Chapter 51: She Never Really Wanted the Child

The best outcome would be using the child as leverage to push Zhang Tingyuan into a divorce. That way, both of them would be on their second marriages—no one would have anything to hold over the other.

But now, Lin Bingwei might be pregnant, which made things much more difficult.

Taking a step back, even if Zhang Tingyuan and Lin Bingwei didn’t divorce, even if she and he were completely out of the question, she still had to get into the Zhang family first as a temporary measure. Only then could she find another opportunity to turn things around.

What she didn’t expect was that Li Yurong refused to let her in, no matter how much she apologized and admitted her mistakes—it was all useless.

Aunt Liu chattered nonstop along the way, but Zhou Shufen wasn’t interested in listening. Instead, she followed her back to her house.

Aunt Liu was a widow. Her husband had passed away a few years ago, and she let Zhou Shufen stay at her place, even sharing a bed with her at night.

She had a son and two daughters. The eldest daughter was already married, and part of the dowry from her in-laws was given to her to take along. The remaining portion, along with a bit of extra money from herself, was used to find a wife for her son.

But her daughter-in-law had never gotten pregnant, even after two years of taking herbal remedies. Aunt Liu wanted her son to divorce his wife and then have her younger daughter follow Zhou Shufen in doing business. The money they made could be used to get her son a new wife—one who could bear children.

That was why she always helped Zhou Shufen, trying to stay on her good side.

Seeing how Zhang Yuanxiu and Li Yurong remained firm in their refusal to accept Zhou Shufen, Aunt Liu advised her, “Shufen, maybe you should just let it go. Let them raise the child. Sure, Lin Bingwei isn’t all that great to Jianguo, but Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife truly care for him.”

Zhou Shufen was stunned. “Let it go?”

“Yeah. Zhang Yuanxiu makes money dealing with the dead. He’s well off, so there’s no problem feeding Jianguo. He’s their eldest grandson, so he’ll likely inherit the family business in the future. It’s a profitable line of work, isn’t it? Most of their wealth will probably go to the eldest grandson anyway. But if you take Jianguo away, then all the Zhang family’s assets will go to Zhang Tingyuan and his wife instead. More importantly, if you take him, will you even have time to run a business?”

Of course, Zhou Shufen had thought about all this. She knew Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife were rich.

It wasn’t just about money—her mother-in-law, Li Yurong, had been a young lady from a wealthy family. Her family had run a private school.

Even though the Li family was long gone, they had left behind many valuables.

Her mother-in-law had a locked jewelry box filled with treasures.

Thinking about this, she turned her wrist slightly.

When she gave birth to Jianguo, her mother-in-law had let her pick something from the box. She had chosen a silver bangle—the biggest, thickest, and heaviest piece, which also looked the newest.

She didn’t recognize the other items, but she knew that a chunk of silver that big had to be worth money.

It fit perfectly on her wrist.

There was no way she wanted the Zhang family’s wealth to fall into someone else’s hands.

So from the very beginning, she had never actually planned to take Zhang Jianguo back.

But Aunt Liu didn’t know her true thoughts. Seeing her hanging her head in silence, looking sorrowful, she assumed Zhou Shufen was distressed about being unable to get her child back.

Aunt Liu continued persuading her, “Just listen to me. Besides, Jianguo is still young—he’s believed their words and doesn’t even acknowledge you. When he grows up and understands things better, you can go back for him then.”

By then, Zhang Tingyuan and Lin Bingwei’s kids would already be running around, and she would have to look elsewhere for a way out.

But she wasn’t willing to give up.

Seeing her silence, Aunt Liu pressed on, “There’s an old saying: ‘Whoever feeds you is your mother.’ Focus on your business and make more money. When you have money in hand, are you really afraid your son won’t acknowledge you? But if you take him now and it drags down your business, even the closest son won’t recognize a penniless old woman.”

After listening to all that, Zhou Shufen nodded. “Liu Auntie, you’re right, but I just can’t accept it. I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Aunt Liu hesitated but figured that if she wanted to try, she could.

Let her try again—she wouldn’t succeed anyway.

Aunt Liu had seen through it all. Lin Bingwei only pretended to be kind but actually couldn’t tolerate the child in her heart, though she didn’t dare show it in front of Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife. Meanwhile, Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife would never hand over their eldest grandson to an outsider.

She wouldn’t do it either if she were in their shoes.

Thinking about grandchildren made her irritated. It had been six years—three years of taking medicine—yet her daughter-in-law still wasn’t pregnant.

Not even half a granddaughter!

Just as she was thinking this, she saw her daughter-in-law returning from the river, carrying a load of freshly washed clothes.

Seeing her only fueled her anger.

Aunt Liu stormed out of the house and started scolding her.

“Who does laundry in the afternoon? Do you even know what time it is? When will these clothes dry?”

Her daughter-in-law whispered, “Mom, I was weeding in the fields all morning.”

“Weeding? How long does that take? You spent the whole morning on it?”

Her daughter-in-law replied, “After weeding, I gathered two baskets of pig feed, then made lunch. I didn’t even get a break all morning. As soon as I finished eating, I went to do the laundry. There were a lot of clothes today—you and Shufen’s clothes from yesterday alone filled two buckets.”

“Oh, so now you dare talk back to me? I see you’ve grown bold! A useless hen that won’t lay eggs—where do you get the guts to argue with me?”

Aunt Liu raised her hand to hit her, but Zhou Shufen quickly stopped her.

“Liu Auntie, forget it. Sister-in-law has been working all day. She still has a lot of clothes to hang, firewood to chop, pig feed to cook, and dinner to prepare. At this rate, we won’t even eat until midnight.”

Hearing this, Aunt Liu backed down, saying, “If it weren’t for the guest, I wouldn’t let this slide. What are you standing there for? Get to work!”

Her daughter-in-law resigned herself to the chores.

She had no choice.

A woman who couldn’t bear children would have been cast out in the old days—that was the original sin.

She had been married for six years without having a child. Her mother-in-law had even spent money on medicine for her and hadn’t mentioned divorce, so she felt guilty toward the family.

All she could do was show more filial piety and work harder to make up for it.

Meanwhile, Aunt Liu pulled Zhou Shufen into the house for a private chat. She had made up her mind—once Zhou Shufen gave up on getting her son back, she would have her take her youngest daughter along to make big money.

Once she had enough money, she would make her son divorce and remarry.

“Shufen, what kind of business have you been doing outside?”

The question made Zhou Shufen a little uncomfortable, but it was still fine—after all, she had done business before.

“There are a lot of opportunities to make money in the coastal cities. Take Haishi, for example. There’s a wholesale market there now. You can buy goods in bulk and resell them for a profit.”

That was true now. But back when she went three years ago, opportunities were scarce, and swindlers were everywhere—that’s why she lost so much money.

Aunt Liu believed every word, mentally taking note.

Making money was that easy? That got her excited.

She had originally planned to wait until Zhou Shufen gave up, but now she couldn’t hold back.

“What do you think of my youngest daughter?”

Zhou Shufen was taken aback. “What?”