Ch 47: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

The Miao brothers originally thought Shen Qing would give them the remaining half of a wild boar. To their surprise, Shen Qing told them to take an entire one instead. “Even though I don’t plan on selling the meat myself, my mother has a few close friends in the village. If Aunt Yanzi, Uncle Li, and the others want to buy some, they can take it from this half.”

This wasn’t really selling meat for profit. Instead, it was a way for Miao Shi to use it to build and maintain relationships.

Miao Xing rubbed his hands together. “You’re giving us an entire wild boar? That’s way too much! We couldn’t possibly eat all of this.” He was genuinely torn. On one hand, saying he didn’t want it would be a lie—Qing Ge’er had fourteen boars, after all. Giving his uncles one wasn’t too much to ask. After all, he had already given Wu Guixiang and Second Aunt Lian a quarter each. As Qing Ge’er’s blood relatives, wasn’t it only fair that they got a little more?

But on the other hand, the value of an entire wild boar was simply too great!

At current prices, the best pork, with a thick layer of fat, sold for twenty wen per jin. With food being scarce, the fattier the meat, the more expensive it was. Lean cuts and ribs were slightly cheaper but still around fifteen wen per jin. These wild boars didn’t have much fat, so even at a lower estimate, a 400-jin boar—after removing the skin, innards, blood, head, and trotters—could yield at least 250 jin of meat.

Right now, 1,000 wen made up one guan, and 1,500 wen equaled one tael of silver. Just the meat alone was worth over two to three taels of silver.

When Qing Ge’er and Miao Shi returned home last time, they had already brought a whole pork leg and two bolts of fabric. That was already an extremely generous gift! What married daughter ever brought two or three taels’ worth of goods to her maiden family? Ordinary common folk weren’t high-ranking nobles supporting poor relatives—if word got out, wouldn’t they be drowned in the gossip of their neighbors?

Shen Qing said, “If you can’t eat it all, smoke it into preserved pork or salt it to make cured meat. You can eat it slowly over time. Or, if you prefer, you can sell it. Either way, this boar is yours—do with it as you see fit. When my mother divorced, a lot of people in the village came to help. If you really think this is too much, you could cut off three to five jin and gift it to them as thanks. You could also send some to my two aunts’ families.”

Shen Qing had already heard from Miao Shi that Liu Yue’e and Li Yanzi had taken out money to help them. Since they had the means to return the favor, it was only right to show some appreciation. More importantly, their actions proved that they truly cared for them. They weren’t the type to nitpick or be calculating.

But Miao Xing still hesitated. “It’s not about that…”

Shen Qing knew exactly what was troubling him, so he reassured him, “Uncle, don’t think of this as a free handout. You and my cousins have worked hard today, carrying all these wild boars down from the mountain. If we had hired villagers to help, how much would we have to pay them? We’d also owe them a favor. On top of that, to sell these wild boars in town, my mother and I wouldn’t know where to begin. We don’t know which accountants work in the inns or who has connections with the butcher shops. That’s all up to you and Uncle Wang. If anyone gossips, just tell them this is your hard-earned payment.”

The way Shen Qing saw it, the idea that married daughters and gers shouldn’t send valuable goods to their maiden families stemmed from the belief that they had no personal wealth of their own. Even if they toiled in the fields or earned money through embroidery, their earnings were considered part of their husband’s family.

So when they sent gifts to their parents, it was seen as taking their husband’s resources to support their maiden family—something that outsiders viewed as improper.

Right or wrong, that was just the way of the world.

But Miao Shi had no husband anymore, and Shen Qing was unmarried. The so-called “husband’s family” in question simply didn’t exist! So why should they follow such rules?

Their wealth belonged to them alone. They could give it to whomever they pleased, and no one had any right to question them.

Besides, Shen Qing planned to bring them along on his future ventures. If they kept refusing and hesitating every time, wouldn’t that be a hassle? He wanted them to start getting used to this—to stop thinking that what they were getting was too much.

With that in mind, Shen Qing joked, “If you still think it’s too much, then my mother and I won’t bring anything when we visit for the New Year. We’ll just show up empty-handed, eat and drink to our heart’s content, and save ourselves the trouble of carrying things. Just think of this as an early New Year’s gift.”

With things put that way, and with Miao Shi urging them as well, Miao Xing and Miao Wang exchanged glances before finally agreeing. “Alright then! We’ll take care of selling the wild boars. We won’t let you get cheated!”

The two brothers were honest and loyal men. Once they set their minds to something, they did it properly. With it being the slow season for farm work, they threw themselves into this new “business” as if it were a full-time job.

