Chapter 9 — Husband Takes Little Tam to Party, Big Screen Shows My 31 Million Yuan Project

He looked at me, pursing his lips again and again.

"Nguyen To, don't be confused. If there's anything, let's talk slowly..."

"Then I also have something to tell you."

I took my phone out of my pocket and opened a photo. It's a photo taken by Ms. Trieu at Ngan Thai restaurant, the woman in a yellow dress is resting her head on Chu Yen's shoulder. At that time, Ms. Trieu didn't know who she sent it to, but the photo ended up in my hands. I turned the screen towards him.

"Are you going to sit down and talk about this properly?"

Chu Yen's face was completely pale. That night there were no results. Chu Yen slammed the bedroom door. Chu's mother sat in the living room and scolded me for an hour, saying "I'm stubborn", "I don't care about my mother-in-law", "If I have money, I'll change into someone else". Chu Hue didn't say a word from beginning to end, just carried Niu Niu upstairs. I sat on a small chair in the kitchen, quietly listening to the noise outside gradually subside. Twelve o'clock. Finally the whole house fell silent. I opened my phone and sent Dao Vy a text message.

"Tonight's story was revealed early. During the party, they announced my name."

Dao Vy responded immediately.

"!!! What's up?!"

"Due Hang's project was thought by Chu Yen's company to be in charge of them. When it was time to announce it on stage, they read my name."

"My God. How did your husband's family react?"

"It exploded."

"And then what?"

"I showed the photo to Chu Yen."

"Good! Should have shown him a long time ago!"

"How did he react?"

"Your face is white."

"Ha ha ha ha ha, Nguyen To, you did well! So what are you going to do next?"

I stared at the screen for a while.

"Wait for the money to go into your account. Then get a divorce."

"...Have you thought about it carefully?"

"It's been seven years. That's enough."

"Okay, I support you. If you need help, just say so."

I put down the phone. The lights in the kitchen were off, only a little light from the street lamp outside shone through the window. I sat still in that faint light for a while. The next morning, I still made breakfast as usual. No one came down to eat. Chu Yen left home early in the morning. Chu's mother closed the door and stayed in her room. Chu Hue also packed his things and took Niu Niu home early. Before leaving, she looked at me and wanted to say something again, but in the end she only left one sentence: "Sister-in-law, take care." Only Chu Dien is still at home. When he went downstairs, he yawned as he walked. When he saw the empty dining table and only me sitting there, he stopped.

"Sister-in-law, where is your mother?"

"Where are my sisters?"

"Where are you?"

"Going to work."

Chu Dien looked at me, then looked at the cold bowl of porridge on the table, his lips moving slightly.

"Last night's 31 million thing... is it true?"

I looked at him. In his eyes there was surprise, confusion, and an emotion that I couldn't name, perhaps belated panic after finally realizing something. He sat down, picked up the bowl of porridge, bowed his head and took a sip. From beginning to end, he didn't dare look at me again. For the next three days, this house was filled with an extremely strange atmosphere. The number of words Chu's mother said to me became significantly less. Not because he wanted to reconcile, but like he was secretly calculating something. Every day, she called Chu Hue for a long time, her voice was as low as possible. As soon as she saw me approaching, she immediately hung up. Chu Yen leaves early every day late, did not discuss anything further with me. Chu Dien moved to a friend's house to "stay for a few days". When he left, he didn't say a word and just disappeared. On the afternoon of the fourth day, while I was drying the blanket on the balcony, the doorbell rang. Opening the door, the person standing outside was Chu Yen's eldest uncle, Chu Mau Thinh. He was in his sixties. Before retiring, he had worked as a low-level official in a regional agency. He was the only person in the previous generation of the Chu family who had "been an official". Behind him was a middle-aged man wearing a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase in his hand. I once met this person. Last time, when the Zhou family was involved in a dispute over a 600,000 yuan debt, it was he who came to help resolve it. His last name was Phuong, he was a card playing friend of Chu Mau Thinh, and opened a small law office.

"Is To To at home?" Chu Mau Thinh walked in smiling, "Where is your mother-in-law?"

"In the room."

"Call her out, let's talk a bit."

I looked at the person called lawyer Phuong standing behind him, to be more precise, just a "legal advisor" named Phuong. I immediately understood in my heart. What should have happened has finally happened. Chu's mother came out of the room. Today she dressed exceptionally neatly, clearly knowing in advance that Chu Mau Thinh would come.

"Eldest brother! Quickly sit down! To To, pour tea!"

I'm going to pour tea. Four people sat in the living room, "lawyer" Phuong opened his briefcase and took out a few papers. Chu Mau Thinh was the first to speak.