Chapter 102

Chapter 102

Ever since they learned the river was dropping, the village kept a daily watch on the water's surface.

At first, they cut bamboo markers to track it, never expecting the weather to grow hotter by the day. During the peak sun hours, even heading into the mountains or plunging into the river brought no relief; it felt like being trapped in a steamer, sweat pouring off them by the bucketful.

The river's water level visibly dropped with each passing day. Rising at dawn to fetch water for the fields, by evening when they wanted to soak in the river to wash off fatigue, they could sense the water had sunk another notch. Even wading to the middle, the water went from over their heads, to their necks, then down to their chests...

The river and wells gradually dried up. The sun scorched people's skin red and peeling, their lips cracking and bleeding if they so much as opened their mouths.

The fields lacked water, the ground cracked so wide you could stick your hand in it. No matter how much water they hauled, the blazing sun just sucked it all up.

Crops died off in patches. The rice in the fields withered, the veggies in the garden lay wilted on the ground, like the dead weeds everywhere. There wasn't a speck of green in sight.

Leaves turned yellow, the ground covered in dead stuff. Tree roots dried up and snapped at the slightest touch.

The firewood they'd saved for winter was now just lying around, easy to pick up by the basketful. From morning till night, waves of heat hit them in the face.

Once the dog days came, the sun got even meaner. The men could only haul water to the fields early in the morning and late in the evening. At other times, stepping outside, the soles of their feet felt like they were frying on the ground, so hot they'd jump and holler in pain. Standing under the sun, their heads spun. If they didn't drink some herbal stuff to cool down after coming inside, they'd definitely get heatstroke.

Now, they had to put up with sweat-soaked clothes, uncomfortable as they were. It wasn't that the women were lazy or thought washing was a hassle—it was the water shortage. The river had dried up so much you could see the sand, and even the well water was nearly gone, you needed two ropes tied together just to reach the water.

Now, forget about washing clothes—even drinking water had to be rationed. Where they used to gulp down big mouthfuls, now they sipped carefully, even when their throats were burning with thirst.

Half a month ago, the village set a rule: each family could only take two buckets of water a day, strictly for drinking and cooking. Anyone caught wasting it would have their whole family go without water.

Two buckets wasn't bad—that was only because their village was small and could be generous. Other villages had already had countless fights over water. Wells were guarded day and night, with village heads saying each family could only have one bucket a day. Widows and poor folks living alone didn't even get that.

When lives were on the line, family and neighborly ties meant nothing. What mattered was who had the stronger arm.

The good thing about Sunset Glow Village was that the toughest family, Old Man Zhao's, didn't push people around. Having dodged the draft together, they were a bit more united than other villages. The village elders had also learned from past mistakes, knowing that sticking together was the only way to get things done. So despite the drought and water shortage, there hadn't been any bullying, and they were fair on big issues.

It was too hot to stay outside, so Zhao Xiaobao spent most of her time in the Immortal Realm, even bringing the donkey in there.

The wooden cabin had changed again. The backyard now had two sheds, one for the donkey and one for the ox, right next to the chicken coop. Just cleaning up their poop took a lot of work every day.

Maybe because they ate well, they pooped a lot, and the pit was full of good fertilizer. Once, Wang Shi tried scooping half a bucket to water the vegetable patch, and it worked wonders. The wilted greens grew bigger and looked a lot fresher than before.

The original eighteen chicks had grown up, and two more batches had hatched. Now they had dozens of chickens, and picking up eggs every day was a big job. They had to eat them fast, or there'd be no room to store them. These days, boiled eggs were on the table for every meal. The five sons of Wu Gu Feng Deng Xi sometimes treated their little buddies, which had made Dagouzi and his crew fully accept them as their big brothers. What they said sometimes mattered more than what their parents said.

Over the past six months, Dagouzi and the others went to the sandy area to cut grass on the regular. When they got tired or hot, they'd head to the secret base's pool to cool off. The pool was in the mountains, shaded by trees, cooler than the river outside, and the water dried up more slowly. If it weren't for the recent discovery of wild boar poop nearby, they could have stayed in the mountains a while longer.

Old Man Zhao had been worried about this lately. Lately, they'd heard wolves howling at night. At first, they thought they were imagining it, but when they asked around, everyone in the village said they'd heard it too—a creepy sound, nothing like their dog Xiao Heizi's howls. It made sleep uneasy.

What was more troubling, the next day, a man said his field near the woods had been rooted up by wild boars, the crops eaten clean.

