The beloved but ungrateful girl is reborn: This time she has truly changed.

Chen Xiangqin nodded.

She finally finished vomiting and collapsed to the ground, feeling utterly weak.

"I...I don't have any evidence..." her voice was hoarse.

"You do," Qi Weiwei said confidently. "A person like Zhou Lingbin definitely has a secret stash of money. Think carefully, where does he usually hide his valuables?"

Chen Xiangqin's mind went completely blank.

Suddenly, the image of that strange hidden compartment behind the back panel of the chest of drawers flashed through my mind...

That was a secret she discovered by accident.

At the time, Zhou Lingbin hurriedly tried to cover it up, even slapping her and warning her not to tell anyone.

Looking back now, I suspect that what was hidden there was more than just money.

Chen Xiangqin remained silent.

Only then did she realize how ruthless the man she had married was.

He didn't treat her like one of his own, or even like a human being.

She knew perfectly well how Zhou Lingbin had treated her all these years since she married into the family.

They would either beat or scold me, treating me like a servant and never giving me a kind look.

Every night she had to wash his feet, the water had to be neither too cold nor too hot, otherwise he would pour it over her head.

She endured it because she felt guilty for not being able to have children.

She owes him.

But now...

If what Qi Weiwei said is true, then what has she accomplished in the past ten years?

A joke?

A tool used to cover up one's true intentions?

Who did she marry?

Before leaving, the girl named Qi Weiwei said to her:

"Sister-in-law Xiangqin, if you've thought it through, then go and report him. Remember, Political Commissar Liang and Zhou Lingbin don't get along. Go find Political Commissar Liang and bring out all the evidence of his embezzlement over the years. Only by sending him to jail can you live."

report?

Does she dare?

Zhou Lingbin is the head of the logistics department. He has connections everywhere and knows many people.

She's a woman from the countryside, uneducated and without connections. What can she possibly use to fight him?

But what if we don't report it?

Should we continue living like this?

Should I continue taking those so-called "vitamin pills"?

Continue to be his shield, and wait until he feels she's no longer useful, then, like he did with his first wife, let her die "accidentally"?

Chen Xiangqin shivered.

She thought of Zhou Lingbin's first wife, the woman named Li Xiuying.

When she married into the family, Li Xiuying had already been dead for three months; she had committed suicide by drinking pesticide.

Zhou Lingbin cried very sadly at the time, and the military leaders came to comfort him, saying that Li Xiuying was narrow-minded and couldn't think straight.

But now that I think about it, everything seems a bit strange, and several of my neighbor aunties gave her some pointers.

She dared not think.

Li Xiuying is a primary school teacher, educated, and cheerful. How could she suddenly be so suicidal?

The day before she died, she was chatting and laughing with her neighbors, saying that she was going to make a new cotton-padded jacket for her son and invited them to go buy fabric together.

Furthermore, after Li Xiuying's death, Zhou Lingbin quickly married her, a girl from the countryside who was illiterate.

At the time, some people commented that Zhou Lingbin had deep feelings for his first wife, and it was inappropriate for him to remarry so quickly.

Now she understands.

Zhou Lingbin married her not because he liked her, but because she was easy to control, because she was cheap, and because she could help him cover up his shady dealings.

Chen Xiangqin clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.

She can't let it go like that.

Qi Weiwei is right; only by sending Zhou Lingbin to prison can she survive.

But where is the evidence?

She slowly got up and walked to the chest of drawers.

This is the absolute "no-go zone" that Zhou Lingbin set for her.

She opened and looked through every drawer—there was nothing strange about it.

The hidden compartment is at the back.

The chest of drawers was an old-fashioned solid wood piece, very heavy, and she couldn't move it by herself.

But she remembers that the back panel was loosely nailed together with a few nails and could be pried open from the side.

She found a screwdriver, inserted it into the gap between the back panel and the cabinet body, and pried it open forcefully.

"Creak—"

The back panel is loose.

She pried it a few more times, and the back panel completely fell off, revealing the hidden compartment inside.

Chen Xiangqin gasped.

It was piled up to the brim.

Bundles of 100-yuan bills, tied with rubber bands, were neatly stacked.

There were also a few small yellow croakers, their skin gleaming enticingly in the dim light.

Several jewelry boxes were opened, and inside were gold rings, gold necklaces, and jade bracelets.

There are also a few watches, Shanghai brand, brand new.

At the very bottom, there were several notebooks.

Chen Xiangqin took it out and opened it.

The book was filled with detailed accounts:

On a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, a certain amount of "consulting fees" were received from a certain factory.

On a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, a certain amount of money was given as a "tribute" to a certain leader;

On a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, a certain commodity was sold, and a profit of a certain amount of money was made...

Each stroke is shocking.

Chen Xiangqin's hands were shaking.

Although she wasn't very literate, she could still recognize these numbers.

Any single transaction could represent several years' or even more than a decade's worth of her salary.

How much money did Zhou Lingbin embezzle?

She suddenly remembered the newspaper package that Tang Qu had brought that evening.

Zhou Lingbin accepted the 100,000 yuan without batting an eye, which shows that this amount of money was nothing to him.

She continued searching.

A hidden compartment was discovered, filled with passbooks.

The name above is unfamiliar: Tang Tiantian.

So many zeros.

However, she already knew who Tang Tiantian was—her man's illegitimate daughter.

Chen Xiangqin took these things out one by one and placed them on the bed.

Then she found an old leather suitcase—it was the one she brought with her when she married into the family, and it had been used for more than ten years, with worn-out edges.

She packed all her money, gold bars, jewelry, watches, and notebooks into the suitcase.

Halfway through packing, the suitcase became too heavy to lift.

She stopped and sat on the edge of the bed to catch her breath for a while.

Then he stood up and walked back to the mirror.

The person in the mirror was thin, haggard, with heavy eye bags and dry, yellow hair, looking more than ten years older than his actual age.

She's only thirty-five, but she looks like she's over fifty.

This is all thanks to Zhou Lingbin.

Thanks to those so-called "vitamin pills".

Chen Xiangqin took a deep breath, picked up the comb, and carefully combed her hair again.

She tied her dry, yellow hair into a bun at the back of her head and secured it with a black hair clip.

She changed into a clean, dark blue cotton-padded jacket—her best clothes, which she only wore during the New Year or when visiting relatives.

Then, she picked up the heavy suitcase.

The suitcase was heavy, and she struggled to lift it, but she gritted her teeth and persevered.

I opened the bedroom door, and the living room was empty.

Chen Xiangqin stepped out of her house and gently closed the door behind her.

The hallway was very quiet.

She descended the stairs step by step, her suitcase clattering against the steps with a dull thud.

When I got downstairs, it was already getting light, and there were sounds of people in the camp: some were exercising early, and others were going to buy breakfast.

Chen Xiangqin carried her suitcase and walked deeper into the camp.

Political Commissar Liang lived in the innermost small building, a detached house with a guard at the entrance.

I had only taken a few steps when a familiar voice came from behind me:

"Sister-in-law, where are you going?"

Chen Xiangqin turned around and saw a young soldier in his early twenties named Zhang, who was usually in charge of sanitation and miscellaneous tasks in this camp area.

When Xiao Zhang saw the suitcase in her hand, his eyes widened: "Your suitcase looks heavy, shall I help you carry it?"