Chapter 16 The village wells have all dried up.

When Bai Wangshi got up to cook breakfast, she found the pot was missing as soon as she entered the kitchen. She was so frightened that she ran out of the kitchen with a scream: "Ah! Oh dear, husband, something terrible has happened! A thief has broken into our house! The thief has stolen our pot!"

Bai Zilin, who was drinking water, suddenly spat it all out: "Cough cough cough... cough cough, silly girl, how come... hehehe, hehehe, hehehe..."

Bai Zilin laughed while covering his stomach. Oh no, he couldn't laugh anymore, or he would pee himself...

Upon hearing that something had been stolen from next door, Liu Ye quickly slid down the woodpile and ran towards the back mountain. Knowing the Bai couple's character, they would definitely suspect her of stealing it, even though she had indeed stolen it. She couldn't be bothered to deal with them...

When Liu Ye arrived at the back of the mountain, she found a lot of people at the foot of the mountain. Wow! There were more people than wild vegetables. How could she possibly find any wild vegetables here? But when she came to the mountain stream, she found that there were also people there. They were men from the village, drawing water with water bags. Their wells must be dry, otherwise they wouldn't be here to draw water.

Liu Ye disappeared into the nearby woods and continued walking into the mountains. She reached into her spatial storage and took out a wood-chopping knife. As she walked, she parted the grass and walked for about three hours before finally reaching the depths of the mountains.

Liu Ye wiped the sweat from her forehead. It was so hot! The sun was baking her head, and in places without the sun, it was stiflingly hot, like being in a sauna. She wished it would rain.

That's about enough. She can't go any further into the mountains. If she goes any further, she'll get lost. She's been following the path of the stream for the past two days, which is why she hasn't gotten lost.

Liu Ye circled around, picking some shepherd's purse and a dozen mushrooms. Oh dear, it's almost noon, and she's only found this much. Maybe she should go further in; perhaps she'll find some prey ahead.

Following the trail of the flowing stream, Liu Ye continued walking and found a patch of barren meadow ahead. There were few trees around, and judging from the surroundings, it must have been a large puddle before, which had dried up and was now covered with grass.

She pushed aside the weeds in front of her and walked into the meadow. The grass was very tall, taller than her head. "Quack quack," a large flock of wild ducks flew out of the grass, startling Liu Ye. "Holy crap, so many wild ducks! If there are wild ducks here, there must be wild duck eggs too."

Liu Ye excitedly searched for wild duck eggs in the meadow, and sure enough, she actually found some. The wild duck eggs were nestled in the grass, with some nests containing a dozen, some 20, and some 30 eggs. Once she found them, she put them into her spatial storage.

"Hey, this doesn't look like a wild duck egg, it's so small. It looks like a wild chicken egg."

She picked up the wild eggs, held them up to the sun, and couldn't see anything wrong with them, so they probably weren't bad. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 25 eggs, OK, collect."

In half a day, Liu Ye walked back and forth in the meadow and collected a lot of wild duck eggs. She then hurried back down the mountain by the same route. When she got back to the old house, the moon had already come out, and she found that the woodpile had been dug up and firewood was scattered everywhere.

Even a fool could figure out who did it. It must have been the couple next door. They suspected her of stealing from them and hid the things in the woodpile, so they rummaged through the woodpile looking for them.

You son of a bitch, you're a piece of trash! You'd better not be able to find me. By the way, it's so late, Brother Bai must not have eaten all day. She needs to hurry up and go into her space to cook. She hasn't eaten for half a day either, and she's been hungry for a long time.

Liu Ye ran to the base of the wall and slipped into her spatial dimension. She saw a large pile of wild duck eggs on the ground, all the fruits of her labor that day. She counted them roughly as she picked them up; there seemed to be 361 eggs and 25 wild chicken eggs. She thought she might as well boil the wild chicken eggs for dinner. It would be quick and easy, and most importantly, it would be nutritious.

She quickly started a fire and set up a pot to boil the wild eggs. In no time, the wild eggs were cooked. She took them out, put them in a bowl, and soaked them in some spiritual spring water.

Then she stripped naked, took a bath—she had to, she was stinking—changed into Liu Qing's clothes, smeared her face, hands, and neck with black paint, ate ten wild eggs, left fifteen for Bai Zilin, and carried them out of the space using her skirt.

Without the tall stack of firewood, scaling the wall was no challenge for her. With a running start, she leaped lightly onto the top of the wall, then gently hopped into the yard, landing without making a sound.

It's good to have energy; she jumped as high as she could, reaching several meters in the air. It seems she has the potential to be active at night...

Liu Ye gently pushed open Bai Zilin's door and whispered, "Brother Bai, I'm here. I came back a little late from the mountains today."

Bai Zilin nodded, his face flushed: "Oh, silly girl, you've come at the right time. I... could you go and find me two sturdy sticks? I need to use the outhouse..."

Liu Ye took the egg out of her skirt and put it on the kang (a heated brick bed): "Can't hold it in anymore? How about I help you? It's okay, I've seen everything, I'll help you."

Bai Zilin's face turned ashen with shock at her words: "You... what did you say! You... you've seen everything, but who have you seen? Has anyone bullied you?!"

Liu Ye belatedly realized she had said too much, so she quickly grabbed a handful of messy hair and pretended to be stupid, saying, "Hehehe, I've seen Wang Erya's little chili pepper. Don't all men look the same? Brother Bai, let me help you up..."

"Cough cough cough, cough cough cough." Bai Zilin choked on his own saliva, coughing until his face turned red. He avoided looking at Liu Ye with his eyes darting around: "You... why are you helping me? I don't need your help. I... you should go find me a stick. I can manage on my own..."

Liu Ye touched her nose: "Okay, I'll go out and find it for you right away. Brother Bai, you eat the eggs first, I'll be back in a bit."

Bai Zilin nodded with a flushed face, not daring to lift his head. Liu Ye came out of the house, ran to the wall and entered the space. She picked out two relatively thick sticks from the dry branches she had collected, peeled off the bark with a machete, and smoothed the ends to prevent them from being pricked.

She compared the two sticks and found they were about the same length. "OK, that's about right."

She took the wooden stick and left the space, then returned to Bai Zilin's room. She handed the stick to Bai Zilin and said, "Brother Bai, do you think this stick is suitable? If it's not, I'll make you another one."

Bai Zilin took the wooden stick from her hand, and saw that the length and thickness were just right: "It's just right. You've worked hard, silly girl. It's getting late. You should go back and rest. By the way, I heard that they dug up the woodpile. You can make do with this for now. Village Chief Zhao came to my house today. I overheard them chatting in the yard."

"According to Village Chief Zhao, if it doesn't rain in three to five days, he will organize the villagers to go south. He is currently going door to door to inform them that those who want to go south should pack their things now. My parents have already started packing, but they haven't come to tell me. It seems they don't plan to take me with them..."