Chapter 43 The Mother's Posture

Chapter 42

"Let's not talk about these things anymore. I haven't thanked you yet for coming to the hospital with me. I really owe you a lot this time."

Xia Zhiyu wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, her voice slightly nasal and muffled.

Her intention to change the subject was obvious, and she looked dejected and pitiful.

Jiang Zhiyan's heart was filled with unspoken words, which finally choked into a single sentence.

"You don't need to say thank you to me."

Suddenly, the doctor strode out of the office, his expression unusually serious, and called out:

"Who is Song Yue's family member? Please come over here."

The short sentence was like a bomb exploding in Xia Zhiyu's ears. A sharp, intense ringing sound rang in her ears, and her heart jumped into her throat. Xia Zhiyu suddenly stood up, and due to the excessive force, a layer of bright starlight covered her vision. She felt dizzy and was about to fall backward.

Jiang Zhiyan raised his hand and firmly supported her shoulder, his palm filled with warmth. He said calmly:

"Don't rush, let's hear what the doctor has to say first. I'll go with you."

After saying that, he lowered his voice to comfort her, "I'm here, Yu Yu, don't be afraid."

The moisture blurred Xia Zhiyu's vision. She gripped Jiang Zhiyan's forearm tightly as if she were grasping at the last straw, her fingertips turning white from the force.

The doctor's tone was very serious. "The pre-operative examination results just came back. There was an unexplained shadow in the uterine cavity at the lower end of your mother's cervix, and there was also abnormal bleeding during the operation. We currently suspect it may be a tumor or cervical cancer, but we need to do some specialized gynecological and uterine examinations to determine the specific results. In addition, your mother also has some gallstones, but they are not serious and can be observed further."

"This is the diagnosis; I recommend getting tested as soon as possible."

A thin white document was pushed in front of Xia Zhiyu's eyes. The densely packed diagnostic opinions looked like tiny ants crawling around, twisted and turned in a mess.

Jiang Zhiyan grasped Xia Zhiyu's cold, trembling hand and looked at the doctor calmly, saying:

"Okay, we can do the tests now. Could you please send me a copy of the results?"

As soon as Jiang Zhiyan left the office, he contacted his connections in Beicheng and sent the test results to the top gynecologists in the industry. The doctors gave the same advice: it was impossible to see the results directly from the scans at the moment, and they could only wait for the test results to come out. However, judging from the appearance, it did not seem to be serious.

The other party was an expert in the industry who had performed countless tumor surgeries, which gave Xia Zhiyu a great deal of comfort.

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Zhiyan calmly said to Xia Zhiyu, "Let's go to Beicheng to see a doctor for Auntie. The medical technology there is the most advanced in the country right now, and Auntie will receive the best care."

Xia Zhiyu agreed.

For her, nothing is more important now than her mother's illness.

Some of the examinations could only be done after Ms. Song woke up. Fortunately, the anesthesia wore off quite quickly. When Ms. Song groggily opened her eyes, Xia Zhiyu was sitting by her bedside wiping away tears, her eyelids swollen like a rabbit's.

She immediately glared at her with a fierce expression, her eyes wide, "Who bullied my daughter? Mom will go and deal with him for you."

"You still remember your daughter?" the nurse joked with Xia Zhiyu with a smile. "Look how much your mother loves you. So many people don't even remember anyone when they first wake up from anesthesia."

These words made Xia Zhiyu's eyes redden even more.

"No one is bullying me. Just lie still and don't move around, or you'll hurt your wound."

Ms. Song then remembered that she had fallen on the platform that morning, and sighed repeatedly, "I had wanted to replace the carpet on the steps with the non-slip kind, but I always procrastinated when I got busy. I put it off for a while, and that's how this happened. You really can't be lazy."

Xia Zhiyu held Song Yue's hand, which wasn't pricked by an injection, and said in as calm a tone as possible:

"Mom, you might have to do two more tests later. Don't be afraid, just listen to the nurse."

No one knows a daughter better than her mother. Song Yue immediately sensed the faint fear beneath Xia Zhiyu's forced composure. She paused for a moment.

