Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

This mountain is really huge. I don’t know how long we walked. We were all sweating from the heat and our throats were so thirsty, but we didn’t even see any water.

"It's been so long and we still can't find it. Could it be that there is no such thing in such a big mountain?"

"Just keep going forward. We have only just arrived."

Zhou Guo paid close attention to the surrounding environment. The further he walked, the more rocks there were at the bottom of the cliff. There were more and more plants on the stone walls, dry moss was everywhere, and the vegetation on the sides was becoming more and more lush, although most of it had withered.

She slowed down her pace and felt her way along the bottom of the cliff, especially the small holes and pits under the wall.

We searched for many such pits but found nothing. However, judging from the traces of scouring at the bottom of the pits, there used to be water flowing here, but it is dry now.

She did not lose heart and continued to move forward.

After walking for another half an hour, the vegetation gradually became less yellow, and there was even some greenery as she went forward. She knew that she was probably in the right place.

The others were also happy when they saw this. They were all farm men, so they knew what this meant. They unconsciously slowed down their pace and took a few steps. Suddenly, they heard a ticking sound coming from somewhere.

Everyone stopped and listened carefully.

"Did I hear it right? Is that the sound of water? Did I hear it right? Did you hear it?" A man excitedly asked everyone around him one by one.

"Yes, I heard it too. It was the sound of water. Let's look around. It looks like it's right here."

Several people scattered.

Zhou Guo pulled his elder brother Zhou Gu forward. The greenery on the ground gradually increased. After walking about ten meters, they stopped and saw water dripping from the rock wall in front of them. The dripping water gathered into a big puddle, but it was dry today. The big puddle turned into a small pond, which was only the size of a washbasin and contained a pool of clear spring water.

Looking up along the stone wall, the rock wall is wet. After years of rain, the stone wall has turned white and red, leaving streaks of marks. The weeds growing out of the cracks in the stone are shaking their heads left and right in the breeze.

She was still admiring the view.

Zhou Gu had already happily come forward with a bucket of water. He took off the bamboo tube hanging on his body, uncorked it, filled half of it, tilted his neck back and drank it in a few gulps. Then he filled another half of the tube and handed it to Zhou Guo, "Here, Guoguo, you drink it. I'll get some water first."

Zhou Guo was not in the mood to appreciate this ancient scenery that had existed for who knows how many years. He just held the bamboo tube handed to him and started drinking. His dry and smoking throat was moistened by the spring water, and the heat all over his body was instantly soothed. A sense of satisfaction rushed from the soles of his feet to his forehead. It was so happy to have water to drink!

She drank up half the bamboo tube of water.

In fact, this is a bit of a luxury under normal circumstances. Half a bottle of water is enough for five people to drink. But at this moment, after drinking this cool mountain spring water, the body is like a rice field that has not been irrigated by rain for a long time. It is unbearable not to drink it.

She actually wanted to drink half a bottle, but looking at the small puddle, she knew that with just that little water, it might not be enough for the few of them who followed up, not to mention that there were so many families living at the foot of the mountain.

Once the water is used up, we can only send people to guard here and collect it drop by drop. To be honest, even though we have found water, the amount is still not enough.

She turned around and called to the people behind her, "Uncle Fugui, Uncle Fugui, I found it, come over here."

"Ah? Found it? Where is it? Let me see if there is a lot of water. Oh, I said we would definitely find water with you. Guoguo, you are really a blessing to all of us. If it weren't for you, we would all die of thirst on the road."

Several people hurried over and saw the water dripping from the cliff at a glance, and then the pool of water gathered below. They were overjoyed.

"Hahahaha, it's water, it's water. I have water to drink. It's great to have water to drink."

Several people rolled and crawled to the edge of the puddle. Looking at the cool and clear spring water, they could not help but lowered their heads and started to drink it. Several heads squeezed in, and some who couldn't squeeze in stamped their feet anxiously beside them.

Zhou Guo started laughing as he watched. When he was a child, he spent his summer vacation at his grandmother’s house and went to the mountains to herd cattle with his friends in the village every day. This is how the cattle drink water.

"Ah, it's so cool and sweet! This water is really good. There was no water anywhere else along the way, but this water is still here."

"Yeah yeah……"

Several people were so happy that they couldn't help themselves.

Zhou Guo had to remind them, "Uncles and uncles, there is a family down the mountain waiting for us to bring water back."

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, I forgot about fetching water!"

A few people woke up as if from a dream and started fetching water with buckets.

Zhou Gu on the side had silently filled more than half a bucket and wanted to fill more, but Zhou Guo stopped him, saying that the mountain road was difficult to walk on and if the bucket was filled too full, the liquid would easily spill and be wasteful.

One of the two buckets in the house was stolen, leaving only this one. Fortunately, they made a lot of new bamboo tubes later, otherwise there would not be enough for such a family.

When the two men went up the mountain, in addition to the bucket and two gourds, they also brought a dozen bamboo tubes, all of which had to be filled.

However, the puddle was not big after all, and after a few scoops, the bottom of the puddle was seen in a few seconds.

Everyone looked up at the dripping rock wall above their heads in a daze. "With so much dripping, when will we be able to fill a bucket?"

Zhou Guo looked into the puddle and saw rocks and sand everywhere at the bottom of the puddle. He then looked up and felt that such a large puddle of water could hardly have been formed by the water flowing down from the rock wall. Besides, if the water could flow out from the cracks in the rocks, it might come from underground.

She said, "Uncle Fugui, please dig this pit wider and see if there are other water holes underneath. See if it's blocked by something."

Upon hearing this, the sturdy Fugui picked up his hoe and started digging. He only had three sons and no daughter, so he usually favored other people's little girls. He was very fond of Zhou Guo, whose hair was cut like that of monks and nuns. He thought Zhou Guo was so considerate. How could those little boys be so considerate?

Several people dug down but didn't find it, so they dug inwards. After digging about half a meter, they saw a trickle of water coming out from the bottom of the rock wall.

Everyone suddenly burst into cheers, and were so happy that they were even happier than if they had found gold.

Zhou Guo was also infected and couldn't help laughing. Although the water was not big, it was a world of difference compared to before.

There was not a drop of water left in the camp. Without waiting for the buckets brought up by the few people to be filled, everyone suggested taking some water down first, leaving two people here to continue fetching water, and then going down again after calling the people downstairs.

The few people had no objection, and Zhou Guo followed the other four uncles down the mountain, leaving Zhou Gu and Wang Fugui behind.