Ch 121: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Zero deposit and installment withdrawal? His partner was right here—whenever he wanted to kiss him, he would kiss him!

Shen Qing grabbed Song Kaiji and ran back to the villa, then immediately pressed him against the wall and started kissing him. It wasn’t long before Song Kaiji turned the tables and pinned Shen Qing against the wall instead, kissing him for a long time.

Qu Weiwei had just woken up from a nap and was about to go downstairs to find something to eat when she stumbled upon the two of them locked in an embrace at the entrance. Without a word, she silently retreated back upstairs.

Now this is normal! Qu Weiwei thought. It’s the apocalypse—there’s no time to waste on slow-burn romance!

Even Song Kaiji was caught off guard by the enthusiasm of an ancient-era person. He had just meant to tease a little, hoping to get a taste of sweetness. If not, even just seeing Shen Qing blush would have been amusing enough. Who would have thought that Shen Qing would give him such a huge surprise instead?

The two of them were wrapped up in each other for a while, their breaths unsteady by the time they finally stopped. Song Kaiji pressed his forehead against Shen Qing’s and chuckled, “I thought… people from your world would be more conservative.”

Shen Qing tilted his head in thought. He had been listening to a lot of books and watching dramas lately, absorbing a flood of new information. The more he learned, the more things became clear to him. In reality, his “ancient world” wasn’t as conservative as modern people imagined or as depicted in period dramas.

Take himself, for example. In his village, most people his age were already parents. Who hadn’t done that before? In marriages arranged between people who had never even met, they were expected to roll into bed together on the very first night. There wasn’t even a period to get familiar with each other—did that seem conservative to Song Kaiji?

Looking at Shen Qing’s slender, graceful neck, Song Kaiji couldn’t resist leaning in again. Shen Qing winced slightly at the sensation but didn’t push him away, allowing him to do as he pleased.

His village, or rather, his entire world, had an extremely contradictory attitude toward that kind of thing.

Middle-aged women and fulangs would gather at the village entrance to discuss it openly—sharing experiences, comparing their husbands’ performance. Young married couples, lacking space at home, would sneak off into the haystacks or sorghum fields. Some families would even force a reluctant bride or fulang into consummation, pinning them down to ensure the son could do what needed to be done… To Song Kaiji’s modern sensibilities, such things were unimaginable.

This world valued privacy and had a much stronger sense of modesty and shame compared to his own.

In Lantang Village, intimacy was not just about pleasure—it was a duty, a responsibility for producing heirs. Once someone was married, it became an acceptable topic of conversation, something one could openly discuss. Shame? Perhaps there was some, but that same sense of shame could even make things more exciting, leading to lively discussions filled with animated expressions.

Yet, for unmarried girls and gers, discussing such topics was strictly forbidden. They weren’t allowed to speak too much with young men; even a slight accidental touch on the arm could bring ruin to their reputation. Rolling up their sleeves too high while washing clothes could invite gossip. But once they were married—especially after having children—these restrictions practically disappeared. Some bold middle-aged women even dared to joke suggestively with men.

This contradiction had long puzzled Shen Qing. He had thought about it for a long time before finally grasping a part of the answer: the act itself was never the issue. His world was never truly conservative. The restrictions placed on unmarried women and gers all stemmed from men’s fear of being cuckolded.

There were no paternity tests in his world, no way to verify if a child was truly the husband’s. The only way to ensure a wife or fulang wasn’t bearing another man’s child was to enforce extreme social restrictions, preventing them from interacting with other men altogether.

In the village, countless eyes watched over the girls and gers, keeping them in check with relentless gossip and rumors. In wealthier city households, they were confined within the walls of their homes, some even locked away in embroidered towers, unable to leave before marriage.

No one ever judged a widow’s virtue if her husband had died. In villages where men couldn’t afford brides, widows were in high demand. The moment their mourning period ended, matchmakers lined up at their doors. But a young woman who had been tainted by scandal? She would be scrutinized and scorned.

His village was never truly conservative. It simply had rules—rules that benefited men while restricting women and gers.

The reason people avoided making inappropriate jokes or public displays of affection was not because of inherent modesty—it was to prevent unmarried girls and gers from being exposed to such things and becoming aware of them. Most families had sons to marry off someday. No one wanted a “restless” wife. If a girl had listened to too many conversations and learned too much before marriage, what if she had an affair? What if she got pregnant before marriage? The husband’s entire family fortune could end up supporting another man’s child.

