The hoodlums loitered around the village, and without committing a crime, the police station had no recourse to act against them; even if they were caught stealing chickens or pickpocketing, the local station would just detain them for a few days. After being released, these hoodlums would only intensify their mischief—continuously spreading rumors nearby the village about how Hou Dayong's sister was involved with him, saying all sorts of unsavory things.
Given that he was idle, whenever someone sought to beat him up, he would run away. The villagers weren't free every day to deal with him, so it was hard to catch him for a while. That was until the last time when he mistakenly took the wrong path and accidentally fell into a ditch, where the villagers finally caught him.
In fact, this hoodlum had been roaming around the village for over two months, coming and going without much purpose. The villagers had their tempers and eventually went too far—ending up beating him to death.