And within just three days, they returned with an astonishing forty taels of silver, surprising even Shen Qing. Even if they sold an entire boar for three taels, it still wouldn’t add up to this much.

Miao Xing scratched his head sheepishly, though his tone carried a hint of pride. “A lot of our villagers work in town in different trades. I figured selling whole boars wasn’t the most profitable way to do it, so I asked around a bit. We just put in a little more effort.”

They cleaned up the wild boars properly, then sold the bristles to brush-makers, the hides to leatherworkers, and even the heads—since many wealthy households needed pig heads for offerings during the New Year. Wild boar heads, in particular, looked more impressive, so people were eager to buy them.

Taking advantage of this, they also sold the head from their own wild boar. Just one pig’s head could fetch a whole tael of silver! Even if restaurants tried to haggle down the meat prices, it still balanced out.

Miao Wang added, “Doesn’t Qing Ge’er still have four pig heads at home? If you haven’t eaten them yet, bring them over. We’ve had several people asking if there are more!”

Shen Qing hadn’t expected that his two burly uncles—who seemed like they only knew brute strength—would turn out to be so business-savvy. More importantly, with so many people from Shiqu Village working in town, they actually had the right connections!

“We haven’t touched them. They’re still hanging under the eaves. Take them with you when you leave,” Shen Qing said. Lately, they had been so busy with fresh meat that they hadn’t had time to deal with the pig heads.

Miao Shi had been hosting a few close friends every day—smoking bacon, making sausages, wrapping dumplings, steaming buns. Meanwhile, Shen Qing had been assigned to chopping meat fillings, to the point where his arms felt like they were going to fall off.

Looking at his uncles’ sturdy arms, Shen Qing suddenly had an idea. “Since you two are here, you might as well help out. Come on, come on, let’s put those strong arms to work!”

———

Shiqu Village and Lantang Village were neighboring villages, and many families were related by marriage. With the Miao brothers running all over town, selling bristles, hides, and pig heads, their large-scale efforts quickly made waves back in Lantang Village.

Lately, the most talked-about topic in the village was Shen Qing and the wild boars! At first, everyone speculated about how Qing Ge’er had managed to kill them. But soon, the conversation started shifting toward money.

“How much do you think those ten or so wild boars sold for?”

“I heard Qing Ge’er only sold ten of them and kept quite a few for himself. Those ten alone must have gone for at least twenty taels!”

“Twenty taels? My sister-in-law’s family is from Shiqu Village, and she said the Miao brothers sold a single boar’s head for one whole tael!”

“Hiss—then… wouldn’t that mean he made thirty taels?”

“Even if it wasn’t thirty, it wouldn’t be much less.” The woman speaking glanced in the direction of the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain. It was hard to tell whether her tone carried more envy or jealousy. “We farmers work ourselves to the bone all year, and after keeping enough for our own family, we’re lucky to sell five taels of silver. But Qing Ge’er made nearly thirty in just a single day!”

“He didn’t earn it in just one day. He put in a lot of effort preparing beforehand. You didn’t know? Miao Chunlei had a few close friends help her twist ropes for the traps—that was all for catching the wild boars. She even paid them for their work! And then there was that grain cart that came to the village delivering rice husks. That was specially bought to lure the boars. I heard they spent nearly one whole guan on that alone!”

“Then their family must have at least twenty-five taels left.” The woman counted on her fingers before sighing. “You know, Miao Chunlei really did believe in Qing Ge’er. If my boy came to me saying he needed a guan of silver to buy rice husks to catch wild boars, I’d slap the water out of his head!”

“That’s why some people are meant to make money, while the rest of us wouldn’t dare even if the opportunity was right in front of us. We just don’t have that kind of luck!”

The group of villagers continued their lively chatter, shifting the conversation to the mouthwatering scent of meat that now lingered daily over the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

That was just how things were in the village. If someone’s hens laid more eggs than usual or if someone’s fields yielded an extra bushel of grain, the entire village would know about it. Nothing could be kept a secret. And when it came to money, people didn’t even need to see your purse—everyone was already calculating how much silver you had, maybe not down to the last coin, but close enough.

Even though no one had figured out the exact amount Shen Qing made from selling wild boars, they all knew it was a hefty sum. And as the news of him hunting the boars spread farther and farther beyond the village, even reaching the neighboring towns, something unexpected happened—

One day, while Shen Qing was stuck in the kitchen, endlessly chopping meat for dumpling filling, a matchmaker came knocking at his door.

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