Chapter 157 - 153: Gourd Died_1

Translator: 549690339

Jiang Quan immediately got up and pulled out the stopper to look inside.

There’s no water, incredibly there was no water in the gourd!

He did not believe it and picked up the gourd to shake, it was light and alas, still no water.

He turned the mouth of the gourd down, and only a few drops dripped out.

Jiang Quan was dumbfounded.

How could this be?

He picked up another gourd, shook it with the mouth facing down, still no water.

“Wah wah wahmy Magic Gourd is broken, it no longer produces water” Jiang Quan couldn’t help but cry big tears, “It must have been exhausted when I divided the water yesterday wah wah wah”

His heartfelt crying attracted everyone’s attention. Hearing him talk about the Magic Gourd’s breaking and exhaustion, everyone felt guilty.

Especially the people of Dongchen Village, they all knew that the gourds grown by Jiang family were extraordinary, but they had never seen ones that kept producing water.

And such a precious gourd was now broken, which pained anyone who heard it.

Those who still wanted to ask for water silently put away their pottery bowls, too ashamed to speak up.

Jiang Wu was woken up by the noise, rubbed his eyes and sat up. Seeing his second cousin crying heartbrokenly with the gourd, he got up to comfort him. “Brother, don’t cry. Even if the gourd is gone, Xiaowu will still play with you.”

Jiang Quan:

He held the gourd and cried even more heartbrokenly.

The first thing Yingbao did when she got up early was to check Chen Sanyou’s pulse and give him acupuncture, and then check on Chen Boyuan’s condition.

Afterwards, amidst the crying of the second cousin, she reported her pulse diagnoses to Madam Wen and Xiu Zhenniang.

Xiu Zhenniang patiently answered her inquiries, and instructed her to record Chen Sanyou and Chen Boyuan’s pulse cases in detail after she went back, for comparison with similar patients in future.

By noon, there were still no signs of bandits down the mountain, so many people asked to climb down the cliff.

After discussing with the Clan Leader Chen, Jiang Dahu decided to let two people go down first to check the situation.

After all, there was not a drop of water in the cave, if everyone did not take action, they might actually die trapped.

So, the old man Jiang connected two bundles of ropes together, let several people hold it tightly, and then sent someone down first.

“I’ll go!” Someone volunteered bravely.

Seeing that it was Wang Ke, a 15-year-old young man from his own village, Clan Leader Chen advised, “Wrap your palms with cloth to prevent abrasion.”

Wang Dashan nodded, took the hemp cloth strip handed over by someone nearby, wrapped it around his palms, and then, holding the rope tightly, began to climb down.

He was small and agile, and quickly reached the bottom of the cliff.

When he was still five feet from the ground, the rope was already at its end.

Wang Dashan gritted his teeth and directly jumped down.

The bottom of the cliff was all rubble. He was lucky not to sprain his ankle.

Clan Leader Chen and Wang Dashan’s mother watched his figure nervously as he sprinted down the mountain and into the woods.

After about half an hour, Wang Dashan came out of the woods and waved up at the cave, shouting, “There are no bandits nearby!”

Hearing this, the people in the cave were so excited that they jumped up and requested to go down one after another.

Clan Leader Chen asked them to line up one by one.

To prevent the rope from getting worn out by the cliff, the old man Jiang also brought his family’s cotton quilt and padded it on the edge of the cliff.

But even so, after sending down dozens of people, the rope still got frizzy from wear.

The remaining people were even more anxious, each demanding to be let down the mountain first, some even started fighting over it.

That was not the worst part, some of the elderly and children were simply unable to climb down the cliff themselves with the rope.

“What to do?” Jiang Dahu scratched his head in desperation.

Most of these people were from their Jiang Village. It was easy getting up here, but getting down the cliff was challenging.

Clan Leader Chen said, “Then let someone carry them down.”

“But who is willing to do it?” Jiang Dahu anxiously asked, “Each family has several old folks and children, and only one or two young adults. If they each carry one person down, what about the other children?”

“What do you suggest we do then?” Clan Leader Chen thought of his old wife and injured grandson instantly.

