Chapter 150
From that day on, Wu Yulan went to the village chief's house every day to worship the Goddess of Fertility.
Every time she came, she would bring some offerings, sometimes half a black-faced steamed bun, sometimes half a bowl of porridge. These were the remaining rations from her mouth and the only things she could take out.
Wu Yulan stared at the Goddess of Childbirth with eager eyes, clasped her hands together and knelt down deeply, muttering to herself: "I pray to the Goddess of Childbirth to bless this believer to fulfill her wish... I am willing to give her ten years of life, and I pray to the Goddess of Childbirth..."
A month had already passed in the blink of an eye, and the weather was getting hotter. Even sitting quietly under a tree would make one sweat profusely. Jiaojiao, wearing a small bamboo hat, squatted by the edge of the field, watching the winter melon seedlings. She looked up and asked her father, "Dad, when can we eat the winter melon?"
Yin Zheng, who was squatting next to him, glanced at the melon seedlings in the field that had already produced many fruits, thought for a moment and said, "There's still March."
Jiaojiao stretched out her ten little fingers and counted for a long time. Then she looked up at her father with bright eyes and said, "It's almost there."
Yin Zheng nodded: "Yeah, almost there."
"Hehe." Jiaojiao curved her eyes and said while counting on her little fingers, "When we're ready to eat, I'll give one to dad, one to Jiaojiao, and one to uncle. We can sell the rest."
"good."
Li Fangshan, who was carrying water to irrigate the fields, passed by and glanced at Yin Zheng's fields. He saw that the soil was moist without a trace of cracks. He then looked at his own fields not far away, which were already dry and cracked. He could not help but say enviously, "Yin Zheng, your fields are really well watered!"
Jiaojiao, who was squatting on the ground, heard the sound and pulled up her father's trouser leg to stand up. She leaned over and waved her little paws at Li Fangshan: "Hello, Uncle Fangshan."
"Jiaojiao is here too?"
Jiaojiao nodded: "Yes, I will accompany Dad to look at the melon seedlings in the field."
Everyone in the village knew that Yin Zheng was growing a winter melon, which they had never heard of. No one in the nearby villages had ever grown this thing. For the sake of their fellow villagers, the villagers had advised Yin Zheng not to grow this thing.
But Yin Zheng refused to listen, so they gave up. As the saying goes, good words cannot persuade a damned person. Since Yin Zheng refused to listen to their advice, they had no choice.
But now it seems to be growing very well, at least it looks much more vigorous than the crops in the villagers' fields.
Thinking of this, Li Fangshan glanced at the wilted crops in his own fields not far away, and his heart became heavy again.
It hasn't rained since the beginning of summer this year, and the cracks in the ground are big enough to fit a little finger through.
Half a month ago, people from all villages started carrying water to irrigate their fields. Those who had less land could still barely irrigate the fields, but those who had more land found it a bit difficult. The whole family had to go to the river to carry water to irrigate the fields day and night. After half a month, they were exhausted.
Yin Zheng looked at the water he was carrying, then looked at the two acres of land in his own family whose soil was always moist, and some doubts arose in his mind.
Everyone in the village said that he watered his land well, but they didn't know that he had never watered the land at all, because his land had never shown any signs of water shortage. He occasionally went to fetch water only for washing and cooking.
So the question is, why is it that when every household in the village has water shortage in their fields, only his family has no water shortage?
Before Yin Zheng could figure it out, Li Fangshan greeted him and hurriedly went to the fields carrying water. His family had a total of 15 acres of land. Just carrying enough water to irrigate the 15 acres of land would be enough to kill a person, not to mention irrigating the 15 acres of land thoroughly.
Looking at the scorching sun in the sky, Li Fangshan felt very worried. The river to the west of the village was getting smaller and smaller. If it didn't rain, drinking water would become a problem, let alone watering the fields.
"Dad, isn't Uncle Fangshan happy?" Jiaojiao, who was held in her father's arms, looked at Li Fangshan's back and said.
"Um."
"Why?"
Yin Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it's because he has too much land at home!"
Jiaojiao wondered, "Isn't it good to have more land?"
Isn’t having more stuff a good thing? Mingming Jiaojiao has a lot of candy, so she’s very happy!
Yin Zheng raised his hand to straighten Jiaojiao's tilted hat: "The land is good, but it's not good if it can't be irrigated."
Watching the crops wilt is like a knife cutting into the farmers' hearts.
