From Broken Family to Life Winner: A Reborn Mother's Journey

Plenty of later studies have shown that children whose mothers endured domestic violence for their sake, struggling to hold the family together, do not grow up happy.

Children who grow up in abusive households often have their personalities affected. In severe cases, they may even develop psychological trauma or turn to crime.

Su Li had heard stories of domestic violence before, of men who beat their wives as if it were their right, and of women who could only endure it helplessly.

Su Li was frustrated by their passivity, but she also understood the mindset of women from that era.

Whether it was the battered women themselves, or their parents, siblings, relatives, and friends, everyone would just sigh about the woman’s bitter fate in marrying a husband who hit her.

The abused women would suffer in silence, weeping over their cruel destiny, but they never thought of their husbands’ actions as a crime.

Before, these were just stories Su Li had heard. She was powerless to help and couldn’t say much. But now, it was happening to someone she knew: Wu Xia.

This was only the second time she and Wu Xia had met, but because she was Wu Sheng’s relative, they had already formed a bond.

To see such a kind and hardworking girl suffer domestic violence after getting married made Su Li’s heart ache.

Su Li tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. She only managed to drift off into a hazy slumber in the middle of the night.

Perhaps because of Wu Xia’s situation, over the next few days, it seemed to Su Li that she was hearing about domestic violence everywhere she went.

Wu Xia had been staying with the Wu Family for a week. The bruises on her body had mostly faded. Perhaps due to the peaceful life at the Wu home, along with the constant care from her aunt, cousin, and younger brother, some color had finally returned to her face.

News arrived from Grandma Wu and Zou Liping.

Unsurprisingly, the message was that Zou Liping knew he was wrong, promised he would never hit her again, and wanted Wu Xia to come back as soon as possible.

Wu Dong cursed him out again. Wu Xia’s expression didn’t improve upon hearing the news; she remained lost in thought, her heart heavy.

Wu Xia still wouldn’t say anything, leaving Wu Qihua and Wu Sheng at a loss. Su Li felt it wasn’t her place to say much either.

The new semester had begun for her, and she had many things to deal with. Starting in her third year, she would no longer be a trainee but would begin her internship.

Su Li had been assigned to a newspaper for her internship and had already reported for duty.

An internship wasn’t like being a trainee; it came with assignments. A poor performance or a failing grade could affect her graduation.

After two years of study and a traineeship, their professors at the Communication University considered them semi-journalists and encouraged them to go out and dig up their own news stories.

If students managed to cover a news event during their internship and wrote a good report, they could submit it to their host organization. If a professor thought it was good, they would also recommend it to a TV station, newspaper, or radio station.

It was an honor for a student’s report to be referenced or followed up on, but it was a massive honor for it to be directly published.

It wasn’t just Su Li’s major; students in cinematography and other fields felt the same way. They all hoped to see their names in a newspaper, on a TV screen, or mentioned on the radio as soon as possible.

Having your name appear was the ultimate glory. It was also beneficial for future employment, as everyone wanted to hire outstanding talent.

Once the third-year internships began, classmates became colleagues and also rivals. Everyone was fired up, striving to be the first in their class or department to achieve success.

The atmosphere among the students was electric. The professors were happy to see it and would subtly add fuel to the fire with encouragement.

This was all part of the appeal of Huaguo Communication University: the chance to play to your strengths, shore up your weaknesses, and even find a future career path you excelled at, all while still a student.

Immersed in this environment, Su Li was also full of fighting spirit. When she didn’t have class, she would report to the newspaper office and tag along with senior reporters. If they wouldn’t take her, she would go out on her own, always hoping to find a story.

Su Li was busy, but she continued to keep tabs on Wu Xia’s situation. After spending the week digging for news with her classmates, she visited Wu Xia at the Wu residence over the weekend and found she suddenly couldn’t let the matter go.

In this era, domestic violence wasn’t even considered news. Unless someone was beaten to death, nobody reported on it.

Public awareness of domestic violence was severely lacking. Many people, both men and women, still believed it was perfectly natural for a husband to beat his wife.

But Su Li couldn’t accept that. After the second week of the semester began, she made a decision. She would stop chasing other stories and start investigating the issue of domestic violence.

She wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t started looking, but once she began her investigation, Su Li realized that domestic violence was an invisible yet widespread problem.

She didn’t find any cases where someone had been beaten to death—whether they weren’t discovered or for some other reason, she couldn’t say—but she found plenty of women who had been disabled or were covered in scars from the abuse.

These battered women would only seek treatment if their injuries were life-threatening. Otherwise, they would just rub some ointment on their wounds or let them heal on their own.

After seeing a woman whose finger, broken by her husband, had been left to heal on its own and was now deformed, Su Li took a deep breath and went home with a heavy heart.

The next day, Su Li went to a professor in her department to explain her idea. With the professor’s support, she created a questionnaire. Armed with a letter of introduction from the university, she sought help from the women’s directors in various neighborhood committees to conduct a survey.

This kind of task could be either easy or difficult, depending on how you approached it. Fortunately, Su Li was more mature than her age suggested, and the process went smoothly.

After that, Su Li visited hospitals and neighborhood clinics to conduct related interviews and gather statistics.

Because Su Li was working alone, the initial phase took half a month. Only then was she able to collect the questionnaire results.

Su Li hadn’t even had time to organize the data when there was a new development in Wu Xia’s situation.

Wu Xia had remained silent and hadn’t gone back. The Zou Family, apparently having lost their patience, finally came to the Imperial City.

Her youngest paternal aunt also came along.

The youngest aunt had been to the Imperial City once before, making this her second time. For Mrs. Zou and Zou Liping, however, it was their first visit, and they felt there was too much to take in.

Upon finding the Wu Family’s home, Zou Liping and Mrs. Zou showed great remorse, guaranteeing he would never repeat his mistake.

By the time Su Li heard the news and rushed over to the Wu residence, Mrs. Zou was trying to persuade Wu Xia to go back with them, while Wu Dong was glaring, puffed up with anger.

Wu Xia listened with her lips pressed together, her expression conflicted as if she were trying to make a decision.

When she saw Su Li come in, Wu Xia suddenly spoke.

"I want to ask my cousin-in-law something."

The faces of Mrs. Zou and Zou Liping darkened for a moment, while Wu Qihua, Wu Sheng, and Su Li all breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief.

Wu Xia, who had been burdened by her thoughts, was finally willing to speak!

"Let’s talk outside." After giving Wu Sheng and the others a meaningful look, Su Li took Wu Xia’s arm and led her out of the house.

Wu Xia was actually older than Su Li, but perhaps because she called her "cousin-in-law," whenever she looked into Su Li’s eyes, she felt as if Su Li truly was her elder sister-in-law.

"Wu Xia," Su Li began, "no matter what you want to say or what you decide to do, you can tell me. We will support you unconditionally."

Su Li led Wu Xia to a quiet place to sit. She took her hand, thought for a moment, and emphasized again, "You have to remember, you’re a wonderful girl. All that talk about you being a jinx on your husband is nonsense."

Wu Xia smiled and nodded firmly. "I know." Her aunt, cousin, and cousin-in-law had been taking turns telling her these things for days. Hearing it so often, she was starting to truly believe she wasn’t the one at fault.

That was why she had finally found the courage to speak up.

As Su Li waited in anticipation, Wu Xia finally began to talk.

But it wasn’t the confession about the domestic violence that Su Li expected, nor was it an announcement of her decision. Instead, she asked a question.

"Cousin-in-law, if a man... can’t do *that*... is he still a man?"