This fear bound them all together in a shared interest—men collectively upheld these restrictions to protect themselves.

But when it came to the act itself, behind closed doors… let’s just say, some of their “techniques” would shock modern people.

Shen Qing had grown up surrounded by this ideology, once fully trapped within it. He had longed for Song Kaiji to come to Lantang Village, to marry him there, and then live a beautiful life together afterward. Every one of his fantasies about their future was rooted in getting married first.

But now that he had been exposed to modern ways of thinking, he found himself developing a bit of resistance toward the idea of marriage.

What was marriage, really? Maybe in modern times, it was seen as a celebration of love. But in Lantang Village, marriage—at least in Shen Qing’s eyes—was nothing more than a ceremony in which a person was transferred from one household to another, a ritual marking their change in ownership.

Whether it was women and gers marrying into a family or men becoming live-in sons-in-law, only through the ritual of marriage, by formally becoming part of a household and an attachment to a family, would people feel “secure.” Only after having children could they truly integrate, be accepted, and put others at ease.

Shen Qing loosened his collar slightly and wrapped his arms around Song Kaiji’s neck. “Can you?”

“?” Song Kaiji lifted his head from Shen Qing’s neck. “Can what?”

“That.” Shen Qing thought to himself, To hell with chastity. He had come to this new world, and he wanted to be a free person. His body, his spirit—he wouldn’t let any rule bind him anymore. If one day he wanted to marry Song Kaiji, it would only be because he liked him.

Not because he belonged to anyone.

Song Kaiji felt like he was about to be knocked out by the sheer shock of it all, so stunned that he didn’t even know how to react. At this moment, he was actually less mature than Shen Qing. In Lantang Village, gers Shen Qing’s age usually already had children, but in the modern world, people Song Kaiji’s age were still just students, not even out of school yet!

“I—I…” The pure-hearted university boy who had lived in an ivory tower stammered, “Can I?”

He had been clinging to Shen Qing ever since they walked in, but now he suddenly backed away slightly.

Shen Qing looked at him in disbelief. “You can’t?” After all that kissing, now, at the final moment, Song Kaiji was backing off—what did that even mean?

Song Kaiji hastily explained, flustered, “No, no! Just—just like this? Shouldn’t we at least do something more formal, like have a wedding first…?” He loved Shen Qing, so of course, he didn’t want to treat him lightly. He wanted to give Shen Qing the best of everything. Wouldn’t this be too casual?

Marriage again. Shen Qing frowned. “Why didn’t Xiao Tang and Qi Zhan have a wedding?”

“…Aren’t we different from them?” Song Kaiji was at a loss and scratched his head in confusion. Those two… to put it bluntly, who knows how long they’ll even last? But he was different—he wanted to spend forever with Shen Qing.

“Whatever, do as you like.” Shen Qing felt a little annoyed. He had finally figured something out and wanted to rebel for once, only for Song Kaiji not to cooperate. It put a damper on his mood. The desire to keep kissing vanished, and he pushed Song Kaiji away slightly before turning to go upstairs.

Song Kaiji stood frozen for a second, locked in an internal struggle. He genuinely felt that waiting until after a wedding was the proper way to show respect to Shen Qing. But… but Shen Qing was the one bringing it up first… Maybe respecting his wishes was the real way to show respect?

Within a few strides, he caught up to Shen Qing and hoisted him over his shoulder. “You’re serious about this, huh? Don’t regret it… and don’t complain if it hurts!”

Shen Qing, dangling upside down over Song Kaiji’s shoulder, felt a dizzying rush. He smacked Song Kaiji’s rear. “Just hurry up and stop talking. I took a hit from a wild boar and didn’t even cry out!”

Song Kaiji: “…” Am I comparable to a wild boar?

In the end, Shen Qing did go back on his words. Song Kaiji’s first attempt was a little lackluster—so much so that he blushed in pure embarrassment. But by the second time, he had gotten the hang of it, and Shen Qing felt like he was adrift on a small boat in the ocean, floating and sinking in waves.

His eyes were damp, and he wasn’t sure how many tears had fallen. Song Kaiji’s silhouette blurred before him. “So, who hurt you more? Me or the wild boar?”

Shen Qing smacked Song Kaiji’s handsome face.

