Shen Linchuan finished his breakfast, tidied up the dishes, and prepared to head out.

He grabbed Zhou Ning’s hand. “Come on, let’s go collect our money!”

Zhou Ning rarely interacted so intimately with others. He had few friends in the village, spending his days either helping his father sell pork or gathering firewood and grass at home. He simply didn’t have much free time to play with others.

Being held by Shen Lichuan made Zhou Ning feel awkward. Shen Lichuan’s hand was smoother than his own, without a single callus on the palm, while his own hands were rough. Zhou Ning shyly pulled his hand back. “People might see us.”

Shen Lichuan chuckled. “What’s there to fear? We’re married. What’s wrong with holding hands?”

“Still, I’ve never seen anyone walking hand in hand like that.”

Shen Lichuan was in a good mood. He found teasing Zhou Ning particularly amusing. The other guy was so straight-laced that teasing him gave Shen Lichuan the illusion of bullying an honest soul.

Zhou Ning led Shen Linchuan ahead to collect debts. Today’s list was a tangled mess—his father’s generosity had allowed these people to delay payment year after year. It was long overdue.

First, they visited a nearby family. They’d been delinquent for three years, owing over three hundred wen.

Zhou Ning was the type who never visited others without reason, while Shen Linchuan was the village’s newest son-in-law, newly married into the family. One wore a stern, unsmiling face, the other greeted everyone with a warm smile. Standing together, they formed quite a harmonious pair.

Seeing the two arrive, the household assumed they’d come to introduce the new son-in-law. The wife greeted them with a beaming smile: “Oh, Ning-ger has arrived!”

Shen Linchuan took the lead, exchanging a few trivial pleasantries before launching into a tale of woe. He explained their family’s hardship, mentioning they’d just hosted a wedding celebration and were now so poor they could barely afford to put food on the table. With no other options, they’d come to collect the debt.

The wife’s smile nearly vanished upon hearing they’d come for copper coins. Everyone in the village knew the Zhou household was well-off—they slaughtered pigs and never went without meat. Who would believe they were poor?

Zhou Da wasn’t one to fuss over such things. That’s why he’d sometimes give meat without charging, and when collecting debts, he’d always be polite. If they said they had nothing, he’d leave—which is why this debt had lingered so long.

Shen Linchuan wasn’t Zhou Da. He wasn’t so easygoing. Borrowed money should be repaid; then borrowing again would be easy. Now that this family was refusing to pay, he wouldn’t be polite either. He launched into his own tale of woe.

“Ah, Auntie, you don’t know—my family’s so poor now I can’t even afford my schooling anymore, right, Ning-ger?”

Zhou Ning nodded vigorously beside him, “Yes, yes.”

After pestering them for a while, Shen Linchuan plopped down casually in their courtyard, clearly signaling he’d eat there if they didn’t pay up today.

The woman dug out the copper coins she owed as if it were cutting her own flesh. Shen Linchuan took them with a smile. “I knew you were a kind-hearted person, Auntie.”

After receiving the coins, Shen Linchuan immediately handed them to Zhou Ning right in front of the woman, telling him to tuck them into his robe.

Shen Linchuan’s pitiful act worked like a charm at several households. Zhou Ning’s money pouch soon bulged, and Shen Linchuan grinned like a fox. Thoughtfully, he urged Zhou Ning to tuck the pouch inside his robe, lest someone see it and make begging harder.

When encountering stubborn, obstinate customers who threw tantrums, Shen Linchuan didn’t mince words: “Try refusing! Wait till my father returns—he’ll come swinging his slaughter knife!”

Zhou Ning tugged Shen Linchuan’s sleeve. “I can handle it.”

With that, he kicked the customer’s stool far away and demanded sternly, “Pay up.”

They say it’s better to provoke a local bully than a butcher. Zhou Da, the butcher, had plenty of strength. Even Zhou Ning, who didn’t quite act like a ger, now had such a fierce temper that the stubborn customer was too scared to say another word.

With one playing the scholar and the other the warrior, not a single household refused to hand over their copper coins.

After leaving the shop, Shen Linchuan patted Zhou Ning’s head with a satisfied smile. “Well done.”

Zhou Ning shook his head, swatting the hand away. “Don’t touch me. I’m not Da Huang.”

