Cold winter.

The crescent moon rises early, and when the moon sets, the sky is about to dawn.

At this time, the Zhouzhuang Water Town was still immersed in the vast morning fog, and only the hazy water town was seen.

Everything on the river bank is quiet, and the cold wind is as cold as a knife.

In a nest of crows at the top of the dead tree, the crows were frozen in the nest, occasionally making a cry, making a particularly harsh night.

Su Chen stepped on a small bamboo raft, and his frozen red hands clutched a bamboo pole that was swaying and floating in the water, sliding into the river.

On the bamboo raft behind him was a fishing basket made of bamboo strips, a bamboo tube fishing lamp, and a fishing net.

The water splashed onto the raft from time to time, wetting his rags. The ice water exuded the coldness of the bone-abundant bone-abundant body. When the cold wind blew, the thin and thin body shivered a few times.

Su Chen is the child of a poor fisherman in Zhouzhuang.

The fisherman's life is difficult, and the boat tax in the Gusu County Government is already very heavy. In addition, the extortion by the gangs from time to time is like two heavy rocks, pressing the Su family to breathe.

My parents go to the lake to fish every day, go out early and come back late, which is only enough for a family of five to make a living.

Su Chen is still a twelve-year-old slim boy, but he is already very mature and sensible. He wants to take advantage of the dawn and there is still one hour before dawn to catch some fish and shrimps in the river and sell some copper coins to make up for the family income.

When the bamboo raft arrived in the river, he inserted a one-meter-long bamboo pole deep into the mud at the bottom of the river and moored.

Su Chen rubbed his almost cold hands hard, warming himself a little. He rolled up his sleeves, took out flints and hay from his arms, and hit him hard for more than ten times before finally igniting a hay.

He hurriedly lit the bamboo oil lamp on the raft with hay, carried the bamboo oil lamp with a small stick, and placed it on the edge of the bamboo raft, close to the water surface.

The light of the bamboo oil lamp is extremely dim, but it is the only light in this quiet river with hazy night.

Fish and shrimps are attracted by open flames at night.

If you sprinkle a little fish leaves, earthworms and steamed buns and other fish foods as bait, it will naturally attract more fish and shrimps to come and eat.

"Lighting fish" is a small trick for fishermen to catch fish at night, and it is also Su Chen's best fishing technique.

After Su Chen finished all this, he tightened his thin linen shirt and squatted on the cold bamboo raft, holding a pair of fishing nets, and patiently waiting for the fish in the river to come for food.

There are a lot of fish and shrimps in the river, but they are not worth much money.

I went to the Ximen Wharf Market in Gusu County to sell it. The fishing baskets were filled with shrimps, and only two or three cents of copper coins were exchanged for fishing coins, which was almost not enough for the fishermen's busy day meals.

The valuable thing is the big fish weighing several pounds.

There is a deep-water lake of hundreds of miles in Lou County near Zhouzhuang Water Town, called Dianshan Lake. The lake has high winds and rapid waves, and is rich in large crucian carp.

If you catch a big fish weighing two pounds, one can be sold for five cents of copper coins.

However, that is something that only distinguished guests from the county town and restaurants often eat.

The fishermen in Zhouzhuang were reluctant to eat the big fish after they salvaged it.

Usually, it is sold to Gusu County and sold for copper coins to deal with the boat tax of the county government. Only after the remaining little copper coins are exchanged for rice, salt and oil cloth, barely maintaining the livelihood of the whole family.

In addition, there are three rare treasures in the lake, such as "silver ridge sword fish, snowflake stone fish, and red-tailed prawns".

When Su Chen thought of these three rare fish, he felt excited.

A rare silver-ridged swordfish weighing only half a pound was sold to the largest restaurant in Gusu County, "Sky Eagle Inn". The price of selling staggering 500 copper coins is almost worth the fish that fishermen salvaged a whole boat.

Su Chen often went to Tianying Inn in the county with fishermen and adults to sell fish. He met A Chou, a young man who was doing odd jobs in Tianying Inn. After a few days, the two teenagers became good brothers who could talk about everything, so he was familiar with the market conditions of the county fish market.

However, these precious fish species are extremely difficult to catch. Hundreds of fishing boats go down the lake every day, and one or two of them can catch one or two treasures.

Even old fishermen with decades of experience can hardly catch silver-ridged shark fish in deep waters and large lakes with huge fishing nets.

If a fisherman is lucky enough to catch a fish, he must show off to all the fishermen in Zhouzhuang, wishing everyone would boast about themselves.

Unfortunately, only the middle-aged fishermen dare to take fishing boats to go down the lake and cast big nets to catch fish.

Su Chen was still a young man, weak and dared not go to the big lake, so he could only hold a small bamboo raft to catch fish in the calm river.

Although he envied these rare fish, he did not dare to go to them too many ways.

In the small river, you can occasionally catch large crucian carp swimming out of the lake.

