"Has mother ever eaten beans and cucumbers?"
Su nodded. These things were not available in the wasteland, but were plentiful in the imperial city.
"Has the mother ever planted it?"
"No."
Ye Nuan continued, "Perhaps our land is a blessed land."
It seems that this is the only explanation that makes sense.
Su muttered a few words, then went back to the house to boil water and took yesterday's dirty clothes to the pond to wash. While Ye Nuan was taking care of her younger brother, she made brown rice porridge, stir-fried some vegetables, and a plate of fried eggs with green onions.
Just as they finished eating, Jinqiu rushed in with two large meat buns in her hands. Ye Nuan couldn't eat any more, so she gave both buns to Ye Xiaohu. The little kid, who hadn't eaten meat buns in a long time, was beaming and ran after Jinqiu, calling her sister non-stop.
Jin Qiu teased him, "Why don't you go back with your sister and be my brother?"
Ye Xiaohu's eyes widened, and he immediately ran to Ye Nuan and hugged her legs, shaking his little head like a rattle: "No, sister is the best!"
Ye Nuan chopped up some vegetables to feed the chickens and then carried a bowl of spiritual spring water to the utility room. Ye Xiaohu followed her closely, fearing Jin Qiu would take him away. The little girl smiled, a rare moment, and said, "Sister Nuan, younger brothers are so fun! I wish I had one too."
This is wanting something when you have nothing.
"Doesn't Qiu have a brother?"
Jin Qiu curled her lips. "Big brother went out fooling around with some people last night and came back covered in bruises. Mother asked him for a long time before he finally said he fell in a ditch. Father was so angry he wanted to beat him up, but Mother tried to stop him and the whole night was a mess. Big brother is such a worry-free person. He'd be better off having Xiaohu as a younger brother."
Ye Nuan's eyes turned slightly, and she lowered her brows without saying anything. She guessed correctly, Jin Bao really didn't dare to talk about what happened last night.
As the two of them were talking in the yard, another villager tiptoed toward her yard. Jin Qiu glanced at them briefly, then turned her gaze to the leek patch and asked in surprise, "Are your leeks growing again?"
The leeks that I had cut earlier have grown to more than two inches. It’s really too fast!
"A lot of people in the village are saying that your vegetables are growing well and fast. This morning, when my mother was doing laundry, they said there's a dragon vein under your land. Yesterday, my father drank chicken soup and asked me what I used to make it and if I put anything special in it. I told him, but he didn't believe me."
Ye Nuan was alert. She also wanted to try her best to think positively of people's hearts, but this was a wasteland. All the people who came here were refugees. They were in danger of losing their lives at any time. There was no guarantee that someone would not have other intentions.
She smiled and said, "Maybe there really is a dragon vein under the ground, but I was born with the talent of growing vegetables. Basically, whatever I plant will grow. Even animals are particularly close to me."
Jin Qiu's eyes sparkled as he enviously said, "Whatever you plant grows, it grows. I wish I could be that amazing. I heard from the villagers that even wolves and snakes don't bite Sister Nuan. Is that true?"
Ye Nuan said seriously, "Did Qiu hear that?"
Jin Qiu shook his head: "I don't know, but everyone around the pond is talking about it."
It must have been spread by Li Gan and his group. Everyone will find out about these things after a while, but the nature of the things spread by Li Gan and his group is different. These bad guys will definitely add fuel to the fire and slander her indiscriminately.
After Su came back from washing clothes, she said with a smile on her face, "Ah Nuan, everyone in the village is praising you. They kept asking how you grow vegetables and even said they want you to come to their homes to teach them."
There is no way to teach this, unless there is a well where she can bring some spiritual spring water in, and everyone can use this well water to irrigate the vegetable fields, so that everyone can grow good vegetables.
"Aqiu, is there a well in the village?"
Ah Qiu nodded as he teased the little black dog: "Yes, there has always been one in the village, but the well dried up two years ago. There's no water anymore."
"How about you take me to see it?"
