An Shuyi and Xia Hua were also worried. Every day they saw that their people had no water to drink, and they had water but couldn't get it out. The two of them were discussing how to reasonably get their water out.
Things took a turn for the better when they passed through a village. After that village, whenever they saw a village, Village Chief Lin would lead them to avoid it to prevent the same thing from happening again.
When they saw the village, Village Chief Lin wanted to avoid it, but An Shuyi stopped him. Such a big village must have a well, and even if there was no water in it, they could conjure it up.
Village Chief Lin licked his dry lips, which were cracked from not drinking water for a long time. "Sister-in-law, this village looks deserted. Going anywhere will just mean walking a little further."
Looking back at the tribespeople, apart from the elders and young children who could drink a little water, the rest of the tribespeople could only moisten their lips with water each day and walk a longer distance. Where did they get the strength?
They hadn't cooked for ten days, eating only vegetable pancakes and dry cornbread. Every time they ate, they felt their throats being cut by the pancakes and cornbread, and then they had to swallow them down with the blood.
The horses and oxen, and the mules weren't much better; no matter how much you tried to pull them along, they wouldn't budge, and in the end, someone had to lead them.
“Let’s go take a look,” An Shuyi said, looking at the tribespeople. “How about this, you all wait here, and Xia Hua, Lao San, and I will go over and see if there’s any water there. If there is, we’ll call you; if not, then we’ll continue on our way.”
“I know you’re tired, but if we can’t find water, how will we survive? Look around, there’s only dry land everywhere, stretching as far as the eye can see. Xia Hua and I will go take a look, you rest here for a while.”
"Sister-in-law, let Sanwa rest. I'll go with you!" Lin Changshi said as he came over. Every time, his two sisters-in-law would rush to the front, making them, the grown men, feel embarrassed.
“Yes, Aunt, I’ll go with you, no need for the third brother.”
An Shuyi shook her head, "No need, let the third brother come with us. You guys rest here and will be back soon."
After she finished speaking, she called her third brother and they continued towards that village.
An's father watched them leave. Although he wanted to follow, he knew he couldn't run as fast as his third son. He decided to wait and go with Village Chief Lin and the others. As long as his daughter and Xia Shi were there, they would definitely be able to find water.
Although he didn't know how they got those foods, they always appeared out of thin air whenever he ate with them, like fairies. He thought that as long as his daughter and Xia Shi weren't monsters, they must be fairies.
If Xia could conjure up food out of thin air, he could certainly do the same with water.
An Shuyi and Xia Hua led the third brother into the village, which was in a state of disrepair. Some houses had collapsed, but luckily, they found two wells in the village.
They had all seen it; there was no water inside. However, when they looked, they made the third brother stand aside and didn't let him see. Anyway, he was too lazy to move, so naturally he wouldn't come over to look.
Standing by a well at the end of the village, he took out a rope from his basket and said, "Huahua, you hold my hand from up here, I'll go down and take a look."
Xia Huaran nodded, "Okay, be careful." Only one person can go down into this cave. It's been so long, and who knows if there are any other creatures down there? But if there are, they would have turned into mummies long ago.
An Shuyi tied the rope, Xia Hua held one end and threw the other end into the well. She then grabbed the rope and went down into the well, stepping into the dry well, which contained only some dry mud.
They took the water from the warehouse and poured two buckets onto the ground. Fortunately, you could see a little water glistening from above. "Huahua, there really is water here. Have Lao San go and call Village Chief Lin and the others."
"Really? Mother." Upon hearing his mother's words, the third son hurriedly jumped over and peered into the well. However, the well was quite deep and very dark, and he could only see a glimmer of light in the water and his mother's figure hanging on the rope.
"Do you think I'm lying? Hurry up and call your village chief uncle. There's not much water here, so you have to fetch it yourself. Huahua, find something you can stand on and put it down so I can stand on it to fetch water." An Shuyi said, shaking the rope.
Actually, she was standing by the rope, but on the ground. She wouldn't drink the water, and she couldn't draw any out anyway. When the tribespeople came, she would just pour the water from the bucket for them and then pull them up.
"Mom, I'll go call Uncle Village Chief right now." After saying that, the third son ran off in a flash, faster than he ever did when traveling.
After he left, Xia Hua stood at the cave entrance, waiting for the tribespeople to arrive, where she would fetch water.
Meanwhile, the tribespeople saw the third brother running back and shouted as they went, but they couldn't hear him because he was too far away. It wasn't until they got closer that they heard him say there was water.
“Village chief, is what the third brother said true? There’s water! That’s great! We’re saved now!” a villager said.
"It must be true. The An and Xia families are truly saints. I never thought they could find water just by asking them to," an auntie chimed in.
The other tribesmen also chimed in, one after another, completely disregarding their already cracked mouths.
Before Village Chief Lin could speak, An's father saw his third son running back excitedly and slapped him on the head. "You brainless brat! Is this how your mother taught you? Are you so loud because you're afraid people won't hear you?"
"Do you think it was easy for your mother to find water? And why are you shouting so loudly? Do you think we're the only ones here? If you had called the others, would you have been able to save the water?"
The excited third brother was silenced by a slap. Only after hearing his grandfather's words did he realize his mistake. "Grandfather, I was wrong. I was too happy just now and didn't think of it." After saying that, he looked into the distance and breathed a sigh of relief when no one was there.
What he didn't know was that he relaxed too soon.
Looking at the third son who had admitted his mistake, Village Chief Lin said, "Uncle An, this kid is still young. Let's go fetch water first and talk to him later."
An's father nodded and led his family into the village. Village Chief Lin also told the clansmen to hurry up and get everyone and their belongings ready.
Everyone knew there was water, so even without him saying anything, they all took their things and followed behind the third brother towards the end of the village.
"Sister-in-law Xia, the third brother said you found water, is that true?"
Xia Hua nodded, "Really, hurry up and get your water containers, and also get a rope and two buckets."
"Sister Xia, can we check how much water there is?" one of the tribesmen said, handing over a bucket and a rope.
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