“Eldest Brother, there are too many people on the official road. Now that Mother is injured, it’s not very convenient for us to take it anymore. Why don’t we switch to the back trails?”
Han Laoda was also tempted. “The trails are indeed quieter. It’s just that we aren’t familiar with this area. What if we take a trail and get lost?”
Qian Wu spoke up, “Brother Han, don’t worry. I’ve been around here before. Even taking the trails, I can lead everyone to Danyang.”
Lin Yueru’s eyes lit up. That would make things much easier.
Han Laoda was overjoyed. “That’s great, then! We’ll switch to the trails—it’ll be quieter that way!”
Thus, the Qian family’s handcart moved to the front, and Qian Wu took the lead, guiding them onto a trail.
Not many people knew the way along the trails, so although the path was not as smooth as the official road, it was much quieter than before.
From time to time, Han Laoda turned back to look at Old Madame Han on the handcart. Seeing that she still had not regained consciousness, he could not help growing frantic with worry.
“Younger Sister-in-law, if Mother keeps failing to wake up, shouldn’t we find a physician to take a look at her?”
Although Lin Yueru said the old lady was in no grave danger, she had never studied medicine after all, and Han Laoda still could not put his mind at ease.
“My wife said Mother will wake up, so she definitely will! Eldest Brother, don’t doubt her!”
Before she could speak, Han Yanqing spoke up for her.
His words drew a few extra glances from the Qian family.
After traveling together, they had realized that although the Han family’s Han Si was remarkably skilled in martial arts, his mind was somewhat slow.
Yet they hadn’t expected him to be such a doting husband.
Lin Yueru stepped forward, peeled back Old Madame Han’s eyelids to check them again, and used her rudimentary medical knowledge to feel her pulse. No matter how she looked at it, she could not find any serious ailments.
Still, she dared not make any absolute promises.
She fed Old Madame Han a little more spiritual spring water before replying, “I’m afraid we won’t be able to find any physicians along this path anyway. If Mother still hasn’t woken up by the time we reach Danyang, we’ll find a physician then.”
Han Laoda gave an acknowledging grunt.
Han Er’er glanced at the water skin in her hand. “Younger Sister-in-law, that water skin of yours must be running dry, right? When we stop to eat in a bit, I’ll go fetch some water.”
Lin Yueru answered vaguely.
With such a small water skin, it not only had to sustain two sick patients, but it also had to provide drinking water for the entire family.
If she hadn’t been refilling it secretly the whole time, it would have run out long ago!
After walking another dozen or so li, it reached noon, when the sun was at its hottest.
The two families found a patch of tree shade and prepared to rest and eat a bite.
Han Er’er and Qian Wu took the two families’ water skins and set off to find water, while the rest set up the pot and hearth, preparing to cook a meal with what little water they had left.
Originally, the Han family could have eaten something nice to nourish themselves, but with the Qian family watching, they couldn’t bring themselves to eat too well. They could only add more millet, making the soup less watery.
Their food was almost ready, yet Han Er’er and Qian Wu had still not returned.
Han Laoda peered off into the distance from time to time.
Could something have happened?
Even if water was harder to find before, it had never taken this long to return.
Just as Qian Wen stood up to say he would go look for them, Han Er’er and Qian Wu returned with their heads drooping, following behind several other people who had also gone to fetch water.
The entire group wore grim expressions.
Han Laoda hurriedly asked, “Er’er, what happened?”
Han Er’er shook the water skin in his hand and said with a bitter smile, “Eldest Brother, there’s no water.”
Qian Wen also reported dejectedly to Old Man Qian, “We searched all around the area. There isn’t a drop of water.”
Water had already been hard to come by along the way, but now that they had reached this area, there was simply no water at all!
For a time, everyone’s faces fell.
Without even a mouthful of water, the heavens truly were leaving no way for people to survive!
Lin Yueru felt helpless as well.
If there was water, she could swap it for the Spiritual Spring water from her Space. But now that not even a single drop could be found, she couldn’t very well conjure it out of thin air, could she?
She tugged at Han Yanqing. “Yanqing, do you want to go look for water?”
Han Yanqing wanted to say Second Brother said there wasn’t any, but seeing the expectant look on Lin Yueru’s face, the words on the tip of his tongue changed.
“Yes, I do.”
Lin Yueru’s eyes crinkled into a smile. “Let’s go.”
She called out to Han Laoda, “Eldest Brother, Yanqing and I are going into the hills to see if there’s anything edible.”
Han Laoda was simple-minded; without thinking too much of it, he gave a nod of agreement.
Lin Yueru led Han Yanqing a fair distance away before finally spotting a dried-up little creek.
“Yanqing, go over there first and see if there are any wild greens. I think I saw some.”
