Shang Ruoyi and the others had walked several li. The further they went, the higher the temperature became. The fields that should have been planted with crops had already cracked.

The post stations, which were supposed to supply water along the way, were already deserted.

The water in the guards' water bags was almost used up, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the water bags in the hands of the He family.

Shang Ruoyi noticed this and became vigilant.

They were really too exhausted to walk, so they stayed in an empty post station.

The guards went to the backyard of the post station. Looking at the dried - up well, they sighed. "I never expected this drought to be so severe."

"We don't know how many displaced people there will be." The guards went to the second floor. As far as they could see, there were only dried - up lands and no signs of people.

"Chief, with the sun so strong and the temperature so high, if we don't have water, we won't survive for long."

Zhang Hu looked at the prisoners who were severely short of water and said in a deep voice, "We must find water. Otherwise, we'll die of dehydration here before we even get out of this arid land."

"But it doesn't look like there's any water source around here!"

At night, everyone fell into a deep sleep.

A black shadow rummaged around among the He family.

"Where on earth is it? I clearly saw it last night. Why is it gone now?"

Suddenly, his wrist was grabbed by a strong hand, and He Jingheng's deep voice came. "Stealing from me? How shameless."

The black shadow tried to run, but He Jingheng held his wrist tightly. "Jinghe, you should have some self - respect."

The person who came to steal water was none other than He Jinghe from the second - branch.

"Brother, I'm really dying of thirst," he said in a low voice. "Just give me a sip, okay? Just one sip."

"The water has always been with your sister - in - law."

In other words, he had no say in this matter.

He Jinghe was astonished when he heard this. "Brother, how could you leave such an important thing in a woman's hands?"

"Otherwise? In your hands?" He Jingheng sneered. "Go back to sleep."

He Jinghe left reluctantly. Qiao Yanxin saw this and secretly snorted. Useless man.

Just before dawn, He Ning'an came to the old princess.

The old princess finally couldn't resist his persistent pestering and said to Shang Ruoyi, "Ruoyi, give the second - branch a water bag."

A water bag?

Shang Ruoyi sneered. If it weren't for the spiritual spring in her space, the water in those few water bags would have run out long ago.

"We don't have that much water," she said, taking out the water bag from the package and shaking it in front of the He family. "There's only half a bag of water left. Should we give it all to them?"

What? Only this little water left?

The old princess saw this and quickly changed her words. "Give each of them a sip."

He Ning'an didn't refuse either. A sip was better than nothing. At least it could hold them over. Maybe they could find water if they walked a little further.

Just then, several men rushed towards her, or more precisely, towards the water bag in her hand.

Shang Ruoyi kicked out, and one man was sent flying backwards. The other two men were blocked by Li Wenyuan before they could get close.

"Water! Give me water!" The man looked at the water bag in Shang Ruoyi's hand and shouted. "Please, just give me a sip."

Shang Ruoyi frowned. It wasn't that she didn't want to take out the water, but she really didn't know what method to use. If others knew the secret of her space, they would surely burn her as a witch.

Stolen story; please report.

The guards heard the commotion and came over. "What's going on?"

The man lying on the ground crawled to the guard's feet, grabbed his trouser leg, and pleaded, "Sir, give me some water to drink."

The guard kicked him away and said coldly, "Asking me for water? Dream on!"

Just then, she suddenly saw several big trees in the distance. Her eyes lit up, and she said to the guard, "Sir, I know where we can find water!"

Zhang Hu heard this and quickly walked up. "Where?"

The group of people came to the big trees. The trees were extremely tall, with oval - shaped and very thick trunks. Strangely, while other trees had withered, the leaves of these trees were still green.

"What are we doing here?"

Shang Ruoyi pointed at the tree and smiled. "The water source is here."

Here?

This tree?

A guard said coldly, "We have no water and no food now. We don't have time to listen to your nonsense."

Shang Ruoyi smiled. "Sir, you may not know that this kind of tree is called a baobab tree. The reason its trunk is so thick is that it stores a large amount of water inside."

In her previous life, when she was on a mission in an extremely arid place, this kind of tree was planted there. That's how she knew that trees could store water.

What?

Water stored in the trunk?

How could that be possible?

Shang Ruoyi looked at He Jingheng and said softly, "Can you make a hole in the trunk?"

He Jingheng nodded, reached out and pulled out the knife from Zhang Hu's waist. Before the guards around him could react, he had already made a hole in the tree and put the knife back into the scabbard.

Zhang Hu's pupils suddenly contracted. He knew that the heir of the Dingguo Prince's Mansion was highly skilled in martial arts, but he had never experienced it personally. During this exile, including this time, He Jingheng had only made a move twice. Once was now, and the other time was when they encountered wolves.

Having seen his two moves, Zhang Hu deeply understood that He Jingheng was definitely the most skilled martial artist he had ever seen in his life.

Suddenly, the sound of gurgling water caught his attention. This was... water!

Everyone was stunned. There was really water in the trunk!

The group quickly took out their water bags and filled them up.

When they returned to the post station, Zhang Hu gave each prisoner a bowl of water, and everyone felt as if they had come back to life.

He Jingheng looked at her and smiled. "I didn't expect you to know so much."

Shang Ruoyi smiled. "It's nothing. My mother showed me a book many years ago. It talked about a lot of strange things. I thought the author was just making things up, but it turns out it's true. Fortunately, I remembered all of them."

Shang Ruoyi mentally praised the excuse she had just come up with. In the future, if she did anything unusual, she could say she saw it in that book. If He Jingheng asked about the book, she could say it was lost after the house was raided.

He Jingheng saw that her expression didn't change at all and smiled. "Although your mother - in - law didn't teach you how to manage a household, she taught you how to survive."

Mother - in - law?

Shang Ruoyi's face turned slightly red, and she turned and left.

She didn't notice that their every move was being watched by two people.

"I never thought that the heir of the Dingguo Prince's Mansion would actually be enchanted by a woman."

"His Highness was originally worried that He Jingheng would be difficult to deal with. Now it seems that he's just a useless man addicted to beauty."

"But I think that concubine - born daughter of Prime Minister Shang is a bit strange."