Chapter 2 Lying on the Ice to Seek Carp The second year of Tiansheng, the thirteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, it was a cold winter. The river ten miles east of Yangzhou had already been frozen into ice three feet thick, as solid as iron or stone. The wind is howling and the ice and snow are scraping your bones. At noon, the bright sunshine shines on the earth, but it cannot eliminate the cold. However, there were actually quite a few people gathered beside this cold glacier. Everyone was talking to each other, looking indignant, their eyes fixed on a young man in blue clothes on the ice. On the three-foot ice surface, a handsome boy with an upright figure, about fourteen or fifteen years old, was waving a hoe and hitting the ice surface again and again. The young man's name was Chu Hong, with the courtesy name Zifeng. He was the eldest son of the current governor of Yangzhou and one of the most distinguished young people in Yangzhou. "It's hard to believe! Why did it have to happen this year?" By the frozen river, a chubby little boy frowned slightly, looked at the dancing snowflakes and sighed.
"Yes! These past few days have been exceptionally cold, and the wind and snow have been far more severe than in the past few days. How could this not be heaven's will not go as we wish?" Next to the chubby boy, a younger child nodded in agreement, his expression full of worry: "Big brother has been chiseling ice like this for three days. I'm afraid he will get sick from the cold and heat!" "Hmph! Chu Su, I'm not gossiping, but your head wife, Mrs. Xu, is really unreasonable. She insists on eating fresh fish in the cold winter. Does she have to eat this fish?" The fat boy is Zhang Zhou, the son of the current Yangzhou Tongzhi, and also a good friend of Chu Hong. The younger child is Chu Hong’s half-brother. After saying this, the little fat boy flicked his folding fan lightly, snorted coldly, and his expression was full of dissatisfaction. Half a month ago, a story spread in Yangzhou city that the prefect's second wife, Xu, was seriously ill. While recuperating on her sickbed, she said she wanted to eat fresh fish and kept repeating the same thing for several days. The prefect's eldest son, Chu Hong, has always been filial, so he tried every possible way. But where can we get fresh fish in this winter? Chu Hong was kind and filial, so he had to make soup with the cured fish from previous years, hoping to fulfill his stepmother Xu's wish. It stands to reason that any stepmother would be grateful and treat Chu Hong as her own son for his filial piety. However, unexpectedly, Xu threw the cured fish soup to the ground and said in a fierce tone that she wanted to drink fresh fish soup instead of cured fish soup. It was the coldest time of the year and there was nowhere to buy fish. Chu Hong was a soft-hearted and filial person, so he personally came to the frozen river to chop ice and catch fish. He had been doing this for more than three days. "It is said that Xu was not very kind to Zifeng. Although Zifeng was very filial, she was not grateful." "This? Zifeng is obviously the eldest son in the family, but it is said that the prefect favors the youngest son, and Dalang is not treated well at home." "After all, she is my stepmother's second wife. She was kind and compassionate before she gave birth to a child, but after she gave birth to a child, she became..." "Zifeng is really kind and filial. Even though he was treated so harshly, he still came out alone in such a cold day to make fish for her. If it were me, I would have to..." Chu Hong has always been kind, generous and benevolent to others. He is also very good at studying. He has a great reputation in Yangzhou City, and many onlookers are standing up for him. Everyone was looking at each other and talking. A rich young man who had just arrived could not bear to watch it anymore and prepared to step forward to help. "Zifeng is such a good person, kind and generous, and he never hesitates to answer questions about knowledge. It would be wrong for us to just watch him like this, right?" Chu Su had been watching people's behavior and was prepared. He quickly stepped forward to hold the man and stopped him, saying, "My elder brother said that catching fresh fish to make soup was his intention. A sincere soup is delicious and does not need help to break ice. Since it is my elder brother's intention, it is better not to go forward."
Chu Su spoke loudly, and quite a few of the newly arrived officials' sons heard it. Everyone was quite moved. The eldest son of the prefect did such a thing personally. He was really filial! Everyone looked at the young man in blue on the ice with more admiration, and felt more and more sorry for Chu Hong. However, it’s hard to say much about things like filial piety. You can’t say that people shouldn’t be filial, right? Since people no longer talked about helping, the child Chu Su immediately breathed a sigh of relief. This was something his eldest brother had specifically told him about, and he must not make any mistakes. Zhang Zhou nodded slightly, remembering something, "There was once a man in Jin named Wang Xiang. His mother also wanted to eat fresh fish. Wang Xiang ignored the cold and melted ice with his body to get a carp to comfort his stepmother. When Wang Xiang was young, he lay on the ice to catch carp. He was extremely filial. He was promoted to the position of Grand Commandant and benefited the people. Now Zi Feng is chiseling ice to catch carp. He is no worse than the ancient sages and has the demeanor of an ancient gentleman. He is truly worthy of the elegant title of "Jiangnan Phoenix"!" Most of the onlookers had read the story of "Lying on the Ice to Catch Carp" and all nodded in agreement. Some people who have not read this story naturally nodded along, trying to pretend to be knowledgeable. However, being pretentious is being pretentious. If we were to ask who in Yangzhou best embodies the demeanor of an ancient gentleman, Chu Hong would definitely be the answer in most people's minds. It is impossible to trace where the name "Jiangnan Fengchu" originally came from, but all the scholars in Yangzhou recognized it. …… On the three-foot-thick ice, Chu Hong swung his hoe and hit the thick ice, gasping for breath. The cold air inhaled into his hot body, causing his trachea to hurt a little, and his throat to feel slightly sweet. He was out of breath and felt very uncomfortable. The weather in the past two days was not very good. Chu Hong knew that no matter how hard he tried, it would be difficult for one person to break through the ice. Therefore, he had been just pretending to do it and had not worked hard to break through the ice for a long time like today. Until today when there were signs of clearing up, he hurriedly took advantage of the morning when no one was around to spread fine salt to melt the ice, which made it much easier to chisel. Now, more than half of the three-foot ice surface has been chiseled away. If we make a little more effort, it will be done soon. While Chu Hong was catching his breath, he glanced to the right quietly, and his already exhausted body regained its strength. After three days of publicity, the news that Xu wanted to eat fresh fish spread throughout Yangzhou City. The children of officials, scholars, and people who pretended to be cultured were usually quite idle, but today there were quite a lot of people who came to watch. After taking a short break, Chu Hong picked up the hoe and continued to chisel the ice. It really looked like that. Since most people have arrived, we should naturally perform well. If you do this well and have real talent and knowledge, your future will not be a problem! But, it’s really hard to chisel! Chu Hong frowned. The deep ice surface was not soaked by the high-concentration salt water, so it was not easy to chisel it. How about sprinkling some more? It's already been scattered, a few more handfuls won't make a difference. He immediately glanced at everyone secretly, turned his back to them, controlled his vision, and sprinkled two handfuls of salt. When the ice surface comes into contact with salt, it becomes much easier to chisel. The effect is not bad! Chisel it! ……
(End of this chapter)