The living room was silent except for the sound of the television. Zhao Ran no longer felt like playing on his phone and walked out to the living room, where he saw his stepmother sitting and reading a newspaper, her expression completely natural.
Seeing Zhao Ran come out, his stepmother set the newspaper down. “Did you rest well?”
Zhao Ran nodded. She hadn’t showered yet and was still wearing the same dress she had on during the day, with sweat stains around the collar.
“Mom, are you feeling better from your cold?”
His stepmother gave an “Mhm,” and said, “Much better. I’m just a little tired. I’m going to take a shower now. If you have something to do, you should go take care of it.”
With that, she went back to her room to get a change of clothes. Zhao Ping, his father, seemed to say something from inside, but Zhou Yun ignored him and walked into the bathroom.
His parents’ relationship had always been fairly stable, but his stepmother was a very traditional woman. She believed that a man should prioritize his career and family. Although his so-called father was also busy with work, he often prioritized his friends over his family, which probably left his stepmother feeling disappointed.
As he lost himself in thought, Zhao Ran suddenly recalled taking advantage of his stepmother while she was sound asleep last night. A wild idea crossed his mind—was there any way to peek at her while she was showering in the bathroom?
Hearing the sound of running water from the bathroom, Zhao Ran felt his thoughts wandering.
Unable to suppress his curiosity—after all, he had never tried to see if it was possible to look into the bathroom from the outside—Zhao Ran stood up and walked toward the bathroom with a mix of nervousness and anticipation.
The bathroom door in their house opened inward and was made of aluminum alloy and glass. The glass had a heavy frosted coating, making it impossible to see inside; one could only tell if the light was on or not.
It was unrealistic to try to see through the door. The only possibility was to check whether he could see inside through the small window or the exhaust fan connecting the kitchen and the bathroom.
Zhao Ran went into the kitchen and looked up. The small window was frosted, and the exhaust fan was running because his stepmother was showering. He stood on his tiptoes but still couldn’t reach the exhaust fan, so he brought over a small stool to stand on.
He couldn’t see anything through the exhaust fan. Due to the angle, even if the fan weren’t running, one could only see from the inside out—not from the outside in.
Next to the exhaust fan was the small frosted window, connected seamlessly to the fan. Zhao Ran looked around but didn’t find any other spot from which he could see into the bathroom. Reluctantly, he climbed down. Seeing his stepmother naked wasn’t as easy as he had imagined.
Returning to his room, since he had already released his desires through his cousin earlier that day, Zhao Ran wasn’t burning with urgency. After browsing the internet for a while, his stepmother came in to tell him to go to bed early, then returned to her own room to sleep.
Zhao Ran thought for a moment and went to the bathroom. He closed the door and looked up at the exhaust fan. It was true that one could see outside from inside the bathroom, but not the other way around. If he wanted to see inside from the outside, he would probably have to put a little effort into tampering with the small window next to it.
The small window was made of glass, and the frame connecting it to the exhaust fan was aluminum alloy. Zhao Ran didn’t see any obvious way to manipulate it. He climbed up and took a closer look. The window could be opened from the inside. If it were opened just a crack, it would be possible to see inside from the outside.
Zhao Ran tried it. The window was stiff, likely because it had never been opened before. He couldn’t understand why such a small window, only about the height of a palm, had been installed there in the first place.