The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 2258 - 2233: Searching for Water

Manbao sat on horseback watching the scout who returned from a ride, and joyfully asked, "Did you find water?"

Assistant General Nie and over a hundred people all stared at him eagerly, the scout was on the verge of tears; why was he the one to report the news, he didn’t want to either, but he still had to say, "No... water."

Manbao expressed doubt, "No water? Didn’t they say there was a riverbed ahead?"

Daji also rode up and surveyed the area; although sand dunes change constantly, some places remain unchanged. He found the distant dry and ugly tree familiar, so he said, "It should be just ahead; that riverbed isn’t small either. How are your eyes so bad that you couldn’t even find this?"

The scout and Assistant General Nie said, "Sir, if you go and see, you’ll understand. There’s no water inside."

Everyone felt a bad premonition in their hearts, and thus urged the convoy to move faster.

Gradually, they descended the dune, and the dry old tree became more evident. Manbao and Bai Shan exchanged a glance, then nudged their horse’s sides, rushing to the front to get an early look.

Bai Erlang saw them run ahead and immediately shouted, "Wait for me! I want to go too!" Then he followed quickly.

Assistant General Nie was also curious, and with nobody around, he simply ran after them.

Arriving at the edge of what was clearly a gully, the few people looked at the scout standing there in silence.

The scout who ran after them immediately said, "Sir, look, it’s like this."

This was a very clear gully that had previously had water flowing through it, evidenced by the different sand and soil at the bottom compared to the yellow sands beside it; it showed signs of water erosion.

But now there was nothing.

No, there was still something - the sand and silt were slightly damp, and the remaining scout had dug a head-sized hole with a knife, now filled with a small amount of water.

The scout said clumsily, "Sir, although it’s scarce, there is some; even if we don’t drink it, it’s enough for the horses."

Assistant General Nie felt sad.

Bai Shan and Bai Erlang were also too heartbroken to speak.

Manbao’s heart almost overflowed with tears, "Keke, is this the water you mentioned?"

"Yes," Keke saw its host was really about to cry, and said, "If the host isn’t satisfied with surface water, you can use groundwater."

Manbao’s tears were instantly contained, as she asked internally, "Where is the groundwater?"

Groundwater is naturally underground. However, how deep to dig is quite subjective; find the right spot and dig a few meters, and it will emerge; choose poorly and tens of meters might be futile.

Keke certainly wouldn’t make things difficult for Manbao, so it pointed her to a location.

While pointing, the convoy arrived, and Yin Huo and others disembarked from the carriage, walked to the gully, and stared silently.

Mr. Zhuang looked around and then glanced at the sky, saying, "Let’s camp here tonight. We need to discuss what to do."

Everyone agreed.

Manbao said, "We can dig for groundwater."

She continued, "In the Small Town, didn’t we ride to chase where the lake vanished? At the time, it was said that it disappeared underground at the end. There should be groundwater here too."

Everyone looked further along the gully, while Bai Shan looked underneath the gully, squinting and asked, "Do you think there might be groundwater underneath the gully?"

There is, naturally, but according to Keke, it’s deeper here and not as accessible as the other side.

So, after the team set up camp, soldiers took swords to dig holes in the gully. As the scout said, a little digging can yield some water; if they can’t drink it, they’ll give it to the horses and camels. Actually, if truly thirsty, they could drink it too, it just hadn’t reached that point yet.

The sun hadn’t set, but it wasn’t as hot anymore. Manbao donned a veil hat, took out her medicinal hoe, and called friends, "Let’s go find water."

Mr. Zhuang and Assistant General Nie were busy counting remaining food and water supplies and ignored them.

Daji gathered some people, heard them riding away on horses, and followed with his own horse. After crossing a dune into a valley, he started poking around with a hoe, and asked Daji, who stood by, "You’re just following, not helping?"

Daji stood idly, saying, "No need, we’re just here to protect their safety."

Manbao curiously used the hoe to scrape away the yellow sand; though it’s a dune valley, it still consists of yellow sand. Such valleys aren’t uncommon; is there really water below?

Bai Shan and the others were also suspicious but had nothing else to do, so since Manbao felt there was water here, they decided to dig and see.

Thus, the six of them pushed the sand aside, exposing the gravel layer below, and used small hoes to dig and pile soil to one side. After hoeing for a while, Manbao got tired and handed the tool to Bai Shan. Bai Shan took over, thinking it might require deeper digging, so he dug out a large area to facilitate further depth.

Bai Erlang and Liu Huan took turns, and Yin Huo curiously joined in for a few hits before feeling it better suited him to move the accumulated soil aside, handing the hoe to Zhou Liru.

It was now Zhou Liru’s turn.

Zhou Liru jumped into the pit, and with a single blow, a stream of water spurted out, hitting her face directly...

Zhou Liru instinctively closed her eyes, surrounded by cheers of excitement.

When she opened her eyes, she wiped off the mud on her face, glanced at her muddy front, and looked at the spouting water. In no time at all, a considerable amount of water had gathered at the pit bottom, drenching her shoes, socks, and pant cuffs.

Manbao and the others, standing at the pit bottom to throw the soil upwards, were equally soaked.

But they were thrilled.

Instead of going up, they tied their clothes at their waists and rolled up their pants, continuing to dig, "Let’s widen the opening a bit more."

Though the water flow had diminished, it still bubbled like a spring from below.

Their excitement as they worked at the pit bottom shocked Daji and others, who stood gaping, only managing to speak after a while, amazed, "Did they really dig up water?"

Daji quickly overcame the shock and turned to instruct a guard, "Go back and tell them we’ve found water here, so they should bring the water carriage to collect it."

"Understood."

Assistant General Nie and others hurriedly arrived to see was a muddy pool of yellow water, with a few people laughing and playing inside.

Furious, he promptly hauled them out and instructed the soldiers to bring large stones from under the tree to block the water outlet they had made. Only then did he personally roll up his pants and descended to clean the pit bottom, scooping out water and clearing away mud...

Collecting a bucket of small stones from the riverbed and laying them at the pit bottom, he stomped them firm, and then placed stones around the pit edges, finally lifting a large rock to allow water to gush forth.