Shen Linchuan’s mouth twitched. His husband was so clueless!

This was a loving caress, not some dog named Da Huang!

Da Huang was the little mongrel they kept at home. Fed scraps of pork offal daily, it had grown plump and sturdy, waddling about with a bulging belly.

As the pair stepped out, the shrewish woman spat under her breath, “No wonder he couldn’t find a husband all these years. He doesn’t look a bit like a ger!”

She dared only whisper under her breath. Though Zhou Ning was a ger, he didn’t look like someone to mess with. She’d never seen a ger so formidable.

She wouldn’t have feared a verbal spat with him, but this ger started by kicking her stool. Look at her wall—half the stool leg was embedded in it!

The two moved on to another household to collect debts. This one was run by an old woman. Upon hearing they were debt collectors, her face darkened. “No, we’ll talk about it at year’s end.”

Shen Linchuan didn’t mince words. “Old hag, you’ve owed us for four years now. Two hundred and twenty wen isn’t much. You’re handing it over today!”

“Shen Linchuan, you’ve only been in our Dayangshu Village for a few days! Just some good-for-nothing son-in-law to the Zhou family, and you dare talk back to this old woman!”

Hearing Granny Diao berate Shen Linchuan, Zhou Ning lunged forward to kick her. Shen Linchuan quickly restrained his husband. “She’s old and frail—it’s not worth hitting her. She won’t pay? Then seize her chickens!”

“Got it!”

Zhou Ning nodded firmly and strode straight toward the chicken coop. Shen Linchuan rolled up his sleeves and followed suit. The pair chased Diao’s chickens into a flustered flutter, clucking wildly. Granny Diao, furious, screamed curses, “You little brats! Thieves! Thieves!”

Her shouts drew neighbors out to see the commotion. Next door lived Zhou Xiaonan’s family—distant relatives of Zhou Ning’s clan—who came out upon hearing the noise.

The crowd gathered to see Zhou Ning and Shen Lichuan—an unmarried ger and a son-in-law kicked out of his own home—causing a scene at the Diao residence.

“Look, everyone! Look at these little brats stealing my chickens!”

Shen Linchuan and Zhou Ning each clutched a chicken in one hand. They’d snatched four chickens, and the others were flapping their wings frantically, trying to escape. Luckily, these chickens had their wings clipped, so they couldn’t fly away. That’s how the two managed to grab them so easily.

Even their heads were covered in chicken feathers, and they still held the fluttering chickens in their hands. The whole scene looked rather comical.

Shen Linchuan flashed a toothy grin at the onlookers. “No worries, no worries! That shrew of a woman owes us money for meat and won’t pay up. Times are tough for us now, and she’s dodging her debt. So we’re grabbing a few chickens to settle the debt.”

“Rest assured, everyone. For those with good credit, my father will still collect at year’s end. But for neighbors who’ve had unexpected expenses, Ning-ger and I will handle collecting from those who refuse to pay their debts.”

Shen Linchuan, a department manager who’d climbed to management in a big company, wasn’t one to be trifled with. He knew how to handle social obligations like a pro. Having just arrived in Dayangshu Village, he certainly couldn’t afford to alienate the entire village over debt collection.

Taking advantage of the crowd’s commotion, he made his point loud and clear: he wasn’t the heartless type, and everyone could see for themselves which household was the real deadbeat!

Zhou Xiaonan’s face drained white at Shen Lichuan’s words. His family struggled financially, often “buying” meat from Uncle Zhou’s place on credit. The debt had piled up over several years, now totaling around two hundred wen.

What would he do when Shen Linchuan came to collect the debt? Zhou Xiaonan quickly slipped away from the crowd. With so many people around, Ning-ger and his husband probably hadn’t seen him. He’d close the door first and figure something out later.

Granny Diao pulled a fellow villager aside and said, “Unreasonable! Unreasonable! I never said I wouldn’t pay! I said I’d pay them by year’s end!”

Shen Linchuan asked Zhou Ning, “How much per chicken again?”

“Forty wen. Five won’t cover it, but six is too many.” Zhou Ning frowned. Twenty wen could buy nearly a pound of meat.

“It’s fine. We won’t take advantage of her. See if there are any eggs—we can take a few instead.”

While Granny Diao continued her tirade, the two men discussed taking eggs along with the chickens.