After leading Han Yanqing to the other side, she quickly drew streams of clear spiritual water from her Space.
It was taken directly from the creek inside her Space—less and inexhaustible.
Once she saw that the creek held enough water to fill their skins, Lin Yueru stopped.
She stood up and called out joyfully to Han Yanqing, “Yanqing! There’s water here! Let’s hurry back and get Eldest Brother and the others!”
Han Yanqing came over to look and jumped with excitement. “That’s wonderful! There’s water! We have water to drink! Wife, you’re amazing!”
Taking Lin Yueru’s hand, he ran all the way back.
Seeing the two of them return empty-handed, the others were about to offer a few words of comfort when Han Yanqing leaned into Han Laoda’s ear and said excitedly:
“Eldest Brother! My wife found water! There’s water in the creek!”
Delight washed over everyone’s faces. “What? You found water?!”
Han Er’er and Qian Wu, however, were somewhat skeptical.
“Is that true, Han Si? Are you sure there’s water in that creek?”
They had clearly searched the entire area just now and hadn’t seen any water.
Han Yanqing patted his chest and guaranteed, “There’s water! Yanqing saw it with his own eyes!”
Han Er’er was still half-doubting, but since Lin Yueru also confirmed that there indeed was water, the men had no choice but to grab their water skins and follow Han Yanqing to fetch water, hoping for the best.
When Han Yanqing led them to the shallow creek, Han Er’er and Qian Wu stared so hard their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
They had clearly been to this very spot just a moment ago! There had been no water then, so how could there suddenly be water after Han Yanqing and Lin Yueru came by?!
Still, there was no time to dwell on their astonishment. Everyone rushed forward to drink their fill first, then filled every last water skin to the brim!
After all, no one knew when they would find water next.
Han Er’er and Qian Wu returned in high spirits with the brimming water skins. The surrounding refugees saw this and hurriedly took their own water skins to fetch some as well.
Unfortunately, the water Lin Yueru had released wasn’t that abundant to begin with, and it continuously flowed downstream along the old creek bed and seeped into the earth.
Now that Han Er’er and the others had taken the lion’s share, the remaining people barely managed to fill one water skin each before it was gone.
Gazing at the Han and Qian families’ full water skins, the crowd could not help feeling a pang of envy.
Yet there was nothing they could do—who told them not to find it when they went looking earlier!
After the water was fetched, Lin Yueru openly fed Old Madame Han a generous amount of spiritual spring water and repeatedly nourished the wound on her chest with it.
Nursed like this for two days, Old Madame Han finally awoke.
When the old lady opened her eyes on the handcart, her mind was dizzy and disoriented; for a moment, she did not know whether she was in heaven or hell.
Han Yanqing was the first to cry out in pleasant surprise, “Mother’s awake! Wife, look quickly, Mother’s awake!”
Lin Yueru turned her head to look. “Mother, you’re awake? How are you feeling?”
When Han Er’er heard his mother was awake, he was so overjoyed he nearly let go of his carrying basket and dropped it!
Han Laoda also hurriedly brought the handcart to a stop, and even Zhao Shuangtao climbed down from the Qian family’s handcart, stumbling as she ran over.
The moment Old Madame Han opened her eyes, she saw her entire family gathered before her, not a single one missing.
In her agitation, she nearly fainted again!
“Eldest Sister-in-law, give me a hand and help Mother sit up.”
Lin Yueru took the initiative to call Liu Qiumei over to help Old Madame Han up, then fed her some spiritual spring water to replenish her strength.
Old Madame Han was utterly frail; only after taking a few sips of the spiritual spring water did she have the strength to speak.
The old lady’s very first question was, “Is anyone hurt? How is Shuangtao?”
“I… I’m fine, Mother!” Zhao Shuangtao choked up.
Lin Yueru comforted her, “Don’t worry, no one in the family is hurt. Third Sister-in-law got a cut on her arm, but it’s much better now.”
Only then did Old Madame Han feel a bit more at ease, looking at Zhao Shuangtao with guilt and heartache.
“Shuangtao… you silly girl. The third boy hasn’t returned yet. If something were to happen to you, what would become of Sibao in the future?”
Zhao Shuangtao opened her mouth, but two streams of tears fell before she could make a sound.
“Mother… as long as you’re fine, that’s all that matters.”
All these years since she had married into the family, her mother-in-law had always treated her daughters-in-law like her own daughters.
When she had seen the mountain bandits charging at her mother-in-law, her immediate instinct had been to shield her; where would she have found the time to think through so much?
An Jun and An Xing held Sanbao and Sibao as they gathered around the old lady, being well-behaved and not daring to make a peep.
Old Madame Han looked around at everyone, then briefly exchanged a few words with the Qian family before she could no longer hold out, lying back down to rest.