Jiaojiao blinked her eyes, thought for a while but couldn't figure it out, so she leaned on her father's shoulder and stopped thinking about it.
The sunlight shone directly down from the sky. Compared with the people in the village who were rushing to fetch water to irrigate the fields, Yin Zheng, who was walking back with Jiaojiao in his arms, seemed somewhat leisurely and comfortable.
Seeing this, most of the villagers were a little dazed and kept turning their heads to look at Yin Zheng. Some time ago, they felt sorry for Yin Zheng's lack of land. They didn't expect that after such a long period of drought, the man with little land would feel a little more relaxed and at ease. It was really strange!
"Uncle Huaizhi, Jiaojiao and dad are back!"
When she got home and saw Xie Shuyu drawing, Jiaojiao, who had just gotten out of her father's arms, walked over, leaned over the desk, and tiptoed to look over. As she was looking, she suddenly pointed at a fair and tender little kid in the painting, frowned, and said as if she couldn't remember where it was, "This little kid looks so familiar."
Xie Shuyu's lips curled up slightly, and he reached out and dipped some cinnabar on Jiaojiao's forehead. "Go to the water tank and ask your father to scoop a bucket of water for you to look in the mirror, and you will know who this kid is."
Yin Zheng glanced at the little boy in Xie Shuyu's painting, then looked at Jiaojiao, whose eyebrows were stained with cinnabar, and his heavy gaze softened.
Jiaojiao's skin was already fair and tender, and with the cinnabar between her eyebrows, she looked like a boy under the seat of a Bodhisattva, exactly the same as the child in Xie Shuyu's painting.
Jiaojiao tilted her head. Although she didn't understand why she had to look in the water, she turned around and grabbed her father's trouser leg and walked towards the water tank: "Dad, scoop some water for Jiaojiao. Jiaojiao can't reach it."
Yin Zheng scooped a ladle of water and poured it into the wooden basin. Jiaojiao leaned over to take a look and was slightly stunned. Then she clapped her hands in sudden realization: "Jiaojiao looks exactly like the little kid in the painting!"
Yin Zheng couldn't help but squat down and pinch Jiaojiao's chubby face. A hint of laughter lingered in his low, hoarse voice: "That kid was drawn after you. He looks like you, not you like him."
Xie Shuyu watched this scene with a smile on his face. He put down his pen, lowered his eyes to look at his painting, and gradually his smile faded.
He turned around and walked into the room and took out the bag he had packed. There wasn't much in the bag, just some paintings he had painted on a daily basis.
He received the letter this morning and realized that he had to leave. He knew from the beginning that although he had spent some comfortable and relaxing days here due to his serious injuries, he would eventually have to return to that place where power swirled.
But he didn't expect that he would feel reluctant to leave before leaving, which was rare for him who was always heartless.
Xie Shuyu walked over, squatted down, and ruffled Jiaojiao's hair. When Jiaojiao looked at him angrily with her head in her hands, he smiled and said, "I'm leaving."
Jiaojiao put down her hands that were holding her head and asked in confusion, "Where is uncle going?"
"go home!"
"Oh, that's right, uncle still has to go home." Jiaojiao, who had just remembered this, curved her eyes and said, "Then uncle, remember to come back soon to accompany Jiaojiao and dad."
Xie Shuyu laughed, without saying yes or no. He pulled Jiaojiao into his arms, stood up, threw her high, and caught her again. After playing with Jiaojiao for a while, he put a thumb-sized jade gourd with words engraved on it on Jiaojiao's neck, pinched Jiaojiao's chubby face, and turned around and walked out quickly.
Jiaojiao took two steps forward with his short legs and then stopped. He knew that his uncle was going home. His father must be waiting for him at his uncle's house. He felt uncomfortable missing his father.
Thinking of how he felt when his father went to town without him and missed not being able to see his father again, Jiaojiao sighed like a little adult, turned around, hugged his father's legs and rubbed them.
Xie Shuyu went out and didn't see Jiaojiao chasing after him, nor did he see him showing any reluctance to leave. He couldn't help but grit his teeth, what a heartless girl!
Although he said so, there was a smile in his eyes. After walking out of the village quickly, he jumped on his horse and rode away with the people who came to pick him up.
Ten days passed in a flash, the sun became hotter day by day, and the work in the fields became more intense. Those who had just watered their fields once began to work on the second round.
