I thought I would have to wait until the snow season to have water to drink.
But unexpectedly, one night, when Gu Shengmo was lying beside the well and breathing in the cool air from the stones on the edge of the well, he saw the light reflected from the well through the moonlight.
"Sister, sister, come and see."
The first person that Gu Shengmo can share his little secrets with is always his elder sister.
Wen Xi thought something had happened to his brother and ran out in fright. Mao and Xiang Ye followed behind him.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? What happened?"
Gu Shengmo pointed at the well:
"Look, sister!"
Wen Xi looked over, and the two people behind him also leaned over to look.
"Oh my god! Water..."
Xiangye covered her mouth and screamed.
Mao raised his finger and said, "Shh! Keep your voice down. Be careful, the walls may have ears."
Mao went to the stove and picked up a tinder, then they lay down at the mouth of the well and looked down in the light of the fire. There was a shallow pool of water at the bottom of the well.
Ever since the well was robbed dry, several people gave up on it, but unexpectedly, water started to leak out again at some point.
Although the water is very little, it is much better than nothing.
The water level is so low that it is impossible to draw water with buckets.
Finally, Mao came up with a solution. He put Gu Shengmo in a bucket and lowered it with a rope, then lowered a ladle and a bucket. He sat in the bucket and scooped out water.
It would have been more appropriate to do this during the day, but if someone came and saw us, we wouldn't be able to keep the water.
Fortunately, although Gu Shengmo is young, he is still quite brave.
The water we fetched was only half a bucket. In the past, it wouldn't even be enough to wash our faces. But compared to today, where we only get a bucket of water a day, it was truly a blessing.
Gu Shengmo felt a sense of accomplishment, because he was the one who discovered the water and also the one who brought it up. He instantly felt his own importance and said happily:
"Mom, we finally have water again. We don't have to queue anymore, right? You've had heatstroke several times!"
Mao shook his head:
"No, we still have to queue up for water. Otherwise, people will get suspicious. Don't worry, since our well is leaking, it means the village well is leaking too. Things will get better."
Yes, the situation is much better. Although the water level in the wells hasn't risen much, at least it hasn't dropped any further. Every household can only survive by relying on a bucket or two of water.
As the weather gradually grew colder, the problem of food became a problem in addition to the problem of water.
With nothing to produce throughout the year, how can people survive the winter?
Families with savings could still manage to buy some food, even though the price of food had quadrupled, surpassing the price of meat. But compared to a life, what was money worth?
Those who had neither food nor money could only go into the mountains to dig up grass roots and young tree leaves to eat, because there were no wild vegetables left.
There were also those who risked their lives to go deep into the mountains in search of life, and those who came out did indeed have a harvest, but those who did not came out became the prey of the wild beasts.
The animals were also suffering from the famine and were starving. How could they possibly give up the delicious food in front of them?
Since the drought began and winter arrived, more than a dozen people have died in Kongshan Village. Most of them are elderly people. Because they are more frail, they place their hopes of survival on their children.
Wen Xi sometimes counted on her fingers: out of the three years of famine, almost two had already passed. With gritted teeth and a little more perseverance, she could get through it. As for the floods and plagues, with proper arrangements, there was still hope of survival.
There was no shortage of food at home, but vegetables were scarce. Aside from some pickled sauerkraut and homemade kimchi, all the fresh vegetables were eaten to quench thirst. The reason for those pickled vegetables was that they made people thirstier.
Even the potatoes were roasted one by one.
Wen Xi thought about it and went to Fang Qiang's house:
"Brother Qiangzi, I want you to accompany me into the mountains."
"Go into the mountains? No, no, you know how many people have died there recently. Do you have any food at home? I still have some, I'll bring it to you later. Don't dare to have this idea again in the future. Otherwise, your aunt will be sad."
Wen Xi was speechless:
"You're thinking about that. No one knows how much food we have at home. Haven't you counted it yet? I want you to accompany me to take another look at the potato field."
Fang Qiang finally breathed a sigh of relief:
"You scared me to death! I thought you were going into the mountains! Okay, I'll go with you tomorrow. But it's been so dry all year. I'm afraid the potatoes will be in trouble too."
"Give it a try. Potatoes are drought-resistant and generally don't need much water to survive. Let's try our luck."
"Okay, let's go tomorrow at 11:00 AM, before daybreak. It's safer. I'll come find you tomorrow."
The two of them agreed on this.
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