However, the waterway leading to Gusu County is a very busy river channel.

There are at least dozens of merchant ships, and hundreds of fishing boats that travel during the day. Large fish in the river are easily frightened, and will be frightened by large ships, and will dive to the bottom of the seven or eight meter river, which is impossible to catch.

Only within a short hour of dawn, when there are almost no big ships coming and going on the river surface, and the big fish will not be frightened, will they float to the river surface to feed on the floating insects.

This is also Su Chen’s only opportunity to catch large crucian carp.

...

Soon, some small fish were attracted by fishing lamps and appeared around the bamboo raft.

Su Chen endured the biting cold wind and squatted on the bamboo raft and waited patiently.

I was a little hungry, so I took out a cold and hard steamed bun from my arms, chewed it half and cushioned it slowly, and put it on my stomach. The remaining half was reluctant to eat, so I put it back in my arms and put it in my arms to collect it.

What he wanted to catch was not these small fish and shrimps that were worth a few cents with a large fishing basket, but big fish.

I don't know how long it took.

Suddenly, a silver light appeared in the river, like a wisp of agile silver thread swimming in the water, floating on the water to eat bait, and was illuminated by the bamboo raft with oil lamps hanging on it, making the night dazzling and moving.

This is the silver-ridged swordfish!

Su Chen almost thought he was dazzled in an instant.

His dark and lively eyes stared at the light and swaying silver thread in the river without moving. His breathing became rapid, his heart was pounding, revealing an incredible look.

The silver-ridged saberfish can only be seen in the depths of the big lake. I am afraid that the big lake has insufficient food, so it swims into the river to find food in the cold winter.

Look at this silver-ridged swordfish, it is at least seven or eight taels in size!

A silver-ridged swordfish weighing half a pound can be sold for 500 coins of copper coins.

For every extra one tael, you can sell an additional 100 coins of copper coins. This silver-ridged swordfish can be sold at a large price of 700 to 800 coins of copper coins, which is worth the money you earned in a year of hard work.

Su Chen's face turned red and his heart was beating.

The family was poor, so he certainly knew what such a precious silver-spined swordfish meant.

If you catch this knife fish and sell it at a high price in the inn in Gusu County, you can exchange it for several large bags of snow-white rice, rations, salt and new cloth.

It is the twelfth lunar month now, and the New Year will be celebrated soon.

This year, you can have a delicious meal of shrimp vegetarian dumplings, a large bowl of fragrant white rice, and you no longer have to chew tough steamed buns.

He can also pull a few feet of cloth on his younger brother and sister to make two new sets of New Year's clothes.

The excess copper coins can even be used to pay the boat tax from Gusu County Government, reducing part of the burden on their parents.

My parents knew that he was so capable, so they must have a smile on their faces and touched his head and praised him hard.

With this silver-ridged swordfish, you will definitely be able to have a good New Year this year!

Su Chen quickly held his breath, and the golden light of copper coins shone in his clear eyes. His small hands calmly held the fish net, and began to close the net very slowly.

"Silver-Red Knife Fish" is known as a flying knife in the water, and it is definitely not a false reputation.

It is easily frightened, swims very fast, and cuts water like a knife, and it disappears with just one flash.

Salvage of silver-ridged saberfish is a very test of a fisherman's skills.

The mind is calm, the breath is deep, the eyes are accurate, and the hands are fast!

Su Chen calmed down and slowly closed the net.

At this moment, a crow living in the crow's nest on the treetops by the river suddenly woke up and made a shrill crow chirping.

"Ah~~——!"

Su Chen, who was fully focused, was shocked. The net that was tightly grasped by his little hands and couldn't help but tremble, and a slight splash of water appeared on the river surface.

The silver-ridge slashed fish in the river and suddenly frightened. The fish tail suddenly flew out, jumping three or four feet away from the edge of the fish net like lightning, and sank into the bottom of the river in the blink of an eye and disappeared.

Oops!

The silver-ridged saberfish was shocked to run away!

Su Chen was holding an empty fish net with only a few small shrimps, and couldn't help but tremble and wanted to cry.

It was all that bastard who was stinky and crow screaming!

This is a silver-ridged swordfish weighing seven or eight taels, with a total of seven or eight hundred coins!

Unfortunately, all of them were gone by the crow's stinky mouth!

My wish for a good New Year this year has also been ruined!

Su Chen's eyes were red and he stared fiercely at the crow's nest on the treetops by the river.

He was extremely angry, and the bamboo raft slid over, picked up the long bamboo pole in his hand, and poked it to a nest of crows on the treetops.

"Stinky jackdaw, let you scream!"

The crow's nest was stabbed, and the crow was so scared that he screamed, but he pretended to be dead in the nest and dared not show his head.

After a while, Su Chen's arms were sore and he fell down on the bamboo raft and was extremely depressed.
To be continued...