Chapter 52: Finding Water

Shen Yu’an walked up to her father and suggested, “It’s too slow for all of us to search together. Dad, why don’t you go talk to Li Zheng and suggest that everyone splits up to search?” After speaking, she playfully winked at him.

Shen Rong understood his daughter’s suggestion immediately upon seeing her expression, and was somewhat surprised.

He asked in a low voice, “Is there water inside?”

By “inside,” he was referring to Shen Yu’an’s “little treasure chest.”

Shen Yu’an nodded at him, urging Shen Rong, who was stunned by the sudden surprise, to go and talk to Lizheng.

Shen Rong immediately snapped out of his daze and understood that his daughter didn’t want to take out the treasure chest in front of everyone. She wanted him to divert the others’ attention.

He walked quickly to the back of the group and found Li Zheng.

Upon seeing him, Lizheng smiled and asked, “Scholar Shen Rong, are you looking for me?”

“Well, here’s the thing. With so many of us, if we all head in the same direction, it’ll not only waste time but also slow us down,” Shen Rong explained to Lizheng.

“If you’re willing to search for water with us, we can split up and send a few people from each household to look for water separately,” he suggested.

“Of course, if you prefer to search on your own, that’s fine too. Following us around might just be a waste of your time. You can go search elsewhere,” he added.

Lizheng was taken aback by Shen Rong’s proposal. In essence, Shen Rong was saying that if the villagers followed them, they had to abide by their methods. Otherwise, even if they found water first, they wouldn’t share it with Shen’s village.

Lizheng realized that Shen Rong was right.

Before coming to talk to Lizheng, Shen Rong had already thought it through. They hadn’t even left the severely drought area yet, so it was unlikely that they would find water.

However, since his daughter had said there was water, they were bound to find it.

In the past, he would have thought that one village should help another as much as possible. But after witnessing too many shameless behaviors along the way, Shen Rong resolutely changed his view.

He didn’t want anyone to follow them and reap the benefits without putting in any effort.

Lizheng also thought that Shen Rong’s suggestion made sense, so he agreed to it.

After all, he was going to follow Shen’s group anyway. They were so capable, it would be foolish not to take advantage of them.

There were also people from Shen’s village keeping watch at the original location, so Lizheng was not worried about anyone sneaking away.

Soon, Lizheng selected people to form seven teams, in addition to Shen’s group, for a total of eight teams heading in different directions to search for water.

On Shen’s side, only Shen Yu’an, Shen’s three brothers, and Dalang and Erlang went to search for water. The others stayed behind to guard their belongings.

Of course, Wang Zhicai and his sister Wang Xiaogu were also following them.

They set off after randomly choosing a direction.

However, after searching for a long time, they couldn’t find a water source. Wang Xiaogu grumbled and complained, but no one paid attention to her.

After a while, she walked over to Shen Dalang and started chatting away with him.

“Brother Shen, why don’t you guys talk to Grandpa Lizheng about returning to the team? Otherwise, it’s too dangerous,” she suggested.

“No need,” he replied.

“You sold so much grain from your home, is there enough to eat? If not, we can lend you some,” she offered.

“Thank you, but no need,” he declined.

“…..” silence.

Wang Xiaogu tried to make small talk with Shen Dalang, but he remained cold and distant, not even looking her way.

He was currently scanning the area, searching for a suitable spot for his sister to retrieve water.

Before they set off, his sister had spoken to them, asking them to distract Wang’s brother and sister and find a suitable spot to release the water.

After all, water is not the same as grain; it can’t just be placed anywhere.

Shen Dalang found the chatty woman beside him quite annoying, not realizing that everyone was busy searching for water.

However, Wang Xiaogu didn’t feel the same way. She was overjoyed to hear that Shen Dalang was responding to her every remark and had lost her bearings in happiness.

She brushed her stray hair behind her ear and looked at Shen Dalang with sparkling eyes.

Her gaze was so intense that Shen Dalang couldn’t ignore it anymore and couldn’t help but turn to look at her.

Noticing Wang Xiaogu’s confused behavior, Shen Dalang kindly advised her, “Um, it’s not a good idea to touch your hair with your hands all the time. It will make it more oily. Also, are your eyes twitching?”

As soon as Shen Dalang spoke, not only did Wang Xiaogu freeze, but even Shen Yu’an couldn’t help but chuckle.

Her elder brother really had no sense of romance. The girl was looking at him so affectionately, yet he said her eyes were twitching.

Wang Xiaogu was clearly interested in her elder brother, but it seemed like he didn’t feel the same way.

After considering Wang Zhicai’s identity and actions later on, Shen Yu’an feels that it’s better not to get involved with them.

Plus, seeing how red-faced Wang Xiaogu is, she must be really tired after all this walking.

Although Shen Yuan agrees that the hair oil issue is true and can make hair oilier, she can’t help but reach out and touch her own hair when her brother mentions it.

However, as soon as she touches it, she quickly pulls her hand back.

Hmm… It’s very greasy.

However, now everyone is saving even the water used for meals, so there is no water for cleaning.

Hearing Shen Yu’an’s uncontrollable laughter, Wang Xiaogu stomped back to Wang Zhicai’s side in anger and shame.

Wang Zhicai had been staring at Shen Yu’an absentmindedly just a moment ago. He had the feeling that she looked different from how he remembered her.

The thought of Lin Chunyan, who was pregnant, made Wang Zhicai furrow his brow.

He thought to himself, “If only it were Shen Yu’an in her place.”

After walking forward for a while longer, the group still hadn’t found a suitable place.

Shen Yu’an suggested, “We’re moving too slowly this way. Why don’t we split up to search? Maybe we can find a place more quickly that way.”

After speaking, she looked at Shen Dalang and chuckled mischievously, “Dad and big brother can go with Wang Zhicai’s siblings.”

To keep Wang Zhicai’s siblings occupied, big brother had to make a sacrifice.

Soon, the group of eight split up, with Shen Yu’an, Shen Ming, Shen Yun, and Shen Erlang continuing to move forward.

Fortunately, luck was on their side, and the four of them quickly found a cave. After making sure that there were no dangers inside, they went in.

The cave appeared to be a natural formation, and it was quite large. They could walk for over ten meters inside.

There was nothing inside, but as they went deeper, Shen Yu’an noticed a sizable pit with a small hole on top.

She speculated that there used to be a spring here, but it had dried up due to the severe drought.

She approached and felt the small pit, which was naturally smooth. Even if they poured water into it, it wouldn’t immediately soak into the ground.

The others who came in later were also pleasantly surprised.

“Can we use this pit?” Shen Erlang asked excitedly.

“Yes, we can use it. After I pour the water into it, you can go call everyone,” Shen Yu’an said cheerfully.

After tidying up the pit a bit, Shen Yu’an took out a bucket of water from her storage space and had everyone pour it in.

The others were all very curious about the plastic buckets they were using and asked Shen Yu’an what they were made of.

At that time, there were no plastic products, so Shen Yu’an could only say that they were things from the “old immortals” on her side.

The others didn’t ask any more questions and just looked at the buckets with wonder for a while.