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

Su was taken aback, seemingly not expecting Gu Jinghuai to bring this up, and then scoffed.

"It doesn't matter who I marry, as long as they can produce offspring for the Marquis's household and behave themselves, naturally..."

"Of course, they'll get rid of her for Su Yuyan's sake, right?"

Gu Jinghuai interrupted his mother, his eyes piercing her like knives.

Su's face turned pale instantly, and she subconsciously gripped the rough porcelain bowl in her hand, her fingertips turning white.

"What...what nonsense are you talking about?"

It was this flustered appearance that made Gu Jinghuai's heart sink like a stone that had sunk to the bottom of a lake.

No need to ask anymore; this momentary loss of composure has already said it all.

"Am I talking nonsense?"

Gu Jinghuai twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing a mocking smile.

"Su Yuyan is your niece. Yun Shuyao blocked her way, so she deserves to die."

Just like…

He suddenly stopped, swallowed back the words "past life," and replaced them with sharper words.

"Like now, don't you also think Su Yuyan is better than Yun Shuyao?"

"What's wrong with Yu Yan?"

Su retorted, her neck stiff with sarcasm.

"She has a sweet tongue and knows how to please me, unlike Yun Shuyao, who always has a stern face, as if someone owes her something!"

"To please you?"

Gu Jinghuai's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

"She's trying to win your favor because you can give her the position of mistress of the Marquis's mansion!"

Since you got sick, has she taken care of you even for a single day?

When your heart condition relapsed recently, who sent you the old ginseng from Changbai Mountain?

Who invited Doctor Mu to examine you?

It's Yun Shuyao!

She wasn't even married into the family yet, and she was already putting in so much effort for you!

Gu Jinghuai pointed at Su's face, his words piercing to the heart.

"Look at your conscience. How much worse did your complexion become after you cut off her support?"

She used to be as rosy as a flower, but now? She looks like a withered old woman!

This is the benefit your beloved niece has brought you!

Su was struck on a sore spot and trembled with anger.

"She's trying to win me over! She's trying to curry favor with me!"

"As long as you put in the effort, it's better than Su Yuyan trying to get something for nothing!"

Gu Jinghuai sneered.

"What kind of person is Su Yuyan's father? A scoundrel who was confiscated for embezzlement and fraud!"

If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too; she has the blood of theft and deception in her bones!

You treat someone like that like a treasure? Aren't you blind?

"Shut up!"

Su suddenly stood up and pointed her finger at his nose, cursing.

"What right do you have to talk about her? Are you a saint yourself?"

Who was it that lost their soul upon seeing Su Yuyan's beauty?

Who broke Yun Shuyao's heart for her sake?

Who is it that would rather have a perfectly good life than take advantage of Yun Shuyao?

Gu Jinghuai, you're just a good-for-nothing piece of trash!

"I'm useless? I'm hopeless?"

Gu Jinghuai roared back like a firecracker that had been lit.

"My lack of success is also your fault!"

I am attracted to beautiful women because you taught me from a young age that men are entitled to have multiple wives and concubines!

"Which of these things, ingrained in me, wasn't etched into my very being by you?"

"You...you unfilial son!"

Su was so angered by his retort that she couldn't catch her breath, her face instantly turning purplish-blue as she clutched her chest and gasped for air.

"I'm a rebellious son, so what are you?"

Gu Jinghuai's eyes were red, like a wild beast driven to the brink of despair.

"You're a vicious woman who would kill your daughter-in-law for your niece's sake! You're a cold-blooded scoundrel who only cares about power!"

"puff--"

Su coughed up a mouthful of blood, her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground.

"Madam!"

Feng Ma, who was waiting outside the door, rushed in screaming, hugged Su Shi, and frantically pinched her philtrum.

"Quick, call a doctor! Quick, call a doctor!"

Gu Jinghuai stood there, looking at his mother lying on the ground, his chest heaving violently.

For a fleeting moment, he wanted to go forward and take a look.

But the sound of Su instructing Feng Ma to add medicine in his dream, and the sight of Yun Shuyao coughing up blood, were like two knives, firmly pinning him to the ground.

Gu Jinghuai closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, all that remained in them was a deathly stillness.

"No need."

He said in a hoarse voice, then turned and walked out.

Aunt Feng was desperate and started cursing angrily.

"You unfilial son! If anything happens to the old lady, you'll be punished by heaven!"

Gu Jinghuai did not turn around.

Divine retribution?

He has long been punished by heaven.

