CHAPTER 201: CHAPTER 190: BROTHER ZE, ARE YOU WORRIED? (PART 2)

Jiang Hu roughly understood what others were thinking, but he didn’t say much to the children, just explained happily to the siblings.

"Everyone just found out it’s your and your brother’s birthday tomorrow, they’re happy for you."

As soon as birthday was mentioned, Liu Yang’s eyes curved into crescent moons: "Liu Yang and Big Water Buffalo will be three years old tomorrow!"

Finally another year older, it’s not easy!

She now dreams of growing up a little, just a little bit more!

"Papa, can we have eggs tomorrow?" Big Water Buffalo salivated, it had been a long time since he had eggs.

Jiang Hu nodded with a smile: "Of course, I’ll boil one for each of you tomorrow."

The last hen at home had been brooding recently, it hadn’t laid eggs for over twenty days, and for over twenty days, there hadn’t been a single egg at home.

But it had started laying again a few days ago, two eggs every three days, and now three eggs had already been saved up.

Everyone had their thoughts, but at this moment, people from the nearby village came over to fetch water, and after that previous incident, no one said much.

The village head, however, quickly reacted after his excitement.

"Right, while the water level hasn’t risen too much, let’s find some stones and wooden stakes to tamp down the surrounding soil, so the water doesn’t seep away."

The village head was referring to the slopes around the pond, because they had been dug, they were relatively loose, and if the water rose, it would seep underneath.

Tamping it down would limit the seepage.

Everyone immediately understood, and since they couldn’t find suitable stakes right away, they simply carried large stones, one or two people together, thumping them around the pond.

In very dry areas, they scooped a ladle of muddy water, poured it on to wet the ground, then stepped on it forcefully.

It must’ve seemed fun because even the older kids joined in, no one was lazy.

The water flowed very slowly, trickling upward, but nobody was in a rush, as long as there was water, nothing else mattered.

They worked until evening; the water flowed up to palm depth and was still rising.

The water remained murky, yet no one could resist fetching some, even if just to take home to settle overnight; the mud would sink by morning.

At night at home, Second Aunt boiled a pot of hot water: "Everyone’s worked hard during these times, we might not have enough water for a bath, but each of us can have half a basin of hot water to wipe ourselves down."

Initially, she only intended to clean up the siblings Liu Yang and Big Water Buffalo, but now she could afford to be a bit more generous.

Even though they’d been saving constantly, aside from eating and drinking, they still had to feed the chickens and cows, not even daring to rinse vegetables more than once, reusing that water for the cows.

Sweet potatoes weren’t washed either, just peeled and cooked, rinsing rice was out of the question.

The small water buffalo continued as before, fed alternately by their family and Liu Yang’s family.

But ever since the drought began, Jiang Hu couldn’t find Old Master Ding, and Big Water Buffalo had been kept at home, requiring water daily.

Now, of the dozens of tanks of water they’d saved, a third was already used up.

Although there was still plenty left, no one could say when this drought would end, so they dared not use it recklessly.

But now, maybe because water was unearthed from the pond, Second Aunt was less worried and acted a bit generously.

Of course, it was only half a basin per person; even though Liu Yang and Big Water Buffalo were small in size, tomorrow was their birthday, they deserved half a basin, to be properly cleaned.

Jiang Hu happened to return with muddy water and, upon hearing Second Aunt’s words, said.

"It’s still early; everyone can take it to your rooms to wipe off first, then we can cook later."

Though married to Second Aunt for many years and with four children, it was still embarrassing to undress together in the room in broad daylight.

Second Aunt fetched the water; no one was shy or unwilling, everyone cheerfully thanked her and took their wooden basins back to their rooms.

Liu Yang waited around; as for Big Water Buffalo, Jiang Hu took him to Jiang Yu’s room to get cleaned up, while Liu Yang waited for her mother to help her bathe later.

Half a basin of hot water, once used, turned into black sewage, but everyone was finally clean.

But the dirty water couldn’t be wasted, they poured it into the manure bucket, and Jiang Hu would use it to water the sorghum tomorrow.

Liu Yang was also clean, even her hair was wrung out with a cloth and carefully wiped several times by Second Aunt.