A Jiu looked at the wheat grains in her pocket. There were at least two jin, and if she ate them sparingly, she could last another day.
Before she could feel happy, A Jiu was choked by the words. She was already annoyed by Grandma's secretive habits:
"Grandma, what did you say? In this place? You'd better not dream so big. We still have to see a doctor for you when we get to Nanming City."
Besides, her spiritual spring water was not enough for one person to drink, let alone to grow crops. Moreover, A Jiu hadn't figured out the pattern of the spiritual spring's appearance yet.
This time, she was just experimenting. Now that the experiment was successful, it only guaranteed that she wouldn't starve to death on the road at a critical moment, and that was all.
"I'm not sick." Madam Wang sighed. A bunch of ignorant mortals, she didn't even have the desire to argue or explain.
"If you don't want to, then fine." Anyway, she had to follow this girl. Otherwise, when would her spiritual power recover?
What if she encountered those ignorant brutes and they captured her to kill her? Wouldn't she die even more miserably?
A Jiu watched as the old lady sat down cross-legged again and ignored her.
She got up, sneaked back, packed the wheat into a sack, and lay down peacefully.
A Jiu couldn't sleep. She was unwilling and entered the spiritual spring space again.
This time, she was greatly disappointed. The water in the pit hadn't grown yet. Did it only happen once a day?
No, she had to find a way to find a water source.
A Jiu got up and looked around, noticing that her father and Xiao Yan Yan were gone.
She had seen her father cutting wood earlier. He might be making a bow and arrow to hunt for prey nearby.
A Jiu wasn't worried about this. Her father's archery skills were quite good.
It wasn't until the sky was dimly lit that a series of footsteps approached.
"Lihua, quick, get up, we've found water."
His rough, scarred face was full of joy, and his eyes were filled with excitement.
"Ah? Really? Where?" Cai Lihua sat up instantly, asking as she rolled up the bedsheet and the clothes inside, tying them together.
A Jiu was also overjoyed: "Grandma, Grandma, let's go, we've found water."
"Where's your Grandma?" Cai Lihua stuffed the bundle into the basket and helped her husband put it on his back.
"I'll go call her." A Jiu's heart was filled with hope. This was great.
As soon as she reached the tree, A Jiu found it bare. Even the wheat stalks were gone. She stared at Madam Wang with wide eyes.
"Grandma? You didn't eat all the wheat stalks, did you?"
Madam Wang stood up slowly, her eyes half-lowered, and said calmly, "Although it was a bit stuck in my teeth, I couldn't waste my spiritual energy."
"..." A Jiu saw that her mouth was swollen, looking like two sausages hanging under her nose. It made her heart ache just looking at it.
"Mom, A Jiu, hurry up and follow."
Meng Shaode happily waved his arms. This matter along the way had finally made the whole family happy.
"It's in that valley. I went hunting with the young man there last night. Although I didn't encounter a single feather, I saw a lot of pheasant droppings there, so there must be a water source. I didn't even have time to look for pheasants before I came back."
Meng Shaode chattered excitedly along the way.
"That's truly remarkable. Uncle is also very capable and has a discerning eye." Xiao Yan Yan gave him a thumbs-up.
"Of course. Back then, when I was escorting goods and encountered a large group of bandits, I hid in the mountains. I learned everything to survive."
Meng Shaode also liked this child; his words were sweet.
A Jiu, without a word, had already prepared her water skins to store water.
They had four water skins in total. One had gone with Uncle Tie's family. Of the remaining three, two were empty, and hers still had less than half a bowl of water.
Although it was only a mountain away, as the sun rose, it baked from above and the stones below were hot enough to burn their faces.
Before long, A Jiu felt her throat burning, and her mother's lips were dry and cracked.
"A Jiu, how much water do we have left?" Cai Lihua asked weakly.
Meng Shaode, who had been so cheerful earlier, had just led his family down the mountain, and now his energy had been depleted.
"We still have some, Mom, drink." A Jiu took off her water skin and handed it to her mother.
Cai Lihua shook it, despair in her eyes, and then pushed it back:
"Jiu'er, you drink. Mom can hold on."
Saying that, she pushed it back to A Jiu.
Madam Wang's eyes followed the water skin back and forth.