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

The fluorescent lights in the hospital corridor flickered with the sound of Xiao Jun's leather shoes crunching underfoot.

In his arms, Xiaoyu's cheek was pressed against his father's sweat-dampened clothes, and the child's innocent eyes reflected the glaring red words "Laboratory Department".

"And the result?! What was the outcome?"

Panting heavily, Xiao Jun carried his son and crashed into Lu Yang, his arm muscles trembling from excessive tension.

"Negative."

"Both of you, father and son, tested negative."

Lu Yang succinctly handed over the report.

Amidst the rustling sound of paper rubbing against his clothes, Xiao Jun's tall frame swayed, and his Adam's apple bobbed violently.

He suddenly lifted his son high, pressing his forehead against the child's warm belly, like a prisoner kissing a pardon. Finally... finally... he hadn't left his sins to the next generation...

Tears streamed down the man's face.

Qian Youyou's sobs also broke out at this moment. Ever since her brother took Xiaoyu to the hospital, and when she learned that her sister-in-law had cheated on her and not only unfortunately contracted AIDS, but also that there was a high risk of infecting her brother and Xiaoyu as well, she had been holding on, holding on until now...

Upon hearing Lu Yang's words, "Negative, you and your son are both negative," she slumped down, letting out a huge wave of relief, and slid straight down the cold chair back.

"Beware!"

Lu Yang quickly ran over and grabbed her lower back with his arm like an iron hoop to prevent her from sliding down and falling to the ground on her bottom.

The hospital floor is very hard.

Even a normal person would experience tailbone pain for several days after a fall like that, let alone a pregnant woman who is over 30 weeks pregnant.

So she scolded, "How could you be so careless? What if you hurt the baby inside?"

Qian Youyou rested her head on his shoulder, wiping away her tears, and said, "I...I can't control myself. Really, I've never been so worried in my life. My brother, and Xiaoyu, are they really alright?"

Lu Yang gently patted her back and said, "How could a hospital lab report be fake?!"

talking.

He shook his head and looked at Xiao Jun, who had already calmed down and was holding his son.

Xiao Jun met his gaze, and his heart skipped a beat. "Is there anything else?"

Lu Yang sighed and said, "Two things. Are you sure you and your sister-in-law haven't had sexual intercourse in the past month? If you have, then you'll need to get the PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) injection. This negative test result isn't valid. As far as I know, the high-risk period for HIV is about four weeks, roughly four weeks after the last time you two had sex. You need to come to the hospital for another blood test. The second thing is, I saw your mother-in-law when I was getting the test results at the blood testing window..."

Xiao Jun's expression froze. After thinking carefully for a moment, he let out a long sigh.

He hasn't had sex with his wife for more than four weeks, it would be more than four weeks. If it weren't for this, he would often be away from home, and his wife wouldn't have had the opportunity to cheat on him with her personal trainer and even bring him home for sex...

He caught me red-handed.

However, it was precisely because of this reason that he narrowly escaped death.
Xiao Jun forced a laugh and said with a sorrowful expression, "I should be fine, but my mother-in-law, her own daughter is so seriously ill, and she didn't even go to see her daughter first. She only helped take care of Xiaoyu for a few days and had a few meals with Xiaowan. What is she worried about?"

He spoke with a face full of indignation!
While it's great to be safe and sound that both my son and I have escaped danger, the thought of being cuckolded, my wife's illness, and my father-in-law's ruthless family still weighs heavily on my mind.

He simply couldn't bring himself to laugh.

Lu Yang nodded: "That's good."

As he spoke, he gently patted Qian Youyou's back in his arms: "Alright, now you should understand, right? Your brother and your nephew Xiaoyu are both safe."

Qian Youyou stopped crying and started laughing, raising her head slightly embarrassed.

She nudged Lu Yang, then stood up, clutching her stomach.

He turned his head, his face stern, and said to his brother, "Since you're alright, then learn from this lesson and behave yourself in the future. As for you and your sister-in-law, you can handle your own affairs. Xiaoyu is still so young, just don't hurt him... I'm leaving."

Then, she turned to Lu Yang with an air of aloofness and said, "Take me back."

Lu Yang knew she was angry with her brother and sister-in-law, so he quickly got up obediently, "Okay, okay, I'll take you home now."

