Today was the first day of school in the village, and there were far fewer children running around on the road. All of Xu's children had gone to school, and without their company, Fu Man'er felt a little bored.

Fortunately, Grandma Xu and the others returned quickly, busy as bees. Fu Man'er also contributed her meager strength, following Liu Fang like a little tail, chattering about this food and that food.

She was afraid she would forget, so she simply said it first.

"I've never seen any of the things Man'er is talking about, but I'll go to town and buy the ingredients and cook them for you, okay?" Liu Fang affectionately pinched her little cheek.

The little girl has gained some weight recently; her face is round and chubby, tender and plump, and she looks quite well-off.

"Mother, it's not for Man'er to eat, it's to sell to earn money." She's not a greedy little koi fish; once she earns money, she can buy lots of food.

"Okay, go play over there." It's dirty and hot by the stove; don't get her clothes dirty.

Fu Man'er, with her little hands behind her back, wandered around, looking here and there. Her father and grandfather were working with bamboo, her grandmother and second aunt were washing things by the well, and her uncle was reading a book in the house. For a moment, she had some free time.

Seeing the chickens in the coop, Fu Man'er finally found something to play with. There was a small wooden basin on top of the coop, filled with rotten corn for feeding the chickens.

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My second aunt feeds the chickens every day with a wooden basin, making a clucking sound; she's never fed them before.

The Xu family has three hens in their chicken coop, which they have raised for almost four years. In the past six months, each hen used to lay an egg every day, but for some reason, they have stopped laying eggs.

The neighbors were all advising the Xu family to kill the chickens and eat them, or sell them, since keeping them was a waste of food. But from before the Lunar New Year to after, the Xu family was too busy to care for them, and when they had free time, they didn't think about them. So the old hens were kept in the cage.

"Cluck cluck cluck cluck," Fu Man'er struggled to take down the small wooden basin, and imitating her second aunt, she opened the chicken coop and scattered some corn with her little hands.

The three chickens waddled out and began pecking at the corn on the ground. Fu Man'er gently stroked them, saying, "Eat slowly, or you'll lay big eggs."

Wang Erni's chickens lay eggs every day. Wang Erni said she can eat steamed egg custard every two or three days. Fu Man'er licked her lips. She had never eaten steamed egg custard before and didn't know what it tasted like.

"Fu Man'er, feed it less, don't overfeed the chicken." Ma Hong looked up casually and immediately called out. She had already fed it twice today.

"Oh," Fu Man'er responded, put the wooden basin down, patted the chickens' backs, and herded them into the chicken coop. She muttered to herself, "Second Aunt is a bit fierce, I'm afraid to feed you. You go in quickly, and remember to lay eggs."

"Still playing there? Come over and give your second aunt a hand." The mother-in-law had gone into the kitchen to help her sister-in-law, leaving her alone by the well.

The Xu family doesn't keep idle people around; everyone is busy, so how could they let that little girl be idle?

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"Come on, pick up these clothes and put them in the bucket. We'll go to the river to wash clothes with your second aunt later." There were quite a lot of clothes from this whole family; two buckets weren't enough to hold them all.

Fu Man'er glanced at the well next to her. "Second Aunt, don't we have a well at home?" She didn't understand why she had to go to the river to wash clothes every time, and why the buckets of water were so heavy when she came back.

"What a child! What does he know?" she said. "Do you think your second aunt is stupid? The water in our well is almost gone. Where will we wash clothes?"

I don’t know if it’s because of the drought, but the water level in the village’s wells has indeed dropped a lot. Some households are so bad that they can only get a small bucket of water every two days.

So the streams and rivers in the village were full of people washing clothes and vegetables, and also carrying water.

“You drink water like a water buffalo every day. You’ll have to fetch water from the river yourself from now on.” Ma Hong had seen Fu Man’er drink water before. The little girl could finish a large bowl of noodles in three or four gulps.

Feeling guilty after being scolded, Fu Man'er shrank back. Sometimes when she had no spiritual energy left in her body, she was too lazy to absorb it and would just drink water instead. She loved drinking water.

The well water at home, in particular, is so fragrant and sweet, it's incredibly tempting.

"Second Aunt, there's plenty of water in the well, Man'er won't drink it all." She clearly saw a lot of water in the well the day she arrived; if she had stretched her hand out a little longer, she could have touched the water.

"Hey, I'm telling you~~" Ma Hong was about to say something to her when her mother-in-law's voice came from the kitchen, "Second son's wife, bring in half a bottle of water."

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Her mother-in-law's words were like an imperial edict, so Ma Hong quickly started shaking the rope to draw water, glancing into the well as she did so. She pulled the bucket up when it was half full.

"Don't move around here." Ma Hong put the well cover back on, then carried the water away.

Fu Man'er's little ears twitched. She seemed to hear a gurgling sound coming from the well. Since she couldn't look over the well, she squatted down beside it and pressed her ear against the well wall.

"Glug glug," it really was the sound I heard that day. "Second Aunt, the water's up!" Fu Man'er called out as soon as she saw Ma Hong come out.

"What?" Ma Honggang walked over, picked him up, and said, "Come on, let's go do the laundry."

Fu Man'er struggled to point to the well, "Second Aunt, the water's rising." The gurgling sound grew clearer and clearer.

"The water's up? I think you're trying to fly to the sky!" Ma Hong thought the girl was talking nonsense again, but then she suddenly remembered everything that had happened at home since Fu Man'er came back.

She pushed the manhole cover open a little with some skepticism. "Mother, Mother." Her reflection was clearly visible in the water, and Ma Hong was almost startled by her own reflection.

"You keep shouting 'call back the soul' all day long!" came Old Mrs. Xu's roar from the kitchen.

Looking at the rising water level in the well, and then at Fu Man'er beside her who looked completely calm, Ma Hong asked cautiously after a long while, "Man'er, tell your second aunt the truth, are you a fairy?"

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"Man'er, your second aunt has been good to you these days, hasn't she?" Before Fu Man'er could speak, Ma Hong spoke again, her face showing more caution. "Your second aunt is, after all, your second aunt. She dresses you, braids your hair, and washes your clothes."

You know what I mean, right?

What do you know? This series of words left Fu Man'er speechless. She hadn't even recovered from the fairy's words when her second aunt asked her to know something. Why was being a human child so difficult?