The midday sun was still ridiculously strong. When I left the house, I still felt a chill on my body, but within half a second the chill was completely dissipated by the sunlight.

The five buckets of tap water he carried were crystal clear, even better than mountain spring water. The bleaching technology from modern water plants was incomparable to that of ancient times. But he began to have a headache again, wondering how to explain where he found such clean water.

"Lin Rui!"

"Brother Rui!"

The voices calling him came closer and closer. When he saw what was in his hand, he quickly found a place to hide. He wanted to calm down first and think about how to make up this story.

He hid for more than two hours. The calls from outside were getting farther and farther away from him. He thought that his father and uncles had not found him in this area and had gone to look for him somewhere else.

Lin Rui, who had been hiding in the weeds with mosquito bites all over his head, finally came out. No, there was no way out!

If possible, he really wanted to take out his phone and post a message online, asking how to solve the current dilemma and how to make up a reliable excuse.

The sun was still high in the evening. After searching the surrounding mountains and forests, they still couldn't find Lin Rui. Lin Ziming, Lin Changxi, Lin Changtai and others returned to the resting place one after another. Both sides searched everywhere but to no avail. They thought Lin Rui had returned to the resting place early. As a result, when they met and asked the family members at the resting place, they all said that Lin Rui had not returned.

It happened that Lin Zijun and Lin Zizheng also came back at this time, with empty hands and frustrated looks. They were supposed to go find water, but the land on the mountain was dry and cracked, the leaves were yellow, let alone water, there was not even a piece of wet mud to be seen. It was so dry that it made people despair.

Dunzi walked over to them, looked up at Lin Zijun, and pouted in grievance: "Dad, is there no water?"

Lin Zijun's eyes were red as he held his son close to him: "Dunzi, bear with it for a while. Dad will find him tomorrow."

The others couldn't help but have tears in their eyes, unable to hide their disappointment. Even so, they tried hard to suppress their tears. Tears are also water, and now that they couldn't find any water to drink, they couldn't waste any of it.

Lin Changxi squatted on the ground with his head in his hands, muttering, "Where can this bastard go? If he comes back, I'll break his legs!"

Feng Zhenniang stood at the edge of the woods and kept looking around, thinking that any sound of a flying bird was Lin Rui returning.

Lin Changtai was embarrassed to speak, but he had to say: "Right now, every household has no water. If we don't drink water, we will die of thirst. I have a way to temporarily alleviate the water shortage problem."

Everyone looked at him, and Lin Zijun urged: "Uncle, tell me what you have to say!"

Lin Changtai didn't dare look at everyone, and seemed to be answering a question that was not relevant to the question: "Please don't spill your urine..."

Everyone's face changed, and they understood what he meant. No one said anything. Indeed, if they couldn't find water, they could only use this method to hold on.

Lin Zizheng's son, Xiaodouzi, was clamoring for water. His wife looked at Lin Zizheng, who took a bowl and went to the woods. After a moment, he returned with half a bowl of water and handed it to his wife. The wife supported Xiaodouzi and gave him a sip. Xiaodouzi immediately spit it out, crying loudly: "This is not water, this is not water!"

Lin Zi was so angry that he raised his hand to hit him, but his mother Yu Lanhua stopped him: "Don't hit him, hit me if you want to hit someone. Even adults can't drink human urine, let alone children. This damn God won't give us any way to survive!"

Feng Zhenniang couldn't help but feel grief-stricken. She cried, "My Rui'er, where are you? Why haven't you come back yet? Are you making me die of worry?"

Lin Zaozao and Lin Susu also cried out into the woods, "Rui'er, Rui'er!"

The others couldn't help but feel sad, thinking that Lin Rui had met with an accident in the woods. Along the way, their trust in Lin Rui had already surpassed that of the village head Lin Pingmao. It would be fine if Lin Rui was fine, but if something happened, they would lose their backbone.

What would happen if they lost their backbone? They would become like those refugees from famine outside, starving to the point of being emaciated, skin and bones, selling their children, exchanging their own children for food... By then, they wouldn't know whether to call themselves human or ghost!

"Mom! Sister! I'm fine, I found water! Please ask everyone to come and help!" Lin Rui's response seemed to come from afar in the woods.

Feng Zhenniang and Lin Zaozao didn't hear anything, but Zhang Dacui, who had very good hearing, suddenly raised her red and swollen eyes and said, "Hey, hey, hey, I think I heard Rui Ge'er's voice. He said he found water!"

When she said this, everyone stopped crying. After listening carefully, they found that there was no sound at all.

Yu Lanhua couldn't help but look at Zhang Dacui in condemnation: "It's already this late, and you're still joking like this!"

Zhang Dacui stood up excitedly, her tired eyes now bright with energy: "No kidding! Rui Ge'er is really back!"

After saying this, Zhang Dacui called her two sons to help: "Zicheng and Ziyang, go and welcome Rui Ge'er!"

Lin Zicheng and Lin Ziyang looked at each other in bewilderment: "Mom, we really..."

At this time, Lin Rui's voice in the distance became more real: "Dad, Mom, Sanliang, brother-in-law, can you hear me?"

The Lin family members at the rest area were all excited: "I heard it, I heard it, it's really Lin Rui!"

"Long hair, go and greet him, it's Rui Ge'er who's back!"

"Changxi, Rui'er is back, you and Sanliang, go quickly!"

With this encouragement, all the men in the rest area, except for the women and luggage, strode towards the place where Lin Rui's voice came from.

When he saw Lin Rui holding a cane in his hand, with five plastic buckets tied to the cane, each of which was filled with yellow water, he couldn't help but cheer: "Brother Rui found water, Brother Rui found water!"

Lin Changfa and others untied the five buckets of water from the vines. Each person carried a bucket and walked towards the rest area, while the others surrounded Lin Rui and walked back.

Feng Zhenniang finally breathed a sigh of relief as she watched her son approach from afar. She walked over and slapped him hard a few times: "If you dare to make me so sad again next time, I will not forgive you!"

Lin Rui nodded, very obediently: "Don't worry, Mom, there won't be a next time."

After saying that, he took out an apple from his pocket and put it in his mother's hand: "Mom, eat it."

Feng Zhenniang held the fruit in her hand and asked, "What is this? A wild fruit?"

Lin Rui nodded: "Yes, I picked it on the road. It's sweet and sour and tastes good. You can try it."

He kicked a box of apples in the house into his clothes. Some of the fruits slipped to his back while he was walking, making him look bloated.

Each family member was given one fruit. Niu Niu ate it with a smile on her face. Qingqing was still too young, so she gave her share to her mother Lin Zaozao.

There was some left over, so Lin Rui distributed it to the children of other uncles and aunts, but there was none left for the adults.

He didn't want to turn his resources into the public domain and let them form a habit. Giving them was a favor, and not giving them was his duty.