"It was fine yesterday evening, but this morning, the field was a mess," the man lamented. After all the hard work hauling water daily, to have it ruined by animals was infuriating.

"Uncle Shan'ao said we shouldn't let the kids go into the mountains for now. If they run into a wild boar, it'll be trouble."

The wolf howls were scary enough, and now wild boars coming down the mountain had everyone on edge.

Large beasts didn't usually descend. For them to come down and ravage the crops meant only one thing: conditions in the mountains were worse than below.

Down here, at least there was a river. Deep in the mountains, there were lakes, pools, and streams, but whether there were larger water sources, no one knew.

All they knew was that the sun beat down everywhere. If people were short of water, animals must be too. With nothing to drink in the mountains, of course they'd come down.

It was like a famine—when there's no food in the mountains, they come down to eat people.

The drawbacks of the drought were emerging one by one.

The Zhao family's courtyard wall had been hastily built in recent days. Hiring help in the heat meant feeding them, and the men suffered working, while Wang Shi and her three daughters-in-law suffered cooking. With so many people around, it was inconvenient to take food from the Immortal Realm. Even making simple porridge meant standing by the stove for a while, sweating buckets, each breath scalding hot.

The wall was made of thick logs, tightly packed, twice as tall as Old Man Zhao. Four strong men pushing with all their might couldn't budge it. Even a bear wouldn't be a threat, and wolves certainly couldn't climb over—it was very safe.

With a secure place to live, Old Man Zhao finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.

That day, the men sent out to gather news returned.

A group of seven or eight, led by Zhao Dashan. As they entered the village, Zhao Sanwang picked up the gong hanging on the banyan tree and started beating it.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

A gong at the village head meant big news. Ever since wild boars came down to eat crops and wolves howled at night, the village's only gong hung on the banyan tree. When it sounded, everyone, no matter what they were doing, had to come immediately.

Thin figures emerged from their homes.

Zhao Xiaobao had just come out of the Immortal Realm when she heard the gong. She quickly grabbed a straw hat from the wall in the main room, put it on, and followed her parents. The whole family shut the courtyard gate and headed to the village entrance.

By the time they arrived, the shady spots under the banyan tree were packed. Seeing them, Feng Shi quickly waved: "Sister, over here, come to me."

Wang Shi hurried over with her daughter and daughters-in-law: "Elder sister, how did you get here so fast?"

"Oh, I rushed to grab a spot. If I'd come late, there'd be nowhere to stand. This sun is unbearable, it's roasting people alive." Feng Shi tugged at her collar as she spoke. Surrounded by familiar folks, she didn't care about propriety anymore, frantically fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan. The air it stirred was hot, but better than nothing.

Wang Shi had left in a hurry and forgotten her fan, so she had to use her hand. Glancing at her sons sitting in the shade, her heart sank: "Dashan and the others don't look good. This trip didn't go well."

Feng Shi nodded, her face full of worry.

About three or four days ago, something seemed off upstream. Though the river was dry, if you looked closely, you could still see a thin trickle of water flowing down. Now that every half-bucket of water was closely watched, any anomaly was spotted immediately.

Experienced folks could tell at a glance that the flow had been blocked. This was expected—every drought year, people upstream did this, cutting off the flow to have more water for themselves, caring nothing for those downstream.

With the crops at stake, no one could afford to be merciful at a time like this.

The village was naturally anxious. Before dawn that morning, Zhao Dashan had led a group of young men to scout the situation, wanting to see who was being so unscrupulous. They'd all left carrying hoes, ready to use force if necessary. When someone pulls such a shameless move, reasoning with them is pointless.

They'd expected them back by evening at the earliest, but here they were, back in just half a day.

Now, the banyan tree was crowded with people, even the eaves of the houses at the village head were packed. The crowd was noisy, arguing over shady spots. The blistering heat made everyone irritable.

Those who hadn't snagged a shady spot muttered in frustration. How was it that the banyan tree was still so lush when the trees on the hill had withered and died? Had someone secretly been watering it? Look at how dense the leaves were, able to shelter so many people.

It was like an ancestor opening their arms to shield a host of descendants.

Once everyone was gathered, Zhao Sanwang stepped forward. Without beating around the bush, he got straight to the point: "The people from Yujiawan blocked the river with sandbags and rocks. When we went, we ran into their men. They were arrogant as could be. When we tried to move the rocks and sandbags, they stopped us and even raised their hoes. We were about to fight, but Dashan held us back." He shot an angry look at Zhao Dashan, thinking he'd chickened out. They'd killed refugees before—Yujiawan's men didn't scare him.

