"I think letting Lightning swallow them whole would be more convenient!" Yang Ming also raised his voice in agreement.
Bai Sheng nodded, smiling sinisterly. "Brother Ma and Brother Yang make a lot of sense. What do you think, husband?"
Lu Ye looked at Bai Sheng, his eyes doting. "We'll do as my wife says."
Lightning lunged forward, its expression ferocious.
The faces of the four men turned as pale as snow. Lu Fengshou and Li Qiang repeatedly kowtowed, begging for mercy. Even Zhou Ligen began to weep and plead for forgiveness.
Zhang Yijin finally couldn't hold back, his voice softening. "Lu Ye, good brother, what… what do we need to do for you to let us go?"
Lu Ye curled his lips into a cold smile. "Ask my wife. My wife calls the shots in our household. Also, don't try to be familiar with me, I'm not your good brother."
All at once, the four men cast pitiful glances at Bai Sheng.
Zhou Ligen began to regret his impulsive insult to that vixen Liu Shi. Otherwise, with her connections, he might have been able to beg for leniency…
Bai Sheng flashed a bright smile, then looked up at the sky with a feigned sigh. "Alas, Heaven has compassion for all living things, and I don't wish to hunt them to extinction."
The four pairs of eyes lit up immediately.
"As long as you write a confession and sign it, I will let you go."
"But we… we can't write," Lu Fengshou said with difficulty.
"My husband can write. After he finishes, you just need to sign it," Bai Sheng said, picking at her fingers.
Zhang Yijin nervously inquired, "Confess to… what crime?"
Bai Sheng looked up, exasperated. "Naturally, you'll write down everything you did tonight and promise never to bother us again. If you can do that, I guarantee you'll come to no harm. But if you break your promise, I'll turn the confession over to the authorities. Besides, we have wolves in addition to snakes, and I can't guarantee they won't come looking for you in the middle of the night."
"What if we go back on our word?" Zhang Yijin retorted.
Li Qiang immediately chimed in, "That's right. If we write the confession and you turn it over to the authorities immediately, what then?"
"Hmph, do you think our master and mistress are like you people from Huangsha Village? They wouldn't break their word!" Du Min glared at them.
"Yes, our master and mistress always mean what they say," the people of Hongshu Slope nodded in agreement.
Bai Sheng gave a cold smile. "My husband and I do keep our word. However, words are not proof, and you may not believe us. But there's nothing we can do; you have no leverage to negotiate with us now, so you have to believe us whether you want to or not!"
Lightning bared its fangs again, its posture intimidating.
The four men fell into thought.
Bai Sheng added, "Oh, and after the confession is written, there's a special benefit. Would you like to accept it?"
"Ben– benefit?"
"What… benefit?"
Bai Sheng stared at them, her gaze holding a hint of sharpness. "Become a spy for our Hongshu Slope, and I guarantee that from now on, none of you will lack for water."
"Spy? How would that work?" Li Qiang was somewhat tempted. The Zhang family had monopolized the wells in Huangsha Village, and his Li clan was increasingly subservient. If he could find another long-term water source, he, Li Qiang, would bend his knee.
Bai Sheng became serious. "It's not asking you to do anything wicked. Our Hongshu Slope never harms others first, but we cannot be passively attacked either. If there are any unfavorable actions from Huangsha Village towards our Hongshu Slope, you just need to report them to us early. It's that simple."
The four men looked at each other, none daring to agree rashly. After all, Zhang Yijin was a confidant of Zhang Jiawang, and he certainly wouldn't agree to be a spy for Hongshu Slope. If the others agreed in front of him, Zhang Yijin would surely report it to Zhang Jiawang immediately upon their return, and how could they continue to live in Huangsha Village after that?
"You don't need to answer right away; you can consider it carefully," Bai Sheng said with a smile, glancing at them.
