"There's a guy named Gu Ming who came with us. He's very good at finding water sources. In addition, I can also roughly determine the location of the water source. When I went to look for my father just now, I saw a place that looked like a water source. Let's go over and check it out later." Wan Xueying answered An Dayong's question about the water source.
"Can you really find a water source?" An Dayong's face flashed with surprise. "If you can, our village will be saved."
"Dad, don't be happy yet, and don't tell anyone yet. I can't guarantee that I can find it."
"Okay, Dad understands." Regardless of success or failure, this news still gave An Dayong hope.
Then Wan Xueying called Gu Ming, and together with Shen Yu, they took a few people and tools and set out again to the back mountain to look for water.
Before leaving, Wan Xueying asked Aunt Chen and Nanny Wu to help everyone prepare meals. Worried that there was not enough water, she took out five water bags filled with water from the space and gave them to Nanny Wu.
She was eager to take out all the fruit, cakes, meat, eggs, chicken, fish, and other things she had prepared for her family that morning. Ultimately, reason overcame her impulse, and she only took out a small portion. She had bought a lot of things along the way, and a small amount wouldn't arouse suspicion.
"How much stuff did you bring?" Su was so shocked that her eyes widened when she saw Qiu Shi and Shunzi unloading grain, meat and vegetables from the mule cart.
"Mom," Wan Xueying said with a smile, "It's not much. But it's enough for our family to eat for a while."
"That's a relief." Su secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "Just now I was worried that I had nothing to serve you."
"I think I'm thoughtful, right?" Wan Xueying Wang Po started to sell melons.
"Of course, my daughter Xueying has been smart since she was young, and she has always been thoughtful in doing things." Su was not stingy with her praise.
"Hahaha, indeed."
Seeing Wan Xueying so relaxed and chatting and laughing in front of the An family made Shen Yu feel more at ease. At least so far, this family really did treat Xueying like one of their own.
Wan Xueying did not dare to waste time and took her men directly to the bottom of the stone wall covered with lush weeds that she found between the two mountains.
"Gu Ming, take a good look to see if there is any water source here?" In fact, she had already detected the fluctuation of water flow under the stone wall, and the water flow was quite strong.
"I also feel that there seems to be a water source here." Gu Ming then squatted down, picked up a bit of soil from the grass, twisted it, smelled it, and then asked Qiu Shi to take people to dig deeper.
When he saw that the soil was almost there, he picked up some soil from the bottom, twisted it, and smelled it. This time he said with certainty, "There is definitely water underneath."
Wan Xueying nodded, "Then let them continue digging."
This digging was not just one or two meters. Qiu Shi and his companions took turns digging until it was seven or eight meters or even deeper, and suddenly a pool of water emerged.
"Water, we really found water." The people in the pit told everyone excitedly.
"Stop digging, both of you, come up quickly." Knowing that there was a huge amount of water below, Wan Xueying was afraid that they would be submerged if they came up too late.
Thanks to her timely call to stop, they were able to pull up the two people who were digging with a rope. The water seemed to have been held back for a long time and finally found an outlet. It began to bubble up more and more, and it could even be seen that it was constantly surging. In just a few breaths, the pit they had just dug was filled up and overflowed everywhere.
Everyone hurried to hide in higher places. Those who were slow to hide didn't care even if their shoes got wet. Everyone's face was filled with excitement and happy smiles.
"This is great, we finally don't have to worry about water and don't have to flee from famine!" An Dayong's eyes were red, and he was so excited.
Anping said the same thing, "Dad, thanks to Xueying's timely return, otherwise our family might have to leave the village and flee the famine one day."
"Alas! What a pity for our crops! The autumn harvest is almost here, yet they lie idle in the fields." Thinking of this, An Dayong's eyes turned redder. This time, he was truly sad. He felt sorry for the crops he had planted for a year, and he was also heartbroken for his family who had worked so hard for almost a year but had nothing to show for it.
"Dad, are all our fields really barren?" Wan Xueying asked. If they hadn't been barren for long, she might still be able to save them.
"I don't know," An Dayong shook his head. "I haven't been able to take care of that place for more than half a month."
"I took a look a few days ago. It's not completely barren, but it's almost there." Anping felt the same way. He felt very sad to see the crops that were about to grow become barren like that.
Wan Xueying's eyes lit up, "Does that mean it's not completely deserted yet?"
An Ping also shook his head. "I don't know if it's barren now or not."
"Then big brother, let's go for a walk in the fields now. Here, Dad, why don't you go and talk to the village chief and others?" Let the older generation decide whether to dig a well or a canal.
"Of course I have to tell you. My daughter did such a great thing for the village as soon as she came back, so of course I have to let everyone in the village know." An Dayong swept away the gloom just now, and he felt indescribably proud.
