Chapter 22: Manor Level 22

Ai Ling’s seedlings weren’t many, and the entire planting process took up only about one mu of land.

Even so, it still took her a full two days to complete everything on her own.

The main reason was that she used a hoe to plow the land, and since there wasn’t much water and the soil wasn’t soft enough, planting wasn’t as easy as it used to be.

She had planned to rest after finishing the transplanting, but for some reason, the weather had been strange. After that heavy rainfall, it had been sunny for more than half a month, and it was scorching hot every single day.

If it weren’t for Ai Ling using large tree leaves to make a sunshade hat, she wouldn’t have dared to go outside at all.

Many areas of the land had already dried and cracked, but the rice field was a depression, so much of the water had accumulated there, keeping the soil relatively soft.

However, if this continued and the weather stayed sunny, the seedlings she had just planted might wither and die from the heat.

She was worried, but Ai Ling had no way to fix it—weather, unless one was a deity, who could control that?

Ai Ling sat on the platform in front of the wooden house, her legs bare.

Although a light breeze blew gently and there was shade above her head, the harsh sunlight outside still made it uncomfortable.

From a distance, it seemed like everything before her was shrouded in a blinding flame, and even the air looked slightly distorted from the heat.

Ai Ling wasn’t someone who typically minded the heat, but now it was unbearable. She found a large tree leaf and sat on a wooden bench, desperately fanning herself.

At times like this, Ai Ling really missed her popsicles, ice lollies, ice cream, and milk tea.

Ah, and air conditioning, WiFi, and watermelon—where are you all? I really, really need you right now.

【Seeing her suffer from the heat like this makes me want to send her an air conditioner.】

【An air conditioner wouldn’t help, though. There’s no electricity over there.】

【Isn’t it simple? Doesn’t C7650 have remote electrical conduction devices? Just build one for her.】

【It sounds easy, but how do you build it? Who’s going to build it?】

【Really, no one can go to Blue Star?】

【Those with Blue Star genes can!】

【To be honest, if she’s willing to trade her food for it, I can drop the blueprint for a remote electrical conduction device. She can use the fluffy ball system to build it herself.】

【Oh, that’s a great idea. I can also airdrop her a mini air conditioner and trade for some delicious food.】

【Ah, I want to trade too! Her house looks so ugly. I could give her a 3D printer so she can print the furniture and house she likes using materials and blueprints.】

【Wow, that’s a genius idea! Even if Blue Star doesn’t have the materials, we can provide them. Whatever she wants, we can trade for.】

【Yeah, yeah, we can provide so many things they don’t have, as long as she’s willing to trade food for them.】

【Hmm, you guys are dreaming. Airdrop? Have you seen the carbon-based alliance’s guard ships? How do you plan on airdropping?】

【…】

This extreme heat continued for a full twenty days.

It was one thing to endure the heat, but Ai Ling’s vegetable garden started showing signs of cracking from dryness. The fruit trees and seedlings she planted were wilting and couldn’t seem to revive.

Every day, Ai Ling now had one difficult task: under the scorching sun, she carried heavy buckets of water from a far distance to water the plants.

The vegetable and fruit gardens were bad enough, but what about the rice fields that covered over an acre of land?

The seedlings she had just planted were already showing signs of withering. She couldn’t possibly rely on just two buckets of water to irrigate them—that would tire her to death.

Ai Ling was extremely worried. She had no idea what was going on with Blue Star’s weather recently. There had been heavy rain, then it continued to burn with sun for so long afterward. She remembered when she first arrived, the weather wasn’t this extreme.

Ai Ling frowned, shaking her sore arms as the little bell on her wrist jingled.

She raised her wrist, looking at the delicate bell, and sighed.

Sigh, I really shouldn’t have offended He Xi back then. In this situation, if he were here, it should be easy to help divert some water, right?

Hmm… speaking of water diversion…

Ai Ling thought for a moment, then suddenly slapped her palm: that’s it! Water diversion! I should build a water channel!

Why didn’t I think of this earlier? Back in my hometown, those rice fields always had dedicated irrigation pipes and canals, right?

I could totally do that here.

If I can get the water system sorted, I won’t ever have to worry about droughts again, and I won’t have to carry those two broken buckets to fetch water anymore.

Yes, shoulders liberated, drought solved, seedling-saving action—let’s get started!

However… how exactly should I divert the water? Ai Ling really thought for a while.

The first option was to dig a water canal, but the thing is, a canal isn’t really feasible for just one person. After all, when she dug that tiny bit of distance before, she almost died from exhaustion.

Also, the path from the water source to here isn’t a straight slope, in slightly higher areas, it’d have to be dug very deep. Ai Ling honestly didn’t feel capable of doing that.

Another method would be to lay down pipes, but like the canal, pipes would need to be sloped from a high point to a lower one. So, the pipes definitely couldn’t be buried underground like on Earth.

Hmm, come to think of it, she doesn’t even have materials for those pipes. She really been thinking too much.

After thinking it over, in the end, the only method left was the one she had seen on TV before—using bamboo troughs for water diversion.

