He slipped away into the outhouse.

“Uncle Tian, are you planning to silence me for good?” Zhao Liang lowered his voice as he asked.

“Silence you, my foot! Just remember, don’t breathe a word of what happened today to anyone.”

“What are you talking about, Uncle Tian? I have no idea what you mean,” Zhao Liang replied, feigning ignorance.

“At least you know how to play dumb. But if I find out you’ve let this slip, I won’t let you off,” Tian Yi threatened, his tone fierce.

“Don’t worry, even if I’m beaten to death, I won’t say a thing.” Zhao Liang thumped his chest, swearing an oath.

“If you do talk, I’ll be the one to beat you to death.”

“Rest assured! But, Uncle Tian, may I ask you a question?” Zhao Liang’s face took on a mischievous look.

“What is it?” Tian Yi rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“When you, you know, were doing that—who were you thinking about?”

“You little scoundrel!” Tian Yi, seeing Zhao Liang teasing him so, gave him a kick.

Zhao Liang leapt away like a startled rabbit and bolted into the house.

“There’s still some cornbread in the kitchen—go get it yourself!” Tian Yi shouted after him.

“Got it!” Zhao Liang changed direction and dashed toward the kitchen.

“That rascal,” Tian Yi muttered under his breath.

After a day of mishaps, Zhao Liang finally came to his senses. Even a rabbit won’t eat the grass by its own burrow. He realized he couldn’t practice his skills on his own people—he needed to go out and make his mark elsewhere.

Early the next morning, Zhao Liang got up at dawn. Seeing that it was still too early for his meeting with Bai Ling on the mountaintop, he wandered outside the communal house alone. Making sure no one was around, he quietly recited an incantation under his breath, then commanded, “Vanish!” and his entire body sank into the earth, disappearing without a trace.

Once underground, Zhao Liang moved as if walking on level ground, though all around him was pitch black—he had no idea where he was.

He headed east for dozens of yards before deciding to surface and see where he’d ended up.

No sooner had he poked his head out than he heard a chorus of clucking and felt his head pecked hard twice. Before he could yelp in pain, a flock of hens had surrounded him. Frightened, Zhao Liang quickly burrowed back underground.

“Just my luck! My first attempt and I end up in a chicken coop, under siege by hens.”

Lamenting his misfortune, Zhao Liang felt his face—several scratches still burned painfully.

After a brief rest, he continued tunneling forward when suddenly the air grew damp and slightly fetid. Just as he was about to stop, he heard a splash and fell into a large pit.

“Someone catch the pervert!” A woman rushed out of the outhouse, yanking up her trousers.

Zhao Liang had somehow tunneled into the women’s latrine. Now he was truly in trouble—his face was smeared with filth, maggots crawling into his nostrils, the stench unbearable.

Not daring to stop and clean himself, Zhao Liang hurriedly vanished underground again, fleeing with all possible speed.

Finding a secluded spot, he surfaced and made straight for the river at the village’s edge. The moment he arrived, he plunged in, finally washing away the filth covering him.

He vomited up his breakfast onto the riverbank, retching loudly.

It was too disgusting—the stench was overwhelming.

In this state, there was no way he could meet Bai Ling; it would be far too offensive. He had no choice but to sneak back to the communal house and change clothes.

He slipped back into the village like a thief, dodging people along the way, and finally reached the gate of the communal house. As soon as he entered, he ran into Tian Yi.

The stench nearly knocked Tian Yi out. Furious, he shouted at Zhao Liang, “Did you fall in the latrine? You reek of shit! Get inside and change your clothes, now!”

Zhao Liang didn’t dare utter a word and scurried into the house, where he immediately ran into his housemates.

“Whoa, Zhao Liang, did you fall in the cesspit?”

“Ugh, you stink! What happened to you?”

“Someone just yelled about catching a pervert in the women’s latrine—don’t tell me that was you?”

The taunts came from every direction, leaving Zhao Liang mortified and wishing he could crawl into a crack in the ground. He finally pushed past them, changed clothes, and rushed out, hurrying toward the summit.

“Be back early for the Mid-Autumn Festival tonight!” Tian Yi shouted after him.

“Got it!” Zhao Liang called back without looking.

It was already halfway to noon by the time Zhao Liang reached the mountaintop. There he saw Bai Ling, holding Little White, waiting for him.

When Zhao Liang was still fifty paces away, Bai Ling caught a whiff of the wind and immediately pinched her nose. “Zhao Liang, what on earth have you been doing? You reek! Just stay there, please. Don’t come any closer—I can barely breathe.”

Zhao Liang hadn’t expected Bai Ling to be so sensitive to smells; she exposed his predicament from such a distance.

Dejected, he stood where he was, five dozen paces away, and recounted to Bai Ling all the embarrassing misadventures of the past two days—except, of course, for the incident with Tian Yi that he left out entirely.