Heather's POV:

Those were originally two robust and slender golden and black fish tails, but now their tail fins have been bitten off by piranhas, the jagged cuts are still bleeding, and the scales on the tails have been plucked away, leaving only dark red furrows so deep that you can see the white fish bones that were broken off inside.

I was wrapped in red seawater, the gray bottom of the sea through a few glimpses of light, that tragic scene happened right in front of me. I heard chirping sounds around me that could penetrate my brain, sad, desperate, painful ......

The owners of the two fish tails, a female and a male, the male with a crown on his head and the female with long hair flowing, had fish hooks under their chains running through their chest cavities and chains stretching out to the sea. They hung their heads low, their hair lost its luster, as if they were already dead, but when I looked at them, they looked at me too.

"Don't make a sound!" Their voices rang out in my head. I obeyed their words and shut my mouth tightly, a feeling of panic gradually rising up in my heart.

At that moment, a shadow came swimming in the distance. When the shadow came closer, I realized that it was a huge shark, its body covered almost the entire sea, the faint light was completely blocked. It had a large blood-red mouth, revealing two rows of sharp, dense teeth inside, staring greedily at the two mermaids.

The uneasiness in my heart became more and more obvious, and I wanted to go and save them. But they stared at me, their eyes were bleeding, and they begged me bitterly, "My baby, don't come out, please, don't come out!"

I don't know why, but my body suddenly couldn't move either, and my heart spread endless fear and sadness.

The giant shark came behind them, bending its head down to press them, the bloody mouth opened more ...... a blink of an eye, the two mermaids only the lower half of the broken tail, from the fish hook slowly floating down, falling deeper into the sea floor.

I looked stupidly at the two broken tails, and suddenly, a sharp, vicious gaze locked onto me.

--It's the giant shark. I've been spotted!

"Ah..."

I woke up in a sweat and was greeted with a basin of cold water, the icy coldness of which immediately woke me up with barely a cushion. I wiped a handful of water from my face in a panic, gasped for air, and looked over at the middle-aged woman standing by my bed, "Sorry, Mom, did I wake you up again?"

This is my adoptive mother, with her high sparse eyebrows, bags drooping under her eyes, and angry eyes drawn with blood. Clearly, she had not rested well. The house is not soundproof, and my shrieking woke her up again, and not for the first time. Every time she was woken up by me, she would splash me with cold water, just like she did earlier.

"Heather, if you do that again, get your ass out on the street and sleep!" The foster mother crossed her arms in anger, a copper basin at her feet, the one they used to wash their feet.

I suddenly felt a fluttering in my stomach, but did not dare to show it. I was a found child and grew up playing my best use, with endless work to do every day. Such days were acceptable after getting used to them, until after I turned seventeen, when I began to have constant nightmares.

I could only sleep for two hours a night, during which I kept having the same nightmare, while in reality I would scream unconsciously, thus waking up my adoptive parents and provoking their verbal abuse and chastisement.

During the day, I still have to fight to work, without a moment's pause. Even if my eyelids are about to stick together, I have to hold them up hard. I seem to be a spinning gyroscope, constantly running, the spirit has faced a breakdown.

I have to find a way out of the mess I'm in or I don't know how much longer I can hold out. A woman in my nightmares told me to go to Reims City before I turned eighteen or I would be haunted by nightmares all the time. I couldn't make up my mind before because I didn't believe in such bizarre things, until now when things are getting worse and I have no choice but to believe.

"I'm really sorry, Mom, I didn't mean it." I sincerely expressed my apology, and before my foster mother got angry again, I said to her again, "Can we talk? About my marriage."

"What is there to talk about, your father and I have decided to marry you to the captain, when you arrive at the captain's house still can not change the problem of shouting in the middle of the night, your husband will not treat you so gently as I do!" The adoptive mother's voice was shrill.

"I don't want to marry the captain, Mother."

"It's not up to you, we've raised you so ......"

"I know!" I raised my voice to interrupt what she was about to say, something she had said many times before, "I know you raised me this way just to sell me for a good price, but ......"

I paused, swallowed a few times, and said a little nervously, "But, Mom, that's not my best price, I deserve more!"

"Ha, you girl, what kind of beautiful dream are you having?" The foster mother unsurprisingly showed a mocking look, "Think you're some kind of noble lady? The captain is the best place for you to be."

"Do you remember Mary? Mother, she wrote to me last week." I said quickly, "Mary told me that she has an estate of her own in Reims City with endless servants, beautiful gardens, and a wide lawn ......."

