By the time Yuan Si got home, the old lady had already found spots for the two pickling jars and the large water vat, and the horse cart had left.
"What took you so long?" the old lady asked casually.
"Mm, I ran into a few stray dogs blocking the road. I had nothing better to do, so I dealt with them," Yuan Si replied just as casually.
"The stray dogs are getting so brazen, daring to enter the village in broad daylight. They must be starving," the old lady muttered before heading inside to scrub the jars.
"Mom, I'm going to fetch water," Yuan Si said. She found the carrying pole and two wooden buckets in the woodshed and went out again.
"You don't have to, I'll go in a bit," the old lady's voice came from inside the house.
"It's fine, I can go." Yuan Si was already far away.
Getting water here was a bit of a chore. Most families didn't have their own well, so every morning, Yuan Si's family had to fetch water from a large public well in the village.
