Ch 13: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Song Kaiji felt Shen Qing’s stiffness and immediately regretted it. He scratched his head and took a step back, switching to holding the compound crossbow himself while teaching Shen Qing the proper posture.

Before the apocalypse, he had joined both the baseball and basketball clubs in college. Most of the members were guys, and it was common to correct each other’s stances, joke around, and have physical contact. He had forgotten that now, in the apocalypse, being wary of strangers was the norm.

Just like how people pushed their teammates toward zombies to escape, it was also common for transactions to turn into killings for loot. That was why the trading zone existed—so people could set up street stalls for safer transactions. At least in public, with the occasional patrol from the base’s security team, fewer people dared to pull dirty tricks.

But he had been too excited about scoring good food and had overstepped some boundaries. After that realization, Song Kaiji became much more cautious and avoided touching Shen Qing again.

The compound crossbow was indeed simple to use. With just a little guidance, Shen Qing quickly got the hang of it, and his accuracy wasn’t bad either. When the lesson ended, Shen Qing let out a deep sigh of relief. This world was entirely different from his own, so its customs and etiquette might also be different. Perhaps Song Kaiji had only been demonstrating in a normal way.

Still, this was the first time he had been in such close contact with a man. Before… if he ever had physical contact with the boys in the village, it was only because his fists were landing on their skin or because he was grabbing their arms and throwing them over his shoulder.

When Song Kaiji had leaned in behind him and their fingers touched, Shen Qing had to use all his self-control to stop himself from jerking away—or kicking Song Kaiji twice.

Now that the lesson was over, Shen Qing’s tense nerves finally relaxed. Yet, for some reason, the part of his hand where Song Kaiji had touched him felt hot. Instinctively, he rubbed it twice and then tucked it behind his back.

He chose six steel-tipped bolts, which left him with an extra seven pounds of food worth in trade. Song Kaiji flipped through his stall, occasionally making suggestions. “What else do you want to trade for? You probably don’t need food, right? How about clothes? These are all brand-name items I collected from malls and specialty stores. I also have shoes.”

Shen Qing’s clothes were clean, and he had been willing to trade an entire basket of food without keeping anything for himself. It was obvious he wasn’t short on supplies. But Song Kaiji really couldn’t stand looking at his outfit—layers of patches on top of patches, the sleeves already fraying.

His shoes were also in poor condition. Even those cheap Old Beijing cloth shoes sold at street stalls for twenty yuan before the apocalypse were better. He didn’t know where this hanfu enthusiast had gotten his outfit from. Song Kaiji rummaged through his spatial storage and found two pairs of old cloth shoes—who knew when he had picked them up? He placed them in front of Shen Qing.

Unlike Shen Qing’s handmade qian ceng di (thousand-layer soles), Song Kaiji’s were just cheap ox-tendon-soled cloth shoes. “Want them? Or would you rather exchange for crystal cores?”

Shen Qing guessed that crystal cores were probably the shiny little stones Song Kaiji had just dug out of the zombie’s head. The thought made his stomach churn with disgust—he absolutely didn’t want them. Originally, he hadn’t planned on getting clothes either. The people here dressed entirely differently from his village, so even if he traded for them, he wouldn’t be able to wear them.

But then he noticed Song Kaiji’s repeated glances at his attire and had an idea. “I’ll take them.”

He first grabbed the two pairs of cloth shoes, then, not knowing how to pick clothes, he secretly glanced at Song Kaiji’s outfit and copied him, selecting a white hoodie, a black windproof jacket, and a pair of dark jeans.

If he planned to return to this world, it would be best to dress like the locals and avoid drawing attention.

Song Kaiji was impressed. This guy actually has pretty good taste. His choices matched Song Kaiji’s aesthetic perfectly. But he was also a little puzzled. “Aren’t you going to check the sizes? Want to try them on and see if they fit?”

Shen Qing’s hand froze. He couldn’t hold back from shooting Song Kaiji a glare.

The people here are too shameless! Asking a ger to try on clothes so casually?!*

Song Kaiji: ?

Why was he suddenly glaring at him like that? What did he say wrong? But Shen Qing quickly looked away, making Song Kaiji wonder if he had imagined it.

“No need. If they don’t fit, I’ll just alter them myself.”

Song Kaiji: ? You can do that?

Shen Qing actually could. Back at the old Shen family’s house, they had treated him like a laborer, making him do all the farm work. But his mother, Miao Shi, thought it would be improper for a ger to know nothing about household skills. She had done her best to teach him whenever she had the chance.

So he knew everything a woman or ger should—cooking, sewing, even tailoring—though his craftsmanship was average at best.

Still, compared to modern folks like Song Kaiji, who relied entirely on industrial production, he was already much more capable. Just by using his fingers to measure, he knew these clothes would fit him. He folded the three pieces of clothing and two pairs of shoes, placing them into his now-empty basket. Song Kaiji totaled the cost at three pounds of food—these were all high-quality, brand-name items that would have cost 700-800 yuan before the apocalypse, with the windproof jacket going for over a thousand. But now, they were only worth three pounds of food.

