Chapter 36: A Man’s Pain

Fang Rui clutched his lower half, looking at Shen Yu with an indescribable expression full of pain and helplessness.

Shen Yu, however, turned her gaze away with a trace of guilt.

Just now, Fang Rui had told Shen Yu to pick a soft spot to hit, implying he wouldn’t resist, so without thinking she kicked. Several shoe-clad blows landed on his abdomen, which didn’t hurt much, and Fang Rui went along with it, letting the act dilute his guilty feelings.

But after a few kicks, seeing him still so calm, anger surged in Shen Yu. She shut her eyes, mustered all her strength and struck at Fang Rui, who, distracted by admiring her petulant expression, hadn’t noticed where she aimed…

“Hiss!” The moment the foot landed, Fang Rui immediately clutched his family jewels.

Hearing the suppressed cry of pain, Shen Yu slowly opened her eyes and saw Fang Rui clutching his groin against the bedframe. She was stunned for a moment, then snorted coldly and said, “Next time you dare offend me, I’ll kick you there again!”

When Shen Yu said that, Fang Rui wanted to cry but had no tears came. He thought he really ought to explain properly to Shen Yu what the difference between men and… was!

Wincing, he scolded Shen Yu, “Next time you kick, don’t ever kick there!”

Shen Yu was taken aback. She’d known this “Jia Ming” for about a month, and aside from his flippant talk he’d never made a move on her, to the point she nearly forgot he had leverage over her.

Even when Huyan Suoyun punched him before, he hadn’t shown such agony. How could one kick from her seem to have taken half his life? Shen Yu looked at her foot: because her feet were small she wore men’s-size shoes padded with cotton to avoid suspicion. Her feet and strength were small, so why did he look like he was dying?

Cold sweat broke on Fang Rui’s brow. After a long moment of easing and several deep breaths the pain subsided considerably. He looked at Shen Yu very seriously and said in a solemn tone, “If you kick there again, you’ll definitely regret it later.”

Hearing how earnest he sounded, Shen Yu realized he wasn’t joking and suddenly felt guilty, though a flicker of curiosity remained. She asked, “Why would I regret it?”

If Fang Rui had come to her the next day, Shen Yu, still furious, wouldn’t have calmed so quickly to ask why. But five days had passed, and after the earlier venting her anger had lessened.

Fang Rui sighed helplessly, stood up, walked awkwardly to the table, and sat down. Looking at Shen Yu he said, “Come here. I think I should tell you about the differences between men and women, otherwise you’ll eventually reveal a flaw.”

Hearing she’d inevitably show a flaw, Shen Yu lowered her eyelids and considered: her knowledge of men was superficial. Sometimes passing the backyard she overheard women gossip about how capable their men were at night. Others blushed knowingly, but she alone was clueless, vaguely understanding yet not grasping the meaning.

After thinking, Shen Yu pressed her lips together, climbed down from the bed, and sat opposite Fang Rui, her gaze full of wariness.

Seeing Shen Yu’s look, Fang Rui thought, hey, she was the one who seduced me first! I even spared her and didn’t go further! S**houldn’t that earn me some trust?

But she was Shen Yu, the one he favored. Whatever she thought right, he also thought right. So he had to admit, however many mistakes there were, they were all his.

“Alright, tell me, what’s the difference between men and women?” Shen Yu asked, guarded yet curious.

Before teaching this lesson on men and women, Fang Rui wasn’t nervous at all, but as he began he suddenly got nervous, clearing his throat twice with some tension, “Let me make clear: what I tell you is just for you to be more aware, not to tease or flirt with you.”

Shen Yu’s wary and curious gaze now included some skepticism. She clearly didn’t trust this rakish philanderer’s mouth to say anything serious.

“Go on,” she said, “say whatever you want, nothing you say now could be worse than what you did a few days ago. I didn’t even kill you in my anger, so I can tolerate whatever you say.”

At that, Fang Rui’s gaze flicked to the dagger he’d kicked to the wardrobe’s edge, and he silently chose to keep his mouth shut.

If she really hadn’t been angry enough to kill him, then why was the dagger here?

He placed his hand on the table, hesitated, then said, “The biggest difference between men and women is, first of all, the body.”

Mentioning the body, Shen Yu instinctively raised her hands to cover her chest, looking at Fang Rui like a startled creature.

