The peasant woman quickly calculated that the entire village had been preparing for a mass exodus th

Before long, the entire village was covered in white, and many villagers returned from the foot of the mountain carrying firewood.

"Dad, please come inside, it's so cold outside!"

The brothers Zhao Guangming and Zhao Shengrong returned carrying heavy loads of firewood. The cold wind howled, and this firewood would provide warmth and comfort during the next three days of heavy snow.

Peach Blossom said that this heavy snow will last for three days and three nights, and we might not be able to go out to chop firewood for three days, so we must chop enough in advance.

The Zhao family has four spirits living there. They built a thatched shed against the west wall, with a whole wall of firewood underneath. It would be enough to burn for three days, or even all winter.

When the house was being built, Zhao Taohua had the foresight to make some changes to all four rooms.

Not only were the kang beds in the east and west rooms warm, but it was also warm to stand in the room, as were the main room and the kitchen.

As long as firewood is burned, the heat can warm all four rooms.

Zhao Taohua stood in front of the main room, looking at her own courtyard, which looked as if it were covered with a thick white blanket.

She only opened the door a crack, but the cold wind made it hard for her to open her eyes, and icy snowflakes crept into her collar, making her shiver. She quickly closed the door.

Mr. Qian exclaimed, "This snow is really heavy, heavier than ever before. I've lived for over thirty years and have never seen such heavy snow."

In no time, the ground turned completely white.

However, it's warm and cozy inside, so I'm not afraid of how much snow is falling outside.

The other villagers were the same; they weren't afraid at all by the howling wind outside, and they ate dinner early and went to warm up on the kang (a heated brick bed).

The next morning, the snow was still falling heavily outside. When everyone opened the door, the snow was a full foot deep, almost blocking the door to the main room.

With each step, a crunching sound echoed beneath my feet, the sound continuing from the main room to the kitchen doorway.

Even though it was such a short distance, everyone was so cold they were shivering, but they couldn't go without eating, so they had to go to the kitchen to cook.

Grandma Sun stood behind the kitchen door and looked outside, praising, "That girl Taohua is really something. She said the heavy snow was coming, and it really came."

This is the first time I've ever seen such heavy snow in my life. If we were still living in that old house, how could the thatched roof withstand such thick snow?

It's bound to collapse; look at the tree by the door, its branches are bent low with snow.

Grandma Sun's admiration for Zhao Taohua grew stronger and stronger.

Overnight, the entire Zhao Family Village seemed to be covered with a layer of snow-white cotton blanket, tightly covering the houses.

Shen Ming gazed at the snow still swirling outside and slowly pulled out the shielding talisman that Zhao Taohua had given him from his pocket.

After a few days of recuperation, Zhao Shengan's health improved considerably, and the evil aura of the earthworm monster had long since vanished.

He took out the amulet that Zhao Taohua had given him, a hint of a smile flashing in his eyes.

Zhao Shenglin's home.

Zhao Shenglin huddled on the bed, shivering from the cold. The room was drafty, and snowflakes were even drifting in through the cracks in the walls.

He cursed, "Why won't this damn snow stop?"

He's freezing!

Could it really be like Zhao Taohua said, that it will rain for three days and three nights?

Suddenly, a cluster of snowflakes, like goose feathers, fell from above his head. He looked up and saw that the roof had cracked open, and chunks of snow were falling from it.

"Crunch... crunch..."

Immediately afterwards, the roof began to make increasingly loud noises, as if it was about to give way to the weight above.

Zhao Shenglin was so startled that he jumped out of bed immediately. He didn't even have time to put on his shoes before a large clump of snow hit the bed, causing it to slide off along with some of the thatch.

When Zhao Shenglin looked up at the roof, the beams snapped under the weight, and the entire roof collapsed instantly.

Zhao Shenglin hurriedly opened the door barefoot and ran outside, ignoring the thick snow in the yard. More frightening than the coldness under his feet was the collapsed roof behind him.

Just as he was still feeling lingering fear, he suddenly heard a scream from the east room, and only then did he remember that his mother was still in the room!

The sound of Zhao Shenglin's roof collapsing startled the entire Zhao family village, especially the neighbors on both sides.

The village chief lived right next to him. Hearing the noise, the village chief frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

Grandma Yang said, "It seems to be the Lin family making some noise."

When the village chief opened the kitchen door and looked towards Zhao Shenglin's house amidst the swirling snowflakes, he was shocked to see that Zhao Shenglin's roof was gone and half of the wall had collapsed.

"Oh no! Something's happened! The roof of the Shenglin family's house has collapsed!"

After saying that, the village chief rushed out of his house and headed towards Zhao Shenglin's house next door.

"Mother! Mother!!!"

As Zhao Shenglin dug with his bare hands at the location of the bed in the east room, he shouted down.

Upon hearing Zhao Shenglin's voice, the villagers braved the snow to go out and see what had happened.

Zhao Ershu returned to the house and said, "Something terrible has happened! The roof of the Shenglin family's house has collapsed, and it seems that Madam Xu is buried inside."

As he spoke, Zhao Ershu picked up a hat, ready to go and help.

Qian thought of Zhao Shenglin's thatched cottage, which had been there for decades and was quite old, especially with the heavy snowfall this year.

"Ms. Xu has never been in good health. This time, she was hit by the falling roof and buried inside. We don't know what happened..."

Ms. Qian stopped mid-sentence, adjusted her collar, and then went to help.

Zhao Taohua glanced at the four spirits in the main room, leaving the Durian Spirit at home to guard the house, while the other three went with her to help Zhao Shenglin's house.

Zhao Taohua, holding an umbrella, sat on the shoulder of the argumentative man and headed towards Zhao Shenglin's house. Villagers braved the heavy snow to come and help.

Ignoring the biting cold, everyone quickly dug through the snow with their hands, trying to find Xu.

Some villagers brought tools and carefully pried up the fallen logs.

When Ms. Xu was rescued, her body was twisted from being crushed, and she was unconscious and cold all over.

"Mother, wake up!"

Zhao Shenglin shouted the moment he saw Xu Shi, trying to wake her up.

Someone touched Xu's nose and said, "She's still breathing!"

The village chief said, "Take the person to my house!"

Zhao Shenglin followed behind, crying, to the village chief's house.

Seeing that he was barefoot, Grandma Yang gave him a pair of shoes to wear first.

Zhao Shenglin cried incessantly, sobbing uncontrollably. He asked Zhao Xiangping:

"Grandpa Xiangping, how is my mother?"

Zhao Xiangping told his son about a prescription and asked him to bring over ten doses of medicine before speaking to Zhao Shenglin.

"Cry, all you do is cry! Your mother is only covered with a thin quilt. In this cold weather, your family doesn't even have a heated kang. Even if the roof doesn't collapse, if it snows heavily for another two days, your mother will freeze to death."

You're such a big person, all you do is loiter around, you don't work or earn money, you don't even know to chop firewood that's free on the mountain. You're so lazy!

"Your mother is in grave danger this time. These ten doses of medicine are a token of our kinship from being from the same village. I'm giving them to your mother. As for whether she will wake up, that depends on her fate."

Zhao Xiangping frowned as he looked at Zhao Shenglin, each word spoken through gritted teeth, angry at his laziness and resentful of his lack of effort.

A nineteen-year-old young man with hands and feet could easily earn enough to repair a roof if he worked with everyone else. Otherwise, the roof wouldn't have collapsed, leaving Mr. Xu's fate unknown.