a mute girl over there.”
“Oh—you mean Abby? She is quite a pitiful girl. Her mother was often beaten up by Abby’s father after they got married. It got to the point where her mother became mentally ill. The Wright Family wanted to abandon her mother, but because her mother was pregnant with Abby at the time and the police intervened, the Wrights could only keep Abby and her mother in the family even though they were reluctant. Abby has never been able to speak from the moment she was born, and they didn’t know she was a mute until she was three years old. The Wrights were very angry about it, but they had no choice but to keep her despite how they wanted to throw her away. When her mother passed away and her father married another woman, they almost never stopped scolding her for whatever reason.”
Veronica shook her head and sighed, “What an awful life for a young girl.”
Even though her life was hard, Veronica was an outsider who had no ties with Abby. She naturally couldn’t get involved in Abby’s’ family affairs even if she wanted to.
Matthew was sweating profusely as he held his cup of hot tea. As he took slow sips of the beverage, he kept staring at Caleb with a cold gaze, and the corners of his lips looked as though they were lifted.
Caleb happened to catch that half-smile on Matthew’s face, and he reacted by frowning and immediately leaving the place.
“Take a break; you have cut enough firewood to burn for a month.”
Veronica couldn’t help feeling guilty about this.
After all, today was Christmas. Matthew was supposed to be on a relaxing and fun trip here, but he ended up chopping wood for her family.
It just didn’t sit right with her no matter what.
“It’s fine.” He handed her the cup. “Let me finish chopping all of this up first.”
“There really is no need for you to do this, Matt—”
Veronica wanted to say something more, but the man had turned around and taken a log to put on the ground. He was about to swing the axe when he turned around and warned her, “Stand somewhere further away. It is dangerous here.”