She had not forgotten where his hand had been that night!

Fang Rui cleared his throat twice more. His left fingers on the table seemed to remember the feeling of holding her hand that day, twitching uncontrollably. Feeling guilty, he moved his hand under the table to his thigh, restlessly tapping it again and again.

“The body… let’s skip that,” Fang Rui said, thinking that if he explained this he’d never be allowed back into Shen Yu’s chamber.

“Even if we skip details, I’ll tell you this: the spot you just kicked is the weakest part of every man. If one doesn’t control their force, the consequences can be severe.”

“How severe?” Shen Yu, like a child who knew nothing, wanted to ask everything.

Fang Rui hesitated, then picked an analogy, “Do you know the biggest difference between the palace eunuchs and men outside?”

Without thinking, Shen Yu answered bluntly, “I’ve heard. They had their privates cut off.”

At the word “cut,” Fang Rui’s legs suddenly closed together and a chill ran through him…

“Don’t say that casually to others, you’ll be suspected of not being a man yourself,” he warned. Which man could speak so nonchalantly about having his privates cut? Without being a man, one couldn’t possibly comprehend that kind of pain!

“Why?”

Fang Rui stared back at her. How was he supposed to explain that!?

“Because that thing is something only men have. If a man loses it, he cannot have offspring and will have no way to continue the line. Do you know how important that is?”

Shen Yu nodded, half understanding. “I think I get it.” Over the years she had learned just how important descendants were.

Mention of something so important made Shen Yu’s gaze drift slowly downward along Fang Rui’s body, but the table blocked her view so she didn’t look further.

Fang Rui, however, feeling Shen Yu’s unabashed eyes travel downward, felt the pain that had fully subsided begin to swell again. He suddenly thought that if he could endure another eight years in this lifetime, he’d still die afterward, just that the last time he was poisoned and this time he would die from suppressing all his physiological reactions to Shen Yu.

After spending more time with Shen Yu this life, he found her even more teasing than before. She could arouse him countless times in one night with little gestures. If he hadn’t controlled himself, who knew how many times he’d have taken advantage of her.

Hearing Fang Rui say the place she kicked was so important, Shen Yu looked worried and asked, “Yours isn’t… broken, is it?”

Fang Rui sighed. If he continued explaining, he felt Shen Yu’s naiveté about such matters would take all night to clear up.

“No…”

Relieved to hear that, Shen Yu finally exhaled. Her anger gone, she asked Fang Rui, “Then… how are children made?”

Fang Rui felt he had to make that clear, but didn’t know where to start, so he said, “Next time I’ll bring you a booklet and you’ll understand.”

Shen Yu blinked and asked, “What exactly is it?”

Fang Rui paused and said, “When a woman marries, her mother gives her a booklet, and that booklet is called a fire-avoiding chart.”

“A fire-avoiding chart?” Shen Yu murmured. Her intuition told her it wasn’t something pleasant, but wanting to learn, she said, “Alright, bring it next time.”

Night was deep and it was time for Fang Rui to return to the palace. As he left he turned to Shen Yu and said, “I didn’t do that to you without thinking of the consequences. I thought of them before I crossed the line.”

After saying that he leapt out the window, leaving a bewildered Shen Yu behind. She frowned, not wanting to know what kind of consequences he had in mind.

Not long after Fang Rui left, Shen Yu saw a white lump crawl out from under the table.

Shen Yu smacked her forehead. The man actually forgot to take the cat!

Shen Yu squatted, picked up a small remaining dried fish from the floor and fed it to the white fluff. After a moment she looked at the tiny translucent fish the fluff was nibbling, which was about the size of a boneless little finger, and thought it didn’t look like an ordinary person’s snack nor like something one would casually feed a kitten. At that thought, calculation flickered in her eyes.

She then picked up another small dried fish, went to the cabinet, took out a handkerchief, wrapped the fish in it, and went outside. She called the coachman she’d instructed earlier to buy arsenic, handed him the wrapped fish, and instructed, “Go check the dried goods shops in Jindu and ask what species this dried fish is, and what kind of people can afford to buy it.”

The coachman took the handkerchief, answered “Yes,” and left. Shen Yu’s mind was full of thoughts about Jia Ming’s true identity. Was he an ordinary drifter or someone she actually knew?