Feng Dazhui drew the most dilapidated house - four rooms and a hall, but there was no decent furniture, not even a bed. The yard was large and empty, and the wall was intact.
Ye Nuanchu's house was right next to his. It only had one room and a storage room. The yard was very small and most of the wall had collapsed, but it was still better than the big, broken and empty house.
In this village, big houses are useless and difficult to clean.
Feng Dazhu looked distressed.
"Shall we switch?"
Ye Nuan handed the stick in her hand to Feng Dazhui. Feng Dazhui was stunned for a moment and looked at her in confusion.
Ye Nuan thought very simply. Even though the big house was shabby, it was fine as long as people could live in it. What she liked was the big yard and the intact walls.
The yard is big, which will be convenient for growing vegetables in the future.
Although Mrs. Su didn't understand what her daughter wanted to do, she didn't stop her from changing.
Ye Nuan explained, "Although the room I drew was better, it only had one room, which was not enough for sleeping."
Feng Dazhu hesitated and said, "But there is no bed in the big room."
"Then I'll have to trouble Brother Feng to help clean up the house."
The group of people nearby were a little confused. Is this girl stupid? She doesn't want to live in a good house but insists on exchanging it for someone else's shabby one.
The skinny man sneered and said, "You're already flirting right after entering the village..."
Bang!
Ye Nuan slapped him hard, her hand aching slightly. She said coldly, "You are quite shameless." He always goes against her and thinks she is easy to bully.
The skinny man was caught off guard and hit. His face quickly turned red. He jumped up and down, wanting to fight back, but was stopped by Feng Dazhu. Seeing that a fight was about to break out, Sun Erniu quickly separated the two and advised, "We just had dinner, don't fight, you're hungry! Okay, okay, everyone go home, I'm leaving too."
Su protected her daughter, and Ye Xiaohu used his small body to stand in front of his sister. It was a one-on-five situation, and the thin man couldn't get the upper hand, so he could only give up in disappointment.
Sun Erniu registered the names of every household and reported them to the village chief. As the sun rose to its zenith, everyone went home.
The gate of the big house was still intact, and the yard was bare without even a weed. The three of them walked around the house. Although there was no decent furniture inside, there were quite a few farm tools, especially the six large vats placed in the west room, which were particularly conspicuous.
Ye Xiaohu looked at it curiously, broke free from his mother's hand, climbed onto the mouth of the jar, and stood on tiptoe to look inside. It was empty and had a lot of dust accumulated inside.
"Mom, why are there no fish in it?" He had seen this thing before. His mother had it in her yard before. There were lotus flowers and beautiful fish in it. He liked it very much.
Ye Nuan leaned in to smell it, and there was still a lingering smell of sauce on the top of the jar.
"It should be used to brew soybean paste. This family should have been a wealthy family in the village." If they can brew soybean paste in a food-scarce wasteland, they are not wealthy!
Ye Nuan got a bunch of straw from somewhere, cleaned one of the jars, put the bundle in it, and told Ye Xiaohu, "Xiaohu, mother and I will clean the house. Be good and don't run around."
"I understand, sister." Ye Xiaohu grinned and walked around several large vats, looking well-behaved and obedient.
Ye Nuan raised her lips slightly, rolled up her sleeves, and began to clean the house. From the main room to the kitchen, her movements were swift and brisk. On the other hand, Su Shi, the mother, was extremely clumsy. But it was not her fault. She had lived a wealthy life for most of her life and had never done such things.
She was surprised by her daughter's unusually quick movements.
Ye Nuan naturally noticed her mother's gaze. She had a long time to live, and it was impossible for her to deliberately hide her personality just because of her mother's suspicion. With the drastic changes in her life, it was understandable that her personality changed.
The temperature difference between day and night in the wilderness was huge, so they had to clear out a hut to live in before dark. Fortunately, Feng Tiezhu came over to help after he finished cleaning up, otherwise the mother and daughter would have been exhausted.
The sunlight filtered through the roof, casting patches of light. Following Ye Nuan's instructions, Feng Tiezhu climbed onto the roof and spread all the thatch from the west room onto the roofs of the east room and the main hall.
Clean up the room on the east side and sleep in it. Three people can sleep together. If there is no bed, remove the door panels of the west room and the utility room and build two simple beds.
Su looked at the bare bed and frowned, "What should we do without a quilt?"
Feng Tiezhu scratched his head and stammered, "Just now I heard Sun Erniu say that his family grows cotton, and his mother sews quilts to sell every year. The quilts for the village chief's family are all bought from his family. You can go to his house to buy some."
You have to spend money to buy things.
Su looked at Ye Nuan and asked, "Where's the jade I gave you earlier? Take it to the Sun family and exchange it for two quilts, and some food and water."
Ye Nuan was a little stiff: There is no jade pendant at all, it was absorbed by the spiritual spring a long time ago.
She scratched her forehead awkwardly, lowered her head and said nothing.
Everyone in the room looked at her. Su's expression changed and she asked, "Lost it?"
There seems to be no better answer than this.
Ye Nuan nodded.
I thought Su would scold her, but she was just stunned for a moment, sighed and said, "It's lost. It's not your fault for the crisis before. We can make a fire at night and find some hay to cover it."
In the past, a piece of jade would have meant nothing to the daughter of the Duke of Rong and the mistress of the Ye Mansion, but now it could save her life. Ye Nuan pursed her lips, reached for Su's hand, and said softly, "Mother, we will have quilts in the future, and many more things. Don't be sad."
Su's depression was swept away, "Okay, stop being cheesy, the outsider is still here." The things were lost, so what? As long as the pair of treasures were still there, everything was fine.
