WBSGVS Chapter 81 V2

After I recover and leave the hospital, we’ll get a divorce. I won’t ask for much of the savings—just a hundred yuan is enough.”

After this difficult time, that hundred yuan would be enough for her to get back on her feet.

Without a man, she would at least need money.

Xiàng Lìfēng panicked, feeling great pain in his heart. He tried to comfort her, “Don’t say that! Divorce is a big deal…”

“This is my well-thought-out decision!” Song Dongyun interrupted him. She no longer had any hope for the marriage. Stepping back and looking at things from a distance, she realized how foolish she had been. Even though her parents had pressured her, so what?

This wasn’t the past!

She could find many ways to free herself; why did she have to marry a man with children?

It was just love-induced brainlessness, ignoring everything else.

She laughed bitterly and said, “I like you, but I can’t accept your children. They’ve been raised this way. I don’t know who’s to blame, but you’re partly responsible. You’ve indirectly caused me harm! Xiàng Lìfēng, you know I never agreed with hitting children, but now I suddenly agree with Dù Qīnglí’s point. They should be beaten, hard. If I had acted sooner, they wouldn’t have dared to do such a thing!”

After hearing this, Xiàng Lìfēng’s back slumped, and he covered his face with his hands, feeling both shame and guilt as he met her eyes.

He had been wrong!

His momentary leniency and indulgence had led to these two children being raised this way.

The choice between them had already been determined long ago.

Xiàng Lìfēng didn’t dare to answer immediately. He found an excuse to leave in a hurry and went back to the village. Dàbǎo and Èrbǎo were still at school, so he first went to his room. When he arrived, he saw that Zhāng Cuì had cleaned up everything, and at first glance, nothing seemed out of place.

But when he knelt and sniffed the ground, he could still smell a faint trace of cooking oil.

It was very light. After some time, the smell would probably disappear entirely.

But right now, he could still smell it.

There were only five people in the house, and Song Dongyun wouldn’t falsely accuse the children. The only ones who could be suspects were the three children.

He gritted his teeth, feeling a cold shiver run through him as the thought grew more solid.

Were these his children?

How terrifying!

Xiàng Lìfēng took a deep breath, not even having the heart to clean up. He sat down in the main room, waiting until the three children returned, one by one, in the afternoon.

When Dàbǎo saw him, she grinned widely, clearly happy, “Dad!”

Xiàng Lìfēng stared at her. Her smile was so bright as if she didn’t realize the terrible things she had done. He looked at Èrbǎo next, who also smiled but more reservedly.

Both children walked quickly toward him.

When they got closer, they seemed to sense something was wrong, slowing down and looking at him in surprise.

Xiàng Lìfēng waved his hand, “Come here.”

Dàbǎo and Èrbǎo exchanged nervous glances, their earlier joy fading. The things they had done came to the forefront of their minds, and they were now filled with unease.

Could they have been found out?

They had made sure to do it while everyone else was still asleep early in the morning!

The two children weren’t sure when their father left that day, but since only their stepmother had been the one to get hurt, no one else would know!

With this thought in mind, the two kids felt more settled and took a few more steps forward.

Xiàng Lìfēng didn’t act immediately. Instead, he pointed to the threshold of the door and said coldly, “You two spilled oil here to make her fall, didn’t you?”

Dàbǎo and Èrbǎo’s expressions changed slightly, and they quickly denied it, saying in unison, “No!”

They both sounded certain.

If Xiàng Lìfēng hadn’t been watching their expressions so closely, he wouldn’t have been able to confirm it!

The moment he realized the truth, his anger reached its peak and exploded in his mind. It was these two kids!

He hadn’t believed what Sòng Dōngyún had said about them being lunatics, but now, he had no choice but to believe it!

Fury rising, Xiàng Lìfēng suddenly stood up, slammed the door shut with one hand, and grabbed a feather duster, pulling one of the children over. With a few hard slaps, he struck the child’s backside.

The blows were much harder than before. This time, his anger was immense, and he vented all of it onto the two kids.

The room instantly filled with the heart-wrenching screams of the children.

Dàbǎo, feeling the intense pain in her backside, flopped around like a fish on the verge of death, panic and fear taking over her.

The father, who had acted so silently, now seemed like the devil from the stepmother’s fairy tales. She was terrified, no longer stubborn, and kept begging, “Dad, I was wrong! Please stop hitting me… Ah—! It hurts… Waaaa…”

It was too frightening!

This time, she was really afraid!

Èrbǎo was no different, too scared to resist, crying and begging, “Waaaa… Dad! Don’t hit me, I was wrong, I won’t do it again… It hurts… Waaaa…”

But what good was apologizing now?

Things had already gone this far!

Xiàng Lìfēng’s fury grew, and he gritted his teeth, continuing to hit them. After several more blows, blood started to appear on their backsides, and the two children were too exhausted to resist, sobbing and letting him continue.

But as he kept hitting, Xiàng Lìfēng snapped back to reality and looked at the two children lying on the floor. Their clothes were torn where they had been struck, and there were blood streaks. He could smell the iron tang of blood in the air. The feather duster in his hand was covered in blood. A cold sweat broke out across his body, and he dropped the duster, picking up each child and laying them on the bed.

When he touched Dàbǎo, she instinctively shuddered, and from that moment on, her gaze toward Xiàng Lìfēng was no longer filled with affection but only deep fear.

