In her other life, when she was a lawyer, she was surrounded by people who schemed against one another. The cases she worked on were all about cold-blooded and heartless people who would not yield an inch and would even fight over small matters.
Now that she witnessed such friendship between comrades helping each other, she was both touched and envious.
“Why does it sound as if we have to offer a human sacrifice if there is no water? I know where there’s water nearby,” Qiao Mei said.
“Sister-in-law, are you trying to bluff us, how can there be water nearby?” asked the cookhouse deputy squad leader.
Everyone else also looked at Qiao Mei expectantly. Was it possible that Qiao Mei had really discovered a water source that they had not been able to find?
“It’s about five kilometers over that side. There’s a small stream over there. The water flow isn’t very strong, but there should still be enough water for everyone,” Qiao Mei said as she pointed in that direction.
A new hope was ignited in everyone’s hearts. With water, they would be able to cook for the soldiers and there would also be certainty in having enough water for the entire camp’s use!
Everyone was so happy that most of them were lost for words and a few of them even cheered loudly.
“Sister-in-law, is that water really usable?” the cookhouse squad leader asked Qiao Mei repeatedly.
After all, he was the squad leader of the cookhouse. If anything should happen, he would definitely need to take responsibility for it. He had no issue with having to be responsible, but he just did not want everyone to get all happy for nothing.
“It’s true. I saw it when I went there today,” Qiao Mei said.
“Eh? Sister-in-law, what were you doing there? We have rules here, you can’t leave the camp without reporting your movements,” a young soldier asked ignorantly.
The cookhouse deputy squad leader hurriedly gave the young soldier a kick.
“What are you talking about, did sister-in-law go out whenever she wants?” the cookhouse deputy squad leader said quickly.
Only then did Qiao Mei understand why Zheng Yuan had stopped her, as well as why the water had gone missing from the tanks. Moreover, Zheng Yuan had gone around in the afternoon saying that she had suffered serious injuries to her waist. It turned out that all these things were targeted at her.
Qiao Mei remained silent as she thought about the trap that Zheng Yuan had set for her. The soldiers around her all felt as if they had said something wrong. Qiao Mei had clearly helped them solve the problem, yet they were only hung up about Qiao Mei leaving the camp on her own accord.
“It’s fine. I don’t know much about military rules. It’s just that I heard from a young soldier that there’s not much water left in the water storage tanks, so I just wanted to see if I can help everyone,” Qiao Mei said with a smile.
When everyone heard what Qiao Mei said, they were too embarrassed to talk further about the fact that Qiao Mei had violated military rules. After all, she was not a soldier in the army, not to mention that she had done what she did for the sake of the soldiers having enough water. They felt bad for treating her in this manner.
“Don’t worry, everyone. When the time comes, I’ll look for the person in charge to reflect on my mistakes. But for now, we still have to hurry up and replenish the water supply. Otherwise, everyone won’t have food tomorrow,” Qiao Mei said.
“That’s right! Let’s go get the water first!” said the cookhouse squad leader.
Everyone spontaneously went around looking for vessels that could hold water. Just these few people from the cookhouse would not be able to fill up the water tanks even if they worked through the entire night. Qiao Mei wanted to talk to Xia Zhe and get help from the teams under the charge of Zhang Yong, Zhao Wu and Zhuang Hua.
“I’ll go look for Zhang Yong and the rest to help. We don’t have enough people here right now,” Qiao Mei said to the cookhouse squad leader.
“Sister-in-law! This won’t do! There are rules to follow. We can’t just casually assign people to do things. We must follow the rules. There’s enough people among us, really!” said the cookhouse squad leader as he hurriedly stopped Qiao Mei.
“That’s right, sister-in-law. We have all undergone training and five kilometers is a piece of cake for us. Don’t worry, it’s fine that there’s just the few of us!” said a young soldier from the cookhouse.
Seeing that they were all so insistent, Qiao Mei gave up on the idea of asking others for help. She still had to bring the team to the water source in the distance.
Everyone quietly looked around for tools that could be used to hold water. It so happened that Zheng Yuan came out to take a look at night and ran into a young soldier. When the young soldier saw Zheng Yuan, he turned around and ran.
“You! Stop right there!” Zheng Yuan pointed at the young soldier and said.
The young soldier was so frightened that he did not dare to move and even dropped the basin in his hand. Trembling with fear, he stood still and waited for Zheng Yuan to walk over step by step.
Zheng Yuan walked up to the young soldier and sized him up.
