"Don't scare Nana!"

"What about Nana? Anthracene! Nana will pick up shells for money! My brother is sick and needs money for treatment! ”

From time to time, the north wind whistled from the window, and through the porous window, you could clearly see the snow outside.

Anna carefully moved the short-legged stool in the room to the stove, stepped on the small stool below, tiptoed her purple feet, and bent down to grab two handfuls of brown rice from the rice bowl next to her.

There was not much food in the bag anymore, and I remember that Bailey, who my brother stole from the Navy at the dock last month, changed this bag of brown rice, even though she had been careful many times this month, but the less and less brown rice in it still made her feel a sense of despair.

"What about Nana? Anthracene! Nana will pick up shells for money! My brother is sick and needs money for treatment! ”

I looked at the white patch outside, and the only two handfuls of brown rice left in my hand.

There is no food.

In one more day, they will starve.

Anna's eyes were red and she glanced at the small wooden bed in the dilapidated room, on which was covered with musty bedding, and the futon was covered with an unconscious teenager.

My brother hasn't woken up today, and the naval officer who came to help them every month doesn't seem to have come to see them for a long time, and he heard that something happened to the navy, and he had returned to the arms of the sea god when he surrounded and suppressed the pirates.

Nana vigorously wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and carefully climbed down from the short stool.

She was fifteen years old, but she looked to be only eight or nine years old in height and size. Part of it was because of malnutrition, and the other reason was that the younger brother once said that it was because his mother was very short and should have inherited his mother's genes, but Nana and his younger brother had never met their parents. And Nana is very strange why her brother is two years younger than her, but a head taller than her?

Nana held a few pieces of firewood in both hands that hadn't been chopped much, and at most had broken some of the branches. These branches were picked up by her every day when she used to collect shells and then pass by on her way home. Because my brother was often able to get some leftovers from some restaurants, the firewood was hardly used.

Laboriously stuffed the firewood into the stove, blowing with the fire fold, the boss with a small mouth kept bulging, and her little face was even more red, but she didn't care.

"In the past, my younger brother took care of my sister, and my sister was very useless! Nana is really useless, but these Nana must take care of her brother! ”

As she spoke, Nana's eyes turned red, and tears rolled down her cheeks without stopping.

"Nana-chan is really... True... Not really... Useless. ”

Anna kept sobbing, perhaps because of the smoke in the stove, but she was still sobbing all over her body, and the flames in the stove gradually thickened.

Looking at the almost empty kitchen at home, Anna blamed herself even more, when her brother was there, every day my brother could sneak something out of the kitchen in which town, sometimes it was fresh fish caught in the harbor, and sometimes he could even get some fun things.

"But Nana-chan can't do anything!"

I remember that yesterday Nana-chan wanted to try to steal things from the restaurant kitchen like her younger brother, but she was immediately discovered by the stingy and fat woman, and touched her little hand that still had purple red marks, Nana-chan gritted her teeth and was silent for a while, just sobbing slightly.

In general, many people in the naval port town are very wealthy, but since the recent collapse of the navy, the surrounding fishermen are afraid to go to sea, and even if they do, they only dare to wander around the shallow waters to fish. Occasionally, you can have a full meal, but with the arrival of the cold season, there is hardly a fish hatchling in the shallow sea, and the big fish and fish schools have long been wandering in the open sea, and the fishermen who dare not go to sea have gradually given up this skill of survival.

Nana-chan remembers that she and her brother were the happiest when they used to go to sea, because the fishermen would always bring a lot of fish when they came back in the evening, maybe a few days later. At that time, there was almost no end to the fish, and naturally many fishermen did not mind giving some to their two siblings. At that time, Nana-chan remembers eating a lot every day, grilled fish, stewed fish, fried fish, etc... Those are the most delicious foods.

No.. But now...

"Isn't Nana useless?" Anna looked at the boy on the bed in the back room, and said with a little face full of self-reproach.

Barking!

The old dog, with one ear together, gray-brown hair all over his body, and trembling limbs trembling slightly, whispered twice to Anna, and then walked in very tremblingly. Its coat color is very ugly, and its hair is very shallow, it seems to be malnourished, and its entire body is shedding. Although it looked trembling up and down as if it would fall down in the next moment, there was a trace of persistence and unyielding in its eyes.

Nana-chan knew the dog, and remembered that every month when the naval officer came to see the siblings, the dog followed the man with great joy. But at that time, the dog was full of energy, and his body revealed a very strong appearance.

And when the navy was defeated, the dog appeared at Nana-chan's door, his left front leg seemed to be lame, and his left side was also charred and blackened, as if it had been set on fire by something. There was also news that the naval officer had been killed in battle. Although the dog seems to be much better now, it doesn't seem to be able to find food lately, and although the injury has healed, the whole body seems to be in worse condition.

Anna stretched out her little hand and gently stroked the old dog's head, but the old dog silently walked to the stove, rubbed his feet, and watched the pot make a whimpering sound.

Nana-chan took the old dog in her arms, she had already seen the old dog's reaction just now, kept sobbing for a while, reached out and gently stroked its head back, but muttered: "The food is no longer enough." ”

"My brother is sick, I have to leave it for my brother to eat, Nana-chan is also hungry, you.... You.."

"Yes... Right.. I'm sorry! ”

"Isn't Nana-chan useless?"

"There's no way to earn Bailey, there's no way to pick up shells outside, there's no way to steal anything to eat, there's no way to cure my brother, and I always like to cry."

The old dog, who was already hungry and weak, seemed to understand Nana-chan's words, silently withdrew his gaze, stretched out his tongue and gently licked Nana-chan's palm, and then lay down next to the stove and closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. It seems that it can only be so comfortable if it is close to the stove and at Nana-chan's feet.

Lin Yue dimly felt that the girl's sobbing sound and her self-blame were always heard in her ears from time to time, but the soreness and dizziness all over her body made Lin Yue unable to open her eyes.

At this time, there seemed to be some fragmentary footsteps outside the door, from far to near, and finally slowly stopped, as if watching something.

"Woohoo!"

The old dog who was lying at Nana-chan's feet suddenly stood up, shook off the previous twilight momentum, and galloped out very fiercely, barking at the comers.

"Go!"

"This damn old dog!"

"Look at me if I don't kill you with a stick!"