You're my wife, don't doubt it!

"How long have you known each other?" the uncle asked again, changing his questioning style.

"More than a month, I think," Xiao Yao recalled.

"Wow, that's fast," the uncle commented. "Are all young girls these days so open and casual?"

"Please don't comment on her so casually," Xiao Yao protested.

"Tch," Uncle's gaze drifted to the family planning vending machine on the wall: "Did you take any precautions?"

"I didn't do it." Xiao Yao shook his head.

"What?" Uncle's eyes widened. "You little rascal, watch out, don't cause any trouble..."

"I mean, it wasn't done, not that safety measures weren't taken."

“How could that be?” the uncle scoffed. “They’re all trapped together…”

"Why would I lie to you?" Xiao Yao said impatiently.

Why would you lie to me? Are you afraid I'll tell your mom?

"Go ahead and tell her, she doesn't care about me at all." Xiao Yao's eyes dimmed again when he mentioned his mother.

"Ooh~~~" Uncle yawned and stretched: "I can't be bothered with your nonsense. I'm leaving now. I have to drive during the day. You can figure it out yourself. Remember to return my medical insurance card to me tomorrow."

"Uncle," Xiao Yao said sincerely, "thank you for today."

"Tch." The uncle waved his hand, turned and walked away, but stopped after a few steps: "Let me say a few more words."

“Go ahead and speak,” Xiao Yao said.

“It’s fine to just play around with this kind of girl. No matter how pretty she is, don’t take her seriously,” the uncle pondered for a moment. “The right thing to do is to study hard and improve your grades.”

"No!" Xiao Yao retorted angrily, "She's not what you think—"

"Alright, alright, who cares about your business? Take it or leave it." The uncle impatiently tossed out these words and walked away without looking back.

In addition to worrying about Shen Jie's condition, Xiao Yao now felt a new kind of annoyance.

Indeed, he wanted to live with Shen Jie, to be with her 24/7, and to do things with her that... things that would be subject to censorship if written down.

However, if this leads to Shen Jie being looked down upon by others, then it becomes an unacceptable thing.

Xiao Yao suddenly remembered that Yu Luying also had a prejudice against Shen Jie—even just yesterday, she still subconsciously thought that Shen Jie was an improper woman.

Thinking about this, Xiao Yao couldn't help but put his hands on his hips and get angry.

The door to the CT scan room opened, and Shen Jie, holding the report in her hand, walked out, leaning against the wall: "Gouzi..."

Xiao Yao helped Shen Jie back to find the emergency room doctor.

"Oh dear, you have lung inflammation," the middle-aged doctor pushed up his glasses. "But it doesn't seem too serious. It's best to be hospitalized for observation—well, it doesn't necessarily have to be hospitalized, or you can go home and rest after getting a couple of IV drips."

"Pneumonia?" Xiao Yao and Shen Jie were both taken aback.

"No, we need to be hospitalized." Before Shen Jie could speak, Xiao Yao made the decision.

Putting aside the seriousness of the word "pneumonia" in Xiao Yao's mind—he had final exams during the day, and Shen Tianyun should also be at school, how could he feel at ease leaving Shen Jie alone at home?

We can't keep bothering my uncle to take care of things, he also needs to drive a taxi to make a living.

As for skipping the final exam to be with Shen Jie? No matter what, Xiao Yao is still a student, and he never even considered such a thought.

"Alright, let's observe her in the emergency ward for a day first. Go and complete the formalities..."

……

After a period of time that was neither too long nor too short.

Shen Jie leaned weakly against the hospital bed. The nurse lifted her slender hand, applied alcohol, patted it for a while, and then inserted the needle into her vein.

Xiao Yao watched from the side, hissed with heartache, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He had just completed all the formalities and was holding a stack of printed invoices in his hand.

The nurse applied tape to the back of Shen Jie's hand, untied the bandage binding Shen Jie's wrist, and left with the plastic board in her arms.

"Doggy, thank you for your hard work." Shen Jie forced a smile at Xiao Yao: "Remember to bring me a few clothes during the day."

"Aren't there hospital gowns?"

“Inside…inside.” Shen Jie blushed.

Xiao Yao sat on the edge of the bed and held Shen Jie's hand that wasn't being used for the injection: "It's all my fault. I should have brought you to the hospital last night, and you would have been fine."

His guilt and remorse are genuine.

From a young age, his parents instilled in him the idea that minor injuries should not keep him from fighting, and that minor colds should be endured without going to the hospital, in order to strengthen his own immunity.

Hospitals are expensive places, so it's best to avoid them if you can.

That's why Xiao Yao didn't take Shen Jie to the hospital immediately.

If only I had known she had pneumonia earlier… Xiao Yao regretfully pounded his head.

If I had known earlier...

