CHAPTER 184: CHAPTER 184: WATER STORAGE

It’s already the twelfth lunar month, the last rain was in mid-October.

The river’s water has reached its base, everyone is straining the last bit of mud-like water to water the sorghum as much as possible.

The rapeseed and wheat in the fields are all wilting, but no one has the time to care for them. At this rate, it’s inevitable that the wheat and rapeseed will die, but the sorghum might still be saved.

Sorghum has always been drought-resistant grain, and so far, there’s no sign of anything unusual. Even the branches are still as sturdy as before; with a bit of mud water, after one night it seems to grow even better.

The village wells are also covered with slabs, not to prevent usage but to avoid evaporation. Water is drawn at a unified time daily before being covered again.

Now, the most enviable household is Jiang’s, with their own well. According to Jiang Hu, the water level is still quite high, at least for household use, there’s no immediate worry.

Jiang Hu also informed the village about the pond behind the mountain and led a dozen men to confirm its location.

Jiang Hu was right; the pond’s water indeed isn’t the same source as the river. The dozen men each drew a bucket of water, but the pond’s level didn’t visibly decrease.

Of course, it didn’t overflow either.

This is simply a delight!

With this discovery, every household found all the containers they could fill with water and stored it all. If fresh water sits too long, it goes bad and breeds insects, so they boiled it all before storage!

The Jiang family is no exception; Jiang Hu and Qixi fetched water, the two mothers and Aunt Yang cut firewood on the mountain, Liu Bo and several children boiled and stored water at home.

Jiang Hu specially bought over a dozen large water vats from the town, using Xiaomi and Tiedan’s room to store them.

Of course, other families did the same, causing the water vat prices to rise in town.

In just about ten days, a small path was trampled between Fu’an Village and the pond.

And at this time, the pond’s water level finally decreased a little.

This discovery spread throughout Fu’an Village in an instant.

The village chief couldn’t even bother finishing his meal and headed straight to Jiang’s house, bumping into Liu Yang on the way, and they came together.

Jiang Hu’s household was having lunch, a pot of buckwheat steamed buns, a pot of fish soup, and a dish of pickled vegetables.

"Village Chief, Liu Yang, have you eaten yet?"

Jiang Hu said, handing each a steamed bun, regardless of whether they had eaten. Even if they had, another bun wouldn’t be too much.

Initially not hungry, but the aroma of the buns made their stomachs rumble.

With a bite, the village chief’s furrowed brows eased a bit: "I don’t know how you grow your crops; these buns taste better than ours."

Liu Yang nodded repeatedly: "Yeah, Jiang Hu’s amazing."

The two mothers gave them a bowl of fish soup. They didn’t even go inside, squatting under the eaves outside the kitchen.

The village chief ate two bites of the bun, drank half a bowl of fish soup, filled his belly, stopped feeling hungry, and finally remembered the main issue.

"Jiang Hu, you know the pond’s water level has decreased, right?"

Jiang Hu, surprised: "I went to town this morning; I really don’t know about this. How come? Wasn’t it fine yesterday?"

The village chief nodded with a solemn face: "It seems there’s really a problem. I guess it’s the underground river’s water level decreasing causing this."

These days, while carrying water, everyone also looked around but found nothing. There was no other water source nearby.

Then it’s only the underground river being the cause.

"Jiang Hu, isn’t your family not selling vegetables anymore? Why did you go to town?" Jiang’s family now only has cabbage and radishes left; other vegetables have withered.

Even cabbage and radishes aren’t being sold anymore; they’ve been stored in the cellar.

"I brought several pigs and some chickens and rabbits to town; we can’t keep so many animals at home with the water shortage."

Jiang Hu didn’t hide this: "By the way, how much water is left in the pond? I bought some coarse salt and plan to catch some chickens and rabbits this afternoon to process them on the mountain."

It’s more convenient to carry them directly to the mountain to process than bringing the water back, salt-preserving and air-drying them will last a long time.

"Then you should hurry, the water level already dropped nearly a foot today, and nobody knows when the pond will dry up."

Jiang Hu nodded with a solemn face: "I understand. By the way, my family plans to slaughter pigs tonight. If possible, I’ll drive the pigs to the mountain. It’s just we don’t have enough manpower at home; I want to ask if you can help."

Liu Yang immediately said: "How come you’re killing pigs at night? When is it? I’ll come over early with my dad."

Jiang Hu explained: "I brought six pigs to Tongfu Restaurant today, and they hired a pig slaughtering craftsman to process them during the day. Coming to my home in the evening, mainly because of the current water shortage, if not done early, I’m afraid there won’t be any water."

Slaughtering pigs takes quite a lot of water.

The villagers haven’t been to town for a while, so they’re surprised: "There’s still water in town?"

They thought the town must be having a harder time than the village.

Jiang Hu: "I’ve heard there’s an ancient well in town, and the water level hasn’t dropped yet."

After saying this, they exchanged glances: "Could it be similar to the pond behind the mountain, an underground river?"

The more they thought, the more likely it seemed.

The village chief stroked his chin: "Forget it, instead of worrying about that, let’s think about ourselves. Jiang Hu has a good plan. I’ll tell the others later to slaughter chickens, ducks, and geese now while there’s still water and prepare more food."

Liu Yang nodded vigorously: "Jiang Hu’s really wise; we can’t care about wheat and rapeseed, but this year’s sorghum might still yield something."

If it weren’t for Jiang Hu’s ’worrying’, there might be nothing left in the fields now.

The village chief stood up, patted Liu Yang’s shoulder: "Let’s go, we’ll head back first."

Go back to eat and notify the villagers of these matters.

Jiang Hu sent the two out the door, then returned to continue eating. The two mothers and Aunt Yang had already gone to catch chickens and rabbits.

After biting the bun twice, he noticed Liu Bo frowning over a letter he had just brought back, claiming to be from Xiaozhe’s parents.

Liu Bo’s look seemed concerning.

Jiang Hu thought a moment and asked, "Liu Bo, what’s wrong? Is it something concerning Xiaozhe’s parents?"

Apart from this, there seemed to be no other possibility.

Liu Bo nodded with a solemn face: "Yes, the county’s food prices have started to rise. Xiaozhe’s parents asked us to stock up some food ourselves, and..."

At this point, Liu Bo hesitated.

Jiang Hu pursued: "And what else? Are they suggesting you don’t go to the county?"

Previously, Liu Bo mentioned leaving for the county in mid-lunar December to spend New Year with Xiaozhe’s parents, but now it seems the county is in worse condition than the village.

Liu Bo, surprised: "How did you know?"

Then sighed and shook his head: "It’s true; they advised us to stay in town, keep the gates closed, and not go out. It’s safer than staying in the county."

Jiang Hu frowned, wondering if the county’s situation had become this severe.

He quickly added: "Liu Bo, don’t bother going back to town. I saw it today; everyone in town is also panicking. You should just stay put in Fu’an Village for now."