Severed ties and living in a dilapidated house? No worries, the poor thing has a space.

Upon arriving at the yamen jail, Fang Yu was indeed imprisoned.

Fang Youcai was thrown in because he didn't cooperate. He got up from the ground and clung to the cell door, shouting, "Sir, I'm innocent!"

Mo Jiu glanced back at him, said nothing, and strode away.

Fang Yu sat down diagonally opposite him, leisurely sipping her tea, and deliberately said to the air, "Oh my, so this is what a prison is like. It looks pretty good. I wonder if there are any wronged souls wandering around at night looking for scapegoats?"

Fang Youcai suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and he stiffened his neck as he cautiously glanced around.

"Ah!~"

Suddenly, a rat darted out from under his feet and crawled across the back of his foot, startling him so much that he backed away, his voice trembling.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!"

Fang Yu clicked her tongue deliberately: "Fang Youcai, with your meager courage, you still dare to try to extort money from others."

Fang Youcai leaned his back against the door frame, turned his head, and glared fiercely at Fang Yu: "You brat, what are you so smug about? It's a fact that you broke my leg. I'm not having a good time. Do you think the adults will let you off the hook?"

Fang Yu nodded in agreement: "Yes, you're right, but you seem to have forgotten that it's also a fact that you sold Xin'er to Ningxin Courtyard. If Lord Xiao were to bring in the people from Ningxin Courtyard to testify..."

Fang Yu didn't need to say anything more; Fang Youcai was already feeling guilty. Now that he had calmed down and thought about it, he realized that he had indeed acted impulsively.

An hour passed, and as the sky outside the small window above grew darker and darker, Fang Youcai could no longer sit still. He got up, grabbed the door frame, and shouted, "Is anyone there? Someone come here! I need to see the magistrate!"

Just then, two jailers walked in and were talking to each other before heading towards Fang Youcai.

"My lords, you've come to release me, haven't you?" Fang Youcai asked happily as the door opened.

The jailers, expressionless, grabbed Fang Youcai from either side and dragged him out. Their actions didn't seem to indicate they were going to release him. Fang Youcai cried out in desperation, "What are you doing! Let me go!"

He was bound to the cross for torture, completely bewildered. Without a word, the jailer lashed Fang Youcai with a whip soaked in salt water.

"what!"

Fang Youcai gasped in pain, his eyes wide with disbelief: "What are you doing? Why are you hitting me!"

Jailer: "Will you confess or not?"

"What am I supposed to do?" Fang Youcai was on the verge of tears.

Another lash followed. The jailer demanded, "Will you confess or not?"

Fang Youcai thought to himself that even if he really sold Fang Xin to Ningxin Courtyard, she would have returned unharmed. He was only trying to extort some money and he was beaten like this. If he confessed, wouldn't he be doomed?

He shouted, "I want to see your lords! I want to see your lords!"

The jailer lashed out with his whip, tearing Fang Youcai's skin and flesh, and said fiercely, "If you want to see our master, you'd better confess the truth."

As he spoke, the jailer lashed the prisoner several more times with his whip.

Fang Youcai's voice was hoarse from shouting, his face was as pale as paper, and the bloodstains on his body were incredibly gruesome.

Fang Yu watched this scene and simply shook his head. He hadn't expected Xiao Jingqi to be so ruthless, beating the man up without saying a word.

Fang Youcai felt like he was going to die. His head drooped to one side: "I confessed, I confessed everything."

The jailer threw the blood-stained whip into the bucket, sat down at the small table next to him, picked up a pen, and said, "Tell me, how did you defile Zhang's wife and then abandon her body in the mountains?"

"I am..." Fang Youcai suddenly raised his neck: "Sir, what are you saying? At most, I just distorted the truth and tried to extort money. When did I ever mistreat anyone's wife?"

The jailer was clearly taken aback. He glanced at the papers in his hand, then looked up and asked, "Aren't you Lai Pi San?"

Fang Youcai's tears streamed down his face instantly, feeling deeply wronged: "I am Fang Youcai, sir, you have hit the wrong person."

Jailer: "Oh."

The jailer calmly said to the person next to him, "Untie him and throw him back into the cell. We'll talk about it when he's willing to confess."

"Hey!..." Fang Youcai felt like his whole body was about to fall apart. If he stayed any longer, he would definitely die here. He shouted, "I confess, I confess."

Mo Jiu entered from the doorway, holding a pen and paper: "Tell me how you stole, how you kidnapped and trafficked people."

Fang Youcai knelt on the ground, wiping away his tears: "Sir, I really didn't. I just wanted to extort some money today. You have to believe me."

Mo Jiu then asked, "How did you break your leg?"

"Yes..." Fang Youcai originally wanted to say that Fang Yu hit him, but if the previous matter were investigated, he would be in deep trouble. So he could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger: "Yes... I broke it myself."

"Sure?"

Mo Jiu's cold question sent a chill down his spine, and he hurriedly nodded, "Yes, can you let me go?"

Mo Jiu slowly twirled the pen in his hand, finally raising his eyes: "To distort the truth and slander others, ten strokes of the cane; to mock my master, the crime is aggravated, another ten strokes of the cane!"

"What?!" Fang Youcai's eyes almost popped out of their sockets: "Sir, you can't do this. I just got beaten up for nothing."

Mo Jiu glanced at him again, indicating his understanding. He made a mark on the paper and said, "It was the jailer's mistake to beat the wrong person. So he shall be given ten strokes of the cane. If he commits the same offense again, he shall be punished more severely."

After being flogged ten times, Fang Youcai felt as if the sky was about to collapse, and his vision went black as he was about to fall.

The jailer who had been there earlier came over and pulled him away, saying sternly, "I'll beat you until you pass out. I made a mistake earlier. I'll be gentler next time."

Fang Yu's mouth was agape; he could hardly believe that such a thing as wrongly convicting someone could happen, especially to him.

They watched helplessly as Fang Youcai was forced to sit on a wooden bench and subjected to caning.

Fang Youcai was in so much pain that he couldn't even scream anymore; he had long since given up hope.

After the last blow was delivered, the jailer clapped his hands and said, "You've had a tough time, you can lie down for a while before you go."

Mo Jiu put away his paper and pen and walked up to Fang Yu, still looking serious: "Miss Fang, my master invites you."

Fang Youcai raised his fingertip, blood gushing from his mouth, and pointed at Fang Yu and Mo Jiu: "You...you..."

More than seeing Fang Yu leave unharmed, what happened next almost made him vomit blood and die.

The jailer who had just beaten the wrong person brought another prisoner out of the cell, and the scene was exactly the same as when he had beaten him. While beating him, he asked, "Will you confess?"

After the prisoner confessed, the jailer asked again, "Tell me, how did you defile Zhang's wife and then dump her body in the mountains?"

Fang Youcai: "..."

He was certain he had been tricked, and he practically crawled out of the prison through gritted teeth.

Xiao Jingqi was waiting for Fang Yu in a side room. Before Fang Yu arrived, he was already pacing back and forth in the room.

Upon entering and seeing the person, Fang Yu clapped first: "Lord Xiao is indeed Lord Xiao, his methods are superb."

Xiao Jingqi invited her to sit down and poured her some tea: "I'm sorry to have troubled you, Miss Fang. Are you satisfied with what happened today?"