"Mother, no one in our village grows beans, so why is my second brother's wife growing so many beans?" Zhao Xiangbei couldn't understand it.
"What a waste of food! Eating too many beans will make you bloated. How can they taste as good as rice?" Old Mrs. Zhao said irritably.
Zhao Xiangbei quickly shook his head, "Of course not, white rice is much more fragrant!"
When Zhao Xiangbei arrived at the kitchen, he handed over all eighteen coins he had to Tao for safekeeping. Then he recounted how He Tiantian had planted beans.
Tao thought for a moment, "My second brother's wife has always been her own idea. Once we've saved enough money, we'll buy a few acres of dry land to grow beans."
Zhao Xiangbei quickly nodded.
He Tiantian's family is now completely idle. Apart from taking care of Xiao Mingzhu, she has basically nothing else to do every day.
After her confinement period ended, Sister Yulan took her two children back to her own home. I would occasionally visit her and help with chores.
The four large rooms of He Tiantian's house suddenly became quiet, and for a moment it felt a little strange.
Zhao Denglong was busy researching recipes in the kitchen every day, while Zhao Wanzi was responsible for feeding the rabbits and chickens.
The paddy fields in the village were still not irrigated because only a small number of people were willing to put in the effort to dig irrigation ditches.
Everyone else thought this thing was time-consuming and laborious, and that it would interfere with their work and earning money.
Moreover, there were previous instances where it didn't rain for a long time, but it eventually rained and the harvest was successful.
Zhao Tingzhang was furious about this, so he had no choice but to take his two sons to the fields every day to dig canals.
However, the river was too far away, and the three of them worked for a month or so without being able to bring the water to the paddy fields.
After He Tiantian's new house was built, she spent a lot of money to have a well dug in the yard so that it would be more convenient for the family to get water.
No longer does the whole village need to fetch water from the two wells at the end of the village.
The furniture I ordered from Carpenter Cheng last time is still not finished and will not be delivered for some time.
One day, villagers queuing to draw water at the end of the village suddenly discovered that one of the wells was dry. This was a major event for the village, and Zhao Yanniang was the first to notice.
She got up the earliest, intending to fetch two buckets of water for cooking. But all she brought back was dirty water mixed with damp mud, completely inedible.
Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that there was no water in the well!
Zhao Yanniang, with her loud voice, rushed to Zhao Tingzhang's house in a flurry, looking terrified.
"Village head, village head, there's no water!"
Zhao Tingzhang was squatting at the door smoking his pipe when he saw Zhao Yanniang barge in and asked, "What's wrong? No water?"
"One of the two wells at the end of the village is dry!" Zhao Yanniang said anxiously.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Tingzhang panicked and nearly fell over when he stood up too abruptly.
"Oh dear, Pavilion Chief, please take it easy." Zhao Yanniang stepped forward to help her up.
Zhao, the village head, jogged all the way to the end of the village. The bottom of the well was pitch black, not a drop of water in sight. He picked up a pebble and threw it into the well, but after a long while, he still didn't hear the sound of water.
Zhao Yanniang said, "See? There's no water left. My bucket was about half full of mud."
Early in the morning, more and more villagers came to fetch water.
These two wells had been the source of sustenance for generations in the village, but suddenly one of them dried up.
The villagers were terrified. Without water, they would die of thirst, which was no better than starving.
Zhao Maodan had just returned from the fields and said, "Chief, I see there's not much water in the river anymore. When can we start the irrigation canal project you mentioned last time?"
"I don't want my eight acres of paddy fields to yield nothing, especially since the rice is already heading."
Zhao Shuiwang chimed in, "Chief, I agreed to dig irrigation ditches last time. Look at the He family's bean seedlings; the beans grew so well after the irrigation. If anyone doesn't dig ditches this time, let their rice dry up."
Zhao Dagou was also there at the time; his family was now relying on those ten mu of paddy fields for food.
Zhao Dagou put the two wooden buckets on the ground and said, "I agree too. Ergou and I will go dig the ditch."
People around were gradually becoming willing to dig ditches again, because the drought had made them feel a strong sense of crisis.
The village really will run out of water, and it will happen very suddenly.
The sun was scorching the earth, and the men in the village were almost all shirtless, while the children were too hot to wear clothes.
The incessant chirping of cicadas made everyone even more anxious.
Zhao Tingzhang shouted, "Alright, now all of you go home, grab your tools, and get to the fields immediately! Everyone in every household who can work, whether man, woman, or child, must go!"
The rice in the whole village can't just dry up and die like this.
In no time, almost everyone in the village was out working in the fields with hoes and shovels. Even the men who usually worked in the mines took leave.
The water level of the river closest to the village's paddy fields has dropped significantly; this river is considered quite large.
Other small streams and ditches have long since reached their bottom.
The village children often fished in these quick-drying ditches, catching small crucian carp, about the size of a palm, and they could catch a lot at once.
Zhao Denglong also took Zhao Wanzi to catch fish in the stream, but the two couldn't stay outside for too long. They caught four or five fish and carried them home.
Halfway there, they saw Zhao Tingzhang leading the whole village to the fields in a great hurry, each carrying tools on their shoulders.
Zhao Wanzi ran home excitedly and told He Tiantian everything she had seen.
Of course, there's also the issue of a well at the end of the village drying up.
He Tiantian quickly checked the well in her yard, and thankfully there was still water.
However, she also felt a great sense of crisis, so she went to the kitchen and bought three large water vats from the mall.
The water tank is the kind that's really big; it can easily hold two or three adults.
"Lantern, Dumpling, come quickly and fetch water. Let's fill all the water tanks in the house," He Tiantian called out to the two children in the yard.
Zhao Denglong and Zhao Wanzi quickly ran over to get the bucket. The two children blinked when they saw the three large vats.
"Mother, when did we buy this water vat?" Zhao Denglong asked, puzzled. Her family didn't have one before she left.
He Tiantian could only lie to get away with it, "My mother ordered this in town a few days ago, and it was just delivered this morning."
The mother and her two daughters worked together to fill the water tank and filled all the other containers in the house that could hold water.
There was only one well in the village that was still producing water, which led to every household scrambling for water.
As the sun sets, the women return from the fields to prepare dinner.
Cooking naturally required fetching water from the end of the village, and Granny Yuan and Granny Zhao were the most capable old women in the village.
The two brought everything they could from their house that could hold water—more than a dozen of them, big and small.
The other women in the village could only watch helplessly as Granny Zhao and Granny Yuan kept filling bucket after bucket with water, as if it would never end.
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