After that night, Song Kaiji officially moved into Shen Qing’s room, freeing up an extra space. Before, Yu Le had been squeezing into a room with Qu Weiwei, but now the newly available room gave her a space of her own.

The two of them no longer hid their relationship at all, stuck to each other like glue every day. Even Qi Zhan was getting a toothache just watching them. Ge Bingbing frowned, covering her daughter’s eyes. “Can you two tone it down? Don’t corrupt the child.”

Looking at the little girl with her eyes covered, Shen Qing suddenly thought of his younger self, as well as the other girls and gers in the village who had also been kept in ignorance, their ears plugged and their eyes shielded. But unlike the little girl, they weren’t children anymore.

He wanted to open his eyes and see the world clearly. He wanted to know everything, to be able to judge and choose for himself. He wanted to have full control over his own body and spirit, to live with a will that could not be stopped by anyone or anything.

And so, Shen Qing didn’t regret anything. He simply smiled and hooked his pinky with Song Kaiji’s under the table.

There were faint dark circles under Song Kaiji’s eyes, but he still looked exhilarated and happy. He had definitely underestimated Shen Qing. He thought that even if ancient people were bold, they wouldn’t be able to match the variety of modern times—at the very least, Shen Qing shouldn’t have had as many resources to learn from! But who knew Shen Qing was a prodigy, picking up new things at a terrifying speed? Ever since their first time, he had started taking the lead.

On top of that, Shen Qing had done farm work since childhood—his stamina was insane. Meanwhile, Song Kaiji was just a regular university student who had spent most of his life sitting in classrooms!

Thank god I used to play baseball! Otherwise…!

Song Kaiji clenched Shen Qing’s fingers tightly in return, eyes burning with competitiveness. Tonight, just wait for me!

Zhang Sujuan glanced between the two of them, hesitated, then finally sighed and silently ladled an extra bowl of soup for Song Kaiji. It wasn’t favoritism—she was just really worried that if Shen Qing kept supplementing his strength like this, her son might not be able to handle it…

Meanwhile, Sun Cheng dragged his exhausted body back to the tiny tin shack they rented.

Originally, their family had been renting a small apartment—not as nice as the one Shen Qing’s team provided in the outer city, just a cramped 30-square-meter studio. Though a bit crowded, at least the living conditions were decent.

But ever since Ge Bingbing left with her daughter and father, Sun Cheng could no longer afford the rent on his own. They had no choice but to give up the apartment and cram into a small metal shack.

Ever since they moved, their living conditions had plummeted, and their quality of life had taken a nosedive. Sun Cheng’s ears were now constantly filled with complaints.

Before, with him and Ge Bingbing both working, their combined abilities—one ice-type, one fire-type—made it easy to pick up odd jobs with other ability teams. But since Ge Bingbing left, half of his work opportunities disappeared. Her ability had been a level higher than his to begin with.

Even their usual clients had stopped coming to him. Now, when he looked for work, not only were there fewer employers willing to hire him, but the ones who were all wanted to underpay him.

Yu Le had come looking for him twice, saying he could join the outer city team temporarily. At the very least, it covered food and shelter, which was already a good deal. But Sun Xian didn’t want to work, and his parents enabled him, completely ruining the opportunity.

Without a place in Shen Qing’s team, Sun Cheng’s father naturally refused to go mining for crystals either. Now, the entire family’s livelihood was resting solely on him.

Sun Cheng had never felt so exhausted before. In less than a month, he felt like he had aged several years, his back permanently hunched over. He threw a plastic bag onto the table and collapsed onto his makeshift bed, which was just two wooden boards set over a pair of benches.

His mother checked the bag—inside were just three coarse grain flatbreads. She pursed her lips and asked hesitantly, “Have you eaten?”

Sun Cheng didn’t respond.

His mother hesitated, then split the three flatbreads into halves, scooping up three bowls of soup—just some water with a few wilted vegetable leaves floating in it.

At the table, Sun Xian only took one look at the meal and frowned. “We’ve been eating these coarse grain flatbreads for almost a week now…”

The room remained silent for a long time before Mother Sun finally spoke. “Ah Cheng, tomorrow, go find Bingbing, apologize to her, and bring her back. Your brother was immature before, but he knows he was wrong now. It won’t happen again.”

