Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

The hospital corridor was filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant, and the wards were completely silent.

Zhao Xiaowan lay on the hospital bed, her face as pale as paper, her breathing sometimes weak and sometimes rapid.

The doctor had just left. Initial examinations showed she only had a mild lung infection and might have been a little shaken. She was given an IV drip and then went home to rest for a few days.

But Xiao Jun frowned, staring at her bloodless face, a sense of unease rising in his heart.

"Doctor, let's do a full checkup."

His voice was hoarse as he lowered his head and said, "I'm worried."

Seeing that he deliberately avoided her gaze, Zhao Xiaowan weakly shook her head: "No need, I'm fine..."

Before she could finish speaking, a wave of dizziness hit her, her vision went black, and she almost fell off the bed.

Xiao Jun rushed over to help her up.

"Looking at you, you should get a more thorough and comprehensive check-up. Since you're already at the hospital, it won't take much time."

Zhao Xiaowan, panting, finally nodded.

The examination proceeded quickly, but the wait for the results was long and agonizing.

Only the two of them remained in the ward. Xiao Jun sat down on the edge of the bed and gently held Zhao Xiaowan's cold hand.

As dusk settled outside the window, it reflected on his tired face.

"Xiao Wan".

His voice was low but firm, "I've thought it through, we won't get a divorce. Let's not talk about the past anymore... It was my fault, I was so irresponsible, I didn't do a good job as a husband and father. From now on, we'll start over together, I will take responsibility and take good care of you and our child."

Tears welled up in Zhao Xiaowan's eyes, her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something, but only a silent tear fell from her lips.

She held his hand tightly, as if grasping at her last hope.

The day has finally come!
Just then, the ward door was pushed open, and the doctor walked in with a solemn expression.

"Mr. Xiao, the results are in."

He handed over the report, his tone somber, "Ms. Zhao... her test results aren't very optimistic, she..."

"What's up with her?"

"According to the blood test report, Ms. Zhao is HIV positive and has been diagnosed with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. I personally suggest that Mr. Xiao also get a comprehensive check-up as soon as possible..."

Xiao Jun felt as if struck by lightning; his mind went blank, and all his hopes collapsed in an instant.

He released Zhao Xiaowan's hand, staggered backward, and crashed into the wall, his eyes vacant and dejected.

The world seemed to stand still, with only the judgment trembling in his hand.

how come?
How could this be?
Impossible, impossible, I don't believe it!!!
Zhao Xiaowan covered her mouth with her hand, tears streaming down her face. Looking at the man who had retreated to the doorway, leaned against the wall, and then slid to his knees, wailing in pain, her eyes were filled with heartache, fear, and regret!
She didn't know that before.

I've just been feeling a bit off with my body lately. I often feel weak all over, drowsy, and occasionally have inexplicable muscle aches and pains all over my body, as well as a low-grade fever...

The answer has finally been revealed.

It turns out it was an HIV infection, commonly known as AIDS.

Outside the ward, hurried footsteps could be heard at the end of the corridor.

Lu Yang helped the heavily pregnant Qian Youyou arrive. As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw Xiao Jun slumped on the ground, his face full of despair.

Qian Youyou exclaimed in surprise, "Brother!"

Lu Yang's heart sank; he had a bad feeling...

Xiao Jun was awakened by the word "brother" and hurriedly looked behind Lu Yang. Seeing that no one else had followed, he felt inexplicably relieved.

She forced herself to stand up, shook her head, and said, "I'm fine, sister. You're pregnant, so you should go out first. There are a lot of germs in the ward. I need to discuss something with my brother-in-law. If you want to know, wait until he goes out and let him tell you."

Qian Youyou looked away and glanced at Lu Yang's face. She saw Lu Yang shake his head slightly at her. Although she was still worried about what was wrong and why he had to send his own sister away, she didn't say anything more.

With a slightly flushed face, she said to her sister-in-law, who was still crying with her face covered on the hospital bed, "Sister-in-law, don't worry too much, I'll go out first."

She had already learned from Lu Yang that her brother and sister-in-law's divorce was no longer possible.

Furthermore, for no other reason than her little nephew who has just turned one year old, she hopes that the marriage can stay together, or better yet, not end.

Although her sister-in-law was wrong, she knew what kind of person her brother was all along, so this time they were even.

And that brother is so annoying! How can you call someone "brother-in-law" like that? My sister-in-law is still in the hospital room. What if word gets out?
She blushed because of that "brother-in-law".

