Chapter 13: Too Shameless

For a moment, the atmosphere in the main hall froze.

Shen Yu straightened her expression and shook her head solemnly. “No, when General Lei burst into my bedchamber, I was about to go to bed. You must have been seeing things.”

“Seeing things?! Do you think I’m blind? In the middle of summer, you even had a quilt on! That bulge under the quilt was clearly two people!” Lei Shengda was exactly the kind of man who could never learn what to say in which situation, nor which words were acceptable before which people.

Shen Yu showed no panic at all, her expression normal. “General Lei, this is my private matter. It has nothing to do with you, nor with your intrusion into the Grand Guardian’s residence.”

“Shen Yu! When did I ever offend you? I take care of you all the time! Can’t you at least say a few words for me?”

“Lei Shengda!” Fang Rui shouted at Lei Shengda.

Lei Shengda stiffened at the shout, his spine straightening straighter than even his subordinates.

“If I didn’t scold you, you would truly become more and more lawless, wouldn’t you?!”

Though deeply aggrieved, Lei Shengda still pursed his lips and unwillingly said, “I know my mistake, Your Majesty!”

This burly man still put on such a nonchalant, aggrieved face… Fang Rui silently covered his eyes.

“Since you know your mistake, write a hundred copies of a repentance statement here in the Great Yuan Hall, and my beloved aide Shen will supervise.”

At the thought of having to write another repentance statement, Lei Shengda widened his eyes. “Your Majesty! Why not disable my other hand as well!”

Fang Rui snorted and the corner of his mouth twitched. “Rong Tai, bring me a knife.”

Lei Shengda’s eyes widened.

“Your Majesty, I’ll just write the repentance statement.”

…

They had tables and chairs brought into the hall. Shen Yu sat beside Lei Shengda to supervise, while Lei Shengda miserably held the brush and took ages to finish a single character.

Fang Rui leaned on a chaise with a copy of *A *Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance in hand, though his gaze was not on the book at all.

Rong Tai couldn’t stand it any longer. He knew the emperor’s punishment of General Lei was a sham and that the real intent was to be able to stare at Lord Shen. But if His Majesty insisted on spying, couldn’t he at least hold the book the right way up?!

He lowered his head and whispered in Fang Rui’s ear, “Your Majesty, you’re holding the book upside down.”

But to his surprise, His Majesty didn’t even glance at the book in his hand. As if nothing were amiss he closed it, picked up another volume, and opened it.

Rong Tai’s eyes widened in disbelief…

Your Majesty!

*Why **weren’t these books *cleared away completely!

And they even ended up on His Majesty’s desk for handling state affairs!

Should he mention this or not…

His voice dropped even lower, “Your Majesty, your…”

“My dear aide Shen, come over here.”

Before Rong Tai could finish his sentence, Fang Rui had already called out to Shen Yu.

Rong Tai… he’d just pretend he hadn’t seen anything…

Upon hearing her name, Shen Yu stood, walked toward Fang Rui, and bowed. “What orders does Your Majesty have?”

After placing the open book on the table he said, “Nothing much, I just wanted to ask you to have lunch with me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Shen Yu looked up, but on seeing the book on the table her face flushed instantly as red as silk.

Was she imagining things? How could she see in His Majesty’s book a… distasteful color-illustrated picture book?

To confirm she wasn’t hallucinating, Shen Yu stared and looked again, her cheeks growing redder.

The image of two men stripped bare… one man lying over a table, another lying on top of him — what on earth were they doing?!

Shen Yu’s look and expression were stunned as she stared at the table. Fang Rui noticed something was off with her, and followed her gaze to the tabletop.

He nearly screamed. Weren’t all these things thrown away?!

He lifted his eyes from the painting album on the table and looked at the unknowingly flushed Shen Yu. She didn’t know how attractive she looked to Fang Rui at that moment, and he, with a straight face, did not sheepishly close the book but instead spoke even more earnestly, “My dear aide Shen, do you not know what sumo is?”

Rong Tai could hard believe it. His Majesty was seriously a genius.

Shen Yu was taken aback. “Sumo?”

Fang Rui smiled and called to Lei Shengda from afar, “Lei Shengda, do you know what sumo is?”

Lei Shengda, who handled his brush as if it weighed a thousand catties, continued stroke by stroke on the paper. Hearing the emperor’s question, he didn’t even look up. “Sumo? It’s that kind of thing where two big men fight almost naked, I suppose it’s a form of entertainment.”

Shen Yu secretly sighed. So this book was about sumo.

Shen Yu was clever, yet she always fell for the lies uttered by her most trusted Emperor Fang Rui.

The corner of Fang Rui’s mouth twitched as he slid the book toward Shen Yu and said, “Do you want to take a look?”

