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Hanno recognized both of the injured individuals: one was Lansiya, and the other was Ma Yanli. After Ma Yanli falsely accused Hanno of theft, she was proven to be the actual thief and was detained for about a month. Upon her release, she divorced Liu Zhaoren, and since then, Hanno had not heard any news about her. Even Yang Yun and Liu Zhaoren had no information about her, only that she had gone to stay with her brother in the south. But how did she end up here? And why did she crash into Lansiya's car? Did she find out about Lansiya pursuing Liu Zhaoren? Even if Lansiya was after her ex-husband, it didn't seem like a reason to recklessly endanger herself in a collision with Lansiya! What had this woman gone through?
Finding Liu Zhaoren's contact number on her phone, Hanno hesitated but ultimately decided not to call. It would be awkward for her to inform him about Ma Yanli and Lansiya's accident. In the end, she only told Yang Yun. As for whether Yang Yun would inform Liu Zhaoren, she didn't know.
On the weekend, Yang Yun came to see Hanno and shared the aftermath and background of the accident.
"Ma Yanli has been saved, but her legs are completely ruined; she'll never stand again," Yang Yun said as she tossed crispy peanuts into her mouth. "Her parents have been taken to the south by her brother. They didn’t even come back when they heard about her injury; they just sent some money to their relatives to hire caregivers for her and left it at that."
Hanno was shocked. "Ma Yanli used to have a good relationship with her brother. Why is he ignoring her now? And what about her parents?"
"It's all because of what she did. Of course, part of it is Lansiya's fault too," Yang Yun explained. She had friends in the south who happened to do business with Brother Ma, so she knew about the Ma family's situation.
"Ma Yanli's brother runs a company in the south, and their biggest client was originally introduced by Lansiya. After the theft incident, Lansiya saw Ma Yanli's true nature and was furious that Ma Yanli had made a fool out of her. She cut off business ties with the Ma family. Brother Ma found out from the client that it was Ma Yanli who caused his troubles and got into a heated argument with her. Ma Yanli didn’t think she did anything wrong; in a fit of rage, she even attacked her brother. As a result, while he was unharmed, his wife and mother were pushed down the stairs during the scuffle. Her mother, being older, suffered a back injury and couldn’t stand for months. Her sister-in-law fared worse; she lost her baby and nearly bled to death, leaving her unable to conceive again. Originally, Brother Ma only had one daughter, and both their parents were looking forward to having a grandson. Now that hope was dashed because of her actions. Her father is so furious that he no longer acknowledges her as his daughter."
Yang Yun took a sip of chrysanthemum tea to clear her throat before continuing with more gossip: "Ma Yanli couldn’t bear staying in the south anymore, so she returned to D City since there’s still a house for her here. In the south, even her sister-in-law wouldn’t let her in the door. She firmly believes that Lansiya is responsible for everything—she thinks Lansiya ruined her brother’s business by cutting ties with their major client. She wouldn’t argue with her brother or blame him for their mother’s injury or sister-in-law’s miscarriage. Her hatred for Lansiya only grew stronger when she returned to D City and found out that Lansiya was pursuing her ex-husband. Fueled by anger and lacking rationality, this woman rented a car and tried to run over Lansiya. In the end, though, due to poor driving skills, Lansiya only sustained minor injuries while she herself became disabled."
Hanno clicked her tongue in sympathy: "How tragic!"
There was no sincerity in that sympathy at all; despite being wronged multiple times by Ma Yanli, Hanno felt no schadenfreude—her moral compass remained intact.
"What about Liu Zhaoren? How did he react?"
"What reaction could he have? Ma Yanli divorced him long ago. The mess she's in now is entirely of her own making; it has nothing to do with him," Yang Yun replied. "However, he does feel some guilt towards Lansiya and visited her once in the hospital. I have to admit that Lansiya really knows how to seize opportunities; Liu Zhaoren has been treating her much better."
Hanno remarked, "I hope they can truly become a couple."
Yang Yun raised an eyebrow and asked, "Aren't you even a little jealous?"
"Jealous? What’s there to be jealous of!" Hanno exclaimed as she threw an apple at Yang Yun playfully. "I actually hope they end up together."
Yang Yun caught the apple and took a big bite, mumbling, "You're destined to be single at this rate."
"You should find your other half first," came the reply.
As the sun grew increasingly intense, the ground cracked under its heat. The riverbed became shallower, revealing sandy banks where rushing waters once flowed. The river, which used to be neck-deep, now barely reached the knees. Although the farmland was not yet dried up, it had lost its vitality; it was only a matter of time before it withered.
