Chapter 27: The Only Reason I'm Still Alive Is My Stubborn Will to Survive!

Upon hearing this, Madam Sun turned pale with shock and instinctively took a step back. Indeed, she had a secret lover—no one in the household knew, except...

Seeing this, Chu Li understood everything in her heart and admired Madam Sun’s cunning for having concealed the affair from the entire estate all these years without being discovered.

Chu Li knew that Madam Sun’s lover was one of the accountants in the Chu family’s finance department—a fair-skinned man who looked much better than Chu Zhonghe’s worthless facade.

She recalled that when Chu Meng was ten, she accidentally caught Madam Sun and her lover having an illicit rendezvous in the abandoned mansion. After Madam Sun discovered her, she cruelly tormented the girl, and later repeatedly threatened Chu Meng in private with ruthless methods to ensure her silence.

This secret was known only to Chu Meng and Madam Sun; no one else was aware. Upon hearing Chu Li’s words, Madam Sun’s expression instantly changed, realizing that the girl before her, who had changed so much, was undoubtedly the genuine article.

She immediately put on a different face. “Meng’er, now that you’re back, come home with me. Everyone at home has been thinking of you.”

At that moment, the Chu family members all hypocritically pretended to welcome Chu Li back into the manor. Both old and young treated her with great courtesy, as if she truly were the eldest legitimate daughter of the Chu family.

Only Chu Li herself knew that this entire family was full of deceit. Their sudden kindness was merely because they saw her as a useful tool to exploit.

Since she was four years old, Chu Meng had lived a life worse than a servant’s. Who in the Chu family ever treated her like a human being?

The head of the Chu family wore a stern face and finally spoke, “Stop standing there. Come inside.”

He glanced coldly at Jiao Yan beside Chu Li, snorted, and swept into the mansion, followed reluctantly by the others.

Madam Sun lingered until the last, and when no one was paying attention, she pulled Chu Li aside and whispered,

“Meng’er, where have you been these past three years? How come your uncles searched everywhere but couldn’t find you?”

“And what’s wrong with your health? You look so pale and weak. Are you ill?”

Madam Sun began to probe, trying to learn about Chu Li’s experiences over the past three years in order to prepare her next move.

In the past, Madam Sun never worried that her foster daughter would expose her, because back then, Chu Meng was timid and silent, always burying her head like a mute. Even if asked ten questions, she might not answer once.

But now, Chu Meng seemed like a different person—she dared to meet others’ eyes, spoke sharply, and had just publicly insulted her before so many people, even threatening her openly.

The old timid Chu Meng would never have done that.

Madam Sun still doubted Chu Li’s identity. Except for the jade pendant and knowledge of her secret lover, nothing else matched the Chu Meng she once knew.

Chu Li was well aware of Madam Sun’s suspicions. Her eyes flicked over Madam Sun’s calculating face as she said lightly, “Mind your own affairs, Madam Chu. If you cross me, you won’t end well.”

Even if she doubted she wasn’t the real Chu Meng, holding the scandal of Madam Sun’s affair was like gripping the woman’s lifeline.

The disgrace of the head matron having an illicit relationship with a man inside and outside the household was something Madam Sun would never want exposed.

Especially since Madam Sun’s own family background was mediocre, she had no strong backing. She bore only two daughters, no sons to add to the Chu lineage, and survived solely on her status as the head matron.

If the scandal were revealed, she would lose all face and the lavish lifestyle the Chu family enjoyed. Her daughters would also suffer shame and difficulty finding husbands.

For a vain woman who could not endure hardship, this would be worse than death. She surely knew how to choose.

Sure enough, Chu Li’s blunt threat struck Madam Sun like an icy shower, sending chills through her whole body.

After calming herself, Madam Sun could only grit her teeth and swallow her pride, twisting the handkerchief in her hands and no longer daring to pry into Chu Li’s past.

News that Chu Meng, the Chu family’s foster daughter, had returned spread quickly through the surrounding streets and alleys. It wouldn’t be long before the whole of Rong City had the story as a popular topic at dinner tables.

But Chu Li paid no mind. She arrived at the Chu family’s council hall with Qiu Yi and Jiao Yan. Before the family members had taken their seats, she and Jiao Yan sat down on two chairs near the door.

Chu Zhonghe instantly flew into a rage.

“Ungrateful daughter! You’ve been gone for three years, and now that you’re back, you show us attitude with no respect or manners! What kind of behavior is this?”

Chu Li cast him a cold glance, noticing his ashen face and sensing recent bad luck had visited him. She felt unusually cheerful.

“Master Chu, please don’t put on that elder’s air—I won’t bear it. I came back this time to sever ties with the Chu family completely. Kindly arrange the ancestral hall and remove my name from the family register as soon as possible.”

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhonghe exploded with fury. “How dare you! Do you think you can erase your name just like that? You are born a Chu and will die a Chu!”

Chu family’s Second Master Chu Yunhe snorted heavily and unleashed a barrage of accusations at Chu Li.

“The Chu family took you in at age three, gave you the noble status of eldest lady, raised you until your coming-of-age at fifteen. You ran away without a word and disappeared for three years. Now you come back demanding to sever ties? That’s impossible! Meng, don’t forget, we raised you. Without us, you would have been torn apart by wild beasts long ago!”

Chu Li regarded Chu Yunhe’s words as the biggest joke, staring at him with icy contempt.

“Noble eldest lady? Ridiculous. If I were truly the noble eldest lady of this manor, why have I never once heard anyone address me as such? You’ve always called me little bastard, money-losing burden, and cheap tramp, haven’t you?”

“Before I was four, you’d bark orders at me, making me work like a beast of burden. I lived worse than the servants. And you speak of nobility?”

“Which lady sleeps in the woodshed? In summer, bitten by mosquitoes; in winter, freezing cold, hiding by the stove for warmth. Tell me, was I noble?”

“When you were pleased, you’d throw me a bone. When displeased, you’d beat or curse me. You laid hands on a little girl shorter than the stove and never called a doctor, letting me suffer and fend for myself. You call that raising me?”

Chu Li clenched her fists, her eyes reddening. Her chest heaved with anger, a mixture of Chu Meng’s suffering and her own.

“I’m alive today only because I have a strong will—not because you raised me!”

She could not say outright that the Chu Meng they bullied and tormented had died three years ago in that wilderness.

All she could do was avenge Chu Meng, making those who bullied and killed her meet their just deserts.

“I remember exactly how you treated me. Want to use moral coercion against me? You overestimate me. I owe you no morality. Either remove my name from the family records or have your whole family perish. Choose one.”