At this time, a woman holding a child rushed to the edge of the deep pool, knelt down and kowtowed and cried and begged: "Please let me get a bowl of water. The child has been thirsty for three days and will soon be unable to hold on. Please
is you!"
Two or three-year-old children are not sensible yet, but they still know how to kowtow to their mothers, "Drink water, please, drink water..."
After a few knocks, the child suddenly convulsed and passed out in front of the pool. The woman picked up the unconscious son and touched his chapped and bleeding lips with shaking hands. Her cry became more miserable.
But the man guarding the pool turned a blind eye to the tragedy in front of him. Not only that, he even kicked the woman hard when she tried to scoop up water.
"Bullshit, haven't I made it clear enough? If you want to drink water, just buy it with money. A bowl costs twenty cents. If you can't afford it, get out of here. Don't bother me here!"
The woman was kicked so hard that she coughed out blood. Her already shaky body could no longer hold on, and she fainted with a mournful cry.
A good living person fell in front of a pool. What an ironic scene!
Even if everyone is used to seeing all kinds of human tragedies, they still get angry because of what happened to the woman.
Mrs. Shu was so angry that her heart ached. She turned around and asked the old woman on the roadside who had come earlier: "Does this pool belong to them? Why don't they let others fetch water?"
The old woman shook her head, "This is just a wild pond, how can it have an owner?
This group of people used to be bullies in the previous town. After the drought, there was a shortage of water everywhere, so they took over this pond and refused to allow water to be drawn without paying.
It used to be that you paid ten cents for a drink, but now the price has increased, a bowl of water costs twenty cents!"
As she spoke, the old woman stretched out her hand and gestured, "It is also stipulated that only such a big bowl can be used, and the drink can be finished in one go."
Mrs. Shu got angry when she heard this, "Twenty cents for a small bowl of water, what's the difference between these people and bandits?"
The old lady had a bad temper and naturally spoke loudly. One sentence made the old lady tremble with fright, "Oh, please keep your voice down, something will happen if they hear you!"
Have you seen the dead people in front of the pool? They were all hacked to death for disobedience, and we can’t afford to offend them!"
Mrs. Shu closed the call and returned to the team angrily to ask the village chief for advice, "What do you think we should do?
We have almost run out of water in our village. If we miss this pool, I don’t know when we will find water next time.
But to buy it with money, haha, twenty cents a bowl, our village alone would have to spend seven or eight taels of silver!"
It's really money, and she can afford it. The key is that the money is spent uncomfortably. It's just a waste of money that can still be heard when thrown into water. What's the use of giving it to these people? Is it fattening them up so that they can continue to harm others?
The village chief was also suffocating in his heart. During the famine years, the life of the people was already difficult. They lacked food and drink. They managed to survive until now and are still being cheated. Where is the justice of God?
"What should I buy? No!" the village chief roared angrily, banging the gong to summon the villagers, and held a brief meeting on the issue of buying water.
Everyone's opinion is quite unanimous: don't buy it!
The little money they had was plucked from their teeth through frugality. They spent it all on water on the road. What would they use to buy a family property in Qizhou?
During the meeting, Shu Mingzhi was not idle at all. He first counted the men standing in front of the pool. There were sixteen in total, and some of them were as thin as chickens with crooked necks.
After surveying the enemy's situation, he turned his attention to a group of people on the left side of the road. There were about twenty people in that group, including seven or eight young adults.
There are also many young people who can fight scattered in other places. If everyone joins forces, it will be more than enough to deal with sixteen men.
After making up his mind, Shu Mingzhi immediately started lobbying. He first went to the group on the left to get close to him, calling the older ones uncle and the younger ones eldest brother, and then introduced himself to his family.
After some manipulation, I successfully struck up a conversation with someone, and then started asking about the water pool.
Everyone was holding back their anger because of this matter. When he mentioned it, many people immediately started shouting angrily, explaining and scolding him again and again. Some of the bad-tempered ones turned red with anger.
Shu Mingzhi scolded them along with him very politely, not forgetting to shed a few tears and recount the bitter history along the way.
The poor feel sorry for the poor, and a group of people themselves were still feeling sad. When they saw Shu Mingzhi crying, they quickly turned to comfort him: "Niece, stop crying. Your crying makes us want to cry too."
Shu Mingzhi choked away her tears, and then returned to the matter of fetching water, "At this point, how can we still have spare money to buy water? It is impossible to buy water without force.
"
"You can't rob by force, they really dare to kill people!" an old man in his fifties or sixties answered.
The young man next to the uncle had a different opinion than him. He looked at the men in Yaoshui Village and thought about it, "Do you want to rob? If you rob, I will have a share."
This is what I have been waiting for for a long time!
Shu Mingzhi suddenly regained his energy and said, "Our village can produce twenty-five people, plus you guys, I will ask other people to get forty or fifty together."
This way, with more people and greater strength, you can definitely push them down without getting hurt easily.
What are you doing?"
The young man nodded, "Fuck it! These conscienceless dogs should be taught a lesson!"
"What about you? What do you mean?" Shu Mingzhi tilted his head and looked at the others.
Several young people in the team stood up one after another, "We are willing too!"
After all this hard work, my wife, children, and children at home can happily drink water. It’s worth it!
With the alliance, Shu Mingzhi felt more confident, "Okay, you guys prepare first and find all the shovels, kitchen knives and everything else. I will ask the others and follow my instructions."
After bidding farewell to the first group of people, Shu Mingzhi walked towards another group with a larger number of people with clear goals.
But the bully guarding the pool was not blind either. A man was sneaking around in the crowd, and no one believed him even if he said he didn't hold back any bad moves!
So before Shu Mingzhi could connect with another team, several bullies came over and blocked his path.
"You kid, why are you running around here and there? Your legs are itchy and you want to test the power of my knife?"
The bully leader raised his knife and gestured twice in front of his legs, raised his eyebrows, and showed a fierce look in his eyes.
Shu Mingzhi looked at the shining blade and his legs trembled, but he couldn't be afraid. With so many pairs of eyes looking at him, he had to stand up and set an example for everyone!
"What? You didn't drive this road. I can go wherever I want. What does it have to do with you?"
Shu Mingzhi swallowed, his eyes were wider than his, and his tone was more arrogant than his.
"Hey, your bones are pretty strong! I'll cut off your leg today to see if you're still strong!"
The leader of the bullies raised his hand, and several bullies behind him rushed over with knives. The five of them surrounded Shu Mingzhi, all gearing up to fight.
Seeing that they were serious about it, Shu Mingzhi also gave up. Damn, he would have known better not to be so cruel!
At this time, a fierce voice suddenly sounded from the other side of the road: "Bad guy, don't bully my fourth uncle!"