"Qinglin, what are you doing!" Floyd was full of helplessness in his heart.
Qinglin's eyes were wet. "Floyd, you saved our entire village!"
Their village had many people.
Since the famine started, everyone had looked out for each other and got through the hard times together.
Honestly, he used to envy Mud Nest Village because Floyd was there.
Later, when he heard what Mud Nest Village did to Floyd's family, he got angry. Even some of the men in his village secretly cursed Mud Nest Village for being ungrateful.
Floyd said, "Tomorrow I'll come to your village and take you all to the water source."
Qinglin left excitedly.
After Qinglin left, Floyd said, "You encouraged me to do this. Aren't you afraid our family won't have enough water?"
Gianna didn't drink water from the mountain stream anyway. She had plenty in her space.
She said, "Like you said, life is hard for everyone now. Helping others when we can is the right thing to do."
They looked at each other and smiled. When Gianna saw the affectionate look in Floyd's eyes, she felt a little uncomfortable.
She quickly looked away and said, "I'm going to cook."
Floyd wanted to take Gianna with him to the mountain stream.
But Gianna refused.
Those thugs from the village were already dead.
She felt safe staying in the village with the child.
Qinglin was thoughtful.
He probably thought it wouldn't be safe for Gianna to stay alone with the child, so he sent three women from the village to stay with her.
The women also brought their children to play with Xeno and the others.
The quiet Mud Nest Village became a bit livelier.
Gianna learned how to sew clothes with the three women and chatted with them casually.
She didn't find this kind of life boring. In fact, she felt fulfilled.
In the end times, all she ever did was run and escape. She never had one day of peace.
That's why she found this life so precious.
Late at night, torches lit up at the village entrance. Floyd came back, pushing a few barrels of water. Two men from Qingtian Village came and took the women and children back.
The water tank was full.
So the buckets were left to the side.
Gianna brought the food from the pot to the table.
Floyd looked relaxed. It was clear he was in a good mood.
"Everything went smoothly. Don't worry. More people from Qingtian Village stayed at the mountain stream. They have many hands, so they dug up the topsoil and widened the water pit. Qinglin said the water there is enough for their whole village."
That night, when they were sleeping, Floyd saw Gianna awkwardly leaning against the wall. He could only sigh.
He didn't know why, but ever since Gianna became stronger, she seemed to avoid getting close to him.
Maybe she was still upset inside.
He used to act cold. He'd change slowly.
A few more days passed. It got colder and colder. The wind chilled people to the bone.
Qinglin came again, bringing thanks from his village.
These days, people from their village took turns guarding the mountain stream and used the method Floyd taught them to filter water. The biggest problem in their village was now solved.
They knew the water source was found by Floyd's family, and they felt a bit guilty.
So every household brought something to thank them.
Gianna looked at the basket filled with long-missed eggs, dried vegetables, and grains. She was truly touched.
Life was hard for every family these days, especially after three years of drought. Eggs had become a rare treasure.
The people in Qingtian Village were indeed kinder than those from Niwo Village.
Floyd hesitated for a moment but still accepted everyone's thanks.
People's hearts respond to kindness. Gianna felt that the people in Qingtian Village were good, so she wanted to help them. She said, "Looking at the weather these days, it will definitely snow before the New Year. You can prepare the seeds early. When spring comes, you can start planting."
Qinglin left, reminding them before he went that if they ran into trouble, they should go to Qingtian Village and call for them.
Time passed quickly, and soon it was the 28th day of the twelfth month.
As expected, snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
The children were thrilled, jumping and playing excitedly in the yard.
The snow continued for three days.
On New Year's Day, Gianna used the five eggs Qinglin had given them to make steamed egg custard for the children.
Qinglin's gift had been handled by her, and of course, it didn't include white rice or sugar. She just used that as an excuse, took out some brown sugar and a bit of white rice, and made sure they had a proper New Year celebration.
Floyd had been in a great mood these past few days.
Whenever he had nothing to do, he liked to stay close to Gianna.
Wherever Gianna went, he followed.
"Gianna, you've been avoiding me lately. Did I do something to upset you?" Floyd looked at her with a pitiful expression.
It had been a long time since he had been close to her.
Gianna didn't dislike Floyd. She actually thought he was a decent man, but she didn't have romantic feelings for him yet.
She had grown fond of the three children during this time and decided to stay. First, because the children were pitiful. Second, because she owed the original owner for taking her identity.
After hesitating for a moment, she said, "You didn't do anything wrong. It's me. There are already three kids at home, and life is hard. I'm just afraid of getting pregnant."
A trace of joy flashed in Floyd's eyes. He felt relieved—so she wasn't mad at him after all.
He had been restless recently, trying to remember if he had done something wrong.
Still, he thought he needed to change his attitude.
"Gianna, I'll treat you even better from now on."
Gianna couldn't help but laugh.
Getting a rough man like him to say something like that wasn't easy.
She opened the door. Snow covered everything in white, and the village entrance was already blocked by snow.
But the family of five didn't plan to go out anyway. Every day they stayed in their yard. The farthest they went was to the well.
Floyd squatted outside the door, clearing away the piled-up snow. Underneath was damp soil. He poked into it with a stick and found that the melted snow had soaked deep into the ground.
"Gianna, we'll be able to plant food in the spring. But I still have to go to the county to look for seeds."
Thinking of this, Floyd felt troubled.
He wasn't sure if the seeds from three years ago would still grow.
Gianna had plenty of seeds in her space, and they were all high-quality ones. Not just that—she had pesticides, fertilizer, and even farming equipment.
The leaders at the base had planned to restart farming after the end of the world, but in the end, it all fell into her hands.
She definitely wasn't going to follow the usual path and plant the seeds from this era.
After the drought, her mind was set on making money. She didn't want to keep living this tough life.
Since she had decided to give the kids a good life, then she had to earn money.
She said, "The hardest days are over. Things will work out when the time comes."
It started snowing again, and this time it snowed for five whole days.
The big courtyard gate was almost impossible to push open.
Luckily, they had stored a lot of firewood. The whole family sat around the fire, chatting and laughing, feeling quite content.
What the kids looked forward to the most each day was drinking the sweet water Gianna made for them.