Natural Disaster: Back to the End of the World

Part 44

When Li Xinpeng and his family left the city right after the rain stopped, they were eager to get to the countryside, hoping to enjoy a hot meal and some warm soup.

He had previously looked down on his daughter for marrying a poor country bumpkin. Even though he had introduced her to better prospects with stable government jobs, she had insisted on marrying a man from a humble background, which led him to cut off ties with her in anger.

Before their mother, Li Qing, passed away, she had tried several times to get Li Xinpeng's forgiveness, hoping that, for the sake of her grandchildren, he would let go of his anger. Unfortunately, Li Xinpeng remained unmoved. During winter, he kept his door shut, refusing to let Li Qing in, leaving her and the children exposed to the cold. Li Qing, heartbroken, took the children and went back home, never returning to her parental home again.

After Li Qing's untimely death, her parents should have been notified, as they were the children's maternal grandparents. Instead, her parents arrived not to mourn but to demand compensation, claiming that Li Qing was their daughter and they were entitled to her share of the accident compensation.

By then, the family had already been worn out by a series of misfortunes. The driver responsible had fled and was later found to be a poor person. Even if they sold all their belongings, it wouldn't cover more than 10,000 yuan, which was nowhere near enough for the compensation.

Young Lei Li had to deal with their so-called grandparents trying to get the meager compensation divided in half. They had been living on rice porridge for a long time, and their grandmother had even gone hungry to ensure the children were fed.

In the end, the village chief couldn't stand it anymore and decided to sue, claiming that the children's support was also Li Xinpeng's responsibility. The village chief's son, Lei Yuanming, a skilled orator, made the opposing side speechless and even forced them to pay money to settle the matter. Li Xinpeng had to leave in disgrace.

Li Xinpeng held a grudge and felt a bit of schadenfreude when he saw the elderly woman and her children struggling. To him, the grandchildren were just someone else's children, and he didn't care whether they were full or hungry.

Not long after, the already struggling family adopted another child. Knowing that the old woman couldn't bear to part with her grandchildren, Li Xinpeng went to fight for custody of the grandchildren, even accusing Yao Xiping of being harsh on her own grandchildren for the new one.

Li Xinpeng demanded either that the new child be sent away, or that money be given, or he would take the three grandchildren away.

Yao Xiping couldn't let him take the children. After all, they might suffer even more under his care or, worse, be sold. No matter what, her three grandsons were her own flesh and blood, and she wouldn't let anyone take them away.

The confrontation was fierce, causing Yao Ziqing to cry so hard she nearly suffocated. The commotion was so intense that a few nearby families even came with shovels to chase them away.

Eventually, Yao Xiping, in a rare display of anger, physically attacked Li Xinpeng, leaving him battered and bloodied. She declared that if a lawsuit was necessary, she would fight to the end!

Li Xinpeng, believing rural women were uneducated and that without men in the family, they would be easy to manipulate, didn't realize that Yao Xiping was far from ignorant. Compared to her, he was the real country bumpkin.

The whole debacle left Lei Li and his brothers with a deep-seated hatred for the shameless old man, and Yao Ziqing was traumatized. That night, she developed a high fever and nearly didn't make it because they couldn't afford a major hospital.