After this autumn rain, the temperature dropped to below zero overnight. The next day, when Tian Cai went out, he saw ice chips on the ground.

Thinking that if she didn't put up the shed, it would be even more difficult to build it when the ground froze, she started to use all the large bamboo poles in the backyard.

Tian Cai chose to build a shed at the back of the house, right next to the house but avoiding the kitchen. She first drew lines on the ground to determine the approximate size. The width of the entire shed was about two meters, and she directly drew a length of four meters.

After marking the lines, she used a shovel to dig the holes, making them as deep as possible. She made pits one meter apart along the lines. Because it was next to her house, she marked seven spots in total. These seven spots would be supported by large bamboo poles, which were the main load-bearing parts of the shed.

After the bamboo poles were inserted, the soil was covered layer by layer and then compacted. Then a ladder was used to build the roof. Considering that the shed was filled with firewood and needed shelter from rain, Tian Cai specially made a simple version based on the thatched roof at home, which also had a certain slope, so it would not be a problem to clean the snow on it in time in winter.

Building the frame of the shed is only the first step. The "outer wall" needs to be built later. She even found thick bamboo poles for support in several places inside the shed. She just needs to be a little careful when taking and placing firewood.

After the frame was completed, she shook it with her hands. It wobbled slightly, but it was still stable enough.

For several days in a row, Tian Cai spent all his time on the bamboo shed. It took him nearly four days to finish it and put in all the wooden stakes that had been dried in the backyard.

She divided the space in the shed into two parts, one for whole logs and the other for chopped firewood. Later, she simply moved the pine needle sacks piled in the kitchen into the shed.

The door of the shed faces the kitchen, which makes it convenient to get firewood back and forth, and it will not be damp due to the steam in the kitchen. She also specially left a place at the door for chopping firewood.

After looking around the shed, Tian Cai became more and more satisfied. He felt that he was indeed clever and skillful, and was good at taking care of the household.

After the shed was built, Tian Cai took half of her own grain to the village mill for secondary processing. The rice was husked and turned into rice, while the wheat needed to go through several processes before it could be turned into flour. Although the final color was not very good, she was very satisfied and made dumplings with the bread that night.

Tian Cai picked up a slightly yellow dumpling with her chopsticks and took a bite. "Hiss—so hot!" The sweet taste of cabbage exploded in her mouth. It was so delicious that she squinted her eyes. This was the first dumpling she had eaten since she came to the village. She had to swallow it even if it was hot.

In the next few days, Tian Cai exchanged a lot of potatoes, cabbages, onions, radishes and other vegetables for the winter in the village. She piled them all in the cellar and went to the market to buy a few small jars to pickle vegetables.

Tian Cai originally thought that his pickling skills were nothing special in the village, so he asked around a few families who made delicious pickled vegetables, brought gifts to their homes and learned how to pickle them, but in the end he returned disappointed.

I don’t know if it’s the custom of this place or what, but apart from salt, garlic, onion, soy sauce and vinegar, they rarely put other ingredients into pickles. And after tasting it, she was not impressed by the taste of the mustard greens.

Tian Cai took out the chili powder he had bought at the market and tried to make it himself according to the method his colleague's mother had told him.

My colleague's mother is Korean. The pickles she makes always look bright red and are very appetizing. However, Tian Cai has only heard her talk about how to make kimchi, and the other recipes should have something in common.

In addition to the normal ingredients, the pickles she made also included apples, pears, shrimp paste, and sugar. However, these ingredients were in short supply in that era, and no one would be willing to put them in the pickles.

There was no need to think about getting apples and pears, but sugar could be obtained by finding a way. However, Tian Cai did not have the sugar coupons needed to buy sugar. Later, it was Liu Yanqing's brother and sister who helped her to exchange mountain products for two kilograms of sugar coupons from Yan Zhiqing.

After several attempts, Tian Cai finally made kimchi and radish strips that satisfied her. As soon as they were done, she gave a bowl each to Liu Yanqing and Luo Xiuyan.

The wooden boxes prepared earlier were filled with soil and placed in the house. The vegetable seeds were sown and watered with dew, and the vegetables for the winter were basically ready.

Tian Cai also removed the splint on the red panda's foot. Animals recover quickly to begin with, and with the added benefit of Tian Cai's bone ointment, the little panda became full of life as soon as the splint was removed. The little guy walked away through a hole in the backyard fence that same day.

Tian Cai originally thought that the baby would stay here until giving birth, and that her home could be used as a confinement center, so maybe she could leave one baby to keep her company. However, this heartless baby left without even saying goodbye to her. For the next few days, she worried about the little guy whenever she had free time.

A sudden drop in temperature broke Tian Cai's sentimentality.

Many people in the village caught colds due to the sudden drop in temperature. Adults were better off, with at most sneezing, runny nose and a slight cough, which would go away if they didn't take any medicine.

However, children have weak resistance, and some of them caught fever because their family members didn't pay attention. One night, Tian Cai, who was knocking on doors looking for a doctor, ran into three of them, and she was so exhausted that she couldn't sleep much.

Fortunately, she had considered this factor before and prepared enough cold medicine in advance. Generally, one fever-reducing pill can lower the body temperature. Then, the patient would take the medicine according to the symptoms, and would recover within three to five days.

Moreover, Tian Cai took into consideration the difficulty that children have in taking medicine, so he added licorice into the pills specially prepared for them. They have a light sweet taste in the mouth and are not difficult to swallow at all.

Tian Cai is patient with children, and after this flu epidemic, he became their most popular doctor.

In the past, when children were seriously ill, their parents would take them to the commune clinic for treatment. In that era, Western medicine was popular, and injections were the fastest way to treat colds and fevers. However, the needles nowadays were quite thick and were inserted into the buttocks. After each injection, the buttocks would hurt for several days.

It is simply a nightmare for children and adults too, so they will never go to the health center unless the condition is serious.

In Tian Cai's case, all he needed to do was take his medicine on time, and within a few days, his illness was cured. Everyone sighed: "Our ancestors' traditional Chinese medicine is the most reliable!" And they were even more grateful that Dr. Tian had settled in Kaoshan Village.

Fellow villagers often sent her food to express their gratitude, but she mostly refused eggs and other things, asking them to keep them for their children and only keeping some inexpensive items.

In fact, it’s not that Tian Cai’s pill formula is so good. She just uses the prescription passed down from medical books, but adds dew, so the efficacy is doubled and the effect is naturally visible.

Tian Cai did not plan to add dew to all the pills. She chose not to add dew to some pills that did not need to work quickly. She also did not want to attract attention because the pills were too effective.

Now the bean sprouts in the palm of my hand no longer look as fragile as before, as if they would break at the touch. As time goes by, the color of the bean sprout stems changes from light green to emerald green, the diameter becomes much thicker, and a small tip emerges in the middle of the bean petals, which looks like a new leaf is about to emerge.