Chapter 53 Drinking urine to survive? I can't do that!
Jiang Yutang and Mu Shi exchanged a glance, their hearts sinking.
Even the yamen runners couldn't get water, so it seems that the village is really short of water.
Xiaoxiao was still crying, and her family was also suffering from thirst. They couldn't just sit and wait to die.
She gritted her teeth and said to Mu, "Let's go further in. Maybe we can find some villagers who have hidden water. We can talk to them properly, or spend some money and get some money out of them."
Mu nodded, carrying the child, and followed Jiang Yutang carefully into the village.
Most houses had their doors and windows tightly closed. Occasionally, a few households would open their doors, but when they saw them approaching, they would only give them a cold glance before slamming the door shut without giving them a chance to speak.
It seemed they had anticipated why they were coming and were trying to avoid them.
The two carried the child and walked around the village again, knocking on doors from house to house, but most of the responses were indifferent waving hands, and some people even slammed the door shut without saying a word.
Occasionally, when encountering a patient family, one would simply explain repeatedly in a heavy accent.
"We've been suffering from drought for almost half a year. The wells have all dried up. We don't even have enough water for our own drinking. How could we possibly have any extra for you? Get out of here! You won't survive if you stay any longer!"
Clinging to her last glimmer of hope, Jiang Yutang walked to a relatively intact adobe house, bowed deeply to the inside, and pleaded in her voice.
"Uncle and Auntie, we have elderly people and children, and we are so thirsty that we can't stand it anymore. If you have any extra water, even just a sip, we are willing to buy it with money!"
The room remained silent for a long time before the door slowly opened a crack. A dark-skinned man peeked out, looked at the crying child in Mu's arms, then at the loose silver in her hand, and finally sighed. He then turned and brought out a bowl of water from inside the room.
The water in the bowl was murky and contained a lot of fine sand, clearly collected from the bottom of a dry well.
"This is the only bowl left, you can take it."
Jiang Yutang quickly thanked him and handed over the silver, his fingers trembling as he took the bowl.
Holding Xiaoxiao in her arms, Mu looked at the water in the bowl, her eyes reddening: "This water is so murky, how can we give it to the child to drink?"
The women who could marry into the Grand Tutor's mansion were all ladies from prominent families; they had never suffered such hardship.
Jiang Yutang sighed, took out a clean handkerchief from her bosom, carefully filtered out the sand from the water, and bent down to gently feed it to Xiaoxiao.
Xiaoxiao's lips were chapped, and at first she refused to drink it, but after touching the water, she sipped it slowly and drank it down in no time.
Although the water still tasted a bit earthy, Xiaoxiao finally stopped crying after drinking it and gradually fell asleep in Mu's arms.
"Take this water back first, share it with your family to soothe their throats, and then think of something else."
Jiang Yutang carried the remaining half bowl of water back to the camp.
"That's all we have. Everyone, see who needs it."
The Jiang family had already heard about the drought from the yamen runners' discussions, and they knew that there was probably no other water source within dozens of miles. A dozen people gathered around the half-bowl of water, but not a single person reached out to help.
The three members of the Cheng family stared at the half-bowl of water, straightened their backs, and remained silent.
“Give it to our parents; they’re getting old and can’t handle thirst,” Jiang Songzhi said first.
Yun shook her head, her gaze falling on the pregnant Zhu: "I'm fine. Give it to Zhu to drink. She's pregnant and can't be dehydrated."
Madam Zhu quickly waved her hand, "No, no, let's keep it for Xiaoxiao, the child is still young..."
After much back and forth, Jiang Shengan finally made the decision, feigning an authoritative demeanor: "Zhu is pregnant, so she must drink this water."
Zhu's eyes reddened, and with trembling hands she took the bowl, drinking it in small sips with a devout heart, reluctant to swallow each sip.
On the other side, four constables huddled together and discussed for a long time, while the fat constable paced back and forth impatiently.
"We can't stay in this wretched place any longer. If we linger any longer, not only will the refugees die of thirst, but we'll all die of thirst too! Let's pack our things and get on our way, get out of this hellhole as soon as possible, and head to the next county!"
The other three constables nodded and quickly blew the whistle to assemble, shouting to the refugees, "Stop dawdling! If you don't want to die here, keep going!"
Although exhausted, the refugees knew they had no way to survive if they stayed in the drought-stricken area, so they all got up and left.
Jiang Yutang looked at the endless expanse of yellow earth, but her heart remained heavy.
The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the sky a dark red, and just when everyone was about to give up, the outline of a village finally appeared in the distance.
The refugees were instantly filled with their last glimmer of hope, and with heavy steps, they staggered toward the village. But when they reached the village entrance, they all froze.
This is a long-abandoned village. Most of the houses have collapsed, and the yards are overgrown with weeds that are half a person tall. There is not a trace of human habitation.
"I'm afraid the drought was so severe that the villagers lost their harvest and moved to other places," someone sighed softly, their voice filled with despair.
Now, everyone's hearts sank.
Those who had no stored water had not had a drop of water for two whole days. In such scorching weather, if they continued to travel without water, they would probably die of thirst on the road.
The fat constable kicked a broken piece of wood next to him in anger, cursing, "What the worst luck I've ever had! I'll have to spend the night here, and try to find a water source first thing tomorrow morning!"
"But we're dying of thirst!"
One of the refugees couldn't help but complain, his voice hoarse as if it were about to crack: "If there's no water to drink, we won't make it to tomorrow!"
A deathly silence fell over the group. Just then, someone whispered a suggestion: "If all else fails, then... then drink your own urine. That's the only way."
A commotion arose in the crowd, and a cold laugh suddenly came from the other side of the crowd, saying in a sarcastic tone, "Drinking urine is disgusting, right? If you don't want to drink urine, you can drink blood."
These words were like a poisoned needle, instantly piercing everyone's hearts.
If someone is "drinking blood," they can't be drinking their own blood, so they can only target the people around them.
The refugees' eyes changed instantly. Some had a fierce glint in their eyes, some were filled with fear, and some stared blankly at the ground, as if they had given up struggling.
"Absurd!" Cheng Lanzhou suddenly spoke, his voice clear and cold yet carrying an undeniable authority. He looked coldly at the man who had said "drink blood," and the chill in his eyes made the man shrink back instantly, lower his head, and dare not speak again.
However, the oppressive atmosphere in the group did not ease at all. Before long, people got up and left one after another, hiding in a deserted corner deep in the village.
No one spoke, but everyone knew that in order to survive, they had begun to resort to any means necessary.
Jiang Yutang stared in disbelief at the departing figures, her mind reeling.
Am I going to have to drink urine myself?
She had watched wilderness survival shows in modern times and knew that this was a way to save her life in extreme situations, but when it actually happened to her, her stomach churned and she just couldn't bring herself to do it.
She turned to look at her family. If all else failed, she would travel back to the modern world and risk bringing back a few bottles of water, rather than leaving her family in such a desperate situation.
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