Digging a Well

The mountain remained bleak and cold that afternoon, yet Zhang Xiaohua's enthusiasm still ran high. But the afternoon's progress in reclaiming the land was nowhere near as smooth as the morning's. There were plenty of rocks in the wasteland, many buried underground. Digging them out and prying up the larger stones was no easy task. By the time the sun sank westward and dusk descended, Zhang Xiaohua had only moved a few rocks. His hands were injured first instead, the web between his thumb and forefinger split open. Blown by the cold wind, it throbbed with sharp pain.

After all, he was still just a young lad.

He turned back to look at the wasteland he had worked on all day. Though reluctant to leave, Zhang Xiaohua still shouldered his hoe, picked up his water jug, and headed home. It was already late. If he did not leave now, his father and brothers would come looking for him, and his grandmother would worry as well.

The wasteland lay some distance from home; otherwise, his mother would not have needed to bring him lunch at noon. Walking along the rugged mountain path home, Zhang Xiaohua had no strength left, but his spirits were exceptionally good. The slow progress of reclaiming the land was something his father had warned him about long ago. If it could be leveled in a few days, the villagers would already have opened fields all over the hillsides. This was only the beginning. Later, he would still have to plow it carefully, sow seeds, water it, and so on. There were countless troublesome matters ahead. Suddenly, Xiaohua thought of something. Watering!!! That was right—this hillside was so high and so far from the river in the village. How was he supposed to get water? There was no spring nearby, either. Why had he not thought of this sooner? What... what should he do? The moment this occurred to him, Zhang Xiaohua could not help quickening his pace and running home.

By the time he entered the village, the sky had gone completely dark. Quite a few mischievous children were still laughing and playing among the houses. Seeing Xiaohua carrying a hoe, some villagers who knew him stopped him to ask about his land reclamation. Xiaohua answered every question one by one. It seemed that opening farmland on the hillside was also a matter of great concern to villagers without enough food grain. However, Xiaohua was distracted. Everyone assumed he was tired and did not question him further, allowing him to hurry home.

Zhang Xiaohua's home stood at the southern end of the village, a place considered downwind and downstream from a feng shui perspective. Still, it was not small. Through Zhang Cai's efforts, they had even managed to build a small courtyard. The courtyard wall was low, piled from yellow mud, and people outside could see within. From afar, through the wicker gate, Zhang Xiaohua saw his grandmother leaning on her cane. Since she could not see, she rarely went outside. Yet now she stood holding the gate, surely worried about her youngest grandson. Hearing footsteps draw near, his grandmother smiled. "Xiaohua, you're back~. Were you tired today?" Zhang Xiaohua hurried forward, entered through the gate, set down his hoe and water jug, and supported his grandmother's arm. "I'm not tired, Grandma. It's not as though I've never done farm work before." His grandmother clasped Zhang Xiaohua's hand with relief. "Our Xiaohua is already a grown man. Grandma forgot!" Her hand happened to touch the split web between his thumb and forefinger. Zhang Xiaohua sucked in a breath from the pain. Though he made no sound, his grandmother had already heard it and called loudly, "Xiao Cai, come quickly and look at the child." Zhang Xiaohua's father had actually just returned as well and was washing up in the courtyard. Hearing his mother-in-law's voice, he hurried over, examined the wound carefully, and said:

"It's nothing, Mother. Xiaohua used too much force while working and split his hand. It'll heal in a few days."

His grandmother said, "Should we go to Old Chen at the village entrance and get some medicine for the child to apply?"

As they spoke, Guo Sufi came out of the house carrying something. She casually said to Zhang Xiaohua's grandmother, "There's no need, Mother. Didn't Xiaohu use some last time? There's still a little left. When Xiaohua goes to sleep tonight, I'll put some on it. It should be better by tomorrow. Mother, hurry back inside. It's cold, and the wind is picking up. I'll bring your meal over in a while. Xiaohua, quickly help your grandmother back inside."

Zhang Xiaohua carefully escorted his grandmother back into the house, and his anxiety about watering slipped to the back of his mind.

