Old Man Liu is the father of Liu the Hunter and the father-in-law of Hunter Fulang, but he had died before Hunter Fulang entered the family.
The Liu family was the only hunter in Lantang Village. However, Hunter Liu was young at that time, and Old Man Liu did not always take him into the mountains. However, Shen Qing couldn't find anything to eat near the village, so he sneaked into the mountains following the old hunter.
Old Man Liu is quite skilled in his craft and is good at setting traps and animal traps. It is thanks to him that the area around Lantang Village is rarely invaded by wild animals. Therefore, he almost never returned empty-handed every time he went into the mountains. Conversely, he did not think much of small things like bird eggs, so Shen Qing picked up a lot of them and ate them to his heart's content.
Or maybe Old Man Liu knew from the beginning that Shen Qing was following behind, and he let him follow because he felt sorry for the little boy, and deliberately left the bird eggs for Shen Qing. After all, Old Man Liu's eyes and ears are very sharp. Even rabbits and pheasants hiding in the grass cannot escape his sight. Moreover, how could a child of that size not know Shen Qing's little thoughts?
Old Man Liu would occasionally chat with Shen Qing and teach him how to set some simple traps. Later, Shen Qing was able to catch some pheasants and rabbits, roast them and eat them, and even secretly bring some back to Miao.
Shen Qing once thought that he grew so tall because he ate too many bird eggs and game. Thanks to his tall, strong and powerful figure, he decided to become a woodcutter. Let's change to a petite boy, who had a broken back and couldn't move, but walked to the county with a load of firewood: a load of firewood weighed 160 kilograms, and even half a load weighed 80 kilograms.
"It is also thanks to Old Man Liu that I know very well where there are wild beasts, where we cannot go, and which roads are easy to travel. I have also made my own way out. Now I can set traps quite well, and occasionally catch some rabbits and pheasants. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can even get musk deer." Besides, he doesn't need to go too deep or far. He just needs to leave the village and not make the villagers unhappy.
The hunter's husband didn't expect that Shen Qing had such a connection with his family. He laughed and said, "My wife used to say that besides him, there was someone else in the village who set traps on the mountain, and his technique was pretty good. I didn't know who it was. It turned out to be you." After getting married, hunter Liu moved directly to Xiaohe Village. Now they hunt on the mountain near Xiaohe Village. There are so many wild animals on the mountain, and Shen Qing and he don't affect each other. He just feels that now that Shen Qing lives in their house, they have a bit of fate.
In his heart, he admired Shen Qing very much: although his man was a hunter and quite capable, he never dared to go into the deep mountains! This Shen Qing dared to follow his father-in-law into the mountains when he was so young. He was so brave. No wonder he dared to take his mother away from home.
Miao Tongsheng listened for a while and said, "You are so brave. You dare to go into the mountains by yourself, dare to go to the county town to sell firewood by yourself, and even dare to ask your mother to divorce you. How did you come up with the idea of asking your mother to divorce you and live alone?"
None of the men from Shiqu Village entered the house. Now Miao is a widow, and Shen Qing is a young man of the right age, so it feels a bit awkward for him to go into the house. Some people helped to move the things over, and then went to visit their relatives in Lantang Village: the two villages are close to each other, and intermarriage has been going on for many years. Many people have sisters or aunts who married here, so they would go to visit and have a drink of water at this time.
Miao Tongsheng didn't go. The villagers were watching the excitement at the Shen family with great interest at the moment. If they went to sit down with them, they would inevitably be asked all sorts of questions, but he didn't like to talk about them. He didn't go into the house, but just sat on the threshold of the main room to rest. He looked at Shen Qing in confusion. There had never been such a precedent in their area. It had never happened before and he didn't know how Shen Qing came up with such a trick.
Shen Qing was able to come up with this idea because he was inspired by other people's experiences. When Miao Tongsheng asked him about it, he did not hide much: "Didn't our county get a new county magistrate in the spring?"
Several people looked at him, not understanding what this matter had to do with the new county magistrate.
A few days ago, Shen Qing secretly went to the county town to sell firewood. Shen Zhigao had been making a fuss about divorcing his wife for quite some time. At first, Old Man Shen and Old Lady Shen did not agree. Although they did not necessarily like Miao very much, they disliked Widow Li who was having an affair with their son even more. They were from the same village, and everyone knew that she was a restless woman. Besides, there has never been a history of divorce in the village. Everyone just makes do with what they have. The Shen family insists on divorcing their wives, so it is inevitable that they will be criticized by the villagers.
But Widow Li became pregnant, and she said it was bound to be a boy. Shen Zhigao made a fuss more and more often, and Mrs. Shen began to waver: she had always loved her eldest son Shen Zhigao the most.
Shen Qing was extremely panicked, but he didn't know what to do or what he could do. After thinking about it, the only thing I can think of is to make more money and save more. As they say, money makes the world go round. If you have money in your hands, your life will always be better. What if my mother really gets divorced... With this money, at least I can live for a while and not starve to death.
