“So that’s how it is. Maybe we should stop watching. It’s getting late, I should head back.”
Just thinking about returning to the Lu Family and facing those people made Li Yue’s head spin.
Though Gu Huaichuan felt disappointed, he could see the exhaustion written all over her face.
“Should I walk you back then?”
“No need, I have my bike. Let me walk you back instead.”
After some back-and-forth, Gu Huaichuan finally said he’d walk back as a stroll—it was just around the corner and across the street anyway.
So Li Yue rode off on her bike alone.
The road she had taken on her electric bike last night now felt unnerving on her bicycle, her heart pounding wildly.
Once she passed the streetlights, the entire stretch plunged into complete darkness.
On the road, aside from the sound of her pedaling, there was no other noise. What made it worse was that even the frogs weren’t croaking tonight.
Fortunately, she made it back to the Lu Family without incident.
She pushed the door, only to find the large iron gate locked from the inside.
Pulling out her phone to check the time, it was only 7:30 p.m. It seemed they had deliberately locked her out.
Well, if that was the case, she’d just make a bigger scene.
Bang, bang, bang—
Clang, clang, clang—
Li Yue started by slapping the door with her hands, then kicked it, and finally rammed it with her bicycle tire.
Inside the Lu Family home.
Lu Jianguo looked at his wife, who was silently eating her meal. “Why did you lock the door?”
“Why should we let someone like her back in? Can’t you see how wild she’s become, not even coming home? Who knows what she’s been up to outside? She’s not coming in.” Li Shaohua had just returned after being detained at the police station for twenty-four hours and was still fuming.
The entire Family Compound knew she had been taken away by the police. How was she supposed to show her face outside after this?
But since things had already come to this, was she still afraid of embarrassment? Of course not. She might as well let it all go.
“You’re being completely unreasonable. Qingqing, go open the door for her.”
Lu Jianguo looked at his daughter, who was eating, and signaled with his eyes for her to open the door.
Lu Qing bit her chopsticks, glancing at her mother and then her brother before silently lowering her head to continue eating, not moving an inch.
Lu Xiao also turned a deaf ear to the commotion outside.
Li Yue deserved to be taught a lesson; otherwise, she’d never know her place.
Without the Lu Family, she wouldn’t even have a place to sleep outside.
In the bedroom, Feng Jing, who was pretending to be sick again, irritably buried her head under the covers, trying her best to ignore the noise outside.
Last night’s events had left her feeling noticeably unwell. If she didn’t get a kidney transplant, she probably wouldn’t even last half a year.
Yesterday, she had planned to take some more money while Li Shaohua was away. She had known where Li Shaohua hid his gold and money since the first year of their marriage.
At first, she only dared to take small amounts of loose change. Later, she realized Li Shaohua never kept track, so she started taking whole bills.
Over the past two years, she had been taking two or three bills at a time.
In three years, she had managed to save over two thousand yuan—a small fortune—from Li Shaohua.
Originally, she had intended to take more last night. If she were discovered, she planned to pin it on Li Yue.
But she never expected things to turn out the way they did—the hiding spot had been changed.
Had they moved it because they knew she was stealing?
At this thought, she abruptly sat up and looked toward the small jewelry box on her dressing table.
Her money couldn’t be gone too, could it?
When she pulled the key to her jewelry box from inside her pillowcase, she felt slightly more at ease.
No one knew where she kept her key.
Putting on her shoes, she walked over to the dressing table and opened the jewelry box drawer as usual.
Staring at the empty drawer, her pupils contracted violently.
The loud banging on the outer gate finally ceased.
By the time Lu Jianguo opened the door, he could already hear the murmurs outside.
These past few days, the Lu Family had become the entire Family Compound’s favorite topic for after-dinner gossip and ridicule. Lu Jianguo felt utterly humiliated.
In a desperate attempt to salvage some dignity, he even forced a smile at Li Yue, who was deliberately causing trouble.
“Where have you been? Someone must have accidentally locked the gate. Come in quickly for dinner. Your mother is coming home tonight, so I made a couple extra dishes.”
