Ch 4: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

In Shen Qing’s eyes, his father before he was nine and his father after he was nine were two entirely different people.

When he was little, his father had carried him in his arms, kissed him, and even brought back candy from town—one piece for him and one for his younger brother. In a household where women and gers always got the worst share of food, his father would secretly pass bits of meat under the table to him and his mother.

But after his mother lost the baby and her health declined, his father became silent and distant. Then, after his younger brother died, he changed completely.

Shen Zhigao’s gaze toward them shifted—from frustration to disgust, and eventually to hatred. Shen Qing had never understood where that hatred came from. None of this was his or his mother’s fault—so why did his father look at them like they had ruined his life?

For a long time, Shen Qing had held onto the hope that his old father—the one who carried him and bought him candy—would come back. But after years of disappointment, that hope faded, leaving behind nothing but emptiness.

Now, looking at Shen Zhigao, his father’s bruised face twisted in bitterness, he heard him scoff in irritation.

“I wouldn’t dare accept it. If I let him bow to me, he’ll probably hold a grudge and come after me and my son one day.”

After all the humiliation he had suffered today—being beaten by his former brothers-in-law, having his own child turn against him—he had lost every shred of dignity.

Ah, there it was again. He only cared about his “son.”

Even an unborn son was more important to him than anything else.

Shen Qing let out a quiet, self-deprecating laugh. Now, he only wished he could forget the father who once bought him candy, erase every trace of that man from his memory. He never wanted to feel the slightest bit of softness again. He never wanted to hold onto any illusions.

Kneeling down, he properly kowtowed to Shen Zhigao.

“Father, this is the last time I will call you that. From this moment on, once I step out of this house, we have nothing to do with each other. If we pass each other in the village, we are strangers.”

Shen Zhigao’s face darkened, and he turned his head away.

Village Chief Zhao coughed twice and put on a show of scolding, “What nonsense are you talking about? Even if you’re living separately now, he’s still your father. You should still greet him properly when you see him, no holding grudges, understand?”

Shen Qing didn’t respond, nor did he argue. He simply kowtowed two more times, then stood up and pressed his fingerprint onto the severance document.

Miao Xing and Miao Wang had been waiting for this moment. The second the papers were signed and Shen Qing tucked them into his chest, they led the men from Shiqu Village straight into the house to start moving things. They didn’t hold back—grabbing the best bedding, bowls, and rice sacks.

A year’s worth of food for one person was 350 jin. For two people, that was 700 jin. But not all grain was equal—coarse sorghum and premium rice were both considered “grain,” but their value was vastly different.

The Miao brothers had anticipated this moment. They hadn’t argued over the weight of the grain earlier because they planned to take exactly what they wanted when the time came.

The Shen family was caught completely off guard. They had barely come to terms with losing 700 jin of grain, and they had been hoping to delay the handover. Their plan was to mix in moldy beans, damp flour, and husks to make up the weight. But they never expected the Miao family to skip negotiations altogether. Like bandits, they kicked the door open and started taking what they wanted.

Panicked, the Shen family rushed to stop them.

This time, Old Lady Shen was crying for real. “It’s not even harvest season yet! How do we have so much grain to give them? If they take it all, how will we survive? Heaven strike you down… thieves, a whole bunch of thieves!”

The Miao brothers ignored her and headed straight for the back storage rooms.

Most farming families had little grain left by this time of year. With autumn harvest just around the corner, last year’s stock was nearly depleted. Some families, poor at planning, ran out of food entirely and had to borrow from neighbors until the harvest came in.

Harvesting was exhausting work—vegetables alone wouldn’t sustain a person through it.

Fortunately, the Shen family was relatively well-off. They had kept some extra grain to eat well during the harvest. On top of that, Shen Qing had quietly informed his uncles that the Shen family had grown over two acres of peanuts that year, yielding nearly 500 jin. The crop was stored in the back rooms, waiting to be sold after the rice harvest.

Peanuts were valuable.

Miao Wang led the men straight for the stash, sending the Shen family into a panic. Shen Zhigao tried to block them but was promptly kicked aside by Miao Wang.

“Move! This is what your family owes my sister! We agreed on 700 jin, and 700 jin is what we’ll take! All grain counts—whether it’s rice or peanuts! We’ll weigh it in front of the village chief and Tongsheng Miao—won’t even take an extra jin!”

Village Chief Zhao looked at the chaotic scene and decided he wanted no part of it. The last thing he needed was to get dragged into the middle of a dispute and end up getting punched.

Slowly backing away, he muttered, “I’m going to get the scale. I’ll be right back. Keep packing, but don’t start another fight.”

Being village chief was about keeping order, not strictly enforcing laws. In villages like these, disputes were settled by fists just as often as by reason. Even if he wanted to uphold justice, not everyone would listen to him.

At the end of the day, the real power belonged to those with strong sons and hard fists. The village chief’s job wasn’t to enforce rules—it was to make sure things didn’t spiral too far out of control.

And frankly, Shen Zhigao had crossed the line.

If Miao Shi had been from Lantang Village instead of marrying in from Shiqu Village, things would have been even worse for Shen Zhigao.

In that case, it wouldn’t have just been a few beatings and some grain being taken—his entire house would have been smashed to pieces, and his legs might have been broken, and no one would have pitied him.

As long as no one ended up dead and neither side was completely ruined, the village chief saw no reason to intervene further.

Besides, letting the Shen family suffer a bit now might prevent others from thinking they could get away with similar scandals. If word spread that men could divorce their wives on a whim and take new women without consequence, it would corrupt the morals of the village.

