Chapter 14: Selling Water in East Gate Village

At a critical moment, Su Tai offered him an idea. "Uncle, if you are truly anxious, you could give two taels of silver to the village chief of Panlong Township, and send some gifts to explain the situation to them. That would save Father and Brother Shen. However, this silver must come from Ximen Village. After all, they are the ones in a hurry, right?"

Su Changfu was stunned.

Beside him, Su Changxi burst into laughter. "Not bad, not bad! That’s a good idea. As long as Ximen Village is willing to pay the silver, there’s no problem that can’t be solved."

Su Changfu came to his senses and glared at Su Changxi. "Easy for you to say. Do you think digging a well doesn't cost money? How could it be possible to make them pay an extra two taels of silver?"

Su Changxi shrugged. "Then there’s nothing to be done. In any case, no one is allowed to touch our village's well."

"That’s right, that’s right! This is our village's well; no one is allowed to touch it!"

The other villagers expressed their agreement one after another.

Helpless, Su Changfu had no choice but to go to Ximen Village himself to inform them of the situation.

The people of Ximen Village were, as expected, in an uproar.

Ding Shi reacted the most fiercely. "Why should we have to pay an extra two taels of silver? They took the money themselves, so they should be the ones to pay it back!"

Because Xiong Dao was seriously injured and required long-term rest and treatment, Ding Shi’s family was so poor they were barely scraping by. Asking her to cough up silver was like asking for her life.

Su Changfu lifted his eyelids expressionlessly, swept a glance at Ding Shi, and sneered, "Why would they pay this silver back? Are you the ones in a hurry, or are they?"

"In any case, we cannot take this money to let them squander!" Ding Shi was too angry to let it go and stated her position on the spot.

Many of the women agreed with her.

Su Changfu sighed and looked at Gao Zhi, who had remained silent. He shook his head. "If you hadn't caused so much trouble at the beginning and had instead worked together with the other villages, there wouldn't be so much trouble now. I know you’ve had masters look at it yourselves—you can't find water. The only person you can count on is in this situation. Either you spend two more taels of silver to get him back, or you spend money to buy water from Dongmen Village. One wen for two buckets, and you can't buy more."

This was the second method Su Changfu had thought of on his way over, and it was the most practical one at the moment.

Gao Zhi grumbled reluctantly, "Everyone is so poor we're barely scraping by; where would we get the money?"

Su Changfu was so angry he laughed. He didn't indulge them. "I've already told you the method; you discuss how to do it yourselves! Don't talk to me about money. No one's well was blown here by a strong wind; people worked hard to dig them. You didn't put in any effort, yet you want to reap the rewards? Keep dreaming!"

Gao Zhi, an old man, was pointed at and scolded to his face; he was so angry he nearly fainted.

After Su Changfu left, the people of Ximen Village all gathered at Gao Zhi’s house.

"Village Chief, if there's really no other way, let's spend the money to buy water!" Xiong Kai said first, his face dark.

He had calculated it in his heart. If they dug a well, every household would have to pay. Although his family only had two people, they would still have to pay twenty or thirty wen. And that was just for one well; if they dug for several days and still found nothing, the money spent would be even more. Buying water was different: one wen for two buckets was enough for him and his mother to use for two or three days. Ten wen a month would be about enough. If they gritted their teeth and held out until winter, the snow would melt into water, and they wouldn't have to worry about having no water.

Many villagers echoed his sentiment.

Gao Zhi was unwilling to spend the money, but his previous decisions hadn't yielded good results. If he didn't agree this time and more trouble broke out, he might really be replaced as village chief. He had no choice but to agree, feeling deeply aggrieved.

When the villagers of Dongmen Village learned that the people of Ximen Village were willing to pay for water, they didn't say anything more. Su Changfu even promised everyone that the money would be distributed to them during the New Year, which made the villagers even more pleased.

A small number of people insisted on using well water to irrigate their fields.

Su Tai went along to join the excitement, only to discover that the crops in the fields had almost all withered from the drought. The few scattered, sturdy-looking ones probably wouldn't even produce grain.

Immediately, more than half of the villagers began to weep in sorrow.

Beside her, Han Shi looked sorrowful and muttered to herself, "How are we to live! How are we to get through the winter!"

"Mother, is our family out of grain?" Su Tai asked cautiously.

Han Shi paused, then pulled her home before saying, "There is still a little grain in the house, but it won't last through the cold winter. You were sick before, so you probably don't remember, but here, heavy snow starts falling at the end of the tenth month. We can't plow until the snow melts in the third month of the coming year. In a disaster year, grain is naturally expensive. After winter sets in, a catty of coarse flour sells for dozens of wen. Which family can afford that?"

Su Tai was shocked. "Doesn't the town official care? Even if the town official doesn't, isn't there the county magistrate?"

Han Shi looked at her naive expression and smiled bitterly. "How can they care? We are in Lizhou, the poorest place, and even in the most remote Zhaohua County of Lizhou. Even if the magistrate had grain, he couldn't provide enough relief. Our family is a bit better off; if we really can't go on, we can go to the county seat and beg your uncle for help. The other villagers will have it much harder."

As she spoke, Han Shi showed Su Tai the family's grain reserves—there was only half a jar left. It truly wouldn't last until next spring.

This small amount of grain was now the most precious thing in their house. Han Shi wouldn't even let Su Tai touch it, and after showing her, she chased her out of the room and locked the door.

Su Tai was speechless.

After Han Shi went to get busy, she found an opportunity to enter the Space-Time Gate transit station. Because she had purchased the rights to deploy four spring eyes, her virtual currency balance was less than three hundred. She hadn't thought of a new way to make money yet, but the food crisis was urgent. After thinking it over, she gritted her teeth and spent fifty coins to unlock the Earth Space-Time to try her luck.

When she entered the Earth Space-Time, the scene before her eyes turned into fields. They didn't look very large, and the specifics were unclear, but the soil moisture was moderate and dark—it looked like fertile land at a glance. Excited, she returned to the transit station to check the information on the screen.

The Earth Space-Time, as the name suggests, was all soil. At first, only one mu of land was unlocked, which would grow larger after upgrades. She could plant any plant in the fields. Half of the harvest would be taken as payment for using the land, automatically reclaimed by the Earth Space-Time, and Su Tai could dispose of the remaining half as she pleased—she could sell it to the automatic trading cabinet or take it out.

This rule was quite reasonable.

The top priority now was to obtain grain. Their area was deep inland, close to the Aoshuang Kingdom, which was full of icebergs. The terrain was high, and all three villages in Qingsha Township grew wheat.

She could only grow wheat, but Han Shi viewed the grain as extremely important and wouldn't give her any chance to touch it. Their own family was having such a hard time, let alone the other families.

Just as Su Tai was worrying, Su Chunlin and Shen Yi returned, each carrying a bag of grain.

Su Tai’s eyes lit up when she saw the grain in the bags.

"Father, Brother Shen, did you dig a well for Panlong Township?"

"That goes without saying!" Su Chunlin was particularly proud. He glanced at Shen Yi and then chuckled sheepishly, "It was all Shen Yi’s credit; I was just there to help, hehe..."

Han Shi rolled her eyes at him. "You're so old, yet you're still so reckless! It’s one thing for you to cause trouble yourself, but you almost dragged Shen Yi into it too!"