CHAPTER 34: CHAPTER 34: MAGISTRATE’S DAUGHTER

"Goodness, goodness..."

After understanding the details, Chen Mo couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

If you were to pay taxes according to this tax law, you would need to pay the initial ten cents, plus one cent for every ten jin if you caught fifty kilograms of fish, totaling twenty cents.

If the fish in Dadong Lake were raised by the Qinghe Gang, then paying these taxes would be reasonable.

But these fish are natural resources, what the Qinghe Gang is doing is completely uncostly business, yet they’re charging such high taxes.

Of course, if you actually caught fifty kilograms of fish, you would definitely make money.

The three most famous and expensive fish in Dadong Lake are carp, silverfish, and bass.

The carp is especially known as a noble dish, fetching a price of one hundred cents per jin.

Next comes the silverfish and bass.

Even if you don’t catch any of these three types, and only catch common crucian and grass carp, at an average of five wen coins per jin during peaceful times, you could earn about five hundred wen, which can be considered a significant profit.

But can you catch fifty kilograms of fish in three hours?

Moreover, it’s now the middle of winter.

Chen Mo had gone fishing too, but had often come back empty-handed. To save face, every time he would buy a fish from the market before going home.

But modern wild fishing resources are already scarce, who knows what the fishing conditions are like in Dadong Lake.

"Zhang River, have you ever fished?" Chen Mo asked.

Zhang River nodded: "Brother Mo, I’ve not only fished, but also caught fish in the river."

For rural children, walking dogs on the ground and catching fish in the river are their childhood pastimes.

They can’t read, but they are all incredibly skilled at fun activities like these.

Of course, they can’t afford to read.

"Then you know how to make fishing rods, right? Hurry up and make a few more. I have something for you to do later," Chen Mo said.

It’s now the end of December, with more than two months until spring.

The black bear they hunted before, after removing bones, viscera, skin, and draining the blood, left about two hundred pounds of meat, and about fifty pounds of bear blood.

It won’t last until he cultivates the Blood Nourishing Technique to the eighth grade.

Daze Mountain is snow-covered, so getting meat can only rely on buying or fishing.

Buying meat is too extravagant, half a string of coins doesn’t even buy ten jin of meat.

And ten jin of meat isn’t enough for his daily intake now.

After becoming a Martial Artist, he now maintains a daily intake of fifteen jin of meat and five jin of bear blood.

"Got it, Brother Mo."

...

Two days later.

Han Anniang tied the newly tanned fox fur on Chen Mo, and Chen Mo wrapped himself with a cotton coat.

"Uncle, come back soon... If you run into that crazy woman again, just avoid her," Han Anniang softly said as she helped Chen Mo button his coat.

"Hmm."

Chen Mo picked up the package and tied it on his back. The package contained bearskin, too big to wear, so he had to cover it and carry it.

Just as Chen Mo was about to leave,

Han Anniang suddenly hugged him from behind.

"Uncle, I still don’t want you to go to the city." Han Anniang was still worried about Chen Mo’s injuries from the last incident.

Her husband had passed away early, and no family was left, only relying on Chen Mo, her brother-in-law now.

Moreover, they had become one, and her reliance on him deepened.

Chen Mo knew what she was worried about. He turned around, cupped her face, and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, don’t worry. To her, it might have just been a casual act of hitting a lowly peasant. It won’t be on her mind, so she won’t specifically find me and give me a few more lashes."

...

In an attic of a courtyard.

This attic was near the street, located in the best area of Pingting County.

This house was originally given to the County Magistrate by a local gentry, and to curry favor with the Prefect, the County Magistrate vacated it for the Prefect’s two daughters to live in.

On the top floor of the attic, two women, one dressed in black and the other in white, sat. The latter knelt gracefully behind a long table, with a zither placed on it, her slender fingers plucking the strings. The former, holding a long sword, danced gracefully with an air of cold arrogance, matching the zither sound.

The two women were about twenty years old, their faces so alike that they seemed carved from the same mold.

But soon, the woman in black lost interest, throwing her longsword to the ground with a crisp "clang," and began pacing back and forth in front of the woman in white.

"Sister, I can’t take it anymore. How much longer do we have to stay here? It’s cold, dirty, and messy. Last night, I saw someone throwing slops onto the street. It was so smelly! If you hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve gone over and cut that filthy person."

"This place can’t compare to Nanyang. People here are so uninteresting. Why does father insist on us coming here..."

Xia Zhining complained to her sister Xia Zhiqing about all the downsides of Pingting County.

Nanyang, the largest and most prosperous city in Qingzhou.

"Zhining, this isn’t Nanyang. Without father’s protection, your impetuousness will lead to trouble sooner or later," elder sister Xia Zhiqing stopped playing, sighed, and said.

"What’s to worry about?" Xia Zhining sat next to her elder sister’s long table, raising her proud swan-like neck, showing disdain for this small place: "The strongest in this little county of Pingting is merely a seventh-grade Martial Artist. With Guard Liu around, who should I fear?"

Xia Zhiqing shook her head and said, "In our Great Song, there are hidden dragons and crouching tigers, talented individuals everywhere. Otherwise, the rebels in the Northern Land wouldn’t have gained momentum, and now they threaten Qingzhou.

Father is worried that Nanyang won’t hold and fears for our safety, so he sent Guard Liu to escort us to Pingting County. County Magistrate Chang is one of father’s disciples and can take care of us."

Hearing this, Xia Zhining was surprised: "Nanyang has one hundred thousand elite troops from Qingzhou. How could a group of rabble-rousers consisting of mere peasants overtake it?"

Xia Zhining’s childhood dream was to become a General and lead troops into battle. Ever since she was young, she studied military books. But as a woman, she had no outlet to serve the country. In over four hundred years of the Song dynasty, there had never been a Female General.

"Father is just worried, that’s all." Xia Zhiqing frowned gently.

"Why don’t we go to the Capital, isn’t it safer there?"

Xia Zhining’s eyes showed longing. She had stayed in the Capital for a few years when she was young. The Capital’s bustling prosperity was even beyond Nanyang, with no curfews. The literati and warriors there could both write to govern the country and ride to bring peace. That’s truly exemplary.

Xia Zhiqing gave her sister a glance, "Father is the Prefect of Qingzhou. In this situation, if we go to the Capital, do you want father to be impeached?"

ps: Thanks to "Wo Wu Wei" for the thousand coins reward! Thanks to everyone for the monthly passes!!!