Xuemei nodded. Grandma, Dad, and Mom would do anything to get Nannan what she wanted to eat. Nannan was so lucky to have so many people love her. But she herself wasn't bad off either. Since coming to the Yan family, she had never been beaten or scolded. Since Nannan was born, the family had not only had food, but they had also built a house and made furniture. Nannan was truly a lucky child.
Southeast moved to a new house because Yan Xiaonan wanted to sleep in a room by herself, which made Grandma pretend to be sad and say that her darling didn't want Grandma anymore. Unfortunately, Yan Xiaonan wasn't a real child. In her previous life, she always slept in a room by herself and had a very strong sense of spatial independence.
Yan Xiaoqiang doted on his daughter without question. He would do anything Yan Xiaonan asked for. He even repainted the house with whitewash and bought paper-cut window decorations to put up. Xinan moved her new furniture into Yan Xiaonan's room, since she was still a long way from getting married.
Looking at the newly renovated house, Yan Xiaonan happily ran around inside, with Zhongnan and Xinan following behind, cheering her on. The whole Yan family was filled with laughter and joy.
There was a knock on the door, and the village chief's voice rang out. Yan Xiaoqiang quickly ran out to open the door. The hot weather had turned the village chief's face dark red, and his clothes were soaked with sweat.
Xuemei quickly poured a large glass of cool boiled water and handed it to the village chief, then handed him a large palm-leaf fan. The village chief drank the water in one gulp, then picked up the palm-leaf fan and fanned himself a few times to dispel some of the heat before greeting Grandma Yan.
“Sister-in-law, the river in the village has dried up, but there are still more than two months until the autumn harvest. What should we do? We want to dig a well, so that at least the sweet potatoes can be saved and the villagers won’t starve to death. If even the sweet potatoes can’t be saved, then everyone will starve to death.”
Grandma Yan agreed wholeheartedly. Whether it was sweet potatoes or rice, they had to save one of them first. The sweet potatoes would be ripe in a little over a month, but the rice would take more than two months. They could dig a well instead.
The village chief nodded. There was no water in the river, so digging a well would have to be deep enough to reach groundwater. He had already asked the commune, and they said that hiring a professional well-digger would be expensive, and there was no guarantee that they would find water.
This stumped Village Chief Ma. If he could get water by spending the money, everything would be fine, but what if he couldn't get any? The village only had that much money, what would he do when it ran out? He hesitated, but apart from the Yan family, there was no one else who could share his worries, so he could only rush to the Yan family in a hurry.
Grandma Yan also had a headache when she heard this. All the money in her family had been used up to build a house, and the grain on the surface had also been used up during the construction. Now, like most farmers in the village, the Yan family had no grain at home. The boys were always out early in the morning and back late at night to find food, and they were so tanned that they looked like two African friends from a distance.
Yan Xiaonan thought to himself, "Why not just hold a big meeting to raise funds? It's a matter of life and death, why care about money?" But he was too young, and if he said these words, he would definitely scare the village chief to death.
Grandma Yan voiced the girl's thoughts: "Village chief, why don't you hold a village meeting? Those with money can contribute money, and those with grain can contribute grain. Everyone can chip in, and the village can also provide some subsidies. Let's get through this difficult time first."
The village chief nodded, stood up and went to the village committee to discuss with the secretary and the brigade accountant how much each household should contribute. Regardless of whether water could be found, the well definitely had to be dug. These days, digging a depth of thirty meters was already quite an achievement, and the price was exorbitantly high.
But where in the village is there groundwater? Grandma Yan's gaze habitually turned to Yan Xiaonan. Yan Xiaonan was embarrassed. He was a child who grew up in the city. How would he know where groundwater was? However, he seemed to have seen a method in a novel. He didn't know if it was true or not.
Yan Xiaonan ran out of the main room and to the chicken coop. He found a dozen or so chicken feathers and told Yan Xiaoqiang to go to the foot of the mountain and find some places where the weeds grew thickly to dig holes. He then told Yan Xiaoqiang to stick a few chicken feathers in the holes, cover them with a bowl, and check them overnight. He said the more moisture the chicken feathers had, the more likely there was water underground.
Yan Xiaoqiang didn't care whether Yan Xiaonan's method had any scientific basis. He picked up a feather duster and a shovel, and asked Dongnan to bring a few large bowls. He went to the foot of the mountain and searched for most of the day. Finally, he found two places with some green spots and started digging.
They dug about half a meter deep, inserted chicken feathers into the hole, carefully covered it with a bowl, and then piled up the excavated soil. They'll check it out tomorrow morning.
A night passed, and Yan Xiaoqiang and Yan Dongnan picked up shovels and ran to the foot of the mountain. They found the place where they had buried the bowls the day before, and started digging. Two large bowls were revealed. Yan Xiaoqiang and Yan Dongnan looked at each other and opened the bowls together. Three chicken feathers were wet under Yan Xiaoqiang's bowl, and five chicken feathers were wet under Yan Dongnan's bowl.
"My precious daughter is truly a fairy! She even knows where the water is!" Yan Xiaoqiang immediately attributed the credit to Yan Xiaonan. Yan Dongnan quickly covered his father's mouth, "Are you out of your mind? No, are you out of your mind about Nan Nan's life?"
Yan Xiaoqiang was so startled that he slapped himself hard. He told Dongnan to go to the village chief's house and tell him the good news that there was water. Dongnan sighed and ran to the village chief's house.
The village chief was eating breakfast, which was just cornbread made from a mixture of three types of flour. Watching the village chief swallow the cornbread with his throat bobbing up and down, Yan Dongnan felt a little sore in his own throat. He was extremely grateful to his sister, at least at home they ate pancakes made from two types of flour and thick corn porridge.
When the village chief heard that Yan Dongnan and his group had found a water source, he dropped his cornbread and ran after Dongnan down the mountain. Because he was running so fast, he lost one of his shoes and had to go back to find it.
Seeing the wet chicken feathers, the village chief almost burst into tears. He knew that if they couldn't find the source of the groundwater, all that money would be wasted. Now that they had found a water source, not only could they save money on the well-drilling team, but they also had hope for everyone's survival.
The village chief excitedly asked Yan Xiaoqiang, "Qiangzi, how did you know to use this method to find a water source?"
Yan Xiaoqiang coughed and said, "My mother said that when my older brother went to join the army, they also needed to find a water source and dig a well. So she told my mother about this method. Yesterday you said you wanted to dig a well, and my mother remembered this method and let me try it. You see, the army's approach is correct, isn't it?"
The village chief nodded: "Go back and thank your mother. Oh, and thank your older brother, and your brother's army. The country is so good; it uses its best methods on the people."
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