The peach blossoms and human faces bloomed in mutual splendor. Wang Zhuo captured this beautiful moment with his camera, returning home only to find he needed no editing at all—the portrait outshined the finest professional studio's work.

Peaches from Taoyuan Village grew big and juicy, their sweetness lingering on the palate like ambrosia. Though these fruits were seasonally unreachable now, a sip of peach wine would forever erase any doubts about their quality. Unfortunately, the village's poor transportation doomed all harvests to rot in place. The only way out was fermenting peaches into liquor or carving peach pits into small handicrafts for sale—a meager profit barely compensating for labor.

Such abundant resources going to waste struck Wang Zhuo and Qi Fei Guan Yingying deeply. Even if fresh peaches couldn't reach markets, processed products like canned peaches, peach juice, blossom oil or fragrance extracts could add value. Yet not even fallen petals found use here—the villagers fermented surplus fruit in underground pits for pig feed.

Passing through the orchard brought them to the mountain's back slope where steam curled up from below—a natural hot spring pool nestled at the foot. Verdant shrubs separated several stone-built pools of varying sizes, their surfaces obscured by thick mist rising from Taoyuan's signature bluish-gray stones used for construction.

"Just hang your clothes on that peach tree by the pool to claim it," Meng Shengnan explained with a grin, "but you'll need to check carefully before choosing!"

Guan Yingying danced excitedly, shouting, "Great! Wang Zhuo, run back and get our swimsuits!"

"Swimwear? That won't work," Meng Shengnan said in surprise. "Ancestors' rules forbid wearing clothes in the springs—no clothing allowed at all, no washing here, menstruating women must avoid it completely."

Countless taboos! Guan Yingying groaned but tried to reason: "But swimsuits aren't real clothes!"

Meng Shengnan shook her head. "I don't know what a swimsuit is—it's just nakedness. Even wrapping yourself in towels counts as clothing."

Who came up with these voyeuristic rules...? The two women exchanged glances, hearing Meng Shengnan add solemnly: "My grandmother said the hot springs are a gift from the Mountain God. Each bath is rebirth itself—wearing clothes would be sacrilege bringing calamity to our village!"

The entire community's safety now depended on full nakedness!

"Ahaha, you'll have to follow local customs," Wang Zhuo shrugged with an unrepentant smirk.

After a withering glare, Guan Yingying sighed. "What about those kids? The villagers are so honest maybe..."

"I'll guard you like a bodyguard!" Wang Zhuo puffed his chest confidently.

"Especially from your little peeping tom eyes!"

With only 300 residents in Taoyuan Village, most were tending flocks, quarrying stones or farming at this hour. Only scattered clothes hung by pools when they arrived—most remained empty. Meng Shengnan produced four wooden basins as playthings: upturned for sitting, flipped to scoop water, and worn like helmets during splash fights.

They chose a gourd-shaped pool, Wang Zhuo alone occupying one end while the women claimed the other. The misty vapor blurred their silhouettes enough to satisfy privacy concerns.

The 40°C water temperature was perfectly calibrated. Ancestors had cleverly guided springwater through underground channels before filling pools—this natural cooling process produced both ideal warmth and abundant steam.

Wang Zhuo leaned against warm bluish-gray stones, their surface smooth yet grippy beneath his backside. Occasional giggles from across the pool made him shift uncomfortably, determined not to use x-ray vision to peek.

He wasn't bothered by reputations—seeing without claiming was its own torment.

Ten meters away in another large pool, children splashed happily in northern-accented Mandarin—a dialect taught after a teacher settled here years ago. Wang Zhuo watched three girls pelt water buckets at two boys while one ducked under his bucket like a turtle.

Wait a minute... All kids were completely naked! The eldest girl was already twelve!

Muttering about simple folk and innocent childhood, he turned away just in time to see an emerald-patterned python gliding serenely through the mist. Its body nearly half a meter long, thicker than his arm—though lacking fangs, those colorful scales made venom identification impossible.

"Snake! Get out!" Wang Zhuo dove underwater immediately, twisting into a backstroke to chase it toward the women's side.

The shout startled Guan Yingying and Qi Fei. Before they could process whether this was real or playful, the serpent emerged from steam directly in front of them.

"Quick, dive under!" Qi Fei yelled. Both women submerged, Guan Yingying clamping her eyes shut as she sank past the surface.

Wang Zhuo caught up beneath the snake when something slippery brushed against his side—too late to react, he thrust upward through water and seized its neck!

Though only several meters swam, oxygen ran out fast. Reaching land brought both relief and panic as the serpent coiled around his arm. Its grip left no more than a few red marks.

"Hah!" Qi Fei surfaced first, coughing up saltwater with shivering breasts glistening wetly—her sight of Wang Zhuo caused immediate stiffness.

Crash! Guan Yingying emerged behind them, hair fanning out waterfalls as her chest swayed wildly. The two-meter distance in waist-deep water left nothing to imagination.

Guan Yingying, still recovering from the snake scare, turned and saw Wang Zhuo's... everything. Her eyes darted between three things before sudden realization made her plunge underwater—hard enough to sit on the pool floor painfully, gulping more water.

Wang Zhuo winced at Qi Fei, beginning to swim back when Meng Shengnan suddenly sprinted toward them barefoot. Her breasts bounced with each stride, legs trembling white as she tossed over a grayish egg.

"Wang Zhuo uncle! Eat wild chicken egg!"

The girl dove in next, her naked body approaching Wang Zhuo's still-coiled arm holding the snake.

On their journey here, Vice Director Kang and Party Secretary He had mentioned Taoyuan's peculiarities—co-sleeping families sharing kang beds with only married couples retreating to private rooms. Now they'd witnessed another tradition: mixed-gender bathing without modesty concerns.

Meng Shengnan casually removed the snake from Wang Zhuo's arm, stretched its limbs, and bounded ashore already planning noon soup. She left without even glancing at their nakedness, her pure gaze making Wang Zhuo question if clothed people might feel shame instead of this unadorned honesty.