Chapter 127: What a Huge Green Hat!

A few days ago, while Li Jinhua wasn’t at home, Chu Yue quietly went to visit Wang Chunling.

For one, Chu Yue was concerned about Wang Chunling’s physical recovery, and she also wanted to check on the baby who hadn’t even reached one month old yet. The chaos on New Year’s Eve had been an ordeal that could have cost both the mother and child their lives.

Fortunately, though Wang Chunling looked tired and worn out, her body was recovering well. The incision from her C-section was healing nicely, and there were no signs of complications.

Wang Chunling had said, “I am Nuan Yang’s last source of support—I absolutely cannot fall.”

That one belief had been her anchor through it all, and it would continue to carry her for the rest of her life.

Her husband was unreliable, her mother-in-law was cruel and sharp-tongued—most of her life was already ruined. There was no way she would allow her child to repeat her tragic path.

Not only did Wang Chunling grit her teeth and carry on, she was also quietly searching for a way to truly live.

Perhaps the child sensed her determination and bravery, for the baby behaved well, fed heartily, and grew stronger day by day.

Seeing this gave Chu Yue a great sense of relief. At the same time, she handed something to Wang Chunling:

A postal remittance slip.

Speaking of that remittance slip, it traced back to New Year’s Eve. When Chu Yue was at the blacksmith’s house, she had searched Li Jinhua and found some money—along with this slip.

The situation had been so chaotic that night. Chu Yue was focused on returning the 100 yuan to the blacksmith and didn’t have time to look too closely. Anything that wasn’t cash, she had simply shoved into her coat pocket.

It wasn’t until she was doing laundry and reached into the pocket that she noticed the slip and examined it more closely.

The remittance was dated about half a month ago, sent to Zhou Zhijian’s hometown, and the recipient had the same surname—Zhou Zhiqiang.

The similar names naturally led Chu Yue to suspect that Zhou Zhijian and Zhou Zhiqiang might be brothers.

But here was the problem!

Zhou Zhijian had no siblings—he was an only child, a rare thing in that era.

Because he was the only child, and his father had passed away early, Zhou Zhijian had felt filial responsibility for his mother. Not wanting her to suffer alone in the countryside, he had applied to have Li Jinhua move into the compound with him.

Over the years, anytime Li Jinhua cried, made a scene, or threatened suicide, Zhou Zhijian would give in—largely because he was her only son, her only pillar of support.

But this remittance slip—with a similar name and a large sum of money…

Li Jinhua was an infamously stingy person. She wouldn’t even feed her own old hen properly and often mooched off their neighbor Xia Xiaolan. If the recipient of this money were not someone extremely close, how could she possibly send such a large amount?

Even if it were just a distant relative, Li Jinhua would likely still not part with that much money.

There was only one explanation: it must be a direct blood relative.

The only reasonable guess Chu Yue could make was that Li Jinhua was secretly raising another younger son in the countryside, someone Zhou Zhijian knew nothing about.

Li Jinhua used Zhou Zhijian’s money for everything—food, clothes, expenses—and even took money from him and Wang Chunling just to funnel it all to this secret son in the village.

This was still speculation, though. A single remittance slip wasn’t enough to be conclusive evidence. Ironclad proof was needed.

So Chu Yue shared her suspicions with Wang Chunling, urging her to search the house for more of Li Jinhua’s secrets. They had to find out exactly who she was giving that money to!

Under normal circumstances, Wang Chunling would never do such a thing.

Her upbringing and education wouldn’t allow it. She had always been respectful and decent.

And because of that—because she had dignity and Li Jinhua did not—Wang Chunling had lost, again and again. She had nearly lost even her own child.

But this time, Wang Chunling didn’t hesitate. She only asked one question:

“Chu-meizi, if I find the evidence… can we really get rid of her?”

As long as Li Jinhua was in the house, it felt like a thorn in her back. She couldn’t even sleep at night without clutching her child the entire time.

She couldn’t keep living like this.

She had made up her mind—Li Jinhua had to go.

For the sake of the child’s healthy growth, this person must disappear.

That was Chu Yue’s goal as well. The two women shared the same objective.

“We can do it. We definitely can.”

The next day, Wang Chunling found more evidence at home—a thick stack of remittance receipts.

Maybe it was because Li Jinhua had never imagined Wang Chunling would think to look for something like that, or maybe it was due to her own carelessness, but the receipts had been stuffed right under Li Jinhua’s pillow.

Wang Chunling found them almost effortlessly, without even trying too hard.

The remittance frequency was nearly once a month, and during holidays, it even became twice a month.

Zhou Zhijian’s salary was only about 30 to 40 yuan per month, but Li Jinhua sent at least 15 yuan each month to someone named Zhou Zhiqiang.

That was half of Zhou Zhijian’s monthly salary!

While the young couple was living in hardship, and pregnant Wang Chunling couldn’t even afford nutritional supplements, Li Jinhua was sending piles of money to a stranger.

When Wang Chunling realized the truth, she didn’t feel anger or shock—instead, she felt relief.

She was grateful she had met Chu Yue early, that she had woken up quickly, rather than spending her life shackled by blind filial piety, wasting her youth in vain.

After some speculation, Chu Yue and Wang Chunling both came to the same conclusion—the Zhou Zhiqiang listed on the remittance slips was most likely Li Jinhua’s younger son, a child she had at some unknown time.

After all, elderly women favoring their youngest sons was far from uncommon.

Now, back to the present.

Chu Yue’s single sentence ripped through years of Li Jinhua’s false façade, and the panic and guilt on her face only confirmed the truth of their suspicions.

The appearance of Wang Chunling made it impossible for Li Jinhua to deny anything.

Wang Chunling was no longer the gentle, reserved woman she once was. She was now a fierce mother fighting for her child, and the look in her eyes toward Li Jinhua was filled only with burning hatred!

“Don’t you dare deny it! I found all the remittance receipts you’ve sent over the past few years—every single one of them!
You sent all the money Zhijian worked his life out for to your little son in the countryside!”

“Remittance receipts”—those three words landed like a heavy blow on Li Jinhua.

She glared at Wang Chunling with wide eyes and shouted,

“You went through my things! You actually dared to go through my things! How dare you!”

Back in the day, Li Jinhua had always thought even speaking a few words to Wang Chunling was met with reluctance—Wang Chunling had always looked down on her for being illiterate, for lacking hygiene, for never brushing her teeth or washing her face in the morning…

Someone like that—how could she have touched Li Jinhua’s belongings?

Nothing had happened all these years, which is why Li Jinhua had gotten increasingly arrogant—leaving such important things in the most obvious place.

Wang Chunling wasn’t at all fazed by Li Jinhua’s rage. The evidence was already in Chu Yue’s hands—even if Li Jinhua wanted to destroy it, she couldn’t.

By this point, the other wives listening around the scene were completely caught off guard—this had suddenly turned into a dramatic household scandal.

“Captain Zhou has a younger brother back in the countryside? Why have I never heard of that?”

“That’s not right—I clearly remember Captain Zhou is an only child. He doesn’t have any siblings.
How did he suddenly get a younger brother?”

“Could it be that Li Jinhua fooled around when she was younger? Had an affair with another man and gave birth to a child?”

“If that’s true… then doesn’t that mean Captain Zhou’s real father was being seriously cheated on?”

Whether married or not, no man can tolerate hearing the words “cheated on.”

At that very moment, one man happened to hear it—and his face turned ashen, his expression uglier than ever.

It was Zhou Zhijian, who had been hurriedly called back.

He stared at Li Jinhua with a grim look and asked:

“Mom… is what they’re saying true?
Do you really… have another son hidden away back in the village?”