066 Beating His Buttocks with the Sole of a Shoe

Chapter 066: Smacking His Butt with a Shoe Sole

The captured monk? Was that referring to her? Did that mean she was now on the territory of the Xu family?

Fang Rulai, startled by the sudden realization of her dangerous predicament, snapped her eyes open, only to discover that although she could hear everything with perfect clarity, she could see absolutely nothing.

Darkness. Complete and utter darkness—so deep that she couldn’t even see her own body when she looked down.

In truth, it was the kind of darkness where you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, but her hands were currently tied behind her back, making it impossible to stretch them out in any event.

As her mind gradually cleared, Fang Rulai realized she was bound hand and foot, sitting on a chair. How she’d ended up tied up here, what had happened along the way—she couldn’t remember a thing.

Lin Wan’er’s voice sounded again, “Someone, find that monk for me.”

The sound of hurried footsteps soon echoed from unseen corners—they must have begun searching for her.

Fang Rulai saw nothing but blackness to her left and right, so she could only inch herself backward, chair and all, moving quietly and carefully to avoid making a sound.

Footsteps passed so close she could almost feel the air stir, and voices reporting in seemed to come from right in front of her. “Miss, there’s nothing here.” “Nothing here, either.” “Nor here.”

Fang Rulai froze in place. The voices were so near, yet they couldn’t find her? Why?

“Hmph, that old hag must have changed locations! No matter, I’ll go to Master—he’ll definitely be able to find out.”

Lin Wan’er was about to leave when an elderly voice stopped her. “Miss, are you going out like this?”

“Oh, I almost forgot. Granny Sun, take care of that old hag’s corpse, and the rest of you, help me put on her human-skin mask. Until that monk dies, it looks like I’ll have to impersonate the Xu matron for a while.”

A flurry of commotion followed. Just as Fang Rulai was growing frustrated that Lin Wan’er hadn’t left yet, another voice called in from outside.

“Mother, where are you? Erming wants to eat your red-braised pork.”

Sun Ming.

Fang Rulai drew in a deep breath and held it. That so-called Erming might be simple-minded, but his martial skills were extraordinary. If he found her, there was no telling if he’d betray her to Lin Wan’er.

Lin Wan’er, feigning the Xu matron’s voice, replied, “Ming-er, Mother has to go discuss something important with your father. I’ll make the red-braised pork for you tonight, all right?”

The imitation was about sixty percent accurate, but Fang Rulai guessed it would be enough to fool the fool.

Sure enough, Sun Ming responded without the slightest suspicion, “No, no! Mother, Erming wants to eat it now! Right now, this instant!”

Since Lin Wan’er wasn’t truly the Xu matron, she didn’t indulge him as the real one might. “Enough! I said tonight and I meant it! Granny Sun, come, we’re going to the master…”

She was cut off mid-sentence by Sun Ming: “Mother, you don’t love Erming anymore! Fine, I don’t want your love either! I’ll go find Sister Wan—she’ll have time to cook for me!”

With that, Sun Ming rushed out the door ahead of Lin Wan’er, who panicked and called after him, “Ming-er, come back!” She was right there in front of him—she absolutely couldn’t let him go looking for her, or else, with his stubbornness, he’d probably mobilize everyone to search, and if she were found out, it would all be over.

Lin Wan’er quickly adopted a tone of gentle compromise. “All right, Ming-er, I’ll do it right now! Granny Sun, you stay here and look after the young master. I’ll bring the red-braised pork as soon as it’s ready.” The implication was clear: under no circumstances let the fool come looking for her before she returned.

Granny Sun assented, and Lin Wan’er left with her people.

“Young Master, please sit here and wait,” Granny Sun said, ushering Sun Ming back in.

Sun Ming responded indifferently, still clearly displeased not to have gotten his way immediately.

Granny Sun hurried to speak well of her mistress. “Second Young Master, the eldest young master died suddenly today. Madam is distraught and upset—please don’t take it to heart.”

“What do you mean, ‘the eldest young master died suddenly’? I know that refers to my big brother, but what does ‘died suddenly’ mean?”

“Er… it means he died all of a sudden.” Though exasperated by the fool’s questions, Granny Sun still answered as a servant should.

“Died all of a sudden? Suddenly? I don’t understand. What does ‘suddenly’ mean?”

“It’s… like, one moment he was fine, the next moment he was dead.”

“Oh, I see. Like this?”

“Yes, just like—”

Before she could finish, Granny Sun’s body thudded to the ground. There were three clear finger marks on her throat.

A shudder ran uncontrollably through Fang Rulai. She couldn’t see, but the sounds alone told her what had happened. It was almost certain that the fool, seeking to understand the meaning of “sudden death,” had killed Granny Sun himself to find out.

