The Prefect's Daughters

"Well now, well now..."

After understanding the situation, Tran Mac couldn't help but exclaim, "Well now!"

According to this tax law, if you caught fifty kilograms of fish and wanted to take them home, you would have to pay an initial ten wen, plus one wen for every ten catties, which would amount to twenty wen.

If the fish in Dai Dong Lake were raised by the Thanh Ha Bang, then paying this sum would be understandable.

But these fish were all natural resources; the Thanh Ha Bang was essentially running a no-cost business, yet they were imposing such a heavy tax.

Of course, if you really did catch fifty kilograms of fish, you would definitely make a profit.

Dai Dong Lake was famous for three types of fish, which also sold for the highest prices.

They were, in order, carp, Dai Dong Silver Fish, and Sapo fish.

Among them, carp was even hailed as a delicacy for nobles, its price driven up to one hundred wen per catty.

Next were the Dai Dong Silver Fish and Sapo fish.

Even if you didn't catch any of these three types, and all you caught were common herring or grass carp, based on the average price of five wen per catty during peaceful times, that would still be five hundred wen – a handsome profit, one might say.

However, could you catch fifty kilograms of fish goods within three watch-hours (six hours)?

And in the middle of winter, no less.

Tran Mac had also been fishing before, but the number of times he returned empty-handed was relatively high. To save face, he would buy a fish from the market every time he went home.

However, modern fishing resources were already scarce; he didn't know what the fish situation in Dai Dong Lake was like.

"Truong Ha, have you ever fished?" Tran Mac asked.

Truong Ha nodded slightly: "Brother Mac, not only have I fished, I've also gone into the river to catch fish."

For rural children, leading dogs on land and groping for fish in the river were their childhood.

Apart from not being able to study, they were all devilishly good at these kinds of fun activities.

Of course, they couldn't afford to study either.

"Then you must know how to make fishing rods. Make sure to prepare several more; I'll have a task for you then," Tran Mac said.

It was currently the end of the twelfth month; there were still more than two months until the start of spring.

From the previous hunt of the Black Bear, after removing the bones, organs, skinning it, and draining the blood, there were nearly two hundred catties of meat left, and over fifty catties of bear blood.

This was fundamentally insufficient for him to cultivate his Blood Nurturing Technique to the eighth rank.

Dai Trach Mountain was snowed in; to obtain meat, he could only rely on buying it or fishing.

Buying meat was too extravagant; half a string of coins couldn't even buy ten catties of meat.

Moreover, ten catties of meat weren't even enough for his daily consumption.

After becoming a martial artist, he now maintained a daily intake of fifteen catties of meat and five catties of bear blood.

"Right away, Brother Mac."

...

Two days later.

Han An Nuong draped the preliminarily tanned marten pelt over Tran Mac's body, then Tran Mac pulled his cotton-padded jacket over it.

"Uncle, early... leave early and return early. If you encounter that madwoman again, just take a detour," Han An Nuong said gently, helping Tran Mac fasten the buttons of his lapel.

"Mm."

Tran Mac picked up a bundle, strapping it to his back. Inside was the bearskin; it was too large to hide on his person, so he could only cover it up and carry it.

Just as Tran Mac turned to leave.

Han An Nuong suddenly hugged him from behind.

"Uncle, I still don't want you to go into town." Han An Nuong was still terrified by the incident where Tran Mac had been injured the first time.

Her husband had long since departed from this world, and she had no relatives left in her maternal family. At present, only Tran Mac, this young brother-in-law, could she rely on.

Moreover, the two had become intimately connected, and Han An Nuong's reliance on him had deepened even further.

Tran Mac knew what she was worried about. He turned around, cupped Han An Nuong's face, and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, don't worry. To her, it was probably just casually striking a commoner; she wouldn't have taken it to heart. It's impossible that she would specifically seek me out to whip me a few more times."

...

In the rear courtyard of a residence, within a pavilion.

This pavilion was close to the street, situated in the best area of Binh Dinh County.

This residence was originally a gift from the local gentry to the County Magistrate, who, in order to curry favor with the Prefect, had in turn vacated it and given it to the Prefect's two daughters to live in.

On the top floor of the pavilion, two young women, one in black and one in white, were present. The latter sat primly and virtuously behind a long table, upon which rested a zither. Her long, slender, jade-like fingers danced across the strings. The former held a long sword, her posture heroic, a hint of cold arrogance in her brows, as she brandished her sword in a dance to the music.

The two women were around twenty years of age, their faces eight or nine parts similar, as if cast from the same mold.

However, the sword dance didn't last long. The black-clad woman lost interest, threw the long sword in her hand to the ground with a "clang," then paced back and forth in front of the white-clad woman.

"Sister, I can't stand it anymore! How much longer do we have to stay here? This place is so cold, the environment is so filthy, and last night I even saw someone directly dumping night soil onto the street! It simply stank to high heaven! If you hadn't stopped me then, sister, I would have gone over and chopped that commoner up.

It's nothing like Nam Duong. The people here are incredibly boring too. Why on earth did Father insist on us coming here..."

Ha Chi Ngung vented to her older sister, Ha Chi Tinh, about all the shortcomings of Binh Dinh County.

Nam Duong, the largest and most prosperous city in Thanh Chau.

"Chi Ngung, this isn't Nam Duong. Without Father's protection, with your impetuous and rash manner, sooner or later you will suffer for it." Her sister, Ha Chi Tinh, stopped her hands and sighed.

"What's there to fear?" Ha Chi Ngung sat down on the spot behind the long table in front of Ha Chi Tinh, raising her proud swan-like neck, an expression of looking down on this small place. "In a small county town like Binh Dinh, the strongest person is merely a seventh-rank martial artist. With Guard Lu around, who is there to fear?"

Ha Chi Tinh shook her head and said, "Throughout our Great Song territory, there are crouching tigers and hidden dragons, capable people and extraordinary individuals everywhere. Otherwise, the northern rebels wouldn't have gained such power, and now they even threaten Thanh Chau.

Father is worried that Nam Duong cannot be defended, afraid that you and I will be harmed, so he dispatched Guard Lu to escort us two to Binh Dinh County. Magistrate Thuong is Father's protégé; he can take care of us."

Hearing this, Ha Chi Ngung was startled: "Nam Duong has a hundred thousand of Thanh Chau's elite troops. The rebels are just a rabble formed by commoners. How could it not be defended?"

Ha Chi Ngung's childhood dream was to become a general, to go to battle and kill enemies. Therefore, she had studied military strategy since she was young. However, being but a woman, there was ultimately no way to serve the country. In the over four hundred years of the Great Song, there had never been a female general.

"Father... is just worried," Ha Chi Tinh's delicate brows furrowed slightly.

"Then why don't we go to the capital? Isn't the capital safer?"

A look of longing appeared in Ha Chi Ngung's eyes. She had stayed in the capital for several years during her childhood. The capital was bustling and prosperous, surpassing even Nam Duong. There was no night curfew. There, literati and scholars, in martial prowess, could mount a horse to pacify the world; in literature, they could wield a brush to shape the universe. Those were true men.

Ha Chi Tinh glanced at her younger sister: "Father is the Prefect of Thanh Chau. In this current situation, if we go to the capital, do you want Father to be impeached?"