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Just when everyone was at a loss, He Tiantian discovered that since the little turtle came up, the spring water inside had been increasing and not decreasing. In a short while, the water in the pool had increased by about ten centimeters.

While the Snake King wasn't paying attention, He Tiantian threw the little spiral turtle into the barrier.

"Secretary Qi, look, there's too much water," He Tiantian reminded her. Only He Tiantian knew that as long as there was no little turtle inside, the water would only increase, not decrease.

Secretary Qi was taken aback, looked inside, and was also surprised. He said, "Yes, the pebbles below were all exposed just now, and the water is about a hand's width deep. Everyone, don't rush, wait a little longer, just a little longer!"

After hearing Secretary Qi's words, everyone fell silent, no longer uttering a sound. Dozens or even hundreds of eyes were fixed on the bubbling spring. As the water in the pool increased, everyone felt slightly relieved, as long as it didn't dry up.

Everyone watched as He Tiantian carried the water away, at least there was no need to worry about Qijia Village running out of water.

On the way, He Tiantian uttered "Gulu Gulu Mi," and saw the Snake King coiled around the Little Whirlwind Turtle inside the barrier. The Little Whirlwind Turtle was no pushover either, leaping and bounding about, bumping into the barrier and causing the Snake King quite a bit of trouble.

"What are you doing?" He Tiantian asked in surprise. Why were you fighting again?

The Snake King was frustrated, unable to use his magical power on this little tortoise, and said, "It needs to urinate!"

Hearing this, He Tiantian couldn't help but chuckle, saying, "Little Turtle, just bear with it. Tonight I'll take you to a nice place where you can eat and drink to your heart's content, and... release yourself to your heart's content..."

"Alright then!" The little tortoise stopped jumping and said cutely, like a well-behaved child.

The Snake King glared with his tiny green eyes and roared, "Didn't you just say you couldn't hold it in? How come you can hold it in when He Tiantian tells you to?

"Haha, I was just teasing you!" Little Whirlwind Turtle chuckled, and before the Snake King could get angry, it jumped out of the barrier and crawled onto He Tiantian's wrist.

The little tortoise finally understood. Although the Snake King was more powerful than He Tiantian and had a very arrogant attitude, he listened to He Tiantian. Since that was the case, it naturally had to switch its allegiance to He Tiantian!

"You, you little rascal!" The Snake King was furious. How dare he... dare to tease him?

"Haha!" The little tortoise ran into He Tiantian's palm. "You can't hit me, you can't hit me."

He Tiantian chuckled and said, "You silly little thing, you'll be spending more time with the Snake King from now on. Aren't you afraid it will bully you even more if you anger it like this?"

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I have Little Sweetie!" the little tortoise said proudly. It had known this principle since it gained consciousness: it's good to take shelter under a big tree. As long as He Tiantian protects it, even the Snake King can't do anything to it!

That brat actually has some insight!

"Alright, enough with the fuss. You can't be so willful in the future. Look, you just drank all the water and scared the villagers to tears." He Tiantian treated the little tortoise like an ignorant child, earnestly teaching it principles, hoping it could become reasonable soon.

Having already offended the Snake King, Little Turtle knew it couldn't afford to offend He Tiantian, so it obediently nodded and said, "Okay, okay, I'll be good, I won't do it again."

That obsequious manner disgusted the arrogant Snake King!

Hmph!

We find each other utterly repulsive!

He Tiantian could only separate the Snake King and the Little Turtle. At night, she would go to the back mountain and leave the Little Turtle there.

The pool there is smaller than the one at the village entrance, but the spring there has more water, enough for the little turtles to drink.

Another advantage is that there are small fish and shrimp inside, which means the little turtle has company and is no longer lonely.

He Tiantian spared no effort in treating the little turtle well, hoping that if it was in a good mood, it could play its role and reduce the harm to Taoyuan County.

Just as I was about to enter, I saw Grandma Qi San walking out on tiptoe.

"Grandma, where are you going?" He Tiantian asked. Usually, Grandma Qi wouldn't go out at this time.

“I heard the spring at the village entrance has dried up. Many people went there, but you haven’t come back. I wanted to go and see,” Grandma Qi explained. “How is it now? Is it really dry? Has the spring itself dried up?”

He Tiantian smiled and shook her head, saying, "When I had just filled the water tank, the water suddenly stopped flowing out, but the spring kept gushing out water, and soon the pool was full of water again."

Grandma Qi frowned, puzzled, and murmured, "Strange! What's wrong?"

"I don't know either. There are a lot of people watching over there, so let's not go," He Tiantian said. "I'll go fetch more water tomorrow when there's more water."

"That's right, it's always good to be prepared!" said Grandma Qi. "We hope that Buddha and all the gods will bless us with favorable weather and abundant harvests!"

The crops have sprouted, but the lack of water is a major problem.

Corn and sweet potatoes are fine, but rice is different. Without enough water, you absolutely cannot grow good rice.

"I hope so," He Tiantian said. "Our village is still okay. When we came back from the county town, the ground in some villages was cracked. The water level of Taoyuan River is even lower; we can almost see the riverbed."

"What a tragedy!" Grandma Qi said. "When you went to dig up the river before, the people from Hujia Village dug up a stone statue. They said they were even poisoned. They must have broken a taboo. By the way, where was that stone statue eventually taken?"

He Tiantian was surprised and replied, "It was transported to the square park in the county town!"

"What a tragedy! That was a tortoise statue!" Grandma Qi sighed. "I heard from the older generation that the Taoyuan River is protected by a divine beast, so it never floods or dries up, which is why we've always had good weather. I remember when I was a child, every year on the second day of the second lunar month, the day the dragon raises its head, we would go to worship the river god. People from every village would offer sacrifices of meat, fruit, and snacks. But since Liberation, they've said those are feudal superstitions and we're not allowed to do them anymore, so these years have been anything but peaceful! It must be the river god's anger."

He Tiantian was even more surprised. It turned out that Grandma Qi also knew the story behind it!

"Grandma, have you seen the Turtle-shaped Stone Statue?" He Tiantian asked in surprise. She understood the river god worship ceremony, but how did Grandma Qi know that the stone statue was the Turtle-shaped Stone Statue?

Grandma Qi said slowly, as if recalling something, "I heard it from my grandmother, who knew it from a highly virtuous monk."

"I see," He Tiantian nodded, "There are still experts in the world."

He Tiantian thought she was the only one who knew these things!

It turns out that wasn't the case!

The current trend is irreversible and cannot be reversed by one person alone.

In its previous life, Taoyuan County was punished, and disasters frequently struck. (To be continued.)