"Yujiawan? How could Yujiawan cut off our water?"

"Are you sure? Yujiawan is the only village below us, right?"

Hearing it was Yujiawan causing trouble, the crowd erupted. Some were furious, others refused to believe it. Of all the nearby villages, Yujiawan was closest. Over the years, there'd been intermarriage between the two villages. Even now, several women under the banyan tree had family in Yujiawan, and their village had daughters married there. They'd imagined countless possibilities, but never this—that Yujiawan would cut off their water.

Their village was the most remote. There didn't seem to be any villages further down. Maybe there were, but they were too far to have contact, so they didn't count. If anyone were to block the water, it should be the uppermost village cutting off all those below, not just targeting one. Yujiawan's move was clearly aimed at them.

"What does this mean?" a woman fumed, her chest heaving. "I'll go back to my family tomorrow and ask them what they're up to! Are they short on water just for our village? Why block our water with rocks!" She was a woman who'd married into Sunset Glow Village from Yujiawan, now a daughter-in-law here for decades, raising children for a Sunset Glow man. Her heart had long leaned toward Sunset Glow. Thinking of her cracked fields and sun-scorched rice, this year's harvest was a loss—she just hoped to salvage half. Anyone who blocked her family's survival would have her overturning their table, even her own family!

Several other women from Yujiawan nodded in agreement, some even crying in anger. How could their parents and brothers, knowing they'd married here, cut off their lifeline? Wasn't that like forcing them to die?

At first, although their in-laws had warned them not to sneak back to their birth villages to tip off their families about dodging the draft by taking down the stage, they still found ways to hint to their dads and brothers to head into the mountains for no reason—whether to chop firewood or just cool off, it was best to stay in the woods.

Clearly, their brothers back home had all gotten away, so why were they now turning their backs on them?

"We gotta go to the Village Head and demand an explanation! What right do those Yujiawan folks have to block the river? If they don't give us a proper account, this isn't over!" Li Laiyin fumed, spit flying everywhere. He slapped his straw hat back on and was about to round up some men to head to Taoli Village to find the Village Head.

"What's the hurry?" Wang Tiegen grabbed him. "Let's hear what Dashan's got to say."

"What's there to say?! This is all on Yujiawan! If they don't move those rocks, nobody's gonna get off easy!" Li Laiyin shook off his hand.

"Exactly!" The village men were red-faced with anger, rolling up their sleeves and grabbing hoes. "If they won't let us live, then nobody lives! I'll torch their crops and then see who's tougher!"

At that, heads got smacked by a flurry of palms. Country folk hated hearing talk of messing with crops, even if the other side was in the wrong.

"What the hell are you yapping about?! All of you getting big-headed, huh? You dare say stuff like that?!" The old folks, lips cracked from thirst, chewed them out. "Dare to mess with crops, dare to mess with the harvest? I'll knock some sense into you brainless idiots!"

The heat already had everyone on edge, and the racket only made it worse. Now even water had to be rationed, and every extra word dried their mouths out. Parents chased after their sons, who were cursing the Yujiawan men while heading home for hoes, looking ready to start a real brawl.

Seeing things spiral out of control, Zhao Shanao quickly stepped in, frowning and snapping, "Quiet down! Let Dashan talk!"

At his word, the rowdy crowd fell silent, all eyes turning to Zhao Dashan, who was resting on a little stool.

Zhao Dashan picked up his bamboo tube, took a sip of the sun-warmed water to wet his dry throat, and then said, "Given how Yujiawan acted, I figure the Village Head knows about them damming the river."

Ever since the draft, even though they'd put on a show that left no room for blame, that's just how people are—if I suffer and you get off easy, I get resentful. Though nothing was said out loud, after that incident, even going to Zhou Family Village to buy tofu or meat meant getting surrounded and sarcastically told how lucky they were, with some pestering them about how they survived in the "deep woods."

It was only natural for some to hold a grudge and look down on their village.

Blocking the water source was a big deal; if handled wrong, it could turn two villages into sworn enemies. If anyone said the Village Head didn't know about this, he wouldn't buy it.

Hekou Village, Dongtou Village, Liziba, Yujiawan, Taoli Village—these places had good roads and water, and folks mixed a lot. Marriages tied them together, way more than with their own village. If Yujiawan dared to do this, chances were the other villages were egging them on.

This wasn't simple—it wasn't just a beef between their village and Yujiawan. Other villages might be in on it. Even if they went to the Village Head, they probably wouldn't get anywhere.

