Wufu held a willow twig dipped in Green Salt, brushing her teeth with it as she leaned against the courtyard gate, watching the commotion.
The man who had been yelling about coming down from the mountain was now hurriedly leading a few others up the hill. Looking into the distance, a group of two or three people had already gathered under the crooked tree, which wasn't far away.
Seeing Wufu enjoying the spectacle so much, Madam Zhou said softly, "Wufu, come back."
Wufu spat out the water from her mouth and said, "Mom, I want to see what's going on."
She tossed the willow twig aside and grabbed a towel from the wooden rack to casually wipe her face before darting out the door.
Madam Zhou was alarmed and quickly pulled her back, "You're a young girl, what business do you have with this commotion? Come back here!"
Had this child eaten the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard? Didn't she hear people say it was the work of the Mountain Demon? What if she came into contact with some filthy thing?
"Mom, I'll just go and see what the matter is, and I'll be right back," Wufu said, her hand slightly struggling. Without noticing how she did it, she suddenly floated to the doorway and quickly disappeared from view.
Madam Zhou stood blankly looking at her own empty hands, looking up, where was the shadow of her daughter?
What was happening, that in the blink of an eye the girl had vanished?
Madam Zhou hurried to the door and looked out; sure enough, Wufu had sprinted up the mountain.
"I never knew she could run so fast," Madam Zhou murmured to herself, wanting to follow, but upon seeing the crowd there, she pursed her lips and turned back home.
Forget it, it was better not to draw attention in front of others to avoid making Wufu unhappy.
Meanwhile, Wufu approached the crooked tree and began to hear the discussion among the people.
"Is he dead? Who knows how long he had been hanging in the tree, such a sin."
"Ma Dan was never any good to begin with, hanging here for no reason, who knows what really happened? Tie Niu, you were the first to find him, right? What exactly happened at that time?"
Wufu looked over to see a man dressed like a hunter frowning as he said, "I planned to go hunting early this morning. From afar, I saw something swaying, something white, and as I approached, I realized it was a person... naked. My goodness, I was so scared I nearly wet myself."
"Then Brother Da Hu came, and he's braver, so he touched it. The man wasn't dead yet, but we couldn't tell how he had been hanged. It looked more like he did it to himself. Since he was still alive, of course we had to save him, so we cut him down!" Tie Niu said.
Wufu pursed her lips and smiled.
"To say that Ma Dan hung himself, I don't believe it. He's a scoundrel who's scared to death; how could he have hung himself? Besides, if he did it on his own, how could his hands be tied? Shouldn't he have hanged himself by the neck?" someone in the crowd questioned.
Wufu remained silent, watching intently.
"If not him, then who did it? Ma Dan has offended plenty of people."
"It doesn't add up, though. If it was done by a person, there would be some trace of it, wouldn't there?"
Amidst the hushed questioning, someone suddenly said, "Could it really have been the Mountain Demon? He's done many bad deeds, definitely warranting Heaven's punishment. Could it be that Heaven couldn't turn a blind eye anymore?"
The crowd was startled and took a step back.
Villagers living in the area, fearing divine and ghostly intervention more than human mischief, instinctively retreated.
"Oh my, Ma Dan is moving."
Wufu looked over and saw Ma Dan, who was lying on the ground, covered with an old garment at some point, his wrists marked with purple bruises, and his face also bruised and purple, slowly opening his eyes.
He was lying on a slight incline, and as his eyes opened, they met Wufu's inky-black ones in the crowd. He yelped, "Mountain Demon..." and his eyes rolled back as he fainted again.