Mary, the girl I grew up with, whose parents both died at sea, left here a few months ago, saying she wanted to see other places. After I expressed my admiration and blessings for her, she urged me to leave with her, and although I wanted to do that very much, I finally declined her invitation.

I was scared of the unknown and couldn't leave my adoptive parents, who had given me a home despite their constant chastisement, but now I had to leave. In fact, I hadn't received a letter from Mary in a long time, but I had to use this excuse to coax my foster parents into taking me to Reims City.

Hearing my words, my foster mother's eyes grew wide, filled with envy, and she didn't even seem to be drowsy anymore. She marveled, "My God, how can this child be so rich? I thought she had died at sea long ago."

"Of course she had no money, Mary was penniless when she left, and she was even dumber than I was, and average looking, yet she married a rich man, and the villa was given to her by him." I said to my foster mother.

Please do forgive me Mary , you are a brave and beautiful girl in my heart and I really don't want to say that about you.

"Is it true? God, how can she be so lucky!" The foster mother excitedly put her palms together and made a prayer, "If only I had a life like hers!"

"But you already have an adoptive father, even though you don't have any children." I said awkwardly, "But that's okay, Mother, you still have me don't you?"

"If I could meet a rich man like that, I would give you and your foster father a rich life in your old age. If you just marry the captain, you will get too little." I said to her sadly.

"Heather, what do you mean by that? Are you still not rich enough for the captain?" My foster mother looked at me with a displeased frown, but did not immediately issue a rebuke, and I knew she was beginning to have a heart attack.

"The captain may be a rich man in our area, but he is nothing in Reims City. mary said there are many rich people in Reims City, and if I go to the noble school there, I have a chance to marry into one of those rich families." I told my mother what I was thinking.

My foster mother's eyes widened and her eyes looked at me sharply, "That's simply impossible, you still want to go to an expensive school, where did your father and I get the money?"

"You guys ...... don't you still have some savings? The money I've earned from weaving fishing nets over the past few years has been given to you." I looked at my foster mother and whispered, biting my lip.

Many people here know how to make fishing nets, but the nets I make are cheap and strong, so everyone likes to buy them from me. In order to ease the burden on my adoptive parents, I also knit in the winter and get a lot of frostbite on my hands. But every time I give all the money to my parents, I don't even have money left to buy frostbite medicine.

My adoptive mother's eyes rolled around, not knowing what had occurred to her, and suddenly stepped forward and grabbed me by the hair: "That's all you're supposed to give us! Are you trying to cheat us out of some money and then run away?!"

"No, mom, calm down!" My scalp tingled from her tugging and I explained with difficulty, "I mean, we'll go to Reims City together and you can open a coffee shop there. I'm sure I can't run away with you guys watching me, and I can't leave you guys behind."

My adoptive mother loosened her grip a bit, and I immediately held her hand, "Mom, believe me! I just want to give you a better life to repay your kindness to me, without you I would have died long ago."

"Hey, let go of your hand, it's cold as death!" My foster mother shook off my hand in disgust and let go of my hair as well. I cowered my shoulders and looked at her timidly, "I wouldn't dare lie to you, Mom."

"It better be!" My foster mother glared at me and warned me, "I still have to discuss this matter with your father, so don't get any bad ideas, or he'll beat you to death!" My foster mother wiggled her fat ass and turned around and left the room.

I didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the door was closed. The sheets and cotton wool were wet with cold water, and I could only shrink on the worn-out sofa, barely closing my eyes for a while, but I was still a bit apprehensive.

Fortunately, the adoptive father happened to meet a yacht from Reims City at sea this time, and the rich people were singing and dancing all night on the deck of the yacht, spreading expensive wine and champagne to the sea, trying their best to show their luxury.

In contrast, my father could only blow in the cold on a small rickety boat. In strong contrast, my adoptive father was deeply unjust and jealous, longing for the life of the rich people, and I was the only bargaining chip he had to achieve such a life.

My adoptive father did not question too much about my proposed opinion, although he was a bit hesitant, and after reading the letter I wrote in Mary's imitation handwriting, he agreed to my request.

The day before the captain's visit, my foster father took my mother and me away from the place where I grew up. We left by train in the evening to avoid being caught up by the captain.

It would actually be faster to take a boat, but I suffer from a phobia of the deep sea, and although I live by the sea, I rarely go near it. My adoptive parents, counting on me to marry a good man, treated me much better, and when I asked to take the train, they agreed to do so, despite their unhappy faces.

We left at night and the train let out a whistle and began to move slowly. Looking out of the glass window at the night and the stars twinkling in the night, I was filled with a sense of longing and anticipation for a new life.