Her daughter had said in a dream she had water a couple of days ago.
Pushing open the carriage door, good heavens, their daughter was emptying a full waterskin into a wooden bucket to give the horse a drink.
Her eyes darted around, "Could it be true?"
"What's true?" Meng Shaode was watching their obedient daughter diligently give the horse water, finding her more and more charming.
"Daughter said she could get water in her dreams."
"Ah?" Meng Shaode's voice suddenly rose, only to be glared at by Cai Lihua:
"Why are you raising your voice? I believe it now. Think about it, we've only encountered two water sources on our journey. The first time, in that muddy puddle, we only managed to fill three waterskins, and one of them was half mud."
Meng Shaode nodded dumbly, pondering with suspicion, "Yes."
"The second time was what Xiao Yan discovered that day, but it was only a small bucket in total..."
The more Cai Lihua spoke, the more she felt her daughter's words had some merit.
"That's right. We drank less water halfway because we had watermelons, but daughter's waterskin was full every time."
Meng Shaode whispered, glancing towards the horse's head from time to time.
Their daughter was squatting there, chin resting on her hand, watching the horse drink, occasionally stroking its head with her small hand, looking exceptionally at ease.
"Yes," Cai Lihua whispered, "I suspect daughter is telling the truth."
"Ahem."
A clearing of the throat came from the top of the carriage.
The couple just then realized they had forgotten the old lady.
"You two are only realizing now?"
Wang Shi huffed.
"What, Mother, you knew already?" Cai Lihua stood up and leaned on the carriage to look at her mother-in-law.
"Your daughter has spiritual spring water, I knew this the first day. It's just you two who are so slow. The truth is always unbelievable, alas... you're too rigid."
As soon as Wang Shi said this, Cai Lihua stealthily withdrew, pointed upwards:
"Old Meng, Mother knows, how come we didn't?"
"Yes," the couple exchanged bewildered glances.
"But this is too strange, doesn't it feel like the 'space' they write about in those books I read in my past life?"
Cai Lihua's words struck a chord.
Meng Shaode's pupils contracted, "It does, it really does."
"Ah... then, when I was reading those novels, I thought they were just made up. Old Meng, you see how miraculous this world is."
Cai Lihua reminisced.
"Isn't it miraculous that we ended up here inexplicably?"
Meng Shaode stated the obvious.
Over there, Ajiu had finished feeding the water and carried the wooden bucket over, placing it inside the carriage,
"Daddy, Mommy, the horse has finished drinking, it looks like it's better."
"Oh, that's good."
Cai Lihua looked at her daughter with a different gaze.
She pulled her daughter aside, preventing her from entering the carriage. Mother and daughter sat on the crossbar outside, dangling their legs, swaying with the bumps of the carriage.
"Daughter, what you said last time was true." Cai Lihua asked.
Ajiu, however, was confused, "What are you talking about?"
"About you having water in your dreams." Cai Lihua asked her daughter intimately.
Ajiu's eyes lit up, "Really, I don't know how it happened. It's like as soon as I think about it, that spiritual spring appears, and I can draw water. Mother, isn't it strange?"
Hearing this, Cai Lihua excitedly tugged at Meng Shaode and whispered,
"It's really a space, it actually exists!"
"Space? Yes Mother, it's space." Ajiu pursed her lips and nodded.
"Wow, daughter, tell Mother quickly what it looks like inside." Cai Lihua was thrilled.
After traveling for a day and a night and having argued with the villagers of Xinghua Village, she was now so excited that she felt no fatigue at all.
"It's like lush green mountains and clear waters, with a spring. The whole world is very quiet and peaceful, and it's beautiful, as beautiful as a painting."
After Ajiu finished speaking, Cai Lihua grinned and hugged Ajiu, kissing her fiercely,
"Daughter, you've struck gold. Do you know what space is?"
Ajiu blinked, "Mother, you know too?"