Time passed little by little, and the child, who was originally uncomfortable and noisy, gradually calmed down, and the little hands that were pulling her clothes gradually loosened.

Ye Nuan, worried, lowered her head and touched his forehead with hers. She wondered if it was her imagination, but the temperature seemed to have dropped. She tried it a couple more times, but by the end, she was even a little unsure.

Footsteps were heard outside the house, and the door creaked open. Su hurried in, her voice choked with sobs. "I knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered. Finally, the village chief's little girl, Aqiu, gave me a bag of woad root. She said boiling it in water and feeding it to Xiaohu might help."

Isatis indigotica? Isn't it the modern equivalent of Isatis root?

"Mom, Xiaohu doesn't seem to have a fever anymore. I'm not sure, feel him."

Su quickly put the woad root down and reached out to touch her son in her arms. His face was still a little hot, but much better than before, and his breathing was steady. She felt his palm again, and when it was at its normal temperature, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mom is still a little worried. You take good care of your brother. I'll go light the fire and cook the medicine. You and your brother will each have a bowl later." She let go of her son, picked up the isatis root in her hand and walked towards the kitchen.

The door was closed again, and soon the choking smell of cigarette smoke wafted into the air, followed by Su's earth-shaking cough. Ye Nuan quickly put the sleeping Ye Xiaohu into bed, covered him with straw, opened the door, and walked towards the kitchen.

It was already dawn, and the ground was a little slippery after being washed by the rain. Her mother was standing outside the kitchen, bent over with a flint in her hand, still coughing. The black ash of cigarette ash was faintly visible on her wrists and face.

When Mrs. Su heard footsteps, she turned around and saw her. She shouted, "Why did you come out? Go back and look after your brother. It's good that mother is here." Her eyes flickered and she dodged in embarrassment.

Ye Nuan walked over, took the flint from her, and said softly, "Mom, you are still injured, let me do it."

Su's eyes suddenly turned red. She raised her hand to wipe her face, and the originally black ash was all over her face. She choked and said, "A Nuan, mother is useless. She can't even light a fire..."

Ye Nuan reached out and gently hugged her weakened body. "Mom, don't be sad. No one is born knowing everything. We can learn slowly in the future. In the future, we will learn to cook, grow vegetables, raise chickens and sheep... Everything will be fine."

Su felt like she had no future. At her age, she still needed her daughter's comfort. She wiped away her tears and said, "Well, as long as you and Xiaohu are here, everything will be fine. Be careful. I'll go see your brother."

Ye Nuan nodded, and after Su returned to the house, she went to the water tanks to take a look. She was very satisfied that all six tanks were only half full.

After checking the water tank, she turned to the kitchen. Through the thick smoke, she saw that the large pot in the kitchen was rusty and could not be used to boil water unless it was cleaned. She first picked out the waste wood in the stove and put it out. Then she searched around the kitchen and found a clay pot. She wiped the ash off with some weeds and took it outside to rinse it with water.

She had just tasted the water in the tank; it tasted strange, but it probably wouldn't kill her. She'd just make do with it for now, and she'd figure out how to filter it once it was completely daylight.

She gathered a few more bricks from the wall and built a makeshift stove. She lit a fire to boil water and added some clean woad. Soon the water boiled, and the bitter aroma of the herb filled the air. She stared at the fire, lost in thought, as it flickered.

Outside the house, the sound of roosters crowing louder and louder could be heard.

When the medicine was almost done, she took out a broken bowl, rinsed it with water, and walked into the house with the clay pot.

In the room, Su fell asleep holding her son. Ye Nuan put down the pottery pot and said softly, "Mom, get up and drink the medicine before you go to sleep."

Su was a little annoyed as to why she fell asleep.

Ye Nuan poured the medicine and handed the bowl over. Seeing Su staring at the bowl in a daze, she explained, "These are the only broken bowls we can find at home."

Mrs. Su was not looking at the bowl, but at her daughter's red hands.

Su took the bowl and coaxed her son to drink first before she drank herself. Ye Nuan also drank a bowl and said as she cleaned up, "Mom, you stay with Xiaohu for a while longer. I'll go get busy first."

She put away the remaining woad roots, packed up the earthenware pot, and began to tidy up the kitchen. The pot had rust in it and she had no steel wool, but luckily there was a sponge of loofah placed on the wall of the kitchen, which was perfect for cleaning the pot.

As the sun rose higher, Ye Nuan cleaned the kitchen and began to filter the water in the jar. She first went inside to find a piece of clothing, then found some sand and gravel to spread on the water, and then took the wooden basin that had a hole in the jar and placed it in place.

Six jars, three of them needed to be aligned. She struggled to move the jars, but the half-filled jars were too heavy, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't budge. She tried several more times, her hands red, but she still couldn't budge an inch. Just as she was getting discouraged, the door suddenly opened.

Ye Xiaohu ran towards her with his short legs, and there was no sign of the fever he had last night.

"Sister, let me help you."

Ye Nuanxin said: What use can a little kid like you be?

But the next second, Ye Xiaohu yelped and lifted the vat. Lifted it up! Only when he was carrying the vat to the west room did Ye Nuan come back to her senses from her stunned state and shouted, "Come back!"

Ye Xiaohu babbled as he walked back, put the jar down with a clang, and smiled. His grape-like eyes were full of confusion: "Sister?"

Ye Nuan was quite shocked!

Her brother is only five years old. He also helped move the water tank last night, but he seemed to have normal strength. How come he has so much strength after a night?

Ye Nuan turned to look at Su who was standing at the door. Su was obviously also frightened and thought she had not woken up yet.

"Sister?" Ye Xiaohu pulled her sleeve and shook it twice.