"Shen Yu, come with my father and ask if there's a large house to sell or rent to us?"
"Okay." Wan Xueying kept calling "we", which made Shen Yu so happy that he was grinning.
An Dayong asked, "Xueying, don't you live with us?"
"Dad, I won't live with you anymore. I'll clean up the room I used to have and give it to my eldest brother or Xiaofan to live in. They both need to go to school in the future, so it's best for them to have their own room each." She added, "This is only temporary. Later you can move to the county town with me." But she had also made up her mind that if she were to buy two houses, they would buy two adjacent ones and not live together.
How should I put it? She had finally established a female household and became the head of the family. She didn't want to have to report to others for everything she did, even if they were her relatives. She could be filial to them, but she didn't want to be bound by them.
In addition, a lot has changed in five years. Their living and eating habits have become different. No one needs to compromise or even change to the other. Everyone will be more comfortable if they live the life they are accustomed to.
Furthermore, even the closest relatives should maintain a certain distance, otherwise trivial matters will gradually erode family ties. She also learned a lesson from this experience.
Even though it might be inconsistent with her parents' ideas, and even hurt their feelings, she still brought it up because a short pain is worse than a long one.
An Dayong's mood turned complicated after hearing this, and his initial joy was somewhat dampened. Seeing him continue to work hard, Wan Xueying said, "Dad, I'm going to do business in the future. If Big Brother and Xiaofan want to study, it's best if they don't get involved with me."
Among the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants, and artisans, merchants were also considered the lowest class, and their children were not allowed to take the imperial examinations. Some merchants, in order to ensure their descendants could pass the examinations and gain fame, would donate an official position to themselves. This workaround was recognized and welcomed by the court.
The treasury is empty! We need some means to increase revenue.
Wan Xueying's statement was more for An Ping than for An Dayong. After all, An Ping knew more about this than An Dayong.
"Also," Wan Xueying continued, "if I came back alone, I would definitely live with my family, but now I am a woman and have a whole family to support, and I have to be responsible for them. They all left their hometowns and followed me here, and I can't disappoint them." Obviously, she said this to Qiu Shi and the others to reassure them.
"Dad," Anping advised, "Just listen to Xueying. You've forgotten how we missed Xueying every day before, but we couldn't see her. Back then, our greatest hope was just to see her from afar, just to know she was doing well."
He added, "Now that Xueying has finally returned, we can see each other often in the future. We should be content. Besides, Xueying is not young anymore and will get married sooner or later. Why should we force her to live at home for just one or two years? Won't we still have to separate by then?"
What he didn't say was that as the eldest son in the family, he didn't want to rely on Wan Xueying, a girl, to support their family. Xueying's money was hers, and their family had to rely on themselves for everything. Living separately was better for everyone.
He didn’t dare to expect too much before. Even with Xueying’s help, if the family still couldn’t get by, he would be too incompetent.
"Okay, then. We'll listen to Xueying." An Dayong clearly felt that Wan Xueying was different this time. He didn't want her to be wronged again, so he let her be. As An Ping said, it was good that she was back. At least we could see each other anytime in the future.
Wan Xueying breathed a sigh of relief. She believed that her father and elder brother would be able to persuade her mother to accept her proposal.
Next, two people were left to watch the water source, and the rest of the people were divided into three groups.
An Dayong and Shen Yu went to the village chief's house, Wan Xueying and An Ping took Qiu Shi to the fields, and the rest of the people went back to fetch buckets of water.
This water can't be drunk directly, but it's good for watering vegetable gardens and washing. If you really want to drink it, adding some alum to precipitate it or filtering it with sand can be used as an emergency measure.
It is not completely useless to say that Shen Yu accompanied Wan Xueying back this time. At least it can be used to explain that Wan Xueying came back with him because she was engaged to him and he was going to take up a post in the Ningjiang County military camp.
As for the Wan family, honestly, even the An family didn't know their true identity before, only that they were a wealthy family in the capital. The villagers were even less likely to know. So from now on, everyone should declare the Wan family to be just an ordinary wealthy family, eliminating unnecessary explanations.
You can imagine how happy the village chief was when he learned that Wan Xueying and the others had found a water source after returning, and that it was a source with a particularly large amount of water.
When Shen Yu proposed to buy or rent a larger house, the village chief even offered to give them a long-abandoned large house for free, but they had to clean it up themselves.
When the village chief took the villagers to see the water source, he publicly announced that he would give more than ten acres of wasteland to Wan Xueying for free. Not only did he not encounter any opposition from the villagers, some villagers even felt that the reward given by the village chief was too stingy. Wan Xueying and her friends had saved the lives of the entire village.
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