After dinner, his parents sat beneath the bean-sized oil lamp weaving baskets, while Zhang Xiaohua and his two brothers helped beside them. Only then did Zhang Cai ask Zhang Xiaohua about reclaiming the land. Zhang Xiaohua told him everything one by one, and Zhang Cai said:

"You really are slow working alone. Once Xiaohu has nearly finished helping Xiaolong with the land across the river, he'll go over and help you."

Zhang Xiaolong also said, "Don't rush, Xiaohua. Once we finish up, Father and I will go help too. We'll have it all leveled before winter comes."

Zhang Xiaohua said, "Why would I be in a rush? Didn't Father say reclaiming land had to be done carefully? Slow is fine. If we open it up properly, then when we plant crops later, they'll grow well." Only then did he remember the matter of watering and quickly ask his father, "Father, I remembered while I was on the way home earlier. The hillside is so high, and there's no spring nearby. How will we water the crops later?"

Zhang Cai stopped working and said, "It's rare for you to think that far ahead. What do you think we should do?"

Zhang Xiaohua looked at his two brothers as though seeking help. "Our fields are all watered by carrying water. But the hillside is so far away and so high. Carrying water won't work, right?"

Zhang Cai smiled. "Xiaohua, what lies behind our hillside field?"

Zhang Xiaohua thought for a moment. "Isn't there a deep pit behind it?"

"That's right. It's a little hollow where three hillsides press together. We can dig a well there. Then we can make a small path from the well to the fields. We'll have water to drink and water to irrigate the fields." Zhang Cai spoke as though he had a plan in his breast.

"So you had already planned it out." Guo Sufi smiled as she praised her husband.

"Then, Father, when will we dig the well?" Zhang Xiaohua asked impatiently.

"Once the land is more or less leveled. Before winter, while the ground has not frozen yet, we'll hire people from the neighboring village who know how to dig wells, and then we'll get to work!" After Zhang Cai finished speaking, he resumed the work in his hands.

Having received the answer he wanted, Zhang Xiaohua finally set his mind at ease, and the family continued working. After a while, Zhang Xiaohua was visibly exhausted, his eyes already bleary. Guo Sufi felt sorry for him and told him to sleep first. Zhang Xiaohua agreed and walked woodenly to the kang shared by the three brothers. He threw himself into the worn quilt and slept like the dead, not even knowing when his mother applied medicine to his hand that night.

Thus, a busy day passed in a hurry.

Over the next few days, Zhang Xiaohua proved quite patient. He focused wholeheartedly on leveling his land and no longer worried about watering. That evening, after clearing the weeds and breaking up the large clods of earth, Zhang Xiaohua prepared to stop work and go home. On the way, he could no longer hold it in and began secretly pondering. His hillside land was visibly becoming level farmland. It only needed careful plowing before seeds could be sown. But when, exactly, would they start digging that well?

Just as he rounded the hillside, he saw several wooden frames rising from the deep hollow below. Zhang Xiaohua hurried over and craned his head to look. Sure enough, a circular platform had been leveled at the bottom of the pit, with ring-shaped wooden boards placed upon it. Around the boards stood six long wooden poles, their bottoms driven deep into the earth and their tops joined into a tower shape. Zhang Xiaohua was so happy he nearly jumped up. He ran down the slope in a flash and arrived beneath the wooden frame. No one was there at the moment; they had likely gone to rest after setting up the frame. Zhang Xiaohua patted here and touched there, deeply puzzled. Could these few frames really dig a deep well? Just as Zhang Xiaohua was wondering, someone called to him from above:

"Xiaohua, where are you?" From the sound of it, it was his second brother, Xiaohu. Xiaohua quickly answered:

"I'm here, Second Brother! Come quickly and look—we're getting ready to dig a well."

Zhang Xiaohu slid down from the slope as well and grabbed Zhang Xiaohua. "All right, I know. Big Brother and I helped bring these things over this afternoon. Big Brother wanted to surprise you, so we didn't tell you. Father and Mother are waiting for you to go back now. Let's hurry."

