Chapter 21 Clear groundwater is slowly flowing from...

Sister Wang shook her head and continued mending, the thread ripping and hissing: "People, you know, they're all too calculating. Sister Shuran, you just arrived, and then Li Dazhuang's incident happened. The limelight is too much for her; she's bound to be unhappy. This water-carrying is just a way of giving you a warning. Just rest easy and take care of the water; I'll handle it."

Shu Ran lay on the mattress, her cheek pressed against the coarse cloth sheet that smelled of wheat straw. She turned her head and her gaze lingered for a moment on Sister Wang's slightly hunched back as she mended the fabric and on Li Xiulan's worried face.

"Big sister," Shu Ran gently pointed towards the camphor wood chest, "there's a small cloth bag on the right side of the chest, could you please get it for me?"

Sister Wang put down her needlework and, as instructed, opened the box and rummaged through it, quickly pulling out a small printed cloth bag. Inside were two bars of soap printed with simple, elegant flowers, emitting a faint, pleasant scent of soap pods, and several small boxes of face cream.

Shu Ran's gaze swept over the two bars of soap and landed on the face cream: "Big sister, Xiulan, thank you so much for your help these past two days. My hand is injured and my back is also stiff. If it weren't for your help, I don't know what would have happened to me right now."

She paused, her voice softening slightly, "Take this hand cream and apply it to your hands. Hands are easily chapped from the wind and sun on the Gobi Desert, this... will help protect them a little."

Li Xiulan's eyes lit up, and she wanted to reach out but was a little embarrassed: "Sister Shuran, this is too precious..."

"Take it," Shu Ran said in an unyielding tone, "Consider it my way of thanking you for helping me apply the medicine and bringing me water. It'll just gather dust here anyway."

She then looked at Sister Wang and said, "Sister, your hands are soaked in the cafeteria water every day, so you need to take better care of them. Here's a bar of soap for you to use too. It's better than that alkali."

Looking at the small, exquisite box of face cream and the fragrant soap in her hand, Sister Wang's rough fingers unconsciously rubbed the cool edge of the porcelain box. Her eyes welled up with tears, and she wanted to say something to decline, but looking at Shu Ran's sincere eyes, she finally nodded and carefully wrapped the items in an old handkerchief under her pillow.

"Ran, you're so kind." Her voice was a little choked up.

Li Xiulan also held her share like a precious treasure, her face beaming with undisguised joy.

Just then, the curtain was lifted, and Zhou Qiaozhen walked in. She immediately caught sight of the things that Sister Wang and Li Xiulan hadn't had time to completely hide in their hands; a corner of the familiar face cream box flashed before her eyes.

Her face darkened, her lips pressed tightly together, she glanced at Shu Ran's reclining figure, and then glared fiercely at Sister Wang and Li Xiulan.

Sister Wang immediately lowered her head, pretending to be focused on mending. Li Xiulan shrank back even further, quickly stuffing the things into her bosom.

Zhou Qiaozhen walked to her bunk and deliberately threw her coat down with a loud thud.

Shu Ran seemed oblivious, simply turning over gently to face the wall, letting out a weary sigh, and pulling the blanket up to completely block Zhou Qiaozhen's view.

The night was thick. The breathing that had been rising and falling in the dugout slowed down.

Shu Ran lay awake, enduring the darkness. The dull pain in her lower back and the itching from the wound on her palms were bearable, but what truly tormented her was the sticky feeling all over her body. The smells of sweat, dust, and medicinal wine mingled together, enveloping her tightly.

She toiled in the drainage ditches all day, and only wiped her face briefly at night. Now she's so uncomfortable she can't sleep.

She quietly sat up. A sliver of moonlight peeked through the gap in the curtain, barely enough to make out the sleeping faces of Sister Wang and Li Xiulan, while Zhou Qiaozhen was wrapped up tightly.

Shu Ran threw off the covers, enduring the back pain, and groped her way into dressing. She moved very lightly, taking out an enamel basin, a bar of soap wrapped in oil paper, and a slightly worn towel from the bottom of the camphor wood chest. She then put these items into the washbasin and then into the foot bath.

