Daily Intelligence System!

"Where is Shen Dalang?"

"Reporting, sir, Dalang is bedridden with illness..."

"Cut the nonsense! When will the rent owed to Lord Bai be paid?"

"Please calm your anger, sir. I beg you to grant us two more days..."

"Mother, I'm hungry..."

Faint shouts and sobs drifted into his ears.

Shen Xiuhan slowly opened his eyes.

Before him stood a familiar dilapidated thatched hut, an old kang table, and the lingering smell of medicinal broth.

He let out a soft breath, his cracked lips twitching slightly.

"Three days already..."

This was Longcloud County, under Nanxiang Commandery in Cangzhou, Qi Kingdom.

The county seat was built beside a lake, and its people had lived by fishing for generations.

The original Shen Dalang was the son of a tenant farmer under the White Family, a wealthy household in the inner city.

His father, Shen Sanhuai, rented a small skiff from the White Family and spent every day out on the lake, fishing to keep the family alive.

The family was desperately poor and lived in Little Path Bay, a slum outside the city.

Little Path Bay was a place where all manner of riffraff gathered.

Petty theft, arson, murder, and robbery were as commonplace as daily meals.

To give his wife and children a peaceful life, Shen Sanhuai pinched every penny, hoping to save enough silver someday to move into the inner city and rent a house that could shield them from wind and rain.

Yet half a month ago, during an ordinary trip onto the lake, he encountered a water monster.

He never returned.

The fishing nets and skiff had been dragged away as well.

Crushed by grief and starving in the cold, the original owner fell ill and never rose again.

When he opened his eyes once more, he had become Shen Xiuhan, who had hit the jackpot after getting off work at a restaurant...

"Cough, cough..."

Shen Xiuhan coughed dryly twice and struggled into a sitting position. From outside came a pitiful little girl's voice.

"Mother, I'm hungry..."

"Momo, be good. We're not hungry."

"Mother, Momo wants porridge..."

"Be good, Momo. The porridge is for your eldest brother to sweat out his fever. Once he gets better, he can catch fish for Momo to eat..."

Memories surged forth.

The woman was Madam Zheng, his mother, while the little girl was his younger sister, Shen Momo.

Ever since he had fallen ill, Madam Zheng had spent what little money the family had on medicinal broth and millet to treat him.

Their already tottering household had now truly run out of food.

Creak, creak...

The sound of footsteps crunching through snow drew nearer.

The straw curtain lifted, and Madam Zheng entered with a bowl, lowering her head to blow on the steaming medicinal broth within.

"Dalang, it's time to take your medicine..."

But when she raised her head and saw Shen Xiuhan awake and leaning against the bedhead, her bloodshot, weary eyes suddenly burst with irrepressible joy.

"Ah! Dalang is awake!"

Madam Zheng hurried to the bedside, set the medicine bowl on the kang table, and reached out to touch Shen Xiuhan's forehead.

Feeling the fever had clearly receded, tears immediately rolled down her cheeks like pearls from a snapped string.

"Thank Heaven and Earth, Heaven has blessed us. My son has finally pulled through..."

"Dalang, drink the medicine quickly. I'll get you something to eat!"

Madam Zheng wiped away her tears joyfully and hurriedly lifted the straw curtain to leave.

The straw curtain fell, then lifted again.

A little head poked in. She was around five or six years old, dressed in a small tattered padded jacket, yellow-faced and thin, with tousled hair.

There was a touch of timidity in her dark, round eyes as she stared at Shen Xiuhan on the bed.

"Big bwother..."

"Eat up, Dalang."

A moment later, Madam Zheng placed a bowl of thin millet porridge on the kang table.

Shen Xiuhan picked up the bowl and took a sip.

Bland and tasteless.

But his empty stomach did feel much better.

After just one sip, he set the bowl down.

For no other reason than...

A little head beside him was staring fixedly at the bowl in his hands.

Her little mouth hung slightly open.

The sound of her swallowing saliva was plainly audible.

Noticing Shen Xiuhan's gaze, the little girl hurriedly turned her head away, not daring to look again.

Shen Xiuhan smiled and pushed the bowl toward the edge of the table.

