Although it was already winter, the rolling Yangtze River water was still rushing towards the sea. Zhang Bengen, a fisherman wearing a shabby cotton jacket with no sign of his true nature, squatting on the bow of his own boat, staring blankly at the transport ships passing by in the river. After winter, the Yangtze River also entered a dry season, and the amount of fish in the river decreased. After a busy day, the fishermen could only barely make ends meet.

Moreover, Zhang Bengen's family is a boatman of the Lian family. The family's grandparents and grandchildren have three generations and five people live on two fishing boats. His father passed away six years ago, and his mother Zhao Feihua is already sixty years old this year. She is in poor health and can only lie in the cabin to rest most of the time. In winter, the wind on the river is fierce and the cold air is so cold that the old lady's life is even more sad. You can often hear your mother's uncomfortable cough, but Zhang Bengen has no choice.

"When will this end in such a day?" Zhang Bengen murmured to himself. It is too expensive to go to the hospital for medical treatment now. Not to mention old fishermen like Zhang Bengen's parents, even in his generation, there are only a few people who can participate in medical insurance. There are only a handful of people participating in national pension insurance. Not only can they have one out of a hundred people. My mother cannot fish now, and even doing housework can only be a short-term errand with light physical strength. Most of the time, not only can she not take care of her family, but she needs her family to take care of her. His wife Li Yumei is also the daughter of the fisherman's family. Compared with them, her parents-in-law's life is only fifty steps and a hundred steps!

Although Zhang Ben↖Chang∠↖Feng∠↖Wen∠↖Gen also has an older brother and a younger sister, she is also the elder brother of the Lian family boatman. Because her parents-in-law’s family is even worse than his, she has three children, and her overall level is not as good as him, so she can’t rely on financially. However, when she married her sister in the county, she would bring her mother one hundred yuan and bring some food and medicine every month. But she could only do this. The family was not very well-off, and she could not take her mother to support her. So although her mother was in poor health, she could only resist at home. Without any choice, she would not go to the health center.

Zhang Bengen has a son and a daughter. The older one is ten years old and the younger one is nine years old, but none of them are going to school. The production and life characteristics of professional fishermen determine that their children's schooling problems are very prominent and the nearby schooling cannot be guaranteed. The cost of cross-regional school selection is expensive and there is no way, especially the Lianjia boatmen who regard boats as their homes. This is even more difficult. Many fishermen's children give up going to school. Even if some children are fostered at relatives' homes, they are unable to complete their studies due to lack of parental management.

Although he had thought about whether to ask the girl to let her son live with her, at least he could go to elementary school, so that he would not know one of them as big as their couple, so that he would be more capable in the future. As for his daughter, he would not dare to think about it at all. But can the girl... be allowed by her parents-in-law?

But even if the girl agreed, how much money can her family spend to support her son to go to school? With the expenses of various fishing, and the income from odd jobs during the fishing ban period, the net income of the couple was only 4,000 yuan a year. They have been wandering on the river for many years. Except for their two children, they have rheumatism and arthritis. It would be good to save a few hundred yuan a year, so what can they use to support their son to go to school? What annoyed Zhang Bengen even more is that their income is still worse than that of one year!

Zhang Bengen couldn't help but remembered the 1970s and 1980s when his father was still there, and he was still young, and there were many fish in the Yangtze River. At that time, when a professional fisherman had a year's annual income far exceeded that of farmers, and it could even be the same as the income of workers. However, in recent years, due to the fewer wild fish in the Yangtze River, the construction of various water conservancy projects, the number of ships ships transported was increasing, and many traditional fishing grounds were squeezed. Coupled with the pollution of the water area, their annual fishing output dropped sharply, and their income naturally decreased year by year.

Moreover, professional fishermen like them have always regarded boats as their homes, and have been relying on fishing for generations to make a living. Although they have agricultural household registrations, they do not have their own land. At that time, there were fishing communities, fishing brigades and fishing villages and other management agencies. However, over the years, these grassroots organizations can be said to be in name only. Many fishermen have never fulfilled their civil rights to participate in the election for many years. Moreover, because they do not have a fixed residence, they cannot enjoy some of the country's agricultural support policies. It can be said that there is no water in breeding, no fish fishing, no land for farming, no way to transfer, and no minimum living allowance! Seeing that farmers whose income and living standards were not as good as themselves, their lives were getting better and better than themselves, they were also full of pain.

