Chapter 54: Start Watering
For now, no one else was aware of An Ning’s awkward situation. The villagers were fascinated by the new contraption, but even more thrilled about the relief it brought from the drought.
In their eyes, this land was their roots, as important as life itself.
Sun Dazhuang immediately stepped into his role as captain, organizing a group to dig ditches. They didn’t have to be particularly deep, just enough to channel water into the fields.
A lot of water would inevitably seep into the earthen ditches, but once the ground became saturated, the rest would flow into the fields.
A few other men stood behind An Ning, ready to take turns cranking the handle and ensure a steady flow of water.
Jiang Xia was among them. After all, he’d always been known as a capable worker.
An Ning watched the villagers in front of her spring into action, bustling with energy. Feeling the zealous atmosphere, a similar fire ignited in her heart.
’Time to work!’
She reached out, her hand just about to touch the handle.
"Stop—"
Sun Dazhuang’s roar made An Ning freeze in place. Her spiritual power instantly flared out; a shout like that had to mean mortal danger.
But when her spiritual power spread out, An Ning found nothing.
’Is it something I’m not aware of?’
"Oh, for goodness’ sake, little ancestor, it’s not your turn to do this work! You just go stand aside and watch."
By now, Sun Dazhuang regarded An Ning as a treasure to be protected by the entire village.
To put it bluntly, An Ning was the brains of the operation, and the one using their brain shouldn’t be doing manual labor.
But An Ning didn’t see it that way. Forbidding her from working felt worse than death.
"Captain, I don’t want to just watch. This isn’t even tiring. I could crank this thing all day by myself."
An Ning only meant to show how capable she was, but who here would have the heart to let her work all day?
"Absolutely not. How could we let you work all day? Take a break. Go do some of the lighter work in the fields if you must."
Seeing that Sun Dazhuang wouldn’t budge and not wanting to delay the irrigation, An Ning conceded and went to help dig the ditches instead.
Sun Dazhuang opened his mouth to protest again, but Jiang Xia stopped him.
"Captain, you can’t stop someone who’s determined to work. She’s not a fool; she’ll know to rest when she gets tired."
Sun Dazhuang shook his head in disagreement and waved a hand at Jiang Xia. "You don’t know."
He remembered how relentlessly An Ning had worked on West Mountain.
Jiang Xia watched Sun Dazhuang walk over to An Ning. Like a worried father, he must have lectured her for a while, because Jiang Xia only saw An Ning nodding repeatedly until Sun Dazhuang finally walked away, reassured.
Jiang Xia took over An Ning’s post at the pump. As he cranked the handle, he wondered, ’What is it that I don’t know?’
But it wasn’t long before Jiang Xia had no mental energy left for thinking. This thing was just too exhausting.
Every single turn of the crank required force. While it wasn’t as strenuous as the first few turns, it was far from effortless.
Jiang Xia recalled that when An Ning had demonstrated it earlier, it hadn’t looked this difficult at all.
He stole a glance at An Ning. ’What on earth does her family eat? She’s unbelievably strong.’
Still, Jiang Xia gritted his teeth and persevered. He and his grandfather lived in the village, so they were all in the same boat; everyone prospered or suffered together. And when it came to grain, the more, the better.
A single glance around confirmed that no one was slacking off.
Everyone understood the importance of irrigation, and each person was completely focused on the task.
Even when noon arrived, no one went back to rest. They endured the scorching heat, and to say they were drenched in sweat would be an understatement.
At noon, many of the women and older children came over with baskets to bring lunch to the men who were working.
The An family was no exception.
The person delivering their food was Lin Cuihua. The moment she arrived, she made a beeline for An Ning.
"Quick, quick, drink some water! Your face is beet red from the sun. It’s going to be sore tonight."
Lin Cuihua fanned An Ning’s cheek with one hand. She knew it didn’t do much, but at least it created a little bit of a breeze.
An Ning was truly parched. She took the water mug from Lin Cuihua and started chugging it down in big gulps. GULP, GULP, GULP.
In one go, she downed half the mug. This time, it was because she was genuinely thirsty, not just being polite.
"How could you let yourself get this thirsty without drinking any water? And you should have told me sooner! I only just found out you all were doing this."
"This thermos is full of cool boiled water. Drink it this afternoon while you’re working."
An Ning was already used to Lin Cuihua’s way of talking. Her words were clearly full of concern, but they always managed to sound like she was starting a fight.
"Mom, Dad and Big Brother must be thirsty, too."
"It serves them right! Not a single one of them bothered to tell me."
Though Lin Cuihua was grumbling, her feet didn’t slow down one bit. She even glanced back to call to An Ning.
"Hurry up! Find a shady spot and get something to eat."
An Ning wasn’t particularly tired, but she was definitely hot.
So hot she was starting to feel dehydrated.
She followed Lin Cuihua toward a large locust tree, where many people were already cooling off in the shade, resting, drinking water, and eating their lunch.
An Ning happened to sit down next to Jiang Xia, and she met his grandfather for the first time.
"You must be An Ning. I’m Jiang Xia’s grandfather."
An Ning greeted Grandpa Jiang Xia with perfect courtesy, completely lacking the vexing attitude she usually had when speaking with Jiang Xia. Her polite demeanor was so surprising that Grandpa Jiang Xia shot his grandson a strange look.
Jiang Xia understood immediately. He looked at his grandfather, his eyes full of wronged innocence, wanting to shout, ’She doesn’t normally talk like that!’
Alas, he had to suppress his indignant roar and could only take furious, large bites of his food.
"Here, here, our great heroine deserves a piece of meat."
Grandpa Jiang Xia had made chicken and potato stew for lunch. He picked up a large drumstick with his chopsticks and went to place it in An Ning’s bowl.
An Ning’s own lunch wasn’t bad, either.
Lin Cuihua had been home making schoolbags all morning and had no idea what was going on. It wasn’t until she’d waited a long time for everyone to come home for lunch that An Guoming went to ask around and find out.
Usually, for a hard day’s work like this, families would prepare a better meal so the workers would have energy for the afternoon.
But everything had been too rushed. Lin Cuihua only had time to make some scrambled eggs and fried potato slices with lard.
There was no way An Ning would accept food from someone else’s bowl.
"No, thank you, I couldn’t. Please give it to Jiang Xia."
An Ning pulled her rice bowl away. Jiang Xia glanced at her lunch and said with a touch of disdain, "I don’t like drumsticks."
"Heh heh, that’s right, he really doesn’t care for them. And I’m too old to chew it," Grandpa Jiang Xia said, pushing the drumstick forward again.
"Quickly, quickly, it’s about to fall!"
The old man’s hand was trembling so much that An Ning, afraid he would drop it, instinctively moved to catch it. Just like that, the drumstick landed right in her bowl.
An Ning furrowed her brow. Looking at Grandpa Jiang Xia’s now perfectly steady hand, she felt something was off.
Beside her, Jiang Xia turned away, the corners of his mouth lifting into a smile.
’The old man’s still got it.’
After all, he had learned all his own skills from the old man.
"Thank you."
Staring at the drumstick in her bowl, An Ning had no choice but to give her thanks. ’I’ll have to get Jiang Xia a nice gift to thank him for this,’ she thought.
"Don’t you thank me. We’re the ones who should be thanking you. This water pump has solved a massive problem for us."
The old man’s praise was sincere, and his gaze on An Ning grew increasingly fond.
’She’s a good kid.’