On her way back to the company headquarters during the day, Chen Yuanjiang rode his horse across that low-lying area covered with red willows and camel thorns... the memory became clear. She recalled how, as the horse's hooves trod, they seemed to splash up a darker stain, different from the grayish-white of the saline soil. A thought flickered in her mind, but exhaustion and pain overwhelmed her desire to investigate.

At that moment, the idea grew rapidly. The vegetation around that depression was noticeably more lush than elsewhere, and the leaves of the camel thorn also appeared thicker and shinier.

Geological knowledge told her that plant communities in the Gobi Desert are often indicators of groundwater, especially where drought-resistant plants such as tamarisk and camel thorn gather, shallow groundwater may be relatively abundant, and it is not surprising that small springs may even seep out.

However, the scale must be extremely small, otherwise it would have been discovered long ago.

She decided to take a gamble.

Holding her breath, Shu Ran quietly slipped out of the dugout.

Although it is summer, the temperature difference between day and night in Xinjiang is huge, especially in the Gobi Desert.

The night breeze was cool. Shu Ran wrapped her coat tighter, discerned the direction, and walked towards the depression in her memory.

The pale moonlight cast a cold, clear light on the sand and salt crust. All around was silent, save for the rustling of the wind through the red willow thickets.

Shu Ran moved with extreme caution, listening intently for any unusual sound. Her heart pounded, filled with excitement at the possibility of finding water, yet also with dread and fear of the dangers of traveling alone in the dead of night.

Finally, the familiar low-lying area came into view. She crouched down, her fingertips digging into the sand near the wet tracks left by the horses' hooves during the day.

It felt icy cold to the touch, with a distinct dampness! Her heart pounded, and she immediately put down the basin, using both hands to quickly dig away the dry surface of the gravel.

The sand and soil grew increasingly damp, carrying the distinctive earthy smell. After digging less than a foot deep, my fingertips suddenly touched something cool—a small puddle, no bigger than a bowl, appeared before my eyes!

Clear groundwater slowly seeped out from the cracks in the sand and gravel, gathering in a small depression, its surface shimmering in the moonlight.

It's done! Shu Ran was so excited she almost shouted it out, but quickly covered her mouth.

She didn't dare to delay and immediately placed the enamel basin carefully under the spring, letting the trickle of water slowly drip into the basin.

The water flow was so thin that it took a long time to accumulate into a shallow layer.

The wait was long and agonizing. The night wind rustled through the bushes, and every tiny sound sent chills down her spine. She would whir and look around, afraid that a figure might suddenly appear in the darkness.

She stood with her back to the spring, her body tense, her ears perked up, catching every sound from all directions. The moonlight cast a long shadow of hers on the desolate salt flats, making her appear exceptionally lonely.

The water finally filled two basins. One basin was used for washing, and the other was used to rinse off the soap suds.

Shu Ran couldn't wait any longer, and she quickly unbuttoned her clothes.

A cool breeze brushed against her skin, raising goosebumps. She gritted her teeth, dipped a towel in the icy spring water, lathered it with soap, and hurriedly wiped her body.

She dared not scrub too hard, afraid of making too much noise, only wanting to wash away the stickiness. Her eyes warily scanned the surrounding darkness, her heart pounding in her throat.

After a hurried wash, my fingers were trembling as I put on my clothes. The two basins of water had become murky.

She dared not leave any trace, carefully pushing the dug-out sand back into place with her feet, trying to restore it to its original state, and then haphazardly covering it with a few clumps of camel thorns from the side as a cover.

After doing all this, she picked up the basin and, just as she had come, quietly slipped back into the dugout.

As she crawled into bed, the dampness of her body against the bedding made her feel so comfortable that she almost sighed.

Although it was just a drop in the ocean of a cleansing, most of the grime on my body finally dissipated.

Her tense nerves finally relaxed, and drowsiness overwhelmed her.