Lu Qing, who had prepared the entire table of food by the doorway: “…”
Listening to her father’s hypocritical tone, Lu Qing found it laughable. Since when had he cooked the meal?
She rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“Whoever locked the gate knows what they did. It certainly wasn’t you, right?” Li Yue pushed her bicycle forward, the wheel rim pressing against Lu Jianguo’s shin.
Only then did he move aside.
“Of course it wasn’t me. You told me you were going out, so I knew you’d be leaving.”
Lu Jianguo maintained his cheerful facade, willing to go to any length to protect what little face he had left.
The main difference from Li Yue’s previous outburst was that now the entire factory knew Lu Xiao had hit his wife. Everyone was talking about how the Lu Family wanted to force their younger daughter-in-law to donate a kidney for their elder daughter-in-law.
If Li Yue caused another scene, word might reach the factory director or even their clients. His hopes for a promotion this spring would be shattered.
Li Yue wasn’t fooled by Lu Jianguo’s act. With all pretenses now dropped, her next step was to discuss divorce with Lu Xiao.
She needed to cut through the entanglement quickly and move out before Lu Jianguo’s situation completely collapsed.
After parking her bicycle, Li Yue walked past Lu Qing into the house.
Li Shaohua and Lu Xiao continued eating, completely ignoring the newcomer.
Li Yue paid them no mind either.
When Lu Xiao saw her enter, he set down his bowl and chopsticks, his gaze sharp as a blade falling upon her.
“Where have you been?”
“None of your business. Let’s go to the civil affairs bureau tomorrow and find time to get our divorce certificate.”
“Divorce? You’re still talking about divorce? Who do you think you are?” Li Shaohua let out a cold laugh as if she’d heard the most ridiculous joke.
Lu Xiao stood up. “You really want a divorce?” His eyes searched hers, trying to detect any pretense in her expression.
Yet her eyes remained completely calm, without even a flicker of emotion.
“How many times do I have to say it? What, you don’t want to divorce?” Li Yue curled her lips in a mocking smile.
Lu Xiao pressed his thin lips into a tight line. Though he wanted the divorce in his heart, he couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.
Right—if they divorced, Li Yue would definitely refuse to donate a kidney to Xiao Jing.
He reminded himself that he absolutely couldn’t divorce right now.
Li Shaohua had looked down on Li Yue since the day she married into the family. If not for the old man’s dying wish, she would never have allowed this creature through their door. She appeared soft and easy to bully, but was actually a slow poison, calculating to the core. Now she’d finally dropped the act.
“Even if there’s to be a divorce, you don’t get to propose it. Who do you think you are?”
“And who are you? An elder without dignity, fawning over a daughter-in-law who isn’t even related by blood. Is she perhaps your illegitimate daughter?”
Li Yue’s eyes filled with sarcasm.
At these words, a flicker of panic flashed through Li Shaohua’s eyes before she shrieked like a rat with its tail caught:
“What nonsense are you spouting? What illegitimate daughter? That’s pure bullshit! Xiao, divorce her! Once you’re divorced, make her get out of our house immediately!”
“Mom~” Lu Xiao hated being forced by you, damn it, and hated being forced by anyone.
So when Li Yue pressured him to divorce, he instead didn’t want to give her what she wanted.
“What are you all arguing about? What are you arguing about? Afraid the neighbors won’t hear, you really have too much free time day after day, don’t you? Have you had too many good days? What are you arguing about?”
Lu Jianguo had been explaining to several neighbors outside for a long time.
Then he heard the arguing start up again inside the house.
Lu Jianguo rarely lost his temper in public, and with this one roar, Li Shaohua immediately fell silent.
At that moment, she still didn’t know that the treasures in her room were missing. In fact, they had just followed Li Yue closely, and Lu Jianguo hadn’t had time to tell her yet.
Li Yue was tired.
Returning to the room, she looked at the cupboard that had been turned upside down, her expression pausing briefly before she directly stepped on it.
Lu Xiao happened to come in and see it—the thick clothes he had dug out while looking for his own were being trampled by her.
“Li Yue—” he gritted his teeth and growled.