"There's not much water left at home. These are squeezed out from between my teeth."

The refugees looked at the half bucket of water, and their originally dull eyes suddenly burst into a desire for survival.

The man closest to Aunt Liu grabbed the bucket. Just when everyone thought he would drink first, he handed the bucket back without hesitation. "Let the children drink first!"

Child? Gu Jiayue looked around in confusion, but didn't see any child.

The man behind him took the bucket and ran up the mountain holding it.

The villagers were afraid that they would cause trouble, so they quickly followed them.

Then, the villagers of Taohua Village saw that under the shade of the trees at the foot of Nanshan Mountain, there were more than twenty children and women lying, each of them dying.

They were chewing some unknown wild grass roots in their mouths. The roots were bitter and astringent and difficult to swallow, but in their eyes, they were life-saving medicine that could squeeze out some water.

Looking further ahead, I saw two women who didn't even have the strength to lift their heads.

"Hurry! There's water! Don't die!" The man holding the bucket had a trembling voice. He suppressed his desire to drink water, scooped half a bowl of water with a chipped bowl, and carefully put it to the mouth of a woman with a weak breath.

The woman seemed to be dreaming. Sensing the water, she slowly opened her eyes, opened her dry mouth, and swallowed in big gulps. After drinking most of the bowl, she licked her lips with satisfaction.

The water supply is limited and cannot be given to her alone. No matter how distressed the man is, he can only put her back to her place and help the next person.

After feeding the dozen or so children and women, half a bucket of water was almost empty.

The remaining men each took a small sip and passed the bowl to the next person.

The leading refugee looked at them and said in a deep voice, "Hold it in your mouth, don't swallow it. Lick your lips slowly with your tongue and let the water stay in your mouth for a while."

Such a scene made most of the villagers in Taohua Village cry.

They never imagined that life outside had become so difficult.

I don’t know who spoke first, “Thank you, Bodhisattva, thank you very much, Bodhisattva.”

Then, more and more people began to whisper.

Hua Chao looked at the refugees, her eyes red. She tugged at Gu Jiayue's sleeve and pleaded softly, "Miss, why don't you... leave them here?"

Gu Jiayue looked back at her without saying a word, but there was an obvious warning in her eyes.

Now is not the time to be soft-hearted. Besides, whether or not these people can stay is not up to her alone.

At this time, the village chief walked up to Gu Jiayue with a serious look on his face. "Jiayue, what should we do now? You also have to make a decision."

Gu Jiayue looked at the exhausted refugees, then at the villagers in the village, and finally sighed: "These people cannot be allowed to leave Taohua Village."

The village chief was puzzled. "Why? Are so many people going to stay in the village and eat and live for free?"

Gu Jiayue was no saint. She explained, "Since they were able to cross the mountain and reach Taohua Village, if we let them go back, there's no guarantee they wouldn't bring more people with them. When people are starving to death, they're capable of anything. They say 'the most stupid are the most desperate,' and since they're dying anyway, we might as well try and grab some water and food. Otherwise, our village will be in danger."

After she finished expressing her thoughts, the village chief and several elders listened and nodded repeatedly.

"That's right," the village chief mused. "It's okay to let them stay. There's no need to keep them for nothing. Give them some water and food every day. But it can't be free. You have to pay for it."

"But they don't look like they are rich." said an elder.

"Then let them exchange their labor for it," Gu Jiayue interjected. "Didn't we plan to turn the area around the banyan tree into a plaza? Construction hadn't started because the village didn't have enough manpower. Now we have a ready-made labor force, don't we?"

A few people discussed some details, and finally the village chief came forward to negotiate with the refugees.

"What are your plans next, you guys, and those women and children?" asked the village chief.

The leading refugee thought the village chief was going to chase them away, so he quickly stepped forward and said, "Thank you for your kindness. We won't make trouble anymore. Please return our companion's body to us, and we'll leave now."

The other refugees were unwilling to do so. Someone shouted, "Village chief, there is water in this village!"

Gu Jiayue then realized that the leader of the refugees was actually the village chief. No wonder these people listened to him.

The village chief nodded when he heard the word "village chief". "My name is Gu, and I'm the chief of Taohua Village. We just discussed it. Since you have children and women with you, you won't have anywhere to go for a while. Why don't you stay here for a while?"

When the refugees heard this, they were stunned at first, then a look of alarm crossed their faces. Some stood up excitedly and said, "We don't sell our children or pawn our wives!"

Along the way, it wasn't that no one was willing to take them in, but those people put forward conditions, either wanting their children or their wives. Any man with a little blood would not agree.

So they wandered all the way and finally arrived at the most remote Annan County.

I originally planned to cross the mountain and go into the deep mountains, but I didn’t expect there was such a village in the deep mountains.

In fact, they didn't plan to enter the village at first, but the children really couldn't hold on any longer.

Too many people died along the way, and these children were the last hope of the village. They couldn't bear it, so they had to take a gamble.

The village chief quickly waved his hands. "You misunderstood. Our village was planning to build a square, but we haven't started due to a lack of manpower. Your arrival is perfect. We'd like to hire you for ten cents a day, which you can exchange for food and water in the village."

He paused, his tone sincere. "But as you can see, our village is having a hard time too. We're running low on water and food. So the price might be a little higher, and we're rationing it, so we can't exchange too much. After all, this is a natural disaster, and no one knows when it will end."

The refugees began to whisper.

"Village Chief, could this be a scam? Could they be so kind? Not only do they give ten cents, but they also offer to exchange it for water and food?"

"What are you talking about? Water and food cost money!"

"That's better than nothing."

"That's true... but there's definitely something fishy going on here. Village Chief, be careful!"

The leader of the refugees was Wang Chun, who had led the villagers all the way here and had seen many sinister people. However, he saw no conspiracy in the Taohua Village chief, which made him even more uneasy.

"What do you want?" Wang Chun asked directly.

The village chief had anticipated their suspicions and didn't mince words. "We have our reasons for keeping you here. You must tell us where you came from, so we can send someone to block the road."

He looked at Wang Chun and emphasized his tone. "Of course, we won't stop you from leaving, but you can't tell anyone about our village. Otherwise..." He raised the hoe in his hand, his eyes becoming fierce.

When Wang Chun heard that there were conditions, he felt relieved.

He probably guessed what the village chief was thinking. He was afraid that if they spread the news that Taohua Village had floods, the flood victims would continue to pour in and the village would surely be robbed.

"Okay, we're willing to stay," Wang Chun nodded in agreement, "and we promise not to tell anyone about the situation in Taohua Village!"