The village chief's family was also busy watering the fields. They had a lot of land, about thirty acres. Usually, they could use oxen to plow the land, but they had to water the land themselves. Look, the three brothers Li Changqing took turns carrying water, and the village chief Li Gensheng, Old Wang, and the three sisters-in-law of the Chen family all went to the fields to water the land.
This concerns the crops. I have to do it even if I am pregnant, otherwise the whole family will starve to death next year.
After working for half a month, the three Li Changqing brothers were all exhausted. That was not all, the next day the three brothers prepared to go out early to help the Yue family.
Old Mrs. Wang felt so distressed when she saw the three brothers had become so thin that she got up early in the morning and steamed white steamed buns for them.
Looking at the four big steamed buns that his mother stuffed into his hands, Li Changyuan took one in his mouth, turned around and ran back to his room, and stuffed one into his wife who was still in bed. Zhao took the steamed bun and gave him a scolding look, then stuffed the steamed bun in her hand into his hand: "Why do I have to rush to take it? Will mother let us starve?"
Li Changyuan didn't respond, just scratched his head and smiled, then turned around and strode out. The smile on his face combined with his tanned face made him look extremely stupid.
The three brothers Li Changyuan went to Yue's house and were busy for half a month before they came back. When they came back, they brought a piece of news: Wu Yulan was pregnant!
She is busy watering the fields at the moment and said that she will come to worship the Goddess of Fertility after she finishes her work.
Upon hearing the news, Chen was delighted at first, but then a look of worry appeared on her face. If the current trend continued, it was obvious that there would be a severe drought this year. If the drought only lasted for one year, it would be fine, and she could survive by eating grass roots and gnawing on tree bark. But she was afraid that next year would not be a good year either.
Half a month later, the small river at the west end of the village, which was not very big to begin with, dried up, and now it was difficult for the villagers to even get drinking water.
Early this morning, there was a knock on the door. Jiaojiao, who was washing her face in the yard with a handkerchief, put down the handkerchief, hurriedly dragged a small stool to the door, stood on the stool, tiptoed, and stretched out her hand to pull the bolt.
His hands were sore but he still couldn't reach the door bolt. Jiaojiao pursed his lips and thought for a while. When he put down his hands and bent his knees slightly to gather strength for a jump, a hand reached out from behind and grabbed the back of his collar.
Jiaojiao, who was being held in the air by her father, looked up at him and smiled, pointing her little hand at the door and saying, "Jiaojiao, open the door."
Facing his soft smile, Yin Zheng felt helpless. He put him on the ground aside and reached out to open the door.
Li Fangsheng and Li Daqiang were outside the door, their faces grim. "The upstream village has blocked our branch river, and the village chief wants us to grab our weapons and demand an explanation."
Yesterday I felt that the river was cut off a bit suddenly, so I asked someone to go to the upstream village to check, and it turned out that they had blocked the water.
There is a river branching off from the Jialing River in Shangyou Village. The small river in their village is branched off from Shangyou Village. In previous years, when there was drought, Shangyou Village would often block the river flowing to them.
More than 40 years ago, when Shangyou Village blocked the river for the first time, Lijia Village was unaware of it. That year, all the crops in the village died of drought, and even drinking water had to be bought from Shangyou Village. Later, someone accidentally discovered that Shangyou Village deliberately blocked the river in Lijia Village so that their own land could be irrigated.
This was a serious matter at the time. The crops in the fields were the lifeblood of the farmers. How could the people of Lijia Village not be angry when their lifeblood was destroyed? They immediately grabbed their weapons and headed for Shangyou Village.
This incident caused a big stir at the time. As people became more and more angry, a fight broke out and several people died. It was only when the government came that the matter was suppressed.
The conflict between the two villages over this matter has accumulated deeply, and people have been killed in the past years in the fight for water.
Ten years ago, the family of Uncle Li Wuye in the east of the village was involved in a water grab. Their eldest son was hit on the head by a hoe from the village upstream, and collapsed on the spot. The second son rushed over to stop the attackers, but was also hit on the head. He became stupid and ran around the village drooling all day. A few years ago, he accidentally ran into the mountains and was killed by a bear. Uncle Li Wuye lost a leg while trying to retrieve half of his son's body, and he almost died.
Although it is dangerous to go to the upstream village to seek justice, we must go. Otherwise, if we let them continue to block the way, the villagers will have difficulty getting water, not to mention the crops in the fields.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
