Chapter 100: I… I Gave the Child Away (2)

Li Jinhua’s eyes flickered as she stammered nervously,
“I just gave her away… to someone on the roadside… whoever wanted a little girl… I gave her to them. I don’t know who they were.”

“Li Jinhua, you’re lying!”

Chu Yue didn’t believe a single word she said—not one.

“Nuan Yang is a girl, and you’ve always looked down on her for being one. You were heartless enough to give her away! But tell me—how could a random stranger on the street possibly want a child that came out of nowhere? You think they’ve got so much rice they don’t know what to do with it?”

“You’ve been leaving the house frequently for the past few days. Who were you meeting? Were you looking for someone willing to adopt a child?”

“And you drugged Wang Chunling with sleeping pills. Don’t tell me that was spontaneous. You planned this for a long time! And if it was planned, there’s no way it was just some stranger you don’t even know.”

“Li Jinhua, I’m asking you one last time—where’s the child? Where is the child?”

Chu Yue stepped forward, closing the distance between them, her eyes dark and cold, her voice sharp and forceful.

Lu Zhanlin’s gaze, black and focused, remained fixed on Chu Yue the entire time. He hadn’t expected that even in such a heightened emotional state, she would still be able to think so clearly—methodically laying out every flaw in Li Jinhua’s lies and exposing them one by one.

Li Jinhua continued to deny, voice increasingly desperate:
“It was a stranger… I don’t know him… really, I don’t know him… asking me won’t help… the child’s already gone… she’s been given away… you won’t find her… you won’t… the child’s gone, just have another one, what’s the big deal…”

Those cold, cruel words.

Chu Yue hated this kind of heartless disregard for life the most. Her rage was building steadily, suppressed in her chest.

But before she could erupt, someone else did—someone much more fragile.

Wang Chunling, who had just moments ago been so weak she couldn’t even stand, suddenly burst into motion. Her eyes turned red with fury, the military coat draped on her shoulders falling off as she stood up. She grabbed a pair of scissors from the nearby sewing basket and lunged at Li Jinhua.

Her face was pale as snow, her eyes bloodshot. She was no longer the meek, grieving mother—she had turned into something savage and fierce for the sake of her child.

She screamed, tearing through the silence with a voice like a wounded animal:
“GIVE ME BACK MY CHILD!”

And in that moment, the scissors in her hand slashed Li Jinhua’s hand.

“AHHH—!” Li Jinhua shrieked.

Blood immediately began to flow from the wound, bright and thick.

Even then, Wang Chunling didn’t let go. She gripped the scissors tightly, her gaze locked onto Li Jinhua, unwavering and filled with vengeance.

“My baby… I want my baby! Give her back!”

At that moment, neither Chu Yue nor Lu Zhanlin moved to intervene. They allowed Wang Chunling to unleash the fury she had been forced to suppress for far too long.

Chu Yue almost wished she could lend her strength—let her stab Li Jinhua again. What surprised her was that even Lu Zhanlin didn’t try to stop it. She’d thought he was too rigid and rule-bound to allow such violence.

But for people like Li Jinhua, only pain could make them understand. Only fear could make them yield.

Coldly, Chu Yue said:
“Li Jinhua, even a dog bites when it’s pushed too far—let alone a mother who’s lost her child. You’ve already driven Wang Chunling to the brink of madness. If she stabs you once, next time it won’t be your hand—it’ll be your neck!”

Li Jinhua clutched her bleeding hand, gasping in pain as the crimson flowed steadily from her wound.

It hurt—God, it hurt! The hands are connected to the heart—injuries here are the most painful.

In front of her, Wang Chunling had lost all reason, while Chu Yue and Lu Zhanlin stood coldly to the side. If Wang Chunling really did cut her throat next time…

Li Jinhua’s eyes flickered, full of fear and hesitation.

Chu Yue saw her breaking down and demanded again,
“Are you still not going to say it? Who did you give the child to?!”

Finally, Li Jinhua broke:
“Down the mountain… Shilin Village… a blacksmith…”

As soon as Chu Yue heard the answer, she turned her head sharply—looking straight at Lu Zhanlin.

Lu Zhanlin immediately understood and responded in sync:

“I’ll borrow a car from the unit. You two wait for me at the compound entrance. We’ll head down the mountain tonight and search for the child.”

“Okay.”

Chu Yue nodded, watching Lu Zhanlin’s figure quickly disappear into the pitch-dark night. Only then did she turn around and gently embrace Wang Chunling, carefully touching her hands that were still holding a pair of scissors.

“Sister Chunling, now we know where the child is. We’re heading down the mountain right away to look for her. The scissors… hand them to me…”

Under Chu Yue’s calm and steady comfort, Wang Chunling’s tense, rigid body slowly relaxed.

The scissors dropped into Chu Yue’s hand.

Li Jinhua’s face had turned pale from the pain, and her hands were covered in blood. Seeing the scissors taken away, she let out a huge sigh of relief—only to find that Chu Yue didn’t put them down. Instead, she quickly grabbed the curtain and cut a strip from it with the scissors.

Chu Yue then ordered Li Jinhua coldly:

“You’re coming with us!”

She grabbed Li Jinhua’s hand—without applying any medicine—and tightly wrapped the cloth strip around her wound, layer after layer.

“Me? Why should I go?! I already told you everything I know! My hand is injured—can’t you see how much blood I’ve lost? I need to go to the medical unit! I want to report you! That Wang Chunling—she’s gone mad… Ah—!”

Chu Yue pulled the cloth tighter, causing Li Jinhua to tremble and cry out in pain.

She sneered:

“Go ahead! Report us! Let’s see what the military judges think is worse—your act of abandoning a child, or Chunling, in desperation, hurting you. I believe in justice. If you’ve got the guts—report us!”

Whether it was pain or being cornered, Li Jinhua was at a loss for words.

Chu Yue gave her a sharp kick.

“Move! Out the door!”

Then, turning to Wang Chunling, her tone softened:

“Can you still hold on?”

“I can do it!”

Wang Chunling gritted her teeth and forced herself to remain steady. As long as she hadn’t seen her child that night, she wouldn’t allow herself to collapse.

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So, the three of them braved the wind and snow and arrived at the compound gate.

On the way, Chu Yue made a quick stop at Chen Fengying’s house, asking her to look in on her home temporarily—after all, Lu Yuanbao was alone at home, and Chu Yue was worried.

Even though Chen Fengying had questions, Chu Yue didn’t have time to explain—she simply said she had to urgently go down the mountain.

---

Meanwhile…

Lu Zhanlin acted quickly. By the time Chu Yue arrived at the gate with Li Jinhua in tow, the jeep was already waiting.

Also in the car was Orderly Song Qi.

Since it was snowing and dark, Song Qi followed Lu Zhanlin to assist—an extra hand in a crisis.

With the roar of the engine, the vehicle sped down the mountain.

Chu Yue and Wang Chunling sat closely together in the back seat. Wang Chunling stared intensely out the window into the night, as if she could blink and instantly arrive at Shilin Village at the foot of the mountain.

Chu Yue noticed her hands trembling uncontrollably and quietly reached over to hold them.

“Don’t worry. Nuanyang will be okay. She’s a lucky child—nothing will happen to her.”

With red eyes, Wang Chunling nodded gently.

The night sped by. Snowflakes hit the car windows and melted into streaks of water.