Chapter 21: Well Digging Follow-up

The villagers knew that the Shen family was going to dig a well, and many people came to watch the fun. One by one, they crowded around another. After all, now everyone in the village can drink water from a big well, and no one has ever dug a well in their own yard.

"Shen Xiangnan, how much does it cost for your family to dig this well?"

Shen Xiangnan was very proud at this moment. He took the Big Rooster cigarettes that Shen Ruoqing brought back and distributed them to the crowd: "It didn't cost much. The average one is only fifty or sixty yuan. But my family wants to get a better one, so it won't exceed 100 yuan at most."

"One hundred yuan! So expensive!" The crowd exclaimed, "Shen Xiangnan, your family is quite rich!"

Shen Ruoqing frowned. She didn't realize that this cheap second brother also liked to show off.

"How can the Shen family come up with 100 yuan? I remember that his family is quite poor. Shen Ruoqing has been digging wild vegetables every day this month!"

"Tsk, you don't know this, right? When Shen Dahai died, he received several hundred yuan in compensation. The Shen family is very rich."

Wang listened with her ears perked up. She had asked Shen Xiangnan where the money for digging the well came from, but Shen Xiangnan refused to tell her. Now she knew that her father-in-law's compensation was several hundred yuan! When Shen Xiangnan married her, he said that his family had no money and gave such a small betrothal gift! "How come this well is so deep but still dry? Hope there is no water this time!"

The drill has been dug more than ten meters deep, but it's still dry. It looks like the Shen family's money is going to be wasted!

"I think we can't pump out any water! It's so deep! You deserve it! You still wanted to learn how to dig a well from others, but now your money has been wasted!" The speaker was Ji Meihua, she just couldn't bear to see the Shen family having an easy life!

The well diggers were also unsure and came to ask Shen Xiangdong: "Do you want to continue digging?"

Shen Xiangdong looked at his mother, and Old Lady Ji looked at Shen Ruoqing.

"Keep going, Master. Don't worry. We agreed on this at the beginning. Even if you are unlucky and can't get any water, you won't lose a single one."

"Yes, digging a well requires luck. Whether you can get water depends on luck. If there is no water below, you can't force water, right? Master, please continue." Shen Xiangdong said.

The onlookers nodded one after another. There were one or two people in the crowd who wanted to dig a well, but now they gave up. This cost several dozen yuan. If there was no water, wouldn't the money be wasted?

Shen Ruoqing watched the well digger working for a long time. When he was almost 20 meters deep, mud came out. Shen Xiangdong and others were relieved. Until he reached 35 meters deep.

Then the worker will press the wellhead and gently press the lever, and water will flow out of the well.

“It’s out of the water!”

"At first, there will be sand in the water, but after a few days, it will be clean."

"Thank you for your hard work!" Shen Xiangdong passed out another round of cigarettes. Seeing this, the Shen family was undoubtedly the happiest. The money was not wasted! "They really got lucky and got water!" Ji Meihua was very unwilling and cursed again.

"Auntie Shen, now that you have a water pump at home, can I come to your house to get water?" a neighbor asked.

This is hard to agree to. Water is so difficult to get now. What if everyone goes to Shen's house to get water? But if I don't agree, it will be difficult for me to be a person in the village.

"They spent a hundred yuan, Sister Qi, you have made a good calculation. If you want water, you can also draw it. The well digger is here, and you can save the travel fee!" Someone joked. The person who spoke was a family close to the big well in the village.

"Didn't I see that the Shen family has already dug a well? If my family also digs a well, let's not talk about the money first. It's still unclear whether water can be produced." Mrs. Qi didn't get angry when someone said that, and answered with a smile.

"No problem, you can come and get water. Those who live far from the big well can come to my house to get water, but the amount of water they can get from my house is limited. If there is no limit, then everyone who comes to my house won't be able to use the water." Old Lady Ji came up with such a compromise. After all, the water supply in the village is limited now. If she doesn't set a limit, I believe there will be many people who love to take advantage of small gains and deliberately use more water.

"Aunt Shen, you are such a nice person! Don't worry, we won't use more of your water, nor will we interfere with your own water use."

What Old Lady Ji said undoubtedly won the favor of many people in the village. For a while, the prestige of the Shen family in the village also increased slightly.

Shen Xiangdong also invited the well digger into the house for dinner.

Although new grain has been distributed, everyone knows that this year's grain is not enough to eat, because there is no water to irrigate the land, and it is still unclear whether the next season's grain can be grown. The well digger did not expect to have much food.

I didn't expect that the staple food for the Shen family to entertain guests was cornmeal steamed bread. Cornmeal is now classified as a fine grain, and many families who are afraid of not having enough food have already exchanged cornmeal for other coarse grains.

In addition to the steamed bread made of cornmeal, the Shen family also fried a large pot of cabbage and potatoes. Although there was no meat, it looked very oily. There was also a plate of scrambled eggs.

In this day and age, such meals can be considered sumptuous.

The well diggers thought they were lucky enough to have some flour, but they could also eat steamed bread made of pure corn flour and a plate of scrambled eggs. Everyone praised the Shen family for their kindness.

After dinner, Shen Xiangdong sent away the well digging master.

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When I got back, some people at home were already queuing up to get water.

"The newly-drilled well water contains sand and cannot be drunk. If you want to drink it, you have to wait a few days," said Shen Xiangdong.

"It's okay, we'll pump it back for use. Shen Xiangdong, your water pump is really useful. It just pumps water out. Next year, my family will save some money and dig a well."

As the first foreign well in the village, everyone was quite excited about it.

Shen Ruoqing looked at the people queuing up and sighed. It seemed that her family would not be able to use the well today. But it didn't matter. She was originally trying to cover up the free use of water.

After the well was built, Old Lady Ji and her three daughters-in-law cleaned up the vegetable garden. Now each person has two mu of private land. There are 14 people in their family, so they can own more than 1,800 square meters of private land. The area of ​​this private land is not small. In addition to growing some vegetables, the rest is planted with corn and sweet potatoes. With private land, there is no need to worry about not having enough food.

Shen Ruoqing also put some soil nutrient solution from the system mall on her own private plot, spending more than 100 yuan. She believed that the output of this land should not disappoint her.

Because they had their own plots of land, the Shen family finally stopped eating acorn flour. However, Shen Ruoqing thought that it might be because the acorn flour was finished and Old Lady Ji didn't change it. However, since Wang found out that Old Lady Ji still had several hundred yuan in her hands, she would use the baby in her belly to make trouble every day, either asking for eggs or chicken soup.

But Old Lady Ji would not indulge her. After giving her two scoldings, Wang became obedient.

(End of this chapter)