Chapter 263: Rong Rong
The housekeeper chimed in, "You\'ve already exhausted yourself watching over the young master\'s bedside. I\'ll take care of the young madam, so please don\'t worry."
Xiao\'s Mother readily agreed, "I am indeed quite tired. As one gets older, energy levels aren\'t what they used to be. Nanny Wang, please help the young madam."
Nanny Wang nodded, "Rest assured, madam."
When Xiao\'s Mother returned to the hospital room, she found her younger sister sprawled carelessly on the rest bed, while her younger daughter was intently watching her eldest son, who lay in the ICU bed covered in tubes.
Xiao Feiyu disliked her sister-in-law and wouldn\'t even maintain a pretense of courtesy, but Xiao\'s Aunt, though usually unreliable, remembered her role as an elder and asked concernedly, "How is Xinyue\'s health?"
Among her daughter and sister, who were her closest family members, Xiao\'s Mother had nothing to hide. She spoke directly, "I noticed she felt nauseous while drinking soup, so I thought she might be pregnant and wanted to take her for a check-up."
Xiao Feiyu and Xiao\'s Aunt immediately stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Xiao\'s Mother.
Xiao Feiyu recalled what Shi Li had once said about her sister-in-law being found pregnant after her brother\'s death, but ultimately losing the baby.
She unconsciously gripped the guardrail of her chair.
Xiao\'s Mother sighed deeply, "The doctor said she\'s not pregnant."
Given her son\'s current condition, as a mother, she naturally hoped he would recover, but realistically, she knew he might remain in this state forever.
That\'s why Xiao\'s Mother hoped more than anything that her daughter-in-law would become pregnant, regardless of whether it would be a boy or a girl, just to continue her son\'s bloodline.
"What?" Xiao Feiyu was even more surprised, unsure of her own feelings.
She truly didn\'t want her sister-in-law to be pregnant, feeling that it would bring her brother one step closer to his predetermined fate.
However, if her brother couldn\'t be saved, at least a child would preserve his legacy.
Xiao\'s Aunt understood her sister\'s meaning and could only console her, "Sister, don\'t overthink it. Good fortune comes after misfortune. Our Chenmin is a good child; he\'ll surely overcome this obstacle."
Her voice was choked with emotion, causing both mother and daughter to tear up.
Xiao Feiyu couldn\'t understand why, after avoiding one calamity, an even greater one awaited her brother.
Her brother had always been overly kind-hearted and had never done anything wrong.
If this was karma, there were so many criminals in the world, why did it specifically target her elder brother?
After returning from completing some additional medical tests, Du Xinyue asked Xiao\'s Mother, "Mom, is there something wrong with my health? If there is, please tell me directly. We\'re family; there\'s no need to keep secrets from me."
Xiao\'s Mother had already composed herself, maintaining her usual elegant and dignified demeanor in front of others. She shook her head gently, "The doctor says you\'re in good health, but you shouldn\'t overexert yourself. You\'ve been working hard taking care of Chenmin lately; you should go home and rest more."
In reality, it wasn\'t that demanding, with nurses and caregivers present, she barely needed to do anything.
Family members weren\'t allowed inside the ward, so "taking care of the patient" merely meant keeping watch outside the room.
As Du Xinyue was about to say something more, Xiao\'s Mother gestured for her to stop, "I know you and my son have a good relationship, and you\'re worried about Chenmin. It\'s understandable, but you\'re human too and need rest. Having us here watching over him is enough. Take advantage of the weekend while we\'re all here, go home and rest well. When Monday comes and we all return to work and school, you\'ll need to take over again."
Xiao\'s Mother\'s words were heartfelt, and Du Xinyue\'s expression showed she was deeply moved. "Alright, since you insist, I\'ll go home and rest for two days."
Xiao\'s Mother responded with an approving sound, "That\'s more like it."
After seeing Du Xinyue off, Xiao\'s Mother finally removed her mask of courtesy.
Her face showed both exhaustion and worry.
Over these days, Xiao Feiyu had said many words to comfort her mother, but now she didn\'t know what else to say.
Some things, when said too many times, even the speaker starts to believe they\'re true.
Xiao Feiyu had repeatedly said her brother would be fine, but she grew less confident with each repetition.
As a student, Xiao Feiyu could only visit her elder brother at the hospital on weekends and after school.
In comparison, Shi Li had much more freedom.
Shi Li wasn\'t required to attend school regularly; she could go to class when she wanted to and stay home when she didn\'t feel like it.
Even when she did attend school, Shi Li was quite relaxed, chatting with classmates between classes and reading leisure books during lessons.
As long as Shi Li didn\'t use her phone in class or disturb others by chatting with classmates, teachers didn\'t care what she did.
Rongrong was different from Shi Li; she still attended school regularly as before.
With the head teacher\'s help, she now worked as a teaching assistant in the class, receiving a monthly salary.
She helped the teachers and answered students\' questions when teachers were absent.
In fact, even if the school hadn\'t paid her, she had often helped her classmates with their questions before.
However, she used to do it because she wanted to.
Now, she did it for the salary.
When Shi Li was at school, classmates would also come to her with questions.
However, lately, Shi Li hadn\'t been attending school often.
After Shi Ruan\'s breakup, she worried about her and frequently visited the old house to check on her.
Especially on weekends when Shi Ruan was off work, Shi Li would accompany her on excursions around Blue City.
While the energetic Shi Ruan could return to work normally on Monday, Shi Li needed two days at home to recover her energy.
After two weeks of this, Shi Li was nearly at her wit\'s end with her cousin\'s antics. She desperately wanted to give Ji Chunsheng a piece of her mind - what was wrong with Shi Ruan that made him change his heart?
If he had fallen out of love, they could have broken up normally - why did he have to cheat?
Now Shi Ruan was traumatized, and she had become collateral damage.
However, Ji Chunsheng\'s character deviation was quite severe. Because the male leads in the author\'s other series works had low moral standards - one dating his stepmother, another imprisoning his ex-girlfriend in a dark room... In comparison, Ji Chunsheng had been rated as the most morally upright male lead in the author\'s works.
Although he ended up with his brother\'s wife, it was after much psychological torment and because he was seduced - he was considered a good boy.
Thinking about it, Shi Li realized that Ji Chunsheng\'s infidelity might not be out of character after all - marrying your good friend\'s wife doesn\'t make you a good person either.
After being worn out by Shi Ruan for two weeks, Shi Li began to consider introducing some new boyfriends to Shi Ruan, letting her exhaust someone else instead.