Having suffered enough, Mother Sun had finally gained some clarity. Before the apocalypse, she had treated Ge Bingbing well, cherished her, and naturally considered her as part of the family. Since she was family, wasn’t it normal to support each other? Before the apocalypse, she had cared for Ge Bingbing during her postpartum recovery, helped raise her child, contributed money and effort, and supported Ge Bingbing’s career. Now, after the apocalypse, why was it wrong for Ge Bingbing to support them?

When Ge Bingbing left with her daughter and father, Mother Sun’s first reaction wasn’t self-reflection—it was anger, even heartbreak! She had treated Ge Bingbing like her own daughter, yet Ge Bingbing had turned around and held her accountable! Apart from Nannan, the only other child in the house was Sun Xian. Was it really such a big deal if two children fought over food?

But after more than a week of eating nothing but coarse grain flatbreads, she had sobered up a little. To say she truly realized her mistakes wouldn’t be accurate, but she did come to understand—this family couldn’t survive without Ge Bingbing!

Just look at their life now—it had been less than a month, and they were already struggling like this. Right now, they were under someone else’s roof and had no choice but to bow their heads. She could only ask Sun Xian to make a small concession in the future and give in to Nannan a little.

Sun Cheng still lay there without speaking.

Father Sun tapped his chopsticks on the table. “Your mother is talking to you!”

Sun Cheng sat up abruptly. “Dad, Mom, I met someone on a mission before—Chen Jiaxi. Her husband is working on building the base’s outer walls. The base is planning to expand its territory, and they’ve been hiring a lot of workers recently. The wages have also gone up. They’re offering five coarse grain flatbreads a day. If I ask her, maybe she can help introduce Sun Xian. Building walls doesn’t involve facing zombies.”

Mother Sun hesitated and didn’t respond immediately. “I was talking about Bingbing. Why are you bringing this up? Just apologize to Bingbing, lower your head, and bring her back. Weren’t we all living well before?”

Sun Cheng felt deeply disappointed. He lowered his head. “What did I do wrong that I have to apologize to Bingbing?”

“She’s a woman; she needs to be coaxed. You bow your head and coax her a little—what do you lose? We’re family. But Bingbing, she’s really too cruel, taking Nannan away like this. Does she plan to never let Nannan have a father?” Mother Sun muttered, picking up the vegetable leaf from her bowl and placing it into Sun Xian’s bowl.

“I’m not unwilling to coax Bingbing,” Sun Cheng said, “but was I the one who did something wrong? Am I the one who should apologize? Would it even work?… Bingbing won’t come back.” Maybe before, things would have been different, but after Ge Bingbing absorbed that human crystal core and changed completely, she would no longer be fooled by such things.

Sun Cheng let out a self-mocking laugh. Yes, now he understood—he had been tricking Bingbing before.

Father Sun frowned. “She still won’t let this go? Clinging to some trivial matter and refusing to move on—does she even act like a proper eldest sister-in-law?”

In the darkness, Sun Cheng’s eyes were slightly damp. “Dad, she married me. She wasn’t sold to our family as a slave. You always say she’s family, but does treating her like family mean making her work to support the whole household, while her own father has to go hungry to save food for Sun Xian? Just because she’s family, she’s not allowed to be unwilling? She’s not allowed to have complaints?”

Mother Sun’s face stiffened. She truly saw Ge Bingbing as family, but she had never considered her father as one of them. She could only dodge the question. “Isn’t family supposed to help each other? She ran back to her parents’ house over a small issue—is that how a family should be?”

“They don’t have to be family. Otherwise, why would divorce even exist in this world?” Sun Cheng sat down at the table with them. “Now, it’s not just Bingbing who doesn’t want to come back—I have a question I want to ask both of you.”

Father Sun’s face darkened. He pushed aside his empty bowl and stood up. “It’s late. You have a mission tomorrow. Stop thinking about nonsense and go to bed early. If you want to bring back your own daughter, do it.”

The old man lay down on their shared bed and pulled the blanket over his head. But Sun Cheng ignored his escape and continued, “I really don’t understand—why can’t Sun Xian go out and work? You say he’s young, but my employer, Boss Shen, as well as Xiao Song, Xiao Qu, and Xiao Tang, they’re all younger than Sun Xian. Aren’t they all doing missions?”

