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

Gu Jinghuai mustered all his strength and lunged forward.

However, due to a high fever and severe pain, he fell directly into the mud and water.

He looked up, his face smeared with rain and blood. The moment he saw her clearly, his tears finally broke free.

"Shu Yao..."

"What are you trying to say?"

Yun Shuyao's voice was very faint, like the autumn rain, without any warmth.

"I...I understand..."

Gu Jinghuai coughed, his voice hoarse beyond recognition.

"In your past life... I didn't know your mother planted withered leaves on you..."

I really didn't know... If I had known, I would never have...

"Absolutely not what?"

Yun Shuyao interrupted him, tilting the umbrella slightly to conceal the mockery in her eyes.

"Will I never let her go? Or will I never watch myself be tormented for eighteen years?"

She took half a step forward, the rain splashing onto the hem of her skirt, but she didn't even notice.

"Gu Jinghuai, do you know that for me, 'not knowing' is never an excuse?"

You forgot?

When I found you at the manor that year, I was so angry at your "sincere affection" with Su Yuyan that I almost vomited blood.

When I collapsed at the gate of your villa, who told Chun Tao, "There's no need to call a doctor"?

It's you!

You forgot?

I was so exhausted from managing the household affairs in the Marquis's mansion that I coughed up blood, yet you accused me of being "affected and trying to gain sympathy."

He then took Su Yuyan boating on the lake.

The person who did these things was you! Not your mother.

You forgot?

Before I died, I made arrangements for my affairs, even thinking of giving you a share of the silver in the treasury, but you were at the estate admiring flowers with her, and you wouldn't even come to see her one last time.

It's you again!

With each word Yun Shuyao spoke, Gu Jinghuai's body trembled even more violently.

He wanted to argue, but found that his throat was blocked and he couldn't say a word.

"My suffering has never been just about that bowl of medicine."

Yun Shuyao's voice was icy.

It's your eighteen years of indifference!

It's a lie you've told me without a shred of remorse!

You trampled my sincerity underfoot and picked up that lump of mud as a treasure!

What does all this have to do with whether you know about that bowl of medicine?

Yun Shuyao leaned down, looking at his deathly pale face, and said, word by word:

Now that I know all this, I won't bother with it anymore.

Whatever was owed to me in my past life, I will collect it all, one by one.

You, your mother, Su Yuyan... none of them can escape.

Blood debts must be repaid in blood.

"No... Shu Yao..."

Gu Jinghuai frantically tried to crawl over and reached out to grab her clothes.

"I was wrong... I was really wrong... You can hit me, scold me, take revenge on me however you want..."

Please...please don't hate me...don't leave me...

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the hem of her skirt, Yun Shuyao suddenly took a step back, as if avoiding something dirty.

"There's nothing left to say between us."

Just then, Xiao Fang appeared at the gate of the mansion, holding an oil-paper umbrella, and immediately saw the two people facing each other in the rain.

He frowned, walked a few steps to Yun Shuyao's side, completely covered her head with the umbrella, and put his arm around her shoulder:

"Why did you come out? It's raining so hard."

Yun Shuyao shook her head.

"It's okay, I'm done talking."

Xiao Fang's gaze fell on Gu Jinghuai in the mud, and his eyes instantly turned cold.

He gave the guards behind him a wink, which meant "get rid of them".

"etc."

Yun Shuyao pressed his hand down, her voice calm yet carrying an undeniable air of authority.

"Don't let him die too easily."

She looked at Gu Jinghuai, her eyes filled with an unyielding chill.

"I want to watch him lose everything little by little, to watch him suffer in regret."

Seeing him unable to obtain what he desires, he suffers every day he lives.

Only in this way can I make the eighteen years I spent dead be worthwhile.

Xiao Fang was stunned for a moment, then gripped her hand tightly, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.

"I'll listen to you. It's too good for someone like him to die."

He raised his foot and kicked Gu Jinghuai hard in the chest.

Gu Jinghuai rolled away like a rag doll, coughing up blood, but still reaching out his hand and shouting hoarsely.

"Shu Yao...don't go..."

Xiao Fang didn't look at him again, and turned to leave with Yun Shuyao in his arms.

"My husband."

Yun Shuyao leaned against him, her voice softer.

