He'd only gone seven or eight meters down the slope when he found the first problem.
It was a section of heat-bent bamboo. On the ground at the outer edge of the curve, a large patch of soil was clearly damp, though no puddle had formed.
He stared at the overall curve of the aqueduct in this area, pondering for a moment. 'Looks like the curve is too wide, causing inertia to fling the water out as it turns. If that's the case... let me think.'
'I've got it. There are two ways to fix this.'
'One way is to build up the sides of the curve. For example, I could place half a bamboo tube with the same curvature on top. That would stop the water from splashing out.'
'The other option is to change the curve itself, making the turn less sharp. But that means I'd have to adjust the curve of the subsequent bamboo sections as well.'
After some thought, he decided to modify the bamboo's curve. All it required was reheating it over the fire, which would save time, effort, and bamboo.