Shen Yu shook her head stiffly, “I don’t need to see it!” Her eyes widened in surprise. Her dazed look made him think of the white fluffy cat at Lei Shengda’s residence, so cute…

Rong Tai noticed His Majesty’s increasingly thick-skinned behavior and suddenly felt a twinge of sympathy for Shen Yu.

“If you want to learn more, I can personally demonstrate.”

Rong Tai was on the verge of tears. Your Majesty, your servant is still here!

Shen Yu’s eyes grew rounder still. He wanted to demonstrate by undressing like that?!

“Your Majesty, no thank you. Compared to sumo, I’m actually more interested in practicing archery.”

Fang Rui naturally closed the book in front of him, picked up the other book that he had set down earlier, randomly flipped to a page and laid it over the album. “I can’t concentrate either.” Then he looked at Rong Tai. “Have them prepare lunch.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

At the mention of lunch, Lei Shengda raised his head and stared hard at the emperor. If Shen Yu’s gaze had reminded him of the white cat at his household, then Lei Shengda himself was like a big black bear. And in Fang Rui’s understanding of such animals, bear paws were a very fine delicacy on the dining table.

Fang Rui glanced at him coldly. “When you’ve finished copying those hundred repentance statements, then you may leave.” Hoping to butt into his meal with Shen Yu? He could dream on.

The table was piled with dazzling dishes. Shen Yu glanced and found it odd. Not a single dish was something she disliked. She was picky with food, often avoiding gourds and beans, so there were usually many things she wouldn’t eat, yet the spread here had completely avoided them.

Fang Rui sat quietly, looked at Shen Yu with amusement in his eyes, and asked, “My beloved aide Shen, why not sit down?”

Shen Yu bowed and moved to sit opposite Fang Rui, but he had already read her movement and said before she sat, “Sit over here.“

Shen Yu glanced at the seat beside Fang Rui, suspected nothing, and sat in the spot closest to him, appearing somewhat restrained.

There had been previous occasions dining with the emperor, but she had always sat directly opposite, never this close.

What Shen Yu didn’t know was that the former emperor was not reincarnated, but this one was. And after reincarnation he felt he could fully strategize and control matters.

Before reincarnation, the emperor had always thought she was a man and feared that if she discovered his crooked feelings and angrily resigned, even if he forced the issue later, he worried Shen Yu would not bear the humiliation and might kill herself. After all, not everyone could accept so easily that the one they secretly liked was a man. Fang Rui was also not that kind of sordid person. If he were, he could have used the Grand Guardian’s house, which Shen Yu cared about, as a threat. But Fang Rui wanted not only her body, but her heart as well.

As a close attendant, Rong Tai had tested the dishes with a silver needle. Food was placed in Fang Rui’s bowl and then he transferred servings into Shen Yu’s bowl. With a smile at the corner of his mouth and a voice seemingly richer than usual, he said, “My beloved aide Shen, you’re so thin, you should nourish yourself more.”

Shen Yu, flattered and astonished, thanked him, “I thank Your Majesty.”

“Take it slow, don’t put too much pressure on Lord Lei’s household. Earlier you said that compared to sumo you preferred archery. After we finish eating, I’ll test you to see if you still remember what I taught you last time.”

Shen Yu gulped. Even if she remembered, she couldn’t lift that bow!

Shen Yu didn’t even know that an ordinary bow wouldn’t be so heavy. But actually Fang Rui had specially ordered one to be made many times heavier than usual, and his purpose was obvious.

Could she take back her claim of being interested in archery? She was not just uninterested in archery, actually. Any activity requiring physical strength held no appeal to her. She was truly only fit for literary pursuits.

At the archery range, Fang Rui took the longbow from Rong Tai’s hands effortlessly, as if it weighed nothing at all.

But Shen Yu knew better: what looked weightless in the emperor’s hands was like lifting a thousand-catty stone when in hers.

Shen Yu’s face showed difficulty, but Fang Rui pretended not to notice and handed the longbow to her. “Show me whether, after returning, you’ve truly practiced diligently.”

Shen Yu gulped again. How could she possibly have practiced? She usually didn’t even want to take a few extra steps.

She swallowed and reached to take the longbow. This time Fang Rui did not deliberately wait for her to stabilize. As soon as Shen Yu gripped it he immediately let go. The bow weighed about half of Shen Yu herself. A woman who only ever held a pen couldn’t possibly manage it. When she gripped the longbow and lost her balance, her body was pulled forward by the nearly thirty-kilogram bow.

Seizing the moment, Fang Rui reached out, placed both hands to support her and put them on Shen Yu’s shoulders. When Shen Yu looked up in alarm she found Fang Rui smiling as if bathed in spring sunshine. “My dearest aide, what can I say to you? You can’t even lift a single bow? How frail. I had intended to pair you with me at this year’s autumn hunt, but now it seems I’m disappointed in you.” At the end he also put on a resigned expression.

His expression was one of disappointment, but inwardly he sneaked a thought that Shen Yu’s body was truly delicate and easy to topple.