Shen Linchuan thrust two chickens into Zhou Ning’s arms. “There’s one more! I’ll catch it!”

Someone nearby interjected, “We’re all villagers. Why make such a scene?”

“This lady is truly a kind-hearted living bodhisattva. Why not be the good Samaritan to the end and pay the debt of the Diao family yourself? Both our households will remember your kindness.”

The woman remained silent. Shen Linchuan chased the chickens around the coop as if it were a game. The Diao family kept six chickens—enough to repay their debt.

There was an old hen nestled down to lay an egg. Shen Linchuan grabbed it by the tail and yanked it up. “Ning-ger, this one’s good—it lays eggs!”

Shen Linchuan chuckled as he seized the bird, tucking the still-warm egg it had just laid into his bosom. “Three more eggs to go. Let’s see if there are any more in this nest.”

Zhou Ning hummed in acknowledgment and immediately began rummaging through the Diao family’s chicken coop.

The Diao family lived quite comfortably, as evidenced by the sheer number of chickens they kept—both those raised for meat and those that laid eggs. Chased around in circles by the two men, the chickens scattered wildly, sending Granny Diao’s vision spinning until she nearly fainted. “My chickens!”

By now, the pair had caught five chickens and jumped out of the pen, collecting four eggs along the way. Shen Linchuan still had feathers stuck to his head as he smiled amiably. “Granny Diao, we’re not taking advantage of you. Look, it’s exactly two hundred and twenty wen—not a penny more or less.”

“Bullshit! Put my chickens down!”

Granny Diao lunged to grab the chickens, but Shen Linchuan sidestepped her like a snake. She missed her target and tumbled headfirst into the chicken coop, drawing laughter from the onlookers.

Granny Diao was seething with rage. Taking advantage of her? Bullshit! Those two were holding five laying hens! With the weather warming up lately, these chickens were right in their egg-laying season!

Five hens meant five eggs a day! Though eggs were cheaper now than in winter, each one could still fetch four wen. Taking her chickens meant the Zhou family would get five eggs a day starting tomorrow—that was twenty wen! A whole six hundred wen in a month!

The more Granny Diao calculated, the angrier she grew, her eyes darkening with rage. They were just taking advantage of her! Taking these five hens would earn back the meat she owed in less than a month!

Though she couldn’t recognize a single character, this Scholar Shen Linchuan wouldn’t fool her!

Shen Linchuan lifted the chickens, ready to leave. “Ning-ger, let’s go. Granny Diao is a good soul—she’d give us chickens since she can’t pay with coins. Your village folks are decent people. Granny Diao, come visit us sometime. We’re all neighbors. When I sell meat to your family, it’ll be cheaper than anywhere else.”

“Put them down! Put them down! I’ll pay you!”

Granny Diao hurried inside to fetch coins. Shen Linchuan called out to stop her: “Granny Diao, no need to trouble yourself! We’ll just keep the chicken. It’s fine—just a bit more grain to feed it, but no big deal.”

Zhou Ning nodded in agreement. “No big deal. We have chickens; we’ll just keep it.”

Granny Diao was counting coins inside, her hands trembling with fury. “Pah! That’s an egg-laying hen! You little brat, just you wait! You’re just a son who married into the family, and now you’re bullying me!”

Shen Linchuan looked at Zhou Ning with a hurt expression. “Ning-ger, see? I told you being a son-in-law would make people look down on me.”

Zhou Ning glared angrily. “Who dares look down on you?”

Zhou Ning swept his gaze over the onlookers. “Which one of you dares look down on Shen Linchuan?!”

Zhou Ning was just that kind of person—straightforward and blunt, saying whatever was on his mind. Like his father, Zhou Da, he was warm-hearted but not skilled at socializing, often getting taken advantage of by others.

The onlookers fell silent. A young man stepped in to smooth things over. “Who would look down on your man? He’s a scholar! Every villager respects scholars.”

While the Zhou family might be easy to take advantage of, Butcher Zhou was not someone to mess with. He was fiercely protective of his own.

When Zhou Ning was bullied by village boys as a child—once they even smacked his head—Old Zhou charged over, wielding his slaughter knife and hacking at their door. That kid still avoids Old Zhou to this day, even as an adult. Though folks might take advantage of the family, no one dares cross Old Zhou.