Su Chen carried a small bamboo raft and a fishing basket full of fish and shrimps, and headed to an old fishing boat moored on the bank of the Zhouzhuang Water Town River. His excited face was flushed, and he was about to go back to the old fishing boat to meet his father and mother.

The river at dawn is covered with fog, and you can barely see the lights of several fishermen's houses, which is eye-catching. On the bank of a river in Zhouzhuang Water Town, the old fisherman's fisherman's boat is moored.

The Su family's ancestors have been engaged in fishing in Zhouzhuang Water Town for generations, and the family of five lives on this old fishing boat.

The roof of the old fishing boat is a simple shack made of bamboo strips and dry straw. The shed is coated with a layer of yellow mud to resist the cold wind. It has long been dry and cracked, and many more gaps have appeared.

The entrance to the shack was closed by a worn curtain. It was used for too long and it was broken and leaked. The cold wind whistled into the fishing cabin from the gap in the curtain cloth, and the coldness was biting.

A dim oil lamp hung on the roof of the smoked roof, with the oil to the bottom, swaying with a dim red light, and you can barely see the situation in the roof.

Beside the curtain in the shack, there is a small earth stove, built with red soil, with a clay pot on it, and a small pot of clear porridge was boiled. There were a few cabbage leaves floating on the porridge, and there were no oil, water and salt flowers in it.

A dry firewood was burning under the stove, and a whirring sparks were emitting outside.

In the shack in the cold winter, the heat in the stove can barely maintain a little warmth.

There are old wooden barrels next to the stove, and there are several small crucian carp that are about to die with their mouths open and closed.

At the bottom of the shack are old wooden beds and beddings that emit a faint musty smell. Two dirty three or four-year-old children were sleeping in the bedding, huddling in the bedding, and occasionally reminding each other.

Most fishermen in Zhouzhuang Water Town live in such poverty. It would be great if they could get some oil, salt, meat and fish during festivals.

Mr. Su's dark face was full of wrinkles. He squatted beside the stove, holding a cold pipe, sucking the cold smoke dullly.

The inferior old dry tobacco leaves are very dry and occasionally cough a few times.

Mrs. Su was busy with her hands, and was weaving a worn fishing net by the bed, with a sad face.

"The father of the child, our family has not saved a lot of money this year. We have only saved four taels of silver in the end of the year. It is time to celebrate the New Year, so we have to pay a donation to the county government before the New Year, and this little silver is gone.

We drove the fish to the county town to sell, but the scale fee of the Giant Whale Gang has not yet been settled. If this continues, I am afraid I can't get through this winter."

Old Madam Su weaving the old fishing net, chattering and sighing.

The donation of boats from Gusu County Government is five taels of silver every year, and must be paid before the New Year. Otherwise, the vicious yamen runners of the county government will come to the countryside and arrest the fishing boats and are not allowed to go into the water.

The Giant Whale Gang is one of the five major gangs in the thirteen counties of Wujun. It occupies Taihu Lake and has been rampant in the huge Wujun for hundreds of years. It monopolizes lakes and river transportation thousands of miles away, and charges weighing fishermen in Zhouzhuang, one tael of silver per month.

Fishermen have to pay every month, otherwise the giant whale gang will not allow fishermen to transport fish to the county town for sale. No matter how many fish they catch, they will only rot on the fishing boat.

If the fishermen cannot sell their fish and make a living, it will be a dead end.

For those honest fishermen in Zhouzhuang, the Giant Whale Gang is a fierce tiger and evil wolf who eats people and does not spit bones. They bully men and women, blackmail and robb. They are even more vicious than the yamen officials and dare not resist at all.

"Battle~!"

Mr. Su is an old fisherman, so of course he knows these accounts in his heart.

There is still a shortage of two taels of silver, which is only two thousand coins. This winter is very difficult.

Every New Year is like a great disaster.

By surviving this disaster, the income will be slightly better by the spring next year.

There is no other way, so he can go down the lake before dawn every day and try his best to catch more fish. He is an honest fisherman who has resisted this whole life.

However, it is already the cold winter month, and there are very few big fish in the lake. The New Year is coming, and in just over a month, even if you don’t sleep at night, you can’t earn two taels of silver no matter what.

As he had no choice but to borrow some money from Zhou Dajia, the gentry in Zhouzhuang, and then repay it again next year. However, the gentry's money is profitable, and it is easy to borrow, but it is harder to pay it back.

Dad Su just said nothing, and Han Yan pipe smoked even harder.

"The child's father, let's send the eldest child to the wealthy family in the county to serve as a servant. The eldest child is twelve years old now, and is sensible and can do some rough work. Let's find a kind and generous family for him, and he can have a way out."

My grandmother Su thought for a long time before she looked sad and said an idea.

The wealthy families in Gusu County often collect teenagers and men and women in poor families during the twelfth lunar month. They have raised servants and maids since childhood and would give them a ten-tall resettlement fee, but they have to sign a lifelong contract.

After signing the contract for sale, it is not a civilian citizenship but a civilian citizenship, and the whole person belongs to the owner's family.

If the master is not kind and the slave is abused and beaten to death, he will not violate the law of the king, and at most he will pay some money.

Therefore, if a poor family still has a little hope, they will not send their children to be slaves to wealthy families and keep their lives in the hands of others.

But this winter, the family really can't get through it. If you don't send your big kids to a wealthy family as a slave, what kind of way can you live at home?

Although they are slaves for others, the slaves of wealthy families in the county are dressed well and eat better rice and flour than fishermen. They are better than starving to death or dying from illness.

If there is another way out, Mrs. Su doesn't want her child to be a slave in other people's houses.

