Chapter 4: Who Spied on Widow Feng Bathing Yet Again?

Suddenly, a loud shout erupted from outside: “Li the Second, you shameless scoundrel, get out here right now!”

Uncle Second spun around abruptly, surprise flickering across his face.

Lin Xiaosu was equally taken aback.

The newcomer was Widow Feng’s son. Lin Xiaosu couldn’t recall his real name—everyone just called him Third Lump. His most notable trait was his bullheadedness; what did that mean? If words failed, he’d wield a stick, never one for idle threats when he could use his fists.

Uncle Second, after all, was a Taoist priest, respected by the elders in the village. No one had ever dared insult him so brazenly, much less claim seniority before him.

Uncle Second’s face darkened. “What nonsense are you up to now, boy?”

Third Lump shouted, “I’m up to nonsense? You’re the one! You filthy old lecher, you spied on my mother bathing again last night! Are you not ashamed? Today, I’ll break your legs!”

“You’re talking nonsense!” Uncle Second finally lost his temper, cursing outright.

“You’ve done it before, and last night you did it again! You’re over fifty, yet you act like a scoundrel…” Third Lump swung his stick, charging up the platform to strike Uncle Second.

Uncle Second’s face went from pale to livid, his expression furious.

As the stick was about to come down, Lin Xiaosu stepped forward and seized the end of it. “Third Lump, you’re being ridiculous again!”

“Stay out of this! Today I’m standing up for my mother! Let go, or I’ll thrash you too!”

“Just try it!” came a voice from behind the willow tree.

With a whoosh, a beautiful woman appeared—Bang!—and with a single kick, sent Third Lump flying, nearly tumbling off the cliff.

Tiger Girl had arrived. She planted her hands on her hips, standing before Third Lump. “You can be a fool in front of others, I don’t care. But you dare lay a hand on my father?”

All the bluster drained from Third Lump in an instant as he sat on the ground, pale-faced. “Your… your father… he’s the one in the wrong…”

His voice had grown weak, his gaze evasive.

“My father only went down the mountain last night to treat my mother’s illness. How could he have possibly spied on your mother bathing?”

“He’s done it before… Last night he happened to be down the mountain… If it wasn’t him, who was it?”

“I can’t speak for the past, but last night I know he didn’t do it!” Tiger Girl scowled. “Say one more word and I’ll throw you straight off this cliff!”

Third Lump was terrified.

He spun to his feet and bolted, calling back from the mountain path, “Li Diandian, you’re tough, I can’t beat you, but your father won’t get away with this! I’m going to tell everyone in the village what a scoundrel Li the Second is…”

“You deserve a beating!” Tiger Girl leapt after him.

“Don’t chase him on the mountain path! You two really are…” Lin Xiaosu hurried after her.

Behind them, at Willow Grove Temple, Uncle Second smacked his forehead, looking utterly conflicted.

Tiger Girl could easily have caught up to Third Lump, but the problem was Lin Xiaosu was also in pursuit. Watching him dash recklessly along the mountain path, she had to pause and wait for him.

By the time they reached the foot of the mountain, the village was already in an uproar.

Third Lump had run down from the mountain, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Li the Second at Willow Grove Temple is a scoundrel! Last night he spied on my mother bathing…”

The village descended into chaos.

Widow Feng was furious, tempted to grab her hoe and beat her foolish son senseless.

Second Aunt was also in a panic, scrambling out of bed in disheveled clothes to the courtyard, shouting, “Third Lump, you fool, my husband didn’t leave the house at all after coming down from the mountain last night!”

The villagers, delighted by the early morning spectacle, were all thoroughly entertained.

Even the village’s foreign daughter-in-law, Anna, was intrigued. In her halting Chinese, she asked her husband, Lin Jian, “Honey, is it a local custom here to spy on widows while they bathe?”

Lin Jian was speechless. “Ahem… Just don’t bathe in the river anymore.”

“Why not? The river water isn’t cold. We bathe in icy rivers back home. Besides, I’m not a widow—you’re still here, aren’t you?”

“That’s not the point… It’s got nothing to do with being a widow…” Lin Jian scratched his head furiously.

Such was the cultural gap. Anna came from the northern land of Heilan, where women’s bodies weren’t hidden from men. On certain holidays, it was even customary to perform nude on stage, openly and proudly.

When Lin Xiaosu and Tiger Girl returned to the village, the whole matter had already blown up.

Lin Xiaosu’s first thought was that Third Lump was truly as dense as his nickname suggested; he was the kind to harm himself just to spite someone else.

Tiger Girl was seething, determined to beat Third Lump to a pulp.

But Lin Xiaosu held her back. “Now we really have to find out who actually spied on Widow Feng bathing, or your father’s reputation will be ruined.”

“That guy must have run off by now. How are we supposed to find him?” Tiger Girl scratched her head.

“Even if he ran, he left traces!” said Lin Xiaosu.

“That’s true. Widow Feng bathes in the back room. The only place to spy from is the gully behind her house. If we follow the footprints, we’ll see where he went. I refuse to believe my father had the time for this last night…”

“I believe him too. Not only did he have no interest, he had no time.”

Lin Xiaosu was certain of this. Her father had come down the mountain last night to give her mother an injection—one when he arrived, and another at midnight. Widow Feng must have bathed in between; Uncle Second couldn’t have been involved.

