Chapter 1158 — Why Didn't You Say So Earlier?

"You really want to tell me a secret? Then what secret is it you want to tell me?" An Jianwen asked with a frown.

"Brother An, we're in trouble! Something terrible's happened!" Su Taizao came running and stumbling over from not far off, panting and out of breath.

"Hold on a moment. What's so terrible? Wait until little Xiaoshu has told me her secret, then you can talk!" An Jianwen waved a hand, signaling Su Taizao to calm down.

"Jianwen-gege, actually, what I wanted to tell you is that Xiaoxiao wanted to put a crab in your trunks..." Shen Yushu said.

"Then tell me, by all means. But why did you have to shout all of a sudden? Are you trying to deafen me?" An Jianwen looked at Shen Yushu with some exasperation.

"No, that's not it. I shouted because Xiaoxiao was here just now and she put a crab in your trunks, and I happened to see it, and it gave me such a fright that I screamed!" Shen Yushu said, embarrassed.

"Ga!" An Jianwen leaped up all over again, both hands clamped over his crotch, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead: "It's got my balls! It hurts like hell!"

"Oh, Jianwen-gege, the secret's been told, so I'll be off. Enjoy your ball-ache!" Shen Yushu waved at An Jianwen and turned to leave.

An Jianwen hopped about on the ground clutching his crotch, not daring to strip off his trunks in front of everyone, so he could only make a run for the tent.

Once inside, An Jianwen yanked off his swim trunks in a few quick motions, revealing a little crab clamped neatly onto his balls.

"Taizao, come help, quick, I can't get any leverage!" An Jianwen called out in frustration for Su Taizao to come lend a hand.

"Little crab, come down now, it's no fun over there..." Su Taizao bent his head and spoke to the little crab.

"Are you a crab yourself? Do you think it can understand you? Just help me, get it off!" An Jianwen was beside himself. What sort of moment was this to be chatting with a crab? Was the man out of his mind?

Su Taizao dared not say another word; he carefully reached out and gave the little crab a tug. But that tug nearly brought tears to An Jianwen's eyes: "My balls! You're yanking my balls off!"

"But... if I don't pull, it won't come off either!" Su Taizao was at a loss, unsure whether to keep pulling or stop.

"Can't you be a bit more careful? Pry its pincers open first!" An Jianwen said.

"Well... I'll try..." Su Taizao nodded gingerly.

And so, inside the tent, a spectacular farce of wailing and ball-yanking played out, and a man who was literally suffering from ball-ache was born.

Meanwhile the two culprits, Shen Yushu and Feng Xiaoxiao, went back as if nothing had happened and joined Wei Zhao, Gu Mengyao, and Tang Yun in their laughter and horseplay.

"What happened to An Jianwen? He sounds like he's hurt?" Gu Mengyao had no idea what was wrong with An Jianwen and asked, puzzled. His screams were so shrill that Gu Mengyao could hear them even at this distance.

"His balls hurt," Shen Yushu said.

"His... his balls hurt?" Gu Mengyao's face flushed at once. Though "ball-ache" was an internet slang term, it was mostly used of men, since girls had no balls and saying it aloud was hardly refined. Gu Mengyao especially would never use such a word, so hearing Shen Yushu say it naturally left her embarrassed.

Still, Gu Mengyao was a little puzzled: An Jianwen had been perfectly fine, so how had he come down with ball-ache all of a sudden?

"His balls got pinched by a crab!" Feng Xiaoxiao explained to Gu Mengyao.

"Huh?" Gu Mengyao was stunned. She had no idea what it felt like to have one's balls pinched by a crab, but it surely couldn't be pleasant, and she couldn't help sighing: "How is he so unlucky? To actually get... get that?"

"I'm the one who put the crab there," Feng Xiaoxiao said.

"Ah?" Gu Mengyao's head began to ache. So Feng Xiaoxiao was behind it? And judging by Shen Yushu's knowing look, the two of them must have done it together. An Jianwen really was unlucky. How had he run into these two little hellions?

"Nothing bad will come of it, will it?" Gu Mengyao asked with some worry.

"Of course not, it's just a little crab. At worst he gets hurt. It can't pinch a man to death," Shen Yushu said.

Over on An Jianwen's side, the crab was finally pulled off after enormous effort, but his balls had been torn along with it, and the pain had him stamping his feet.

"Damn it. Damn crab. Rotten crab. I'll stomp you to death!" Once he had the crab off, An Jianwen raised his foot and stomped on it.

But because the ground was sand, the crab came to no harm; it was merely driven down into the sand. The crab, enraged, thrust out its pincers with a "click" and clamped down again, this time on An Jianwen's toe.

"Awooo--" Another miserable scream from An Jianwen.

Half an hour later, An Jianwen limped out of the tent clutching his crotch, his balls and his toe both now bandaged. In great pain, he walked along asking Su Taizao: "By the way, earlier you said something terrible had happened, that you had something big to report to me. What on earth was it?"

Only now did An Jianwen remember that Su Taizao had seemed to have something to tell him earlier; but at the time his ears had been ringing with fright from Shen Yushu, and he had paid it no mind. Now it suddenly came back to him, so he asked.

"It's like this, Brother An. Earlier I wanted to tell you that Feng Xiaoxiao had thrown a crab into your trunks, but there's no need to say it now..." Su Taizao said with a bitter face.

"What!" An Jianwen nearly leaped off the ground. "You're saying Feng Xiaoxiao threw that crab in? You saw it? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

An Jianwen remembered that when Su Taizao had been shouting, the crab had not yet bitten his balls. Which meant that if he had found out in time, this tragedy could have been avoided altogether?

At that thought, An Jianwen's face turned hideously dark!

"But I was going to say something. You told me to wait, to wait until little Xiaoshu had told you her secret..." Su Taizao said weakly.

"Ga?" An Jianwen was briefly stunned. But thinking it over carefully, that was indeed how it had gone; it was he himself who had told Su Taizao to wait... And so An Jianwen could only blame his own bad luck. Who else was there to blame?

When An Jianwen looked at Shen Yushu and Feng Xiaoxiao, a trace of resentment showed in his eyes. But because they were Gu Mengyao's friends, he could hardly blow up on the spot. And if he did blow up, a single "we were only playing around" from them would leave him with nothing to say.

So An Jianwen gritted his teeth, endured the pain, pretended nothing was the matter, and walked toward the seaside.

Seeing that An Jianwen had been stamping his feet a moment ago and now seemed perfectly fine, Shen Yushu felt a flicker of suspicion! But after a brief study, she caught the bitterness in his expression and knew he was only putting on a brave face.

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