Zhang Bengen didn't think about abandoning the boat and going ashore, but they were illiterate. Apart from being able to fish, replenish the nets, and repairing their own boats, they had no other skills. Apart from selling coolies, what can they do when they get ashore? But without a boat and no money to buy a house, what about the family's life? But if it doesn't change, even if the couple is like this for the rest of their lives, what about their son and daughter? Can they still live such a pitiful life when they grow up?

"Bengen, ask Huzi and his brothers to come back to see their mother. Let's try it in the river?" The voice of his wife Li Yumei came from the cabin, interrupting Zhang Bengen's thoughts. They went out to fish at 7 a.m. today, and they didn't come back until 3 p.m., but they had very little harvest. His wife meant to try it in the deep water area of ​​the main channel of the river center. There would be more fish there, but there were ships coming and going there, and the risk of accidents was greater. At least Zhang Bengen himself knew that in the dozens of kilometers of river section downstream of the city, more than a dozen fishing boats that went to the river center were knocked over by the passing boats, and five people died unfortunately. As for the fishing boats that were hit by the rubbing, there was no need to count them.

If there is a choice, Zhang Bengen really doesn't want to go fishing there. He has old people and young people. If something really happens, what should I do with my mother and the child? But look at the pitiful thirty-seven yuan, 50,000 yuan in his pocket, which is all the cash he has. Although there is still 8,000 yuan in the bank, it is the life-saving money for the family. Zhang Bengen will never use it unless he has to.

"Oh! Okay, I'll call them two now!" Zhang Bengen sighed heavily. The difficulties of his family made him look like someone outside his fifties.

"Dad, dad, look, what did we catch?" Zhang Bengen, who had not jumped off the boat, heard his son Zhang Hu's excited scream, and then watched his children run from a distance, holding a net bag in his hand. Something seemed to fall down. When his son came closer, Zhang Bengen saw clearly that there was a big turtle in his son's net bag! He grabbed it in surprise and joy. He looked at the color of the turtle's back and claws. Based on his years of experience, he could conclude that it was a wild turtle.

"Where did you catch it?" Zhang Bengen said happily. The market conditions of wild turtles in the market are very good. If they sell well, it is possible to sell five or six hundred yuan.

"I don't know why my brother got up when he was playing with the water over there." My daughter Zhang Meihua said crisply.

"You are really lucky!" Zhang Bengen smiled. This winter is cold this year, and this turtle should have been hibernating in the mud beside the water, and was caught by his son.

"Dad, it's worth a lot of money. Can you buy medicine for grandma after selling it? Grandma's cough has become very severe recently." Zhang Hu looked at the fishing boat where grandma was located not far away. Zhang Bengen felt sad. Children from poor families had long been in the family, so how could the children in the city worry about this at this age?

"Yes, you can buy medicine for grandma after selling it, and you can also buy some candy for you." Zhang Bengen patted his son's head and smiled. The family is poor, and the child just wants to eat a piece of candy. Unless he has gained better occasionally, he has to wait until the New Year and the Festival.

"Just buy it for my sister. I don't like it, so I'd better buy medicine for my grandma." Zhang Hu licked his lips and said, "Besides, isn't our family still owed a lot of money?"

Zhang Bengen was full of bitterness. His son said he was owed money. In fact, it was the various taxes and fees he had to pay to the government at Niangen. Now fishing in the Yangtze River also required qualifications. Since this part belongs to the government's aquatic products, land, fishery administration, public security and other departments, these fishermen must obtain legal qualifications and apply for sixteen types of documents, and each type of document charges at least a few dozen yuan and at most a hundred yuan! If these documents are not obtained, once they are discovered by the fishing law enforcement officers, they will be fined hundreds at a minimum, and at worst, they will be detained from the fishing boat. Without the fishing boat, the family will have no way to survive. Therefore, although this is a very heavy burden, even the boat people like them can only grit their teeth and pay.

"You little kids don't have to worry about this!" Zhang Bengenqiang smiled and knocked on his son's forehead, "Okay, you and your sister go to the boat to accompany grandma, your mother and I are going to go out of the boat again. By the way, you have to watch out for this guy!"

"Dad, why do you and mom still have to go out of the boat at this time?" asked his daughter Zhang Meihua in confusion. The weather was short in winter. Although Huaiyang Province would not be dark at four or five o'clock in the north, it was quite dark at this time, and it would get dark in another hour.

Zhang Bengen said with a stern face: "There are no children with so many problems. Grandma will make it for you after dinner. Hu Zi, please be careful that your sister wants her to go to bed early!"

"Hey, Dad, look at the people coming over there. Do you want to buy fish?" Zhang Hu suddenly pointed behind Zhang Bengen and shouted. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!