Chapter 29

When they had dug down five or six meters without hitting water, everyone still held on to hope. Without discussing it, they all clung to a sliver of optimism:

It’s been dry for so long, of course it’s hard to dig a well. If we just grit our teeth and go a bit deeper, we’ll definitely find water! Once we break through the rock, the water beneath will be sweet and clear, even better to drink!

They believed in the educated youth—after all, those young people were much more knowledgeable than they were.

So, the villagers endured the scorching sun, working day and night. But when they had dug nine meters, ten meters, even fifteen meters deep and still found no water, each person experienced a dramatic change in heart. Despair appeared on their faces. Every drop of sweat and blood they had shed over the past two weeks had been in vain.

The river had dried up. The well yielded nothing. The only way to get water was to carry it in buckets from several miles away in the mountains. This kind of backbreaking labor would kill a person—how could they possibly grow crops like that? Let alone something as water-hungry as rice.

After despair, complex and intense emotions surged through everyone’s hearts.

“Didn’t the educated youth swear they could find water? Huh? So what happened?”

“And all that knowledge ! Look at what their knowledge has done to us! If it were up to us old farmers, out of five wells, at least one would’ve hit water.”

Captain Ye, the village head, had a complicated look in his eyes. The man, over fifty, squatted down on the parched earth, tugging at his greying hair with his coarse hands, deeply troubled.

He asked He Fang, who had been recommended to attend the Worker-Peasant University, “Why is there no water? Without water, how do we farm…?”

He Fang was stunned. After a fierce inner struggle, she replied firmly, “The instrument showed there was water… maybe it’s just buried deeper, we—we keep digging.”

A heavy sense of unease settled over He Fang’s heart. These past days, the lively, energetic effort of digging the well had brought her, as the leader, a sense of pride and honor. Now the well had been dug ten meters deep with no water—this was like a fiery slap to the face.

Her fingers began to tremble as she realized with terror: I must not admit I was wrong. To admit a mistake would be to erase all of our past efforts. To admit that her decision had been wrong, that it had cost the brigade hundreds of laborers over half a month—this would mean facing a criticism meeting, and there was a real chance her qualification as a Worker-Peasant-Soldier student would be revoked!

Gritting her teeth, He Fang insisted, “This is a tiger blocking our path, trying to crush our will and determination. Keep digging! There’s nothing wrong with that!”

The doubtful stares from all directions drowned her. Even Sun Lingyu started to waver. Those eyes held suspicion, disappointment, anger—and a fury that felt like they could devour someone.

The month of pent-up exhaustion and suffering exploded like a spark igniting a barrel of oil, all from one sentence of He Fang’s.

“This well isn’t going to bring up water, is it?”

“To hell with perseverance ! All that talk doesn’t give a damn about our blood and sweat. These educated youth are useless, wasting food. For half a month I’ve been toiling so hard I couldn’t sleep.”

“And we even nominated you to be a Worker-Peasant-Soldier student! If the well’s dry, just admit it! Don’t lie about it! Shameless!”

He Fang, like someone drowning, felt the pain of being surrounded by furious glares. She now understood what Ye Qingshui had felt when everyone attacked her with accusations she couldn’t defend against. No—her situation might be even worse than Ye Qingshui’s.

Sun Lingyu looked dazed and said to the brigade leader, “Let’s re-test it, see if there really isn’t any water.”

The brigade leader puffed on his dry tobacco, face dark and silent.

Sun Lingyu and a few other educated youth went back to the city to borrow equipment. The test results showed there was water, which pulled He Fang back from the brink of crisis. Gratefully, she gripped Sun Lingyu’s hand, tears spinning in her eyes. “Science can be trusted after all.”

“I told you—if we just kept going a little deeper, maybe we’d hit water…”

Then someone muttered quietly, “That girl Qingshui said a while back there wouldn’t be water. Maybe this was what Educated Youth Xie meant too.”

For the past two weeks, Ye Qingshui had been running her legs off in town every day. Under the guidance of two elders, she borrowed many materials from the university library, researching over and over. Though Zhou Cunren had fallen on hard times, he used to be a professor. He shamelessly took Ye Qingshui everywhere, begging people just to get her a chance to access the library.

After two weeks, Ye Qingshui returned to the countryside with a crude water-detection device, full of excitement and joy.

Her device looked like a dusty old radio that hadn’t been touched in ten years. Every single component had been scavenged by Zhou Cunren from a scrap recycling station. When Zhou Tingting heard that the “natural electric field water-finding device” had been completed, she was just as thrilled and went to the city to welcome it with Ye Qingshui.

But when she saw the shabby, broken device, not even the size of a radio, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “This thing actually works?”

“Absolutely. It’s been tested many times.”

So Ye Qingshui and Zhou Tingting returned to the countryside and tested several spots. At the area closest to the farmland, they found a narrow underground water source beneath the rock.

Ye Qingshui happily hugged the device on her way home, running into many villagers who were all curious about the “radio” she held.

“Qingshui, what’s that?”

“What is that, a new radio?”

“It’s so flat—doesn’t look like a radio. What is it?”

…

Ye Qingshui gave the same answer each time: “Water-finding device.”

Half a month later, Xie Tingyu, still recuperating in his room, poked his head out and asked, “You really managed to put it together? A water-finding device?”

Ye Qingshui nodded vigorously, the excitement and joy in her eyes impossible to hide—she was absolutely delighted.

Xie Tingyu took the device and examined it carefully. He said, “It’s lightweight and easy to carry. If it really works the way you say it does, it’ll be easy to promote.”

