Remarried to a top-tier playboy, her reborn ex-husband is filled with regret.

Xiao Fang didn't close his eyes for a whole day and night.

He used all the instruments of torture in the interrogation room on Gu Jinghuai.

Whips, clamps, branding irons, steel needles, finger crushers.

He doesn't investigate cases, doesn't ask for confessions, and doesn't pursue any accomplices.

He just sat there, watching Gu Jinghuai cry out in agony, beg for mercy, lose control of his bladder, faint, be woken up, and faint again.

Throughout, his expression remained calm.

It's not a calm that suppresses anger, but a genuine indifference.

Just like the pain of the person in front of me. It has nothing to do with him.

It seems that tormenting this person is simply an obsession that must be fulfilled.

Mingrui walked in from outside and whispered in Xiao Fang's ear:

"Your Highness, it's time to stop."

Tomorrow we're sending the Gu family to exile; dying in prison would be too good for him.

Xiao Fang did not answer immediately.

He sat in the chair, looking at the person in front of him who was hanging from an iron chain.

Gu Jinghuai hung his head, his body covered in wounds.

Blood and pus seeped from various wounds, pooling on the ground into a small, dark red puddle.

He was still muttering something unconsciously; if you got close, you could hear it clearly—he was talking to Shu Yao.

Xiao Fang remembered what Yun Shuyao had said.

He shouldn't die too easily; he should live a humiliating life, be a slave, and be exiled three thousand miles away.

That road is not one that ordinary people can endure; he had to get there alive.

Xiao Fang withdrew his gaze, stood up, and straightened his clothes.

She glanced at Gu Jinghuai one last time, her gaze still carrying that indifferent, condescending disdain.

It's like looking at a pile of garbage that's no longer of any use, but can't be thrown away yet.

"Let him live."

After giving his instructions, Xiao Fang turned around, pushed open the iron gate, and strode out.

The first thing

It was already late at night when Su Shiyan was sent to the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment institution).

She was dragged off the carriage by two old women and carried across the long alleyway lit with red lanterns.

They dragged him over the high threshold and into a cramped side room.

There was only a wooden bed covered with a straw mat in the side room.

A chamber pot lay in the corner, and wooden strips were nailed haphazardly to the window.

She recognized the place.

She had been here before.

At that time, she heard that Gu Jinghuai had sold Su Yuyan back to the brothel.

She had walked through that door as a "respectable person" and glanced at her most beloved niece.

Unfortunately, she didn't have the money to ransom the person, so she could only send Su Yuyan some pastries.

Unexpectedly, Su Yuyan cursed at her for refusing to pay the ransom.

Su also lost her temper, turned around and left, spitting as she went out.

She thought to herself, "I'll never come to this godforsaken place again."

The door closed and was locked behind me.

Su slumped onto the straw mat, her well-maintained skin chafed raw by the rough surface, causing her to gasp in pain.

She reached up and touched her face, only to find her hand covered in a sticky, disgusting substance.

She wanted to cry, but she couldn't cry anymore.

Su stayed in this room for three days, and was forced to entertain guests every day.

Those drunken men would curse her as bad luck when they saw her, but after cursing, they would still go about their business.

She felt her body was rotting away, bit by bit, from the inside out, from the flesh to the bone.

Su thought this was the worst possible outcome, but she was wrong.

When her appearance was still presentable, Su could still attract some relatively well-dressed, low-end customers.

After her already aged and faded appearance was further ravaged and disfigured, she was taken to an even filthy room.

The door to Su Yuyan's room was pushed open again.

This time, it wasn't a drunkard who was wheeled in; it was a woman.

The man was held up by two sticks and thrown to the ground like a bag of garbage.

After the door closed again, the woman lay on the ground for a long time before slowly raising her head.

Su Yuyan recognized her at a glance; it was her aunt, Su Shi!

Su was twenty years older than she remembered.

His hair was mostly white, his face was bloodless, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, and his lips were as dry and cracked as parched land.

She lay on the ground, trying to stand up by supporting herself with her hands, but her arms trembled like two withered branches, and she couldn't get up after three attempts.

Su Yuyan did not move.

She huddled in the corner, trying to curl herself into a tiny ball. Her chin was buried in her knees, with only her eyes showing.

She watched as Su struggled on the ground, and then watched as Su finally managed to stand up slowly, leaning against the wall.

He watched as Su looked around blankly, her gaze finally settling on her.

"Yu Yan?"

Su's voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, but her cloudy eyes suddenly lit up, as if a drowning person had grabbed a straw.

"Yu Yan, is that you? Please help your aunt, she's so thirsty, could you get her a glass of water?"

Su Yuyan lowered her head even further.

She buried her face in her knees, covered her ears tightly with her hands, and curled her shoulders into a ball.

"Yu Yan!"

Su's voice rose half a beat, carrying a sense of impending doom.

"Did you hear me? I'm your aunt! Come here and help me up! You—"

She didn't have a chance to finish speaking.

The door was kicked open from the outside, and two drunken men staggered in.

They were dressed in coarse cloth shorts, their faces flushed from drinking, and they shouted "Girl!" as soon as they entered.

Then, they saw Su standing against the wall.

Although Lady Su is old and haggard, she is still of noble birth and retains her original status as a duke's wife.

The two drunkards exchanged a glance and grinned.

One of them went up, grabbed Su's hair, and dragged her to the bed.

Su let out a sharp scream, her fingernails digging into the cracks in the wall, leaving several bloody marks.

Another person, annoyed by her noise, slapped her across the face, turning it to the side.

Su Yuyan huddled in the corner, trembling all over.

She heard Su calling her name.

First came cries for help, then screams, and then they became inaudible, leaving only muffled, incoherent groans and sobs.

She shoved her fingers into her ears, trying to push them in as hard as she could, but the sounds still seeped in through her fingers, crawling into her brain like insects.

She closed her eyes tightly, tears squeezing out from between her eyelids and streaming down her dirty cheeks.

She started muttering to herself.

"It's not my fault, it's not my fault, it's not my fault..."

After an unknown amount of time, the sound stopped.

The only sounds in the room were the deafening snores of two drunkards and a faint rustling noise.

After that, not even a rustling sound could be heard.

Su Yuyan slowly, little by little, raised her head.

She first glimpsed the two drunkards through her fingers.

One was snoring on the edge of the bed, while the other lay unconscious on the floor.

Her gaze bypassed them and landed on the bed.

Su's leg dangled off the edge of the bed, bent at an odd angle.

That's not an angle a normal person could bend at.

His knees bent in the opposite direction, his calves hanging limply in the air like a broken, withered branch.

His thin, bluish-purple skin was covered with large, shocking abrasions, and in some places, dark red blood had seeped out.

Su Yuyan's gaze followed the leg upwards, to the chest, to the neck, and finally settled on the face.

Su's face was facing her.

That face was quiet, so quiet it was chilling.