The water flowed murmuringly, and bubbles from the spring's source at the bottom of the spiritual spring rippled outwards.
The earth dragons inside swam with great joy.
Seeing Ah Jiu come to peek her small head out of the water, she suddenly dived underwater like a child playing hide-and-seek: "Find me, find me!"
Ah Jiu couldn't help but laugh.
"I can see you already."
The pool was clear to the bottom, let alone the earth dragons, even a jade stone was clearly visible.
The earth dragon seemed to understand human speech and meandered in the water, its tail fins splashing a circle of water.
"Stop fooling around, you splashed water all over my face," Ah Jiu cursed with a smile.
Taking out all the water skins and filling them up, she found there was still a lot left in the spiritual spring. She simply scooped it up with her hands and drank her fill.
Looking at it, there was still so much left. Ah Jiu recalled that if saving people increased the spiritual spring's value, she hadn't saved anyone recently.
It seemed it was still due to the crops she planted.
However, it would be great to have more containers for water now. This spiritual spring seemed to have a temper, not rising until it was used up.
Ah Jiu got up groggily and saw the moon hanging high, the sky so clear that only the moonlight dominated.
Beside her, Ah Nai sat as still as ever, as if her eyelids hadn't even moved.
"Ah Nai!" Ah Jiu slyly took out a pile of water skins from her embrace: "Does it smell good?"
She pulled off the stoppers and waved them in front of the old woman's nose.
Wang Shi's head followed the spiritual energy from the spiritual spring to Ah Jiu's embrace. She quietly raised her eyes and looked at Ah Jiu's face, blinking her triangular eyes:
"For me?"
"Mm," Ah Jiu busily took out the water skins she had just filled from her embrace.
She lined them up one by one on the rubble, positioned along the sloping eaves, so they wouldn't leak.
As spiritual energy passed through Wang Shi's breathing, wisps of white mist shot directly into her nostrils. Soon, the spiritual energy enveloped her entire body in a hazy glow.
It was then that Ah Jiu understood that her Ah Nai's "two holes" weren't just for breathing.
Ah Jiu looked again at the mouths of the six water skins, and they kept emitting vapor. The most concentrated vapor near the opening had a faint blue hue.
"Nai, this... this how..." Ah Jiu was startled. Why did it change color?
Her heel slipped, and with a *pa-da*, a piece of rubble was dislodged by Ah Jiu, falling into the courtyard with a crisp sound.
Ah Jiu instinctively covered her ears, "Don't get discovered, don't get discovered."
Someone came out of the courtyard. Ah Jiu shrunk her neck and lay flat. It was her mother.
"Who? Dare to break into my house? No way."
She wasn't finished yet, running to the kitchen to grab a cleaver and inspecting the courtyard in all directions.
Ah Jiu propped her head up and lay on the rubble.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, the back door was knocked.
"Which bastard dares to come to my courtyard?" Cai Lihua grabbed the knife and went.
Ah Jiu climbed onto the roof ridge and looked towards the back door.
Isn't that her father?
As soon as the door opened, *whoosh*, a knife was placed at Meng Shaode's neck.
"It's me, Shaode!"
As soon as this was said.
"Oh my goodness!" Cai Lihua's knife immediately dropped to the ground.
Meng Shaode's legs trembled: "It's me, who else could it be?"
This truly scared the hell out of me. When can this woman be a little gentler?
"It's all your fault. Tell me, why are you back so late at night?" Cai Lihua was also terrified, almost slicing her husband.
Trembling, she picked up the cleaver, pulled her man inside, and bolted the door.
"It's a long story. I went to the private school to apply for a job, and I've taught for half a day, but..."
"What happened?" Cai Lihua absolutely believed her man had the ability to teach.
He used to teach high school, and he even taught chemistry and physics as supplementary subjects. The students all liked him very much.
"Nothing much. It's just that those children got scared when they saw me and didn't want to study anymore. This is truly a sin." Meng Shaode rolled up his sleeves to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
This set of clothes was specially tailored for him by the tailor shop when he went looking for work.
"..."