After the gesture, she suddenly remembered that the other party couldn't understand sign language. Bertha Haines hurriedly held her phone, ready to type. Just at that moment, Marvin Howard and Oswald Thompson came up one after the other to the viewing platform.
"Didn't you say you weren't coming? Why did you change your mind?"
Amos Smith was indeed very busy and only occasionally gathered with these childhood friends, treating it as a vacation for himself.
"Don't lead the kids astray."
Marvin Howard sat next to Bertha Haines, picked a strawberry from the fruit plate, and said while eating, "This girl has been taking extra lessons at home for more than a month, afraid she'd turn into a bookworm, so I brought her out for a day of fun."
Bertha Haines was still thinking about her adoptive parents' phone number, so she typed on her phone. Marvin Howard noticed it and sent her Marshall Haines' new phone number.
Bertha quickly ran to a corner holding her phone. After some hesitation, she dialed the number.
When she heard her adoptive mother's familiar booming voice on the other side, her nose turned sour, and tears began to fall profusely.
"Who is this? Speak up! Did you dial the wrong number?"
After the call was hung up, she composed a text message that basically said she was doing well here, telling them not to worry about her. Soon, her adoptive mother called back, but it was her grandpa's voice.
"Bertha?"
The tears she had just stopped began to flow again when she heard her grandpa's voice. She covered her mouth, afraid her sobbing would make grandpa worry.
"Bertha, are your birth parents treating you well? If you are doing well, grandpa can also feel relieved. Your dad and your mom and I are all fine, so you don't need to worry about us."
"Your dad's condition has improved a bit. Maybe he can really walk in the future, but Nellie waits at the door every day..."
As grandpa spoke, he started to choke up, then the voice of her adoptive mother came through the phone.
"We've moved. You probably already know. Your birth mother doesn't want us to keep in touch anymore. We're not the type to overstay our welcome, after all, we owe them so much."
"You, stay there and behave, study hard. You are a smart child and will surely have a great future. Alright, don't worry about your grandpa, I will take good care of him."
"In the future, if there's nothing important, don't... don't call back. If your birth mom and dad find out, they won't be happy, you..."
The call abruptly ended.
Bertha was stunned for two seconds, then squatted on the ground, began to cry loudly without caring about her image.
Marvin Howard thought Bertha was homesick and was about to go over to comfort her when Amos Smith stopped him: "Let her cry for a while."
Oswald Thompson was puzzled: "What's going on?"
Marvin Howard: "It's obvious the Norris Family is treating her badly."
Speaking of the Norris Family, Oswald Thompson snorted disdainfully: "Those people from the Norris Family were never any good, their tactics are devious to achieve their goals."
Marvin Howard gazed at Bertha's back and sighed.
"She's naturally innocent, and can't speak, so being bullied with no way to curse back, life must be so suffocating."
After crying enough, Bertha ran downstairs, took a bottle of red wine from the table, found a place with no people, and started to drink it silently.
Marvin Howard searched a bit before finding Bertha. By that time, the little girl had already downed half the bottle.
"That's not how you drink wine. Have you ever had alcohol before?"
Bertha didn't respond, holding the bottle and continuing to drink. Marvin had no choice. At that moment, Amos Smith was coming downstairs, and Marvin seemed to see a lifesaver.
"Quick, help me persuade her."
Amos Smith wasn't one to meddle in others' business, but upon seeing the little girl's flushed cheeks, he was moved with compassion.
"Do you know how much the wine in your arms costs? Thirty-eight thousand."
This indeed worked.
Thirty-eight thousand, a terrifying figure.
Bertha was extremely guilty, timidly put the wine back on the table, then gestured to Marvin Howard: [I want to go back.]
Marvin, half guessing and half understanding her gesture, said: "Play a little longer, I just got here. There's a game hall on the basement floor, why don't you go play some games?"
Bertha shook her head.
Marvin still wanted to coax her, but seeing Amos heading towards the garage, he immediately hollered: "Leaving? Can you give her a ride back on the way?"
Amos neither agreed nor refused.
But Bertha didn't take his car; instead, she left the villa and rented a yellow shared bike by the road. She was just about to ride away when Marvin stopped her.
"My dear girl, little ancestor, do you realize you've been drinking? I'll drive you. Just wait here, don't ride, do you hear me!"
As soon as Marvin left, Bertha rode off on the yellow bike, but barely a minute later, she was blocked by a black sedan.
The car window rolled down, revealing Amos Smith's face, colder than an iceberg.
"Get in the car."
Bertha wasn't too keen on getting in.
There happened to be a supermarket nearby, so she jumped off the yellow bike, ran inside, bought a cheap bottle of white liquor, came out, and sat on the steps, drinking right in front of Amos Smith.
She bought it with her own money, so he couldn't impose now, right?