It was not just these two, there were also several young grandchildren.

Moreover, the weight and size of an adult is different from that of a child. You’d need significant arm strength to carry an adult down.

Chunniang was also anxious upon hearing their conversation.

She had two sons and a daughter, how could she carry all three children down?

She wasn’t afraid of carrying three at once, but what if she slippedn/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Jiang Cheng noticed her aunt’s anxiety and said, “Aunt, don’t worry. I can carry Yingbao down.”

How could Chunniang not worry? She looked at Yuanbao and Huzi and said quietly, “What about Yuanbao and Huzi?”

“Mother can carry Yuanbao.”

Jiang Cheng glanced at his frail second aunt. He wasn’t sure if she could carry Huzi down.

Chunniang asked, “What about your grandparents?”

Jiang Cheng froze in shock.

Yes, his grandparents too, how he had forgotten about them, he was damn guilty.

Chunniang sighed, “I’ll just carry them myself.”

On the other hand, Xiu Zhenniang decided to let Wen Fu carry the nanny down, while she carried her daughter, Wen Shu.

The nanny shook her head and refused, “I can manage on my own. Let Wen Fu take Shushu down first.”

Xiu Zhenniang thought it through and nodded in agreement.

Lady Lin from the third family suddenly walked over, “Fourth sister, your two nieces are only eight years old, why not let Wen Fu take them both down? Shushu is already ten, she doesn’t need someone to carry her. Look at the children over there in their early teens, which one of them isn’t going down on their own?”

Xiu Zhenniang did not even look at her, she immediately ordered Wen Fu to take Wen Shu down the cliff.

“Mrs Xiu! You are too much! At least Ah Tian and Ah Jiao call you aunt, yet you disregard their lives!” Lady Lin was so angry that she tried to pull Wen Fu back, preventing him from taking Wen Shu down the cliff.

Even Clan Leader Chen couldn’t stand it anymore, he blocked Lady Lin, “Lady Lin, you’re wrong here. How can you demand someone to abandon their own child to save yours?”

Lady Lin burst into tears, “But what about my children?”

Clan Leader Chen furrowed his eyebrows, ignored her, and instructed a group of young men to tighten the rope, and allowed Wen Fu to carry Wen Shu down the cliff.

After which, the nanny also went down. She almost sprained her ankle when she jumped onto the rope, but luckily she was quite agile due to her regular physical work, and quickly regained her balance. She ran to the other side and shouted toward the cave, “Quickly come down, ma’am. As long as you hold onto the rope, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Previously, Wen Fu had already thrown the bedding and leftover food down the cliff. Although jars and the like had broken, the water bag wrapped in blankets was intact.

Now, he gathered everything up, moved them to a stable place, and waited for his mistress to come down before he would go looking for water.

Seeing that the Wen Family’s nanny and Wen Shu had both gone down, Chunniang was relieved.

It seemed that going down the cliff wasn’t too difficult. As long as she was careful, everything should be fine.

Xiu Zhenniang came over to Yingbao and said, “Yingbao, I’ll carry you down.” She had noticed that the Jiang Family had too many children and no young adults, Chunniang alone wouldn’t be able to bring three kids down the mountain.

Since her own daughter was already down the mountain, she could help Chunniang by carrying one child.

Upon hearing Lady Wen’s offer to take Yingbao down, Chunniang was naturally pleased and quickly thanked her, “Thank you very much, ma’am.”

Yingbao shook her head, “Please, take my brother down first.”

She chose to be the last to go, not only because her mother and brother were still up there, but also because she believed that she could climb down the mountain on her own, without needing someone else to carry her.

“That’s fine too.” Xiu Zhenniang didn’t mind, as long as she could share Chunniang’s burden and it didn’t matter who she carried.

So, Xiu Zhenniang used Chunniang’s cloth belt to securely tie Jiang Jie to her back. Using another cloth strip, she wrapped her hand around it few times, holding onto the rope as she climbed down the mountain.

Just then, Lady Lin fell to her knees, pleading desperately to Xiu Zhenniang with her voice choked with emotion, “Fourth sister! I beg you, save your nieces!”