Chen Ping'an was aware that he was going to have to expend a great deal of mental effort to maintain a friendship in Bamboo Scroll Lake, and that having a genuine friend here was going to almost undoubtedly cost him in the future.0

However, he was also aware that having a friend like Hong Su on Cyan Gorge Island was very important for his mental state.0

It was like a trickling stream of water. It wasn't going to be anywhere near enough to replenish the parched river in his heart, but the difference between having the stream and not having it was one of night and day.0

In order to repay Gu Can's mother, Chen Ping'an had done many things for her family, and that included attempting to secure water for them in the dead of night during droughts. He was never able to get any water under the watch of the much stronger young men on patrol at night, but so long as there was still some water left, there was still hope.0

No matter how vigilant those young men were, they were going to have to sleep or have lapses in concentrations eventually, and Chen Ping'an would pounce on such opportunities, rushing out of hiding to dig open the small dam of soil in the upstream direction of the the water source, allowing the water to flow all the way down to the field of Gu Can's family. 0

He would run alongside the stream of flowing water all the way, then construct a small dam to guide the water into the field. The water level would slowly rise bit by bit, and once the dam was full, he would break open the dam to allow the water to flow downward.0

During those years, Gu Can and his mother almost never had to worry about water, and they never had to get into altercations with the farmers in their neighborhood over water.3

Chen Ping'an never felt like he was doing this to repay them. Instead, he felt like it was simply something to be expected of him.0

There were many problems in this world that couldn't be resolved, but as long as one could make peace with oneself, then they would be able to live just fine, and perhaps life wouldn't even feel all that painful or arduous for them.0

————0

On this day, Zeng Ye stumbled through the door with blood all over his face.0

Chen Ping'an was already standing outside the door, and he helped...0