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

Yun Chongshan wanted to refute, saying that Qin Shi had always been healthy.

But the words caught in my throat!

His so-called "health" meant that he never cared whether she had been coughing all night or whether her back pain had recurred.

Whenever Aunt Feng caught a slight cold, he would personally stay by her bedside and instruct the kitchen to stew bird's nest.

Last winter, Qin coughed so badly she couldn't straighten up, but he just thought she was making a fuss over nothing and even scolded her, saying, "Merchant's daughter is just too delicate."

"How could this be...?"

He muttered to himself, his fingertips trembling violently.

The woman who always sewed and mended his robes under the lamp.

The woman who quietly gave him her dowry money to help him make ends meet.

That woman who could only silently endure being scolded by Aunt Feng with tears in her eyes...

It turns out that it had already been worn down to its last drop of oil.

He recalled their wedding day, when Qin Shi wore a bright red wedding dress, her eyes shining brighter than candlelight, and said:

"My husband, from now on I will be your support."

He smiled and agreed at the time, but then forgot about the promise.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry to her..."

Yun Chongshan's voice choked with emotion; for the first time, he felt these three words carried such weight.

Yun Shuyao looked at his reddened eyes, but felt no emotion whatsoever.

A belated regret is worth less than a blade of grass.

"I hope you will never appear in front of my mother again."

Yun Shuyao raised her eyes, her gaze sharp as a knife.

"You know better than anyone how many painful memories this place holds for her."

She paused, her tone growing even colder.

"So what if you send Aunt Feng away? Can all the grievances and humiliations she suffered over the years just disappear with her?"

Yun Chongshan opened his mouth, wanting to say "I will make it up to her," but found the words to be ridiculously weak.

How can three to five years make up for thirty years of hardship?

"We've been married for thirty years..."

His voice was pleading, as if he were grasping at the last straw.

"Let me see her one more time, just one more time, even from afar..."

"No need."

Yun Shuyao interrupted him, a hint of mockery appearing in her eyes.

"She has been in the mansion for thirty years, hoping you would turn around every day, but have you ever looked at her even once?"

Now that she doesn't need it anymore, why are you pretending to be so affectionate?

She looked at Yun Chongshan's face, which had turned deathly pale, and said, word by word:

"Waiting has its limits, Duke Zhenguo! No one will stand still and wait for you for a lifetime."

Yun Chongshan's shoulders slumped down suddenly, as if all his strength had been drained away.

Looking at Yun Shuyao's resolute profile, he experienced the pain of having his heart torn apart for the first time.

Those years that he took for granted had already left deep scars on her heart.

I've even run out of energy to look back.

"Yao'er..."

He wanted to say something more, so he reached out to pull her sleeve.

His wrist was gripped by a tremendous force and then violently flung away.

Yun Chongshan staggered back a few steps, nearly falling.

He looked up and saw Xiao Fang standing in front of Yun Shuyao, his eyes filled with undisguised warning.

"Father!"

Yun Shuyao's voice suddenly rose, carrying an unprecedented sternness.

"How powerful you used to be! Why put on this act now, making yourself a laughingstock!"

Yun Chongshan stood frozen in place, his fingertips still lingering with a sense of emptiness, as if he wanted to grasp something.

He watched helplessly as Yun Shuyao turned around.

She watched as Xiao Fang brushed the frost off her shoulders.

Watching the two walk side by side through that gate.

"boom--"

The vermilion door closed again, like an insurmountable chasm.

The wind whipped up the withered leaves on the ground, swirling them past his feet.

Yun Chongshan stood there, suddenly feeling his eyes burning.

If only he knew that some things, once lost, can never be regained.

How could he possibly... how could he possibly be willing to squander Qin's sincerity, and do it for thirty years?

The Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion.

In the main hall, the candlelight flickered intermittently due to the draft.

Aunt Feng knelt on the cold blue brick floor, her brocade skirt torn and ripped by the family punishment.

Blood dripped down the hem of her skirt and onto the ground, spreading into dark, mottled patterns.

"It's all your fault, you troublemaker!"

The rattan cane in Yun Chongshan's hand fell with a whoosh, each strike landing on Aunt Feng's shoulder.