"Oh, it's nothing..." Actually, Shen Jie was also a little resentful about it, but she didn't show it. She just gently comforted him: "Don't be too nervous. Didn't the doctor say that the inflammation is very mild?"

Xiao Yao suddenly realized that hitting his head in the middle of the night was wrong.

Just as Xiao Yao was thinking this, his phone rang. Before he could turn it off, Shen Jie had already spotted Yu Luying's name: "Answer it, it's okay."

Xiao Yao wanted to go out into the corridor to answer, but then felt that would make him seem even more guilty, so he braced himself and answered in front of Shen Jie: "Hello?"

"Aren't you going too far?" Yu Luying's voice sounded hollow, as if she were outside her own door: "What time is it? Why aren't you asleep yet? You've kept me up all night. You don't have exams during the day, but I do!"

The girl's voice trembled slightly with anger.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Xiao Yao glanced at Shen Jie, but she didn't look at him.

"Are you still banging your head there? Come on, bang it. You like banging your head, don't you?"

Despite the sharp pain shooting through his forehead, Xiao Yao managed to squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth: "No...no! Shen Jie is sick! I'm at the hospital!"

Yu Luying paused for a moment, then said nothing more, "Take care," and hung up the phone.

Xiao Yao put down the phone and looked at Shen Jie, wondering how he should explain things to her.

Unexpectedly, Shen Jie closed her eyes and didn't ask him anything: "You should get some sleep. You have an exam during the day."

Xiao Yao looked around wearily. It was a large ward with six beds, but the rest of the beds were already full.

In front of everyone, it wouldn't be appropriate to climb onto Shen Jie's hospital bed and squeeze in with her, would it?

Xiao Yao held Shen Jie's hand, leaned over the hospital bed, and used his skillful ability to fall asleep in class to drift off to sleep.

……

Just as dawn broke, Shen Jie woke him up and urged him to go take the exam.

As a seasoned underachiever, Xiao Yao was used to the attitude that it was okay to fail but not to skip the exam. Seeing that the girl seemed to be in much better spirits and complexion after receiving the IV drip, he figured that he should be fine since he had only been away for about 8 hours.

After entrusting the nurse with his care, Xiao Yao took a taxi home, changed into his school uniform, grabbed a few pieces of Shen Jie's casual clothes, and then, following Shen Jie's instructions over the phone, opened a drawer and took out a few sets of underwear.

He thoughtfully chose light-colored clothing and tried to match the top and bottom together.

Is this item washed or not?

It smells milky and soapy; hmm, it's clean.

After stuffing all these things into his 990-yuan leather backpack, Xiao Yao ran to school.

Daiyu brought over the repaired bicycle for Xiao Yao to ride over, and Xiao Yao thanked him.

“I asked for you, and Brother Long and his wife both said they can come for your birthday,” Daiyu said.

"Okay, okay," Xiao Yao replied, but he had no intention of celebrating his birthday at all.

Today's exams are history, chemistry, and English—oh well, whatever, Xiao Yao just wants to get through them as quickly as possible.

After finishing his exam at noon, Xiao Yao took out his phone to call Shen Jie. Perhaps because she hadn't slept well the night before, her voice sounded a little weak. Xiao Yao intended to rush over to see her, but after calculating the travel time, he realized that even if he didn't eat and rushed back and forth, he could only stay at the hospital for a maximum of five minutes. He could only tell Shen Jie to eat well and rest well, and that he would come over as soon as he finished his exam in the afternoon.

Ugh... only 16% battery left, so annoying.

In the cafeteria, he saw a group of girls chatting and gathered around a table. Yu Luying was among them, but she was clearly not in good spirits and kept yawning, so he went over to explain the situation.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the girl at the center of the group was Ouyang Qianqian. Although she was wearing a school uniform, she was also wearing a hooded shawl over it and was fiddling with a long, narrow deck of cards.

"What are you doing?" he asked Yu Luying.

"Tarot cards, wanna play?" Ouyang Qianqian chimed in.

Xiao Yao waved his hand gently: "I didn't even know you could tell fortunes."

“There are many things you don’t know,” Ouyang Qianqian said with a smile.

Yu Luying shook her head: "Superstition, witchcraft, and divination—please don't let these things into the campus, okay?"

"Just having fun, relax a bit." Ouyang Qianqian teased nonchalantly, "I heard from a senior that divination might not work if there are Christians present, Yu Luying, why don't you leave for a bit?"

"Alright, alright, excuse me. Yu Luying, come with me for a moment." Xiao Yao smoothed things over and planned to call Yu Luying away.

Yu Luying gave a cold laugh and turned to leave.

"Hey—" Xiao Yao wanted to chase after her, but her path was blocked by several girls: "Excuse me, excuse me..."

“Yu Luying won’t draw any more cards, so I’ll draw one for her first.” Ouyang Qianqian swept the pile of cards on the table and arranged them in a fan shape.