Back at the manor, Xie Yushu distributed the furs and cloth. Aunt Su and several maids and servants who had learned needlework spent several more days doing needlework, making vests for everyone. Before they knew it, the weather had turned into the dead of winter.
Perhaps it was a reward from God for the long drought, but heavy snow fell one after another, with the north wind howling and the snow flying, covering the mountains and rivers in a layer of silver.
Aunt Su, Qu Xiaodie, and several young maids gathered in the warm conference room, following Xie Yushu to rub the pills.
The medicinal herbs were collected by Xie Yushu and Qu Xiaodie in the mountains in the autumn, and also collected by Xiao Dayong's family and sold to Xie Yushu. A whole donkey cart was loaded with them. The medicated powder was also prepared in advance. Due to the heavy snow in the past few days, outdoor training was temporarily suspended. Xie Yushu then prepared prescriptions for colds caused by wind-cold and colds caused by wind-heat according to her memory. She directly ground the powder into powder, prepared the medicine, and then added a little starch to make pills.
Aunt Su sighed as she rolled the pills.
"Fortunately, Lord Han is devoted to the people and had people urge every household to replace their roofs with reinforced earthen and wooden ones early on. Otherwise, with such heavy snow, I'm afraid many more people would have frozen to death!"
Qu Xiaodie said
"That's right, now people don't have to worry about the snow collapsing their houses, and they can stay indoors and spend the winter in peace!"
Even if the snow falls heavily, the people will only be happy, for a timely snow promises a bumper harvest!
Nanxing also said
"Yes, yes, I always hear my mother and the others say that if wheat is covered with three layers of quilts in winter, you can sleep on a pillow of steamed buns the following year!"
The snow is up to my knees! I'd need five layers, not just three. Next year's harvest is sure to be bountiful!
After the snow stopped and Xie Yushu finished making the pills, Zhao Hu and Xie Zhong spent a day clearing the road from the manor to the town. Then Xie Yushu took her people and the medicine and set off.
Han Zhongyu's work was indeed thorough. Xie Yushu arrived in the prefectural city and found that the villages she passed through were free of collapsed houses. People were gathered in twos and threes to clear the snow from the roads and talked about whose child was sick, whose couple was fighting, whose husband was gambling away money, and whose daughter was getting engaged.
Then there are the older folks who put their hands in their pockets and say, "A timely snow promises a good harvest; there's hope for next year!"
Although it was freezing cold, his face was beaming with joy!
Xie Yushu and her group consisted of about twenty men and women. The men were all dressed in light blue outfits with matching vests, while the women wore light blue outfits with pink vests.
Everyone carried baskets on their backs and held thick wooden sticks in their hands. Xie Yushu and Qu Xiaodie, especially the two at the front, were particularly striking. Xie Yushu wore an orange embroidered cross-collar rabbit fur long coat with a pure white rabbit fur hat, while Qu Xiaodie wore a lake-green sheepskin jacket with an earth-toned chivalrous skirt. One was warm and bright, the other was aloof and domineering, making them a beautiful sight to behold.
The group marched with firm steps and moved in perfect unison. If it weren't for the wooden sticks in their hands and the baskets on their backs, one would have thought they were an army on an expedition.
Those who were sweeping snow at the village entrance saw it from afar and began to observe.
Seeing that someone was looking over, Nanxing and Xiao Haitang called out in their clear voices.
"Dr. Xie from Yuquan Villa is offering free medical consultations and medicine at the market in Tai'an Prefecture. Anyone with a sick family member can go and see him!"
"Yuquan Manor? Is that the newly opened valley to the east? I've never heard of a doctor there!"
One person asked in confusion.
Nanxing's crisp voice
"Of course there is! This is our manor lord. He has inherited his medical skills from his maternal grandfather. His ancestral home is Xiejia Village in Yonghe County. He just moved here, so you don't know. Next year, our manor lord will build a clinic outside the manor. It will be more convenient for you to see a doctor then!"
"Oh, that's perfect! There aren't any proper doctors around here!"
"Free medical consultations? Free medicine? Doesn't that mean it's free?"
Someone overheard this and asked a question.
"Our head of the estate thought that everyone had just experienced a severe drought and that life was more difficult than before. He was worried that if anyone got sick, they wouldn't be able to afford medical treatment. So he specially collected a batch of medicine, made it into pills, and went to the market to provide free medical consultations. The medicine is limited, so if anyone knows which family has someone who is sick and doesn't have the money to see a doctor, they can go to the market in the prefectural city to find us. We'll keep the medicine until it runs out."
"Oh my! What a kind heart! It just so happens that Erniu's little kid next door is sick and has had a fever for two days. They're short of money, and Erniu's wife is so worried she's crying! I'll go tell her right now!"
"Yes! Many people in the village have caught a cold, but they're just toughing it out! These days, we can't even get enough to eat, let alone afford medical treatment!"
It's all a matter of life and death. If you make it through, you're lucky to be alive; if you don't, you die!
"It's rare to find a doctor with such a kind heart. I'll go back to the village and spread the word!"
Similar incidents occurred several times along the way. By the time Xie Yushu and her team set up their counter at the market, patients were already arriving one after another.
Zhao Hu led his men to maintain order, while Nan Xing led the women's team to distribute medicine after Xie Yushu finished her consultation. The division of labor was clear, and the consultation went smoothly.
Most of them were colds caused by wind and cold, but the symptoms were different. Some had fever, some had cough, and some had headaches. Xie Yushu prescribed different medicines according to the symptoms. For mild cases, she gave a 3-day supply of medicine, and for severe cases, she gave a 7-day supply of medicine.
On the first day, she saw sixty or seventy patients. Two days later, news of Xie Yushu's free clinic spread.
People from the surrounding villages and towns who couldn't afford a clinic heard that a young woman was giving away free medicine at the city's market, and that some who had taken her medicine had recovered or had their symptoms lessened. So they flocked to her clinic, and even those who had originally planned to go to the city's clinics turned around and came here instead, causing the number of people to increase dramatically.
With more people, those with money will crowd in, inevitably taking away resources from the poor. Xie Yushu's original intention was to treat the poor and help them survive. If everyone comes here to get medicine for free, many people in urgent need of treatment will not receive it, and the free clinic will lose its meaning.
So they had to put up a sign that read, "This place is for free medical treatment for the poor. Those who are well-off should go to the clinic."
Even so, there were those who, greedy for a bargain, refused to leave no matter what.
In particular, a few women and old women actually ganged up to exclude the villagers who came from outside the city, shouting that they were also poor people, so why shouldn't they be allowed to queue up?
Since it was a free clinic, everyone should get a share. Instead, some girls were whining and trying to hit Nanxing and the others. When Zhao Hu and his group saw this, they forcibly dragged them out. The women threw a tantrum and shouted that Zhao Hu and his men had killed someone!
As it happened, Han Zhongyu happened to be returning from his official business when he ran into them. He immediately reprimanded the women and ordered Liu Nan and Liu Bei to stay with ten constables to help maintain order. Only then did Xie Yushu's free clinic proceed smoothly.
Moreover, Lord Han, who was always busy, saw that hundreds of patients were queuing up every day, some even coming from dozens of miles away. He immediately allocated a sum of money from the government budget to buy ten cartloads of herbs in Jinyang and send them there.
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