He was in a low mood. After selling the firewood, he walked back with his head down. At the city gate, he happened to meet a team of horse-drawn carriages entering the city. There were a dozen large carriages full of goods, leaving deep ruts on the ground.
Shen Qing heard some scholars nearby gossiping, saying that the county magistrate's younger brother had a falling out with his husband's family, divorced and returned home, and brought his child back with him. The convoy was carrying the county magistrate's younger brother's dowry. Now the county magistrate has announced that he wants to find a son-in-law for his younger brother, and he is very picky. He even refuses to accept the call even if there is a scholar.
The people who were listening were surprised: "It's fine if you divorce, but you can also bring the child back from your husband's family?" Nowadays, children take the husband's family's surname, so they are naturally the husband's children. How can you take the child back in a divorce? Besides, it was heard that the county magistrate's younger brother had a boy!
The scholar's tone was somewhat sour: "He is the county magistrate's brother, born of the same mother. What dares the other party say? How dare an ordinary person fight against an official?"
Shen Qing stood there in a daze listening to the two people talking, and suddenly he realized: Many conventional rules in this world are not unbreakable in the face of power.
Although the world favors men more, if the girl's or boy's family is powerful - like the county magistrate's younger brother, doesn't the boy's family still have to accept it? However, Shen Qing keenly felt that Miao Tongsheng and his two uncles might not like to hear this, so he kept it to himself and only talked about the matter of the county magistrate's younger brother: "Since the county magistrate's younger brother can divorce with the children, why can't my mother? Although my mother's brother is not the county magistrate, my father is just an ordinary citizen..." Shen Qing lowered his eyes and said.
He has no power himself, but he can borrow the power of his two uncles. To put it bluntly, if Miao Xing and Miao Wang had not contributed much today, Shen Qing would never have been able to break off the relationship with the Shen family so easily, not to mention receiving so much food and supplies. It was all thanks to the large number of people coming from Shiqu Village, and the fact that they brought the learned Miao boy, that the Miao brothers were so angry that they dared to go to the government office to accuse Shen Zhigao of adultery, and only then were the Shen family members arrested. His uncles did not need to be as powerful as the county magistrate, but as long as they had a little more "power" than Shen Zhigao, they would have great hope of success.
So Shen Qing remained silent when Shen Zhigao made a fuss for a few days, waiting for his two uncles to come. Only after he confirmed that his two uncles were really willing to support his mother did he dare to say this.
Miao Tongsheng was stunned after hearing this, and after a while he said, "If you were not a brother, you would definitely have a great future, and you might even be a good student."
I just heard someone mention it on the street and I thought about it. I figured out the key points and applied them flexibly to my own family affairs. It can be said that I am smart.
Miao Tongsheng originally meant to praise Shen Qing, but this sentence made Shen Qing's slightly proud lips purse down.
He lowered his head and whispered, "If I wasn't your brother, I wouldn't be in this situation today."
This sentence immediately made everyone in the yard silent. It is quite common for country people to value boys over girls and boys. It is not uncommon for a woman to give birth to a bunch of girls and boys and then pursue boys. However, it is rare for someone to be as obsessed as Shen Zhigao.
Because there are many families in the village who don’t have boys. My brother has a hard time giving birth due to his physical condition. Most people only give birth to one child in their lifetime, and if they can have two, it's considered a great success. Otherwise, Shen Zhiwei's husband, Zhao, would not be able to have such a strong support at home! It’s because he not only gave birth to two children, but also gave birth to this boy Shen Zhuang!
Mr. Zhao had an argument with Shen Zhiwei in the courtyard of the Shen family, saying that Shen Zhiwei was supposed to have no descendants, but it was a good thing that he married him. He was a great contributor to the old Shen family, and even more so to him, Shen Zhigao!
As soon as he said this, Shen Zhiwei fell silent.
In order to save money, many not-so-rich families in the village have their eldest son marry a girl and their younger brothers marry boys. After all, my brother is more capable of working, and the betrothal gift is much cheaper. In this way, if the younger brothers who married the elder brother did not give birth to a child, the child born by the eldest son would also need to support his uncle who had no descendants in his life. Therefore, there are many people in the village who are dissatisfied with Shen Zhigao's behavior: Others can tolerate it, why can't you? It’s not like the Shen family is without boys, don’t they still have Shen Zhuang? After all, someone will break the pot on you.
This actually means that Lantang Village is relatively wealthy, and no matter whether it is a girl or a boy, basically everyone can marry one. It’s not like the poor villages further up the mountain, where there are so many bachelors.
Shen Qing looks like a boy and works better than a boy, but he is not a boy after all.
When Shen Qing was young, he would sometimes think how great it would be if he were a boy. If he were a boy, would his father not have changed? If he were a boy, his mother wouldn't be bullied at home. But Shen Qing hasn't thought about it this way for a long time. They mistreat others because they are of low character. So what if he is a brother? He is a boy and can still support himself and his mother. He is more capable and earns more money than most men in the village.
Since that father and that family don't want him, he doesn't want them either.
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