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

The Prince of Yi stayed in his residence for three months.

For the first month, he maintained a calm facade, spending his days reading and writing in his study.

He would occasionally have his staff summoned for meetings, but he was changing the wine jug he kept by his side more and more frequently.

In the second month, he started throwing things again.

Not only the porcelain in the study, but also the antique vases in the flower room, the potted plants in the corridor, and the jade ornaments in the bedroom were all destroyed.

The servants all learned to walk on tiptoe, barely daring to breathe.

In the third month, he stopped breaking things.

He sat in his study, drinking from morning till night, surrounded by calligraphy and paintings on the walls.

One night, the servant who was attending to him heard a low laugh coming from the study.

The laughter was cold and muffled, like a wounded beast grinding its teeth in the dark.

When he returned to court three months later, the courtiers noticed that the Prince of Yi had lost weight.

His cheekbones protruded slightly, and there was a bluish-gray tinge under his eyes.

The moon-white python robe looked somewhat empty on him.

But his smile remained steady, even more gentle and impeccable than before.

Only those who know him best can see the changes.

His eyes changed.

Those eyes held a darker, more sinister undertone, like an undercurrent surging beneath the surface of ice.

Occasionally, it would slip out unintentionally from between the lines of a smile.

But Xiao Fang would never let him go.

Three months later, the Wing King finally attended the morning court session.

But Xiao Fang stepped forward again.

The entire court, both civil and military, even developed a strange sense of anticipation.

They watched as the young commander, dressed in a bright red court robe, walked unhurriedly to the center of the hall.

He habitually straightened his clothes, pulled out a memorial from his sleeve, and then glanced back at the Wing King.

Everything was exactly the same as before, like a ritual that had been precisely reenacted.

Xiao Fang's voice was very steady.

"Zhou Bingde, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, openly sold official positions by abusing his power to evaluate and appoint officials."

The Supervisory Department has determined that this has been the case since the fourteenth year of the Yongning era.

Zhou Bingde handled a total of 173 official transfers.

Among them, there were 84 cases of accepting bribes, involving more than ten million taels of silver.

Only the Wing King knew that this time was different.

The Ministry of Personnel was the foundation of his court.

The Ministry of Revenue was his purse.

The Ministry of War was the source of his confidence to challenge the Crown Prince.

The true power of a prince in the court does not lie in how much silver or how many weapons he possesses.

And his people occupy several key positions.

If the Ministry of Personnel is removed, most of his power in the court will be reshuffled.

The Wing King stepped out from the court officials and straightened his clothes.

He bowed slightly to Xiao Fang, a composed and polite smile on his face.

His tone was sincere, as if he were asking a long-time colleague for advice.

"Commander Xiao, the buying and selling of official positions has always been difficult to define."

When officials are transferred, personal relationships are always important.

Sending local specialties and giving writing fees during festivals is nothing more than the usual exchange of gifts in official circles.

If all of this were considered buying and selling official positions, then probably half of the civil and military officials in the entire court would be imprisoned.

Xiao Fang didn't even frown, and reached into his sleeve to take out another letter.

He unfolded the letter and held it high, so that all the officials could see the densely packed words on the paper.

It was a list filled with names, official titles, amounts, and dates, meticulously organized and clearly written down.

"Your Highness is right."

Xiao Fang turned to look at the Wing King, a smile on his lips, his tone light and cheerful as if he were chatting casually.

"Then let's not count it as a matter of personal favors, but only as a matter of money."

This is a list of accounts for selling official positions, written by Zhou Bingde himself.

The records show the name of the buyer in each transaction, the official position requested, the amount paid, and the connections used for each transaction.

Of these, 43 entries were marked with the character "王" (Wang), and the amounts involved accounted for more than half of the total.

He handed the list to the eunuch, clapped his hands as if to wipe away something dirty.

"Zhou Bingde signed and sealed the document with his fingerprint last night at the Supervisory Department."

"Your Highness, would you like to take a look for yourself and see which king the character '王' (king) refers to?"

The Wing King's expression finally changed.

Xiao Fang slowly tore off the mask of gentleness that he had worn for more than twenty years, piece by piece, threw it on the ground, and stepped into the mud.

After reading the list, the old emperor remained silent for a long time.

The main hall was as quiet as an ice cellar; everyone could hear their own heartbeat.

This time, the old emperor did not give the Wing King any chance to defend himself.

He raised his hand to stop the Wing King from speaking, but remained silent himself.

This time, the old emperor did not make any indirect advances or order the Prince of Yi to return to his residence and reflect on his mistakes.

The old emperor's gaze fell on the faces of all the civil and military officials, and he finally spoke only two words.

"Court adjourned!"

He didn't even punish his son anymore, but everyone understood—the King's favor had come to an end.

The Wing King knelt in the center of the hall, receiving the scrutiny of the officials.

Those gazes held pity, schadenfreude, and a desire to kick someone when they're down.

He gritted his teeth, almost breaking them, just to maintain the last shred of fragile calm on his face.

As Xiao Fang walked past him, he didn't stop or even glance at him, but simply chuckled very softly.

This laugh was more detestable than the previous two combined.

Xiao Fang didn't speak, but his meaning was clear: You're nothing special.

That night, the sounds coming from the study of the Prince Yi's mansion could be faintly heard throughout the entire street.

It wasn't the sound of porcelain shattering, nor the sound of books falling to the ground.

Instead, it was the loud noise of furniture being overturned and wood breaking.

Tables, chairs, bookshelves, and display shelves—none were spared.

The next morning, when the butler opened the study door, he found that nothing inside was intact.

The Wing King sat alone amidst the mess on the ground, leaning against the overturned desk, clutching the wine jug in his hand.

The wine in the pot had long been drunk up, but he was still pouring more into his mouth.

The moonlight and the morning light shone alternately on his face, and his once gentle and refined face was now reduced to a pair of blood-red eyes.

After daybreak, he knew he couldn't break anything anymore.

He had to go out, he had to keep smiling, he had to let everyone see that he was still the composed and unhurried Wing King.

But he knew in his heart that he could no longer keep up the act.

Zhenbei Palace.

Xiao Fang has been getting busier and busier lately, so busy that Yun Shuyao is already asleep when he returns home every day.

She knew that her man was doing everything in his power to confront the Wing King.

She also knew that Xiao Fang hadn't changed his mind.

But such "quiet" days of eating alone, managing the accounts alone, and sleeping alone evoked some unpleasant memories of Yun Shuyao's past life.

After much thought, she decided to send someone to deliver a message to Xiao Fang.

Tell him to come back for dinner tonight.

Upon receiving such direct news, Xiao Fang's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately panicked.

He handed all the unfinished files to Lu Zhao and Lin Hui.

He found even lassoing a horse too slow, so he used his lightness skill to leap frantically across the rooftops.

Before long, we will arrive at the Prince of Zhenbei's Mansion.