The Castration Chronicles: Chapter 12 - The Legend of Widow Li

Nobody in the village knew Widow Li's real name. Everyone had simply called her that from the very beginning. Most importantly, Widow Li had never been married, let alone ever had a husband who died.

Why was she called a widow, then? The reason behind it had long since been lost to time and forgotten by all. Yet, an introduction to Widow Li herself remains necessary.

Widow Li's grandfather's generation had migrated to Xiangtang Village from Liaocheng, Shandong, back when the Liu-Deng Army crossed the Dabie Mountains.

Her grandfather, Liu Qingshan, was wounded during a reconnaissance mission and unable to keep up with the advancing troops. He was left behind in Xiangtang Village to recover from his injuries, during which time he met the woman who nursed him—Widow Li's paternal grandmother, surnamed Chen.

Because of his severe gunshot wound, Liu Qingshan missed the chance to rejoin the troops when they moved onward. He stayed behind, never to return to the military, nursing a lifelong regret of missing the remainder of the war.

Following the nationwide liberation, Liu Qingshan settled permanently in Xiangtang Village, marrying Chen, the woman who had cared for him and helped him heal.

At that time, Xiangtang Village had largely been spared from the ravages of the war; no one had suffered severe collateral damage from the conflict. Thus, as soon as the war ended, all the villagers were able to resume their peaceful and contented lives.

This could be considered a great fortune, and the clan elders of the day attributed it entirely to Widow Li's grandfather. It was precisely because he stayed behind that the village was able to maintain relative stability amidst the chaos of war.

Of course, one might argue this was merely wishful thinking on the part of the clan leader. After all, Liu Qingshan was the sole Party member in Xiangtang Village at the time, and he had been a military cadre when wounded.

Blessed with these two auras of distinction, the clan leader could not help but hold him in special regard. During every spring plowing ancestral ceremony held by the villagers at the Liu Clan Ancestral Hall, Liu Qingshan was invariably seated in the honored primary position. Coincidentally, he also shared the surname Liu, although his Liu belonged to the Lu region rather than the Central Plains. Nevertheless, treated with high esteem as an honored guest by the clan leader over the years, the entire village eventually came to view this Lu-region Liu as no different from the local Lius.

Furthermore, despite being a Party member and a military officer, Liu Qingshan was low-profile, honest, and down-to-earth, earning the deep affection of the ordinary villagers. Ultimately, the major local Liu clans of Xiangtang Village acknowledged his standing in the community.

When the special era for economic development arrived, Liu Qingshan, with the approval of higher-level authorities and the support of the local Liu clans in Xiangtang, naturally took up the banner of economic development.

Though well over seventy years of age at the time, he remained spirited and vigorous. As a strapping man from Shandong, Liu Qingshan was strong-willed and stubborn—qualities that, unfortunately, would later become a major contributing factor to Xiangtang Village's decline.

As mentioned earlier, the ideas of planting fruit trees and wheat had actually been proposed by Liu Qingshan. Because of his grave miscalculations, compounded by the peculiar era and policies of the time, the villagers of Xiangtang were plunged into unbearable suffering.

Yet the villagers dared not pin the blame on him. It was only after his death that Widow Li's parents began to be ostracized, leaving Widow Li herself to endure inexplicable bullying from her fellow villagers from the day she was born.

As a young child, she could not fathom why her grandfather had been a cadre and a officer, while her own family lived in greater misery than ordinary villagers.

Later, when all the villagers migrated to Shandong, Widow Li's parents had long since passed away, and no one was willing to take her along.

Left behind, she wandered until she eventually crossed paths with people who had migrated from elsewhere; only then did Widow Li feel she was treated like a normal human being.

By that time, Widow Li was already over forty and had never married.

Whenever people saw her haggard face, they would ask her, "How did your husband die? Did your children starve to death, too?" Widow Li would merely offer a helpless, bitter smile and nod, her heart filled entirely with gratitude toward those who showed her pity.

As for why Widow Li took up castigating pigs: one day, while she was preparing feed, a breeding boar suddenly lunged at her, sending her sprawling face-first into the dirt. The boar immediately mounted her, making it abundantly clear that its ailment had been cured. Having been bullied by people for half her life, she was now being humiliated by an estrous boar.

This was beyond endurance!

Scholar Liu contacted Kojima-kun through An Ji, reporting the accident involving the breeding boar. Kojima-kun returned to the old place to investigate the cause of death, and the two of them came back to Xiangtang Village once more.

Kojima-kun was excessively obsessed with the truth. However, for the sake of Widow Li, the entire village—under the instruction of the village head and the surveillance of the militia captain—concealed the matter of the severed hand.

Staring at the blackened genitalia of the breeding boar, Kojima-kun was utterly baffled. Without uncovering the truth, he refused to write his report. An Ji was also somewhat distressed, as Kojima-kun's assignment directly impacted this precious internship record.

Just as An Ji was worrying, Scholar Liu discovered the predicament.

Incorrigible as ever, Scholar Liu began hitting on An Ji again. After multiple rounds of "profound exchanges," Scholar Liu finally revealed the truth of what had happened that night to An Ji.

And so, An Ji and Kojima-kun quietly and contentedly left the village. As for why Scholar Liu was the only one in the entire village who knew the complete truth, it naturally stemmed from his old habit—chasing after women.