Chapter 18 Where does the money come from?

At that moment, Tian Yongmei couldn’t be bothered with what others were saying. All she could think about was getting her money back—she couldn’t let it affect her elder daughter’s schooling. She had seen for herself that Wang Huimin’s bundle contained only a few meager items, but she was convinced it had to be her who took the money. No matter what anyone said, she wouldn’t let her go.

That was over a thousand yuan—plus a few silver coins. It wasn’t a small sum.

She glared fiercely at Wang Huimin.
“If you dared steal the money, of course you wouldn’t be dumb enough to stuff it in your bundle. I don’t care what anyone says today!”

“Tell me right now—where did you hide the money? Hand it over! Or I’ll act like I never gave birth to you, you heartless wretch!”

Just then, she noticed a corner of a ten-yuan bill peeking out of Wang Huimin’s shirt pocket. That was all the proof she needed. This damned girl didn’t have a cent on her before—where did this come from?

She pounced, yanked the ten yuan out of Wang Huimin’s pocket, and shouted viciously,
“You still dare to say you didn’t steal anything? Then where did this money come from?!”

Seeing her snatch the ten yuan, Wang Huimin panicked and tried to grab it back.
“Give it back to me—that’s mine!”

But once the money was in Tian Yongmei’s hands, she wasn’t letting go. She clutched it tightly and screamed,
“You filthy little thief! How could you possibly have money on you? You must’ve stolen it from me!”

“Speak! Where did you hide the rest of the money? If your stealing ends up ruining your sister’s education, I swear I’ll kill you today!”

Wang Huishu, as usual, stayed quietly in the back of the crowd to preserve her image as the obedient daughter. She saw Tian Yongmei pull the ten yuan out of Wang Huimin’s pocket, her eyes flickered, but she said nothing.

Tears rolled down Wang Huimin’s cheeks as she pleaded,
“I’ve told you over and over—I didn’t steal your money. That ten yuan is mine! Give it back!”

“All these years, you’ve never treated me like your daughter. You’ve beaten me so badly, it’s like you’ve been wishing me dead. Well, guess what? You don’t want me, and I don’t want you either.”

“From now on, I belong to the Song family. I have nothing to do with the Wang family anymore. Let everyone here witness it—today, I sever all ties with your family!”

For years, whenever Tian Yongmei got angry and scolded Wang Huimin, she would throw around threats about severing ties. She always saw herself as high and mighty.

But now, hearing Wang Huimin actually declare a break from her, she exploded. Maybe it was the challenge to her authority, but her whole body trembled with rage. She pointed at Wang Huimin and shouted,

“Fine! Sever ties then! I’ll pretend I never gave birth to you! But you’re not leaving without returning the money you stole!”

Tian Yongmei always had a vicious tongue—she’d say the filthiest things she could think of. Even something as nasty as calling her own daughter a “kept woman.” And with so many people watching, she really had gone off the deep end.

But Wang Huimin wasn’t surprised. That’s exactly the kind of person this shrew had been in her past life too. She wasn’t afraid of her anymore. Wiping her tears, she said coldly,

“No matter what you say, I don’t have your money. You always kept it yourself—how would I even know where you hid it, let alone steal it?”

“That ten yuan—Sun Lao gave it to me this morning out of pity, because you kicked me out with nothing. If you don’t believe me, go ask her yourself.”

Just then, Old Lady Sun finally caught up. She had overheard Wang Huimin’s words and couldn’t stand it anymore. Her tone was sharp and full of disapproval.

“Tian Yongmei! Are you even a mother?! This child didn’t come out of your belly? How can you be so heartless?!”

“She’s telling the truth. I saw how you threw her out this morning with barely anything to her name. I gave her that ten yuan as a dowry out of pity. And now you’ve gone and snatched it from her? Do you have no decency at all?”

“Give it back right now! If you lost money, go home and look for it. Stop making a scene—haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough?”

She stormed forward, snatched the ten yuan from Tian Yongmei, and shoved it back into Wang Huimin’s hands.

“Xiaomin, this money is from me. As long as Sun Lao is here today, I’d like to see who dares take it from you again!”

At that moment, someone—no one knew exactly who—ran over to the Song family and told Song Jianjun what was going on. They told him that Wang Huimin had been kicked out of her house first thing in the morning, accused of stealing money, chased through the streets, and even hit with a brick so hard her nose and mouth were bleeding. And now, she was being blocked on the main road and not allowed to leave.

The gossip was quick: she was now part of the Song family, and if something really bad happened to her, it would ruin everything. That thousand-yuan dowry would go to waste. The person told Song Jianjun he’d better hurry over.

Song Jianjun was just preparing breakfast. The moment he heard the story, he shouted for his father to take over the cooking, threw on a jacket, and rushed out with the messenger.

Back with Wang Huimin, even with Old Lady Sun standing up for her, Tian Yongmei refused to back down. She insisted Wang Huimin stole the money and was dead set on not letting her go. No one could talk her down.

After all, this was still considered a family matter—and the villagers didn’t want to intervene too much. So the situation remained in deadlock.

But Wang Huimin intended to shame Tian Yongmei today. And this was only step one. The worst for Tian Yongmei was still to come.

Wang Huimin played her “pitiful” act to perfection—she even turned her pockets inside out and took off her cloth shoes to prove she wasn’t hiding anything. Nothing but the truth.

Tian Yongmei, completely shameless, stormed forward and ripped out the insoles from Wang Huimin’s shoes—just short of tearing off the soles to see if anything was hidden in there.

But it was obvious—she wasn’t going to find a single coin on Wang Huimin.

Furious and desperate, Tian Yongmei’s rage flared up to the point it practically reached her eyebrows. Her only thought was: If I don’t have the money, how will my older daughter go to school?

And now, after all the yelling and accusations, she had humiliated herself in front of the entire village. The more she looked at Wang Huimin, the angrier she got.

If it weren’t for all the people watching, she might’ve picked up another brick and finished her off on the spot.

She glared at Wang Huimin with vicious eyes.
“You little demon—I know what you’re like. Don’t act innocent. You definitely hid the money somewhere else because you knew you couldn’t take it with you. Did you stuff it in your clothes?!”

“If you give it back now, I won’t hold this against you. But if you don’t—just know, once you go to the Song family, no one from the Wang family will lift a finger to help you, no matter how much you suffer. You’d better think carefully!”

Wang Huimin was so enraged by her threat that she actually felt like laughing.

Suffer in the Song family? Could it possibly be worse than what she’d endured in the Wang household?

Did this woman really think she could still scare her?

Her brain must’ve turned to mush.