Chapter 37: When a Person Has a Hernia

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Chapter 37: When a Man Is Castrated

“Faster, faster! He’s about to charge in!” Chun-niang urged him in a frantic stream of words.

Hearing the commotion below, Shen Changdong began to panic as well. He climbed onto the windowsill and leaned out, searching for a softer place to land.

Who could have guessed that, just then, a sudden weight pressed against the small of his back?

Before he had time to think, Chun-niang shoved him out of the window.

“Good heavens!”

“Thud!”

“Crack!”

He gave a startled cry and plunged from the loft.

By some stroke of ill fortune, he landed face-first on a heap of hard firewood, while his left leg struck the rim of a vat. From the sound of it, the leg seemed to have broken.

At that moment, Shen Changdong could think of nothing else. He did not even care that the skin on his face had been scraped open and was bleeding. He rolled about on the ground, howling in agony, tears and mucus streaming down his face. Not a trace remained of his usual swaggering arrogance.

Bang—

Just as he was crying out for his parents in unbearable pain, a heavy club suddenly crashed down upon the back of his head. His mind dissolved into chaos, stars burst before his eyes, and though he opened his mouth to curse, he never managed to utter a single word.

Shi Shan gave his younger brother Shi Hai a thumbs-up. “Fierce, accurate, ruthless!”

Gritting his teeth, Shi Hai tossed aside the thick wooden club in his hand and shook out his numb palm. He viciously kicked Shen Changdong. “Beating this filthy bastard gets more satisfying every time.”

“Drag him away first. People often pass through here. It isn’t a good place to do this.”

The brothers seized one of Shen Changdong’s arms each. Without bothering about the mess scattered across the ground, they dragged him away like a dead dog.

By the time Shen Changdong regained consciousness, night was falling outside.

Pain had awakened him. His broken leg hurt beyond endurance.

Where was this place? Could the butcher have caught him and brought him here to kill him in revenge?

Fear began to take hold of him.

He hurriedly looked around and discovered that he was in a ruined temple. Dead branches and leaves covered the ground, with weeds growing wild among them. On a broken table at the back stood several statues of deities, all so dilapidated that it was impossible to tell whom they were meant to represent.

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He had been tied to one of the temple’s long-weathered pillars. With one leg broken, there was no way he could escape on his own.

“Is anyone there?” he called tentatively.

He intended to negotiate with the butcher. He could offer him more money—any amount he wanted. He would even kneel and apologize if necessary. So long as he was not killed, he was willing to do anything.

Yet through the temple’s crumbling doorway came two young men, each carrying a heavy wooden rolling pin as thick as a man’s arm and nearly half his height. Murderous intent radiated from them.

“You… who are you?” Shen Changdong cried, startled at first. Then he examined the two young men more carefully. They looked somewhat familiar, yet after racking his memory, he was certain he had never seen them before. For a moment, he could not decide whether to feel alarmed or bewildered.

Still, he breathed a sigh of relief. Since the butcher had not come in person, the matter should be easier to resolve.

These two had presumably been hired by the butcher. If they were willing to help him commit murder, was it not for money? When it came to wealth, could he possibly lose to a man who merely sold mutton soup?

Thinking this, he immediately felt more confident.

“I don’t care who you are or who sent you. Take me to a physician at once. Whatever your employer is paying you, I’ll give you twice as much.” Shen Changdong spoke with the swagger of a rich man.

“Twice as much?” Shi Hai looked at him contemptuously. “Can you afford it?”

“If a butcher who kills sheep can afford it, why can’t I? Do you know who I am? I am from the city of Laizhou—”

“You’re the Qian family’s live-in son-in-law. You needn’t say more. We already know.” Shi Shan cut him off.

Shen Changdong snorted. “Since you know that, how dare you disobey me? Whatever the butcher offered you, I’ll give you three times as much.”

Shi Shan gave an angry snort. “Don’t talk about two or three times as much. Even if you handed over every last coin belonging to the Qian family, we still wouldn’t let you go!”

Shen Changdong’s heart jolted. These two men were not after money. Could they be seeking revenge?

But over the years, he had offended countless people. For the life of him, he could not recall what grievance these brothers might hold against him.

“Who are you?” he demanded again, now thoroughly panicked. “Gentlemen, let us speak reasonably. Whatever you want, I can give you. Please, do not hurt me.”

“I want your life. Will you give it to me?” Shi Shan stepped forward, his tiger eyes wide. Remembering the miserable deaths of his parents, his eyes reddened with fury.

“My life is worth less than silver… ah!”

Before Shen Changdong could finish speaking, he let out a horrifying scream. Shi Shan’s rolling pin had smashed down upon the knee of his uninjured right leg. The faint crunch of splintering bone mingled with his shriek, making the ruined temple seem all the more terrifying.

“Ah… ah…”

He writhed like a maddened beast, desperate to roll away, but the ropes bound him tightly to the pillar. He could not break free. His face swelled crimson, tears and mucus streaming freely, and for a time he could do nothing but scream—not even manage a plea for mercy.

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“You know what pain feels like now?” Shi Hai stepped forward and struck him again.

“Ah…”

This time even Shen Changdong’s cries trembled. “Gentlemen… spare me… please stop…”

But Shi Shan and Shi Hai acted as though they had heard nothing. They advanced together and each delivered another blow.

Shen Changdong’s head lolled to one side, and he passed out from the pain.

Shi Shan raised the rolling pin to strike again, but Shi Hai caught his arm.

“What? You pity this villain? He’s the enemy who killed our father!” Shi Shan’s eyes had gone blood-red from the beating, and he roared furiously.

“It’s enough to cripple him. If we leave him completely paralyzed, there won’t be any fun in it.” Shi Hai shook his head.

“What do you mean? I won’t be satisfied unless he’s bedridden for the rest of his life. If I hadn’t promised that man not to take his life, I would have cut him down long ago,” Shi Shan rumbled.

“Killing him at once would be letting him off too easily.” Shi Hai pulled a thin dagger from his pocket and waved it in his hand. “A man like this should be made to suffer every last bit of pain. Death would be too great a kindness.”

The blade was thin and gleaming, its edge flashing coldly. One glance was enough to tell that it was exceedingly sharp.

“What are you planning to do?” Shi Shan immediately calmed down. He knew that his younger brother’s mind was keener than his own, and that he must have thought of a way to deal with this villain.

“Tell me, for a lecherous man like him, what matters most?” Shi Hai lightly slapped the sharp dagger against his palm.

“What?” Shi Shan asked, puzzled.

Shi Shan was quick to understand. He hurried over to help pull up the trouser legs.

Shen Changdong’s two legs were a bloody mess. The wounds he had suffered when he fell from the loft had already dried, leaving his trousers stuck to the flesh. When the fabric was pulled away, the pain was heart-rending.

He awoke once more, staring at the two men before him in terror. “What are you going to do?”

“Brother, do you remember what we saw when we were children?” Shi Hai deliberately said, “I heard that castrating a boar makes it gentle-tempered. I wonder whether the same effect applies when a man is castrated?”

End of Chapter

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