Xie Baotian and Xie Baoshu both nodded in agreement.
"That's true, your grandma is strict with you all for your own good!"
Xie Yushu nodded
That's how she got through the ordeal of transforming from an honest person to a "lively" one!
"Xie Yushu, I'm not bullying your father and your brother. Your brother attacked first. In this special time, our brothers are all waiting to survive! We can't just sit here and get beaten up!" Liu Qiang, usually so domineering, explained with a hint of nervousness.
Xie Tianqi jumped out and shouted.
"Who gave you permission to steal the water source we discovered?"
"You're talking nonsense! I was the one who found it first!" Liu's fifth son shouted indignantly.
"I found it first!"
"I found it first!"
Liu Xiaowu and Xie Tianqi are about to start another war of words.
"Shut up!"
Xie Yushu shouted
Perhaps it was because of his overwhelming presence that the two boys were intimidated.
Both of them were around thirteen or fourteen years old, an age when people hate dogs. Without them causing trouble, the situation could be controlled.
Liu Qiang pressed down his brothers and spoke to Xie Yushu.
"As you just said, we're all from the same village, and we don't necessarily want to turn against each other. However, it's impossible for you to monopolize the water source. After all, we also need to survive. At most, we'll let you use the water after we've finished drawing it!"
Xie Yushu glanced at the water source they were talking about.
"There are only a few green grasses under that big rock. Who knows how much water we can dig out! We don't expect to fetch water from here, but we'll take some water from here to drink first."
The situation is special now, and I don't want to waste my energy fighting for this little bit of water. We're not fighting for the water, but you'd better pray that my older brother and younger brother are alright. If anything happens to them, I will definitely hold you accountable!
Liu Qiang disagreed.
"Don't be unreasonable! My third and fourth sons, as well as my second brother-in-law, were also injured!"
"I don't care if you get hurt or not, but it's not okay if my brother gets hurt!"
Before Liu Qiang could say anything more, Xie Yushu interrupted.
"I advise you to save your breath and hurry up and take some people to dig for water. In this heat, that little bit of water will dry up in no time!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Qiang addressed the Liu brothers.
"Those who are not injured, come with me to dig for water. Those who are injured, find a shady place to bandage your wounds!"
As soon as he spoke, the Liu family members split into two groups, some digging for water and others bandaging wounds.
"Xie Yushu, you want water, but you can't just take it as a free meal. It's so hot, everyone's thirsty. We brothers won't stand for it if you just hand it to us!" Liu Qiang said, turning around.
"We'll certainly do our part too!" Xie Yushu said, glancing at Xie Baotian and Xie Baoshu. Xie Baotian added...
"Your second uncle and I are fine. Let's go fetch water. You bandage up your older brother, Qi-ge, and Ming-ge!"
Xie Yushu nodded
Xiao Yong said upon seeing this
"Uncle Xie, Second Uncle, I'll go fetch water with you too," he said to Li.
"You help your second brother's wife look after her in-laws!"
Then he followed Xie Baotian.
Although Xie Tianqi had two tubes of blood hanging from her nose, it was almost stopped. Xie Tianming, though bruised and swollen, was still able to move. The two of them grimaced and moved to a shady spot to rest.
Li and Xie Yushu carried Xie Tianlin to a shady spot and bandaged his head wound. Xie Tianlin had regained consciousness, but because of the head injury, he said he was a little confused. However, he recognized people. When he saw that it was Xie Yushu, he told her to go home and that he would carry more water back to her later.
Seeing him like this, Xie Yushu breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that there would be no lasting effects, and he wasn't stupid!
Thankfully, nothing happened. Otherwise, if something had happened right under her nose, she would have felt really bad for the original owner of this body!
Although the original owner's family was poor, the family members had a very good relationship and never treated their daughter harshly like other families. Otherwise, they would not have kept her until she was fifteen years old to get married during this famine.
Even if she was later married off to Xiao Yi, a cripple, it was because her reputation was ruined by the broken engagement.
For a whole year, not a single decent family offered her a marriage proposal. In this era, a girl whose engagement was broken off lost her reputation and became worthless! Her grandmother was forced to choose Xiao Yi, who offered the largest dowry. Her grandmother's exact words were...
"This Xiao Yi, who was able to hide money to get married under the nose of his notoriously biased and mean-spirited mother, is not someone without his own opinions or who can't stand on his own. He is better than those deaf, mute, lame, and crippled people, and even better than many able-bodied young men!"
First, he promised the first woman that he wouldn't have children with her until the child was grown up, which shows that he is kind and keeps his promise.
Secondly, the bride price he gave us was not low. In good years, the bride price for an ordinary family like ours would only be five or six taels of silver. Ten taels of silver would be a lot of money. Instead of taking advantage of this time to lower the price, he gave us a high price, which means he thinks highly of us!
Thirdly, Grandma thought that he couldn't possibly have hidden away only ten taels of silver. Although he was forced to decide to marry a wife and take care of the children, he couldn't possibly use all his savings to marry you and starve to death together!
So don't worry, Grandma, he still has at least ten or eight taels of silver left. You won't starve if you marry him! Our whole family can survive on those ten taels! We'll all remember your kindness!"
The original owner didn't want her whole family to starve, which is why she readily married him! Although there was hardly any love involved!
Looking back now, her grandmother was right! Xiao Yi really did have more than twenty taels of silver left!
It's true that Xie Yujiao instigated this, and her grandmother did indeed choose the best for her within the limited resources.
The original owner cherished these close relatives, and now that she has taken over the original owner's body, she naturally wants to do her best to protect them! Otherwise, she would feel guilty!
After all that effort, the group was exhausted and dizzy. The dozen or so people took turns digging for nearly an hour, digging three or four meters down the pit before finally uncovering a small puddle that was less than calf deep.
"No, I can't dig anymore, it's all rocks underneath, even the shovel has broken!"
Hearing the commotion, Xie Yushu and the others got up and went over.
Someone was digging with a shovel, the clanging sound clearly indicating the shovel was hitting the rocks. Seeing that they had worked so hard all day and only managed to dig out this little bit of water, everyone's spirits sank!
The atmosphere became tense again in an instant, and a major battle was almost about to break out!
"Qiang! We can't give them to them! There are so many of us, we're not afraid of them!" said one of Liu Qiang's brothers-in-law.
In an instant, the Liu brothers both looked at Liu Qiang, clearly sharing the same thought!
The Xie family members looked grim; clearly, they felt they were no match for the Liu family!
Liu Qiang hesitated for a moment, then looked at Xie Yushu and spoke.
"You all helped with the digging, so I'll let each of you have a couple of sips, and then you can leave! I don't want to fight you to the death!"
Xie Baotian said upon seeing this
"This! Nephew Liu, this isn't fair! We also contributed, so we should at least be allowed to take two gourds of water to drink on the road! In this sweltering heat, without water to drink on the road, we won't last until we find a new water source!"
Liu Qiang hesitated for a moment, but firmly refused.
"Uncle Xie, it's not that I'm heartless, but as you can see, my brothers also need to live! Letting you have a couple of drinks is the biggest concession I can make!"
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