Ye Nuan came back to her senses and stuttered twice: "I just want to pour the water in the water tank into the water tank next to it." Since Ye Xiaohu was young, she explained it twice more.

Ye Xiaohu shook his head, realizing what she wanted to do. He squatted down, picked up the big vat with a creak, and poured it into another big vat.

Now Ye Nuan and Su finally saw everything clearly. Su ran over, pulled Ye Nuan over, and whispered in her ear in surprise and confusion: "Nuan, what's wrong with your brother? Why is he so strong all night? Could he have burned out?" The more she talked, the more she felt that this might be the case, and she became more and more worried.

Ye Nuan thought about it for a long time and could only think that it was probably because of the spiritual spring.

But she had been drinking spiritual spring water for so long before, and she had never heard that it could turn one into a strongman. What's more, she and Su had also drunk water from spiritual spring water before, but their strength did not increase.

Is it a concentration problem?

There are still three drops of spiritual spring in the space. If she drinks one drop now, can she also become a strongman? One force can defeat ten wisdoms. In this wilderness, someone with the strength of an ox can fight even the bandits.

Ye Nuan was very moved!

While no one was paying attention, Ye Nuan swallowed a drop of spiritual spring water, a warm current flowing through her abdomen. She waited for a moment, then squatted down like Ye Xiaohu and hugged the vat. However, the vat didn't budge at all. She tried again, but it still didn't budge.

Ye Xiaohu put down the jar in his hand, ran over, squatted down opposite her, and with a "yeah", the jar in her hand - rose up!

Ye Nuan: “….” Why did her brother become a strong man after drinking the spiritual spring, but she had no reaction at all?

This is unscientific!

Her face turned red and began to itch, especially on the right side of the scar. Ye Nuan put down the basin in her hand and touched her right cheek through the coarse cloth. It was still as rough as before, as if the itch just now was an illusion.

It feels like a drop of spiritual spring is wasted!

Ye Xiaohu was about to lift another vat, but Su immediately squatted down and pulled him around, looking him over, anxiously asking, "Xiaohu, are you feeling any worse? How did you suddenly become so strong?"

Ye Xiaohu shook his head blankly, and then became excited: "Mom, Xiaohu is very strong, right? My sister is not as strong as me. I have grown up!" He hugged Su and jumped up and down, not at all surprised why his strength had increased.

Mrs. Su was relieved to see that he was fine, and thought that her son's narrow escape from death was a blessing in disguise.

"Mom, I'm hungry." Ye Xiaohu was happy for a while, and then his stomach started to growl.

Ye Nuan placed the filtering wooden basin on the empty large vat, and used a gourd ladle to pour water from the other vat into the wooden door, waiting for it to filter bit by bit. She called to her mother and said, "Mom, watch the water. When the water on top is gone, fill the basin again. The filtered water is ready to drink. There are a few steamed buns in the bag. I'll take them out and toast them. After breakfast, Xiaohu and I will go to the village to see if there are any wild vegetables nearby."

They are really poor now. They will starve to death even if they have water but no food.

When Su thought of their current situation, her eyes darkened unconsciously.

Ye Nuan turned and went inside to light a fire and roast the steamed buns. After they were done, the three of them ate the buns while watching the water dripping from the wooden basin. Feng Dazhu's voice could be heard outside the courtyard gate, mixed with the noisy chatter.

Ye Nuan put on her headscarf and went to open the door. Outside, a dozen people were pushing three donkey carts. Seeing her, Sun Erniu, the one in the front, shouted at the top of his voice, "Ye family, are you going to Crescent Moon Lake to fetch water?"

The dozen or so people were all men, including the skinny Li Gan, who was gloating over her misfortune. She thought to herself: If the Ye family doesn't want to die of thirst, they have to send someone to fetch water. They're being bullied along the way.

But the next moment, Ye Nuan shook her head and made room so that the group could see behind her. "No, it rained last night, and we happened to have a jar at home, and it's already full."

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone started shaking their heads and admonishing in groups of two or three: "Ye family, you can't drink this rainwater. It will make you sick. Come with us to Crescent Moon Lake to fetch water. You are small and your effort is limited. If others get a bucket, we will give you half."

Drinking water from heaven could be fatal.

"No, I'll wait until the water at home is used up." She had thought about this. As long as she filtered the water, added some spiritual spring water, and boiled it before drinking, there would be absolutely no problem.

Li Gan said impatiently: "Why do you want to persuade them if they want to die? Let's go quickly. We can still come back before dark." The water will run out sooner or later, and he still doesn't believe that she won't go out.

As it was getting late, everyone decided not to delay any longer and pushed their donkey carts out of the village.

After eating the steamed buns, a tub of water had been filtered. Ye Nuan and Ye Xiaohu carried another tub of water to filter, leaving it to her mother to watch over. They found an old basket in the utility room and took the baby out for a walk.

They first wandered around the village, and Ye Nuan peered into the courtyards of every household she passed. Many families grew vegetables, but they were all wilted and pitifully small. The chickens, ducks, and sheep they kept were starving, skin and bones.

She stood outside the yard looking out to see what kinds of vegetables were available when the gate was suddenly pushed open and a round-faced girl of the same age as her came out carrying a wooden basin of dirty clothes.

Seeing Ye Nuan was stunned, he asked warily: "Who are you?"

Before Ye Nuan could answer, a woman's voice came from behind the little girl, asking, "San Ya'er, I told you to go wash clothes, why are you still standing at the door?"

San'er, with a round face, pouted and turned her head to shout inside: "Mom, it's not that I don't want to go, it's that someone is sneaking around and trying to steal our vegetables."

Ye Nuan: “…” It’s a big misunderstanding.