"No need to consider. I cannot agree. I, Li Qiang, am a person of Huangsha Village in life and will be a ghost of Huangsha Village in death. I… I'll just write the confession," Li Qiang said with firm resolve.
Seeing this, Lu Fengshou immediately added, "I won't agree either. I will never betray Huangsha Village!"
Zhang Yijin, seeing that neither of them had agreed, felt a wave of relief. "I'll just write the confession too."
Zhou Ligen thought that it didn't seem to concern him.
Bai Sheng clapped her hands in praise. "It seems you have some backbone, truly loyal to Huangsha Village. Then, you will only write the confession."
Feng Pingyuan brought the paper and brush. Lu Ye wrote the confessions, and the four men signed them.
Bai Sheng collected the confessions and said to the four, "Good, now you can get lost. But remember, if I find any of you bothering our Hongshu Slope again, you'll face dire consequences!"
Zhang Yijin, Lu Fengshou, and Li Qiang looked sheepish. Enduring the pain in their bodies, they crawled in the direction of Huangsha Village.
Their comical crawling postures drew peals of laughter from the onlookers behind them.
Amidst the laughter, Zhou Ligen suddenly crawled to Bai Sheng, kowtowing. "Great Mistress, I was wrong. I beg you, please forgive me and take me in. If… if I have enough to eat, I'm a good worker. From now on, I'll be your ox and horse."
"Get lost!" Bai Sheng said without even looking at him.
Seeing that his pleas to Bai Sheng were in vain, Zhou Ligen turned to beg Lu Ye. Lu Ye cast him a cold glance, then turned and walked away, as if he had encountered a disgusting maggot.
Finally, he could only kneel and beg Liu Shi.
Liu Shi looked at him with a blank expression and said coldly, "You brought this upon yourself by being a troublemaker; no one can save you. Anyway, you won't live much longer, so whether the divorce paper is written or not is irrelevant. Get out!"
After the night's ordeal, Bai Sheng told everyone to get a good night's sleep and not to work in the morning. Old Man Ye's well-digging team was due to arrive tomorrow.
In the afternoon, Lu Ye wrote three notices for the collective fundraising to dig a well. One was kept for themselves, and the other two were given to Zhao Dazhuang and Ma San to post in two nearby villages: Hongliu Village and Caomiao Village. As for Huangsha Village, they were completely ignored.
Du Min sat at the trapezoidal table, responsible for registering the list of people participating in the fundraising.
On the first day the notices were posted, two households came from Hongliu Village: Deng Dalong contributed 500 wen; Xiao Huozi contributed 200 wen. Only one household came from Caomiao Village: Wang Da Fa contributed 2 taels of silver.
The next day, before dawn, the well-digging team arrived. Old Man Ye led five people: three middle-aged men and two young lads. Six people pulled two carts of well-digging tools.
After a brief introduction, Old Man Ye and his crew began inspecting the situation at Hongshu Slope. They discovered that, as the dark-skinned girl had said, several red fruit trees at the bottom of the slope were still alive. It was rare for them to have survived for so long in such drought conditions, unless there was groundwater here. The overall situation was not too dire, and perhaps they could actually dig a well.
Old Man Ye discussed his ideas with Lu Ye and Bai Sheng. Due to the generally deep groundwater table in the desert region, they could only use pipe wells, which could go down hundreds of meters. This would require a significant number of stone pipes, as wedging them into the water-bearing layer would prevent the water outlet from being blocked by mud and sand, thus maximizing the lifespan of the well. A good pipe well could last for thousands of years.
Stone pipes with a diameter of one meter would be ideal, as they would not impede further excavation. Such stone pipes could be purchased at the stone workshops in town. When all the stone pipes were connected, their total length would need to exceed 80 meters. After the stone pipes were installed at the bottom of the well, the 20 meters closest to the surface would need to be built with large stone bricks to prevent the surrounding walls from collapsing. Therefore, Bai Sheng and the others would also have to spend money to buy stone pipes and bricks.