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

Everything that followed fell into place.

With Wu Sheng and Wu Qihua’s help, Wu Xia’s situation was resolved in the Imperial City through their lawyers.

The marriage was annulled.

Previously, when Wu Xia had wanted a divorce, the Zou mother and son had refused. Hearing the words ”marriage annulment,” they were suddenly willing to grant a divorce. But by then, Wu Xia no longer wanted a divorce.

Before Wu Xia encountered this situation and Su Li brought it up, even Wu Sheng and Wu Qihua had barely heard of the term intersex, let alone anyone else.

It was a special case. Suing for an annulment was also a special case. A situation like this would have to be reported up the chain even by the local courts, so in the end, it was handled directly in the Imperial City.

Wu Xia had married someone whose legal documents listed him as male, but who in reality was not fully a man. Demanding an annulment on these grounds was perfectly justifiable.

Needless to say, the case caused quite a stir. In any case, after a month, Wu Xia’s matter was finally resolved perfectly.

Her marriage was declared null and void.

This meant that she, having remained a virgin, would not have to bear the stigma of being a divorcée.

Her status was once again that of a perfectly single, unmarried woman.

The Zou mother and son were practically sick with frustration, but they had no choice but to agree on the condition that the Wu Family would not publicize the details, only stating that the two had amicably decided not to be together.

The Wu Family, after all, had a conscience. They believed in leaving others a way out and not backing them completely into a corner.

And so, the matter was concluded. The official story they told back home was that Wu Xia and Zou Liping had never registered their marriage, and the two of them simply weren’t compatible, so they went their separate ways.

After going through something like this, on top of everything that had happened before, it was truly no longer suitable for Wu Xia to stay in her hometown.

She made one trip back, told Grandma Wu what had happened, packed her things, and returned to the Imperial City.

Not wanting to stay in her hometown and be the subject of gossip, Wu Xia’s final choice was to seek refuge with her aunt and cousin.

After all she had been through, Wu Xia’s heart was riddled with wounds, but with great hardship came great growth.

Influenced by Wu Qihua and Su Li, Wu Xia decided to become strong and independent, a decision the entire Wu Family wholeheartedly supported.

Wu Xia wanted to find something to do, but couldn’t find a suitable job right away. In the end, Su Li offered her a position helping out at the Love Reading Bookstore.

Love Reading had already opened its second branch, and they were short-staffed and very busy. Wu Xia’s character was beyond question, so it was the perfect place for her to work.

Wu Xia had fallen in love with reading recently, so she was delighted by Su Li’s offer. Seeing how much Su Li was helping her, she worked with great diligence and dedication after starting the job, throwing herself into her responsibilities.

Su Li was happy to see it. It was a win-win situation.

That Wu Xia would later grow, learn to stand on her own, become the store manager through her own abilities, and eventually move out of the Wu Family home to live independently—that is all a story for another time.

For now, Wu Xia had just started working at the bookstore. After settling her cousin’s affairs, Su Li was filled with emotion, but she soon returned to the project she had been working on before.

After being busy for over a month, nearly two, the weather grew colder. In November, after the first snow fell in the Imperial City, Su Li had finished compiling the data for her investigation into domestic violence and had completed the first draft of her article.

”Su Li, you’ve been so busy. Were you chasing some big story?”

After her two afternoon classes ended, Su Li lingered in the classroom to proofread her first draft. A classmate, who was also interning at the same newspaper, approached her curiously.

”Yeah, I was chasing something, but it’s not exactly a news story,” Su Li replied, then asked, ”What about you?”

The classmate sighed, his tone a mixture of slight pride and slight dejection. ”I’ve been following the senior reporters around a lot, but I’m still just running errands. None of the articles I’ve written have been picked up by the paper. The only thing that got published was something I wrote for our own school newspaper.”

They were all classmates, all of them excellent students. Given Su Li’s eye-catching performance in everything she did, everyone had been watching her, expecting her to be the first to achieve something brilliant.

But as it turned out, in her two months of interning, Su Li had either occasionally followed a senior reporter or just run around on her own. She had been busy, yet there were no visible results—not even a byline in the school paper.

The classmate was dying of curiosity. ”Su Li, how come you haven’t even submitted anything to the school paper lately?”

”I’ll be submitting something soon,” Su Li said with a smile. They chatted for a few more moments before she bid her classmate farewell.

Su Li stayed in the classroom for another two hours. After proofreading the first draft, she copied it out neatly by hand before finally leaving.

Seeing that it was nearly six o’clock, she knew her professor would be leaving work soon.

Just before six, Su Li found the professor she had spoken with previously.

The professor had previously heard Su Li’s proposal and supported her investigation into domestic violence. More than a month had passed since then, and he had almost forgotten about it when Su Li finally showed up at his door.

The moment he saw Su Li, the professor remembered her project.

”Su Li,” he said. ”It looks like... you’re here to submit your article.”

”Yes.” Su Li nodded and placed the handwritten manuscript on his desk. ”Professor, I’d like you to take a look.”

”Alright. Today happens to be the submission deadline for this semester’s school paper.” The professor sat back down, put on his glasses, and began to read Su Li’s article.

His expression, at first casual, grew more and more serious and grave as time passed.

Su Li stood quietly, waiting for his opinion.

After five minutes, the professor suddenly looked up at Su Li, his gaze complicated. ”Su Li, you...”

Seeing that she was still standing, he quickly pointed to a nearby chair. ”Sit, sit! Why are you just standing there? Pull up a chair and sit down.”

Su Li moved the chair to the front of the desk and sat down, watching the professor quietly.

The professor looked at the manuscript, tapping it repeatedly. ”Are the incidents and the data you’ve cited here all real?”

Su Li nodded. ”Yes, they’re all real. I’ve been doing the legwork, and I still have all the original survey questionnaires.”

Su Li explained, ”I didn’t bring them with me because there’s too much material.”

The professor nodded in understanding. ”I believe you. If all of this is true...”

The professor trailed off. His hand, as was his habit when thinking, began to tap on the desktop. He glanced from the manuscript to Su Li, then at the clock, and abruptly stood up.

”Let’s go.”

Su Li was taken aback for a moment. ”Go?”

The professor was already putting on his coat and scarf. ”Yes, let’s go. To your place. Grab your research materials. I’m taking you to meet someone.”

Su Li stood up. ”Meet someone?”

”Yes.” The professor picked up the manuscript and looked at Su Li. ”This article... you weren’t planning on just submitting it to the school paper, were you?”

Su Li nodded. ”That’s right. If you thought it was okay, I was planning to submit it to the newspaper tomorrow.”

The newspaper where she was interning.

The professor smiled. ”You should definitely submit it. Come on, I’ll take you to submit it in person.”

This time, Su Li was truly stunned. ”Professor...”

”Let’s hurry. News is only news when it’s new. It would be best if this makes it into tomorrow’s paper.”

The professor continued with a smile, ”If you submit it yourself, an article this good has a more than sixty percent chance of being accepted. However, it would be a lot more of a hassle. If I take you, it won’t be so troublesome. I have a little bit of pull.”

The professor led the way out, and Su Li hurried to follow.

That night, Su Li didn’t get home until ten o’clock, a dazed, happy smile still on her face.

When Little Tang Mo saw her, he asked if something good had happened, but Su Li wouldn’t say, only smiling mysteriously. ”I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

A night of peaceful sleep passed in the blink of an eye.

The next day, Su Li was up at the crack of dawn, listening intently for any sound from outside her door.

When she heard a faint noise outside, Su Li quickly opened the door.

A moment later, a surprised shriek from Su Li rang out.