Song Zhiqing stood in the small study like a quail, shrinking his limbs, not daring to breathe loudly, letting Song Zhiyuan’s cold pressure swallow and crush him.

His heart was about to explode with panic.

"Did you lay hands on your wife?" Song Zhiyuan glared at him, his tone carrying an irresistible iciness.

Song Zhiqing was startled, his body shivered, and he stammered, "No, I just accidentally touched her during a push and pull."

"No? Your wife’s side has already called the house physician, and you still dare to say no?" Song Zhiyuan’s gaze was cold: "Third Brother, in this household, if I want to know something, nothing can be hidden from me."

Song Zhiqing lowered his head, his fingertips trembling slightly.

Big Brother’s words fully demonstrated who indeed is the master of this household.

"You’re someone who has read Saintly Books, and Lu Shi is your first wife, the legitimate mother of your two legitimate children, yet you lay hands on her, ignoring all manners and morality? How can anyone believe a person who doesn’t respect his first wife can bear the family banner?"

Song Zhiqing knelt down and said honestly: "Big Brother, I lost my head for a moment, my hand acted uncontrollably, and it just rose up. I was wrong."

"Uncontrollable?" Song Zhiyuan sneered: "You can’t be saying because you kept vigil all night, Bai Shuilian’s ghost possessed you, so you laid hands on your legitimate wife."

Song Zhiqing: "..."

In broad daylight, why is everyone telling ghost stories?

Bai Shuilian, locked away in the lightless Punishment Hall, carried such a great burden, hearing such accusations, might yell, "I’m still alive."

"Your feelings run deep, declaring sick leave for a concubine; you’re quite capable, huh." Song Zhiyuan cast a cold glance at him: "Pity your deep affection is misplaced."

Song Zhiqing: "???"

Things seemed bad.

"Follow me." Song Zhiyuan dropped these words and left the study.

Song Zhiqing, filled with uncertainty and suspicion, climbed up from the ground and followed.

...

Punishment Hall.

In the lightless dark room, Bai Shuilian woke up once half-way, only to see blackness and hear ear-piercing screams, thinking she was in the underworld, she rolled her eyes in fear and fainted again.

She woke again, being pinched awake, only to see a bright yellow candle flame.

Bai Shuilian was groggy, her whole body weak.

A guard dressed in dark attire poured a bowl of cold water down her throat.

Gulugulu.

Bai Shuilian nearly choked to death from this rude act, coughing violently, even her chest and lungs ached.

Pain?

Bai Shuilian was stunned, could dead people feel pain? Or had she not died at all.

"Am I still alive?" Bai Shuilian thought happily, looking at the scar-faced guard in front of her, and glancing around, joy just rising in her eyes, her heart panicked: "Where is this place?"

She wasn’t stupid, she knew what happened in the guest courtyard at Xingshan Temple, that she was used as a discard, and thought she was certainly dead, yet now she was alive in a seemingly dark room, with such a fierce-looking person, this was surely some family’s dark prison, had she just escaped the tiger’s den into the wolf’s lair?

Was this the Heavenly Family’s, the Song Family’s, or the Xia Family’s?

Bai Shuilian’s mind turned a hundred times, pondering if interrogated, how to answer, to ensure she could leave alive?

"Mama Quan is dead."

Bai Shuilian’s body stiffened, looking at the guard in front of her, full of amazement: "Who did you say died?"

Mama Quan? How could it be, she was so capable.

"Mama Quan, it should mean Phantom Fox, is dead. As for whether you can live, it depends on your choice." The guard pulled out a cloth bag from his waist and unfolded it with a swish, revealing its mysteries to Bai Shuilian.

Eighteen kinds of punishment, feel free to choose.