Jin Qiu was very curious about what was so interesting about a dry well, but since Ye Nuan had brought it up, she couldn't refuse. She stood up and took Ye Nuan and Ye Xiaohu towards her home, saying as they walked, "The well is not far from my home. The villagers covered it with large rocks to prevent children from falling in."
The three of them walked quickly and arrived in a few minutes. The well was very ancient and looked quite old. There was a layer of dry moss at the mouth of the well, and a round boulder covered it.
Ye Nuan looked around the well mouth and asked, "Can this manhole cover be removed?"
Jin Qiu stared at the huge rock and said with embarrassment: "It's possible, but it's impossible for the three of us to move it. It took six adults to carry this rock up." She was also there on the day the well was sealed. The six big men took many breaks before they managed to seal it.
Dad said this stone is granite and is very heavy.
"It's OK as long as I can." Ye Nuan patted Ye Xiaohu beside her: "Xiaohu, move the stone down."
Jin Qiu sneered: "You are not mistaken, he is just a little kid..." Then her eyes suddenly widened, and she looked at Ye Xiaohu who easily carried the boulder down in disbelief: "You, you..." She suddenly remembered what Li Gan said that night.
At that time, he said that Ye Xiaohu had taken advantage of him, and she jumped out and scolded him, but now she seemed to believe it a little.
Bang!
After the stone was put down, Ye Xiaohu puffed out his cheeks and muttered, "The stone is too big to hold."
Jin Qiu: “….”
Seeing the little girl's stunned expression, Ye Nuan smiled and said, "Xiao Hu is naturally quite strong, so he eats quite a lot." She had only recently noticed that the little one was eating more and more, now able to finish more than two of her portions. Su had been worried before, but since he wasn't gaining weight or looking bloated, she let him go.
Jin Qiu: This is not just a little bit great, it is simply a natural supernatural power!
The people of the Ye family shocked her so much. In her nine years of life, the Ye family were the most special people she had ever met.
Ye Nuan leaned over the well mouth and looked down. The areas where the sun could reach were still dry. The deeper she went, the darker it got. There was occasionally a patch of green moss where the light barely reached. There used to be water here, so there must have been a hidden river underground, but for some reason it had dried up.
She placed her right palm against the wall of the well, closed her eyes, and concentrated. The spiritual spring within the space surged, and wisps of water vapor reached deeper into the well. There, the water vapor blended with her spiritual spring. She probed further, and the bottom of the well extended to both sides. Through the mud and sand, she seemed to be able to detect an underground river, from which came the sound of rushing water.
The moment the spiritual spring touched the underground river, groundwater from all directions converged towards the same point, and there was a tendency for it to emerge.
At this moment, someone shouted from behind the ancient well: "Hey, what are you doing? Little kid, you ran to the well to play. Are you tired of living?"
Suddenly interrupted, Ye Nuan pulled back and looked back. It was a familiar villager. He saw Ye Nuan and scolded her again, "Ye family, why did you bring two little kids to the well? Aren't you afraid of something happening?" His eyes fell on the large stone lying nearby, and he was immediately startled. He asked in confusion, "How did you get the stone open?"
Before Ye Nuan could say anything, several more villagers gathered over. When they saw the stone, they were shocked and curious, and kept asking how it was opened.
As more and more people gathered, Ye Xiaohu fearfully leaned towards Ye Nuan. Ye Nuan, holding her brother's hand, didn't directly answer the villagers' questions. Instead, she changed the subject and said, "I just looked into the well and saw water. Let's dig deeper. Maybe the well is alive again."
Water is crucial in the wilderness, and this ancient well is equally important in Dahuang Village. With this well, villagers no longer have to risk fetching water from Crescent Lake. The village's soil might not be so dry, and every household could grow lush vegetables.
Where there is water, there will be prosperity.
The villagers who had rushed over had no time to pay attention to Ye Nuan. They all lay over the well mouth, looking in. A cool breeze blew up, dispelling the midday heat. One villager threw a small stone into the well, and the sound of water echoed.
He shouted excitedly: "It seems there is really water underneath."
The surrounding villagers were immediately excited and discussed going to see Village Chief Jin to see how to dig a well.
