CHAPTER 194: CHAPTER 188: CAN’T BE DUG OUT

Since the village chief told Jiang Hu not to worry, Jiang Hu really didn’t worry about it. Anyway, their home had water and food, so he didn’t even step out of the house and went to the study to attend classes instead.

However, sometimes Jiang Hu would take a ladder, climb up to the roof, and check out the situation outside.

It was clear that there were still people fetching water from the mountain, but obviously not as many as before.

Jiang Hu specifically stood watch once—someone going up the mountain and coming down took at least an hour.

It seemed they still managed to get some water out, just not much of it.

By the fifth day of the new year, there were only a few sporadic people left going to the mountain to fetch water, probably realizing how hard it was to bring the water back, many came once and didn’t return.

Well, Jiang Hu figured it out; seeing that everyone had stored quite a bit of water.

Otherwise, even if it was hard, people would still be guarding the pond every day.

With fewer people in the village, Jiang Hu wasn’t worried anymore, so he opened the gate wide and let the kids, who had been cooped up for so long, go play by themselves.

After that incident with the old lady kneeling directly in front of Xiao Mi, he was genuinely worried that others might do something to the kids.

Jiang Yu in one hand, Liu Ze in the other, and Iron Egg ran off like dogs finally let out, rushing to play with Liu Hai.

"Xiao Xue, aren’t you going out to play?" Jiang Hu looked at Xiao Xue, who was still sitting under the eaves, practicing embroidery.

When Uncle Liu first came to the Jiang family, he brought a lot of things for the kids at home.

Jiang Yu got stationeries, Xiao Xue various embroidery threads and patterns, and Xiao Mi and Iron Egg got snacks, among other things.

"I’m almost done with this one. I’ll go out to play later. Dad, you take Xiao Mi out to play first."

"Xiao Mi?"

Jiang Hu asked back, lowering his head to realize that Xiao Mi was standing right next to him, looking like she had been waiting for quite a while.

Jiang Hu casually picked Xiao Mi up: "I was wondering why she wasn’t out playing with her big brother and the others. So, today you want to be with Dad?"

Xiao Mi nodded with a smile, "Mm-hmm, with Dad."

Dad is definitely going to see the village chief and the others; she also wants to hear about the situation on the mountain.

Jiang Hu didn’t think much about it, greeted Auntie and Uncle Liu, and then took Xiao Mi out.

These few days of not going out wasn’t because he was afraid of trouble—it just felt unnecessary, and he was worried the kids might have an accident.

But being stuck at home for these few days, not just the kids were feeling stifled, he was also starting to find it unbearable, and since there weren’t many outsiders in the village, he went out to stroll around.

The rapeseed and wheat in the fields had long since withered, and the ground had cracked from dryness, with only the sorghum still stubbornly growing.

Not to mention watering, even the manure water in the pit had been scooped dry.

Now, they were hoping to get some harvest from the sorghum.

On the road, seeing other people, they all had gloomy faces because there was no water; they couldn’t bear to use water for washing, so everyone’s face was dusty.

But seeing Jiang Hu, they would still smile and greet him, and then praise Xiao Mi for being so well-behaved or something.

Actually, the Jiang family was no different; even Liu Ze, who at first glance was a very precious young master, was now dusty, having not washed his hair, taken a bath, or washed his clothes for one or two months.

No choice, given the harsh conditions, every drop of water was incredibly precious; no one could afford to waste water on washing faces or clothes, even if they smelled bad.

Fortunately, this was winter-spring season, so hardly anyone was sweating—even though it’s uncomfortable, it was still bearable.

After all, compared to losing one’s life, everything else was trivial.

Seeing the situation outside, Xiao Mi also sighed inwardly. If only there was a way to artificially create rain.

Unfortunately, she had water in her space, but nothing that could turn water into rain.

The village did have a river, but the water just flowed away if poured in; they needed to think of a way.

While pondering, Jiang Hu had already carried her to the village chief’s house. The village chief sat at the edge of his yard, watching over the village, smoking dry tobacco, with a furrowed brow, not even noticing Jiang Hu approaching.

"Village chief," Jiang Hu called out, put Xiao Mi down to let her play on her own, and then sat next to the village chief.

Xiao Mi rolled her eyes and also sat beside her dad.

"Oh, Jiang is here. What’s the matter? Is someone causing trouble at your house again?"

Jiang Hu’s family lived at the end of the village, so if something happened, they wouldn’t know immediately, which is why the village chief’s first reaction to seeing Jiang Hu was that someone troublesome might have appeared again.

Jiang Hu shook his head, "Not at all, it’s been pretty quiet at home these days. It’s just that I noticed not many people fetching water anymore, so I came to ask about the situation."