Minister Hu wasn't being very cooperative.
"I'm not sure you appreciate the gravity of your circumstances," Chu Yun said, nodding at Hua Nanyi to tighten the wooden boards fixing the Minister's hands to the armrests of the chair he was tied to.
With each turn of the bolt, the boards increased the pressure on the Minister's delicate wrist bones, promising crushing pain, and threatening to pulverise them into dust if he didn't comply soon.
Chu Yun had no stomach for torture but they had been trying to get the minister to reveal the 'benefactor's' identity since morning without much success.
Some part of Chu Yun had hoped that Xiao Zai would wake up in the morning, just by virtue of having Chu Yun sleep next to him.
That didn't happen, and Chu Yun's mood had only worsened since then.