As she spoke, she winked at Xiao Jun, and as she passed the father and son, she whispered, "I received word that the Zhao family is in big trouble. They have serious tax issues; all their accounts and ledgers have been confiscated. Your father-in-law, and your two brothers-in-law, weren't home before; they were probably at the company dealing with this. But I believe they can't solve it. However… if they know you're in the hospital, they might come begging you later. You'll have to figure it out yourself…"

Xiao Jun smiled coldly, holding his son with icy eyes, and said, "That's perfect, I'll wait for them at the hospital and settle all the old and new scores with them."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yang sized him up.

nodded.

Just as I was about to leave, I saw the child in his arms who was less than a year old and had to stay in the hospital, an environment full of disinfectant. He might have to witness his mother lying in a hospital bed while his father, grandparents, and uncles were fighting.

So she thought for a moment and teased the child in his arms, "Xiaoyu, are you afraid of strangers? How about you stay at your uncle's house for a few days?"

Then, he turned to Xiao Jun and said, "Why don't you hand Xiao Yu over to me? I'll take him back and help you raise him for a few days."

Xiao Jun instinctively wanted to refuse, but after thinking it over carefully, he nodded.

He also didn't want the child to see later that his father had fallen out with his maternal grandparents.

She handed the child to Lu Yang and said, "Thank you for your help."

Lu Yang took the child.

Seeing that the child neither cried nor made a fuss, and was quite well-behaved, she nodded and turned to chase after Qian Youyou, who was walking slowly with her big belly.

Qian Youyou cradled her noticeably protruding belly in both hands. Although she was walking forward, she was fully aware of what was happening behind her.

I heard it clearly.

A warm current seemed to flow through her heart, making her feel warm all over. However…

After the two of them went downstairs and got into the car, Qian Youyou took her little nephew from Lu Yang's arms and said firmly, "He's my own nephew, I can take good care of him myself. You can take me and Xiaoyu to my house later, no need to trouble you."

Lu Yang was about to say, "It's no trouble at all," when he was met with Qian Youyou's determined gaze.

It stalled on the spot.

He swallowed his words.

He said with an awkward and wry smile, "Fine, whatever you say. But you'll need to hire an extra nanny starting today. I reckon your brother won't have the energy to take the child back and raise him himself for a while. He's currently running between the hospital and the company, and he also has to deal with the Zhao family causing trouble..."

Holding the child in her arms, Qian Youyou nodded first, then looked at Lu Yang with a half-smile and said, "I will hire a nanny, but you said the Zhao family will still come to cause trouble for my brother. Do they still have the guts? You've already made them suffer. I think it's more likely that they'll turn around and try to please my brother and repair their relationship with him and my sister-in-law."

It turns out she heard everything.

Lu Yang thought to himself.

But he refused to admit that he had the power to control the life and death of the Zhao family. "I don't have that kind of power. It was the Zhao family that evaded taxes and got caught. Paying taxes legally is the duty of every citizen and every company. Now it's their own fault for not setting up proper safeguards. I won't take the blame."

Seeing how flustered he was, Qian Youyou didn't press him further. "Alright, alright, there are no outsiders here. Let's not talk about this anymore. The Zhao family deserved what they got. Even if they wanted to ask my brother for help, he definitely wouldn't listen to them, and they wouldn't be able to find you anyway. Don't worry. Let's talk about my sister-in-law first. Do you think she can get better? Well, it's not a question of whether she can get better, it's a question of how many more years she can live?"

AIDS is a disease that people fear, and most people don't really know much about it. They only know that the disease is terrifying and that once you get it, it basically means your life is over.

But how exactly does it work?
Is it a sudden illness and death, or is it just something that sounds scary but is actually nothing to worry about? It's not as scary as people imagine, and it won't affect your quality of life in the future. As long as you take your medicine on time, you have a very high chance of living to the day when you naturally grow old.
Lu Yang didn't know how to answer, but after thinking about it carefully, he could understand what the girl in front of him was worried about.

Families with HIV/AIDS patients, especially the healthy members, do indeed have to endure fear and anxiety, and this is not a one- or two-day affair, but a long-term one.

It's perfectly normal for a younger sister to care about her older brother.

Moreover, this little guy will grow up and live in a family with an HIV-positive person, with a mother who has HIV, and will also face some degree of discrimination from society.