A chill shot up from her feet to the crown of her head. She was holding her breath so long she was nearly faint from lack of air. Just how far gone did one’s mind have to be to kill without the slightest compunction? And if he found her, bound like this…

“Hey, you—tied up over there. Holding your breath won’t kill you, will it?”

Sun Ming’s voice suddenly rose, still carrying that childlike innocence, but to Fang Rulai’s ears, it sounded like a death knell from the depths of hell.

He had found her after all! Fang Rulai sucked in a desperate breath and tried to calm herself: Don’t panic, don’t panic. Those others hadn’t found her, and this fool was, after all, a fool. Surely he wouldn’t—

She didn’t even finish the thought before a thunderous crash split the air, and light flooded into her little prison.

Fang Rulai’s first instinct was to scan her surroundings, searching for any chance at survival. Even knowing she stood no chance against him, she refused to simply close her eyes and wait for death.

It was a cramped secret room, three sides walled in. The only light came from the direction where tattered bed curtains, just shattered by a blow, now filled her vision.

This was the secret chamber behind the Xu matron’s bed.

Fang Rulai sat tied to a chair, peering out through the ruined bed curtains. Granny Sun’s body lay in plain sight, and with the timing, Fang Rulai was certain the old woman would soon follow her mistress to the underworld.

Her gaze shifted upward. After assessing her situation, she finally looked at the “innocent” murderer, the fool, Sun Ming.

Tall and slender, clad in ornate robes, his face was indistinct.

The tattered bed curtains hung in layers between them, so Fang Rulai could only make out the general shape of Sun Ming’s face. She instinctively tried to recall the moment when their eyes had met before, but strangely, she couldn’t remember his features at all. Was she too worried about Zhu Xishi at the time to pay attention?

Moreover, the mere presence of Sun Ming behind a wall had chilled her to the bone, but now, with only a thin curtain between them, her fear had inexplicably faded. On the contrary, a strange sense of familiarity was growing. Yet there was no mention of this fool in any memory she possessed.

Baffled by the flood of odd thoughts she couldn’t control, Fang Rulai saw Sun Ming taking slow steps toward her.

“Ha! So you’re the benefactor who killed my brother. Why are you hiding behind my mother’s bed? Is it fun in there?”

His voice was familiar, yet unfamiliar, making Fang Rulai question whether her senses were failing her, or if the person in front of her had done something to cause her confusion.

“Mm, it’s not bad. Quite fun. Want to try?”

“Sure, sure!” Sun Ming leapt into the ruined secret chamber. As the bed curtain brushed over his head, his face came into full view.

His hair was jet black, held back with a single gold crown. A gemstone the size of a pigeon’s egg gleamed in the crown’s center, casting a moonlit majesty over his features—dense brows, clear eyes, a proud nose, and lips pink as petals.

He looked so much like Jia Baoyu that Fang Rulai’s first thought was that he bore absolutely no resemblance to his late brother, Sun Yao.

Her second thought was to double-check her memory—she was sure she’d never seen such a face, so why did it feel increasingly familiar?

“What? It’s dark and damp in here. Not fun at all! Hey, monk, are you lying to me again? Do you want me to spank your butt again?”

The phrase “spank your butt” struck Fang Rulai’s muddled mind like a lightning bolt, illuminating everything in a flash.

She shivered, then suddenly smiled. “It really is fun. But only if you’re tied up like I was—then you’ll truly understand the wonders of it.”

“Really?”

“Really!”

“All right, you get up and let me try.” With that, Sun Ming untied her ropes and began wrapping them around himself. “Like this? Or like this?”

Fang Rulai flexed her wrists and stepped closer. “Let me help you.”

“Okay, but make sure it’s exactly how you were tied up just now.”

“Don’t worry, exactly the same.” She carefully bound Sun Ming’s hands and feet, then had him sit where she’d just been. “Now, you sit here, and I’ll tie you to the chair. Then you’ll feel exactly what I did.”

“Oh, all right.”

Fang Rulai wound the rope tightly around the chair, tying a firm knot at the back. “Young Master Ming, liars all deserve a spanking, right?”

“Of course. Sister Wan always told the truth.”

“And she’s no exception, is she?”

“Of course. If Sister Wan lied to me, she’d let me spank her…”

“And you? You’re no exception either, right?”

“Of course. But I never lie, I—”

Before he could finish, Fang Rulai kicked the chair over, sending Sun Ming sprawling, his backside raised high, half-kneeling.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he cried.

“What am I doing?” Fang Rulai bent down, yanked off her own shoe, and swung it in a wide arc, smacking Sun Ming’s upturned hip with all her might. “That’s for lying to me! For playing tricks on me! For pretending to be a fool! Are you addicted to cross-dressing now, Guan Shiyin?!”

Thank you, dear Stinky Egg and Manman, for the floral encouragement, muamuamua~