Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Volume 4 Chapter 17

What was this thing?

Baobao pinched the little fat mouse by the back with her thumb and forefinger and lifted the entire mouse into the air.

“Zhi zhi zhi—zhi zhi—zhi zhi zhi—!”

The fat mouse that had been furiously gnawing at her shoe sole just moments ago now hung suspended in midair, its back pinched by a giant. Terrified, it thrashed wildly. But with those four short little paws, it couldn’t reach Baobao, nor could it pry open the fingers holding it. After struggling a while, it gave up. Its black bean-like eyes stared at Baobao as it squeaked nonstop.

If it could speak human language, it was probably cursing her out right now.

Very good. Feeling insulted, Baobao leaned the mouse closer, poking its soft round belly with her free hand.

“So fat. Must taste great.”

Of course wild mice couldn’t be eaten. Baobao only said that because this fat mouse was strange.

Animals in the mountains always avoided people. How could one rush over to provoke her? And earlier, she had clearly sensed strong hostility from it—plus the way it tried to bite through her shoe sole, as though it came seeking revenge.

Would an ordinary mouse have that kind of intelligence?

Sure enough, the mouse seemed to understand her words—or at least her fake vicious expression. Instantly it stopped squeaking and curled up tightly, its plump body forming a perfect round ball.

“Looks like you’re clever.” Baobao narrowed her eyes, an idea forming…

Not long after Baobao and the kids left, Ge Shiyan received a message from her sister. Everything she had asked her sister to handle had been settled.

She asked nearby villagers to keep an eye on Tao Lamei’s group and hurried to the Wang household.

Her luck was good. A shop on the busiest street in the county had been seized by gambling creditors—its owner in debt, desperate to sell. Madam Lu’s people bought it first.

That piece of jade Ge Feiyan had given Madam Lu previously had shone brilliantly at the magistrate’s birthday banquet, helping the Wang family build connections with three nearby counties.

From now on, their business would expand far beyond this one county. Their income would soar.

When fortune came, spirits lifted. Madam Lu had been in excellent health lately. Upon hearing Ge Feiyan was looking for property for her elder sister, she didn’t even wait for Feiyan to ask—she personally arranged everything.

Not only did she secure the shop, but she also took back a small one-entry courtyard from her dowry. The house wasn’t large; Madam Lu had never lived in it. Its tenant’s lease had just ended, so she reclaimed it and sold it to Ge Shiyan for ten percent below market price.

She had completely accepted Ge Feiyan as a lucky concubine. As long as Feiyan remained obedient, Madam Lu didn’t mind granting favors. Some money meant nothing to her, but kindness shown to Feiyan’s maternal family would make her endlessly grateful.

Thus, all the silver from selling the jade had transformed into:

— one shop in a prime location in the county
— one inner-city one-entry courtyard
— twenty-eight mu of good farmland

The shop alone cost more than four hundred taels, but its returns were excellent. Feiyan had already leased it out. Every half-year, Ge Shiyan would receive twenty-five taels in rent.

That amount alone was enough for them to live comfortably—never mind the courtyard and the farmlands.

As agreed before, every deed was written under Baobao’s name.

But Ge Shiyan didn’t intend to tell Baobao yet. The child was still too young. If she slipped up and revealed something, this enormous fortune would only bring trouble.

After gathering the deeds, she didn’t stay long at her sister’s. With three children home alone, she couldn’t relax.

It took one to two hours for everything. By then, her son was almost finished with his lessons, so she headed straight to fetch him.

From afar, she saw a crowd gathered outside the teacher’s home, with faint sounds of crying.

Her heart tightened. She hurried over.

“Teacher, please speak to my husband. Tell him not to cast me aside. You’re his mentor—he’ll listen to you!”

“If he sends me home in disgrace, what will my sisters do? What will my nieces do? They’ll all suffer because of me… I might as well die… wuu wuu wuu…”

A woman knelt at the door, kowtowing repeatedly. The teacher’s wife tried to pull her up, but the woman refused.

