Chapter 170: The Water Has Come Out, and the Valley River Is Connected!
Faced with Hu Liu’s complaints, Tao Ming’s expression turned even colder!
“If you weren’t a brother who once fought life and death alongside me, I would have slapped you right in the face! The young miss is beautiful and kind-hearted—not someone we can dare to covet. She has helped us out of goodwill, yet you speak so flippantly about her. Do you have no conscience?”
“Exactly! Hu Liu, your mouth really deserves a beating!”
Hearing this, Zhang Xiaoliang immediately chimed in, extending a finger to lightly tap Hu Liu on the forehead.
Hu Liu suddenly became the target of everyone’s scorn, but instead of arguing, he just pursed his lips slightly, feeling a little wronged.
“We’re all brothers here. Haven’t we always joked about women in the past? You don’t have to gang up on me like this. I admit I was wrong, alright? By the way, the young miss mentioned that if we know anyone else, we can introduce them to work here. Do you think we should let them know?”
“Of course! We were all brothers in the trenches back then. Even if we don’t live together now, we can’t forget them when we come across an opportunity to survive. But let’s be clear—if any of them dares to take advantage of the young miss, we must stand by her side.”
As soon as Tao Ming finished speaking, everyone nodded in agreement.
“Of course! If we didn’t help, we’d be heartless! Besides, we’d only introduce the good ones. If anyone turns out to be trouble, we won’t even wait for the young miss to say anything—we’ll kick them out ourselves. We won’t let them cause her problems!”
Hearing Zhang Xiaoliang’s words, the others all echoed their agreement.
Meanwhile, Yu Luo hadn’t expected that her gamble would pay off so well. In just half a day, she had managed to recruit more than ten strong workers from the stone house.
What she also didn’t know was that these men were not weak at all. If not for the risk of their families being implicated, they would have long since escaped instead of enduring such hardships.
The land-clearing work continued.
The next day, when they learned that Xiao Yi had dug a well and that it needed to be reinforced, Bai Shushan from the Bai family’s third household stepped forward.
“This is my specialty. Second Young Master Yu, leave this task to us. We won’t ask for wages—just let us use the well for drinking water once it’s done. That would already be a great help to everyone.”
Bai Shushan was Bai You’s third uncle. Bai You had lost his parents early, and now, the Bai family only consisted of Bai You’s household and Bai Shushan’s household.
Looking at Bai Shushan, who wasn’t yet fifty but already had graying hair due to exile, Yu Haojie felt a surge of appreciation for his generosity.
“That would be wonderful. The well is meant to provide water for everyone, and since you’re helping out, even if you don’t want wages for this, you should still get a share from the payments for the land clearing and reservoir digging.”
Since Yu Haojie had spoken, how could anyone object?
No one dared to complain openly, fearing that if they did, Yu Haojie wouldn’t assign them any work in the future. Even those with grudges against his decisions could only grumble privately at home.
These complaints mainly came from the women, but whenever they voiced them, their husbands would scold them.
That morning, Yu Luo took Xiao Yi back to the valley to continue diverting water, while Bai Shushan brought his son and two grandsons to reinforce the well.
Xiao Yi worked tirelessly for another whole day and finally connected the waterway.
Yu Luo stored Xiao Yi back into the system, used her light footwork to reach the source, and opened the final passage.
A steady stream of clear river water began flowing into the newly dug channel.
At first, it was murky, but it gradually became crystal clear. Yu Luo decided not to check on the valley for now—after all, it would take at least ten days to a month to completely fill it.
She planned to inspect it again in a few days. Once the valley was half-filled, she could adjust the water flow at the source to maintain a steady supply without overflowing.
With everything in place, Yu Luo returned with Xiao Yi and found that Bai Shushan and his family had nearly finished reinforcing the well.
“Miss Xiao Luo, you came back just in time. We can let Xiao Yi continue digging now.”
Seventeen-year-old Bai Xiuyuan looked at Yu Luo, his cheeks slightly flushed, but he couldn’t help sneaking glances at her.
Finally, he found an excuse to speak with her.
However, Yu Luo, being completely oblivious, didn’t notice the shyness in Bai Xiuyuan’s gaze at all.
She walked closer to the well opening and saw that both sides of the stone wall had been tightly packed with crushed stones, layer upon layer, firmly embedded into the walls, leaving no exposed soil.
Such delicate and meticulous work, done purely by hand, impressed Yu Luo greatly.
“Grandpa Bai, you’re really skilled! This well was completed so quickly. Once it’s done, I’ll have Xiao Yi check near your cave to see if there’s another good water source. That way, we can dig another well for you.”
One well was enough for over a hundred people, but having one closer to home would make life much more convenient.
Hearing this, Bai Shushan was so excited that he nodded repeatedly.
“That would be amazing! But I hope we’re not working poor Xiao Yi too hard.”
“It’s no trouble at all!”
Xiao Yi lifted his head and chirped softly at Bai Shushan.
Of course, Bai Shushan couldn’t understand him, but Yu Luo fondly patted Xiao Yi’s head.
Xiao Yi rubbed against her palm and said, “Master, I’m going down now!”
“Alright, thanks for your hard work, Xiao Yi. I’ll get you a big radish later!”
“Xiao Yi loves radishes!”
With that, Xiao Yi dived straight into the well and got to work.
“That little creature… it really seems like you can understand it, Miss Xiao Luo.”
Watching their interaction, Bai Shushan was utterly baffled.
Xiao Yi’s voice was clearly just animal sounds, yet it seemed to be having a full conversation with Yu Luo, even responding to her words. This surprised everyone.
Hearing this, Yu Luo chuckled awkwardly.
“Maybe because I raised him since he was little—we just have a special connection.”
Bai Shushan nodded. That explanation made the most sense.
Afterward, as Xiao Yi continued digging, the Bai family members helped carry away the soil and filled the well walls with more stones.
By evening, after digging another five to six meters deep, the well finally reached water!
As the damp soil gradually became soaked, everyone watching was thrilled. Even Xiao Yi, in his excitement, began running in circles at the bottom of the well, chirping happily.
Bai Xiuyuan picked him up and gave him a hearty rub, grinning as he declared,
“The water’s out! We finally have a well! Xiao Yi is our hero! We don’t have to worry about running out of drinking water anymore!”
