My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

The next day was the beginning of a nightmare that Yao Jingyuan would never forget.

Yao Jingyuan woke up from a severe headache.

My head felt like it had been split in two, my temples throbbed, and with each throb, a burst of white light exploded in front of my eyes.

He tried to sit up, but his arms gave way and he collapsed back onto the animal skin cushion.

Something seems... off.

His head was buzzing, and his ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton; the sounds from outside came in vaguely. Someone was talking, their voices rising and falling, as if muffled by water.

"...You're awake? Then drag her out."

The curtain of the yurt was suddenly lifted, and blinding sunlight rushed in.

Yao Jingyuan instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes, but the sunlight stung his eyes, and tears streamed down his face uncontrollably.

Two rough, large hands reached out from both sides, grabbed his arms, and dragged him out like a bag of garbage.

His heels dug two furrows in the ground, his trouser legs brushed against them, exposing his ankles, which were chafed raw and bloody from the rough sand and gravel.

Yao Jingyuan was left on the open ground outside the yurt.

He squinted, barely managing to make out the scene before him.

Altan Chinah, who had been as warm and friendly as a brother to him last night, was now looking down at him from his high position.

The face, rough and darkened by the wind and sand of the grassland, was devoid of any smile, replaced by the indifference of a hunter examining his prey.

Yao Jingyuan's pupils suddenly contracted.

He saw He Jin standing behind Altan, his hands hanging down, with an arrogant expression on his face that he had never seen before.

He Jin noticed his gaze, stepped out from behind Altan, his steps light and quick, moving his neck as he went, his cervical spine cracking a few times.

He looked at Yao Jingyuan, who was lying on the ground, and tilted his head.

"Lord Yao."

Yao Jingyuan's lips trembled, and he managed to squeeze out a few hoarse words: "He...He Jin...who...who exactly are you?!"

"I?"

He Jin spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"I am Aoyun China. Altan China is my elder brother. Is this answer satisfactory, Lord Yao?"

Altan Chinah stood behind and clapped his hands.

"Alright, Ao Yun, we can catch up later."

He walked up to Yao Jingyuan, bent down, and spoke in an almost gentle tone.

"Lord Yao, how was the wine last night?"

Yao Jingyuan's blood froze instantly.

He remembered the wine from last night, the warm, sweet mare's milk wine.

"In that wine..." He seemed to be choked, and it took him a great deal of effort to squeeze the words out of his throat.

"It's nothing, I just left some things there."

Altan held his thumb and forefinger a tiny distance apart. "Just a little bit of poison."

"It won't kill you, but you'll need to take the antidote once a month. If you don't take the antidote, you'll suffer the agonizing poison of ten thousand insects gnawing at your heart and die."

As he said this, there was even a hint of genuine amusement in his gray-brown eyes.

Yao Jingyuan began to tremble all over, fear seeping from the very marrow of his bones.

"No...no...you must be lying to me..."

He shook his head incoherently, his hair flying wildly, covered with bits of hay.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt a pain in his heart, and white foam began to spill from the corners of his mouth. The foam, mixed with the greasy residue from the previous night, trickled down his chin and onto his chest.

However, the increasingly urgent and severe pain told him that it was not an illusion!

"Well--!"

Yao Jingyuan screamed, arched his body, and clutched his chest tightly with both hands.

The pain surged up like waves, one higher than the next, each wave seemingly trying to pulverize his internal organs.

Ao Yun saw this scene and a wicked smile curled up at the corner of his mouth.

That lofty and unapproachable Lord Yao.

How did I treat him before?

They bossed him around, treated him like a dog, and threatened him at the slightest provocation.

He walked over, squatted down next to Yao Jingyuan, took out a dark pill from his pocket, held it between two fingers, and waved it in front of Yao Jingyuan.

"This is the antidote for this month," he said, his tone full of mockery. "Want it?"

Yao Jingyuan stared wide-eyed at the pill.

His pupils trembled violently, a beast-like howl escaped his throat, and his mouth opened, his tongue lolling out.

Ao Yun smiled and threw the antidote on the ground.

The antidote rolled twice and stopped three steps in front of Yao Jingyuan, covered in sand.

"If you want it, go pick it up yourself."

Yao Jingyuan lay on the ground.

Three steps.

There are only three steps.

He gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain in his chest that felt like a thousand insects were gnawing at him, and crawled forward inch by inch.

His arms couldn't support his body, and with every inch he moved forward, his elbows creaked and groaned on the ground.

After finally crawling to the pill, Yao Jingyuan eagerly lowered his head, picked it up with his mouth, and swallowed it without chewing, along with the sand.

The sand melted in his mouth, his teeth grinding against the grains with a sickening squeak, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

Finally, the pain stopped, and Yao Jingyuan lay face down on the ground, panting heavily.

Altan's voice came from above, "Next month's antidote depends on your performance."

After that, Yao Jingyuan was thrown into the lowest-class servants' yurt.

He dismissed his personal guards and ordered his trusted confidants in the capital to keep a close watch on Shu Jingwei's movements and send her messages...

He did whatever Altan said, never daring to utter a single word of dissent.

Even so, Altan and Ao Yun only said they wouldn't let him die; they never cared how he lived.

They only sent someone ostensibly to serve him, but in reality, just to watch over him.

The man was a burly, red-faced man with a scar on his face. He was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, and his fist was half the size of Yao Jingyuan's head.

He only comes to deliver food once a day. For the past three days, the food has consisted of leftover bones, spoiled yogurt, and even grass roots with soil attached.

Yao Jingyuan initially tried to maintain his composure, but he simply couldn't stomach this kind of food.

However, by the third day, he was extremely hungry.

It eats everything, even grass roots, and enjoys them immensely.

But they still weren't full.

The scarred man would also beat him up from time to time to vent his anger, and in just a few days, he had a lot of injuries.

Even the most recent time was at dusk, when Yao Jingyuan had just finished gnawing on grass roots and was huddled on a sheepskin, shivering.

Suddenly, the curtain of the yurt was lifted, and a gust of cold wind rushed in.

Scarface stood in the doorway, his scars looking particularly menacing against the backdrop of the sunset.

"What are you looking at!" He walked over in a few steps, grabbed Yao Jingyuan's hair, and pulled him up sharply.

Yao Jingyuan felt a tearing pain in his scalp as he was lifted up.

A few strands of hair were forcibly torn from the scalp and fell onto the tattered sheepskin.

"Damn it, I'm stuck here like a maggot all day," Scarface cursed, "making me suffer too! You damn good-for-nothing!"

With that, he tossed Yao Jingyuan to the ground like a rag bag.

Scarface spat into his palm, rubbed it together, and then threw a punch.

One punch, two punches, three punches...

Yao Jingyuan was powerless to resist and could only cover his head with his hands, curl up, and try to minimize the area of ​​impact.

Finally, Scarface got tired of hitting him, shook his hand, and spat in Yao Jingyuan's face again.

That finally vented his anger, and he clapped his hands and left.

The yurt fell silent, leaving only Yao Jingyuan curled up on the ground.

That night, he suddenly thought of Ye Fan.

He was banished to the cold palace by Shu Jingwei, and then poisoned by himself.

Is it like this, where all you can do is lie there and wait to die?

Were they also subjected to humiliation and torment by palace servants, powerless to resist?

"Retribution..." His lips moved, his voice hoarse, "Could this be retribution...?"

A tear slid down his cheek, past the purplish-blue bruise on his cheek where the scarred man had kicked him, burning with pain.

……

And Yao Jingyuan was being beaten.

In the modern era...

Lin Ye had just come out of the library with Xiao Douzi and Duo Duo.

The two girls had spent the whole morning in the library, and now they had finally seen most of what they had seen.

Duoduo's big, round eyes were still shining as she held Xiaodouzi's hand and chattered on and on about the details of the picture book she had just seen.

Lin Ye walked behind them, watching the two little girls' backs, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved into a smile.

"Let's go eat first."

He stepped forward and took the hands of the two little girls, one on each side.

After dinner, Duoduo was picked up by her nanny.

A black sedan stopped in front of the restaurant. Duoduo rolled down the window and waved vigorously at Xiaodouzi, her two little braids swaying back and forth.

"See you Monday, Little Pocket!"

Little Douzi also stood on tiptoe and waved, calling out in her childish voice, "See you Monday, Duoduo—!"

Lin Ye bent down and picked up the little bag.

"Let's go, little one, let's go home too."