At noon that day.
Sun Youcai, the village chief of Futian Village, was resting in his room for the afternoon. He needed to recharge before going to work in the fields.
I had just fallen asleep under the shade of a tree in the yard when I was woken up by a loud shout that grew louder as it approached.
"Village Chief! Village Chief!"
Sun Youcai was woken up by the noise as soon as he fell asleep, and he was quite annoyed. He yelled at the outside of the courtyard with a dark face.
"Scream, scream, what are you yelling about? It's the middle of the day, can't you even let someone sleep in peace!"
After yelling, Sun Youcai finally felt better.
He got up from the recliner, walked steadily to the courtyard gate, and opened it.
"I don't know what's the rush you're in all day long, why do you have to talk about everything now?"
"Village chief, something terrible has happened! Sun Xing and his men are fighting with the people from Shuxia Village!"
"What!"
The story begins a few hours earlier.
Today, the villagers of Lishuxia Village are busy in the fields as usual.
Because of the spring planting season, the water needs to be left to sit for a few days so that the soil is moist enough.
Qian Shulin had been watering the fields for three days straight, and guessing that he had left them irrigated overnight, the humidity was just right. So, as soon as it was barely light, he took his sons to the fields.
But when they got to the field, he exploded. There was no other reason than that there was no water in the ditch he had dug!
When he returned home yesterday, the water in the ditch was flowing just fine. Although it wasn't much, it was still a trickle. How come the trickle is gone?
He had a short temper to begin with, so he immediately started digging to find out which heartless person in the village dared to cut off his water supply.
He followed the ditch upstream and discovered something terrible: all the ditches in the village were dry! This had really stirred up trouble for the village.
One by one, a group of people marched in high spirits, determined to find the culprits. Their search led them all the way to the border of Futian Village.
Li Xuhai had always valued the Li family's land highly. Only after Qian Shulin exposed the matter did he realize that there was no water in the ditch, and he joined in the search.
Upon reaching the border of Futian Village, the group discovered that someone had dug up a lot of soil, blocking the ditch flowing towards Shuxia Village, causing all the water to flow into Futian Village.
As mentioned before, the agricultural water supply for Shuxia Village comes from a tributary of an unnamed river nearby. This tributary flows through several nearby villages before finally passing through Shuxia Village.
In the past, Shuxia Village suffered a lot of losses when it came to water, but firstly, Shuxia Village was in a bad location, and secondly, Shuxia Village had few people, so it dared not compete with people from other villages, and thus it suffered in silence.
Who would have thought that this year, they wouldn't even leave any soup for Shuxia Village, and simply took the whole pot away.
"This is outrageous! This is outrageous!" Qian Shulin was furious and kept cursing the people of Futian Village for being so vicious.
"How shameless! Are they trying to force us to our deaths?"
"Is Tomita Village going so far as to incite a war between the two villages?"
"Fight if you want, otherwise you'll think we have no temper."
The villagers who came were furious and extremely angry.
Agriculture is the foundation of their livelihood. They grow not only enough food for their family for the next year, but also taxes to pay to the imperial court.
In previous years, they suffered a little loss because the water supply was less, but at least it didn't affect their farming. This year, the water supply was completely cut off. Just like the villager said, this is forcing them to their deaths.
Even a rabbit will bite when cornered; these are living, breathing human beings.
The armed conflict between the two villages was no child's play; it was a real bloodbath. If it were to actually fight, several lives would be lost, and even the government couldn't intervene.
There was no one guarding the source of the problem. After everyone had finished cursing, Li Xuhai calmed down and tried to persuade them.
"The most important thing right now is not to ruin things in the field. Let's dig up this mound of earth first."
After their emotions subsided, they at least didn't lose their minds. A fight between two villages was a big deal, and their village was smaller, so they were bound to be the ones who suffered losses. So, they listened to Li Xuhai's advice and dug up the mound together.
"Whoosh."
As soon as the mound of earth was pushed aside, the water rushed into the ditch, carrying a cool, damp mist.
The group waited for a while longer, and when no one came, they returned to Shuxia Village to continue their work.
Less than half an hour later, the water flow visibly decreased and then stopped flowing altogether.
Upon discovering this, the villagers spontaneously gathered again, carrying their farm tools, and headed towards the border area.
This time, his anger level visibly increased significantly.
Once is acceptable, but twice is not. If the people of Tomita Village did this the first time and were discovered, and they didn't continue, then the matter would be over. It's not like Shushita Village hasn't suffered losses before; they've let it go after getting over their anger. But they actually dared to do it a second time. This is utterly humiliating Shushita Village.
This was a deliberate provocation, and even Li Xuhai was furious.
The rice seedlings in the Li family's fields are still growing, and the fields can't be without water. His aunt had told him long ago that this was the key to the Li family's true turnaround, and he was determined to protect these seedlings at all costs!
When the people from Shuxia Village arrived in a menacing manner, the people from Futian Village did not run away. Instead, they stood guard by the water source with impunity, which only added fuel to the fire.
Qian Shulin rushed forward and slapped the man to the ground.
The other villagers started digging, and not only that, they also blocked the water flowing towards Futian Village, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
The man was startled when he was hit, but then he remembered that there were few people in the village under the tree, so he became bolder and shouted.
"Help! Help! The people from Shuxia Village are here to steal our water!"
His shout enraged Qian Shulin even more. He pinned the man down and began to strike him with both hands. The man, caught off guard by the number of blows, also lost his temper. Being a young man, he started to wrestle with Qian Shulin on the spot.
When the villagers saw the two fighting, they quickly stepped forward to break them up, kicking the man several times, both openly and secretly.
"You people from Shuxia Village, stop right now!"
"It's Sun Xing!"
The shouts of the Tomita villagers did indeed attract a large number of them, and the group swarmed forward, instantly turning the tide of the battle.
Seven or eight people came from Shuxia Village, while about ten came from Futian Village. Seeing that things were not going well, Li Xuhai quickly sent his son back to deliver a message.
The people on both sides pulled the fighters apart, and the man from Tomita Village had his face swollen like a pig's head.
"Are you out of your minds? How dare you come to Tomita Village to cause trouble?"
A villager from Futian Village was the first to question the matter.
"You're all trying to force the people of our village to their deaths, so go ahead and act crazy!"
Before anyone else in Shuxia Village could say anything, the man who had been beaten by Qian Shulin earlier started wailing.
"The people of Shuxia Village have gone mad! This morning I discovered that the ditch was dry, and when I went to the source, I found that the water supply to our village had been cut off!"
"The people from Shuxia Village are malicious. They actually blocked all the water on our side with soil. I dug up the ditch and waited for a while. Sure enough, the people from Shuxia Village came again!"
"They started punching and kicking me as soon as they arrived. I couldn't stop them even if I tried. Go and see if the ditch in our village has been filled in!"
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