But in a moment, Village Chief Jin was led over. He was cautious, and after a thorough inspection, he asked, "Who discovered it first?"
Jin Qiu spoke quickly, rushing up to him as if to take credit, and said, "Sister Ye Nuan discovered it."
Village Chief Jin looked at Ye Nuan, a strange light in his sharp eyes, "Little girl Ye knows this?"
Ye Nuan smiled and said, "I've read some miscellaneous books, but I don't really understand them."
A nearby villager excitedly shouted, "The Ye family is obviously from a prominent family. If they know a little more, they are better than us."
"Village chief, why don't we start digging a well?" The well is already there, and if we dig a little deeper, perhaps groundwater will emerge.
For the village chief, the lack of a well wasn't a big deal. Every time he went to fetch water, someone would bring it to his house in exchange for food. When the village was short of water, crops and poultry struggled, leading to a food shortage. Naturally, more people would go collecting stones, and he would earn more money.
Once the well is alive, his income will decrease, so he is not as enthusiastic as this group of villagers.
The village chief looked around and said thoughtfully, "Think carefully, digging a well is time-consuming and labor-intensive. If there is no water, it will be in vain."
The villagers were in high spirits and no one could persuade them.
"It's okay. We have a job to do. If there's water, everyone will be better off."
"Yes, village chief, let's organize everyone to dig a well together."
The midday sun was particularly strong, and more and more villagers gathered at the well. Women and children who had been staying at home also came to watch the fun. Village Chief Jin took a deep drag on his pipe, thought for a moment, and said, "Well, we need twenty people to dig a well. Who is willing to contribute?"
The villagers who were originally noisy suddenly quieted down. Everyone looked at each other, and it seemed that no one wanted to go first.
That shouldn't be the right question. Ye Nuan keenly sensed Village Chief Jin's hidden selfishness. She blended into the crowd and interjected, "Let's decide by drawing lots." This wasn't a tradition in Dahuang Village.
Despite her low voice, Village Chief Jin still looked in her direction. The quiet villagers immediately echoed her words. Soon, someone brought a lottery ticket holder, and several households in the village released a few. The family that drew the red ticket would provide one person to dig a well, and the others would provide tools if they had them.
A hemp rope and pulley were set up at the wellhead, and a long wooden stick with a butterfly awl tied to it was lowered into the well to draw water. After a long while of labor, no water appeared, and some began to give up.
Village Chief Jin stood by the well, smoking a pipe. His face was serious, but his eyes were slightly crooked. He sighed, "I said it wouldn't be easy to get water. It's been several years, how could it be that easy?"
Sweat mingled with the sounds of people, and amidst the steam, many people were already dizzy with thirst before they could even get any water. Someone in the crowd said something sarcastic, "You believed what the little girl said. Now you're done. You've done nothing but work for nothing, and you haven't even gotten a drop of water."
As the sun was about to set, many people began to shout, "Forget it, forget it, let's go back."
"Yeah, this well won't dry up in a day or two. Stop digging, it's useless!"
But many people were still undecided and unwilling to just give up. So they turned to Village Chief Jin and asked, "Village Chief, what do you say?"
The corners of Village Chief Jin's eyes became more and more curved, and his gaze passed through the crowd and fell on Ye Nuan: He thought, this girl has been making a lot of noise recently, and her reputation among the villagers has become better and better. She has stolen a lot of my limelight, and even these people are not very active in picking up stones. I must teach her a lesson today.
He put down his pipe and said in a gentle voice, "The girl from the Ye family discovered this water first. Why don't we let her see where to draw it?"
With just one sentence, everyone's attention was drawn to Ye Nuan. What he said was that it was the girl from the Ye family who made everyone work so hard to dig a well. If no water can be produced, remember to blame her and make trouble for her.
This is because they don't want to make things easy for themselves!
Ye Nuan also looked at Village Chief Jin, her dark eyes full of inquiry.
Seeing that she didn't move, Village Chief Jin raised the corners of his lips and raised his tone, "Why? Didn't the Ye family girl read some books and is unwilling to help the villagers?"
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