Not everyone who returned with Madam was from the same village, but that didn't matter anymore. After all, they were all living day-to-day, and it was all the same wherever they settled.
The terrain looked like the loess hills that Chang'an had seen on the internet in her previous life, except that they weren't living in cave dwellings, but rather in short, mud-brick houses.
Many of the houses had collapsed, probably from being uninhabited for too long.
The villagers went back to their own homes, while the outsiders searched for liveable houses to settle in.
For non-locals to register and settle here, they were supposed to report to the County Administration Office, but in these chaotic times, it didn't matter whether they reported or not.
It was even a question whether there was still anyone at the County Administration Office.
Madam's house was on the west side of the village, with three bedrooms and a kitchen room. One of the bedrooms had collapsed, and half of the mud-brick courtyard wall had crumbled.
After sending Madam home, Chang'an looked around but couldn't find a well, which puzzled her. Even without a drought, where would they get drinking water?
"Father, why don't you go check outside, and maybe we can settle down here too?" Chang'an gave Old Gu Six a signal, which he understood as his daughter wanting him to get Madam out of the way so she could take action.
Old Gu Six nodded, then casually said to Madam, "Sister-in-law, could you take me outside for a look? I want to see if this place is suitable for us to settle down."
"Huh? Aren't you going north?" Madam looked perplexed.
"It's not a must. It's all the same wherever we go. I just want to take a look, and if it's not suitable, we'll leave."
Madam found it odd that this young man didn't seem to be thinking straight. Anyone with eyes could see that this place was unsuitable for living, unless they were like her, just waiting to die.
"Father, you go ahead and look around. I'll rest here and wait for you to come back," Chang'an waved her hand and smiled, saying she wouldn't go.
"All right, you wait here for Father to return."
Watching Old Gu Six and Madam walk away, Chang'an searched the front and back courtyards, trying to find a way to store more water for Madam and the others.
In the front courtyard, she found two large water jars buried in pits, covered with wooden boards. The jars were quite clean since they were covered.
Chang'an immediately used the large water jars from her space to fill them up, then transferred the water into the buried jars.
The large water jars in her space were used back in Qingfang Village, and though they looked big, when she filled them and poured the water into the buried jars, it only filled them halfway.
It took four large jars of water to fill the two large buried jars. With fifty or sixty people, these two jars wouldn't last long, even for drinking.
Chang'an covered the water jars with wooden boards, then went to the house nearest Madam's. This household had only a kitchen room left standing.
Thinking that Madam's house had two buried water jars, perhaps other houses had them too, probably used for storing water.
Indeed, there was one large jar, which Chang'an filled and covered before returning to Madam's house.
The village wasn't big, and the best houses were already occupied. She didn't plan to go around helping others store water, as she couldn't keep finding excuses to kick people out of their homes.
It was now early winter, and with three large jars of water, they should be able to make it last until it snowed if they were frugal. Once it snowed, they could melt snow for water, which could tide them over into next year.
Of course, Chang'an didn't know if it would snow, but she hoped Heaven wouldn't deprive the impoverished of this chance.
The most important issue now was food. Chang'an sighed, this was the downside of not having a carriage for concealment. Their belongings were out in the open, whereas with a carriage, they could have smuggled out more food.
In her space, she still had some tough steamed buns and fried dough twists, foods they rarely ate. She had about two hundred steamed buns and three hundred fried dough twists left.
Chang'an had initially planned to leave them with Madam to distribute, but then worried that if there were any malicious people, it could endanger Madam.
It seemed she and Old Gu Six would have to stay another day, waiting until night to discreetly deliver the food to each household, under the guise of doing a good deed anonymously.
It was unavoidable, as in this situation, she couldn't openly do good deeds, lest it raise suspicions about how she acquired so much food out of nowhere. It was better to be an anonymous benefactor.
She had originally intended to stick to her policy of not helping or saving anyone, but seeing the despondent expressions on these elderly, weak, and helpless people triggered her savior complex.
So she would lend them a hand, but whether they could survive this calamity was beyond her concern.
She would do her part, and leave the rest to Heaven's will.
Half an hour later, Old Gu Six and Madam returned.
"Father, Madam, you're back! Madam, earlier I was curious and lifted the wooden boards in your courtyard, and found two jars of water in the buried pits." Chang'an cheerfully shared her 'discovery', acting as if she had found some amazing treasure, putting on quite a convincing show.
Madam stared in shock at the spot where Chang'an had lifted the boards, seeing the two large jars filled with water.
She knelt and wailed, not crying out of joy, but mourning her dead children and husband.
How wonderful it would have been if her children and husband had also returned.
The father and daughter didn't disturb her, quietly leaving the courtyard and waiting outside for a while before returning.
By then, Madam had stopped crying. She stood up, wiped her tears, and said a bit apologetically, "Forgive me for making a scene."
"It's alright, Madam. The collapsed house next door also has a full water jar."
Upon hearing this, Madam was delighted. She hurried out to inform everyone to come to her house for water.
She didn't go door-to-door, only telling the nearest two households, who then spread the word to the others.
Within two quarters of an hour, fifty or sixty people had gathered in Madam's courtyard. They didn't have buckets, only water pouches and bamboo tubes, which they used to fill up.
Even after filling all their containers, there was still a third of the large jar left.
Chang'an noticed that there were no relieved expressions, and the aura of despondency hadn't lifted despite having water.
It made sense when she thought about it - having water didn't change the fact that they lacked food.
Perhaps Madam was the most optimistic among them, at least they had water to drink for the time being.
Chang'an took out twenty steamed buns from the spatial bag and gave them to Madam, leaving under her teary gaze.
In fact, they hadn't gone far, just leaving this village and stopping behind a high ground.
"My daughter, do you plan to bring them food tonight?" Old Gu Six mumbled with a mouthful of tomato.
Chang'an felt exasperated, silently sighing in relief that she had cleverly acquired a spatial bag from that someone, otherwise, how could they afford to feed this glutton?
On the escape from the famine, except for the period when Chang Le accompanied them, he had stopped eating. But once everyone parted ways, this Old Six started eating nonstop, his stomach like a black hole connected to outer space, never seeming to be full no matter how much he ate.
She was thankful that the two fridges in the spatial bag had a regenerating function, able to supply his voracious appetite.
Chang'an ate a bag of spicy strips and leisurely replied, "Yeah, we'll go do a good deed tonight, you'll be my lookout."