As he stepped out of the Marquis's mansion, he looked up at the sky. The sun was blazing, but it couldn't penetrate his heart at all.

He didn't know where he should go, he only knew that he didn't want to stay in this house for another second.

Those questions posed under the guise of "hypotheticals" are tearing away not just a fig leaf from a mother's face.

It was clearly him, a fool and a toxic person who couldn't understand life in either of his two lifetimes.

He'll probably carry this debt to his grave.

The bond between mother and son that had lasted for decades was finally torn apart by his own hands today.

Yeah.

From then on, Gu Jinghuai was all alone, no longer burdened by the filth and scheming of his entire family.

But as he reached the gate of the mansion, he looked up in the direction of the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion, and a deep sense of regret welled up in his eyes again.

He, his mother, Su Yuyan—they all deserved to die!

What about Yun Shuyao?

How can she ever repay the suffering she has endured?

Zhenbei Palace.

Gu Jinghuai had been kneeling outside the vermilion gate for three hours.

The sun was initially intense, making him dizzy and lightheaded.

But starting at noon, the weather changed.

The dark clouds were like spilled ink, so thick they couldn't be dissolved.

In an instant, large raindrops began to fall, pattering against his body.

He didn't dodge.

His knees sank into the mud, and the cold rainwater seeped down his clothes, soaking into his wounds.

The skin that had been chafed when Xiao Fang's men dragged him that day had only recently scabbed over, and when it was soaked in the rain, it became red and swollen again, causing him to tremble in pain.

But he dared not move.

This was all he could do.

Inside the mansion.

Yun Shuyao and Xiao Fang had just finished breakfast and were now enjoying the rain in the pavilion.

Although Xiao Fang was smiling, his expression remained unpleasant, and the fierceness in his eyes was almost impossible to suppress.

Yun Shuyao didn't want him to be unhappy because of Gu Jinghuai.

Coincidentally, she knew best how to make this man happy.

Yun Shuyao stood up, but turned around and sat on Xiao Fang's lap, leaning her soft body against him.

A pair of slender arms wrapped around Xiao Fang's neck, and her red lips pressed against his.

But he stopped just an inch away from those taut, taut lips.

Their breaths mingled, creating an extremely ambiguous atmosphere.

Her bold and proactive behavior greatly pleased Xiao Fang.

The man put one arm around her waist and the other around the back of her head, bridging the last bit of distance between them, and kissed her.

The sound of rain pattered on the ground, and bamboo curtains hung low on all sides, enclosing this small space as a secluded haven from the world.

Xiao Fang's kiss slid from her lips to her ear, then down her neck, his breath hot as a branding iron.

Yun Shuyao tilted her head back and ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his head.

Xiao Fang's lips landed on her collarbone, the force both restrained and urgent, like a starving beast breaking the chain that bound him.

"Shu Yao".

Xiao Fang called out to her, his voice hoarse.

He buried his face in the crook of her neck, his hot breath hitting her skin.

He put his hands around her waist, lifted her up, and pressed her against a pillar in the pavilion.

The pillar was slightly cool from the rain, and when it touched her back through her clothes, it made her shiver slightly.

Xiao Fang noticed this and immediately reached out to support her back, his palm separating her from the cold, hard wooden pillar.

The warmth of my palms seeped through the thin fabric, more comforting than any brocade cushion.

Yun Shuyao looked up at him, her usually clear and aloof eyes now veiled with a thin layer of mist, the corners of her eyes tinged with a peach-blossom-like blush.

She raised her hand to untie her belt, her fingers trembling slightly, but she did not hesitate at all.

The moment the belt loosened, the outer garment slid down her shoulders, revealing a section of her fair neck and shoulders.

Xiao Fang's eyes suddenly darkened, as if the deepest ray of light in a stormy night had been swallowed up.

He reached out and grabbed the hand that was untying her belt, his fingers tightening until his knuckles turned white.

It was as if he was using all his reason to fight against the beast within him that was about to break free of its cage.

Yun Shuyao didn't pull her hand away. Instead, she used her other hand to climb up the back of his neck and pull his head down.

She pressed her breath against his ear, warm and soft, with a slight tremor.

"Xiao Fang, love me here..."

These words were like a key; with a gentle turn, they completely opened the gate that had been tightly locked in his chest.

He lowered his head and kissed her bare shoulder, the kiss burning and lingering.

The kisses traveled from her shoulder, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, like inscriptions being written on her body, each stroke so devout that it was unlike his usual self.