"Whoosh! Slap!"

The whip cut through the air, violently lashing across Chen Yu's back.

The tip of the whip had been soaked in concentrated saltwater beforehand; the moment it broke the skin, the burning pain made his whole body convulse.

Chen Yu let out a muffled grunt, his chest slamming hard against the ground as he bit into a mouthful of dust.

The black martial arts attire on his back had already split open into a long, diagonal tear, blood seeping out along the fabric's weave and expanding the dark stain wider and wider.

"Wantang… We grew up together since we were little…" He gritted his teeth, his voice shattering in his throat, "How could you treat me like this?"

She let out a laugh, taking half a step forward, and lightly kicked his arm with the tip of her boot. "When you set up a scheme with them to harm me, why didn't you think about our childhood affection?"

Another whip fell.

The tip of the whip curled across his flesh, dragging out a string of tiny blood droplets.

When the wounds touched the saltwater in the whip, a burning pain raced up his spine. Chen Yu's miserable scream got stuck in his throat, leaving only heavy panting in the end.

His fingernails dug desperately into the cracks of the blue bricks, his knuckles turning white.

The martial arts guard wielding the whip had a background in stunt work, so he knew how to measure his strength—how to make it hurt and make the wounds look terrifying, without being fatal all at once.

After finishing this lash, he turned his head to look at Yu Wantang.

"Miss Yu, shall we continue?"

"Continue."

The guard's heart tightened, and he immediately dipped the whip back into the nearby basin of saltwater.

The cowhide whip drank up the water, its color growing deeper.

Seeing that bronze basin, Chen Yu's face turned pale.

He scrambled forward on hands and feet, but before he had crawled even half a step, his ankle was stepped on by another guard.

"Stop hitting me, stop hitting me!"

He could no longer care about saving face. "Wantang, when you were bullied as a child, I was the one who stood up for you. How could you treat me like this?"

Yu Wantang's action of holding her teacup paused for a moment.

Thinking she had softened her heart, Chen Yu immediately lit up with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

Lying flat on the ground, he panted and said, "Wantang, I was just… just momentarily confused, I didn't really mean to do anything to you."

Yu Wantang set down her teacup and looked at that face distorted by pain.

"Then what was the whip you bought used for?"

Chen Yu's lips trembled a few times, and he hurriedly defended himself.

"I didn't really plan to use it, I was just trying to scare you."

"Then what are you afraid of?" Yu Wantang wore a smile on her lips. "I'm also just trying to scare you."

Slap!

At first he could still grit his teeth and endure it, but after a dozen lashes, his back was already a bloody mess, his shouts grew increasingly hoarse, and his clothes were tattered beyond recognition.

Interlaced whip marks extended from his shoulders all the way to his waist, blood mixed with saltwater soaking through the fabric and sticking tightly to his wounds.

Every breath he drew pulled painfully at the wounds on his back.

In the end, there was only a rattling sound of air in his throat, his head slumped to one side, breathing out more than he breathed in.

His gaze scattered, and he passed out directly from the pain.

The guard tested his breath and turned back to report.

"Miss Yu, he's still breathing."

Yu Wantang nodded.

"Drag him to the side, don't block the way."

The guard grabbed Chen Yu's ankle and dragged him to the base of the wall.

His tattered clothes scraped against the ground, leaving a pale red trail of fluid on the blue bricks.

Having watched the entire process, Gu Yanshen's face had turned unsightly to the extreme.

He forced his body to stand straight, maintaining the dignity of the Gu Family heir, except that his pinned shoulders kept trembling slightly.

"Yu Wantang, stop while you are ahead."

He paused, his gaze gradually growing cold.

"It was wrong of us to trick you, but in everything one must leave a way out.

You are being too ruthless today; how will you clean up the mess later?

Since you've harmed us today, the Gu Family will not let the matter rest."

"The Gu Family?"

As if hearing some kind of joke, Yu Wantang walked over step by step.

Her boot soles stepped leisurely on the blue bricks, every step feeling like it was treading on someone's heartstrings.

The corners of her lips curled into a slight arc.

"The Gu Family, what kind of thing are they?"

"Take him out."

