Chapter 567 - 566: Neither Man Nor Woman (3)
Wu Xia watched Su Li’s expression carefully. She was relieved to see that Su Li looked angry but not surprised, and seemed to believe what she had said.
"Su Li, are there really people like that in the world? I... I once heard my grandmother talk about ’stone women,’ but never about men... Was he..."
Wu Xia couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence. The first time she saw Zou Liping’s condition, her mind had gone completely blank.
In the days that followed, she’d thought about it endlessly. She’d wondered if Zou Liping was a woman and considered countless other possibilities, but he had denied them all.
Although she wasn’t worldly, she knew what the Zou mother and son were saying was wrong. How could all men be like that?
’How could something that was there in childhood just disappear in adulthood?’
But she had a bad reputation, and she had no one to tell, because the whole situation was just too bizarre.
She even began to wonder if she was the one who was mistaken, that perhaps this was just how men were.
In her idle moments, her thoughts would spiral uncontrollably, and she constantly suspected that the Zou Liping she married wasn’t a normal man.
Because of the mental and physical torment from the Zou mother and son, she doubted herself so much that she almost considered peeking at other men to find out the truth.
Of course, these were just wild, fleeting thoughts. She wasn’t that shameless.
After Wu Dong brought her to the Imperial City, she started reading books in her spare time. The Wu Family study was huge, filled with books, including some foreign ones in languages she couldn’t understand.
After thinking about it for days, another possibility occurred to Wu Xia: a eunuch.
’Could Zou Liping have been... castrated? Is that why he’s like this?’
She couldn’t bring herself to say the word "castrated," but Su Li understood.
Su Li shook her head. "No, we’re in the modern age. This isn’t the feudal era."
’Eunuchs only existed in the feudal era to serve in the palace,’ she thought. ’Besides, Zou Liping doesn’t have the typical characteristics of a eunuch.’
Seeing Wu Xia’s state, Su Li’s heart ached for her. She couldn’t help but place a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Wu Xia, when something like this happens, even if you don’t say anything at first, you should have told someone eventually. You could have told Grandma or your aunt. When things like this happen, we can all help you figure it out together."
"From now on, remember, no matter what happens, don’t just bottle it up and suffer alone. Speak up so we can all figure something out. It hurts us all to see you like this."
’Wu Xia had no idea what was going on, yet she was controlled and treated that way by the Zou mother and son. Her suffering must have been unimaginable.’
Wu Xia looked into Su Li’s eyes, and her own immediately welled up with tears she fought to hold back.
"I... I wanted to tell someone so many times, but then I’d think about how much hardship Grandma and the others went through for me. I finally got married, only for... Besides, with something like this, I was also scared..."
Su Li looked at Wu Xia, her heart a mixture of pity and exasperation.
’All that talk about her being a "husband-jinx" had made the already introverted Wu Xia even more timid. On top of that, she had no concept of a condition like being intersex... It’s no wonder she kept it to herself.’
"It’s all right now. I’m so glad you finally spoke up. From now on, remember to tell your family everything. That’s what family is for—relying on each other. Otherwise, we all just end up heartbroken over your suffering, like now. Whatever it is, we’ll face it together. There’s nothing we can’t get through."
Su Li comforted Wu Xia, but inwardly she was terrified. ’If Wu Xia had kept this to herself and gone back with the Zou mother and son, I can’t even imagine what her future would have been like.’
’Best-case scenario, she would have suffered her whole life and died young from depression.’
’Worst-case, she’d be killed by domestic abuse.’
Su Li wasn’t being alarmist or exaggerating. With domestic violence, the abuse only gets worse over time.
It might start with a slap, but it slowly escalates to punches and kicks. Later, weapons might get involved. If it isn’t stopped, it will only get more and more severe, until the victim is maimed or killed.
Once someone gets addicted to violence, it’s not easy for them to stop.
In the Zou Family’s case, this progression was almost a certainty. Based on Wu Xia’s account, the mother and son were clearly not mentally stable.
’The son isn’t a normal man—he’s a man, but not a "complete" one. With Wu Xia knowing his secret, it was only a matter of time before his psyche became more and more twisted. There was no other possible outcome.’
Still shaken, Su Li looked at Wu Xia seriously. "Wu Xia, you are not at fault at all in this matter. There’s nothing wrong with you. They are the ones with the problem."
"You probably don’t know this, but there’s a condition called intersexuality. People with it are sometimes called intersex..."
Su Li gave her a brief and simple explanation of intersexuality. "...For some, it can be corrected with surgery, but for others, it can’t. It all depends on the specific circumstances."
"Zou Liping’s condition is clearly a case of this. It just was never revealed because they kept it hidden."
’That must be why they never found a wife for him,’ Su Li thought. ’Not until they saw Wu Xia’s circumstances. They must have thought she’d be easy to control, so they exploited the opportunity to make the match. They probably planned for this exact situation all along.’
’If Wu Xia weren’t a relative of the Wu Family, if she were completely ignorant, they might have actually succeeded in controlling her.’
’Thankfully, Wu Xia had someone she could ask.’
Wu Xia listened to Su Li, her eyes wide with amazement, yet she was paying rapt attention.
"So... so people like that really exist..." ’It wasn’t my fault. It was theirs.’
She let out another sigh as she said this, feeling as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
"Yes, of course," Su Li said with a smile. "The world is a huge place, full of all sorts of wonders. It’s just a matter of whether we’ve heard of them or not."
Wu Xia looked at the smiling Su Li, her eyes slowly filling with admiration.
"Su Li, you’re so incredible. You know everything... I don’t know anything at all. How did you learn all this?"
She had always known her aunt and cousin were brilliant people. When her cousin brought his wife home, Wu Xia knew from the first glance that she must be incredible, too.
After all, Su Li was a university student, and the city’s top scholar at that. Those were achievements Wu Xia couldn’t even dream of.
The problem that had tormented her for so long was solved in an instant by Su Li. Su Li knew everything. ’If Su Li had encountered a problem like this, she definitely wouldn’t have acted like I did!’
Su Li felt a little awkward under the weight of Wu Xia’s worshipful gaze.
"I... I just read about it in books. Books are full of all kinds of knowledge and information."
Wu Xia nodded. "From reading... That’s amazing."
Wu Xia considered herself a bit slow, so she had only finished elementary school and hadn’t even graduated from middle school. In those days, however, it was quite an accomplishment for a girl to even attend middle school.
The fact that she was literate put her leagues ahead of many other girls.
She rarely read before, but this time, desperate for an answer to her problem, she had read quite a few books. And while she hadn’t found the specific answer she was looking for, she had learned other things.
’Books really are wonderful things.’
"You can read more in the future, too," Su Li said, then looked at Wu Xia seriously. "Wu Xia, the question now is, what do you plan to do?"
The problem was clear. The next step was figuring out how to solve it.
"I..." Wu Xia was at a loss for words. "If it were you, Su Li, what would you do?"
Su Li looked at Wu Xia intently. "If it were me... I would get a divorce."