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

Yun Shuyao's fingertips clenched so tightly they turned white, and the cuffs embroidered with lotus patterns were creased from her gripping.

The servant's words were still ringing in her ears as she looked up toward the main hall.

The vermilion pillars cast chilling shadows under the sun, much like the countless filth hidden within this mansion.

"Who is it that has come to visit, Your Highness? It is the Crown Princess who has graced us with her presence."

Yun Chongshan's voice came from behind the screen, carrying a deliberately dignified air.

He was dressed in a dark blue casual robe, but the jade belt around his waist was half an inch looser than usual.

It seems that the family has been cut off from money these days, so they've even stopped bothering with waist-cinching.

Yun Shuyao didn't look at him; her gaze swept across the empty corridor.

Where is my mother?

"What right do you have to ask her that!"

Yun Chongshan slammed his hand on the table, making the teacups rattle.

"Yun Shuyao, who was it that said that once you step out of this mansion, you're no longer a member of the Yun family!"

Where is my mother?

Yun Shuyao interrupted him, her voice not loud, but as cold as ice.

"What exactly did you do to my mother?"

Yun Chongshan, do you have any conscience?

Three years ago, you were impeached by the censor for embezzlement. It was my mother who secretly sold the South China Sea Pearl that my maternal grandfather had given her to cover up that debt.

Last year, Yun Shuwen owed 30,000 taels of silver at the gambling den, and my mother mortgaged the estate that was part of her dowry to pay it off.

Last month you were going to repair the Yun family's ancestral tombs, and my mother took out several boxes of gold bars again..."

She approached step by step, her skirt brushing against the blue bricks on the ground, making a soft, rustling sound.

"You eat the Qin family's food, live in the Qin family's house, and even your dignity as the Duke of Zhenguo is built up by my mother with her dowry."

Now that she's gone, I want to know if you did something to her?

Yun Chongshan's face turned a deep purplish-red, and he pointed at her, his fingers trembling for a long time.

"You...you wretched daughter! You've completely gone too far!"

He tried to rush forward, but was stopped by a figure who remained silent.

Xiao Fang lazily took a step to the side, toying with a dagger in his hand, his eyes casually sweeping over Yun Chongshan.

"Duke Zhenguo, just say what you want to say. If you try anything, don't blame me for being impolite."

Xiao Fang's gaze wasn't exactly fierce, but it carried a deep-seated contempt, as if he were looking at a wild dog that he could kill at any moment.

Yun Chongshan's arrogance instantly diminished when he faced him.

The Duke of Zhenguo recalled that Consort Zhao's younger brother had his throat slit in the street, and the Emperor hadn't even asked a single question about it.

"Young Master Xiao, this is a matter within my Yun family..."

"Oh?"

Xiao Fang raised an eyebrow.

"Shu Yao is now my wife, Xiao Fang's wife, and her mother is my mother-in-law."

Therefore, my mother-in-law's matter is also my family matter.

He stepped forward, getting closer to Yun Chongshan.

"Young Master is here with Shu Yao today to pick up his mother-in-law and take her back to the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion."

"Hand him over, and we'll be fine. Otherwise..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but even a fool could hear the threat in his words.

Cold sweat beaded on Yun Chongshan's forehead. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden shrill voice.

"Young Master Xiao! You can't just bully people because of your power!"

Aunt Feng swayed as she came out of the inner room, a smug smile on her face.

"Your Excellency is an official appointed by the imperial court. How can you be so rude?"

Besides, Qin ran away on her own; it had nothing to do with the Duke...

ah--"

Before she could finish speaking, she felt a dark shadow appear in front of her, followed by a sharp pain in her scalp, and her hair was grabbed by Xiao Fang.

"Something as lowly as you doesn't even dare to speak to me."

Aunt Feng was dragged by a tremendous force and walked out of the courtyard.

Xiao Fang grabbed her hair and dragged her along the ground, his face completely expressionless.

"You...you dare commit violence in the Duke's mansion? Let me go!"

Aunt Feng was both shocked and frightened, and screamed shrilly.

"My lord! Save me!"

Yun Chongshan grew anxious.

"Young Master Xiao! Stop! She is my concubine!"

"I have heard of her."

Xiao Fang glanced back at Yun Chongshan, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"Is it her? She's caused my mother-in-law so much trouble all these years because she hasn't had any money?"

Before Yun Chongshan could answer, Xiao Fang forcefully flung Aunt Feng into the lotus pond.

With a loud "plop," water splashed everywhere.

"Help! Someone, please help me get up here!"

Aunt Feng was thrashing about in the water, screaming for help, looking as disheveled as a drowned rat.

