The Sweetness of the Seventies
Chapter 253 - 252: Don’t be afraid, I have little Tiantian!_1

Chapter 253: Chapter 252: Don’t be afraid, I have little Tiantian!_1

Just when everyone was at their wit’s end, He Tiantian noticed that ever since the Little Rotating Turtle had come up, the water in the spring pool kept increasing instead of decreasing. In a short while, there was about ten centimeters more water at the bottom of the pool.

He Tiantian took the opportunity when the Snake King was not paying attention and threw the Little Rotating Turtle into the barrier.

"Village Chief Qi, look, there’s more water," He Tiantian pointed out. Only He Tiantian understood that as long as the Little Rotating Turtle wasn’t inside, the water would only increase and never decrease.

Village Chief Qi was taken aback for a moment, looked inside, and was also surprised, saying, "Yes, the pebbles at the bottom were exposed just now, and now there is water as deep as a palm. Everyone, don’t worry, just wait a bit longer, a bit longer!"

After hearing Village Chief Qi’s words, everyone fell silent, not making another sound. Dozens and hundreds of pairs of eyes were fixed on the bubbling spring, watching the water rise higher and higher in the pool, and they all felt slightly relieved—as long as it wasn’t drying up, it was good.

As everyone was watching there, He Tiantian, carrying water, left. At least she didn’t have to worry about Qijia Village running out of water.

On the way, He Tiantian muttered, "Gurulu gurulu mi," and saw the Snake King wrapped around the Little Rotating Turtle inside the barrier. The Little Rotating Turtle was no easy opponent either, bouncing and leaping about, hitting against the barrier, giving the Snake King a really hard time.

"What are you two doing?" He Tiantian asked in surprise. Why were they fighting again?

The Snake King was feeling frustrated inside; despite all its mana, it couldn’t use it against the Little Rotating Turtle, and said, "It wants to pee!"

Upon hearing this, He Tiantian couldn’t help but laugh, "Little Rotating Turtle, hold it in a little longer, tonight I’ll take you to a great place where you can eat and drink to your heart’s content and... release... all you want."

"Alright then!" The Little Rotating Turtle stopped jumping around and, like a well-behaved child, adorably said.

The Snake King glared with its mung bean-sized eyes, angrily saying, "Didn’t you just say you couldn’t hold it anymore? How come you can hold it now just because He Tiantian tells you to?"

"Haha, I was just playing with you!" the Little Rotating Turtle giggled. Before the Snake King could get angry, it jumped out of the barrier and climbed onto He Tiantian’s wrist.

The Little Rotating Turtle had come to understand that though the Snake King was stronger and more arrogant than He Tiantian, it listened to He Tiantian. Since that was the case, of course it would opt to stick with He Tiantian!

"You, you little rascal!" The Snake King raged, furious that it dared... dared to mock him?

"Haha!" The Little Rotating Turtle ran into the palm of He Tiantian’s hand, "Can’t catch me, can’t catch me."

He Tiantian couldn’t help but laugh, saying, "You little dummy, you’re going to be spending a lot more time with the Snake King. If you keep provoking it like this, aren’t you afraid it will bully you even more later on?"

"I’m not afraid, not afraid, I have Tiantian!" The Little Rotating Turtle proudly said. It had known this principle ever since it became aware: it was better to stay under the shade of a big tree. As long as He Tiantian protected it, the Snake King couldn’t do much to it!

This little rascal sure was insightful!

"Alright, enough with the nonsense. You can’t be so willful and reckless from now on. Look, you drank up all the water just now and scared the villagers to tears," He Tiantian seriously told the Little Rotating Turtle, like teaching a lesson to an ignorant child, hoping it would become more sensible and understanding soon.

Having already offended the Snake King, the Little Rotating Turtle knew it couldn’t afford to offend He Tiantian. So it nodded obediently, saying, "Okay, okay, I’ll be good. I won’t do it again."

Such eagerness utterly disdainful to the proud Snake King!

Humph!

Mutual dislike!

He Tiantian had no choice but to separate the Snake King and the Little Rotating Turtle; when night came, she went to the back mountain and set the Little Rotating Turtle free there.

The spring pool there was smaller than the one at the entrance of the village, but it had more spring water, enough for the Little Rotating Turtle to drink.

There was another advantage, there were also small fish and shrimps inside, which meant the Little Rotating Turtle now had company and wouldn’t be lonely anymore.

He Tiantian spared no effort in being kind to the Little Rotating Turtle because she hoped that once it felt better, it would be able to play its role in reducing the damage to TY County.

Just as she was about to enter her house, she saw Third Grandma Qi tiptoeing out.

"Grandma, where are you going?" He Tiantian asked, knowing that at this time, Third Grandma Qi usually would not go out.

"I heard that the spring pool at the village entrance has dried up, and a lot of people have gone there. You hadn’t come back, so I was thinking of going to have a look," Third Grandma Qi explained. "How is it now? Did it really dry up? Is the spring source also dried?"

He Tiantian smiled and shook her head, "When I had just finished drawing water, the water inside suddenly disappeared, but the spring source kept gushing water, and after a while, there was water in the spring pool again."

Third Grandma Qi frowned deeply, utterly puzzled, muttering, "That’s strange! What’s going on?"

"I don’t know either, many people were there watching. Let’s not go," He Tiantian said. "I’ll fetch more water tomorrow when there is more of it."

"That’s true, it’s better to be safe than sorry!" Third Grandma Qi said. "I hope Buddha and all the gods will bless us with good weather and bountiful harvests!"

Although the crops had already sprouted, the lack of water was a big problem.

Corn and sweet potatoes might fare okay, but not rice – without sufficient water, it was impossible to grow good rice.

"Hopefully, it’s true," He Tiantian said. "Our village is still doing okay. When we came back from the county town, the land in some of the villages was cracked, and the water level of the Taoyuan River had dropped even lower, almost revealing the riverbed."

"This is a sin!" Third Grandma Qi said. "Previously when you all dredged the river, people from Hujia Village found a stone statue and they said it was poisoned; that must be a violation of taboos. By the way, where was that stone statue eventually taken?"

He Tiantian looked surprised and answered, "It was taken to the square park in the county town!"

"What a sin! That was the Rotating Turtle statue!" Third Grandma Qi lamented. "I’ve heard from the older generation that the Taoyuan River has a Divine Beast protecting it, and it’s why we never had floods or droughts here, the reason for our perennial good weather. I remember when I was young, every year on the second day of the second lunar month, the ’Dragon Raises Head’ day, we would go to worship the river god. People from every village would bring the three sacrifices and offerings of fruits and pastries. But since liberation, they said all that was superstitious nonsense and stopped those practices, so in these years, it’s been restless! It must be the river god’s anger."

He Tiantian was even more astounded; so Third Grandma Qi knew the story behind it all!

"Grandma, have you ever seen the Rotating Turtle statue?" He Tiantian asked in astonishment. She understood the ritual of worshipping the river god, but how did Third Grandma Qi know that statue was the Rotating Turtle statue?

Third Grandma Qi seemed to be reminiscing as she spoke slowly, "I heard it from my grandmother, who learned about it from a highly accomplished monk."

"So that’s how it is." He Tiantian nodded, understanding that there were indeed wise people in the world.

He Tiantian had thought she was the only one privy to these matters!

But that wasn’t the case!

The currents of fate could not be defied by a single person’s efforts.

In her past life, TY County had been punished, plagued by constant disasters.