P S M Chapter 28: The Great Maternal Love.

 

Lin Yu quickly paid the money and found Nojiko had a much better attitude towards him. She really was really kind towards him because when she had found the picked tangerines weren't enough for a bucket, she asked him to wait a while and quickly picked the remaining tangerines by herself.

"Are you the only one to take care of such a big tangerine orchard?" Lin Yu, who was sitting on the cart, asked tentatively while looking at the busy Nojiko.

"I usually take care of it by myself. Sometimes my sister will come over and help."

"Oh, I think the tangerine trees here seem to be some years old. They should have been planted by your elders. Now that you are taking care of them alone, they will be relieved."

Speaking of elders, Nojiko obviously paused, and after a while, she pretended to have nothing to do with them and replied: "This tangerine orchard was planted by my mother. She died when I was young. From that moment, I was taking care of this place by myself. In the beginning, other people in the village would come and help, until the moment where I was able to take care of this place on my own, they did not come to help."

"Is that so? It's really uneasy for you. It is very hard to manage such a large tangerine grove by yourself!"

"It's okay, I'm used to it," Nojiko said with a big grin.

"But we really look alike; my mother was killed by a pirate for protecting me when I was young? I've lived alone since I was a child!" Lin Yu remembered that day when he was talking. In order to protect him to attract the attention of the assassins, Nefertari Titi was shot in the chest and died instantly.

"It's these damn pirates again! Bell-mere was killed by the pirates because of my sister and me?" Nojiko, with her back to Lin Yu, didn't know when she had stopped picking tangerines and spoke in a hoarse voice experience.

"Mind telling me about your mother?"

It may be that the similar experience had shortened the distance between the two people, or it might be that Nojiko has been repressed for too long and just wanted to find someone to talk to, and Lin Yu was a stranger who was about to leave, even if she was weak occasionally, the acquaintances in the village would not know, the above-mentioned various reasons made Nojiko, who had always been strong, choose to talk.

From Nojiko's mouth, the image of Bell-mere in Lin Yu's mind gradually became fuller.

••••••

The first encounter between Nojiko and Bell-mere was both unfortunate and fortunate. It may be that Nojiko was too young at the time, and the specific situation and memory were not clear. She only remembered there seemed to be war outside. The three-year-old was panicked and hid by her parents and told herself never to come out. At that time, Nojiko saw panic and anxiety in the eyes of her parents. And she, who was a little sensible, hid obediently and kept hiding. When there was a sound of gunfire outside, she did not go out. When there was a killing outside, she did not go out. She still didn't go out when the sound came over.

Nojiko kept waiting and waiting, but her parents never came back to tell her to go out. She didn’t know how long it was taken. After she had eaten all the food prepared by her parents for her, the parents did not come back. She was really hungry and walked out of the hiding place.

Nojiko, who walked out of the hiding place, saw a ruin. The former beautiful hometown was gone, and there were burning ruins and fallen corpses everywhere. At that time, she was terrified. While crying and while shouting "Mom, Mom", she looked for her parents. On the way to find her mother, she was attracted by Nami's cry and found the baby Nami, and then took Nami away to find her mother.

In this way, in a ruined city, a three-year-old girl wandered stumblingly with a baby in her arms.

"There are survivors here!"

At that time, Bell-mere, who was still in the Navy, was the first to discover the crying Nojiko and Nami who had been held by her.

At that time, Nojiko forgot how she was taken away, and Bell-mere had quit her job in the navy and became the foster mother of Nojiko and Nami.

Bell-mere, who resigned from the Navy, took Nojiko and Nami and returned to her hometown, Cocoyasi Village, and when she returned to the village, she planted tangerines on the outskirts of the village and made a living by planting tangerine trees in her backyard.

Bell-mere regarded Nami and Nojiko as her biological daughters. At that time, their lives were very difficult and occasionally hungry, but Bell-mere would always make them happy and make them delicious. Although life was very hard, that period was the happiest and most precious time that Nojiko and Nami had.

In order to take good care of them, Bell-mere, who was single, had to take care of the tangerine orchard every day. It might be due to a lack of discipline. It might also be due to Bell-mere's uninhibited character. Nami and Nojiko were often naughty and mischievous when they were young, and they seemed a bit of a bad girl.

That day, the Arlong Pirates group invaded the Cocoyasi Village and demanded the whole village give money to buy their lives. Bell-mere, who had a tough personality and strong heart, clashed with the pirate leader. However, she was unequal to the strength of the Arlong Pirate. Bell-mere, who was going to be executed, saved her life with Genzo’s help. Arlong only asked to pay enough protection fees. With Genzo’s help, Bell-mere made up enough. She paid 100,000 Bellys protection fee but was unable to collect the protection fee of her two daughters.

At that time, the Arlong Pirates group did not find Nami and Nojiko hiding in the grass, and they planned to leave. But Bell-mere knew the Arlong Pirates group would establish Aaron Domain on the island and in the days to come, the existence of Nami and Nojiko will be discovered by the Arlong Pirates group, but based on their own economic situation, they will definitely take advantage of it. Nami and Nojiko’s protection fees were no longer paid, so the ending of Nami and Nojiko was definitely not what she wanted to see, so she said to Arlong and the others: "Who said this was my share, and this is mine for my daughters."

Because in Bell-mere’s heart, even if Nami and Nojiko have no blood relationship with it, they were her most important daughters. It was the meaning of her life. Compared with her life, she hoped her two daughters could survive.

Bell-mere was killed by the Arlong leader in order to protect two unrelated children. Her great maternal love for her two daughters far surpassed the blood relationship. She gave up her life for the two daughters to survive.

In order to live up to Bell-mere's hopes, Nojiko and Nami finally survived with Genzo's help, but Bell-mere died forever.

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