As night fell, voices quieted down, and Wozi Village lay in an eerie stillness, save for the darkest corner of a pigsty where the filthiest deeds were being committed.
Suddenly, a cry rang out, "Thief, catch the pig thief!"
The shout startled the households just drifting off to sleep, and torches, one after another, were lit.
Sister-in-law Quan nudged her husband and said, "Husband, quickly get up, there’s a thief, a pig thief."
In their home were two large sows, both capable of bearing piglets, if they were to be stolen, it would spell doom for the entire family.
Upon hearing his wife’s words, Quan Mancang quickly got up, threw on a short coat haphazardly, and grabbing the tea-pounding stick from inside the house, he shouted, "Where’s the thief, where’s the thief?"
"Quick, check our pigsty," Sister-in-law Quan also dressed.
Outside, someone struck the gongs and drums to alert everyone to catch the thief, and some ran out with torches in hand.
"Where’s the thief? Where’s the pig thief?"
Quan Mancang and his wife left the house, groping their way towards the backyard, terror-stricken, hoping the thief had not targeted their pigs but some other unfortunate family’s.
When they got to the pigsty, Sister-in-law Quan saw a dark figure inside and suddenly screamed, "Here, the pig thief is here!"
A crowd rushed over immediately.
Fury rose in Quan Mancang’s heart; so, the thief had come to his house to steal pigs. With that, he swung his tea-pounding stick, ready to rush in.
"Where, where? Where’s the thief?" The crowd surged forward, shouting, shattering the village’s tranquility.
"Husband, husband," Sister-in-law Quan held a torch and shone it inside, and seeing the situation, her soul seemed to fly away as she screamed, "Husband, look quickly!"
She pulled on Quan Mancang’s arm, pushing the torch further inside, and with this light, all the motion inside came into clear view.
"Oh, Mother, what unholy filth is this?"
Someone called out from behind Quan Mancang and his wife.
Sister-in-law Quan stared at the dark figure, who was engaged with her sow in indescribable obscenities, and being so shocked, she dropped the torch.
The extinguishing of the light didn’t mean everything was concealed. The arriving villagers all carried their own torches, illuminating the place bright as day, clear as anything.
"My goodness, this, this..."
"Oh my, it’s a sin, oh my."
"Don’t look, don’t look, you’ll get sty in your eye."
"Who is this? Who the hell are you?" Quan Mancang came to his senses, bellowing.
Dammit, to commit such an atrocity, to do such things in his own pigsty, and not with a person, but with a pig.
Beast, what a beastly thing!
"Isn’t this the Old Zhou family’s eldest son?" Someone pushed a torch closer, scaring the pigs into chaos.
"Let me have a look." Another person squeezed forward, took a closer look, and wasn’t it just Zhou Dajun, disheveled, face flushed red, panting as he went about the deed with instinct alone, showing no sign of awareness even as people gathered.
"It’s him, it’s really the Old Zhou family’s Zhou Dajun. Lord have mercy, has he gone mad?"
"Quick, go notify the Old Zhou family."
People who heard the noise crowded in, gazing upon the spectacle before them—some to gawk and others in sympathy—all remarking that Zhou Dajun must have lost his mind.
And in the shadows, a few indifferent faces watched it all unfold.
Wufu coldly eyed the direction of the Old Zhou family, noticing their house was lit up; he averted his gaze and said, "Let’s go!"
Where there’s a wrong, there’s a debtor, the disgrace to his mother has been avenged, and from this point on, any forthcoming encounter would be one of enemies.