The courtyard gate opened, and in the firelight, faces — some angry, some numb, some greedy — appeared before him.
Xu Laosan, who was at the front, instinctively took half a step back when he saw the door open.
Xu Fan walked slowly to the gate alone, his gaze calmly sweeping over everyone.
Anyone his gaze fell upon involuntarily avoided his eyes, not daring to meet his gaze.
Intimidation (Proficiency 30/100)
Intimidation Proficiency +2
"Uncles, fellow villagers."
"I know everyone is anxious because the well has dried up. But anxiety shouldn't make us abandon reason."
Xu Fan looked at Xu Laosan: "Third Uncle, you said my family's well drained the village's water veins. I ask, what is your proof?"
"Proof?" Xu Laosan stiffened his neck. "The proof is that as soon as your family's well was dug, the village's water dried up! What else could be proof?"
"Then I ask you again, did the drought in our village happen first, or did my family dig a well first?"
Xu Laosan was speechless again.
Xu Fan continued: "The village's stream was already shallow, and with a major drought, it was bound to dry up eventually."
"My family's well is more than three times deeper, so naturally it can produce water. There is no inherent connection between the two."
"Third Uncle, you insist on linking them and inciting everyone to cause trouble at my house. What are your true intentions?"
His words were clear and logical, causing many hot-headed villagers to calm down.
Yes, the drought came first, and the water level in the village stream had been dropping day by day.
Seeing the tide turn against him, Xu Laosan grew anxious and resorted to being unreasonable: "I don't care! Anyway, your family has water, and we don't!"
"You must share it with everyone, otherwise you are selfish and disregard the lives of your fellow villagers!"
"Right, we're all dying of thirst, your family can't just stand by and do nothing!"
The crowd began to stir again.
Xu Fan understood the saying "a bushel of rice for kindness, a carrying pole of rice for enmity" better than anyone.
If he opened this door today, his family would never have peace again.
He ignored the clamoring Xu Laosan, instead looking at the crowd and saying loudly: "I, Xu Fan, see the difficulties of our fellow villagers."
"To stand by and do nothing is not the Xu Family's way. Water, I can give."
At these words, the crowd erupted in an uproar, and a triumphant smile appeared on Xu Laosan's face.
"However," Xu Fan's tone shifted, "it's not for free."
He pointed to the weeds near the courtyard: "My family is also building a house and is short on labor. Those who want water, yes, you can exchange your strength for it."
"One strong laborer, working for a day, can exchange for five buckets of water, which you can carry home yourselves."
"This solves your family's immediate crisis and allows you to earn water with your own strength, killing two birds with one stone. Do you all think this method is fair?"
The villagers exchanged glances; this proposal was reasonable and left no room for complaint.
"No!" Xu Laosan was the first to jump out and object. "Why should we have to work? Your family's water should be given to us for free!"
Some lazy men chimed in: "Exactly, digging is so tiring! We're practically dying of thirst, how can we have the strength to work?"
Xu Fan gave him a cold look: "Third Uncle, it seems you're not thirsty; you just want to take advantage. If you want water for free, there's none. If you want to take it by force, you can try."
As he spoke, Xu Chang and Xu Chengbo behind him tightened their grip on their tools, their eyes turning fierce.
"Fellow villagers, the problem of drinking water is ultimately temporary. To solve the problem long-term, we must rely on ourselves."
He looked around at everyone and spoke again: "Instead of fighting over a few buckets of water every day, let's all work together to dig a new well for the village."
"A deep well, like my family's, that can produce water! That will put an end to this worry about water scarcity!"
Dig a new well?
The villagers were first stunned, then deflated.
"Fan'er, it's not that we don't want to dig, it's that we can't!" The village chief sighed. "The ground here in the village is all Bluestone underneath, hard and solid. Last time we invited stonemasons from town, and they all said there was no way."
"That's right, we can't dig it; it's a waste of effort."
Xu Fan smiled: "Just because others can't dig it doesn't mean I can't."