"What kind of checkup? Mom had a physical exam last year, and everything was fine then. Okay, okay, don't look so sad. Don't be afraid, my sweetie, Mom is fine."

As soon as she finished speaking, Ms. Song watched as Xia Zhiyu's tears suddenly fell in a string like pearls from a broken string.

Xiao Jiang, the son-in-law she had chosen, put his arm around her daughter's shoulder with heartache.

Xia Zhiyu told Ms. Song the test results and the doctor's advice in detail. If it really was a malignant tumor like cervical cancer, there was no point in hiding it from Song Yue. Rather than letting her mother worry and speculate because of her serious condition, it was better for the whole family to work together to fight the disease.

Ms. Song has always been optimistic. Even after learning that she might have cervical cancer, she still gently comforted her daughter before entering the examination room, saying:

"That's possible, but it's also possible that it isn't. Don't scare yourself with just one person."

After all the tests are completed, the results will take at least an hour to come out. Xia Zhiyu will use this time to go home and get her and her mother's change of clothes. She plans to stay at the hospital to keep her company and handle her work there as well.

Nothing is more important than Mom right now.

Jiang Zhiyan asked his assistant to drive her back to pick it up, and on the way, they also picked up Lao Xia, who stayed at the hospital to keep Ms. Song company.

"Xiao Jiang, what's your relationship with my Yu Yu? That luxury car that was parked in front of my house early this morning was yours, wasn't it? I saw it parked downstairs all night."

A woman's intuition is usually very accurate. Song Yue had felt something was off a couple of days ago. What kind of boss brings so many things to see his subordinates? It was just suspicious.

She had previously thought that Jiang Zhiyan wanted to pursue her girl, but looking at it again today, it didn't seem like that at all. Who would pursue someone with such a tragic feel, waiting downstairs at the girl's house all night? It was completely illogical.

Ms. Song's tone was very calm, but the tone between the lines was anything but calm, and her eyes were fixed on Jiang Zhiyan like an eagle, giving him no chance to find an excuse to escape.

This is the posture of a mother.

Jiang Zhiyan was silent for a moment before explaining, "Xia and I dated for five years, and we just broke up recently."

"Was it my daughter who suggested breaking up?"

"right."

Song Yue's eyes instantly turned cold. "Did you bully her? Or did you do something to wrong her?"

She had previously held Jiang Zhiyan in high regard, but now that she had learned the truth, that fondness vanished instantly, and her gaze towards Jiang Zhiyan grew increasingly cold.

Song Yue was the third child in her family, with two older sisters and a younger brother. She was neglected from a young age, as her parents favored the eldest and youngest siblings. When Song Yue got married, her family received a dowry of 11,000 yuan, but all they gave her as a dowry was two basins. This meager dowry made her feel ashamed in her husband's family. Fortunately, Lao Xia quickly moved her to the city under the pretext of a job transfer, which saved her from a lot of gossip.

Therefore, Song Yue clearly knew that the girl's parents were her greatest support and her source of confidence.

Song Yue had always wanted Xia Zhiyu to stay and work in her hometown because he was worried that she, as a girl, would be bullied if she came from a foreign place. He thought that she would earn less if she stayed in her hometown, but with her father and her mother protecting her, she would not have a hard time.

Song Yue had already lost one child, and she desperately wanted to keep this one close to her heart. She knew her daughter well; if Jiang Zhiyan had treated her well, she wouldn't have kept their five-year relationship a secret from her family.

Thinking of Xia Zhiyu's deteriorating health and her thin, emaciated body over the past few years, Song Yue immediately realized that his daughter had suffered a great deal.

Her face darkened to the extreme, and she looked at Jiang Zhiyan with the eyes of a mother wolf staring at a thief who wanted to steal her cubs.

That kind of maternal love instantly spread throughout the ward. This was the first time in Jiang Zhiyan's life that she had experienced what it meant to be protective of one's offspring.

