Chapter 30

Sun Lingyu let out a mocking snort.

Just the fact that Ye Qingshui could use a water-finding device was already surprising—have her actually make one?

That was nothing short of wishful thinking.

Not only did she not believe Ye Qingshui could build such a thing—anyone off the street would find it hard to believe. Ye Qingshui had barely graduated from elementary school; whether she even recognized all the characters was questionable, and now she dared to dream of creating a water-finding instrument? Sun Lingyu glanced over Ye Qingshui and nodded decisively:

“If you actually manage to dig out water, I’ll admit I was wrong in front of everyone at the criticism rally!”

She said it without a moment’s hesitation, but Xie Tingyu furrowed his brows.

Just how little must she think of Ye Qingshui to agree to such a thing so readily? If it were someone else, Xie Tingyu might’ve kindly reminded them to be more cautious, but with Sun Lingyu…

Xie Tingyu said softly, “Do you have anything else? I need to apply my medicine.”

Flushed with frustration, Sun Lingyu left.

Ye Qingshui finished applying the medicinal powder to Xie Tingyu and heard him say:

“You’ve been working hard lately.”

With the water cut off these past two weeks, Ye Qingshui had to trek miles into the mountains to fetch water every day, care for the injured at home, run back and forth into town, and even engage in some gray-market trading. Her legs had slimmed from all the running.

Ye Qingshui chuckled inwardly. What did he know? Compared to her past life, this was nothing. The truly hard days were already behind her. This was the beginning of the sweet times.

“It’s not hard,” she said softly, then helped him put on his clothes.

Xie Tingyu said, “When you get the water flowing, a lot of people will be shocked.”

Ye Qingshui smiled again in her heart. That’s not a given.

That afternoon, she and Zhou Tingting took the “natural electric field water detector” and searched all around the farmland. They finally found a thin subsurface stream beneath some rocks. The stronger the electric field response, the shallower the water. Ye Qingshui marked the spot with the strongest signal for digging a well.

She went to look for Captain Ye Laoliu, hoping to get a few workers to dig the new well.

Ye Laoliu was silent for a long while, then tugged at his hair and sighed,

“Shuiya, everyone’s rushing to dig wells and sow the late-season rice. Normally, I let the young ladies argue and don’t say much, but at a time like this, don’t go making a fuss…”

He spoke as though coaxing an unreasonable child.

Zhou Tingting flicked her ponytail indignantly.

“This is the result of our hard work over two weeks! How can you call it making a fuss?” She tried to explain how Ye Qingshui’s water-finding device was different.

But Ye Laoliu didn’t listen for long. He waved her off impatiently.

“Kid, don’t talk to me about that stuff—I don’t understand it. Shuiya doesn’t have that kind of skill. What does she even know? We’re in a rush to dig wells and plant rice—stop stirring things up with wild ideas.”

Zhou Tingting was so angry she felt like her liver was aching. She went around asking the villagers for help digging the well, but not a single person agreed. The lazy ones didn’t want to work, and the diligent ones put their trust in the educated youth with authority. On one side: well-educated youths from the capital; on the other: a wild mountain girl who barely finished elementary school.

It was obvious which side held more weight.

“If we really do strike water ourselves, don’t come crawling to use it. That well’s name will be ‘Qingshui Well.’ From start to finish, every part of it is Shuiya’s hard work. Not a single person in this village helped her—worse, they mocked her.”

Ye Qingshui had mentally prepared for this, but hearing Zhou Tingting say it still warmed her heart.

She tugged on Zhou Tingting’s sleeve.

“Don’t stick your neck out. Let’s dig the well quickly—the sooner we dig, the sooner we’ll have water. Hauling water from miles away every day is killing us.”

In her past life, Ye Qingshui had truly tasted what it meant to be looked down upon for decades. Even after she made money and returned to her hometown, the villagers still saw her as a good-for-nothing wild girl. How could such a person be successful and wealthy? If she could do it, surely they could do even better?

Some people are just like that—they always doubt others and judge based on vague impressions. The only way to deal with them is through solid results. Words are meaningless.

Grandma Ye and Mother Ye patted their chests in firm support of Shuiya’s well-digging.

Grandma said sternly,

“With that gadget, Shuiya will find water. I’ve still got strength—I’ll help you move dirt and drill through rocks.”

Shen Weimin and Liu Yiliang also came to help. They didn’t quite believe Ye Qingshui, but they trusted Xie Tingyu. If Brother Yu said to work, then they’d work hard.

So, six people under the blazing sun rolled up their sleeves and started digging.

It had taken ten villagers half a month to dig ten meters—not exactly efficient, especially with some slackers in the mix. But this new crew of six were all strong and willing. They wouldn’t need even a week to reach ten meters.

Days flew by in a blur of hard labor.

They woke at dawn to start work and collapsed at night from exhaustion—day in, day out. Xie Tingyu had spent over half a month recuperating indoors. Slowly, he began to recover. As the saying goes, bone injuries take a hundred days, but young bodies are full of miracles. Before the month was even up, he was already pushing his limits. He trained hard every day, pushing himself double.

To be confined to a bed like a cripple and still maintain a calm demeanor—that already took extraordinary grace. But deep down, Xie Tingyu couldn’t stand the days of forced rest.

That morning, Xie Tingyu awoke early. Carefully, he lowered himself from bed, his toes touching the ground.

Outside, the distant mountains were shrouded in thick mist, and dew clung to the grass outside the door. There was a faint chill in the air—summer was nearly over.

Xie Tingyu shuffled painfully from bed, used the chamber pot, and washed his hands in the basin of spring water. By the time he was done, sweat beaded on his forehead—cold sweat, hot sweat, all mixed.

