In Shen Qing's eyes, Shen Zhigao before he was nine years old and Shen Zhigao after he was nine years old were completely two different people. When he was young, his father also hugged him and kissed him. Occasionally he would go to town and bring back two pieces of candy, one for him and one for his brother. The women and brothers in the family got less good food, so Dad would secretly transfer the meat in the bowls to him and Mom under the table.
But later, my mother lost the baby in her womb and was injured, so my father became silent and no longer liked to joke with them. After his brother died, he became a completely different person.
The look in Shen Zhigao's eyes when he looked at the mother and son changed from annoyance to disgust, and then to hatred - Shen Qingshi didn't know where this hatred came from, it was obvious that none of this was caused by them!
He didn't understand why his father suddenly became like this. What made his father become like this?
When Shen Qing was a child, he looked forward to the return of his father who used to hug him and buy him candy. However, he was disappointed day by day and year by year. Now Shen Qing looked at Shen Zhigao again - Shen Zhigao was covering half of his face which was bruised from being beaten. After hearing what the village chief said, he said unhappily: "I dare not take this. If I take this, he will hate me and not let me and my son live."
The fuss he made that day was so humiliating that he had his face stepped on the ground and was extremely embarrassed. Not only was he stepped on the face by his two former brothers-in-law, but his own children also trampled him into the mud.
Yes, the only thing he cares about is his "son". Even if it is a son who has not been born yet, he is extremely important, more important than anything else. Shen Qing smiled self-deprecatingly. Now he just hoped that he could soon completely forget about the father who hugged him and bought him candies, so that he would no longer have a soft heart and no longer have any illusions.
He knelt down and kowtowed to Shen Zhigao politely: "Dad, this is the last time I call you dad. After we leave this house, we will have nothing to do with each other. If we meet in the village, we will just pretend not to know each other."
Shen Zhigao turned his head away with a sullen face. Village Chief Zhao coughed twice and pretended to scold him: "What nonsense are you talking about, kid! Even if we separate in the future, he is still your father. You should call him by his name. Don't bear a grudge, understand?"
Shen Qing didn't respond or refute. He kowtowed to Shen Zhigao twice before standing up. He lowered his eyes and pressed his fingerprints on the document of severing the relationship.
Miao Xing and Miao Wang had rolled up their sleeves early, waiting for this moment. Seeing that the document of severing the relationship had been signed and was put into Shen Qing's arms, he immediately rushed into the house with the people from Shiqu Village to move things. Food, bedding, bowls and chopsticks, pick up the good ones and move them away. The annual food ration for one person is 350 kilograms of food, and for two people it is 700 kilograms of food. But grains also have different qualities. Sorghum and refined rice are both grains, so can they have the same price? They didn't argue much with the Shen family about the weight before, they were waiting for this moment!
The Shen family was caught off guard and was caught off guard. They were already very reluctant to give the 700 kilograms of grain to Shen Qing and his mother, and were planning to delay it as long as possible. If that didn't work, they could just use some worm-eaten old beans, damp old flour mixed with some bran and wheat bran to get away with it. However, they didn't expect that the Miao family had no intention of letting them go, and just kicked the door open and took the food like robbers. They hurriedly stepped forward to stop them.
Old Lady Shen cried sincerely this time: "It's not even the autumn harvest yet, how can we give them so much food? How can we survive if they move away... Damn it... a bunch of bandits..."
The Miao brothers ignored him and went straight to the row of rooms at the back of the yard. Generally speaking, farmers do not have much grain stored at this time of year, and the autumn harvest is coming soon, and the grain stored from the previous year is basically used up. Some families do not know how to plan, and when the stored grain is used up at this time, they can only borrow some from relatives and friends and pay it back after the autumn harvest.
Autumn harvest is hard work and you can’t just eat vegetables.
Fortunately, the Shen family was relatively well-off, so they left some extra food to eat better during the autumn harvest. In addition, Shen Qing had just secretly told him that the Shen family had planted more than two acres of peanuts this year and harvested nearly 500 kilograms, which they were storing in the back room, intending to sell together with the rice harvest.
This is good stuff! Miao Wang led his men and rushed in, making the Shen family members so anxious that their eyes turned red. Shen Zhigao tried to stop him, but Miao Wang kicked him away: "Get out of here! This is what your family owes my sister! We agreed on 700 kilograms, so it's 700 kilograms. It doesn't matter what you are, it's food anyway! I'll weigh it in front of the village chief and Miao Tongsheng, and I won't take even one kilogram more from you!"
Village chief Zhao You looked at the messy yard and didn't want to care about it anymore, for fear that he would be grabbed by the Shen family and asked for justice. It would not be worth it to get beaten up by the Miao family again. He walked out along the wall with his hands behind his back: "I'm going to get the scale from my house. I'll be back soon. You guys pack your things, but don't start."
He has done his best as the village chief. This is the case in the village. Who would really follow the laws and rules and do things fairly and justly? Even if he wanted to, not everyone would truly obey him. Who doesn’t have selfish motives?
It all depends on who has more male children and who has the stronger fist. Rather than being a judge of justice, the village chief is more likely to be keeping an eye on things so that they don't get too out of hand, suppressing them, and then smoothing things over. Besides, Shen Zhigao went too far. Miao was married from another village, and as the village chief, he had to protect the people of his own village, otherwise the villagers would not believe in him anymore.
If both parties were from Lantang Village, and Shen Zhigao dared to do such a thing, what would it matter if he was beaten up by his brothers-in-law? What would it matter if he moved some things from his house? Even if they smashed his house and broke his legs, wouldn't he deserve it?
As long as no one was killed and neither side was in danger of dying, he would turn a blind eye and not bother to get involved. Let the Shen family bleed a little and learn a lesson, so that the villagers won't follow suit and do evil things, ruining the village's morale.
