Chapter 12: Sour Lemon Spirit 

The next day, Qin Nian got up early to make breakfast. After helping her grandmother eat, she untied the bandage on her injured leg, applied another layer of badger oil, and carefully rewrapped it.

Changing the dressing on a burn was excruciating—it felt like being skinned alive.

Fortunately, Granny Li had drunk a lot of spiritual spring water, which didn’t belong to this world. The pain had eased significantly, and the swelling on her burn had gone down.

Granny Li was in a good mood. As Qin Nian helped her with the medicine, she said cheerfully,
“I’m such a kind-hearted person, even the heavens pity me—injured, but not in pain.
When I see that beast Li Dahua, I must tell her this—it’ll piss her off so bad she won’t get out of bed for seven days.”

“And that old witch Qin Granny—she’s even more vicious.”

Qin Nian just smiled without responding. In her mind, she estimated that at this rate, her grandma’s leg would be mostly healed in about half a month.

She washed the used bandages thoroughly, scalded them in boiling water, and hung them outside in the sun to dry.

Life was tough and poor—everything had to be reused.

Geng Zhenhai also had his wound redressed, with Qin Nian’s help. His used bandages were also washed, boiled, and hung to dry for future use.

His leg was healing quickly too. That was because Qin Nian had quietly added spiritual spring water to their water jar—but they didn’t know that.

Once everything was done, Qin Nian hopped over the low wall to the neighbor’s yard and saw Ye Meizi busy by the stove.

“Aunt Geng,” Qin Nian said—she wanted to go up the mountain to forage for wild vegetables and asked Ye Meizi to help look after her grandmother.

Ye Meizi agreed with a smile. “I’m here, don’t worry. Go ahead up the mountain and pick what you need.”

“Xiao Nian, wait for me a moment.”

Geng Feng called out to her. “I haven’t been up the mountain in two or three days. I’ll go with you.”

He moved swiftly—slung his curved bow over his back, carried his quiver, grabbed his water pouch, and started filling it.

Yesterday, when Qin Nian had come by with the rice, Tang Xiaomei had been visibly unsettled seeing how familiar she was with her aunt’s family.

But she was stunned by what Qin Nian brought: in a year of famine, she actually gifted several jin of rice and brown sugar—things as valuable as gold.

Though unhappy, she said nothing. But that night, Tang Xiaomei lay awake, tossing and turning on the heated kang bed.

She couldn’t stop thinking: what exactly was that girl’s relationship with her aunt’s family? If they were just neighbors, would she give away such precious things?

Did she like her cousin Geng Feng? That thought made Tang Xiaomei’s heart race with anxiety—she had always liked Geng Feng herself.

She could tell her parents had hinted they’d like to strengthen ties between the two families through marriage.

If times weren’t so hard in recent years, her uncle’s family might’ve already come to propose.

And now that annoying girl came by again, and her cousin even offered to go up the mountain with her—Tang Xiaomei felt even more uneasy and upset.

She followed close behind Geng Feng and deliberately said loudly,
“Going up the mountain is exhausting, and the weather’s so hot. That water pouch is so small—will it even be enough to drink?”

She’d noticed Qin Nian didn’t bring a water pouch and was worried they might end up sharing Geng Feng’s.

There should be a clear line between men and women. She needed to give this girl a not-so-subtle reminder—not to get too cozy drinking from her cousin’s water pouch.

If she didn’t bring her own, then she should just endure being thirsty.

Qin Nian certainly understood the implication, but she couldn’t be bothered to argue with someone she didn’t even know. She acted like she hadn’t heard a thing.

Geng Feng glanced at Tang Xiaomei.

“This pouch not big enough? Just the other day, Xiao Nian and I went up the mountain to hunt wild boars—we both shared this one pouch and finished it together.”

What?! They often went up the mountain together? And shared the same water pouch?!

Tang Xiaomei nearly exploded from anger. Her face flushed bright red, and she glared at Qin Nian with open hostility. She wanted to slap her right there.