The two brothers ran all the way home.

A dining table had already been set up in the small room at home. Their father and eldest brother sat beside it, but Zhang Xiaohua did not see any unfamiliar people. He could not help asking, "Father, where are the well diggers?" Zhang Cai smiled. "They've all gone home. Our family doesn't have much money. We agreed only to provide their noon meal, not dinner. Besides, our family must help with the work too, so the wages will be lower." Zhang Xiaohua acknowledged him and went out to help his mother prepare dinner.

After dinner that night, Zhang Cai assigned tasks to everyone in the household. Zhang Xiaohua and his two brothers would naturally help at the site. Xiaohua's mother would cook and deliver food. Zhang Cai would buy materials, find people to help, and so on. In short, everyone except Xiaohua's grandmother would have to lend a hand. Of course, his grandmother had to watch the house, and feeding the chickens kept her busy too.

Early the next morning, Zhang Xiaohua got up before dawn and urged his two brothers, who shared the kang with him, to go dig the well together. Yet Zhang Xiaohua's mother insisted that they eat something before leaving. She said Zhang Xiaohua's father had already gone ahead, and besides, they had agreed on a time with the well diggers. Going too early would mean no one was there. The three of them did not know how to dig a well, so going early would be useless. Zhang Xiaohua could only accompany them through breakfast. By the time they reached the hillside, the sun had already risen.

Several people were already busy in the hollow. Zhang Cai quickly called them over to help carry the stones, clods of dirt, and other things dug out of the well to the side. Thus everyone threw themselves into the work with blazing energy.

After working this way for several days, Zhang Xiaohua discovered that digging a well was actually quite simple: choose a spot, set up the frame, and dig downward. However, selecting the right location and ensuring that the excavated area did not collapse required experience. For instance, this wooden frame was indispensable. Otherwise, as the workers dug deeper and deeper, how would the dirt be carried up from underground? And how would the people climb back out? As for the location, Zhang Cai had truly been lucky. The spot his family had discussed was chosen simply because it was close to the fields; they had never considered whether water could be found there. The well diggers searched all over the mountains and plains, yet in the end settled on this spot as well. They said there might be a spring below and that they could dig and see. If they found sweet mountain spring water, it would actually be more suitable for drinking than irrigating the fields. Zhang Cai treated those words as wind passing by his ears. It was so far from home—how could they carry water back? Were they supposed to carry several buckets home from here every day for cooking?

The days of digging the well passed one after another. The well grew deeper and deeper, but the difficulties also mounted, and progress visibly slowed. Since they were digging in a low-lying place between several hillsides, they frequently unearthed many rocks. Fortunately, none were too large, and they had not encountered any so-called vast stretch of stone. Otherwise, the well would have been abandoned before it was even properly begun.

Several more days passed. Perhaps Zhang Cai's luck had run out, for the well digging finally ran into a major problem.

At noon that day, Zhang Xiaohua climbed down into the well, swung his hoe, and began digging. Who would have thought that his first strike would hit something as hard as stone, numbing both his hands from the impact? Based on his past experience, Zhang Xiaohua chose another spot some distance from the first and swung again. "Clang~~!" It was clearly the same rock. Zhang Xiaohua could not help feeling alarmed. He struck several more times along the circumference of the well. Without exception, every blow hit stone! Zhang Xiaohua tugged the rope tied around his waist, signaling for the others to pull him up. With a grim face, he told his father what had happened. Zhang Cai and the well diggers all went down to take a look. After climbing back up, they remained silent. The well diggers discussed it with Zhang Cai and had everyone else rest nearby and return to help after lunch. They would first confirm whether it was one huge rock or an entire layer of stone.

Seeing everyone scatter and sit on the ground to rest, only Zhang Xiaohua stared at the unfinished well, his heart unsettled. He was truly afraid it was a layer of stone that could not be dug through. Then all their days of hard work would have been wasted, and perhaps they would not be able to dig a well at all. Zhang Xiaohua had Zhang Xiaolong lower him into the bottom of the well once more. Unwilling to give up, he began digging again.