vrcanaries Chapter 110 Green Pond
Chapter 110 Green Pond
Two more days passed and the group still hadn't found any water source along the way.
In desperation, Li Shuming had to shamelessly ask the Zhou family for help. The Zhou family didn't have much water left, but they still gave a bucket to Daxi Village.
It's just a bucket of water, and when it's shared among so many people, each person only gets a few sips.
After much deliberation, Li Shuming decided not to distribute the money to families who already had water at home, and to give priority to those in need who had been without water for more than one or two days.
Jiang Jiang did not express any opinion. She occasionally added some purified water that had been stored in the space into her own bucket, but she did not dare to add too much, nor did she dare to add the stream water flowing in the space, which had a sweet taste and could be tasted in one sip.
Jiang Jiang counted the water storage in his home. Among the eight wooden barrels in the house, three still had water, two were full, and the other was half full.
Huang Ying's parents' home also ran out of water, so Jiang Jiang asked Li Xu to send a small basin of water over, which was probably enough for a day or two.
During this period, there were people who came to Jiang Jiang to borrow water, but she knew that she couldn't just lend them water indiscriminately, nor could she refuse to lend them all.
So Jiang Jiang decided not to borrow water, but only to exchange water, using food to exchange for water.
No one would think of exchanging food for water unless it is absolutely necessary.
If they are lucky, they might be able to find water after a day. Food is hard currency, so the less they eat, the less they have.
On the third day of the water outage, Liang Xiaohua's family started to make a fuss.
For no other reason than to have a few sips of water.
Li Gousheng's family was given some water before. In order to let Gousheng drink more, the couple forced themselves to hold back and hardly drink any. Liang Xiaohua found out that there were only two sips of water in the house, so she went to the house to ask for it back with a clear conscience.
"Li Gousheng spilled my water, and I haven't settled the score with him yet. It's only right that you should pay back the money you owe me, and it's only right that you should pay back the water you owe me."
It is difficult for a judge to judge family disputes. Li Gousheng was in the wrong first, and not many people in the village were willing to take care of the matter.
Li Qiang and his brother went forward and directly forced the bowl of water away from Li Gousheng's house.
Jiang Jiang, who was standing by, saw this scene and came up with a plan. She whispered a few words to Li Chunhua, and Li Chunhua immediately understood what she meant.
"Hey! Isn't this my sister Xiaohua? What is this? Water? When are you going to return the water you borrowed from me before?"
In less than a minute or two, Li Chunhua called Yu Fang, who had four able-bodied men at home.
Yu Fang was good friends with Li Chunhua. As soon as she married into Daxi Village, she gave birth to a boy. Then, in the following four years, she gave birth to three more sons, all of which were sons. She was very confident.
Before, Liang Xiaohua came to the house and asked for water humbly. Due to their relationship as relatives, Yu Fang pinched her nose and lent some water to Liang Xiaohua.
Now is a good time to ask for it.
When Liang Xiaohua saw the person coming, the smiling face immediately fell.
She was hunched over, with a fawning look on her face.
"Li Qiang's aunt, isn't there really no water at home? Let me wait a little longer, wait a little longer."
Li Qiang looked at the four cousins standing behind Yu Fang and bowed and nodded as well.
But Yu Fang didn't buy it at all. The fact that she came today instead of her old man could make the problem clear.
Having been cheated before, the whole family was furious.
Yu Fang sneered and didn't even look at Liang Xiaohua.
"It is only natural for a person to pay back a debt and water. Boss, please take back the water we lent you."
The bowl of water in Li Qiang's hand was taken away before it could even warm up.
Liang Xiaohua looked for help towards the people around who were watching the fun openly or secretly.
But the same thing goes, we are all relatives, Liang Xiaohua is also in the wrong, and no one is willing to help.
In the end, Yu Fang took the water and left with her four sons.
Liang Xiaohua and the other two were left with nothing and were left to do other people's bidding.
"What bad luck!" Liang Xiaohua didn't dare to cause trouble for Yu Fang. There was no water in Li Gousheng's house, so she could only curse inwardly and leave in shame.
Li Gousheng's parents felt both relieved and distressed.
What made him feel relieved was that the water did not fall into Liang Xiaohua's hands, but what made him worried was that he had no water to drink at home, and what would Gousheng do.
Fortunately, there is always a way out. On the fourth day of water shortage, everyone found a water source.
It’s just this water source that makes people feel scared.
This is a small pond, surrounded by moss. The water surface is glowing green, and there are several rotten animal carcasses floating on the surface of the pond.
Dead water, green, and rotting animal carcasses.
The water is not drinkable.
This was Jiang Jiang’s first reaction.
But the next second she shook her head helplessly.
This is the only source of water we have encountered in the past week.
Maybe the Zhou family would dislike it, but the people in Daxi Village who have been without water for a long time have no other choice.
They didn't know how long they would have to walk before they came across a source of clean water.
Even Jiang Jiang's family used two buckets to fetch water from the pond.
When it was Li Sheng and Li Xu's turn to fetch water, the moss near the pond had already been pulled out. Any edible unowned food would be snatched up within three seconds.
The two men carried the buckets home, and before they got close, Jiang Jiang smelled a strange odor coming from the buckets.
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Is this water really drinkable?
Jiang Jiang didn't dare to take the risk, so she planned to put the two buckets of water aside.
Even if it was used for washing and wiping the body, Jiang Jiang still felt it was dirty.
She would rather not wash than use these two buckets of water. Even if it's a little dirty, at least it's safe.
In fact, many people, like Jiang Jiang, dare not drink the lake water that has a strong odor.
Even in households without water, there were still people who were hungry and thirsty, all waiting for the first person to eat the crab.
If someone drinks the water and nothing happens, it means the water is drinkable.
If something goes wrong...
They dare not imagine.
Perhaps, when the situation really comes to a life-threatening one, they will still choose to drink.
It's like a traveler in the ocean, surrounded by water. Even though the water is salty and bitter, and the more you drink, the thirstier you become, but when they are about to die of thirst, don't those people still keep drinking?
The entire Daxi Village fell silent.
Every household fetched water, but no one drank it.
Jiang Jiang didn't want to get involved in this undercurrent, so she let everyone in the family drink a sip of water as usual, and then watched over the children to sleep.
Ever since the water in Liang Xiaohua's house was stolen, the adults began to take turns to keep watch at night.
Tonight it is Jiang Jiang's turn to guard the first half of the night. When it comes to the second half of the night, she will wake up Huang Ying and ask her to guard the second half of the night.
At the beginning, everyone was active as usual. Some families prepared food for the next day, some just ate some dry food to fill their stomachs, and some tried to fall asleep quickly so they wouldn't be hungry in their dreams.
However, Jiang Jiang was keenly aware that there were undercurrents in the entire village.
Most people have been watching, overtly or covertly, to see if anyone chooses to boil the pond water before drinking it.
Everything was normal for the first few hours. When Jiang Jiang was about to wake up Huang Ying, she saw someone attacking the lake water.