He walked to the center of the courtyard, closed his eyes, as if sensing something.
Prospecting Proficiency +1
Prospecting Proficiency +1
A moment later, he opened his eyes, walked out of the courtyard gate, and, under the villagers' uncertain gazes, paced back and forth on an open space in front of the village ancestral hall.
Finally, he stopped at a bare spot that seemed the least likely to have water, picked up a branch, and forcefully stuck it into the ground.
"Village Chief, Uncles, dig here," he said confidently. "Dig five zhang down, and there will surely be living water."
Everyone's eyes were blank.
Xu Laosan was the first to burst out laughing: "Hahahaha! You're killing me! Playing at being a ghost! If water can be dug out of this spot…"
"I… I, Xu Laosan, will eat all the mud that's dug out!"
He made a solemn vow without thinking.
Xu Fan glanced at him, ignoring him, and only said to the village chief: "Village Chief, I've said what I have to say. Believe it or not, dig or not, you all decide yourselves."
"Those who want to exchange for water, come to my house to work tomorrow morning."
With that, he turned and went back into the courtyard, closing the heavy gate with a bang.
Only a group of villagers remained, surrounding the branch stuck in the ground, exchanging glances, and Xu Laosan, who was still roaring with laughter.
The night was deep, but the Xu Family's small courtyard was brightly lit.
"Fan'er, are you really sure that place can produce water?" Xu Chang looked at his son, his face filled with worry and confusion.
"Father, have you forgotten how our family's well came to be?" Xu Fan replied, wiping his tools.
Xu Chang fell silent.
He recalled the miracle of a deep well being dug in half a day, and the scene of the iron-hard Bluestone crumbling like tofu under his son's hands.
A blind trust gradually overcame rational doubt.
The next morning, Xu Fan opened the courtyard gate to find seven or eight men already standing there, all honest and hardworking farmers from the village.
They looked ashamed, holding tools in their hands, clearly there to exchange their labor for water.
Xu Fan said little, only nodded, and began to direct their work.
The first step in building a house is laying the foundation.
For traditional houses, the foundation is a layer of crushed stone, compacted.
But what Xu Fan wanted to do went far beyond that.
The structural diagram of the future three-room Bluestone and tiled house clearly appeared in his mind: where the load-bearing walls were, where the support points for the beams were, every stress point calculated precisely.
"Father, second brother, and a few uncles, follow the lines I've drawn, and dig down here, here, and here."
Xu Fan marked the positions of several one-meter-square deep pits on the ground.
"Digging pits? Fan'er, isn't this where the walls are supposed to be built?" Xu Chang was puzzled.
"Yes, these are the positions for the load-bearing columns. They need to be dug deep to be sturdy."
You are attempting Construction. Unlocked new skill: Construction (Beginner 0/100)
Construction Proficiency +1
With several strong laborers helping, the Excavation progressed quickly.
And in front of the village ancestral hall, many people also gathered around the lonely branch.
Everyone was discussing, but no one moved.
After all, digging a well is hard physical labor, and no one wanted to waste their effort.
It wasn't until late morning, when the villagers were truly unbearable with thirst, that the village chief finally gritted his teeth and stamped his foot: "Dig! Even if no water comes out, so be it. It's better than sitting around waiting to die!"
He took the lead, picking up a shovel.
With someone leading, more than a dozen men gradually joined in.
Xu Laosan stood with his arms crossed under a large locust tree nearby, making sarcastic remarks: "Dig, dig, I'd like to see how you squeeze water out of stone."
"Don't waste all your energy and not find water, only to get even thirstier faster!"
The Excavation work was exceptionally difficult.
Just like in Xu Fan's courtyard, they hit a hard rock layer less than a foot down.
Sparks flew as shovels struck.
From morning until noon, everyone took turns, panting and sweating profusely, but after half a day, they had only dug a shallow pit the size of a washbasin.
Hope was slowly being eroded.