The villagers wore expressions of despair. This year was supposed to be filled with joy, having received the Celestial Seeds bestowed by their Ancestors, and news had come back that the children who were conscripted into the army were safe. Just as they were beginning to see better days, a drought struck. While droughts were less deadly than floods, they still led to famine that could claim many lives. Historical records of droughts spoke of "roots and bark being foraged to extinction, refugees filling the roads, corpses strewn across fields, and the dead piled upon one another." There were even accounts of "vast lands devoid of crops, where starving people resorted to cannibalism." The village chief's previously relaxed forehead furrowed deeply again, his graying hair trending toward complete whiteness. The elders in the village had already resigned themselves to leaving food for the young and children while preparing for their own starvation.
"It's too early to talk about starving," the village chief encouraged. "The water in the river hasn't dried up yet. If we work a little harder, we can carry water to irrigate our fields and store some at home."
"But chief," a villager sighed, "the river is quite far from our village. Every time we fetch water for irrigation, by the time we return for a second trip, the places we've already watered are completely dry again. Isn't that pointless?"
Uncle Man Cang replied, "It's not pointless; at least after watering, the crops won't dry out as quickly."
The village chief added, "Exactly! We can't let our crops suffer in the sun. Don't lose hope; we're better off than others. At least we have river water—some places have neither rivers nor water and are in much worse situations."
Uncle Man Jin sighed, "I'm just afraid that in a few days, even the river will dry up."
The village chief responded, "That's why we need to store more water."
Uncle Man Jin said, "How much can we store? No matter how much we gather, it won't be enough."
Uncle Guangdan suggested, "Why don't we pool some money together to dig a couple of deeper wells in the village?"
Great-Uncle sighed, "No matter how deep we dig, if no water comes up, it's useless."
Everyone wore grim faces and asked in unison, "What should we do?"
"Li Yishu said to Li Zhoule and Wen Zixia, 'I have already written to Sister Han. I believe Sister Han will help me come up with a solution to deal with the drought.'
...
Hanno had no effective methods to combat the drought. All the solutions available online were preventive measures, but by the time Li Yishu reached out, the drought had already begun, leaving them no time for prevention. Dry ice for rain? That was a modern method; there was no dry ice in ancient times. That idea was out. Only channeling water and digging wells seemed to have some potential.
Digging a channel was good, but there was a fear that the water from the river wouldn’t flow into it, which would necessitate adding a waterwheel. The waterwheel was a brilliant invention of the ancient laborers of Huaxia, a very useful irrigation tool, but it seemed that Li Yishu's world lacked waterwheels. Hanno found images and diagrams of waterwheels online, including various data and installation methods, and printed everything out.
As for digging wells, Li Yishu had mentioned in his letter that the villagers wanted to dig wells but faced difficulties. In this dry season, wells needed to be at least ten meters deep to reach water, and even then, it was hard for the water to rise up, making it very troublesome for everyone to fetch water. Modern technology could surely solve this problem. Hanno thought of a Hand Pump Well: a small metal storage tank placed on the surface with a metal pipe extending down two or three meters into the groundwater. By pressing down on the long handle attached to the tank, water could be drawn out from another outlet of the tank. The principle was simple, and the structure wasn’t complicated either. There were principles and images of Hand Pump Wells available online as well; Hanno printed out a copy of that information along with the details about the waterwheel. However, unlike the waterwheel which could be made from bamboo and wood, the Hand Pump Well required metal for its construction. Hanno realized that ancient metallurgy wasn't as advanced as modern techniques; even with blueprints, manufacturing a Hand Pump Well wouldn't be easy. He considered sending two physical models over.
Nowadays, even rural areas had access to running water; such Hand Pump Wells were nearly extinct. However, they still existed in some mountainous regions and remote villages where they were still in use, meaning there were vendors selling Hand Pump Wells. Hanno sought help from his Second Cousin and obtained contact information for a merchant specializing in rural machinery. He ordered two Hand Pump Wells from them without haggling over price; he paid enough money that the merchant happily delivered them personally. After receiving the Hand Pump Wells, Hanno placed them along with two sets of documentation into a Porcelain Jar. Fortunately, he had purchased compact models of the Hand Pump Wells that fit inside the jar.
...
Hearing noises coming from the storage room, Li Siblings and Wen Family Brothers rushed into the Storage Room and stood dumbfounded at the sight of the oddly shaped iron objects.
'These iron lumps are so ugly,' Wen Ziyu couldn't help but comment. 'Shouldn't divine items be exquisite and beautiful?'
Upon hearing Wen Ziyu's words, Li Yishu, being an ardent fan of Hanno, felt displeased and gave Wen Ziyu a sharp slap on the shoulder: 'So what if it's ugly? As long as it's useful! Hmph! Since Sister Han sent us these items, it proves they can help us!'
At that moment, Wen Zixia had already picked up the documentation for both the waterwheel and Hand Pump Well. After reviewing it, she remarked, 'Li Yishu did well; although this Hand Pump Well doesn’t look good, it is indeed very useful.'"
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