Chapter 87 : The Drought Is Coming

Since the last incident, Chen Jinhua had lost all her popularity in the village. When people saw her, they would avoid talking to her, fearing she might do something behind their backs.

After Jiang Sui went through this, Xiao Hechuan followed her everywhere and would never let her be alone.

Jiang Sui felt helpless, but at the same time, she was very satisfied.

Now that the villains around them had been punished, their days were finally peaceful. They could set up stalls and do business in a down-to-earth manner.

Now, everyone in Baima Town was simply hoping for rain.

Half a month had passed since the prayers for rain, but it still hadn’t rained. The wells in the village had dried up, and the riverbed was completely exposed, with only small streams of water flowing through the cracks in the rocks.

Drinking water had become a real problem for everyone, and most of the wheat in the fields had died of thirst. The wheat ears were dry and flat, with no grain inside.

Now there was no water to cook with, and everyone could only go to the mountains to search for springs to see if they could find some water.

They finally found a place with water, but they still had to climb the mountain to fetch it, and most of it would be spilled on the way back.

The Xiao family stored two tanks of water, but they were gone in just a few days.

The well in the town didn’t last more than a few days before it ran dry. All that was pumped out was muddy water. Business couldn’t be done there, and food businesses on the street closed down one after another.

Mother Xiao and Jiang Sui discussed it and decided to close their business.

So, the business was suspended, and the family returned home to rest. Water supply became a problem, and the crops in the fields were unreliable. There was no yield at all, and all the crops had died.

The people were complaining bitterly. Now, they had nothing to eat and no water. It seemed that God wanted to kill them.

In fact, this was the case for most of Jeju. When the drought arrived, people everywhere started complaining, and those who reacted quickly began spending money to buy food.

Not only that, the sweet potatoes and potatoes planted this year were also sun-dried to death in the fields due to the drought, and the fruits they produced were worse than nothing.

Many wealthy people began to buy large quantities of grain and sell it at higher prices. Some didn’t mind the long journey and went directly to other places to buy grain and then brought it back to sell at inflated prices.

This year, there was no harvest, so the people had no food to celebrate the New Year or Spring Festival, and they had to spend money to buy it.

However, these unscrupulous businessmen made huge fortunes. The prices of flour and brown rice increased by five or six times, and even the prices of cornmeal rose several times.

The people of Xianhe Village also started scrambling for food. The grain and oil shops in Baima Town were emptied out. Those who couldn’t buy anything went to the county, but the situation there was even worse. Huaxi County was vast with a large population, and there was also a severe drought there, so the food had long been sold out.

The local officials did nothing and only realized the problem later, submitting a letter to the court. However, the capital was so far away, and the document had to go through layers of officials. By the time it reached the emperor, it was probably too late.

Not to mention that some corrupt officials wanted to make money off of this, and several memorials submitted were deliberately withheld.

Compared to the unprepared common people, the Xiao family was much better off because Jiang Sui had foresight and Mother Xiao had stockpiled enough food for the winter, so they could survive until the New Year by eating sparingly.

After the New Year, the situation would surely improve, and the court would not be able to ignore them.

In the past few months, they had made a net profit of 16 taels of silver after deducting costs. With silver in hand, they didn’t need to worry about starving to death. But the most urgent task was to solve the drinking water problem.

Under the current circumstances, Father Xiao and his two sons could no longer stay in the county, so the foreman paid them their wages and let them return. The father and his two sons each took home two taels of silver.

All of Father Xiao’s and Xiao Qin’s money was handed over to Mother Xiao, while Xiao Mian kept it for Zhou.

Now, the couple has several taels of silver in their savings. Zhou is very satisfied with the current situation. She has finished taking the three-month prescription that Mr. Qin gave her. Every night, she also uses the medicine bag for hot compresses as he advised. In addition, she receives acupuncture every half a month. She obviously feels very different from before. She feels refreshed every day, and her menstrual period is not as painful.

The couple hadn’t seen each other for a long time, so they spend some time together.

Now that the backbones of the family have returned, it’s time to think about how to solve the problem of drinking water.

The brothers discussed it and decided to follow the large group in the village to go to the mountain to find a spring. After all, any water is better than no water.

The weather is so hot, it’s really not good without water.

Early in the morning, the three brothers followed the large group organized by the village chief to the mountain to find water. Jiang Sui was not idle at home. She remembered the mountain stream where she had picked wild apricots before. There was a big pool in it, so she wanted to try her luck there.

She said her greetings to Mother Xiao, and then called Xiao Hechuan and Xiao Lanlan to go together.

If she hadn’t mentioned it, Xiao Lanlan would not have thought that there was indeed a large pool of water in that mountain stream, which was crystal clear. Maybe a blind cat would stumble upon a dead mouse, and there really was water there.

So the three of them went to the pond under the scorching sun.

It is now September, a time for harvest, but a severe drought has suddenly struck.

After walking for a long time, they finally arrived at this mountain stream. The road leading into the mountain stream was overgrown with weeds because no one had stepped on it for a long time.

Each of the three picked up a stick and walked while paying attention to their feet to avoid snakes.

Entering the maple forest, the maple leaves had turned red, and the scenery was breathtaking. If the forest wasn’t sandwiched between several mountains, such a good place would definitely have been discovered long ago.

There is indeed water in the pond. Because it is blocked by trees, the sun cannot shine directly into it. Although the water level is much lower, there is still water at the bottom of the pond.

There are many fallen leaves on the water’s surface. This is running water. There is a water inlet at the bottom of the pond that constantly flows in, but the amount is very small, and the water level cannot rise.

Xiao Lanlan rolled up her trousers and went down to the pond, swept away the fallen leaves, scooped up a handful of water, and drank it.

It was still very sweet, and she gulped it down happily.

“We have to tell our brothers this good news. They searched all over the mountains and found no water, but we found it right away. This pool of water can at least last for a while.”

Xiao Hechuan also followed Xiao Lanlan’s lead and went down to the pond. The place where the brother and sister were standing was originally submerged by the pond water, but now the water level had dropped too much.

Xiao Hechuan scooped up a handful of water to drink, and suddenly he noticed that there were fish in the pond, small fish, about the size of three or two fingers wide.

“Look, there’s a fish!”

His shout attracted Xiao Lanlan and Jiang Sui.

“Where is it? Where are the fish? Let me take a look!” Xiao Lanlan was very excited because she thought they could have an extra meal in the evening.