"How should we retaliate against the Marquis of Yongning's residence?"

"Leave it to me."

Xiao Fang lowered his head and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Just wait and see what happens."

The oil-paper umbrella gradually disappeared into the rain.

Gu Jinghuai lay in the mud and water, his high fever blurring his vision, and he could only feel the shadow of the umbrella getting further and further away.

Rainwater poured into his mouth and nose, and the pain from his wounds and the heartache in his heart were intertwined, almost tearing him apart.

He finally understood that some debts cannot be repaid by kneeling down.

Some wounds cannot be healed simply by saying "I was wrong".

The rain was still falling, as if trying to wash away all the filth and regret in the world.

But he knew that some things, once dirty, are dirty forever and can never be cleaned.

The next day, at the palace.

Inside the Imperial Study, the air was filled with the fragrance of ambergris.

The old emperor put down his vermilion brush, looked at the upright young man in the hall, and wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes as he smiled.

"It's rare to see you so well-behaved, lad. What brings you to the palace today?"

Xiao Fang tried his best to hide his lazy expression, and when he looked up, he revealed a pair of clear eyes.

"Uncle, I have important business to discuss with you today."

The way he addressed him as "Imperial Uncle" was natural and intimate, a privilege granted to the Prince of Zhenbei's residence by the late emperor.

Upon hearing this, the old emperor abandoned his joking thoughts and straightened his posture slightly.

"Oh? Then tell me."

"I want to ask my imperial uncle for an official position."

The little bit of composure the old emperor had just managed to maintain instantly deflated.

He smiled helplessly and shook his head, assuming that the other person had come up with some new way to have fun.

Xiao Fang looked directly at the emperor's face, his tone unhurried yet each word clear.

"I've thought about this for a long time, and I've thought about it very seriously."

I think our court is currently lacking a sharp weapon.

A sharp blade capable of instantly altering the existing order and piercing the hearts of those who threaten imperial power.

The old emperor's smile vanished completely, and a glint of shrewdness flashed in his cloudy eyes.

He looked at the young man below him, who was constantly being impeached by the court officials, and remained silent for a long time.

Tell me in detail.

……

This conversation lasted for more than an hour.

A palace maid came in and brought in seven or eight cups of tea.

Finally, Xiao Fang left with the imperial edict, feeling smug and triumphant.

The old emperor leaned back on the dragon throne, looking remarkably energetic, something he hadn't seen in a long time.

The old steward, who had been standing by, finally couldn't hold back.

"Your Majesty, is this... feasible? Having a bunch of spoiled brats establish an Inspectorate sounds rather... absurd."

"Unreliable?"

The old emperor spoke for him, slowly shaking his head.

"No one else could have succeeded in this task except Xiao Fang."

Besides... I also need him to be reliable.

The emperor looked in the direction the young man had left outside the palace, and his voice grew deep.

"All I need is a sharp blade, one that I can completely control."

The old emperor paused, then said:

"Don't underestimate those playboys around him."

Who are those people? Pick any one of them, and you'll find a top-tier aristocratic family standing behind them.

If I could truly make them work for me…”

The old emperor didn't finish his sentence; he simply closed his eyes meaningfully, but a slow smile crept onto his lips.

Zhenbei Palace.

The entire long street in front of the mansion was completely blocked by carriages of all kinds.

Xiao Fang moved a grand chair and sat down imposingly on the steps at the entrance of the mansion.

He twirled the imperial edict he had just received from the palace in his hand, looking at the vast sea of ​​people before him.

At this moment, this place has become a spectacle in the capital.

Young men dressed in brocade robes and wearing jade crowns kept riding in.

The man who dismounted bowed to Xiao Fang.

Instead of the weariness of being dragged out of bed, they were all energetic, their eyes brimming with the sharpness and excitement unique to young people.

The news spread rapidly even in the inner quarters.

Chun Tao ran back, her cheeks flushed with excitement.

"Miss! You didn't see that? The street outside the mansion is full of people."

I heard that all the young masters from prominent families in Kyoto have come!

This servant also saw the heir apparent of Prince Qing'an and the heir apparent of the Duke of Fuguo...

Oh dear, in short, so many nobles and dignitaries, whose names we usually only know but never see, have filled the entire palace!