It’s about splitting bamboo in half, opening up the joints inside, and then supporting them, linking one section after another, sloping from high to low, like a water pipe, slowly diverting water down.

Thinking of this plan, Ai Ling was extremely excited. Not only could it solve the water shortage in the rice fields, but it would also conveniently bring water into the kitchen!

All she needed to do was dig a pond about a kilometer away from the estate, to store the water that seeped out, and then use whole bamboo tubes for the rest of the kilometer. She would seal the joints between the bamboo tubes to ensure no water leakage. The pipes would then run into the kitchen, where she would add a wooden stopper.

This way, when she wanted water, she could open the wooden stopper, and the water would flow out, filling the water barrel below. When no water was needed, she could just close the stopper, and the water from the mountain would overflow into the pond below, about a kilometer away.

With this system in place, Ai Ling wouldn’t need to fetch water anymore, and she would even have a fish pond for breeding fish.

Once the idea was clear, Ai Ling grabbed her axe and headed to the western forest.

She had seen plants resembling bamboo there before. To be precise, it was bamboo, but the color was a very deep green, and it was thicker than regular bamboo, roughly as thick as a person’s thigh.

Such bamboo would be more convenient for water diversion, but the work would be a bit exhausting.

Cutting bamboo, moving the bamboo, and laying it down along the water diversion path weren’t difficult tasks.

The challenge was splitting the thick bamboo and opening the joints inside.

Also, Ai Ling was very afraid of the white leopards hidden in the western mountains, so she was proceeding cautiously, often looking around to check for any movements.

During this time, Yuan Muchen had gone somewhere to capture animals to enrich his livestock, and Ai Ling couldn’t find him whenever she looked for him.

As a result, Ai Ling had to do everything herself, which slowed down the work significantly.

Moving slowly wasn’t a big issue. Ai Ling had plenty of time. She had come here to enjoy a slow and leisurely rural life. Unfortunately, the seedlings in the field wouldn’t wait for her.

The fruit and vegetable gardens were still manageable with Ai Ling occasionally watering them. Although the soil was dry, at least the fruit trees were still alive.

The rice fields, on the other hand, were in trouble. The once-moist and flat rice fields were now cracked and dry, with cracks deep enough to fit a hand in.

More and more of the seedlings were withering. Only a tiny bit of green remained in the middle. If they weren’t watered soon, they probably wouldn’t survive for more than three days.

Seeing this, Ai Ling became desperate. She couldn’t care about being tired anymore. It was just about splitting bamboo, right? It was just about clearing the joints inside, right?

As long as I don’t eat or sleep and work hard enough, there’s nothing I can’t do.

Grinding her teeth, Ai Ling started working day and night. Even though she was so exhausted she could fall asleep just by closing her eyes, she gritted her teeth and poked herself with a bamboo stick, forcing herself to stay awake.

Finally, when there was only one day left before the seedlings would dry up, Ai Ling had finished connecting all the bamboo troughs, laying them down one by one along the water diversion route from the waterfall.

Now, there was just one last step—setting them up and connecting them, to bring the waterfall water to the rice fields.

At this point, Ai Ling was so exhausted she barely resembled a human. The blisters from splitting bamboo had popped, and new ones kept forming, one after another. Her hands were covered in blood and flesh, almost unrecognizable.

The external injuries weren’t the worst part. She hadn’t slept for three days and nights, and her whole body was in a state of extreme weakness, barely able to stay conscious. She could collapse and sleep anywhere.

She clenched her teeth, holding her breath, pushing herself to go on.

The seedlings she had personally planted were still waiting for her to water them. She couldn’t fall.

Ai Ling used the remaining bamboo to build a frame, starting from the rice fields and gradually laying the bamboo troughs one section at a time, trying to maintain a slight incline.

She originally thought that cutting, splitting, and clearing the bamboo joints would be the hardest part, but now Ai Ling realized that the most difficult part was actually setting up the bamboo, connecting it to form a proper water diversion system.

The flat area wasn’t too bad. She didn’t have to worry much about the angle of the slope, as long as the bamboo troughs were stable and didn’t fall over.

But when she got to the mountain, looking at the bare rocky parts, she almost wanted to cry.

Some of these places didn’t even have a single crack—how was she supposed to set the bamboo troughs up and secure them?

After thinking for a moment, she decided to climb up first, get the upper part sorted, and then tackle the rocky slope below.

Taking a deep breath, she began to climb. Just as she was about to reach the top, Ai Ling suddenly lost her strength, her feet slipped, and she fell straight off the rocks.

This was truly the last straw that broke her. As she fell, she felt as light as a feather, and halfway down, she already wanted to close her eyes and fall asleep.

In the instant she was about to hit the ground, her back was firmly supported by someone, spinning her around. Ai Ling found herself softly lying in someone’s arms.

She mustered all her strength to open her eyes, and the first thing she saw was a face that looked incredibly grim.

She parted her lips slightly and whispered, “He Xi, help me, the seedlings are going to die.”

Everything went black, and she lost consciousness.