“Let’s go investigate! Once we’ve cleared my dad’s name, I’ll tear Third Lump’s foul mouth to shreds…”

Widow Feng’s house was on the eastern edge of the village, by the mountain.

When Lin Xiaosu and Tiger Girl reached the back wall of her yard, Widow Feng was still there. But as soon as she saw them, she grabbed her hoe and marched out, her face ashen—it was anyone’s guess whether she was off to tend the fields or to thrash her son.

From behind, she still had quite a figure, which probably explained why the “Widow Feng bathing” rumor was such an enduring joke in the village.

As Lin Xiaosu and Tiger Girl entered the gully behind her house, they heard Third Lump’s loud voice: “Mom, you don’t have to go looking for that old lecher, I’ve already confronted him… Ow, Mom, why are you hitting me? You’re so mad you’re not thinking straight…”

His shouts drew a crowd of villagers, while Widow Feng was so furious she nearly jumped into the pond.

Meanwhile, in the gully, Lin Xiaosu was already using her ability to peer back through time, seeing last night’s events unfold.

“Look! There’s a footprint,” Tiger Girl pointed out.

The ground was damp and shadowy, making any trace left by a person stand out.

Others might not have noticed, but Tiger Girl was no ordinary villager—she’d spent years chasing wild boars in the forest, her tracking skills honed to perfection.

“What are you doing?” Third Lump strode over, his anger reigniting at the sight of Tiger Girl.

“We’re investigating, figuring out who really spied on your mother last night,” Lin Xiaosu replied.

“Investigate? What’s the point? It was Li the Second, he’s got a record, and…” His words trailed off as Tiger Girl stepped right up to him, her teeth clenched audibly.

“Tiger Girl, don’t mess up the crime scene!”

Tiger Girl gripped Third Lump’s shoulder, fixing him with a cold stare. “Can you shut your filthy mouth for once?”

Third Lump went pale. “…I can.”

Lin Xiaosu smiled, her gaze shifting to the windowsill. She reached in, lifted the curtain, and saw a bathroom—clearly the place where Widow Feng bathed.

She let the curtain fall, turned, and looked up at the slope behind the house.

Climbing up the hill, they found traces of someone having passed through. As they continued, Third Lump’s eyes widened. “How do you know this path? Was it you who spied on my mother last night?”

Tiger Girl snapped, “Nonsense! He slept at Willow Grove Temple last night—was he supposed to use binoculars?”

Lin Xiaosu could only laugh, ignoring them as he quickly crossed the thicket, arriving at a house at the foot of the slope.

This was the home of Lin Fugui.

Lin Fugui’s only claim to fame was proving that a name meant nothing. Despite his name—meaning “wealth and honor”—he was the poorest man in the village.

Others lived in proper houses; even Widow Feng had a two-story home, but he still resided in the old cottage left by his parents.

These days, as long as you had hands and feet, you could at least improve your home a bit. But he used his feet to wander, his hands to pilfer chickens and dogs—or, more often, to reach out for handouts.

With government policies helping the needy, he’d been included among the village’s welfare recipients despite everyone’s exasperation. Each year he received subsidies, plus occasional gifts of oil and rice from villagers. He had become the ultimate “master of doing nothing.”

“Was it him?” Tiger Girl asked.

“Judging by the footprints, yes,” Lin Xiaosu answered.

Third Lump rushed forward, kicking open the half-closed door. Inside, a man in his forties was boiling meat, testing a piece of preserved pork for doneness.

As the three burst in, the meat nearly slipped from his hand.

It was Lin Fugui.

He looked astonished. “I only took a piece of your meat. Do you have to break down my door first thing in the morning?”

“I don’t care about the meat! Tell me, were you the one spying on my mother bathing?” Third Lump’s voice shook the rafters, truly living up to his reputation for bluster.

A crowd of villagers gathered outside, exchanging glances.

“I heard a noise while I was taking the meat, so I peeked behind the curtain to see if anyone was there. How was I supposed to know your mother was bathing?”

“So it was you, you pervert!” Third Lump roared.

Lin Fugui was furious. “Pervert? Your mother’s got nothing to do with it! If I wanted to watch a woman bathe, I’d go watch Anna in the river—her figure’s better than your mother’s! Your mother’s in her fifties; are you insulting my taste?”

Bang!

Third Lump punched him, knocking over the pot. Lin Fugui howled in pain.

The villagers crowded in, some pulling, some restraining, as the scene grew ever more chaotic.

Outside, Anna bounced excitedly on her toes. “Honey, there’s a fight!”

Lin Jian gritted his teeth. “Let Third Lump beat him up first. If he’s still standing afterward, I’ll finish the job…”

Lin Xiaosu and Tiger Girl slipped out of the house, sprinting away.

They stopped outside Lin Xiaosu’s yard, both bursting into laughter.

“I never realized you were such a good tracker. How about we team up from now on? We’ll go hunting wild boar—you track, I kill, and we split the meat,” Tiger Girl proposed.

She was a mountain girl, used to tracking by signs, but today she’d discovered Lin’s tracking skills far outstripped her own. She would never have been able to cross a whole hillside and pinpoint the culprit from last night. Well, not really a peeping tom—just a meat thief…

“How would you kill it?” Lin Xiaosu glanced at her. “If you’re still planning to jab it in the backside with a stick, count me out…”

Suddenly, Tiger Girl’s phone rang in her pocket, its ringtone blaring: “Of all the hateful people in the world, none are worse than the dull and unromantic…”