Chapter 858 - 857: You Guys Are OOC

Honestly, if this were a real-life situation happening to him, Shi Yuhuai would definitely be trembling with anger right now.

However, his current shaking is actually because maintaining the same kneeling posture is a bit uncomfortable, and he wants to change his position to listen to Cheng Zhirang play, but he’s worried about interrupting his performance.

Moreover, he’s really not interested in the lovey-dovey scenes of this foul-smelling couple.

Cheng Zhirang, on the other hand, seems to be in a great mood. The somber expression he had while facing Mu Qiu earlier is nowhere to be seen; he even has the mood to laugh now.

Laughing heartily all by himself, then his face turns serious again as he raises his hand to signal for the chain to be pulled tighter.

Shi Yuhuai’s arm is lifted even higher, causing his entire upper body to nearly stand upright.

His red dress barely covers the chips behind him, help!

Cheng Zhirang stands up from the chair, slowly walks closer, and looks down at him condescendingly.

"If you don’t speak, how can I know your feelings? Speak up, let me hear, how do you feel right now?"

Shi Yuhuai remains silent, fearing that opening his mouth would result in him calling him a lunatic.

"Refusing to speak? Well, that means you’re more willing to listen. Let me tell you about her, shall I? When she got up this morning, she was weak and leaned against me, asking about you. Oh, you didn’t know, did you? She only thinks you’re dead, disappeared, abandoned her, not that you’re being held captive by me.

A few days ago, I wrote a letter of separation in your name. In a couple of days, she’ll find out. Once you’re no longer a burden in her heart, she’ll like me more. We’ll be together every day, eat together, live together, sleep together, and she’ll love me more than before, unable to leave me.

Don’t think you can let her discover you. Look at you—tsk, she always prefers men who are strong and capable, hates those who are weak and unsuccessful, especially ones like you who are imprisoned and wearing women’s clothing like a loser. Guess, if she accidentally sees you, what would she say?

Say this man’s wearing girl’s clothes, say you’re disgusting and despicable. Of course, she might not even recognize you, might take you for a girl. You’re in a bright red dress, a color she’s rarely worn, only once at her wedding...

He suddenly stops, perhaps associating her wedding attire with the fact that the person she married wasn’t himself.

Shi Yuhuai lets out a mocking laugh.

Perfect timing, Cheng Zhirang feigns displeasure, steps closer, grabs his hair and jerks it back, forcing him to tilt his head up.

"Laughing? You’re just a prisoner now, controlled by others, hard to even see her face. Even if she once married you in wedding clothes, so what? When she finds the separation letter, I’ll make her wear even more splendid wedding clothes and marry me! Everything between you will be canceled, and from then on, everything from half a month ago and beyond will solely belong to me!"

Next, Shi Yuhuai needs to say something. He racks his brains, trying to decide between "Do whatever you want with remarrying, it’s none of my business" and "I forbid you to rekindle an old flame behind my back unless it’s in front of me," ultimately blurting out:

"Delusional, pah."

Speaking rather blandly, nearly catching Cheng Zhirang off guard.

Fortunately, Cheng Zhirang quickly suppresses the urge to laugh, freezes his gaze coldly on him, and extends a hand to the right: "Whip."

Someone hands him a whip made from soft materials, he stares at Shi Yuhuai, wraps the whip around his left hand, tugs it, then delivers a strike with a "swish" sound on Shi Yuhuai’s body.

At this point, the cameraman moves the camera away, only showing Cheng Zhirang’s brutal whipping of Shi Yuhuai from behind.

Mu Qiu looks up from the video: "Thanks to Brother Huai playing the silent despair role, otherwise if he started yelling now, it would be embarrassingly awkward."

Imagine, every time Cheng Zhirang lashes him, he responds with a lukewarm "ah"—how bizarre.

She twists open a water bottle, stopping momentarily from watching the live stream, thinking the whipping should last a minute or two longer.

Just as her lips touch the bottle, an electronic voice announces:

"Shu Ran, An Zhou, you’re out of character once."

"Li Yang out of character once."

"Guan Yu, Song Weili out of character once as well."

Unlike the previous mechanical electronic voice that was official and business-like, this female electronic voice always gives a creepy "I’ve killed another person again" vibe whenever it broadcasts.

She quickly sips water, clicks into Shu Ran’s group live stream, and captures Shu Ran and An Zhou’s amused expressions.

"Breaking character counts as out of character too?"

The filming team doesn’t answer her, but she doesn’t need answers, the scene reveals all.

During Shu Ran and An Zhou’s out-of-character moment, the scene’s setting is still the boudoir where they were meant to be serious and suspicious of each other, suddenly laughing is indeed inconsistent with the character settings, thus can be counted as out of character.

What about Guan Yu and Song Weili?

She clicks into Guan Yu’s group live stream and sees Guan Yu and Song Weili laughing heartily, both squatting on the ground, their laughter echoing throughout the live stream.

"Sister Guan Yu, can you stop laughing? Every time you laugh, I can’t help but laugh!"

"Are you blaming me? You’re the one laughing so foolishly. Your role is supposed to be innocent like a child, not acting like a fool!"

"...Then teach me how to distinguish between innocent and foolishness."

"Innocence is having clear eyes, foolishness is... Why am I even performing foolishness for you?!"

"Hahahahahahahahaha!"

This isn’t one fool; there’s clearly two fools here.

She’s too lazy to watch two fools’ out-of-character performance, switches back to their own live stream.

Only a few minutes have passed, and the drama of the darkroom has ended, the live stream now only shows Cheng Zhirang emerging from the room with two servants behind him shutting the door, hiding the inside situation.

There are two people at the foot of the steps.

Cheng Zhirang holds a handkerchief, casually wipes his hands while descending, his back straight and legs long, perfectly proportionate.

Without lowering his head, he slightly lowers his eyes, finishes wiping his hands, tosses the handkerchief into a servant’s arms, stops, and looks across at the two people.

"What’s the matter?"

Miss Bai, who appeared onscreen, lightly bows with the maid’s support, saying, "Your Highness, I come from the Crown Princess Consort, heard that... The Crown Princess Consort threw her lunch in anger, fell ill, and called the Imperial Physician. Should Your Highness go and see?"

Cheng Zhirang glances at her, smiles ambiguously: "You seem to care about her. If you’re so concerned, why didn’t you stay to attend to her?"

Miss Bai... Consort Bai replies: "I’m neither Your Highness nor an Imperial Physician. Staying there serves no purpose. However, it’s said the Crown Princess Consort fell ill due to Your Highness spending days at Qingyin Pavilion..."

"You’d better return to stay quietly in your pavilion. Since you know I prefer Qingyin Pavilion over your place, steer clear. Or you can also take to bed ill."

Consort Bai is stunned.

————

Brother Huai: My wig is about to come off, hold gently!