After Qian Youyou left the ward, she thoughtfully closed the door behind her.

Xiao Jun opened his mouth, about to say something.

Lu Yang had already passed him and walked to the bedside before him, picking up a stack of test reports from the bedside table.

"Put it down quickly..."

Xiao Jun tried to step forward to stop him, but it was too late.

Lu Yang had already seen what he was looking for.

HIV positive!
Damn, I had a feeling there might be a mine, but I never expected it to be such a terrible one. This is a guaranteed death sentence, isn't it?
No wonder this kid acted like his father had died. Lu Yang suspiciously turned his head to look at Xiao Jun, who had run over to stop him and snatched the test results back from his hand, and said, "Did you send it to your sister-in-law?!"

Xiao Jun jumped up and down, cursing loudly: "Get out, get out! I'm perfectly healthy, you're the one with AIDS, your whole family has AIDS."

Lu Yang didn't bother arguing with him. If this kid had AIDS, a dirty disease, he would definitely die. Why should a living person like himself argue with a dead person?

But if... it wasn't this kid who passed it on to his own wife, then it proves that this kid is innocent. Since he's wronged her, being scolded a couple of times is no big deal; it won't hurt him.

only……

Lu Yang thought that this kid was also a cautious person. When they went out to sea before, all the female models were licensed to work and had to have a hospital health certificate within three days before they could board the ship. Moreover, no one in the wealthy circle would dare to cheat. If anyone dared to cheat, they would be thrown overboard to feed the fish in the vast ocean, and they would have nowhere to cry.

Moreover, Lu Yang also knew that this kid and that old man Lao Mou were worried because even with a hospital health certificate, they were afraid that someone might be trying to pass off a fake one. Since the middleman wasn't one of their own, they couldn't be 100% sure. So Lao Mou started his own private club in Pengcheng, and Xiao Jun and a few of his cronies invested in it. Whether they made money or not was another matter; they just wanted to be able to drink a safe milk.

Lu Yang knew this perfectly well, because when the club first opened, the two guys had invited him to invest as well, but Lu Yang refused outright and was ridiculed by the two guys for a long time, who called him a hypocrite.

Looking at it this way, the source of the illness isn't Xiao Jun, could it be?!
Lu Yang picked up the lab report again and looked at the patient's name on it one last time: Zhao Xiaowan, female, 26 years old.

So he turned his suspicious gaze to the woman on the hospital bed, who was sobbing uncontrollably with her hand over her mouth. "Are there really women this unlucky? There must be at least three or four hundred, if not a thousand, of girls her husband has slept with outside the marriage, and she hasn't had a single bad experience, but the wife only had one. She cheated on him with a fitness instructor, and then she got pregnant?"

For a moment, I didn't know whether to express sympathy or something else.

Zhao Xiaowan, who was sobbing while covering her mouth, twisted her body and turned her face away, not daring to look her husband's friend in the eye.

Oh right, my husband just called this Mr. Lu "brother-in-law," but that doesn't make sense. Isn't Mr. Lu already married and has a wife?
If it weren't for Qian Youyou's silent acquiescence, she might have just taken it as a joke, but her husband's younger sister was clearly in this hospital room just now...

For a moment, her mind was a little confused. She couldn't understand it, and she vaguely felt that her younger sister, Youyou, seemed to have gained weight, much more than a few months ago. "Sigh, Youyou hasn't come to visit for the past few months, and even my little nephew hasn't come to see me. If I hadn't been so lonely and wanted to get revenge on him, how could this have happened... Waaah... I regret it so much... Why did this happen?... Why?... Why is God so unfair?... Waaah... Waaah..."

The more she thought about it, the sadder she became, and the more she wanted to cry. Finally, she broke down, grabbed the blanket from the hospital bed, covered her head, hid under the blanket, and started sobbing loudly.

When Lu Yang saw this scene, he looked a little embarrassed, probably thinking that it was because of his arrival that his sister-in-law went from sobbing silently to crying loudly.

He turned to Xiao Jun, who was still standing there in a daze, and said, "What are you still standing there for? Don't listen to the doctor and go get your blood tested. Also, remember, after you get your blood drawn, don't wait here. Take this test result to your father-in-law's house and tell him what happened. Then pick up your son, my nephew, and bring him to the hospital for a blood test too. I think you might be safer than your son. You've been rarely home these past few months, while your son has been taken care of by your wife. He was probably still drinking your sister-in-law's breast milk before, right?"