After all, not changing clothes wouldn’t kill you, but not eating would. The apocalypse had reduced the value of material goods to a primitive level.

With four pounds of food’s worth left, Shen Qing didn’t know what else to trade for. He didn’t recognize many of the items, so his gaze kept drifting toward the gold and silver jewelry.

Song Kaiji was baffled. After the apocalypse, luxury items like jewelry and high-end goods were the first to plummet in value. At first, gold still had some worth, and some ability-user teams even collected it. But as the apocalypse dragged on with no end in sight, its value kept dropping. Just last month, Red City’s official exchange rate was 10 grams of gold for one crystal core.

And three crystal cores could only buy a pound of rice! Even so, it was nearly impossible to sell gold. People were willing to exchange crystal cores for gold, but not the other way around. Only the government still upheld its price.

If even gold was worthless, other jewelry and luxury items were even worse. Saying they were “left on the ground and no one picked them up” wasn’t an exaggeration. But then again, seeing as Shen Qing was someone who could casually bring out fresh hawthorn berries, mushrooms, and wood ear fungus—an obvious “rich guy”—maybe it wasn’t surprising. Rich people could buy whatever they wanted.

Seeing that Shen Qing was just looking and not touching, likely because he didn’t like the styles, Song Kaiji simply dumped his entire stash of jewelry onto the counter. “Pick whatever you like. Take anything except the gold. If you want gold, I’ll give you 50 grams per pound of rice based on black market prices.”

That was already a good deal for Song Kaiji.

Shen Qing watched as Song Kaiji conjured a dazzling pile of gold, silver, and gemstone jewelry, his mind going blank.

Is this even real?!

He stared at it greedily but didn’t dare reach out. What if it was too expensive? What if he accidentally broke something and had to pay for it? But then, Song Kaiji said, “Take whatever you want except the gold.”

He dizzily began picking through the items: delicate and exquisite silver bracelets, jade bangles in a variety of vibrant colors, pearl necklaces with each pearl as large as the tip of a pinky finger…

Shen Qing selected more than a dozen pieces before stopping, feeling a little embarrassed, even thinking he might have been too greedy. As for the gold, whatever Song Kaiji had mentioned about fifty grams went completely over his head, but it didn’t matter. In their village, even the village chief had probably never touched gold before. If he took it, he wouldn’t even know how to spend it. Silver was much more practical!

Yet, Song Kaiji thought he had taken too little—not even enough to match the value of a pound of grain. Seeing that Shen Qing liked silver, he grabbed a handful of silver locks, pendants, and rings, then added four large gold bangles, each weighing over thirty grams, and shoved them into Shen Qing’s hands. “Take them, don’t be polite with me. This is the fair price. If you ever come across more good stuff in the future, just remember me and come find me to trade.”

It took Shen Qing quite a while to pick just a small handful, making Song Kaiji start to wonder—was this Shen Qing deliberately cutting him a deal because he had just saved his life?

To be fair, before the trade, Shen Qing had indeed considered giving Song Kaiji a better price. But now, he was purely in shock—he hadn’t realized that in this world, gold, silver, and gemstones were as cheap as dirt! It finally dawned on him that because of the zombie apocalypse, the economy must have undergone extreme changes—food was more valuable than precious metals! Holding the pile of jewelry in his arms, his face flushed with excitement. He truly felt that Song Kaiji was a good person. He said he was fair in business, and he really was!

Shen Qing packed everything into his basket, and his hand brushed against the cloth bag containing the biscuits. By all accounts, he had been out for more than half a day—way past mealtime. But whether it was due to the constant state of tension or the sheer disgust from witnessing zombies feasting, he didn’t feel hungry at all.

He solemnly nodded at Song Kaiji. “I will definitely come back to trade with you! Where do you usually set up your stall? I want to remember the location so I can find you easily next time. Also… do you like hawthorns? I’ll bring more next time.” There were still plenty of them in the woods back there!

He wasn’t just being polite—he had genuinely made up his mind to continue trading with Song Kaiji. Finding someone trustworthy in a foreign world was no easy feat. Song Kaiji had saved his life, conducted business fairly, and seemed both kind and honest. Rather than wandering around aimlessly like a headless fly, risking exposing himself or being taken advantage of by unscrupulous people, it was better to work with someone reliable.

Song Kaiji was a good man, and Shen Qing wanted to build a good relationship with him. “I have some homemade wild vegetable biscuits here. I want to give them to you—to thank you for saving me earlier.”

Song Kaiji was momentarily stunned. He looked at Shen Qing’s reddened face and the biscuits in his hands. For some reason, he suddenly felt his own face heating up as well.

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