248. Heavy snow blocked the roads

The blizzard lasted for quite some time.

The second night, at 7 PM.

The little dumpling was almost asleep, her head nodding, when she suddenly heard her second brother shout, "Little sister! The snow has stopped!"

She snapped back to reality, immediately went to the window, and pushed it open to take a look.

The wind and snow outside had stopped, and the world was so quiet that you could hear the soft rustling of snow sliding off the eaves.

The moonlight shone brightly on the snow, dazzlingly bright.

"Wow! The snow on the ground is so thick!" the little dumpling exclaimed.

The path in the courtyard was buried under snow and could not be seen, and even the stone table and benches were gone.

Jiang Xiyue walked over and patted her head: "This snow has been falling for two days and one night, it must be several feet thick. Tomorrow, have the servants clear a path so we can get some fresh air in the yard."

Marquis Beiding came in from outside, still carrying the chill of the wind. He rubbed his hands and said, "The snow on the street is even thicker. My servants went to the gate just now and saw that the snow is almost up to an adult's chest. I'm afraid it will take until the day after tomorrow to clear a road."

"Oh... what about Brother Xie?" the little dumpling asked with a worried look. "Won't Brother Xie and the patient get cold?"

Marquis Beiding sat by the stove and took a sip of hot tea: "I've already sent someone to make contact, but the heavy snow has blocked the roads, so the news probably won't come back so quickly. Don't worry, once the roads are open, we'll find a way to send some supplies over."

The little dumpling's eyes were still fixed on the snow outside the window.

She wished the snow had never fallen, so that Brother Xie could cure the plague sooner and the patients could recover quickly.

-

Meanwhile, in Qiuhe City...

Xie Wenling pushed open the tent flap, and a cold wind carrying snowflakes rushed towards him, causing him to pull his cloak tighter around himself.

The scene before him was worse than he had anticipated.

The world was a vast expanse of white, with thick snow reaching above knee-deep.

Several makeshift medicinal herb tents were blown over by the strong wind, and the herbs were scattered on the snow, forming a thin layer of ice.

Even the top of the isolation tent was weighed down by the snow, as if it would collapse at any moment.

"This snow...it's practically burying people alive."

No one expected that the usually warm south would suddenly experience such heavy snowfall.

They also didn't bring enough equipment or take proper precautions.

Xie Wenling was almost frozen stiff.

He recalled the fiercest snowstorm of the previous night, when the tent was being blown about and the candlelight was so bright it made him dizzy.

He opened a crack and looked at the fence, which was half-buried in snow. In a daze, he felt that he had said something he shouldn't have by the Woshui River and had been punished by heaven.

First came the plague, then the blizzard. Why are the people of Qiuhe City so unlucky?

"Sir! The snow has stopped! What do we do now?" The attendant ran over with several soldiers, their eyebrows and beards covered in frost, and their armor caked with thick snow.

Xie Wenling immediately snapped out of his daze. His voice was a little hoarse, and his face couldn't hide his exhaustion, but he still quickly took charge of the overall situation and gave a solution: "Divide into three groups. The first group will go to check the situation in the isolation area and rescue the patients."

"The second group went to salvage the medicinal herbs. They picked up everything they could, dried it over charcoal, and recorded the losses."

"The third group, armed with shovels and pickaxes, will clear the road from the camp into the city. We must get the food and charcoal in as soon as possible."

"Yes!" everyone responded in unison and immediately split up to take action.

Xie Wenling wasn't idle either; he picked up a shovel and followed the soldiers to clear the snow.

The cold wind lashed at his face like a knife, and after only a few strokes, his fingers were frozen numb.

Snowflakes crept into his collar and slid down his neck, making him shiver.

"Sir, please take a break, let us do it!" A young soldier, seeing his pale face, offered to take the shovel.

Xie Wenling shook his head: "No need. The sooner we finish cleaning, the less the patient will suffer."

No sooner had he finished speaking than two attendants swayed and fell straight down in the snow, their faces turning blue.

"Quickly, take him to the medical tent!" Xie Wenling's heart tightened, and he hurriedly ordered his attendants to be taken to the hospital.

