Chapter 56: Knowing the secret, sleeping turns out to have a not so “…

Meng Jun shook his head honestly.

“Jiulang.” Sang Shen wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and said with great shock, “Hasn’t your husband shown you—”

Even through the veil of the hat, the young gentleman in front of him looked confused. Sang Shen paused, pondered for a moment, and then gestured, “You know, some items from the bottom of the chest.”

“No.” Meng Jun thought carefully for a while and said with certainty, “Uncle Han hasn’t shown me any items. You know he’s never been close to me.”

“No wonder.”

Sang Shen sighed meaningfully, the heartbreak of being betrayed earlier already forgotten. He pursed his lips and patted the still-confused young gentleman on the shoulder, “Actually, these items from the bottom of the chest are usually only shown to us before we get married. But my father said that nowadays, the customs in Great Jin are open, but the novels that young gentlemen read are often incomplete, either all mouths or omissions.”

“They only give young gentlemen hearts longing for true feelings, but don’t give them eyes to know desire. So my father, on the day of my capping ceremony, already told me about the affairs between men and women.”

He glanced at the rockery in the distance and shook his head slightly, “For them to be so close together is an intimate thing. Unless it’s mutual love and a lifelong commitment, it shouldn’t be done. It seems that there’s no fate between Miss Fang and me.”

The young gentleman choked, unable to bear seeing Sang Shen so downcast, “How about I ask Youning again later, maybe he doesn’t know about the intimacy of this matter either.”

Sang Shen sighed, “Even if he doesn’t know, Miss Fang is a woman, how could she not understand?”

“But, I won’t be too heartbroken.” Sang Shen pursed his lips and said calmly, “Today Miss Fang could accept my love poem and embrace someone else, tomorrow she might abandon Hu Youning and marry another.”

“She was originally a commoner, and now that she’s entered Qingshan Academy to study, she’s naturally aiming to make a name for herself. The Hu family has no power or influence, and can hardly be of help to her. She’ll probably get bored once the novelty wears off and cast him aside. I see that Hu Youning acts recklessly and somewhat opportunistically. If no one warns him, I’m afraid he’ll suffer losses.”

The young gentleman had also thought of this point, but now that they were in love, even if he told Youning about this, it would probably be ignored.

He followed with a heavy sigh, thought for a moment, and said seriously, “Perhaps I can let Tang—”

Sang Shen had sharp ears and teased him with a sidelong glance. Meng Jun hurriedly stopped speaking and changed his form of address, “Ask Li Shiyu to make some arrangements and test Fang Zhi. If their feelings are indeed true, it can be considered a good match. But if Fang Zhi is just acting, then Youning can see her true nature clearly. What do you think?”

“It’s good, but this test should be done sooner rather than later.” Sang Shen nodded in agreement.

As the two walked out of Qingshan Academy on their way home, Sang Shen invited Meng Jun to visit the Sang residence.

In the back garden, lush with flowers and plants, the servants had all been shooed outside the hanging flower gate. Under the covered walkway, two young gentlemen were sitting head to head, carefully flipping through several yellowed books.

Their faces were both tinged with red, whether from the embarrassment of reading the books or from the warm sunlight shining on them at that moment was hard to say.

“Jiulang, look at this.” Sang Shen first cautiously looked around to make sure no one was around, then took out a pair of wooden dolls from behind his back.

“Eh? What’s this?”

The young gentleman had never seen such wooden dolls before and was instantly very curious. He took them in his hands and carefully examined them several times, but still couldn’t understand what they meant.

“You don’t understand, right?” Sang Shen smugly put his hands behind his back, leaned in close to Meng Jun’s ear and whispered a few words. Seeing him freeze, he very enthusiastically reached out to take the wooden dolls, gently pulled them apart, and the dolls that were just fitted together suddenly made a popping sound.

Now, male was male and female was female, clear as day in the sunlight.

The young gentleman stared blankly as that pair of wooden dolls changed into many positions in Sang Shen’s hands. “See, my father said this position is the most likely to result in pregnancy.”

Sang Shen was still seriously explaining what he knew, while Meng Jun only felt his ears burning, as if they had been roasted by a great fire, making him sit restlessly.

Those beautiful phoenix eyes stared blankly at the overlapping shadows of people, but in his heart, he thought of that night when he had foolishly gone to find Li Ruantang, saying he was pregnant.

No wonder her expression was so helpless at that time. It turns out that sleeping together really isn’t so “innocent”.

And all those times he thought he was detoxifying by cuddling.

Boom—

The increasingly clear understanding of matters between men and women was like a fire, burning the young gentleman dizzy and disoriented, feeling both ashamed and annoyed, wanting to hold his breath and suffocate himself.

He had actually chased after Li Ruantang wanting to……

Thinking back now to Li Ruantang’s unspoken, extremely helpless expressions after returning to the capital, and her restrained and enduring gaze last night.

Long fingers tightly covered his flushed handsome face, Meng Jun was so regretful that his temples were throbbing.

Returning to the Meng residence, the young gentleman’s mind was still full of Sang Shen’s earnest teachings.

He lay listlessly on the bed, his face bright red, wanting to ask Li Ruantang if she would think him frivolous because of this. But she hadn’t returned home for several days, so he couldn’t find her.

Moreover, if he asked such a question, wouldn’t it be obvious that he already knew… knew about these embarrassing things.

The young gentleman tossed and turned, feeling both troubled and stifled. His long fingers pinched the white jade hanging around his neck, suddenly remembering Youning.

That’s right, that Fang Zhi looked like she was going to devour Youning whole. If they waited for Li Ruantang to return, there might be no chance to turn things around.

After all, this piece of white jade in his hand could mobilize the people of the Suqin Wang’s mansion. The young gentleman sat up all at once, hurriedly calling Zhiqiu to find Weidan at the wall.

*

In the rockery, Hu Youning’s delicate face was already damp with sweat. He caught his breath before slowly reaching out to pull up his clothes.

The young lady who had just given him a moment of pleasure was already fully dressed. As she was about to walk out, she seemed to remember something.