"Leaving aside gold and silver jewelry, their standard for charging money is one tael of silver for half a bowl of water, and I've never seen many people take the money to exchange for it."
“I saw it yesterday. They also accept straw mats, but they only exchange thirty mats for one bowl of water.”
Why are they collecting the straw mats?
"Sell it to others to make shrouds. These days, you're lucky if you can be buried wrapped in a straw mat."
"Let's go, let's get some people over here to weave straw mats."
The group stopped in a place away from the crowd.
After the village chief sent people to gather information, he asked each household to send a representative, and a team of people responsible for everyone's safety, along with supplies, led them up the mountain.
Seeing that they all had weapons, the refugees avoided them.
Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, they saw three concentric circles of fierce men wielding large knives. The mountain was also filled with people carrying sticks and knives. The group stopped, worried that they might not be able to get out.
At the foot of the mountain, a man carrying an axe saw that they were all carrying supplies and came out. "If you want to exchange supplies for water, hurry up and go up. There's not much water. Also, those of you with knives have to stay here. The rest of you can go up."
The village chief spoke first: "Can you guarantee our safety?"
The man's voice rose a few decibels, "We do business openly and honestly. Ask those people at the foot of the mountain, who have we robbed since they came up here!"
A thin man stepped out from the side. "If you don't believe me, you can take a few people up there and try it out. Just a friendly reminder, we can guarantee your safety from the top of the mountain to the foot of this mountain, but once you leave this area, we won't take care of you."
In the end, the village chief ordered the guards to stay behind and led the others up the mountain.
There were men with knives guarding the way. With so many knives, the village chief really suspected that these men might have been bandits before.
Upon arriving at the destination, we saw a small pool of water beneath a cliff. The water in the pool could probably fill three or four buckets.
Perhaps out of concern that the pond would evaporate, a thatched roof was placed over it for shade.
Everyone was excited; there really was water.
The village chief coughed a few times, reminding everyone to be careful and not to cause any trouble.
The area around the pool was filled with fierce men wielding large knives.
A table and chairs were placed not far from them. A short man stood on the chairs, and a one-eyed big man sat next to him.
The one-eyed giant shouted at them, "Weren't you here to change the water? Hurry up and bring out the supplies!"
The village chief took the lead and brought out a pair of denim shoes.
Upon seeing that they were cloth shoes, the short man immediately said, "Exchange them for half a bowl of water."
The village chief said, "Take a look at the soles of the shoes. You can try them on; they're very comfortable."
A man next to him took the cloth shoes, tried them on, and then grinned at the one-eyed man, saying, "Boss, give me these shoes!"
The one-eyed man scoffed, "Pathetic!"
The short man knew that these strangely made cloth shoes seemed to be worth the price, and said, "Then let's change the water."
Zhou, who was behind him, cursed inwardly: What a stingy person!
A man moved a wooden bucket onto the table, opened the lid, scooped out a bowl of water, and handed it out.
The village chief took the water and poured it into the prepared earthenware jar.
He actually wanted to use mineral water bottles, but he couldn't make it too eye-catching, or it would attract envy.
After handing the bowl back, the village chief told his eldest son to bring out the cloth. The short man examined each piece and then called out, "Exchange it for five bowls of water!"
The village chief frowned. Did these people only know how to calculate water by the bowl?
The village chief's son was heartbroken. He even brought out all the cloth in his house, but he only exchanged it for five bowls of water.
Then, the village chief asked someone to bring out the straw mats that had been carried up; these were ninety straw mats collected from the three villages together.
The short man went to the side and started counting, but he stopped at fifty because he couldn't count anymore...
The village chief's lips twitched as he watched. No wonder he heard that they charged one tael of silver for half a bowl of water, and that they would only accept silver and not copper coins. They wouldn't exchange a drop of water if the silver was less than the amount they were willing to pay. They measured the water with a bowl no matter what they offered in exchange. It turned out they didn't know how to do math or count; they were just being simple and crude.
The short man counted again, but still couldn't count them all. He had no choice but to turn around and say, "How about we change to something else first? We'll get you a replacement later. If you're worried, you can keep the things for now."
The village chief sighed and said, "Then let's try something else."
Soon, everyone had exchanged their supplies for water, except for the ninety straw mats that the family hadn't counted and hadn't settled the accounts for.
The village chief suggested, "Why don't you count out three cards and put them aside first, then count out thirty cards again and put them aside, and then count the last pile again?"
The short man exclaimed happily, "That's a great idea!"
The village chief and the others waited quietly to the side. The short man counted the water and said, "Change three bowls of water."
When the man saw that the wooden bucket was empty, he filled another bucket with water and ladled three bowls of water for them.
The village chief took another jar to put it in; this was a shared resource from the three villages.
The short man noticed that some people in their group were carrying bulging bundles and asked curiously, "What are those things? Aren't you going to exchange them?"
The village chief laughed and said, "We won't change it. We still need this to carry the water back later."
Halfway down the mountain, the village chief had people surround the area tightly, and then took out the mineral water bottles from the sack; the smallest of them was 2 liters.
Then he took out a funnel, poured the water from the earthenware pot into it, tightened the lid, and put it back into the burlap sack.
It's safe to use mineral water bottles to store water; the water won't leak out even if it falls on the ground.
The rest was left to his eldest son to handle.
Before setting off, the families had agreed that after exchanging for water, they would pool their resources and put the water in mineral water bottles to bring it back safely.
When two or three families get together, the eldest brother uses a smaller bottle to hold the water if there is less water, and a larger bottle if there is more water.
These mineral water bottles were provided by someone else and lent to them; they need to return them when they get back.
The burly men by the roadside were used to seeing them huddled together, wondering what they were doing. They knew that without some tricks, how could they bring the water back? They had seen a group of people get water and then huddle together for a whole day, but they didn't dare to go down the mountain even when it got dark, and in the end, they were driven down by the burly men.
After the water was bottled, the village chief and his team led the way, with the people carrying the jars standing in the middle and the rest carrying sacks at the back.
As soon as they reached the foot of the mountain, their guards surrounded them.
Not long after they left the foot of the mountain, the refugees surged towards their group, their eyes fixed on the jars in their hands.
The guards slashed at the men who rushed forward, but those men, bleeding profusely, continued to charge in regardless.
The person at the back of the group, taking advantage of the cover provided by those in front, hoisted a sack and ran quickly toward the rest area.
Half of the guards covered their retreat, while the rest protected those behind them and led them all back.
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