It's normal for an aunt to feel sorry for her nephew.

Lu Yang thought for a moment, then said, "AIDS is a disease that destroys the human immune system. It may not be fatal itself, but its complications can be very deadly. You have to be very careful in your daily life. You can't catch a cold, you can't have a fever, and you can't have any wounds on your body, because wounds are very easy to get infected. If you get other diseases, you may be taken away by the virus if you are not careful."

As for your sister-in-law's situation, no one can predict what will happen in the future. Just looking at the current situation, she only swallowed a few mouthfuls of water after falling into the river, resulting in some lung inflammation. For an ordinary person, that would be a minor issue; a few IV drips would be enough for her to recover at home. However, if she has also contracted HIV, then she must be hospitalized for observation and receive very careful treatment. Do you understand what I'm saying?

Considering that it was only the 90s in China, and the internet was far less developed than it is now, with almost every netizen able to act as a barefoot doctor, there were very few cases of AIDS in China, and very few people had heard of it. Many people treated it as a sexually transmitted disease like gonorrhea or syphilis. They were aware that having this disease would frighten those around them and make them ashamed to face others, but they did not realize the lethality of this disease.

Lu Yang deliberately spoke so bluntly.

Qian Youyou seemed to understand a little, and said excitedly, "So you mean that if my sister-in-law's pneumonia from choking on water can't be cured quickly, it could endanger her life?"

Lu Yang sighed softly.

nodded.

For a moment, the air inside the car seemed to freeze. The two of them were speechless, not knowing what to say. Qian Youyou turned her face to the side and looked out the window.

Immediately afterward, Lu Yang could also hear a faint sigh coming from the wind, which seemed to be masked by the sound of the car engine.

Three days have passed.

On this Sunday, Lu Yang was playing with his beloved daughter, who didn't have to go to school, building blocks.

Xiao Jun called, inviting him to go fishing at sea.

Lu Yang frowned: "Your sister-in-law is in the hospital, and I heard her condition has worsened. And you, on the other hand, have the leisure to go fishing?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Xiao Jun's hoarse laugh: "Going to get some fresh air, and... taking care of some personal business. Are you coming?"

Lu Yang's heart moved.

This kid must have something on his mind, something personal. What kind of personal business could he be dealing with that requires him to go out to sea?

On the phone, he neither agreed nor disagreed, but instead changed the subject, saying, "I heard that your father-in-law and two younger brothers-in-law have come to you to plead for leniency, asking you to let them off the hook. What do you think?"

Xiao Jun was silent for a long time on the phone, then said, "I ignored them, but..."

Lu Yang wasn't in a hurry.

Let him finish speaking.

"When they realized they couldn't persuade me, they went to Xiaowan and asked their sick, hospitalized daughter to plead on their behalf. Xiaowan initially didn't want to agree, after all, they had hurt her so deeply, but they actually knelt down and begged her. I saw with my own eyes that Xiaowan's face turned as white as a sheet of paper from anger, and she even stopped breathing. Later..."

"When Xiao Wan woke up, she told me that she couldn't leave without repaying the kindness of being born and raised. She couldn't live a life of integrity, but when she left, she wanted to leave with a clear conscience. She didn't like owing them anything..."

"I agreed to her request."

On the phone, Xiao Jun's voice was suppressed and heavy, but perhaps afraid that Lu Yang would laugh at him, he quickly followed up by explaining, "But I didn't say I would help them to the end. At most, I can only promise not to push them along behind the scenes, or to give them a push while they're down. It's a fact that the Zhao family evaded taxes; it's already been discovered by the tax authorities. How much tax they owe and how much they should be fined will all be handled according to the law..."

Hearing this, Lu Yang knew that he had gotten past the Zhao family; the young man on the other side had ultimately failed to make up his mind to be ruthless.

It's been dragging on for so long.

Just then, Xiao Jiu slipped into the living room, leaned close to Lu Yang, and whispered, "Brother Jun's men kidnapped that kid from the West City Gym and stuffed him into the yacht's refrigerated cabin..."

Lu Yang's eyes suddenly turned cold.

really!

The fitness coach who caused Zhao Xiaowan to get sick has been arrested.

Then he took a breath of cold air.

That idiot on the other side, why choose this moment to set sail... Holy crap... his motives are definitely not pure. (End of Chapter)