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The woman, seeing Zhou Jinchuan about to make a phone call, immediately told the truth.
It turns out that after she took the money and ran, she married a man who was divorced. After the marriage, she wanted to have another child but was unable to conceive. Since her new husband already had a son, she wanted to bring Ye Nuannuan over as a companion.
As for Ye Xiaowu, her new husband was unwilling to accept him, so she couldn’t do anything about it.
Ye Xiaowu listened as his mother spoke the most hurtful things in the calmest tone, unable to stop his tears from flowing again.
Ye Nuannuan, feeling distressed, also cried along, wiping Ye Xiaowu’s tears as she did.
“Brother, don’t cry. Nuannuan won’t go anywhere.”
At this point, Su Yi had already recovered from her earlier anger.
She stood up and said to the woman, “Since you are the mother of both children and now that you have a better life and want to take them back, I can understand that. However, Ye Xiaowu is also your biological son, so if you want to take them, you must take both.”
When Ye Xiaowu heard Su Yi say this, his heart immediately sank.
The woman was momentarily stunned, her eyes darting around as she considered something.
Seeing her reaction, Su Yi continued, “After taking them, you absolutely cannot mistreat the children. After all, they are the children of martyrs. If they are mistreated, it can be reported, and the perpetrators will face additional charges.”
“As for abandoning the children, don’t even think about it. That’s also illegal, and we will regularly check on the children’s situation.”
The woman twitched her lips, seemingly giving up on some idea.
“I said earlier that I really can’t take both children right away. If it’s not feasible, let Ye Xiaowu go back to the countryside to find the Ye family. His uncle and aunt are there.”
Su Yi snorted coldly, “As their mother, you won’t even take care of them, and yet you expect their uncle and aunt to take them in?”
“Even if they are willing to take them, we still have unresolved matters here. Commander Zhou hired someone to take care of the children, not to mention other expenses. Just the living expenses alone are thirty each month. Calculate the total amount yourself, and you should settle these debts before you leave!”
Hearing this, Ye Xiaowu understood Su Yi’s intention and immediately felt relieved.
To avoid affecting her performance, Ye Xiaowu took Ye Nuannuan back inside the house.
Once the door was closed, out of sight and out of mind.
Hearing Su Yi mention the money, the woman became even more anxious. She had spent most of her compensation money trying to find a better family. Now, she certainly couldn’t come up with the money, and her husband at home wouldn’t agree to it either.
“This money was voluntarily given by Commander Zhou for the children. I don’t have the funds to give you.”
“Then leave here and never come back!”
The others chimed in, “Yes, get her out!”
“We don’t welcome you here! Go back to your good life!”
Zhou Jinchuan issued the final ultimatum, “Considering you are the children’s biological mother, you have two choices: either divorce and return to the compound to continue taking care of the children, or get out now.”
The woman looked at Zhou Jinchuan in disbelief and pleaded, “Commander Zhou, have some pity for my sake, considering Ye Wei!”
Zhou Jinchuan narrowed his eyes and said, “If it weren’t for Ye Wei, do you think you’d still be here talking calmly with everyone?”
The woman was startled by his words.
Before coming, she had secretly inquired and learned that the two children would be alone at home taking their nap around noon. She had planned to take advantage of this time. However, the children’s crying had disturbed the entire neighborhood, waking up the neighbors who were napping.
Seeing her plan fall apart, she dared not escalate the situation further and decided to come up with another plan.
So, amid the chaos, she sneaked away.
As everyone left, they couldn’t help but mutter a few more words of reprimand and offer some comfort to Zhou Jinchuan and Su Yi before leaving.
Once everyone had gone, Zhou Jinchuan closed the door. He had expected to find the three of them huddled together in tears and was considering how best to comfort them.
To his surprise, when he entered the room, he found Su Yi serving green bean soup to the two children.
“Commander Zhou, would you like a bowl? This green bean soup is freshly chilled. When you’re feeling down, a bit of sweetness can help.”
Zhou Jinchuan sighed in relief and agreed.
Soon, the four of them were seated around the table enjoying the green bean soup. Although the children had stopped crying, they were clearly still a bit shaken.
“Uncle Zhou, will she come back?”
Zhou Jinchuan reassured them, “She won’t be coming back. I’ll make sure to inform the gatekeeper to prevent her from entering in the future.”
To ease the psychological impact on the children, Su Yi spent the entire afternoon with them, not leaving their side. Zhou Jinchuan, unusually, stayed in his study to work.
When it was time to head to the dining hall, he finally emerged, saying, “I’ll keep an eye on the children. You can go ahead and take care of what you need to do.”
Su Yi nodded, “I’ll come back once I’m done. Shall I bring dinner back and we eat together?”
“Sure.”
When she returned from the dining hall, they had finished dinner. Su Yi thought Zhou Jinchuan would leave, but instead, he came over and said, “Nuannuan is frightened. You should put her to bed first. I’ll wait until Xiaowu is asleep before leaving.”
“Okay.”
With a man in the house, Su Yi felt a lot safer, but something still felt off.
She took a much faster shower than usual, relieved to be able to relax a bit. Fortunately, Zhou Jinchuan was aware of this and had intentionally stayed in Ye Xiaowu’s room to give her privacy.
Once Su Yi had tucked Ye Nuannuan into bed, she let out a long sigh of relief.
[The stressful day is finally over.]
[Look at Nuannuan, her beautiful eyes are swollen like walnuts. She can’t even sleep well. How can a mother let this happen?]
[Nuannuan is in this state, I wonder how Xiaowu is doing. Is he able to sleep?]
[She caused such a scene even after she left. I can’t imagine the emotional damage this will do to the children. It makes me so angry. I should have dealt with her more harshly when I had the chance.]
Zhou Jinchuan quietly checked on Ye Xiaowu next door. The boy was indeed asleep, though not very peacefully. His small hand was tightly gripping Zhou Jinchuan’s sleeve, and he was mumbling something in his sleep.
Fortunately, Zhou Jinchuan couldn’t hear Su Yi’s thoughts; otherwise, he might have been disturbed by them.
As he listened to Su Yi’s frustrated mutterings next door, Zhou Jinchuan gently patted Ye Xiaowu’s back.
It wasn’t until late in the night that the angry voices finally subsided, and Ye Xiaowu fell into a deep sleep. Zhou Jinchuan then quietly got up and left the courtyard.
When leaving, Zhou Jinchuan had locked the door from the outside, still feeling uneasy. After a brief nap, he returned just as dawn broke to open the door and bring breakfast.
Su Yi, still groggy from the previous night’s shouting, was surprised to see Zhou Jinchuan’s dark circles were even more pronounced than her own.
“Commander Zhou, why are you here so early?”
Zhou Jinchuan gave a wry smile, “I locked the door from the outside when I left yesterday, so I wanted to come early to make sure you all could get out. I brought some breakfast; let’s eat something first.”