"Momo, have some too."

The thin porridge in the bowl seemed to have become a feast of mountain and sea delicacies.

The little girl's nostrils flared. Her head turned aside, yet as though tugged by invisible threads, it slowly, involuntarily turned back bit by bit.

Her large eyes stared straight at the porridge, while her little belly let out an utterly uncooperative rumble.

"Th-this is food for Big Bwother to get better... Momo isn't hungry at all!"

Shen Momo swallowed and buried her little face in Madam Zheng's arms, forcing herself not to look.

Madam Zheng's eyes reddened as she gently patted her daughter's back and looked toward Shen Xiuhan.

"Dalang, hurry and eat. Don't mind this greedy little girl."

"Once you recover, this family... will have hope."

Shen Xiuhan's breath caught, his chest tightening. After a pause, he picked up the bowl, tipped back his head, and drained the porridge in one gulp.

Now was not the time for sentimentality.

No matter the cost, he had to first restore strength to this frail body.

Just as Madam Zheng had said, only if Shen Xiuhan could stand again would this family have a way to survive.

After he finished the porridge, Madam Zheng swiftly rinsed the bowl and chopsticks.

When she returned to the thatched hut, her face bore more sorrow. Pinching the corner of her clothes between her fingers, she hesitated again and again before finally speaking with difficulty.

"Dalang..."

"Besides the fishing rent we owe Lord Bai and the money we have to pay for the skiff..."

"A few days ago, when I went into the city to get medicine, I also borrowed two hundred copper coins from Uncle Chen's family..."

"Uncle Chen hasn't pressed us for it, but yesterday I heard Aunt Li say that Chen An wants to learn martial arts. His family must need the money urgently too."

"All added together, our family owes two taels of silver!"

She paused, and her thin body suddenly began to tremble uncontrollably.

"This morning... the White Family's steward came to demand the rent again."

"They said... if we still don't repay the money, they won't just seize me and make me do hard labor at the White Family Cloth Workshop to settle the debt... they'll also... also sell Momo into the city and cast her into the lowly register!"

The lowly register meant slavery!

Great Qi's laws were strict. Once someone fell into the lowly register, they were worse off than even tenant farmers.

They could not take the imperial examinations, could not own property, and could not marry commoners.

Men would be slaves generation after generation, while women would be prostitutes lifetime after lifetime.

Passed down through the generations, with no chance of ever rising again!

Shen Xiuhan could never allow such a thing to happen. His voice was hoarse yet firm.

"I'll find a way."

He was clearly only a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth recovering from a grave illness, yet upon hearing those words, Madam Zheng visibly relaxed a little.

She wiped away her tears, stood, and patted Shen Momo's little head as she instructed her.

"Momo, be good. Listen to your eldest brother at home. Mother has to go to work..."

When Madam Zheng had brought in the bowl earlier, Shen Xiuhan had noticed that her hands were covered in chilblains and cracks.

Those were the marks left by her rising before dawn and working until dark, washing and mending clothes for others to pay for Shen Xiuhan's treatment.

Madam Zheng hurried out.

Shen Xiuhan threw off the covers, put on his clothes, got out of bed, and walked straight toward the adjacent thatched hut.

The Shen Family had three thatched huts in total.

The largest was for living in.

The other two smaller ones served as the kitchen and a side room for storing odds and ends.

In Shen Xiuhan's memories, Shen Sanhuai had personally made him a fishing rod this spring, intending to teach him how to fish for a living.

Sure enough.

The moment he entered the side room, he saw a dusty thin bamboo rod in the corner.

Yellowed hemp rope was wrapped around its tip, with a small iron hook tied to the end.

Simple and crude.

But it was the only tool he currently had to obtain supplies for survival.

"Big Bwother, are you going to catch fishies for Momo to eat?"

A timid child's voice sounded behind him.

The little girl had followed him over at some point, like a little tail.

The instant she saw Shen Xiuhan pick up the fishing rod, her big eyes lit up, and she looked up at him with a face full of expectation.

"Yes, I'm going fishing..."

Shen Xiuhan turned to rub her head, but his pupils suddenly contracted. His expression froze, and his words came to an abrupt halt.

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