Shameless! How dare she seduce her cousin?

Tang Xiaomei’s mother—Geng Feng’s aunt—was also surprised by what he said.

Could it be that her brother’s family was eyeing that little girl next door?

She turned to study Qin Nian more closely. This girl was so thin, like a bamboo leaf—she didn’t look like she’d live long.

If her brother’s family was interested in her, they really had no taste.

Ye Meizi also picked up on the hostility in Tang Xiaomei’s words and quickly urged Geng Feng,
“Stop dawdling—you’ve taken long enough to fill a water pouch.”

Then she turned to Geng Feng’s aunt and said, “Sister, you and Xiaomei go rest inside. I’ll go check on Granny Li next door.
Geng Feng, hurry up—Xiao Nian is waiting on you.”

Geng Feng slung the water pouch over his back and grinned carelessly.
“Alright, alright, let’s go.”

With that, he and Qin Nian set off together.

Thinking of the empty basket from the day before, Geng Feng turned his head to look at the young girl beside him and asked,
“Xiao Nian, you didn’t dig up a single wild veggie yesterday? How could your luck be that bad?
Today I’ll help you fill a whole basket.”

Qin Nian pressed her lips together. “Yesterday, I wasn’t really focused on foraging.
Geng Feng, do you think there are any mountain springs around?”

Geng Feng misunderstood, assuming that Tang Xiaomei’s earlier words had gotten under Qin Nian’s skin.

He quickly explained,
“Xiao Nian, don’t mind my cousin—she has no filter and just blurts out whatever comes to mind.
If you’re thirsty, just drink from the water pouch—why go looking for a spring?”

Qin Nian straightened her expression.
“I didn’t care about what your cousin said. I’m not going to stoop to the level of a sour lemon spirit. I’m seriously asking.”

Geng Feng replied,
“Three years ago, before the big drought, I used to go up the mountain without a water pouch—just drank from springs.
But in the last few drought years, they’ve all dried up. I go up the mountain every day and haven’t seen a single spring.”

Qin Nian picked up the thread:
“Yesterday when I went up the mountain, I was hoping to find a spring.
If I can, then when the village wells dry up, at least we’ll still have water. Otherwise, everyone will have to flee to survive.”

Geng Feng was taken aback.

In times like these, everyone was looking out for themselves.
Someone who’d worry about what happens to the entire village once the wells run dry—only a girl like her would think that far ahead.

Deeply moved, he looked at Qin Nian and said,
“My dad told me once, before our two village wells were dug, they consulted someone who knew what they were doing.
Both wells were dug along underground water veins—under normal conditions, they won’t dry up.

But now that the drought’s so severe, everyone’s anxious and rushing to haul water, afraid there won’t be any left.
They don’t realize, even if they haul more, if the well dries up, all it does is buy them a few extra days.”

Geng Feng sighed.
“Some folks, seeing they can’t grow crops in the fields, started planting vegetables in their courtyards.
Hauling water daily to water those plants—you can’t say it’s selfish. They just want a few green leaves to stay alive.

Our village is surrounded on three sides by mountains, and every family’s yard is small—barely enough space to plant anything.
But even that has caused long queues at the well. The longer the wait, the more panic sets in. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Hearing that the wells were dug into the water line and likely wouldn’t run dry lifted Qin Nian’s spirits.

She smiled and said,
“Geng Feng, yesterday in the mountains, I heard the sound of running water.
Just as I was about to follow the sound, I heard you calling me from below.”

“You heard spring water? That can’t be,” Geng Feng said, skeptical.
“I go up that mountain all the time and haven’t heard a thing. The springs are all dry.”

Qin Nian insisted,
“I still plan to look today—see if there really is one that hasn’t dried up.”

Geng Feng didn’t believe it, but he chose to accompany her anyway.
“Alright, let’s go look together.”

At the foot of the mountain, the two of them started making their way along a winding path, heading deeper into the woods.