The surrounding villagers whispered the whole story to Ge Shiyan.

The woman’s husband had once studied under this teacher. Recently he passed the county-level exam, ranking near the top. A wealthy family noticed him and wanted to take him in as a son-in-law, offering a large dowry to support his future exams.

The new scholar was tempted. He went home and tried to divorce his wife, citing two of the “Seven Grounds for Divorce”: childlessness and gossip.

Villagers said the scholar’s family was poor. To support him, they sold even their last few mu of land. The wife washed clothes for others in the freezing winter to earn money. Married nearly three years, she had no children—likely because the husband was almost never home. If he came back more often, children might come.

As for gossip, rural women always talked a bit; she was no exception. With no husband at home and no entertainment, it was normal.

But now that he had a rich family offering support, he despised his coarse-skinned, rough-handed wife.

His family sided with him, of course. 

The poor woman had nowhere to go but her husband’s teacher, hoping he’d give her justice. But it was a household matter—how could the teacher intervene?

The whole spectacle had disrupted classes. Ge Shiyan had arrived at just the right time to pick up her son, Fu Shinian.

All the way home, Ge Shiyan felt suffocated. Her chest was tight with anger.

There was a saying: “The righteous are often the coarse folk; the unfaithful are often the scholars.” She’d assumed stories of men abandoning their wives existed only in books—but here was a living example.

She suddenly imagined decades into the future. She would die, and by then her son might already be an official.

This child who was now gentle and obedient would grow up into a heartless creature—taking concubines and tormenting Baobao, who would cry herself blind, frail and bullied, dying young…

The more she thought, the angrier she became. Even her son’s face began to look suspicious.

He was handsome too. Didn’t they say handsome scholars could be taken as sons-in-law by wealthy families? Even emperors sometimes matched princesses with top-ranked scholars.

What if he passed the highest exam and the emperor bestowed a princess?
What if he hid his rural wife and married into nobility?
What if he reduced Baobao to a concubine or secret lover?

Just imagining it made her explosive with rage.

No. Absolutely not. She had to set him straight early.

“Dabao, Mother wants to tell you some stories.”

She held his little hand tenderly.

“Okay!”

Fu Shinian had been reciting his lessons silently. Hearing this, he nodded happily.

“Once, there was a scholar. He had a childhood sweetheart for a wife. But after he passed the exams, many beautiful women seduced him. He drowned in beauty and they drained him completely. Then he died…”

She emphasized the last three words heavily.

Fu Shinian: …Did those women eat human flesh? How did they drain someone until he died?

Terrified, he wondered why Mother was telling him ghost stories.

“And another story—listen carefully.” Ge Shiyan grew more energetic.

“Once, there was a scholar with a childhood sweetheart. After he became the top scorer in the capital exam, the emperor wanted to give him a princess. The scholar wanted glory and denied having a wife. Later, his wife found him, and the emperor discovered his lie. Lying to the emperor is a crime—he was thrown into prison. After autumn, he was executed. Then he died…”

Fu Shinian’s eyes widened, and he held his mother’s hand tightly.

Why did another scholar die? He was so scared.

“And another scholar… he died…”

“Once, there was a scholar… he died…”

Ge Shiyan invented several stories about unfaithful scholars, all ending the same way.

“You understand what Mother means?” When they neared home, she bent down and asked gently.

“Mm-mm!” Fu Shinian’s eyes were wet. He nodded fiercely.

Just then, Baobao and Lin Yu came back carrying baskets of wild fruit. If one looked closely, Baobao’s cloth pouch occasionally twitched, as if something was inside.

“Good. Go play with your sister. Mother will cook.” Satisfied, she patted her son’s head. He would never disappoint her.

“Waaah—!” After she left, Fu Shinian ran straight to Baobao.

“Baobao, I don’t want to go to school anymore!” He hugged her tightly, pitiful and trembling.

He didn’t want to be a scholar anymore.

Because scholars… all died.