Ch 22: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

The village rules of Lantang Village did indeed include such a provision. In fact, the village chief’s family had an ancestral village chronicle that had been passed down through generations, with these regulations written in black and white.

Other nearby villages had similar rules, though only the most strictly governed villages would actually enforce them. After all, everyone in the village was connected in some way—some were distant relatives, others saw each other every day. Drowning someone as punishment was simply too harsh for most people to carry out. Typically, the punishment was a severe beating, financial compensation, or, at most, expelling the offender from the village.

Fortunately, since Zhao Youdang took over as village chief, nothing of this sort had ever happened. Shen Zhigao was the first.

Wu Guixiang had only brought up the village rules because she was thoroughly enraged by Old Lady Shen. If Old Lady Shen wanted to talk about fairness, then fine—she’d show her what true fairness was. If they truly followed the village rules, then whatever happened was well justified, and no one would have any complaints.

Seeing that Wu Guixiang was genuinely angry, the Shen family, who had remained silent and out of sight while Old Lady Shen threw a tantrum, suddenly emerged from nowhere.

Shen Zhigao squeezed through the crowd, grabbed Old Lady Shen, and tried to drag her away.
“Mother, why are you here? The food at home isn’t even cooked yet—Father’s getting really anxious!”

He acted as if he had no idea what had happened, as if he had just come to fetch his mother for dinner. Ignoring Old Lady Shen’s struggles, he hauled her up and then forced himself to put on a smile as he turned to Zhao Youdang:
“It’s all just a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. We didn’t even know my mother came here! My father is furious at home—this can’t happen again.”

At that moment, Shen Zhigao was terrified. He was also resenting Old Lady Shen—causing trouble with Miao Shi and Shen Qing was one thing, but why the hell did she have to insult Wu Guixiang as well? Did she think Wu Guixiang was someone to be messed with?

Now that Wu Guixiang was fixated on village rules, the consequences could be severe. Forget drowning or exile—even a beating was something he wanted to avoid.

His resentment toward Old Lady Shen only deepened.

Zhao Youdang let out a cold snort, clearly not planning to let them off so easily. Old Lady Shen had insulted his wife and then had the nerve to lecture him—was she trying to humiliate him in front of everyone?

He was not like those men who dismissed their wives’ grievances, thinking that standing up for their women was somehow beneath them. To insult his wife was to disrespect him.

And if someone trampled all over his dignity, and he still defended Shen Zhigao, then what would that make him? A complete fool.

“Lately, the village has been making sweet potato starch noodles. You go to the workshop and grind for ten days—don’t even think about slacking off! From now on, no one from the Shen family is allowed to go to Miao Shi and Qing Ge’er’s house. If I catch any of you bothering them again, you’ll take the forty-board beating according to village rules before we even talk!”

Shen Zhigao felt like crying, but at this moment, he didn’t dare to say a word and could only agree. The villagers, however, were overjoyed. During winter, every household made sweet potato starch noodles, which tasted especially good when stewed with cabbage or pickled vegetables!

The first step in making starch noodles was to wash the sweet potatoes and grind them into a slurry. This was hard labor! The village had a large communal stone mill. On normal days, families took turns grinding grain or sweet potatoes into starch. The village had even built a house and fenced off a yard, turning it into a small workshop where people could grind, filter, and dry their starch.

Now, Zhao Youdang had sentenced Shen Zhigao to push the mill for ten days, grinding starch for the entire village.

Having someone else do the milling was much better than wearing themselves out! Even those who had already made their starch noodles this year felt it was a pity and started thinking about making more—after all, missing out on this kind of free labor would be a waste! Everyone praised Zhao Youdang, saying:

“The village chief handled this matter both fairly and mercifully. If Shen Zhigao and that widow had just gotten away with their filth, wouldn’t everyone in the village start following their example? What would our village become then!”

“I haven’t even dared to visit relatives in other villages lately—too embarrassing! One person disgracing the village drags us all down!”

“That’s nothing! My son was about to propose a match. We had already settled on a ger from Xiahe Village, but as soon as this scandal broke, their family backed out! They think our village has bad morals and will mistreat their ger. What a mess! Now that the village chief has punished Shen Zhigao, I need to get the matchmaker to spread the word—our village isn’t unreasonable!”

“Alright, alright, everyone disperse! Go home and wash your sweet potatoes so you’re ready for tomorrow morning at the workshop. Keep an eye on Shen Zhigao—if he slacks off, just come tell me!”

Seeing Shen Zhigao dragging along the still-protesting Old Lady Shen as they walked away, Wu Guixiang turned to support Miao Shi. “What are you planning to do? Keep selling the meat, or take a break and decide tomorrow?”

Even though some people still wanted to buy meat, they saw how exhausted and tear-streaked Miao Shi looked, so they were understanding. “Go home and rest! We’ll come back tomorrow morning. The weather is cold, the meat will keep just fine overnight—it might even freeze a bit!”

Since the buyers had said so, Miao Shi nodded in agreement. But as soon as they talked about the meat, she suddenly remembered something and slapped her thigh in alarm.

“Oh no! My snow vegetable braised pork is still steaming on the stove!”

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