Strangely enough, he didn't feel uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, he was happy that Xia Zhiyu had such a loving mother. In places he hadn't noticed, Xia Zhiyu also had loving parents protecting her.

He sat up straight and explained clearly what had happened over the past few years, from the mess at home to the reasons for his arguments with Xia Zhiyu, going through each point in detail with a very sincere attitude.

When Ms. Song heard him mention how many times Xia Zhiyu had been heartbroken in the two years before their breakup, blood suddenly flowed back three or four centimeters from the needle in the back of her hand. Song Yue's expression instantly turned angry. Leaning against the headboard, her eyes, so similar to Xia Zhiyu's, coldly glared at Jiang Zhiyan.

"Then you're bullying my girl."

Jiang Zhiyan's throat tightened slightly, and a bitter feeling welled up in his heart. The words he had just spoken to Ms. Xia were nothing less than a repetition of his past mistakes in his mind. He felt remorseful but did not know how to make amends.

The usually proud and self-possessed man suddenly seemed to have his spine shattered. He silently lowered his proud head and apologized to her in a very strained tone, saying that he had not taken good care of her daughter.

If Song Yue weren't lying in a hospital bed right now, she would definitely pick up a broomstick and give that damned Jiang Zhiyan a good beating. Just thinking about how much her precious girl had suffered at his hands, she could beat Jiang Zhiyan for three days and three nights and still not be satisfied.

"I knew it! Yu Yu is such a hardworking and ambitious girl, why was she always crying when she called me during that time, saying that her colleagues were bullying her and her boss was ignoring her? Turns out it was all your doing. She was so happy when she brought me and her dad to have dinner with you back in college, and this is how you treat her after we got together?"

Every word Song Yue spoke felt like tiny needles piercing Jiang Zhiyan's heart, causing his heart to tighten violently and making it difficult to even breathe.

"It's all my fault, I didn't do well enough, Auntie. I'm trying to win Yu Yu back. I know I did many things wrong before, but my love for Yu Yu has never changed."

Song Yue, having been through similar experiences, could understand Xia Zhiyu's deep pain in the relationship and could also see that Jiang Zhiyan's remorse was sincere, but so what?

Why would a daughter as good as her have to marry a rich man from such a different social class? Girls in Chuancheng have never been known to be subservient to men.

Before she could even speak, Xia Zhiyu led Old Xia into the ward carrying a large bag of things.

Old Xia's eyes were red and swollen, clearly from crying outside. The sight of Song Yue lying on the hospital bed brought tears to the eyes of this seven-foot-tall man.

Xia Zhiyu pulled Jiang Zhiyan downstairs to buy some more things, leaving the ward space for her parents.

Old Xia and Song Yue were childhood sweethearts, supporting each other all the way to where they are now. Just on the way here, Old Xia was still muttering that if something happened to Song Yue, he wouldn't want to live either, and the two of them would have to keep each other company on their journey. This made Xia Zhiyu so angry that she kicked him and gave him a good thrashing.

There's a big supermarket across from the hospital, and Xia Zhiyu plans to buy some basins, toothbrushes, and other things there so she can throw them away when she's discharged, to avoid bad luck.

Jiang Zhiyan pushed a cart and followed behind her. The two of them had calmed down by now and were able to communicate normally.

However, when Xia Zhiyu heard Jiang Zhiyan say that he had told Song Yue everything about the two of them, she still couldn't help but want to beat him up.

“My mother is still sick, why are you telling her those upsetting things?”

Xia Zhiyu's tone was both angry and anxious, "I didn't intend to hide it from her for long, but she's sick right now. Can't you just make an excuse to get away with it?"

Jiang Zhiyan said helplessly, "Do you think I can make excuses about Auntie's personality?"

Xia Zhiyu fell silent. She silently picked up the two water tanks and began comparing their prices, suddenly feeling immense pressure.

"So what did she say to you?"

“She didn’t say anything, just gave me a few words of advice,” Jiang Zhiyan paused, then continued, “She also said that when you were working in Beicheng, you were always crying when you called her, and you cried very pitifully.”