Chapter 53: A Fierce Beating for Sun Gui! Where Will Chun Ya Go From Here?

Hearing Li Junsheng call out, Sun Gui first glanced back. Seeing Li Junsheng smiling for once, showing rare kindness, Sun Gui felt a surge of joy—did this mean Li Junsheng intended to give him money? Eagerly, he trotted over.

“Dad, what is it? Want me to pay Chun Ya’s hospital fees?”

As soon as Sun Gui reached him, Li Junsheng’s expression turned cold. He yanked Sun Gui into the ward, slammed him to the ground, and began to beat him mercilessly.

“You little bastard! How dare you treat my daughter like this!”

“Bringing other women home, making Chun Ya hemorrhage like that!”

Each hard fist landed on Sun Gui with a heavy thud against flesh, and the pain made him grimace, forced to protect his head on sheer instinct.

“Ah! Stop! Please, don’t hit me!”

Sun Gui’s wails set the newborn baby off crying. Li Guohua hurried to comfort the child, only then understanding his father’s intent—having him hold his little niece so he could soothe her at the first sign of distress.

Li Guohua wished he could take part in beating Sun Gui himself, so he stepped forward and delivered two fierce kicks.

“Animal!”

Sun Gui had never expected that Li Junsheng called him over to settle things with fists.

At first begging for mercy, Sun Gui slowly became enraged and humiliated under the blows. He fought back desperately, spitting venom: “You old fool! Your daughter’s not as good as those women outside. So what if I find someone else?”

“I knew she’d give me another worthless girl. She can’t bear me a son. I should have thrown her out ages ago—she’s lucky I haven’t!”

As Sun Gui resisted, Chun Ya, worried her elderly father might get hurt, quickly called out, “Dad, please stop fighting.”

But Sun Gui was frail and wiry, no match at all for Li Junsheng. Pinning him down, Li Junsheng’s fists landed with the dull sound of heavy blows on flesh.

Not wanting to worry his daughter further, Li Junsheng dragged Sun Gui outside and continued the beating until he was exhausted, finally letting Sun Gui go.

By then, Sun Gui’s face was bruised and swollen. He could barely get up from the ground. Now that Li Junsheng knew the real cause of Chun Ya’s hemorrhage, and Sun Gui realized he had no hope of getting his hands on the two hundred yuan, he decided to leave outright, saving himself the trouble of paying Chun Ya’s hospital and emergency bills.

“You old bastard! Since you cherish your daughter so much, why don’t you support her yourself? I’m done with her. Look after her for the rest of your life if you can!”

With these harsh words, Sun Gui ran off—any slower, and he feared Li Junsheng might beat him to death.

Li Junsheng returned to the ward and reassured Chun Ya, “It’s alright now. I gave Sun Gui a good beating. But this isn’t over—once you’re better, we’ll decide together how to deal with him!”

Li Guohua nodded emphatically. “Dad’s right. Right now, nothing matters more than your health and the baby’s.”

Chun Ya, tears in her eyes, nodded. This time, with her father and elder brother standing up for her, she felt a deep, inexpressible gratitude.

No sooner had they sent Sun Gui packing than the fourth child, Li Xiaoyu, and the second daughter-in-law, Ji Xiaocui, hurried in to visit.

Li Xiaoyu looked at her sister with concern. “Sis, how are you feeling now? How did you end up hemorrhaging and delivering early?”

Ji Xiaocui chimed in, “Did you fall by accident? Didn’t Sun Gui and his mother look after you?”

Li Guohua snorted angrily, “That Sun Gui is nothing but a bastard!”

At that moment, the newborn started crying again—not wet or dirty, probably just hungry. Li Guohua handed the baby back to his sister and then left the room with Li Junsheng to give the women privacy.

Closing the door behind them, Li Guohua immediately asked, unable to wait, “Dad, what are we going to do about Chun Ya? Sun Gui never cared for her or the children—if she goes back to that house, she’ll only suffer more!”

Li Junsheng didn’t hesitate. “She can’t go back to Sun Gui’s house. The way I see it, Chun Ya should just divorce him. That family is no place for her.”

He remembered all too well his daughter’s fate in a previous life—the Sun family was nothing less than a den of wolves.

He’d already wanted Chun Ya to divorce Sun Gui when the time was right; he just hadn’t expected Sun Gui to hand him the perfect opportunity so soon.

If not now, then when?

Li Guohua nodded eagerly. He’d thought the same, but worried his father might not agree to the divorce. His sister had truly suffered with Sun Gui; these past two years, she’d become worn and haggard, nothing like the vibrant woman she’d been at home.

“Dad, I support your decision. Since we’re set on divorce, let Chun Ya come to my house for her postpartum confinement!”

“Otherwise, Sun Gui and his mother will never care for her. With three children, Chun Ya will work herself sick.”

Li Guohua’s plan was good: let Chun Ya recover properly and regain her strength. After all, hemorrhage was no small matter.

But Li Junsheng stroked his chin and thought it over. “Staying at your place isn’t ideal. Xiaowei is still little and just recovered from pneumonia. You have work, and Xiaocui would have to look after everyone alone—she can’t handle that much.”

It wouldn’t be just a few days, but a month or more. Even if his second daughter-in-law was good-natured, over time she’d surely grow resentful, and if she quarreled with Li Guohua, it would be a lose-lose. Besides, Chun Ya herself probably didn’t want to trouble her sister-in-law.

Li Guohua sighed. “So what do we do? We can’t send Chun Ya back to her in-laws. If she comes home, I doubt Mom would even want that—she hasn’t even come to check on her after all that’s happened!”

He shook his head, deeply disappointed in his mother, Ma Yulian.

Li Junsheng shrugged indifferently. “Who knows where she’s run off to. But it’s just as well—she’d only scold Chun Ya, and Chun Ya’s already suffered enough. Just today, when Xiaoyu brought her boyfriend home, Ma… your mother belittled him mercilessly.”

“That’s true. By the way, what do you think of Xiaoyu’s boyfriend?”

“He seems honest and ambitious. Most importantly, Xiaoyu likes him. Let them get to know each other for now.”

Li Guohua nodded, surprised at his father’s newfound open-mindedness—and at how he’d started to take charge of the family, treating all the children more fairly. For Li Guohua and his siblings, this was a good sign.

After a moment’s thought, Li Junsheng made up his mind. “Here’s what we’ll do: after Chun Ya is discharged, I’ll bring her and the three girls home with me. I don’t care whether your mother agrees or not—her opinion doesn’t matter. I’ll look after Chun Ya myself and won’t expect her to help.”

“Alright. When Xiaocui has some spare time, I’ll ask her to help out, too. That should be fine.”

Li Guohua said this, but couldn’t help worrying that there’d be a huge row at home. His third sister was more sensitive than the youngest, quieter and more prone to overthinking. If she had to witness their parents fighting, it would surely weigh heavily on her heart.