At this point, there's no need to be embarrassed; the most important thing is to make things clear.

Xiao Jun was taken aback.

He took the test results from Lu Yang and rushed outside.

This time he finally got smart and understood the implication of Lu Yang's words. So he just left his back, shouted, and disappeared, "I'm going back to pick up my son first, and we'll get the blood tested together later."

What's done is done, and there's no use in being anxious now. Even if you regret it to the core, you can't change what has happened. All you can do is try to guide things in a positive direction.

How do we guide them?
For example, they could take the opportunity to borrow his son from the Zhao family. Now that Zhao Xiaowan is HIV positive, it is unknown whether she has infected her son. What if he has also been infected?
Will the elderly couple from the Zhao family be afraid?

Will they immediately hand over their grandson, whom they originally regarded as a bargaining chip, to Xiao Jun as soon as he takes this test report back, just like sending away a plague god, so that he can take him away quickly?
Lu Yang thought it was very likely!
Xiao Jun must have thought it was very likely, otherwise he wouldn't have rushed off so hastily, not even having time to get his blood drawn for testing.

This son is indeed very important to him.

Qian Youyou had only been out for a short while, and after standing in the corridor for a few minutes, she saw her older brother open the ward door and run past her like a gust of wind, without even having time to say hello.

What's going on?
This is……

She looked bewildered and confused into the open hospital room, where she saw her sister-in-law crying and holding that guy's hand, as if pleading for something.

Veins were bulging on Lu Yang's forehead.

It's not about discriminating against people with HIV, but any normal person would feel inexplicably uncomfortable when faced with the pulling and tugging of someone with HIV, as if every cell in their body is rebelling.

Suppressing his resistance, he almost threw the person away. After all, the person in front of him was his brother-in-law's wife, whom he called sister-in-law. Moreover, she had just fallen into the water and was receiving intravenous fluids, so she was at her weakest. What if he accidentally hurt her?
So he patiently said, "Sister-in-law, let go first. I was just using an example. I didn't mean that my nephew would definitely get infected by you. Didn't you send him back to his parents' home a few months ago? He hasn't had any contact with you recently. What are you afraid of?"

Zhao Xiaowan's face paled, and she said guiltily and desperately, "Yes...yes, I recently took him out again and even fed him food I chewed...I...how could I be so stupid, God! Waaah...what sins have I committed...God, why are you punishing me like this..."

She let go of Lu Yang's hand, grabbed her hair with both hands, and sobbed uncontrollably.

Lu Yang took the opportunity to retreat, moving out of the range where the other party could reach him with their arms.

To put it bluntly, if the other person were to scratch a bloody mark on my arm with their fingernails, I would probably be on edge for a long time, afraid to go home, and worried about spreading it to my family and children. It's not worth putting yourself and your loved ones in danger over something like that.

Just then, Qian Youyou, heavily pregnant, tried to enter the ward again.

Without thinking, Lu Yang immediately stopped her loudly: "Wait a minute, don't come in yet. Go out and close the door. I have something to say to my sister-in-law. I'll come out and tell you the reason later."

Not again?!

baffling!

My brother was like this just now, and now this stinky guy is doing it again, trying every means to get me out of the ward and not let me in. Could there really be bacteria in this ward that could pose a fatal threat to the baby in my womb?
What are you doing?

Qian Youyou obediently left the ward and closed the door behind her. But once she reached the hospital corridor, she stomped her foot and pouted so much that she could hang an oil lamp on her lips!

If Lu Yang comes out later and can't give her a satisfactory answer, she might not leave him for a long time.

Inside the ward, after Qian Youyou left and closed the door, Lu Yang looked slightly embarrassed, but remained resolute and solemnly addressed Zhao Xiaowan on the hospital bed:

"Sister-in-law, please forgive me. Youyou is pregnant with my child. For their safety, I can only let her wait outside and not let her in. Please don't misunderstand, it's not that I'm discriminating against you. Otherwise, I wouldn't be standing here."

I am not afraid of death myself, nor will I wear my discrimination on my sleeve, but not my child, and not my child's mother. I cannot ignore the potential threat just to take care of your feelings, even if the danger is just unscientific speculation.

So, sister-in-law, I want to apologize to you here. It was I who let Youyou go out. If you want to blame someone, blame me. (End of Chapter)