He slowly moved back to bed and glanced toward the west room. He frowned when he saw Ye Qingshui’s sprawled-out sleeping posture.

She was fast asleep, stretched out flat on the floor. Sometime during the night, she’d kicked off the covers because of the heat.

The blanket was twisted beneath her belly. She wore a dark gray short-sleeved shirt, already worn and small. Her exposed skin was goosebumped from the cold.

Xie Tingyu thought about going over to cover her with a quilt, but the short few steps felt as long as an entire century.

In the hazy morning light, he slowly squatted down, his gaze falling on her. His thick brows gradually furrowed.

Over the past few months, Ye Qingshui had been eating and drinking well—meat and soup every few days. Her complexion had improved, now rosy and radiant. Her body had clearly put on some healthy weight, and she was starting to develop. She was no longer the skinny, flat-chested little girl from before.

Her shabby clothes couldn’t hide her gradually developing body. The slender frame of a teenage girl was like a budding flower—gentle and restrained, blossoming little by little. Her small, worn clothes were patched in several places. The legs sticking out from the pants were fair and smooth. Her chest was round and full, as if straining under pressure.

Just… how poor is she?

Xie Tingyu frowned deeply.

It took only ten feet of fabric to make a new set of clothes—not even two yuan’s worth. Yet she was so poor she wouldn’t even buy new clothes, though she had no problem turning down the living expenses he tried to give her. And she even went out of her way to find a big piece of black cloth to hide herself. The veins at Xie Tingyu’s temples throbbed.

Thankfully, she didn’t dress this poorly outside the house.

Xie Tingyu quickly averted his gaze.

He hurriedly pulled the quilt over Ye Qingshui’s body, then quickly stood up. Having grown up among men, Xie Tingyu had never been this close to a woman. So early in the morning, his head was buzzing, and as he stretched his limbs, a wave of pain hit—he fell flat to the ground.

Ye Qingshui suddenly woke up with a grunt, having been squashed under him.

“What happened to you?”

She looked at Xie Tingyu’s darkened face, who looked like a bullied wife, and quickly sat up. She was annoyed and helped him up while scolding him:

“You should be resting early in the morning—what are you wandering around for?”

“Just because your body’s getting better doesn’t mean you can waste it. Sooner or later you’ll pay for it.”

“What were you doing just now anyway?”

Listening to her nagging like a chirping bird, Xie Tingyu’s face remained stern, but the tips of his ears gradually turned red.

He said, “Let go of me first.”

Ye Qingshui looked at his cold face and finally let go, tossing his crutch to him.

“I was just covering you with the quilt,” Xie Tingyu said.

Then, looking at the pitiful girl in thin, shabby clothes, he added, “It’s getting cold. When this busy spell is over, make yourself some new clothes. I still have some fabric coupons.”

His eyes didn’t know where to look, but she was like a magnet, constantly pulling his gaze. Being sincerely cared for by such a poor yet earnest girl—it really was a burden.

Ye Qingshui looked at him suspiciously.

Just then, a voice called eagerly from outside the window—it was Zhou Tingting:

“Shuiya! Shuiya, are you up? Our well—our well has water!”

“It came out overnight! Come wash up and take a look, hurry, hurry, hurry!”

Zhou Tingting could vaguely see the two of them were already awake. She was so happy she could barely stay still—nearly ready to beat drums and march in the streets. Such an exciting event was worth the whole village celebrating.

This top-priority news had to be shared with Ye Qingshui first.

When she had gone to the well alone, preparing to continue digging, she suddenly found that the well was no longer a dark, empty hole. Clear water shimmered under the early morning light. Zhou Tingting was so excited she almost fell into the well.

She carried a bucket of cool well water over to Ye Qingshui, her eyes reddening with emotion as she was nearly brought to tears:

“This water is so sweet—better than the water from deep in the mountains. Shuiya, let’s go draw water quickly. We can fill the water vat and won’t need to haul water from the mountains anymore.”

In fact, only a handful of people in the brigade had bicycles—you could count them on one hand. The better-off families took turns borrowing the team’s pushcarts. The less fortunate carried buckets on their shoulders or backs—a single trip could exhaust someone completely.

Even though they lived in the mountains, Zhou Tingting, like most city people, hadn’t had a proper bath in ages.

Ye Qingshui took the bucket Zhou Tingting handed her and drank a sip. The well water was sweet, with no bitterness—a top-quality domestic water source. After some settling to filter out sediment, the water could be used for cooking and drinking. This was truly a delightful surprise.

She went to wake up Grandma Ye and her mother to share the good news.

Both were shocked by the news. Though they always bragged about their granddaughter/daughter, they hadn’t expected her to actually strike water this quickly.

Grandma Ye’s smile was so wide that her wrinkles deepened even more, and her bragging reached a new level: “Shuiya really brings honor to our old Ye family! That gadget you found was the right one!”

Her mother was so moved her eyes turned red. She couldn’t even speak, just grabbed a bucket and raced to fetch the first pail of water from the new well.

A depth of less than ten meters was enough to reach the groundwater—this proved that her “Natural Electric Field Water-Finding Device” was highly sensitive!

Author’s Note:

Brother Yu : Being admired so sincerely by such a poor girl…

…it’s honestly a bit overwhelming.

Support Sansukini on Ko-fi

Thanks for visiting. If you like this story, then I’m shamelessly asking you to visit NovelUpdates and give a 5⭐ review. (人❛ᴗ❛)♪тнайк　чоц♪(❛ᴗ❛*人)

You can also check out my other translations Here