Catherine grew up in a wealthy family, her parents were farmers of a large wine estate, and the husband and wife were in harmony, although they occasionally quarreled, but they were all small quarrels over trivial matters, and never quarreled over matters of principle.

They are French immigrants to Chile who are almost self-made, living a good life through hard work and budgeting.

Catherine was their first child, and they loved her and provided her with a good life from an early age, so that she could grow up carefree and happy.

She was lively and active by nature, running wildly among the rows of grape trellises all day long, and always making her mother lament that she had given birth to a tomboy daughter.

Chile is a narrow country stretching from north to south, and so are their wine estates, which span nearly 6,000 acres from north to south and span 400 kilometres – which may sound frightening, but in fact the large farms are basically the same size. The family's farm didn't start out that big, but as it grew, it eventually reached this size by merging smaller, poorly run farms in the neighborhood.

Why did little Catherine play crazy on the farm every day without getting tired of it? Because at that time, she had no idea about the number of 400 kilometers from north to south, and always wanted to go to the northernmost or southernmost part of the farm to have a look, and in her imagination, the north and south sides of the farm should be the North and South Poles...... She ran farther each day than the day before, but no matter how much she ran, it was always within the boundaries of their farm.

The parents were worried that their daughter would be lonely and lonely, and after discussion, they decided to give Catherine a younger brother or sister so that Catherine could have a playmate. The father wanted to have a son, and the mother wanted to have a daughter, because the mother felt that Catherine was basically already a son...... She wanted to give birth to a gentle and virtuous little padded jacket and prayed to the Virgin Mary every day for this.

Sure enough, their second child was a daughter, which was supposed to be a great joy to celebrate, but as soon as the second daughter was born, the doctor discovered the problem - the baby girl's eyes were gray and did not respond to light stimuli.

The worried parents did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to take their second daughter to a big city or abroad to find a famous doctor for treatment, but the doctors who had treated them all shook their heads and sighed, saying that it was difficult to do, and it was difficult for such a small baby to be surgically intervened, so they could only wait until she grew up.

In desperation, the parents had to temporarily give up the treatment and return to Chile, and they told Catherine that her sister could not see and asked her to take good care of her.

Catherine saw Arabella in infancy for the first time, and immediately fell in love with this sister, because Arabella is so well-behaved and beautiful, never crying for no reason like other babies, other children are often very ugly in infancy, and Arabella showed the potential of a beautiful embryo in infancy, pink and soft skin, and laughed like a hundred flowers blooming.

Catherine spends less time running outside each day, and always spends some time playing with her sister, and because she can't see, Arabella learns to speak late, and it is difficult to learn, but after the words "Daddy" and "Mommy", the third word she learns, and the first name, is "Catherine".

In addition to the regret that her sister is blind, the whole family is harmonious, and her parents have not neglected Catherine's love because of Arabella's birth, and because Catherine always runs outside, in fact, the time to take care of the two daughters is not conflicting.

The dull and happy days passed day by day, and Catherine and Arabella gradually grew.

As her mother prayed to the Virgin Mary, although Arabella had a good relationship with her sister, she was not contaminated with her sister's overly lively and outgoing personality, and was always quiet like a doll, which won her mother's favor.

There are also some hidden worries lurking in daily life.

The local security is not very good, although not as bad as in Central America, but it is far from a reassuring level, and there are endless kidnapping and ransom cases against wealthy businessmen, and the worst thing is that the kidnappers have a particularly high rate of ripping votes after receiving the ransom, which has left many wealthy families with no money.

With the continuous decline in the price of copper, which depends on the local livelihood, the political situation is turbulent, and the law and order are becoming more and more chaotic, and there are repeated incidents of smashing, looting and burning in the city.

Catherine's family lived on such a vast farm, the farm meant the countryside, and the countryside meant that the law and order was worse than in the city, and although there were fewer incidents of smashing and looting, kidnappers were even more rampant.

Their next-door neighbor is also a big farmer, and in the south of their house, mainly grows blueberries and cherries, and the two families have a good relationship, and basically have a meeting every month - why do the neighbors who have a good relationship only meet once a month? Because the total length of the two farms from north to south is 800 kilometers, and the straight-line distance between the two estates is more than 300 kilometers, and the party has to drive for half a day.

The neighbor had an only child, a year or two older than Catherine, and the two of them would have a good time at every party, and their personalities and hobbies were very compatible, and both adults joked that the two of them might get married when they grew up.

However, when Catherine was six years old, the neighbor's only child was kidnapped while he was in school, and a huge amount of money was extorted, and the neighbor and his wife paid the ransom and promised not to call the police, but in the end only the boy's body was found in a small ditch with swollen blisters, and the criminals also fled.

Some people say that there is a nest of local police and bandits, and there is an internal response of criminals within the police, and it makes no difference whether they report to the police or not.

The neighbors and their husbands and wives were devastated, devastated, arguing and blaming each other all day long, until finally the marriage broke down, and the operation of the farm plummeted, and bankruptcy was not far off.

Catherine's parents didn't dare to tell her about it, only that the neighbor's family had moved away and moved to a foreign country, and that little Catherine had been sad for a long time because she had lost her playmate, and she only ran south every day when she ran wildly, as if she wanted to run to the farm next door and see with her own eyes if her friend was no longer there.

However, since the two families were supposed to meet only once a month, Catherine's sadness lasted only a few days, and she resumed her normal life, only occasionally talking about the boys in the neighborhood, and at this time, her parents always forced a smile and were very entangled.

The reason for the entanglement is that Catherine is also almost old enough to go to school.

With the lessons of the boy next door, the parents became frightened birds and had a headache about Catherine's schooling.