Outside the Shen courtyard, a huge crowd had gathered. The walls were lined with onlookers, craning their necks as if they were watching a festival performance. Not even New Year’s celebrations were this lively.

When they saw Village Chief Zhao coming out, they immediately swarmed him, chattering all at once.

“Village Chief, what’s Qing Ge’er’s family doing in there?”

“What did they agree on? Is Shen Zhigao really going to marry Widow Li?”

“He can’t, right? Would the Miao family let him? Did you see those brothers? They brought a whole army! They beat Shen Zhigao and Shen Zhiwei so badly…”

Some, feeling protective of their own village, grumbled, “Shiqu Village is getting too bold, coming here and throwing punches. Do they think Lantang Village has no men to fight back?”

Others, more level-headed, scoffed, “Shen Zhigao is an idiot. It’s not like he doesn’t have a son—Shen Zhuang could take care of him in old age. Plenty of men married gers who couldn’t bear children, but they didn’t go marrying widows on the side. What kind of fool causes a scandal like this at his age?”

Truthfully, most of them had no idea what was actually happening inside. They had just come to watch the commotion.

Someone laughed, “Of course this is worth watching! How often does something like this happen? You think we get entertainment like this every day?”

The affair between Shen Zhigao and Widow Li had long been the talk of the village—everyone knew about it. What no one had expected was that Shen Zhigao would actually dare to divorce his wife. That was something the village hadn’t seen in over a decade. Lately, the entire village had been gossiping about it over meals. And now, with Miao Shi’s brothers bringing in people from Shiqu Village, the drama had reached its peak.

Seeing that he wouldn’t be able to leave without saying something, Village Chief Zhao let out a sigh and said, “No, he didn’t cast her out—it’s a divorce by mutual agreement. From now on, Qing Ge’er will live separately with his mother. The Shen family is providing some compensation, and they’re currently dividing the grain in the courtyard.”

He swept his gaze over the gathered crowd and warned, “Shen Zhigao did what he did—what’s wrong with his brothers-in-law teaching him a lesson? Let this be a warning to everyone—if you don’t live your life properly and start messing around, don’t be surprised if your wife’s brothers come and beat you up. If anyone here feels bad for Shen Zhigao, they’re welcome to go take a beating in his place. I, for one, have no interest in embarrassing myself like that. Do you think our village and Shiqu Village can continue marrying into each other if we don’t handle this properly?”

Most villagers didn’t really understand the difference between being cast out and a mutual divorce. All they knew was that the two were separating, and that was big news. The crowd immediately erupted in shocked whispers.

“He actually went through with it?”

“The village chief is right—Shen Zhigao’s whole family must’ve lost their minds. After this mess, who in the nearby villages would dare marry into their family? Shen Zhuang is getting older too—this will make finding him a match difficult. We’re not like them, so Village Chief, you better explain things properly to the people from Shiqu Village.”

“We’re all decent people—we wouldn’t do something as shameless as Shen Zhigao.”

“Uncle Shen is a fool. Widow Li isn’t exactly known for being virtuous. Just wait—there’s going to be plenty more drama in the Shen family after this.”

The voices of gossip drifted over the courtyard wall as Shen Qing stepped into his room to pack.

He didn’t own much—his clothes were all old and worn, patched over so many times that one patch lay over another. His sleeves and pant legs were too short. He only had two thin blankets, and the cotton inside was clumped and lumpy. Shen Qing wrapped his clothes inside the blankets, rolling them up neatly, then reached his hand into the hole beneath the kang bed to search for something.

“What are you doing?” Miao Shi had already finished packing. She didn’t have many belongings either, so it hadn’t taken long to bundle up her things into a small, square cloth package. Carrying it, she walked over to see what Shen Qing was up to.

Shen Qing fumbled around for a while before pulling out a string of copper coins covered in dust. It was about two to three hundred wen, neatly threaded together with cotton string.

Miao Shi’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She quickly covered the coins with her hand and whispered anxiously, “Where did this money come from?”

They were at the very bottom of the household hierarchy in the Shen family, doing all the hard and dirty work without ever seeing a single wen. Now, all of a sudden, Shen Qing had taken out so much money—she was terrified that it had been stolen.

“I earned it myself. I cut firewood in the mountains and carried it to town to sell. A load of firewood sells for thirty wen. Sometimes, I caught wild chickens or rabbits, and if they were alive, I could trade them for a good price.”

Shen Qing placed the money into Miao Shi’s bundle and said solemnly, “Mother, don’t worry. I know how to make money. From now on, I will make sure you live a good life. You will never have to suffer again.”

Hearing that the money was earned honestly, Miao Shi finally relaxed. But then, her nose tingled, and her eyes turned red.

Life in the Shen household had been hard—so hard that they had often gone to bed hungry. Shen Qing had always run off into the mountains, sometimes bringing back bird eggs or wild fruit to secretly share with her. She had already thought that was impressive. But now she realized—her son was even more capable than she had imagined. He had actually managed to earn this much money.

She could only imagine how much hardship he had endured to save up this amount.

In these times, even a strong laborer with no connections could barely earn one or two hundred wen a month doing odd jobs in the city. Who knew how long it had taken her son to earn and save this much?

Looking at her son’s bright, determined eyes, Miao Shi—who had been living in constant fear and uncertainty, unable to see any hope for the future—finally, truly felt at ease.

In that moment, she felt a surge of courage and a firm resolve to build a new life.

“Alright,” she said, gripping her son’s hand tightly. “Mother believes you. From now on, we’ll live our own lives, and we’ll live even better than we did in the Shen family!”

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