CHAPTER 188: CHAPTER 186: THE WATER IS GONE

As the sky darkened, Master Zhang personally drove the carriage and brought over the pig slaughtering craftsman. Liu Yang and his father, along with the village chief and his two sons, came to help.

Jiang Hu let the others rest at home, while he and Qixi herded the pigs, carrying steamed buns and chicken soup up the mountain.

Qixi and Aunt Yang were overjoyed knowing they could stay at the Jiang family, so they worked even harder, not fearing any hardship.

Only in the Jiang household would one realize how reassuring it was to be able to stay there during these times!

Both Qixi and Aunt Yang were servants bought by the Liu family and had no other kin. Aunt Yang had previously been married and had children, but during the war, she lost them all, leaving her alone.

Even if you’re alone, you have to live well.

So this time, they only needed to take care of themselves and wouldn’t have any other concerns.

Besides, Uncle Liu wasn’t foolish. The people he entrusted to the Jiang family to look after him and his grandson were certainly not the kind to cause trouble, which was ideal to prevent any issues.

Upon waking up, the pork was already laid out in the kitchen. Master Zhang and the pig slaughtering craftsman had left overnight.

Xiaomi woke up and had breakfast, hearing the commotion in the village. She went to the front gate to take a look. There were many people, lining up, pulling ox carts and horse carriages, coming and going.

Upon closer inspection, those people were carrying water down from the mountain and were transporting it with ox carts.

Xiaomi quickly dashed to the kitchen, grumbling in her mind while running, that despite the house being big, it was inconvenient since one had to run such a long way from the front gate to the back kitchen.

"Mom, there’s a lot of people outside fetching water. Where are they from?"

Second Aunt and Aunt Yang were pickling meat, and Big Brother, Second Sister, and Liu Ze were making sausages.

Second Aunt adjusted the seasoning, and they placed the sausage casings on bamboo tubes, then stuffed them with meat. They looked so engrossed, as if they were playing with toys.

As for Tiedan, he was immersed in his own mischief, shoving something through one end of a bamboo tube, watching it fall out the other, truly having a blast.

Second Aunt was immersing pig’s feet in the big water jar, as they needed to be pickled for a longer time and had to be placed at the bottom.

Upon hearing Xiaomi’s question, she straightened her back to stretch and then explained, "They’re from the town and other villages. They’ve come to fetch water since they know we still have some here."

Last night, Master Zhang and the others came to help slaughter the pigs and mentioned this to the village chief, who naturally didn’t refuse.

Not to mention that the pond isn’t even theirs. Even if it were, if the spring water flowing from the underground river isn’t stored early enough, it would be impossible to save anything once it dries up and disappears completely.

Besides, villagers had already stored a lot during this period, so they weren’t too concerned about it now.

"That’s how it is." Xiaomi nodded in realization, then ran outside again, "Mom, I’m going over to the old house to take a look."

Her mom didn’t let her help anyway, so she might as well go watch the excitement.

"That child just can’t sit still for a moment," Second Aunt shook her head, letting her go.

Though there were many people outside, she had checked in the morning; those going up the mountain didn’t need to pass by their old house, so she wasn’t worried about Xiaomi encountering any bad people.

Moreover, aside from outsiders, quite a few people from Fu’an Village were out fetching water to irrigate the sorghum.

Once the sorghum was irrigated, if there was any water left, it would then be used for rapeseed and wheat. Jiang Hu and Qixi were also busy in the fields with this task, and even Uncle Liu was helping with watering, leaving two people to solely carry water.

Xiaomi dashed off to the old house and shouted, "Xiao Hei, Xiao Mi!"

Since there were chickens and ducks here, Xiao Hei had always stayed at the old house. Xiao Mi, afraid of the cold, would squeeze with Xiao Hei to sleep at night, so she was here too.

But now there was nothing left here. The last two chickens had been caught and taken to the new house, kept in the small courtyard in front of the kitchen.

She had heard her parents say last night, they would bring Xiao Mi and Xiao Hei to the new house.

Not only because the food was at the new place, but her parents were also worried that if the situation became dire, Xiao Mi and Xiao Hei might be seen as food by others.

"Woof woof~" Xiao Hei ran over immediately, tongue out, circling Xiaomi.

Xiao Mi leisurely emerged from the doghouse, meowed twice, stretched, licked her paws to wash her face, and then strutted over to Xiaomi at a leisurely pace.

At this moment, Xiaomi had already finished petting Xiao Hei and was about to move forward.

"You’re so haughty," Xiaomi bent down to pick up Xiao Mi, "I’m moving you to a new place until it’s safe outside."