Chapter 68 - 69: Not Thirsty
"This whole thing has a lot to do with those two people who climbed out a few days ago. I’d guess the Lord Prefect is suspicious and has sent people to secretly keep an eye on us." As Village Chief Li said this, he gave He Cao Gen a pointed look. ’Who else was to blame? It was people from his village who had brought all this trouble.’
"Tsk, tsk, you should have seen it. They even inspected the old oxen in our group, the ones that are about to die of thirst, several times."
"What’s there to inspect on an ox?"
"You don’t get it, do you? A miracle, remember? Maybe they think it’s the work of some Ox God." Village Chief Li chuckled at his own joke.
"Speaking of which, I’d say He Tuliang from your village got his just deserts. Yesterday, his family’s old ox couldn’t hold on any longer and died of thirst.
Last night, they tried to find people to help butcher the ox, but no one was willing to go. The whole family is still over there struggling with it now."
"That can’t be right!" Village Chief Shi sounded surprised. "No matter what, it’s still meat. As long as they offered a little something in return, someone should have been willing to help."
He Cao Gen wished he could just hang his head to his chest. ’It wasn’t that no one was willing to help; it was that Mrs. He Zhou was too much. She was only willing to offer half a jin of beef and even said that people would be taking advantage of them at that price.’
’These days, anyone with any strength left would rather spend it searching for roots to get some moisture. Why would they help butcher an ox, get all smelly with no way to clean up, and make the following days even more miserable?’
’And half a jin of meat? Who were they trying to insult? It wasn’t even enough to get your strength back. Even the newly arrived refugees wouldn’t take that deal.’
"The village chiefs are here. Let’s ask them what to do. We can’t just keep waiting here. If we don’t go out and find another way to survive, we’re really just waiting to die," He Cao Gen said hurriedly as he saw several of them walking over together.
"Is there another way? All our hopes are blocked by this wall. Are you suggesting we go back? Could we even make it?"
"None of that defeatist talk," Gu Sanbu said, sweeping his gaze over them. "Tomorrow, each family will send one person. We’ll form teams and search farther out. If that doesn’t work, we’ll find a damp patch of ground and see if we can dig for a water source."
This was the plan they had just worked out in a corner. They couldn’t move forward and couldn’t go back; their only option now was to try their luck with the earth.
The city had water, which meant the drought here wasn’t as severe as in other places. They had to carve out a path to survival.
"What? Dig ourselves?" Village Chief Shi’s face fell. "We can’t spare that many people."
His village had lost the most people during the journey. Now, it was mostly the elderly and children. Take away the women, and there were barely any able-bodied men left to handle such work.
"Then what’s your solution? We all just wait here to die?" The elder Village Chief Shi was so angry at his nephew for publicly disrespecting him that he nearly raised his cane.
"But..."
"That’s final. Go and inform your people today. We’ll assign the teams first thing tomorrow morning." Having said their piece, the elders didn’t waste any more time arguing with the village chiefs. They walked off together toward the city gate. Every day, they would go there to ask for news, hoping that if a benefactor appeared to distribute water or grain, they could be first in line.
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"Uncle, Auntie, my Brother Yuanyu and the others are back!" Gu Mingqiu’s voice echoed outside the city gate before he even arrived.
"Yuan Yu? Seventh and the others are back?" Gu Dashishi shot to his feet, accidentally pulling at the wound on his shoulder. The pain forced him to squat back down immediately.
"Seventh, did you see our Le Tian and Le Jia?" Shedding her usual listless demeanor, Xie Ruyi sprang up and rushed over. Her eyes scanned the crowd, but they slowly filled with disappointment.
"Eldest Sister-in-law?" Gu Wenheng stared at the sallow-faced, disheveled woman, finding it hard to believe she was the same person who, just days ago, had kept her hair meticulously neat and always wore a stern expression. "Didn’t Le Tian and Le Jia leave the city?"
"You weren’t together?" Xie Ruyi refused to give up hope. "Did you run into them in the city? Have you heard any news about them?"
Jin Qianqian was also shocked by Xie Ruyi’s transformation. ’How could just a few days wear a person down like this?’ "Eldest Sister-in-law, we got separated from everyone as soon as we entered the city. We didn’t see them."
Disappointed, Xie Ruyi shook her head, turned, and walked away, muttering to herself.
"You’re back now, but Second Brother’s family, as well as Le Tian and Le Jia, are still missing. Sister-in-law is frantic with worry," Hong Daya said, a complicated expression on her face as she held Gule Shun’s hand.
’To see Eldest Sister-in-law looking like that... she must be truly losing her mind with anxiety.’
"Fifth Sister-in-law," Jin Qianqian greeted Hong Daya, then crouched down to look at Gule Shun. "Little Shun, did you miss your auntie?"
But when she saw Little Leshun’s cracked and bloody lips, her heart ached. "Our Little Leshun must be thirsty, right? Auntie has some water for you right here."
Jin Qianqian quickly took the bamboo tube from her waist. She had stayed up the previous night to boil this water.
But Little Leshun looked up at Hong Daya, waiting for her to speak.
Hong Daya swallowed hard, her eyes turning red. She also crouched down to look at them. "Seventh Sister-in-law, I’ll owe you for this. I’ll find a way to repay you in the future."
Jin Qianqian paid her no mind, carefully bringing the bamboo tube to Gule Shun’s lips. "Auntie will help you drink. Let’s go slow. Auntie saved all this water for you."
Gule Shun took two small sips and gently pushed the tube away. "Can my mom have some too?"
"Of course. Auntie is giving this whole tube of water to you. You get to decide, okay?"
"..." Little Leshun looked obediently back at Hong Daya.
"How can we accept this? Water is impossible to find right now. Sister-in-law, you should keep it." Hong Daya didn’t dare to take it. She knew that even if you squeezed every last drop from everyone in Bainiao, you might not get a full bamboo tube of water.
In the short time they had been talking, the rest of the Gu Family had gathered around, their eyes gleaming as they stared at the bamboo tube in Jin Qianqian’s hand.
"Aunt Seven, give us a few sips of water too!" Gu Lehua stretched her hand out in front of her, her eyes glued to the bamboo tube.
Instead, Jin Qianqian pushed the bamboo tube directly into Hong Daya’s hands. "This is what I already promised to Le Shun..."
Before she could finish, Liu Liu cut her off with a shriek. "These are all Seventh’s nieces and nephews too! You can’t play favorites like this.
What gives Le Shun the right to have such a big tube of water all to himself? It’s not right for an elder to be so biased."
Jin Qianqian’s face darkened. ’They had all these bamboo tubes hanging from their waists precisely because they had planned to give one to each household. Yet before she could even finish her sentence, she was being berated.’
’Fine. She wasn’t feeling so generous anymore. After all, if someone had enough energy to shriek at that pitch, they couldn’t be all that thirsty. They could just keep on enduring it.’