Ms. Chu had lived in the city with Luo Tiezhu before and had seen quite a bit of the world.
Aunt Tian was very approving, picking leaves and saying: "Sister-in-law Luo is right, now that we still have leaves, we should eat more of them and save what grain we can for later. Although the leaves are bitter, they can keep a person alive."
Gu Jinli also picked some leaves, but there were too many disaster victims, and everywhere you looked there were starving people. As soon as they saw even slightly green leaves, they would swarm over, and in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a whole tree's leaves would be picked clean, and its branches broken.
Third Grandma looked at the bare branches and sighed: "Let's move on, walk ahead, walk a bit farther, and we should be able to fill our baskets."
"Okay," responded Ms. Chu, helping Third Grandma walk forward, with Aunt Tian following behind with Erhua and Xiao Hua, however, Gu Jinli did not move but instead looked to the right where there was a dried-up river.
She ran to the riverbank where there was no water, squatted down, and saw more than a dozen snail shells on the parched ground.
In her previous life, Gu Jinli often carried out field missions and immediately thought of something upon seeing these snail shells—shallow groundwater.
Shallow groundwater is the first aquifer beneath the surface, and where shallow water is present, the ground tends to be moist, and you can find snails, dandelion greens, and yellow chrysanthemums.
They were lacking water right now; water could be traded for grain. If they could find a water source, it could save their family.
Seeing that Gu Jinli had not followed and was squatting on the ground looking down, Ms. Chu hastily yelled: "Xiao Yu, what are you looking at? Move quickly."
Gu Jinli acknowledged and ran to Ms. Chu and Third Grandma, pointing towards the disaster victims who kept surging forward into the deep mountains, and suggested: "Third Grandma, so many victims are taking this road, even if we follow, we won't find anything to eat. It might be better to walk along the dry river to the right."
She turned her hand and pointed towards the dry river to the right: "No one is going that way, we might as well try it, perhaps we can find some wild vegetables."
And possibly even a source of water.
Third Grandma looked in the direction Gu Jinli pointed, and although there was no path, there were also no disaster victims. Looking back at the road ahead which was blocked by a large crowd of victims, she immediately agreed: "Alright, let's follow Xiao Yu's suggestion and walk along the dry river to the right."
Ms. Chu and Aunt Tian had no objections and followed Third Grandma's decision; the six of them headed to the right, pushing aside thorny brambles and stepping over dry wild grass, carving out a path through the mountains.
Gu Jinli kept her head down, looking for snail shells along the way, and after walking for a quarter of an hour, she saw more snail shells; as she continued walking, the time between discovering new shells became shorter, finding new ones every few meters.
Ms. Chu was keeping an eye on her and finally couldn't help asking: "Xiao Yu, what are you looking for? Why are you always staring at the ground?"
Gu Jinli replied: "Aunt Luo, I'm looking for wild vegetables."
Ms. Chu laughed and shook her head: "You dear child, you must be starving. Auntie Luo still has some beans; I'll give some to your family tonight. You just woke up, you need to replenish."
Beans keep well; many disaster victims on the run carry beans as their sustenance. When hungry, a handful of beans cooked with leaves and roots serves as a meal.
"Thank you, Aunt Luo," said Gu Jinli, then continued to lower her head to look at the ground, searching for something more exciting than snail shells.
Her judgement wasn't wrong; after walking a little over half an hour, she finally saw a few partially withered yellow chrysanthemums among the thorns: "Third Grandma, there's river grass over there, let's hurry."
In the Great Chu Dynasty, yellow chrysanthemums are called river grass. As soon as Gu Jinli mentioned river grass, Third Grandma and the others all looked where she was pointing, and indeed they saw a few partially withered river grass plants.
Third Grandma couldn't stop smiling: "Xiao Yu is lucky indeed, she really found wild vegetables."
Aunt Tian, along with her two daughters, was clearing thorns and looked at the few plants of river grass, regrettably saying, "There are only these few plants, and the flowers are almost all gone."
Third Grandma's smile didn't fade: "Be content, this area is full of thorns, no refugees have been here before, we were able to find the river grass only because we're lucky."
Gu Jinli's heart filled with excitement, helping Aunt Tian and her two daughters clear away the thorns, saying, "Third Grandma is right, we're lucky today, I'm sure we can find even better things."
The better things she spoke of were water.
The presence of shallow groundwater could be determined by the behavior of animals and plant growth. If the earlier snail shells were a coincidence, then the few plants of yellow-flowered vegetables now proved that there was shallow groundwater in this area.
The thorns were sharp, and once they cleared away the obstructing thorns, their hands were pricked enough to draw blood, and their hemp clothes, already patched, now had several small cuts. They didn't mind at all. Striding through in a few steps to the few river grass plants, they carefully picked the half-wilted River Flowers, also collecting the wilted River Flowers from the ground.
The six of them didn't fight over the plants. Instead, they handed the River Flowers to Third Grandma for distribution.
Third Grandma counted the River Flowers, there were forty-five in total: "The six of us came to search for food together, no matter the age, as long as one has contributed, the share should be even. Seven flowers each, and since Xiao Yu found the river grass, the remaining three will be hers."
Gu Jinli didn't refuse and happily accepted her share. Standing up, she looked around at the area full of thorns and withered grass and said, "Third Grandma, there should be more river grass here, let's search some more."
Everyone, full of fighting spirit, upon hearing this, agreed in unison: "Okay."
While talking, the six of them spread out, carefully moving through the nearby land, searching for river grass.
Gu Jinli walked forward, every five meters she would use the stick in her hand to dig the soil, checking the moisture of the dirt. After digging more than a dozen small mud pits and advancing several dozen meters forward, she finally found that the soil here was more moist than before, not dry, but damp, with a humid look.
Excited, she took the last dug mud pit as the center, looking around, and indeed, to the left front she saw a patch of river grass hidden amidst the thorns and withered grass.
She called out: "Third Grandma, Aunt Luo, Aunt Tian, Erhua, Xiao Hua, over here, there's a lot of river grass!"
Hearing this, Third Grandma and the others quickly looked over, following the direction where her hand pointed, and indeed saw a large patch of half-wilted river grass, and they hurried over.
"Xiao Yu's eyes are truly sharp, she managed to find a whole patch of river grass," said Aunt Tian, overjoyed, almost running over with her two daughters. The patch of river grass covered half an acre, and even if it were divided into six portions, it would be enough for their family to have a full meal.
Ms. Chu and Third Grandma followed quickly, starting to pick the river grass with faces full of joy.
Gu Jinli knew that Third Grandma would divide the river grass into six portions, so she didn't go to pick them. Instead, she used a sharpened stick to dig the soil where the river grass grew best, and after digging about a foot deep, the soil went from moist to muddy.
Gu Jinli was thrilled, there was water beneath.
Ms. Chu had always felt that Gu Jinli's behavior was strange today, seeing her not picking river grass but instead digging, she couldn't help but say, "Xiao Yu, what are you doing now? Hurry up and pick the river grass, we need to head back after, it's getting dark."
Gu Jinli dared not shout loudly, fearing that other refugees might be hiding nearby, and ran over to Ms. Chu and Third Grandma, speaking in a low voice: "Aunt Luo, Third Grandma, I've found a water source, we're saved!"
Extracting shallow groundwater required digging soil, at least five meters deep, and it was impossible for their family of six to dig water out alone, they would need to find help. The Luo Family, Third Grandmother's Family, and the Tian Family were the best helpers.