At the village chief's call, a dozen villagers agreed to help Jiang Chuan's family re-build the house out of sympathy. However, many didn't come as they heard they would not be provided food even if they helped.
The family looked at the villagers and felt both surprised and grateful. There were at least 20 of them that came to help. There was nothing much the family could do other than to thank them.
The village chief looked around and decided to assign tasks to everyone. It was the same as what Jiang Xia and the others had planned.
First, they would clear out the place, then build a straw shed for the family of four to live in. After that, they would start building the walls and fixing the houses. As for the materials needed to build the houses, the village would lend them for the time being, and they would return the money after the houses were built.
During this time, a guarantor was required to borrow something, especially public property. The village chief was the guarantor for Jiang Chuan's family this time and surprised many villagers. They did not understand why the chief treated Jiang Chuan and his family so well.
While Jiang Xia was working, she took note of the villagers who helped them build their houses. She would ask Jiang Gu who they were when she did not recognize the faces, and Jiang Gu was able to give her their names every time.
Because the house had collapsed, cleaning it up was a lot of physical work. They managed to build the straw shed first and since the weather was hot this time of year, they wouldn't even feel cold sleeping in it at night.
Seeing that the people who had helped them were sweating profusely, Jiang Xia wished she could just go into her space and bring them more water.
Seeing her sister sigh, Jiang Gu could not help but ask, "What's wrong?"
"Everyone seems tired, so I want to find some food and water for them." Jiang Xia said.
Hearing her sister's words, Jiang Gu looked around and bit her lip. Some of her friends were already sitting on the ground in exhaustion.
Because of the drought, everyone was always hungry and most of the villagers were already very thin, yet they were still willing to help them with their house.
Jiang Xia walked to her mother's side, tugging at her arm, she said, "Mom, let's go find some food. If there's no rice, some vegetables or fruits will do!"
Zhou Lan knew what Jiang Xia was grateful to the villagers just from looking at her expression.
"Where do you think we will be able to find food in this drought?" Zhou Lan said helplessly.
"The mountain." Jiang Xia whispered into Zhou Lan's ear.
When she went down the mountain yesterday, she observed the environment. Although it was very dry outside the mountain, the mountain area was still humid and it was still possible to find some food. With their current powers, they should be able to handle the danger.
Zhou Lan thought about it for a moment and felt that she should pull Jiang Chuan aside to talk.
While Zhou Lan and Jiang Chuan were talking, Jiang Xia calculated the time. It would take two hours for them to go back and forth, so if they stayed in the mountains for one hour, that would be three hours. They should be able to come back before dinner.
Now that Zhou Lan got used to her power, she felt full of confidence. She could bring down one or two wild beasts in the mountains as food and even exchange them for money. This way, a lot of their problems would be settled.
However, not long after they left, the two realized how naive they had been. After all, they were people from the 21st century and had no concept of hunger and thirst. After walking for only 20 minutes, the two felt their legs did not belong to them, and their bodies were trembling.
"Xiao Xia, did we make a stupid decision?" Zhou Lan said to her daughter with a tearful face.
The corners of Jiang Xia's mouth twitched. As a straight-A student, she didn't want to admit that she sometimes also makes stupid decisions. Her passionate self allowed her to forget about her own physical condition. Just because she did not feel hungry does not mean she was full.
"Jiang Xia, I'm thirsty and hungry right now. I really want to ask your father to bring out the water and food in the car."
At the mention of water, Jiang Xia suddenly remembered that she still had access to an extra space. How could she have forgotten such an important thing?
Jiang Xia smacked her forehead and dragged Zhou Lan to a remote corner while Zhou Lan looked at her daughter's strange behavior with a face full of questions.
"Xiao Xia, what are you doing? Stealing from others? No, no, no! We can't do this. The villagers even helped us build our house! How can you steal from others!"
Jiang Xia's face darkened; her mother was clearly overthinking. She thought that her daughter was going to steal something.
"No, mum, there's something I forgot to tell you."