Transmigrated into a seven-year-old child, my fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

The moment Zhao Lian got her hands on the water gourd, she was shocked. She hadn't expected it to be empty; the man had actually drunk all the water.

"Hahaha...that was so much fun!"

The skinny man patted his belly contentedly; he couldn't believe how long it had been since he'd drunk water so freely.

A few days ago, he couldn't find anything to eat and was so hungry and thirsty that he had no choice but to drink his own urine.

But without water to drink, how could we urinate? We hadn't even urinated in the past two days. Just when we were at our wits' end, we ran into Zhao Lian and the others.

Seeing that the water hyacinths around their waists were heavy, the man followed them and, when the opportunity arose, snatched the water hyacinths away.

After drinking the water, the man felt as if he had come back to life. He was already prepared to be beaten up anyway.

"Why are you like this?"

Zhao Lian was furious. He had drunk all the water she had gone to so much trouble to find in one gulp.

Liu Yinzhu rushed up in a fit of rage, swinging his fist at the man: "Damn it, my dad didn't even get a drink of this water, and you drank it all! Are you looking for trouble?!"

"A dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water," the man said, holding his head and arguing, "Saving a life is like building a seven-story pagoda. Your father is old and doesn't look like he'll live much longer. You might as well let me drink this water!"

Zhao Lian was already angry, and hearing what he said made her even angrier. He stole someone else's water and yet acted so self-righteously and as if it were his own business. It was simply the mentality of a robber.

Without thinking, Zhao Lian reached out and punched him twice. If she didn't teach him a lesson, he wouldn't learn his lesson.

"Anyway, I've drunk this water. Do whatever you want with me." Unexpectedly, the man burst into laughter after being beaten, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. His smile was quite frightening.

The other two men, having failed to get a sip of water, became enraged and began to curse: "Brother, you're so unfair! There was water, but you didn't give us a single drop. You deserve to be beaten!"

The two men were from the same village as him, and they used to steal chickens and dogs together.

Liu Jinzhu and Liu Tongzhu couldn't swallow their anger, so they stepped forward and punched the man several times, causing him to cower on the ground, covering his head.

Many people stopped to watch the commotion. When they learned that the man had been beaten for stealing water, the onlookers had various expressions.

They knew the man had drunk water, and some of them even looked on with envy, saying, "If I had water to drink right now, I'd rather get beaten up."

"Stop! Stop it all!"

Seeing the man's pained expression, Yan Guihua tapped her cane and said anxiously, "Alright, alright, boss, he's already drunk the water, so stop hitting him. If you keep hitting him, he'll die!"

"Get out of here!"

Liu Jinzhu pointed at the man through gritted teeth: "Get out of here before I change my mind, and don't let me see you again, or I'll beat you every time I see you!"

It's infuriating! He drank all the water, even though he wouldn't drink a drop himself.

The man struggled to his feet and limped away.

The other two men cursed at the onlookers, saying, "What are you looking at? Get out of the way, get out of the way!" and followed behind the man.

Liu Yinzhu was angry: "Brother, why did you let him go?"

Liu Jinzhu said coldly, "Alright, since Mother pleaded with him, let him go. Anyway, the water is gone. He's right, consider it as saving a life."

Seeing that there was no excitement to be had, the people became dejected and continued on their way, heads hanging low.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, Zhao Lian untied the water gourd from her waist: "Grandmother, drink my water, I still have some."

Fortunately, they had filled all the water hyacinths with water, and there are still a few left with water.

After resting for a while, everyone continued on their way. Along the way, Zhao Lian kept an eye out to see if she would run into Zhao Feng, Qiao Feng, and He Qing.

To her great disappointment, she did not see any familiar faces. By evening, the group arrived at a small mountain village with only about ten households.

Zhao Lian found an empty house and settled down. Sun Shangxiang and the others were in charge of cooking wild vegetable porridge. While they were away, Zhao Lian and the Liu brothers went out separately to find something to eat.

The village was small, surrounded by mountains. Zhao Lian walked around for a while and soon reached the other end of the village, where she met up with Liu Jinzhu and the others again.

Surprisingly, the village had nothing at all, and even the only well was filled with large stones.

With no other option, Zhao Lian and the others had to go up the mountain. They thought they would find a water source, but to their surprise, the mountain was completely barren and there wasn't a single drop of water.

There was no water, not even any edible plants, let alone animals.

After walking around for a while, it was getting dark, so everyone had to head down the mountain.

"You're back! Did you find anything?" Sun Shangxiang greeted them with a smile as she saw them return.

Liu Jinzhu looked dejected: "No! Nothing at all!"

"Hey~ It's okay, we still have some water on us! That should last us a few more days."

There wasn't much wild vegetable porridge; each person only got a small half-bowl. No one talked much. After eating the porridge, everyone sat down to rest.

The next morning, everyone got up early and continued on their journey. They managed to survive for five or six days on this little bit of water. Once the water was gone, their last bit of food was also gone.

The road was crowded with refugees, all dressed in rags, leaning on canes, their eyes vacant.

Along the way, food was scarce, and the number of dead bodies on the road was increasing, with no one burying them. Everyone was terrified.

They barely made it to evening, and by then everyone was exhausted and hungry, unable to walk any further.

There happened to be a dilapidated earth god temple by the roadside, so they went inside. They found a dozen or so people sitting inside.

Some were families, while others were all alone. When they saw them come in, everyone inside turned to look at the doorway.

These people had blank stares and looked completely expressionless.

This earth god temple has been abandoned for who knows how long; it's covered in cobwebs.

Zhao Lian found a slightly cleaner corner, and everyone sat down together.

Zhao Lian looked around at the people inside; the one on the left as she entered looked like a family of six.

There was an old woman and an old man. The old woman had high cheekbones and slanted eyes, and she looked like someone who was not to be trifled with.

Also traveling with them was a young couple with two little girls, around six or seven years old. The woman was extremely thin, almost skin and bones, and was pregnant, with her belly appearing to be five or six months along.

Opposite them were two middle-aged men, and two couples with children.

The room was quiet, and everyone sat there resting listlessly.

"Mom, I'm hungry!" Liu Yan said weakly.

"I'm hungry too!" Liu Yao pouted, looking like she was about to cry.

"Yao'er, be good and go to sleep. If you fall asleep, we won't be hungry anymore!" Jiang Si had no choice but to comfort her daughter like this.