But life is very difficult, so Mrs. Su has long understood the simplest truth, and the hard truth is to survive. This is their fate and Su Chen's fate.

"Shut up! Can babies be sold?"

Dad Su was furious and trembled all over with excitement. He pointed at Mother Su, as if angry that she actually said this.

To ask him to sell his big baby, it was simply to cut off his flesh and dig his blood.

"Baby, the big baby is the flesh that fell from my mother. If there is any other way, I don't want it!Baby, don't forget that his illness is so serious! If his illness is again this year, how can he live!"

Old Madam Su cried, and she was crying and talking.

The eldest child was just born, and Mrs. Su didn't have enough milk. The eldest child was so hungry that he cried, and tears came out of tears on the bed, forming two bluestones.

After just a while, the eldest child had a blue complexion and a purple lips, and he seemed to be unable to do it.

The two of them had never heard of the strange disease of "teeth fossils".

I took Dawa to the county town to find a doctor overnight and searched dozens of pharmacies in the city. The doctors were shocked and said that this was a rare disease that was unheard of and even not recorded in the medicine books.

Some doctors even said that this was a premature death. Even if they were rescued this time, they would still die if they were not alive at the age of two or three. Forget it, they would be lost.

But Mr. Su and Mrs. Su did not abandon the big baby. People in the county said that Hanshan Zhenren of Hanshan Taoist Temple had great magical powers and could do everything. They knelt outside the Hanshan Taoist Temple gate at the west gate of the county town for three days and three nights, begging the old temple owner.

Finally, I asked the old temple master to come forward to treat the big baby. After seeing the dying big baby, he said that the big baby's disease is very strange. This disease should be the legendary "Heaven hatred disease". He was hated by God and did not let him live.

The strange stone that fell was the "Tianhen Stone", and the vital energy leaked from the body. Using ginseng medicine to replenish vital energy may temporarily prolong your life. However, it can only be saved for a while and cannot cure the root cause of the disease.

This method is also very simple, that is, ginseng medicine is very expensive.

They hurriedly spent half a year on savings and bought a ten-year wild ginseng in the medicine shop. Sure enough, they saved the life of the big baby and slowly raised it until they were twelve years old.

Over the years, the Su family has specially left one tael of silver every year to buy ginseng for the big kids. If the big kids cry, they will immediately use ginseng medicine to replenish their lives.

"The fishing harvest this year is not good. Now even the county government donation boats and the Giant Whale Gang weigh in, it is still a whole two taels of silver. If he cried out in tears, he would not be able to survive this winter without the money to buy ginseng medicine to save his life!"

"But in this situation, how can we have extra money to buy ginseng medicine?"

"Send your big kid to a wealthy family in the county to be a slave. At least he doesn't have to worry about food and clothing. Maybe he can save some money to get married. But if he stays at home, if he gets sick, how can he have life-saving money?"

Old Niang Su talked about the hard work over the years.

Dad Su fell silent, smoking cold smoke, his head lowered even heavier. Why didn't he know what Mrs. Su said?

The name "Chen" was given by Hanshan Zhenren. He said that the only dust in the world is the cheapest, and he will not be hated by God and will easily survive.

The eldest child has been sensible since childhood and rarely cries, and he rarely cries once a year.

But after more than ten years of accumulation, Su Chen has cried more than a dozen times and spent a lot of money to buy ginseng medicine.

Mr. Su has been using copper coins for many years. He saved up the copper coins he used to buy ginseng medicine. How could he not know about these?

The county government donates five taels of boats every year, and the Giant Whale Gang weighs one taels per month, which is a heavy burden on the family, which makes the whole family breathless.

The strange disease that Su Chen occasionally suffers from every year is even worse, and there is another heavy stone pressing on these burdens.

Mr. Su has been gritting his teeth and holding on for the years.

The fishing harvest this winter is too bad, and the family's money is too big, so there is no extra money at all.

No one knows when the big kid will cry next time.

If the eldest child cried again and had no money to buy ginseng medicine at home to prolong his life, he might have died of illness.

Thinking of this, Dad Su was silent, sucking the old dry tobacco hard with his head and frowning.

Maybe the kid is right.

If you send your baby to a slave in the county town, your life will be very hard and you will be beaten and scolded by your master's family, but at least you can get ten taels of silver and buy ginseng medicine in time to survive.

In this difficult world, if God can survive, it is already God's kindness, so how dare you hope for anything else?

If you don’t have money to buy ginseng medicine, your baby will be gone and nothing will be gone.

The old fishing boat was filled with smoke and the oil lamp was dim and dark.

In the shack, Mrs. Su lamented without a single word.

Most of the time, Dad Su was silent while smoking Hanyan, thinking about waiting for the eldest child to come back, and talking about this matter to the eldest child. Maybe he would... agree.

...

Outside the shabby Su family's old fishing boat.

Su Chen stood alone on the small bamboo raft. The joy of returning from fishing had already disappeared. His face was as pale as snow, his eyes were full of despair. His thin and thin body was trembling uncontrollably, and his little hand tightly held the bamboo pole in his hand.

His lower lip, which was biting tightly, almost bleeding from his bite.

Su Chen knew that he was born with a strange disease since childhood. Whenever he cried and turned into bluestone, he would get seriously injured and seriously ill, almost losing half of his life, and also bringing a major disaster to this stormy family.

His fragile life is like a swaying bamboo lamp and fishing fire, which may be blown out by a cold wind at any time.

Whenever that happened, my parents would be frowning and spend more than half a year's savings to buy a ginseng medicine plant in the county and boil it in fish soup to replenish his vitality.
To be continued...