“That’s not the same! They—they have abilities. Those are zombies out there—it’s dangerous! And besides, your brother has had health problems since childhood. He has asthma! Right now, it’s hard to buy medicine. He has to stay indoors to avoid allergens. If he encounters something like willow fluff, it could be deadly!” Mother Sun said anxiously.

From the moment Sun Cheng started speaking, Sun Xian had kept his head down, silent. He quietly broke his flatbread into pieces and soaked them in the soup, eating in tiny bites as if he couldn’t hear a word Sun Cheng was saying.

“What about me?” Sun Cheng looked directly into Mother Sun’s eyes.

“W-what?” Mother Sun didn’t understand.

“Those are zombies—aren’t they dangerous? When I face zombies, don’t I also face the risk of death at any moment?” Sun Cheng’s eyes turned red. Over the past week of eating these coarse grain flatbreads, it wasn’t just Mother Sun who had gained some clarity—Sun Cheng had too.

He had realized something—he was the one truly being mistreated in this family, not Ge Bingbing and Nannan. Ge Bingbing was only suffering because she had married him, and his parents saw her as his extension, forcing her to share the burden of that mistreatment. It wasn’t just Ge Bingbing—her father, and even their daughter, Nannan, had all been dragged into suffering for his sake.

At the root of it all, it wasn’t that his parents loved Sun Xian more than Ge Bingbing or Nannan.

It was that they loved Sun Xian more than him.

Mother Sun was stunned, as if she had been struck by lightning, only now realizing the truth. Her lips trembled, but she had no idea what to say or how to explain herself. She could only look helplessly toward her husband, but all she saw was his back, hidden under the covers.

“When Sun Xian stole Nannan’s food, you turned a blind eye. You let my father-in-law starve himself just so Nannan could eat. Fine, I won’t blame you. I accept it. People are selfish by nature. You love the child you gave birth to more, I understand. Sun Xian is your son, and Nannan isn’t. Nannan is mine and Bingbing’s child. We love her, not Sun Xian—it’s the same logic. I understand.” Sun Cheng wiped his face. His skin was damp, but he wasn’t sure if it was sweat or tears.

Mother Sun waved her hands in panic. “That’s not what I meant…” But what did she mean? Why had she ignored Sun Xian stealing from Nannan? Panic surged through her mind. Even she couldn’t understand her own heart anymore—she only knew she wanted to tell her son that she wasn’t such a terrible person.

But Sun Cheng’s next words drove her into a dead end. “Then what about me? I’m your own son too. You don’t love Nannan—I get it. But what about me? Is it okay for me to die, but not Sun Xian? I go on missions, facing zombies, risking my life every day. But Sun Xian? You won’t even let him build a wall?”

Mother Sun stared at Sun Cheng in shock. “But you have an ability…”

“Does having an ability mean I can’t die? Does it mean zombies won’t bite me?”

Mother Sun was speechless.

Sun Cheng took a deep breath and strode toward the door. He walked quickly, as if he was trying to escape this place—this place that drained him, that had driven Bingbing and Nannan away.

He was going to find his wife and daughter. He was going home.

Sun Xian nudged Mother Sun, snapping her out of her daze. She hurriedly ran after him, crying, “Ah Cheng, Ah Cheng, where are you going?”

Sun Cheng didn’t answer. He kept walking.

Behind him, Mother Sun wept, trailing after him. “I didn’t realize before—I know you’ve suffered, I know you’ve been wronged. I didn’t think about it before… But are you really going to leave us? Leave your parents to starve to death?”

Sun Cheng had been walking fast, but as she cried, his pace slowed until he finally stopped. Mother Sun ran up to him in short steps and grabbed

Sun Cheng didn’t move. Instead, he suddenly crouched down and burst into tears, his sobs louder than Mother Sun’s wailing, startling her.

A person who had always been mature, steady, and thoughtful breaking down was even more heartbreaking than someone who cried and made a fuss all the time. Mother Sun also started sobbing along with him, her grip on his sleeve never loosening.

Sun Cheng cried for a long time—his sobs were so loud that people in the surrounding tin houses peeked their heads out to look, or muttered curses under their breath. Even the patrol team came by to check on the commotion. It took a long time before he finally started to quiet down.

“Mom,” he said, his voice hoarse, “I won’t go and bring Bingbing back. If you don’t love me that much, and you want to drag me down, then just drag me down alone.”

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Thandar: Bunch of idiots.