Chapter 73: Mom, Please Stop Making a Scene!

It was the classic case of a thief crying “Thief!”

Li Jinhua opened her mouth and immediately launched into a self-righteous tirade, her voice filled with exaggerated indignation.

“Sister Song, you don’t know. From the very first day this girl came to the compound, she’s been at odds with me. It was her—she’s the one who knocked me out! And she insisted my daughter-in-law have a C-section. My big, healthy grandson suddenly turned into a useless little girl. I haven’t even held her accountable for that yet, and now she’s eyeing the two chickens I raised!”

“Go ask around the compound—everyone knows I raised two big, fat hens, ones that lay two eggs a day! I’ve raised them for half a year, just waiting for my daughter-in-law to give birth so I could stew up some chicken soup to nourish her body!”

Chu Yue almost couldn’t hold back a laugh when she heard that.

Li Jinhua, that notorious penny-pincher, actually claiming she was going to kill a chicken to nourish Wang Chunling? Saying something like that without worrying the wind might blow her tongue right off—ridiculous.

It was beyond absurd.

But Li Jinhua showed not a trace of guilt. She even dragged her postpartum daughter-in-law into the story to gain sympathy from Song Hongmei.

“Sister Song, my daughter-in-law Chunling is still in her confinement period. Women during confinement need the best nutrition—and that means chicken soup! Just yesterday morning—yes, yesterday!—I was about to slaughter the chicken, and suddenly, both of them were gone! I searched the entire compound… every house, every corner, all for those two chickens… but I just couldn’t find them!”

“Then yesterday evening, she—she!” Li Jinhua grew more animated, pointing furiously at Chu Yue. “She came back from the mountains with two chickens in hand, claiming she caught them in the wild! Sister Song, do you hear how ridiculous that is? A slip of a girl like her, in the vast wilderness, just happened to catch two chickens—exactly two! What are the odds?!”

“So this morning, I came by to take a look, and wouldn’t you know it—one glance and I was shocked! That chicken—that’s the one that went missing! That’s mine! Sister Song, everyone in this courtyard respects your judgment. Please, you must be fair! I know she’s the commander’s wife, and her status isn’t like ours. But I’m just an old woman who worked hard to raise those chickens! My daughter-in-law is still recovering and needs that chicken soup—”

As she rambled on, Li Jinhua even pretended to tear up, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve as if terribly aggrieved.

Of course, her eyes were bone dry.

All of this was just calculated performance, her way of tugging at Song Hongmei’s heartstrings.

But Song Hongmei didn’t take her words at face value. Watching Li Jinhua’s crying and shouting, she kept silent, withholding judgment.

Then she looked at Chu Yue, clearly waiting to hear her side of the story.

Chu Yue spoke up directly:

“Old woman, if it’s just about this, don’t trouble Sister Song with it. You and I can settle this ourselves.”

“Hmph, fine by me!” Li Jinhua sneered. “Then return my chicken! And for the one you already ate—pay me market price… five yuan!” She thought Chu Yue was starting to panic and smugly added, “One chicken plus five yuan, I’ll let this slide, considering how young you are.”

Chu Yue ignored the outrageous demand and calmly asked:

“You claim this is your chicken, raised for half a year. Then tell me—what color is the chicken’s feathers?”

“Didn’t I say it’s an old hen? What other color could it be? Of course it’s a yellow-brown with some black!” Li Jinhua had seen the wild chicken earlier when trying to steal it. Its feather color was clearly different from domestic hens, with large patches of black.

“The chickens I raise are one-of-a-kind, with black feathers mixed in—that’s why I can recognize them at a glance!”

Trying to trick her? Not a chance.

Chu Yue pressed on.

“And what about the chicken’s feet? What color are they?”

“What else would they be? Yellow, of course! What, are you going to ask how many toes next? You little girl who’s never raised a chicken—you just don’t know anything,” Li Jinhua laughed smugly, completely confident, acting like she’d already won and would be taking the chicken home.

But what she didn’t know was—

“What you said is wrong! It’s wrong!”

Before Chu Yue could even open her mouth, Lu Xiaobao, who had been shielded behind her, suddenly dashed out while clutching the wild chicken in his arms.

From the very beginning, he hadn’t been the least bit intimidated by Li Jinhua’s aggression. And now that Chu Yue was by his side, he was even less afraid.

Yesterday, on the way back from the mountain, Chu Yue had taught him that wild chickens were different from regular domesticated ones.

“My chicken has black feet! It’s a silky fowl — from its neck to its feet, it’s all black! What you said is wrong — this is not your chicken!”

Speaking with the poise of a little adult, Lu Xiaobao completely exposed Li Jinhua’s lie.

Li Jinhua, a country bumpkin, had never even heard of silky chickens, white-bone chickens — she had heard of the “Three Great White-Bone Demons” from myths, but that was about it.

Now being publicly exposed by a child barely a few years old, she flew into a rage from embarrassment and began playing dumb.

“It’s black! Yes, it’s black! I just got too flustered earlier and misspoke! Would I not recognize my own chicken? Put it down on the ground — if it’s mine, it’ll come to me when I call it!”

If Lu Xiaobao actually put the chicken down, Li Jinhua would definitely snatch it up the second she could.

But neither Chu Yue nor Lu Xiaobao believed a single word from this shameless old liar.

Seeing that being soft wasn’t working, Li Jinhua resorted to her usual viciousness, and tried to grab it outright.
“Anyway, this chicken is mine! You must give it back! Give it back—”

She lunged at Lu Xiaobao, completely forgetting the two slaps Chu Yue had just delivered earlier.

All for the sake of a bit of money, she had utterly abandoned her dignity.

Song Hongmei stood nearby, watching with a deepening frown. Although she didn’t approve of Chu Yue using physical force, she also couldn’t condone Li Jinhua’s outrageous behavior.

Just then, a voice called out:

“Mom—Mom—please, please stop this!”

The one who came was Wang Chunling.

She had just had a C-section a few days ago. Her incision was most likely still unhealed. Who knew what kind of pain she had to endure to even get out of bed?

She entered the courtyard, immediately wrapped her arms around Li Jinhua, and gave Chu Yue and Song Hongmei a bitter, apologetic smile. Then she began pleading, voice trembling:

“Mom, you’re mistaken. Sister Chu is a good person. She would never steal a chicken. Please, I’m begging you—stop this.”

But Li Jinhua was already furious and itching for someone to take it out on. The moment Wang Chunling appeared, she became the perfect scapegoat.

“Good for you, Wang Chunling! Siding with outsiders now, huh? Are you part of the Zhou family or are you one of Chu Yue’s people? Not only do you refuse to speak up for me, but you dare try to stop me?! All because she gave you a few wedding candies and a spoonful of milk powder — what, that was enough to blind you with lard and make you forget your own mother?!”