Dongshan Village wasn't very big, so news spread really quickly from the east side of the village to the west. Last night, Shuanzhu's wife had traveled through the snow in order to ask the youngest daughter of the Yu Family to see a patient. The news had already circulated around the entire village, so early this morning, someone had gone to Shuanzhu's house to inquire about this incident.
After that, Yu Xiaocao would be invited to treat patients from time to time. She had also learned from her experience and didn't rely on the mystic-stone water for minor illnesses. She would just prescribe medication for minor illnesses and only sprinkled several drops of mystic-stone water into the herbs if it was more complex illness. All the patients she had treated were fully cured. Thus, her reputation as 'the little doctor of Dongshan Village' gradually spread to the nearby villages.
It snowed heavily for seven days before gradually stopping. The entire Dongshan Village was shrouded in a vast amount of white snow. It seemed as if there were only the colors of black and white left in the world.
Twenty households in Dongshan Village had suffered as a result of this blizzard. While all of their residences were more or less damaged, the houses of three families were completely crushed by the heavy snow. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
However, there were many elderly and children who didn't survive the sudden arrival of the severe cold and silently pa.s.sed away during the winter weather.
The bitter cold and heavy snow also brought hunger and illness to the weak commoners. The heavy snowfall, which lasted for days, caused a price inflation for grains in town.
The price for coa.r.s.e grain rose from two copper coins per catty to the same price as fine grains before the snow. Fine grain originally cost five copper coins per catty, but the price had risen to ten copper coins now. Furthermore, the price for the white rice, which weren't grown around Tanggu Town, had increased to twenty copper coins! The value for all types of meat had also doubled because a lot of poultry and livestock had either died from illness or froze to death during the snowstorm.
As the days drifted by, the New Year was also approaching. However, the price for food and goods still remained high. This was a heavy blow for the common people, who had worked hard in the past year and had wanted to change up their lifestyles during the New Year.
For several days, the atmosphere was strangely gloomy at the Yu Family's dining table. Madam Zhang's discontent grumbles and complaints made it difficult for people to eat.
"Eat! Eat! Eat! You only know how to eat! The Yu Family's resources are going to be demolished by you people! Why did our Yu Family let such an unhealthy person like you marry into our family? You're seriously a woman who brings bad luck to your husband's family!" Madam Zhang saw Yu Xiaocao getting another piece of potato pancake for her mother and began to harshly reproach them.
The heavy snowfall also caused Madam Liu, who had always been weak and in poor health, to fall ill. Madam Liu was often breathless due to her severe cough. Xiaocao didn't even need to check her mother's pulse to know that she had bronchitis. She prescribed several doses of medicine and added some mystic-stone water in her mother's drinking water. Thus, the cough, which usually lingered for months in the past, had been cured with her treatment.
Madam Liu couldn't suffer from the cold when she was already sick. Thus, Madam Li and the rest of the family had to share a portion of her ch.o.r.es. Madam Li was never a serious worker, so most of the household work fell on the shoulders of Yu Caidie and Madam Zhao's servant.
Madam Zhang was reluctant to let her youngest daughter do ch.o.r.es, but she also didn't dare to push all the work onto her youngest daughter-in-law's maidservant. Hence, she had to do the work herself. When she became irritated from all the work, she would start swearing incessantly.
"Grandmother, my mother didn't spend a single penny when she got sick this time. Didn't she just rest for a few days? With over a dozen people in the family, we can finish all the ch.o.r.es if everyone just helps out a little. My mother's body is still rather weak, so she can't be hungry. If she doesn't properly recuperate, then a minor illness will become something serious. If it becomes a serious illness, do you think I will be able to treat her with my medical skills? Wouldn't we have to call for a doctor from town?"
