There are people in Moon Lake, village children, drawing water there.
Although the lake has dried up, water seeps out from a few spots, and the children wait there to scoop it up once the water level has risen to a certain point.
To extract water, many pits of varying sizes were dug in the lake; some leaked water, while others did not.
Children guard the pits that leak water, and although the amount of water that seeps out is small, they cherish it.
Groups of two or three children gathered around a pit, gazing expectantly and praying that more water would come out.
This scene looks so pitiful.
The Chen family also dug a leaky pit in the lake and asked the child who was still in the staff dormitory to keep an eye on it. Once the water seeped out, the Chen family would send someone to collect it.
The children were paid an egg each day, which they could divide among themselves.
Chen Kai originally intended for them to take turns guarding the area, with one person per day being enough, but the group always ended up together and would take turns covering shifts and resting.
Zhou refused to give him the eggs, but Chen Kai did so anyway.
A boy saw them and suddenly shouted, "Uncle Chen, Xiao Tian, I found a tortoise shell, a very big one. Do you want it? If you do, trade me three buckets of water."
Chen Kai was curious about the large tortoise shell he mentioned, so he stopped.
Seeing that there was a chance, the boy told his younger brother to bring the tortoise shell along.
"Look, this is the turtle shell. We dug it out when we were digging the hole. It's quite hard. We even tried to smash it with small stones, but it didn't break."
This is a complete tortoise shell, without any damage, and it's about the size of a washbasin.
Chen Kai asked curiously, "Would it break if you hit it with a big rock?"
The boy said angrily, "The tortoise shell is perfectly fine, why did you have to smash it with a big rock? What if you broke it?"
If his family had enough water, he would have kept the turtle shell to play with.
Chen Kai took the tortoise shell, tapped it, but couldn't figure out what it was. However, most of the tortoise shells were quite hard, so it was better to keep them, just in case they came in handy someday.
So he said, "I'll take the turtle shell. Come to my house later to get some water."
Chen Nong took the tortoise shell, played with it for a while, then got bored and tossed it to the enthusiastic Da Zhu.
Then he said, "Uncle, this tortoise shell isn't fun. Trading it for three buckets of water is a bad deal."
Chen Kai laughed dismissively, "Don't worry, it's worth it. This thing can be modified to make shields."
Chen Nong asked curiously, "Why make shields?"
Chen Kai said, "Because our family is going to flee famine, there will be many dangers on the way."
Chen Nong asked in confusion, "Didn't we say we were waiting for Uncle Qi to come back?"
Chen Kai said, "Yes, once he returns, our family will go to Youzhou Prefecture, so we need to make preparations early."
"Oh!" Chen Nong nodded his little head.
Then he asked, "If there will be a lot of danger, shouldn't we prepare some weapons? Otherwise, what if we can't win a fight?"
Chen Kai: "..."
Before long, everyone arrived at their destination. They first drank a hearty sip of water, then washed their faces to dispel the sweltering heat.
The pool is no longer the same as when they first saw it. It used to be so deep that it could drown an adult, but now it has shrunk to a small pool, only up to the calves.
This is a strange pool of water, the source of which is a mushroom-shaped mountain that looks like an unopened umbrella. I don't know why water is gushing out from the top of the mountain, and the water falls down from there in the form of a curtain.
This pond was formed from this strange little hill.
Old Chen said happily, "Look at this flow of water, we can fill more than one truck with water today."
Old Chen said excitedly, "Come on, fill up the water, fill up the water, and make several trips back."
Chen Nong looked up at the broken bridge above, which was covered with withered weeds, and even the big tree below it was dead.
When Chen Laoda saw him staring up there, he assumed he wanted to go up and play, so he immediately said, "Chen Nong, it's very dangerous up there, you can't go up and play."
Chen Nong said, "Uncle, I didn't intend to go up and play. I just wanted to take a look. It used to be so beautiful up there. I never expected it to become like this."
Sanya chimed in from the side, "Yes, it was so beautiful before, with lots of flowers and plants."
After the buckets were filled, a group of people carried them back first, while the rest stayed behind to guard the pond.
Once so much water is scooped away, the pond will immediately be empty, and it will take some time for the water level to rise again.
Chen Kai looked at his sister-in-law and said, "Sister-in-law, how about you take us to find a water source? We found a hidden pool earlier and want to go see if there's any water left."
When the younger brother made a request, Chen Laoda's wife naturally agreed.
Old Chen, still worried, said, "I'll go with you too."
Chen Kai said, "Brother, you stay. Your sister-in-law is enough."
Old Chen looked at them with a wronged expression, feeling like he was being disliked.
Then, after being criticized and rejected repeatedly, Boss Chen stayed.
This time, Chen Kai and his group entered through the same hole where Old Man Chen and his men had hidden the grain last time.
The cave entrance is very hidden, inside a rock, and there is a stone mountain blocking the view from the outside. The entrance is surrounded by weeds.
Once inside the cave, visibility was a bit poor, but thankfully we had prepared torches beforehand.
Upon reaching the place where the grain had been hidden, forks in the road and cave entrances began to appear.
Daya hesitated, "Which way should we go?"
Chen Kai looked at Xiao Tian, who was being carried on Chen Laowu's back, and asked, "Xiao Tian, where do you think we should go?"
Xiao Tian pointed in a direction.
Chen Laowu said, "Let's go over there and take a look. Mark the spot, and if it doesn't work out, we can come back."
The group continued walking forward when suddenly, Chen Kai felt a chill run down his spine. Why did he feel a cold wind blowing in his face?
Er Ya held up the torch, swallowed hard, and said, "Something feels off, kind of scary."
"flutter--"
Chen Kai immediately realized something was wrong, "Quickly, crouch down and wave the torch!"
A flurry of bird calls rose from above, and judging from the sound, there were quite a few birds.
After waiting for a while, there was no more movement, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Daya patted her chest. "They're bats, lots of bats."
Chen Laowu asked worriedly, "Is anyone hurt?"
Bats will bite if they are startled.
"No!" everyone replied.
Sanya was a little scared and asked, "Should we continue walking forward?"
Chen Kai said, "Continue!"
After walking for a long time, they finally heard sounds from inside the cave other than theirs.
Chen Laowu said, "There's a dripping sound; there's water nearby."
After walking for a while, Xiao Tian suddenly said, "Let's go back!"
"Huh? Aren't we going to look for the pond?" Daya asked, puzzled.
Chen Kai felt that since Xiao Tian said he wanted to go back, there must be some risks ahead, so he said, "Let's go back, we won't look anymore."
Then, one by one, they walked back with their heads drooping.
Last time, when Chen Nong and his friends fell into the pool, two turtles suddenly emerged from the water, one big and one small. The smaller one was the turtle bastard they had forgotten about.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com