He laid it out plain, then looked at the crowd: "The sun's too brutal. Going to the Village Head for justice might be a wasted trip. But we can't just take this lying down. I came back to discuss how to handle it. If we're dead set on moving the rocks, we'll end up fighting Yujiawan. If other villages back them, we're up against more than just Yujiawan."

"Besides, they're upstream, we're downstream. If we don't teach them a lesson this time, they might block the river again once we leave. We can't guard them every day—there's no such thing as guarding against thieves forever."

"My take is, if we fight, we hit them hard so they never dare scheme again. Or we don't fight and swallow this bitter pill."

He finished, looking at the woman who'd first shouted about going back to her natal village to demand answers.

Her face was already pale, and when she met his gaze, she instinctively looked down.

His point was clear: either be cowards or go all out. For others in the village, it was one thing, but for women married from Yujiawan and families with daughters married there, it was a tough spot. Anyone could talk tough, but acting on it was hard!

Especially for the married women—their backing came from their sons and their natal families. Cutting ties completely with their parents and brothers meant no one to stand up for them if they were bullied by their in-laws.

Unlike the young men raising their arms and shouting "Fight!", the Village Elders seemed hesitant. Not about swallowing the loss—they couldn't back down when their lives were at stake. They hesitated because, as Dashan said, if the Village Head knew and let Yujiawan choke them, fighting Yujiawan now would only make the other villages dislike them more.

The Village Head had a lot of power. The drought was immediate, but life had to go on. If they ignored the future, other villages might gang up on them. For instance, during corvée labor, the Village Head could badmouth them to the Official, landing them the hardest jobs.

And Da Gen—his whole family was capable, but even traveling far required the Village Head's seal for a travel permit from the county office. Offending the Village Head would trap them in this mountain nook forever!

"But maybe the Village Head doesn't know?" Zhou Fugui thought the Village Head couldn't be that petty. Conscription was the court's business, not theirs. Even if his son was taken, his anger should be at the court, not their village. "Let's ask first. If he doesn't know, we can get him to mediate. With his help, Yujiawan probably won't dare say no."

Their village had no headman. In other villages, offending the Village Head or even the headman made life hard. If the Village Head was willing to help, the problem could be solved.

"Da Gen, what do you think?" Zhao Shanao looked at Old Man Zhao. He also thought they should first see the Village Head's stance. A peaceful solution was better than swinging hoes—a real fight could lead to deaths.

Old Man Zhao couldn't say much. He didn't know the Village Head well, but he knew his own son. If Dashan said so, it was likely true—several villages were ganging up on them.

Still, the old men had a point. Good or bad, they needed to clarify things first. So he said, "Let's send someone to Taoli Village to explain the situation to the Village Head. If he won't step in, it means he knows and is clearly bullying us. Everyone knows the state of the fields. Yujiawan cutting our water is like cutting our lifeline. Then every able-bodied man in the village grabs a hoe and heads to Yujiawan, even if it costs a life, to move those rocks and sandbags! We'll beat them until they never dare mess with us again!"

"Fight!"

"Fight!!"

"Kill them!!!"

All the men raised their arms and roared, even the children caught up in the fervor. Zhao Xiaowu and his group of kids on the branches shouted wildly, shaking loose dry yellow leaves that rained down on those below.

"Youliang, take a few men to Taoli Village now to find the Village Head. I'll have someone fill water for you." Zhao Shanao looked at Wu Youliang, crouching under the eaves, then thought to add Zhao Sanwang—the guy seemed rough but was sharp. "San Wang, go too. Don't start fights with Taoli Village folks. This trip is just to gauge the Village Head's stance and see if the other villages are ganging up on us. Find out and come back right away, no lingering."

Zhao Sanwang nodded, pulling Wu Dazhu along and calling a few other men he usually got along with: "Don't worry, sir. I know what to do."

Zhao Shanao didn't waste time. He had them take out their water-filled bamboo tubes and sent someone to draw water from the old well.

The well was barely yielding water now, with daily quotas. The water for their hard work couldn't come from personal stores—it had to be shared by all.

With their bamboo tubes full, Zhao Sanwang and his group donned straw hats and headed to Taoli Village.

Once they left, the crowd under the big tree dispersed.

Back home, no one could sit still. The old men went to the storage shed for hoes, scythes, and axes, while the women brought out whetstones. No one was a fool—deep down, they hoped the Village Head was in the dark and would step in to help.

But rationally, most leaned toward Zhao Dashan's view: their village was being isolated.

So there was only one path: fight the bastards!