The main employees and security guards of the estate have followed their parents for many years and can be trusted, new employees are subject to strict background checks, can only operate outside the farm, and there are many surveillance cameras installed in the area near the estate, so at least it is safe on the farm.

Catherine and Arabella sleep in the same room so that she can take care of her sister more easily.

One day in the middle of the night, Catherine got up to go to the toilet and seemed to vaguely hear her parents arguing.

When she saw that her sister was sleeping soundly, she quietly left the room and ran outside her parents' door to eavesdrop.

It turned out that her parents were arguing about her schooling again.

"Catherine can't stay out of school like this, other children of the same age have gone to school, so let's send bodyguards to escort her to and from school every day. Father said.

"No, I'm not at ease!" The mother's attitude was very tough, "What happened to the neighbor's child, have you forgotten? They also sent bodyguards to follow the child, but the kidnappers drove their car to the side of the road on the way out of school, and the bodyguard and driver were hit and dizzy, and before they came to their senses, the child was snatched away, and they didn't even see the appearance of the robbers!"

"What then? Just send her to boarding school. "The most dangerous thing is on the way to and from school, and boarding schools are fine."

"Boarding school?" the mother sneered, "It's not that I discriminate against the locals here, you look at those local children, what the hell are they mixed up in the boarding school? I didn't even know how to add and subtract anything other than 10 when I went to junior high school, and I was made belly big by a man at the age of twelve or thirteen, and I don't even know who the child's father is, I won't let my daughter go to this kind of school!"

The father was speechless and unable to refute it, because the mother was telling the truth.

The locals pay very little attention to education, advocating timely fun, reading is useless, boys and girls get together at every opportunity, and 75% of the birth certificates of newborns in Chile have an empty "father" column.

Why are parents who are immigrants so easy to make their careers bigger and stronger in their local area? That's the reason - in a country where most people are idiots, people with normal IQs become geniuses, and if they have a normal IQ and are willing to work hard and endure hardships, it is strange that they do not succeed.

"This doesn't work, that doesn't work, what do you say? Don't you let Catherine go to school? And Arabella, she should go to school in two or three years, won't you let her go to school?"

Catherine, who was eavesdropping outside, heard her parents' tone become more and more intense, and she was a little scared, but she didn't dare to make a sound.

Catherine also looks forward to going to school, because there will be a lot of friends of the same age to play with, and she can learn a lot of new knowledge.

"To go to school, of course. The mother confidently said, "But I won't let my daughters go to school or go to boarding school here!"

"That ......"

Mother interrupted my father, "I have already inquired that there is a prestigious girls' school in the West, called Red Leaf Academy, and I plan to send Catherine to study in the East, where she should be able to enjoy a good education, both in terms of school spirit and campus security." ”

Her father was dumbfounded, and Catherine outside the door was stunned, this was the first time she had heard the name Momiji Academy.

Western?

In Catherine's mind, there was only an endless sea in the West, called the Pacific Ocean, and her parents took her and her sister to the beach for a vacation, and her father told her that throwing tens of thousands of farms as large as their family into the sea would not fill the Pacific Ocean.

Further west in the Pacific Ocean, are there other countries?

Catherine's thoughts suddenly grew wings and flew away, she measured the farm with her feet every day, and only measured one percent of the farm, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, where tens of thousands of farms could not be filled, what would that Red Leaf Academy look like?

She used all the imagination of a child, and she was simply dizzy.

"Are you kidding?" asked the father.

"Of course not, I think I've been thinking about it for a long time, and when it's time for Arabella to go to school, I'll send Arabella to be Catherine's company, and before that, let Catherine get used to life over there. Mother said firmly.

The father scratched his head, "Thousands of miles away, can you bear to be separated from your daughters for a long time?"

"I have to endure it if I can't bear it! I'm mentally prepared for my daughter's education – and you'd better be mentally prepared too, because when Arabella passes, I'll move in too, buy a house next to the school, and settle there for most of the year, and only come back during the holidays." ”

Growing up in a French Catholic family, she was really tired of some of the bad customs in Chile, especially the relationship between men and women.

Many employees of the farm also have their own children, some of the children are about the same age as Catherine, the father used to be afraid of Catherine's loneliness, proposed to let the staff send their children to live in the manor, play with Catherine, but the mother firmly refused, at that time she did not clearly explain the reason, but in fact, she would rather spend more time with Catherine, would rather Catherine be lonely, than let her daughter be contaminated with the bad character of local children.

"Crazy, crazy, crazy!" the father kept shaking his head and sighing.

"I never interfere in the farming side, but I will not back down on the education of my daughters, and I will stick to it even if I get divorced. Mother said calmly and calmly.

Obviously, this is an ultimatum and a big killer, because once divorced, the father has no chance to fight for the custody of his daughter if the mother does not voluntarily give up custody.

As soon as he heard this, his father knew that there was no point in arguing any longer, so he could only admit it.

"But what about the language? I haven't learned about Momiji Academy, but I don't speak Spanish over there, do you?" have you ever thought about how Catherine will communicate with the local students when she goes?" the father tried to make a final effort.

"I also thought about this, it will be a little inconvenient at first, but children are very efficient in learning the language, especially when they are immersed in the local language atmosphere, and Momiji College is an international school, and I heard that there are many foreign students on campus, so simple communication is definitely no problem. "I plan to hire a teacher who can speak Chinese and give Catherine and Arabella Chinese lessons for a while." ”

"Your task is to work hard to earn money, because there is a high sponsorship fee to enter the Red Leaf Academy, and our two daughters have to prepare double money. The mother ended the conversation.