"If it weren't for your instigation, how could I have driven the Qin family to such a state?"

"If you hadn't stirred up trouble, how could I have..."

The force of the rattan cane grew heavier and heavier, and Aunt Feng initially cried out and begged for mercy.

In the end, only suppressed sobs remained, and her body trembled like a leaf in the wind.

In the corner, fourteen-year-old Yun Shulan, the illegitimate daughter, hugged her arms, her face pale with fright, and she didn't even dare to cry out.

However, the eight-year-old illegitimate son, Yun Shuhao, was spoiled rotten by Aunt Feng and became completely lawless.

At this moment, it rushed over like a little beast and clung tightly to Yun Chongshan's leg.

"Don't you dare hit my mother! Did that wicked woman send you back to beat people up?"

Yun Chongshan's vines froze in mid-air, his eyes suddenly turning cold.

"Who are you calling a bad woman?"

"It's that Qin woman! That merchant's wife!"

Yun Shuhao looked up, his eyes filled with the resentment that had been fostered by his indulgence.

"Mother says she's the best at pretending to be a good person; she's the one who egged you on to leave us!"

"Snap—"

The crisp sound of a slap echoed through the hall.

Yun Shuhao was knocked to the ground, and half of his cheek instantly became red and swollen.

He was stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting his doting father to take action, and then burst into a shrill cry.

"You dare hit me?"

Ignoring her own pain, Aunt Feng scrambled over to protect her son.

"Hao'er! Stop talking!"

But it was too late.

Yun Shuhao was like a lit firecracker, struggling to rush up and bite Yun Chongshan.

"You old bastard!"

My mother said that after you die, all the property of the Duke's mansion will be mine!

Me and my father, Ah Fang…

"Father Fang?"

Yun Chongshan's voice was like ice, and he grabbed Aunt Feng's hair and slammed her to the ground.

"Who is his father, Ah Fang?"

Aunt Feng's face turned deathly pale instantly. She hurriedly tried to cover her son's mouth, but Yun Chongshan kicked her away.

He grabbed Yun Shuhao by the back of his collar like a chick and lifted him up in front of him.

"Speak! Who is your father, Ah Fang?"

Yun Shuhao was being strangled and could hardly breathe, but his eyes were filled with hatred.

"It's Steward Wang! My aunt told me to call him Father Fang!"

He said that once you die, he will make my mother the Duchess of the State!

"You old bastard, let me go!"

"boom--"

Yun Chongshan felt as if a thunderbolt had exploded in his mind.

His precious son, whom he had cherished for eight years and whom he praised to everyone as a clever illegitimate child, turned out to be a bastard!

That housekeeper Wang, who used to fawn over her, dared to cuckold her for so many years!

"Someone come here!"

His voice was as hoarse as a broken gong.

"Bring Steward Wang here!"

And this vicious woman, pin her down on the torture bench! Beat her to death!

The servants were already terrified, and dared not delay. They dragged Aunt Feng and Steward Wang, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, onto the torture bench like dead dogs.

The rattan, dipped in water, made a dull thud as it struck the skin.

At first, Aunt Feng cried out, "Master, spare my life!" But when she realized that begging for mercy was useless, she simply started cursing.

Yun Chongshan! You deserve it!

Who do you think you are? All you care about is the Qin family's money!

You pamper me? You're just using me as a pawn to humiliate her!

Now that she's gone, do you remember how good she was?

It's too late!

Butler Wang was also screaming in pain, but he didn't forget to bite.

"She seduced me! It was Concubine Feng who said the Duke was getting old, and told me..."

"You're talking nonsense!"

Aunt Feng spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto his face.

"It was clearly you who coveted my body and then tried to use my son to seize my family fortune!"

The two men tore at each other on the torture bench, their ugly behavior exposed.

As Yun Chongshan watched this farce, he felt as if his internal organs were being torn apart.

He suddenly remembered eight years ago, when Aunt Feng had just given birth to Yun Shuhao.

He held the baby in his arms, beaming from ear to ear, and even rewarded Aunt Feng with a pair of pearl earrings.

At that time, Qin was in the next courtyard, so quiet that it was as if she didn't exist.

From that moment on, he became the biggest joke in the capital.