He set the water-finding device down and looked at her sweat-drenched face. Unable to resist, he reached out and removed her mask.

“Your face looks almost fully healed. Why are you still wearing this every day?”

Ye Qingshui didn’t mind him taking the mask off. She replied, “I need to wear it for three full months.”

Xie Tingyu looked at her smooth, flawless face. After the intense activity just now, it was flushed with a deep pink, like the clouds at dusk—easy to blush. Her jet-black hair was damp, sticking to her cheeks, making her look pitiful. The skinny little girl had been nourished on rice for two months, and her cheeks had filled out a bit. He poked one lightly with his thumb—her skin was pale, springy, and soft as silk.

“What are you doing?”

Ye Qingshui hadn’t expected it and took a step back when Xie Tingyu poked her cheek.

He withdrew his hand, still feeling the warmth and softness in his palm. For some reason, a faint sense of regret washed over him. He hadn’t managed to touch her face. But then he snapped back to reality—why was he having thoughts like some kind of pervert?!

His expression darkened.

Ye Qingshui carefully set the water-finding device on the table.

Xie Tingyu picked up the medicine from his bedside and struggled to apply it himself. When the concrete fell, it had torn open the skin on his back. For the past two weeks, he could only sleep on his side; lying on his back was impossible.

After his “painstaking effort,” he still couldn’t reach the wound. He moved his lips and said:

“Shuiya, come help me apply the medicine.”

This task used to be handled by Shen Weimin, but lately he had been busy with the well-digging and had neglected his duties caring for Xie Tingyu. Out of pity, Ye Qingshui had taken over what she could, dutifully fulfilling her responsibilities—for the five yuan wage.

Ye Qingshui put down her device. “Oh, wait a second—I need to jot something down first.”

So Xie Tingyu waited again.

When she was done recording data, she picked up the medicine. Xie Tingyu slowly unbuttoned his shirt, one button at a time. Ye Qingshui frowned. “Hurry up! What are you dragging it out for like you’ve never done it before?”

She thought he was being shy.

Actually, she was already used to seeing him shirtless. His back was injured, and while it was still healing, he had to wear bandages and go shirtless. She had already seen everything.

Xie Tingyu choked a little and said flatly, “One hand doesn’t work well. Lifting it hurts.”

How could he still be this useless after so long?

Ye Qingshui frowned and took over for him.

She tugged his shirt off and lifted it all the way up, then evenly applied the medicine powder to his wound. The scar was grotesque, like a deep crack, stretched across his back.

Xie Tingyu had a very good physique. His muscles were firm and solid like stone. His biceps were especially prominent, the contours sharply defined—he had that ideal build: muscular with clothes, lean without.

Such a nice body now marred by an ugly scar. Even with just a quick glance, Ye Qingshui felt it was a shame.

As for Xie Tingyu, he closed his eyes, sweat beading on his forehead. The heat in the air made it hard to stay calm. Her small hand brushed gently across his back from time to time, like a feather teasing his nerves, tickling deep inside. Her thumb even slid down to his waist. His breathing became heavy, uncontrollably so.

His face flushed, then slowly turned dark.

His deep voice sounded like a hoarse gong, laced with gravel.

“Are you done yet?”

“If you’re that picky, do it yourself. What’s the rush?”

Unlike rough men like Shen Weimin who would just dump the medicine on and smear it everywhere, Ye Qingshui was naturally meticulous. She applied it little by little with the seriousness of someone handling something very important.

Xie Tingyu didn’t respond, silently enduring the torment. A sharp pain one moment, a teasing itch the next—he regretted asking her to help.

Was she taking this opportunity to take advantage of him?

The thought suddenly made his heart feel warm… and also a bit troubled.

Ye Qingshui was almost done when they suddenly heard Sun Lingyu’s voice outside. She didn’t even knock, just ran straight over. Through the window, she caught a quick glimpse—apparently of something quite shocking.

Xie Tingyu reacted lightning fast. His face darkened as he yanked his shirt over his shoulders.

Ye Qingshui couldn’t help but laugh. His expression looked like that of a shy daughter-in-law who’d just been caught. In the countryside, going shirtless was totally normal. When the weather was hot and labor intense, people would sweat so much that the salt would ruin their clothes. Men would take off their shirts and work bare-chested. That’s why, when assigning work, the team usually split male and female labor.

But someone like Xie Tingyu, so particular about appearances, wouldn’t even take his shirt off when it was drenched in sweat—he always dressed neatly and acted like a refined gentleman.

Sun Lingyu had originally come in full of rage, ready to scold Ye Qingshui loudly. But now, her anger faltered.

She took a provoking tone and said, “So I hear you managed to build a water-finding device? I bet it doesn’t work. You’d better test it soon and dig a well for everyone to see.”

“If it works, I’ll bow to you three times and apologize.”

She and He Fang had borrowed expensive equipment from the city, but even that couldn’t find a water source—now they were being scorned by the entire brigade. Of course it wasn’t the people’s fault if the equipment couldn’t detect anything, but if Ye Qingshui’s little device also failed, it would prove the terrain was the real issue, and not their mistake.

Sun Lingyu was desperate to get Ye Qingshui to test it, to share the blame.

Ye Qingshui smiled, calm and unbothered. “What would I want with your three bows?”

“If my device really finds water, I want you and He Fang to sincerely admit your mistakes to all the brigade members.”

Author’s Note:

Brother Yu : Can’t I just enjoy some sweetness for once?

Shuiya (Ye Qingshui) with a cold face: You didn’t want the candy when you had it. Now there’s none, and you’re chasing after it?

Men are all hopeless.

Brother Yu : “……”

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