Feng Dazhu, who was standing by, was embarrassed. He glanced around and said, "I'll go back after I clean up the house. My mother is still waiting."
Ye Nuan thanked him and originally planned to come out to see him off, but Feng Dazhu declined twice and ran away. After a while, he picked up some straw and brought it over.
Ye Nuan found a piece of hemp rope from the house and wove some straw together, intending to make a mattress. Ye Xiaohu squatted nearby, watching, his big eyes full of curiosity. She pulled out a few long, thin strands of straw and casually wove a grasshopper for him, and Ye Xiaohu's eyes curved with smiles.
"Sister, what is this?"
Without stopping her hands, she replied softly, "This is a grasshopper, a kind of insect that can jump very far."
Ye Xiaohu couldn't sit still after getting his new toy. He jumped back and forth in the yard with the little grasshopper, laughing from time to time, and was really happy.
Looking at her two children, Mrs. Su finally felt a little comforted. She secretly vowed that no matter how difficult it was, she would protect them and watch them grow up.
As the sun gradually set, Su lit a fire, roasted some steamed buns, and each of them ate one. The bed was covered with thatched straw, and Ye Nuan covered it with a piece of clothing. The three of them huddled together and fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, a strong wind blew outside the house, and the cold wind blew in through the crack of the door, carrying some moisture with it. Ye Nuan, who was sleeping on the outermost bed, was woken by the cold. She listened carefully and suddenly heard a crackling sound outside the door.
Is it raining heavily?
She suddenly sat up, put on her shoes, and rushed out. Su was awakened by her movements and shouted, "Ah Nuan, where are you going?"
"Mom, it's raining. I'll move the vat in the west room. It can collect a lot of water overnight." The stored water can be filtered and used for drinking, or it can be used to water the land in the yard.
Su quickly got down from the ground: "The jar is heavy, I will go with you."
Rain rarely falls in the desert, but when it does, it's usually torrential. The desert soil can never hold water; no matter how much it rains, it remains hard and scorched. The village once had a well, but it dried up a few years ago, and the ditch outside is now nothing but mud. For drinking water, villagers must leave the village and fetch water from Crescent Moon Lake, located at the junction of Xueshen Mountain and the desert.
The village chief said during the day that every household had to send someone to distribute water.
Ye Nuan's family consists of only three people, mother and two children. Her mother is weak and can't walk far. Xiaohu is only five years old. Even if she goes, the people in the village will look down on her because she is a girl who is not strong enough and will be in the way.
It is a great fortune for Ye Nuan now to encounter a rain.
She hoped that the rain would last longer. As long as the six large vats were filled, they could last for a long time.
The rain was so heavy that it made it impossible for her to open her eyes. She dragged the vats out, but the threshold of the west room was a bit high, and she tried several times but couldn't get them out. Su arrived just in time, and the two of them worked together to lift the vats out one by one. They were both soaked to the skin, and they felt a little tired by the fourth vat.
Ye Xiaohu, who had been asleep, came running over, stretched out his little hand, and imitated Ye Nuan's movements as he squatted down and pulled hard on the vat. Rainwater poured down over his head, and soon even his shoes were soaked.
Su said anxiously, "Xiao Hu, go back to the house quickly." It would be very troublesome if such a young child fell ill.
Ye Xiaohu ignored him, puffed up his cheeks, babbled weakly, and his little face turned red.
He refused to leave, and the two men had no choice but to carry all the vats out as quickly as possible. A moment later, six large vats were neatly placed in the yard, and the raindrops dripped into them, making a pleasant and melodious sound.
All three of them were soaked. Ye Nuan looked at the water gradually rising in the tub and suddenly laughed. Then Ye Xiaohu and Su Shi also laughed.
Su wiped her face and said with a smile: "You two idiots, hurry back to the house or you might catch a cold."
Ye Nuan picked up the giggling Ye Xiaohu. Ye Xiaohu pulled her dripping hair and said in a baby voice, "Sister, this is so fun."
Ye Nuan pinched his face, feeling amused and helpless: This is not a joke!
The three of them changed their clothes and huddled together to sleep. While Ye Nuan was sleeping, she felt something particularly warm in her arms. She subconsciously hugged it tightly, until she heard a slight humming sound, and then she realized something was wrong.
Xiaohu seems to have a fever.
The room was too dark to see his face clearly. In the darkness, she patted his face and called softly, "Xiaohu, wake up." Ye Xiaohu was so uncomfortable that he snuggled into her arms, sobbing but didn't say a word.
Su was woken up and touched her son's forehead, terrified. "What should we do? Once Xiaohu gets a fever, it's very difficult to recover. In the past, he had to take medicine for several days at home and be carefully cared for." She spoke a few words, put on her shoes and walked out. "You take Xiaohu with you. I'll go to the village chief's house to see if there is any solution."
The rain outside had stopped, and the little guy huddled in her arms, humming uncomfortably. Ye Nuan coaxed him for a long time but Su didn't come back. Seeing the temperature of the person in her arms getting higher and higher, she thought of Lingquan.
She used to be very weak, and the other children in the orphanage always liked to snatch her food. Her congenital deficiency and malnutrition made her sick all the time. But since she started drinking the spiritual spring water, she has never been sick again.
There are still four drops of spiritual spring water in the space. In Xiaohu's condition, feeding him one drop should make him better.
Ye Nuan slowly put her right hand close to the child's mouth. A drop of water appeared on his lips. He moved his mouth and the water slid in along his lips.
Ye Nuan held him and waited quietly, praying silently in her heart: Xiaohu must be okay, good Lingquan, you must help me, as long as Xiaohu is okay, I will definitely find a way to find jade to upgrade you.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