"No one is allowed to save them."

Xiao Fang gave the order indifferently, his gaze sweeping over the servants who wanted to step forward, and all of them were so frightened that they withdrew their hands.

Yun Chongshan was so angry that he trembled all over.

"Xiao Fang! You've gone too far!"

Xiao Fang turned around and walked towards him step by step, his eyes as cold as ice.

"Excessive? Duke Zhenguo, do you think I'm being excessive, or is it you who's helping others bully your mother-in-law?"

Xiao Fang approached Yun Chongshan step by step, looking down at him from his high vantage point.

"Or, do you want to go down there and clear your head, just like her?"

Yun Chongshan looked at Aunt Feng struggling in the pool, then at Xiao Fang's cold eyes, and swallowed back the harsh words that were on the tip of his tongue.

He knew that Xiao Fang meant what he said.

It's not worth going head-to-head with Xiao Fang for the sake of a concubine.

Just then, footsteps sounded at the courtyard gate.

Yun Shuwen staggered in, reeking of alcohol, and pointed at Yun Shuyao, cursing at her.

"You unfilial daughter! What are you doing back here causing trouble again?"

You've corrupted me, that's why I dare to talk back to Father...

"A woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent; she's learned nothing of the Three Obediences and Four Virtues..."

Before he could finish speaking, a hand like an iron clamp gripped his neck, and the rest of his words were stuck in his throat.

Xiao Fang's eyes instantly turned cold, like a frozen lake.

"Dare you utter another word against her?"

Yun Shuwen was startled and sobered up considerably. When she saw that it was Xiao Fang, her face turned pale.

"Your Highness...I...I wasn't talking about you..."

"I've been looking for you. Did you inflict the injury on Shu Yao's back?"

Xiao Fang's voice was low and deep, filled with suppressed anger.

He recalled the crisscrossing whip marks on Yun Shuyao's back on their wedding night, a sight that was horrifying to behold.

When Yun Shuyao said that her brother had hit her, Xiao Fang had already decided that he must teach him a lesson.

Yun Shuwen's eyes darted around, and she stammered.

"I...I was acting on my father's orders..."

"I won't obey anyone's orders."

Xiao Fang punched him in the face, and Yun Shuwen fell to the ground like a tattered sack, blood instantly flowing from his nose.

Xiao Fang didn't stop, grabbing his collar and punching him repeatedly.

"Stop hitting me... Your Highness, spare me... I was wrong..."

Yun Shuwen cried and begged for mercy. At first, he tried to struggle, but his strength was no match for Xiao Fang's.

Later, he was beaten so badly that he collapsed to the ground, motionless like a dead dog, with only his chest rising and falling slightly.

Yun Shuyao stood to the side, watching expressionlessly.

She recalled Yun Shuwen's indifferent face when that rattan cane landed on her back.

She recalled how she fainted from the pain, and when she woke up, she heard him telling her mother, "She should be taught a lesson."

From that moment on, Yun Shuyao's heart turned cold.

Seeing him being beaten, they didn't even flinch, let alone try to stop him.

Yun Chongshan was so anxious that he kept stamping his feet.

"Xiao Fang! Stop right there! You've gone too far! He's the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion!"

Xiao Fang seemed not to hear, until he beat Yun Shuwen into a spread-eagle position and made him completely unconscious.

He clapped his hands, turned around, and looked at Yun Chongshan again.

"Now, can you tell me where my mother-in-law is?"

Yun Chongshan looked at his unconscious son on the ground, then at Aunt Feng in the pool, who dared not utter a sound.

Finally, looking at his daughter's indifferent face, a sense of powerlessness welled up in his heart.

He knew that his daughter, whom he once had under his thumb, now had Xiao Fang as her backer, and he could no longer touch her.

"I...I really don't know."

Yun Chongshan's voice lowered, tinged with weariness.

"She has been missing ever since the day you took Shuyao away."

I sent people to search for several days, but we couldn't find it.

"You wrote a letter of divorce for my mother at Aunt Feng's instigation?"

Yun Shuyao suddenly spoke.

"Aren't you afraid that your mother will feel so humiliated that she might do something rash?"

Yun Chongshan's eyes flickered.

"That letter of divorce... was just a momentary impulse on my part. I didn't register it with the authorities, so it's invalid."

"Does it not count?"

Yun Shuyao laughed, a laugh full of mockery.

"You really went to great lengths to humiliate my mother."

Just then, a servant rushed in.

"My lord! Liu, the maidservant who serves the madam, has returned! She says she wants to see Miss!"