When he walked far enough away, the cold crow would naturally fly down from the tree to eat.

The cold crow protested with a few “caw caw” cries, then shrank back into its nest and continued to play dead.

An hour later, Ethan Brooks finally filled a fishing basket with big fish and small shrimp.

After working hard for most of the night, although he didn’t catch that rare silver-spined knife fish, he still had some other gains, including a big crucian carp weighing about two jin.

A big crucian carp like this could be exchanged for a large bundle of firewood with a woodcutter at the Zhouzhuang market, enough to burn for four or five nights during the winter.

These five copper coins weren’t much, but as long as he kept fishing regularly, the daily accumulation could help supplement the household expenses a bit. His parents would surely be pleased.

The remaining small fish and shrimp in the basket, though not worth much, could be used to cook a few bowls of fish soup for his younger siblings. Whatever was left could be traded with Zhouzhuang farmers for some green vegetable leaves.

This winter was hard to endure, even tougher than previous years.

Ethan Brooks filled a basket with fish, a hint of joy appearing on his youthful face, and paddled his bamboo raft home, thinking that after this New Year, when his younger siblings grew another year or two older, there would be two more sensible little ones at home to help with chores, and life would slowly get better.

Chapter 002: Fishing Lights and Sleepless Sorrow

Ethan Brooks poled his small bamboo raft, carrying a fishing basket full of fish and shrimp, toward an old fishing boat moored on the riverbank of Zhouzhuang’s water town, his excited little face flushed red, ready to return to the old boat to see his father and mother.

At dawn, the river was shrouded in mist, and only a few scattered fishing lights could barely be seen, making them stand out. On the riverbank of Zhouzhuang’s water town, Ethan Brooks’s family’s old fishing boat was moored.

The Su family had been fishing in Zhouzhuang’s water town for generations, with all five members of the family living on this old boat.

The old fishing boat’s roof was a simple shack made of bamboo strips and dry rice straw, tied together. The inside was coated with a layer of yellow clay to block the cold wind, but it had long since cracked, leaving many gaps.

The entrance to the shack was covered by a tattered curtain, used for so long that it was full of holes and let in the wind. The cold wind howled through the gaps in the curtain, pouring into the cabin and chilling to the bone.

A dim oil lamp, blackened by smoke, hung from the ceiling, the oil nearly gone, flickering with a faint red glow, barely illuminating the inside of the shack.

Near the entrance, by the curtain, there was a small earthen stove made of red clay, with a clay pot on top simmering a thin porridge, a few cabbage leaves floating on the surface, with not a trace of oil or salt inside.

A dry stick of firewood burned under the stove, sending sparks and smoke outside.

In the cold winter, the only warmth in the shack came from the heat of the stove, barely maintaining a little warmth.

Beside the stove was an old wooden bucket, inside which a few nearly dead crucian carp opened and closed their mouths.

At the innermost part of the shack was an old wooden bed and bedding with a faint musty smell. Two dirty three- or four-year-old children slept curled up in the bedding, occasionally murmuring in their sleep.

Most fishermen in Zhouzhuang’s water town lived this poor. If they could get a little oil, salt, or meat during the holidays, it was already considered good.

Mr. Brooks’s dark face was full of wrinkles. He squatted by the stove, holding a cold tobacco pipe, puffing on it with dull, heavy breaths.

The poor-quality old dry tobacco was harsh and dry, making him cough from time to time.

Mrs. Brooks’s hands were busy nonstop, mending an old fishing net by the bed, her face full of worry.

“Child’s father, we haven’t saved much money again this year. After working all year, we only managed to save four taels of broken silver. The New Year is coming, and we have to pay a boat tax to the county yamen before the year ends. That little bit of silver will be gone in an instant. We took the fish to the county to sell, but the weighing fee for the Giant Whale Gang hasn’t been settled yet. If this goes on, I’m afraid we won’t make it through this winter.”

Mrs. Brooks mended the old fishing net, muttering and sighing.

The boat tax from the Gusu county yamen was five taels of silver every year, and it had to be paid before the New Year. Otherwise, the fierce yamen officers would come to the countryside, seize the fishing boat, and forbid it from going out on the water.

The Giant Whale Gang was one of the five major gangs in the thirteen counties of Wu Prefecture, entrenched in Taihu Lake, running rampant in the vast Wu Prefecture for over a hundred years, monopolizing thousands of miles of lakes and river transport, and collecting a weighing fee from Zhouzhuang fishermen—one tael of silver per month.

Fishermen had to pay every month, or else the Giant Whale Gang would not allow them to take fish to the county to sell. No matter how much fish they caught, it would just rot on the boat.

If fishermen couldn’t sell their fish and lost their livelihood, it was a dead end.

To the honest fishermen of Zhouzhuang, the Giant Whale Gang was a ferocious tiger and wolf that devoured people without spitting out their bones, bullying men and women, extorting and plundering, even more ruthless than the government officials. No one dared to resist.

“Clack~!”

Mr. Brooks was an old fisherman and of course understood these accounts in his heart.

They were still short a full two taels of silver, that is, two thousand copper coins. This winter would be very hard to get through.

Every New Year felt like surviving a great calamity.

If they could get through this, there would be more big fish in the lake next spring, and their income might improve a little.

There was no other way but to go out on the lake before dawn every day and try to catch as much fish as possible. He was an honest fisherman, and he had gotten through life by gritting his teeth like this all his life.

But now, it was already the coldest part of winter, and there were very few big fish in the lake. With the New Year approaching, in just over a month, even if he didn’t sleep at night, there was no way to earn two taels of silver.