There was no telling how many people had gathered outside the Shen family's yard to watch the fun. There were crowds of people on the walls. It was not as lively as watching a play during the New Year. When they saw Zhao Youdang coming out, they all swarmed over and started asking, "Village Chief, what is Qingge's uncle doing?"
"How did the two families discuss this? Can Shen Zhigao really marry Widow Li?"
"No way, will the Miao family tolerate him? Look how powerful those two brothers are. They brought those old men and beat Shen Dachen and Shen Er in the face..." He was a little uncomfortable with people from other villages coming to their Lantang Village to show off their power, and there was some sourness in his tone.
"The same goes for Boss Shen. It's not like the Shen family is without male heirs. Wouldn't Shen Zhuang be able to see him off to the end of his life? He's already so old but he has to make such a fuss. There are so many people in the village who married boys but couldn't have children. They've all been like that, and no one has ever divorced them and remarried. He's just being stubborn." This was a man with a decent temper who looked down on Shen Zhigao's behavior.
Even though these people gathered under the wall for a long time, you couldn’t actually hear what was said in the house. They just wanted to watch the fun and add to the atmosphere!
There were also those who felt that Village Chief Zhao did not protect his own people: "The people from Shiqu Village are too arrogant. How dare they start a fight in our village? Assuming there is no one left in Lantang Village, you really don't care, Village Chief?"
Village Chief Zhao was completely blocked and was very annoyed: "Get out of here, there's nothing to see. The autumn harvest is coming soon. Why don't you go back and tidy up your house instead of just hanging around here?"
Someone laughed and said, "Of course it's interesting. It's a new thing that only happens once every few years. It's not something that happens every day. How can it not be interesting?"
The news that Shen Zhigao and Widow Li were having an affair had long been spread throughout the village and was no longer a secret. What is unexpected is that Shen Zhigao actually dared to divorce his wife. This is a new thing that has not been seen in the village for more than ten years. Recently, the whole village has been relying on this matter to make a living. In addition, today Miao's brothers brought people from Shiqu Village, which pushed the gossip to a climax.
Seeing that he couldn't leave without telling her, Village Chief Zhao could only sigh and say, "No, they're divorced. Qing'er will live alone with his mother from now on, and the Shen family will give Qing'er and his mother some compensation. Now they're distributing food in the yard."
He glanced at the people around him and warned them, "What's wrong with Shen Zhigao being taught a lesson by his brothers-in-law for what he did? Let you all see that if you don't live a good life and go out to mess around, it's useless to be beaten by your brothers-in-law. Whoever sympathizes with Shen Zhigao, go and block for him. I don't have the face to lose. Will our village and Shiqu Village still be relatives in the future?"
The villagers were not quite sure whether it was a divorce or a divorce, but the two were going to separate, and this was big news! The crowd immediately burst into exclamations, "Shen Zhigao is really brave!"
"What the village chief said is true. The old Shen family has lost their minds. Who in the surrounding area will dare to marry into their family? Shen Zhuang is not young anymore, so it will be difficult for him to get married in the future. We are different from them. The village chief must have a good talk with the people of Shiqu Village."
"We are all decent people. We can't do shameful things like Shen Zhigao did."
"Uncle Shen is confused. Widow Li is not a decent person. Just wait and see. The Shen family will have something new to look at in the future."
The noisy sounds floated over the courtyard wall, and Shen Qing went into his room to clean up amid the gossip. He had only a few clothes, and they were all in tatters, with patches on top of patches, and the cuffs and ankles were too short. There were only two thin quilts as bedding, and the cotton inside was all clumped up. Shen Qing wrapped the clothes in the quilt and rolled them aside, then reached into the kang hole and groped around.
"What are you doing?" Miao had already packed up. She didn't have much stuff either, so she quickly packed it up into a small square bag and carried it over to find Shen Qing.
Shen Qing fumbled in the kang hole for a while and took out a handful of dusty copper coins, about two or three hundred coins, strung together with cotton thread. Miao was shocked when she saw it, and quickly covered it with her hand and asked Shen Qing: "Where did this money come from?"
The mother and daughter can be said to be at the bottom of the Shen family's society. They do all the dirty and tiring work, but they never get paid a penny. Seeing Shen Qing suddenly take out so much money, Miao was afraid that it came from illegal sources and her heart was beating fast.
"I earned it myself. I went to the mountains to chop wood and carried it to the county town. I could sell a load of wood for thirty coins. Sometimes I caught some pheasants and rabbits, and if they were alive, I could exchange them for some money." Shen Qing put the money into Miao's small bag and said solemnly, "Mom, don't worry, I have the ability to make money. I will definitely let you live a good life in the future and never let you suffer again."
When she heard that the money came from a legitimate source, Miao felt relieved, but then her nose started to sore. The mother and daughter lived a hard life in this yard and could not even get enough food to eat. Shen Qing would often run to the mountains, occasionally taking bird eggs or picking some wild fruits and secretly bringing them back for her. Miao thought this was already amazing. She didn't expect her brother to be so capable and could earn so much money. She didn't know how much hardship he had suffered.
You have to know that these days, if a strong laborer with no connections went to the city to do odd jobs, it would be good to earn 100 or 200 coins a month. Her brother saved this money, and no one knew how much hardship he had endured or how long it had taken him to save it.
Looking at her brother who was looking at her with bright eyes, Miao had been feeling uneasy and fearful for a while. Her heart which was filled with confusion and fear about the future finally gradually and truly settled down.
She seemed to have infinite courage and determination to live a good life in the future in an instant: "Okay, mother believes in you. In the future, we will definitely be able to live a good life, and our life will be no worse than that of Old Shen's family!"
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