Xiàng Lìfēng’s father heard the commotion and rushed over. Seeing the children’s condition, he almost collapsed. Enraged, he slapped Xiàng Lìfēng on the back and shouted, “Have you lost your mind?!”

Xiàng Lìfēng’s face twitched, still filled with rage. He gritted his teeth and replied, “I wish I were crazy! It’s them who are crazy! How could they be so malicious at such a young age? If I didn’t hurt them, they’d never realize their mistake!”

His father froze for a moment, looking guilty. He stopped scolding his son. He already knew from his wife that the kids had done wrong.

He picked up Dàbǎo to take her to the barefoot doctor for some medicine.

As soon as he picked her up, Dàbǎo hoarsely cried, “Grandpa! Grandpa! I’m scared! I don’t want Dad anymore! Waaaa…”

The children’s screams grew softer, but the earlier shrill cries had been so loud that half the village could hear them.

The villagers shook their heads with strange expressions. “Looks like it was those two kids who did it. What a mess…”

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Sòng Dōngyún was heartbroken, crying uncontrollably after he left.

She had said she wanted a divorce because that’s what reason told her to do, but emotionally, she was devastated. If it weren’t for those three kids, Xiàng Lìfēng would have been such a great husband!

She liked this man—he was steady yet gentle, strong enough to protect her, worked hard to earn money, and shared all of it with her, always saving the best food for her.

But those three kids had ruined everything.

The other patients in the room had been eavesdropping on the gossip for a while. At first, they wanted to chat with her, but when they saw how badly she was crying, they couldn’t bring themselves to discuss it further.

One auntie, trying to comfort her, said, “Oh, you silly girl, you’re young and it’s probably your first marriage. How could you marry a man with kids? You’re so beautiful, there are plenty of men who would marry you.”

“Yeah, next time, keep your eyes open. At least now the policy is good. You can divorce, but in our day, women were beaten to death and no one cared, let alone allowed divorce…”

Sòng Dōngyún listened to these words through her tears, feeling a little comforted.

Yes, she hadn’t done anything wrong.

The problem was with those three kids!

It was at this moment that Qīng Lí entered.

When she saw her, Sòng Dōngyún was momentarily confused, and her sadness was put aside for the time being.

Qīng Lí noticed that Sòng Dōngyún seemed a little better than she had expected, so she smiled and placed the fruit she bought beside her bed, asking, “Are you feeling better now?”

Sòng Dōngyún pressed her lips together, nodded, and explained, “I’m not pregnant, and I didn’t lose the baby. It’s just a fractured coccyx, but it’s not serious. After some rest, I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

Many people who had visited her in the past few days thought she had lost the baby, so she had gotten used to explaining it this way.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Qīng Lí said, relieved. Though a fractured coccyx was serious, it wasn’t as bad as a miscarriage. She was a bit impressed too.

As the main character, Sòng Dōngyún seemed to be different—things worked out better for her.

When the original owner’s kids were that old and her belly was so big, she was still tricked by these three little demons into a miscarriage. After that, she aged decades in a single blow.

But in this case, the situation was different.

That was a good thing.

Sòng Dōngyún felt a warmth in her heart. Though she and Qīng Lí had only met a few times with little interaction, the fact that Qīng Lí cared about her so much showed that she was truly a good person. Sòng Dōngyún felt ashamed of her attitude towards Qīng Lí when she saw Xiàng Lìfēng being slapped by her. She said earnestly, “Thank you for coming to see me.”

Qīng Lí nodded slightly and spoke softly, “The offer I made earlier still stands. If you need help, you can come to me. I’ll help you with whatever I can.”

She wasn’t sure what had exactly happened. Though people suspected it was the stepchildren causing trouble, no one had confirmed it. The situation was different since the miscarriage hadn’t occurred, so she didn’t want to directly mention it, but simply reiterated what she had said before.

Sòng Dōngyún was about to shake her head, thinking she didn’t need any help. Even if she couldn’t get a divorce, she didn’t think Xiàng Lìfēng would treat her badly. Though she was afraid of the children he had, she still trusted his character.

But just as she was about to decline, something suddenly occurred to her, and she hesitantly asked, “Could you help me rent a place in the town? I’m planning to divorce, but I don’t want to go back to my parents’ house.”

She couldn’t stay in the hospital much longer; she’d have to go home to recover. But she was too scared of those three children. Living there felt unsafe, and even in the hospital, she kept having nightmares.

Until her injuries healed, she couldn’t get a divorce, but she needed a place to stay.

Divorce?

Qīng Lí’s eyes sparkled, and she immediately nodded, “Sure.”

She had made a promise, and now she would keep it.

Sòng Dōngyún was overjoyed, not expecting Qīng Lí to agree. She felt both surprised and embarrassed, repeatedly thanking her, “Thank you! Thank you so much! I don’t have money right now, but once the divorce is done, I’ll have money, and I’ll pay you back!”

“It’s fine, no rush,” Qīng Lí shook her head and smiled. “I’ll head back now. Once I’ve rented the place, I’ll let you know. I’ll make sure it’s done before you’re discharged.”

“Okay,” Sòng Dōngyún said, grateful once again.

Qīng Lí sat for a while longer, chatting casually with her, all the while observing her expression. After confirming that, as she had said, the coccyx was fractured but there were no other issues, she felt reassured and left.