Madam Liu was the first to erupt. She tightly clutched her clothes and screamed sharply:
“Outrageous! Outrageous! You little black-hearted wench!”
“Dare you touch me and see what happens!”
“When my son becomes a high official, he’ll have you all beheaded…”
Chen Chunhua also turned pale with fright, crying out in a trembling voice:
“Sister Yibai… how can you do this?”
Old Man Chen trembled all over with rage, pointing at Song Nianyun as his lips quivered:
“Vicious woman! Truly a vicious woman! Yunli! You’re a grown man—are you just going to watch your wife bully your parents?”
Chen Yunli’s entire aura turned suffocatingly cold.
His face was ashen, fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white. It was clear he was already furious at the chaos before him and Song Nianyun’s sudden aggression.
“Song Yibai, are you truly going to act so ruthlessly? Not leaving even a shred of dignity?”
“I did leave you dignity,” Song Nianyun replied lightly, raising a brow with a faint, almost mocking smile.
“Didn’t I already give you a choice? Take them off yourselves—or have my servants help you take them off?”
She paused, slowly sweeping her gaze across Chen Yunli’s stiff expression, her tone carrying a careless generosity.
“Besides, I didn’t even ask you to strip completely.”
“I only told you to remove the outer brocade robes. Aren’t your inner garments still on?”
As she spoke, she stood and walked slowly toward Chen Yunli, leaning close to his ear and whispering:
“And you should understand—those inner garments you’re still wearing… are already fine fabrics you never even dared to dream of before. I’ve already shown you enough mercy.”
“Don’t be ungrateful, or else…”
She did not finish her sentence.
But Chen Yunli understood.
She was reminding him that even the last bit of “decency” he had left—this relatively decent inner garment—was already a gift from the Song family.
If he pushed further, she could strip away even that final layer of dignity.
His fists tightened violently, nails digging deep into his palms. The pain was sharp, but it could not compare to the humiliation in his heart.
His proud status as a top scholar, his carefully maintained image of nobility—all of it was being crushed under her merciless gaze, leaving him ridiculous and powerless.
The servants’ gazes around him felt like needles stabbing into his skin.
He could almost hear their silent ridicule:
Look at him—the so-called genius with a bright future. Without the Song family, Chen Yunli is nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Madam Liu was still screaming and cursing, Chen Chunhua was sobbing, and Old Man Chen trembled with rage but could not argue back.
All of it only made Song Nianyun’s calm presence in the center of the hall even more striking, like she was simply watching a play.
This couldn’t continue.
If it continued, his last shred of dignity as a scholar would be torn apart completely by his own family—and this ruthless woman.
A wave of humiliation and rage surged through him.
He could not stay here any longer.
“…Take it off.”
The word was forced out through clenched teeth, dry and hoarse.
“What?” Madam Liu didn’t hear clearly—or perhaps couldn’t believe what she had heard.
Chen Yunli suddenly raised his head, eyes bloodshot, staring fiercely at his family:
“I said take it off! Don’t you understand? Return everything that doesn’t belong to us!”
His voice suddenly erupted into a roar.
“Do you really want others to strip you yourselves?! How much more humiliation do you want to bring upon yourselves?!”
He acted first.
With trembling hands, he tore open the buttons of his moon-white robe and yanked it off, throwing it hard to the ground as if discarding all shame with it.
Old Man Chen’s face turned red and white alternately. In the end, he lowered his head in defeat and slowly began removing his outer robe.
Madam Liu, seeing this, realized the situation was lost. Even her son had submitted—her resistance was meaningless now.
She cried and cursed while reluctantly loosening her grip on her clothes and began removing her robe.
Chen Chunhua was on the verge of collapse, tears streaming endlessly down her face.
Piece by piece, the Chen family removed their outer garments.
In moments, the four of them stood only in plain inner garments, utterly disheveled.
Chen Yunli stood straight in the center of the hall, enduring the contemptuous and pitying gazes around him.
“Are you satisfied now?” he asked coldly.
A faint smile appeared on Song Nianyun’s lips. Her gaze lingered on his inner garment before she replied slowly:
“Not really satisfied. After all…”
She paused deliberately.
“Even your inner garment was bought with my silver.”
Just as the veins on Chen Yunli’s forehead began to throb, she continued lazily:
“But considering our former engagement…”
“This inner garment—I’ll consider it my reward to you.”
“You—!”
Chen Yunli’s entire body trembled violently. The word “reward” felt like a red-hot iron branding itself onto his dignity.
Unable to endure a single second more, he turned sharply and walked toward the exit.
“Yunli!” Old Man Chen called out in anguish.
But Chen Yunli did not stop.
His figure moved with absolute finality, as if severing all ties with this place. Every step crushed what remained of his pride.
Madam Liu, seeing her son humiliated so thoroughly, completely lost control and lunged toward Song Nianyun:
“You vicious wench! I’ll fight you to the death!”
Song Zhuangzhuang reacted instantly, stepping forward to block her.
Two rough servant women quickly restrained Madam Liu from both sides.
Unable to reach Song Nianyun, Madam Liu could only continue hurling curses in a frenzy.
Old Man Chen, seeing his wife being manhandled, trembled with rage.
“You… you’re going too far…” he said through clenched teeth.