After finally clearing a path, he put on his full protective gear and went to check on the patients.

He lifted the curtains of the isolation tents one by one, and a strong smell of medicine mixed with a suffocating atmosphere hit him.

Many tents were vacant, leaving only those occupied by patients, most of whom lay weakly inside, some too weak to even open their eyes.

The medical worker approached with red eyes, her voice choked with emotion: "Sir, dozens of people passed away yesterday... They were all elderly and couldn't withstand the cold last night."

Xie Wenling nodded silently, walked to the bedside of an elderly person who was still breathing, reached out and touched the person's forehead, which was frighteningly hot.

"Is there enough medicine?" he asked.

The medic shook his head: "We're almost out of fever reducers; we used some more during the resuscitation..."

"I'll have someone adjust it again, you..." Before he could finish speaking, everything went black, and his body fell forward uncontrollably.

Finally, all he heard was a scream, and then he lost consciousness completely.

-

After an unknown amount of time, Xie Wenling slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the cloth top of the medical tent, and the familiar smell of medicine lingered in his nose.

He tried to raise his hand, but felt heavy all over and had a splitting headache.

"My lord, you're awake!" The guard standing nearby immediately called Shen Yangong.

Shenyang Nong hurried over, took his pulse, and said with a serious expression, "Sir, you have a fever and have caught a cold. You need to rest in bed and not overexert yourself."

"How is the situation?" Xie Wenling ignored him and forced himself to sit up.

Several medical workers and guards walked in, carrying account books, their expressions frighteningly serious.

"My lord, this is the casualty count we just made..." The guard handed over the notebook, his voice low. "The plague and the blizzard have killed more than a hundred patients. There are also a dozen or so healthy civilians who didn't make it through last night... and a few attendants who also froze to death."

Xie Wenling felt a tightness in his chest and a metallic taste in his throat.

"What about the medicinal herbs and food?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

Shenyang Nong sighed: "The road is still not open, and the current supplies are only enough to last for two days... We can only wait for news, and we also hope that you can get better soon and take charge of the overall situation."

A series of hurried footsteps came from outside the tent, accompanied by a few deliberately soft but still clear words of conversation—

"This snowfall is so strange; it's even collapsed our county government's warehouse. How can we possibly have the energy to deal with these things? Weren't we told we were incompetent and shouldn't be allowed to handle these matters?"

"But Lord Xie was sent by the imperial court after all. What if we don't come and are held accountable later?"

"This is really strange. Why is it snowing in the South this month? And such heavy snow at that..."

Just as Shenyang Nong was about to have someone stop him, the tent flap was already lifted, and several people dressed in blue official robes escorted a fat, middle-aged man into the room. It was none other than Qiuhecheng County Magistrate.

When the magistrate saw Xie Wenling leaning against the headboard, his face frighteningly pale, he was first taken aback, then forced a smile: "Lord Xie, are you ill? Alas, this blizzard came so suddenly, and the county office is in complete chaos. I just managed to get away and come over. Is there anything we can do for you here?"

This is the county magistrate who was driven away by Xie Wenling.

The reason for driving them away is quite simple.

God knows how shocked he was when he arrived and discovered that this idiot had gathered all the sick patients in the same large courtyard.

Yes, purely centralized, without isolation.

Xie Wenling simply couldn't understand what the county magistrate was trying to do.

Are you raising poisonous insects?

He was so disillusioned with the magistrate's intellect that he immediately took full charge of managing the plague and sent him back to the county office.

At this moment, seeing his insincere and evasive demeanor, Xie Wenling felt his suppressed anger instantly flare up.

However, he still managed to remain calm and said, "Immediately send someone to the vacant residential area in the east of the city to clean it up, board up the broken doors and windows, and boil some hot water to send over. The patients in the isolation tents can no longer be exposed to the cold and must be moved to sturdy houses as soon as possible."

They definitely made a mistake.

Everyone miscalculated.

No one could have predicted that a once-in-a-century blizzard would suddenly fall in the warm south, not even at the coldest time of year.

This was a sudden natural disaster.