Two guards hoisted Gu Yanshen up, one on the left and one on the right, walking outward.

"Let go!"

Gu Yanshen struggled with all his might, pulling the jade belt of his python robe crooked.

"Yu Wantang, just you try touching me!"

A long bench had already been placed in the middle of the Yard.

Gu Yanshen's eyelids twitched violently twice.

"What do you want to do?"

The guards pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him onto the long bench.

Another person fetched a rope, binding his wrists and ankles in a few quick motions.

Gu Yanshen's chest and abdomen pressed tightly against the bench surface, and when he struggled, the bench let out a harsh scraping sound against the ground.

"You…"

Yu Wantang stood under the corridor, looking down at him from a position of superiority.

"What kind of thing are you, worthy of talking to me about stopping while one is ahead?"

"Give him twenty strokes of the board first."

The guard holding the wooden board hesitated for a moment.

"Really hit him twenty times?"

Yu Wantang lifted her eyelids.

"Otherwise what? Should I assign a body double for him? If you don't hit him, I'll hit you."

The guard immediately gripped the wooden board tightly.

"Understood."

Gu Yanshen finally panicked a little.

"Yu Wantang, stop acting crazy!"

The wooden board was raised high.

Slap!

The heavy board smashed against the base of his thighs, emitting a muffled thud.

Gu Yanshen's entire body bounced upward, a painful groan squeezing out of his throat.

The veins on his neck strained taut one by one.

He could clearly hear the sound of the wind whipped up by the board.

He heard it, but he couldn't dodge it.

He could only wait for it to smash down.

Slap!

Gu Yanshen clenched his fists, his fingernails digging into his palms.

"Yu Wantang, you lunatic!"

Yu Wantang lowered her eyes to look at him.

"I am a lunatic, and lunatics don't understand human speech."

By the time all the board strokes were finished, Gu Yanshen could no longer shout out.

Yu Wanzhou at the side had long been frightened into a curled-up ball.

The gold-dusted folding fan in his hand had dropped at some unknown point, and his sapphire-blue brocade robe was soaked with sweat, sticking to his back.

He looked at Chen Yu and Xu Huanhuan lying unconscious at the base of the wall, then looked at Gu Yanshen whose rear was completely swollen, and scrambled over on all fours, throwing himself at Yu Wantang's feet.

"Sister! Sister, I was wrong!"

He crawled forward two steps, tears and snot smearing all over his face. "I'll listen to everything you say from now on! If you tell me to go east, I won't go west! Will you let me go back, please? I'm your biological younger brother!"

Yu Wantang looked down at him.

The Original Host's younger brother had been spoiled rotten by the family since childhood.

Snatching things from his older sister was taken for granted, and he helped outsiders bully her.

When the Original Host was locked up in the villa, not only did he feel no guilt whatsoever, but he also actively proposed many ways to abuse the Original Host.

Now he finally knew how to call her sister.

"Biological younger brother?"

Yu Wantang looked down at him. "I don't have a younger brother who would drug his own biological sister, throw her into the woodshed, and watch the joke together with outsiders."

She raised her hand slightly.

Two guards stepped forward and directly lifted him up from the ground.

Yu Wanzhou kicked his feet wildly, struggling until his hair crown tilted crookedly and his hair became disheveled.

"Where are you taking me? Let me go!"

He turned his head and shouted at Yu Wantang, "Sister, I'll never dare to do it again, please spare me this once."

Yu Wantang looked at him without speaking.

The two guards dragged him all the way to the martial arts arena, tying him to the wooden stake in the very center.

The midday sun hung directly overhead, baking the ground until it was scorching hot.

The guards bound him tightly, the hemp rope constricting his arms and legs so he couldn't move at all.

In no time, sweat flowed down his forehead, blurring his vision, and a large patch of the clothing on his back was soaked.

His lips quickly dried and peeled, and even his breath carried a scorching heat.

At first he was still cursing, but by the time he cursed until his throat became hoarse, only dry panting remained.

When the sun slanted to the west, Yu Wantang finally had people untie them.

The four of them thought the torment was finally over, but unexpectedly the guards dragged them along.

Throwing them directly into the woodshed.

It was the very same room where the Original Host had been locked up.