Chapter 40: Reformed?

Zhao Lan woke up, and her first reaction was to touch her stomach.

“The baby didn’t survive.”

Jiang Yiyi softly told her.

Zhao Lan stared at her blankly, as if she hadn’t understood what she said. After a long while, she murmured, “Impossible, it was still moving yesterday.”

“The doctor said…” Although she was reluctant, Jiang Yiyi still told her, “It was because of the abortion pills.”

Zhao Lan seemed to have gone numb, staring blankly at her. After a long time, she suddenly pulled out the needle from her hand, and ran out of bed like a madwoman.

Jiang Yiyi used all her strength to pull her back.

Zhao Lan was almost frantic.

The nurse heard the commotion and rushed in. Seeing Zhao Lan’s condition, she quickly went to find the doctor. The doctor came over and scolded her, “If you really wanted the child, why would you take abortion pills? If it weren’t for this military wife and her husband who sent you here in time, you would have been dead along with the child. Do you still have the nerve to make a fuss?”

“If you want to have children in the future, then lie down quietly and get an IV drip. If you don’t want any more, then go ahead and make a scene!”

Zhao Lan’s body went limp, and she wept loudly.

Her cries attracted the attention of people in the nearby wards.

This time the doctor didn’t scold her. He shook his head and said to Jiang Yiyi, “Try to comfort her. Crying like this right after surgery will hurt her body.”

Jiang Yiyi didn’t know how to comfort her, so she could only say, “Let her cry for a while. This is her first child.”

The doctor didn’t say anything more. He instructed the nurse to reapply the IV drip once Zhao Lan calmed down, then left.

Zhao Lan cried until she almost fainted.

Jiang Yiyi silently patted her back until she calmed down, then helped her lie back on the bed and had the nurse reapply the IV drip.

Zhao Lan stared blankly at the ceiling without blinking, her whole person seeming like she had gone numb.

Gu Yunze brought back food. Jiang Yiyi shook her head at him, so Gu Yunze had to wait on the bench outside. He was wearing Jiang Jinfeng’s vest, which was a little small and had a patch on it, but he sat upright, his whole person exuding a strong aura, causing the nurses to frequently look over.

One hour, two hours, three hours…

As it grew dark, Zhao Lan finally reacted. She looked at Jiang Yiyi and said in a hoarse voice, “Please tell my aunt.”

She gave an address.

Fearing she might have suicidal thoughts, Jiang Yiyi didn’t leave and asked Gu Yunze to find her aunt.

Gu Yunze quickly found the place on his bicycle. It was a two-story building. He went up and knocked on the door, and a woman opened it. “Who are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for Zhao Lan’s aunt.”

Hearing Zhao Lan’s name, the woman immediately became excited. She came out of the house and anxiously asked, “You know Lan’er? Where is she?”

“She’s at the county hospital.”

Hearing that she was in the hospital, the woman swayed, anxiously grabbing Gu Yunze’s arm. “She… she… she…”

“She’s fine.”

The woman thought Gu Yunze wasn’t telling the truth since she was in the hospital, and turned to shout into the house, “Lao Jiang, Lan’er has news.”

A man strode out of the house, about fifty years old, with a stern face, his gaze at Gu Yunze was extremely oppressive.

“Xiao Zhang, get the car!”

Gu Yunze first drove back to the hospital. Soon, a jeep sped past him. He accelerated, and when he arrived at the hospital, he could hear the cries from the ward from afar.

Jiang Yiyi was standing at the door of the ward. Seeing him, she quickly walked towards him with an enamel mug, which contained the cold noodles from noon that she hadn’t eaten.

“We’re done here, let’s go.”

Gu Yunze carried her back to the workshop. Zhou Fen immediately saw that Jiang Yiyi was different. As someone who had been through it, she knew what that difference meant and was sincerely happy for her sister-in-law.

“Yunchi went back first, saying that if it got too late, he’d let you two stay here for the night.”

At noon, Gu Yunze came back covered in blood, scaring Zhou Fen. Without a word, she had Jiang Jinfeng send him to the hospital. Later, they learned it wasn’t his blood, and he leaned against the wall to catch his breath for a while.

Gu Yunze didn’t tell them the details, only that he had saved someone, the person was in the hospital, and the family hadn’t arrived yet, so Jiang Yiyi stayed to take care of her.

She took care of her for the whole afternoon, and didn’t come back until dark. Gu Yunchi was afraid that Gu’s mother would worry, so he went back first.

Jiang Yiyi only came to tell Zhou Fen, so that she and Jiang Jinfeng wouldn’t think she was still at the hospital and come looking for her.

His short-sleeved shirt was dry, and Gu Yunze hadn’t changed. He folded it and gave it to Jiang Yiyi to hold, and the two went home.

Along the way, Gu Yunze kept seeing Zhao Lan’s blood-soaked appearance in his mind, from the moment he sent Zhao Lan to the hospital until now. He never knew that pregnancy could be so dangerous.

Jiang Yiyi was thinking about how to find Zhang Mei and her two children. After dealing with her for so many days, she could see that Zhang Mei was a resilient woman, otherwise she wouldn’t have chosen to live a hard life with her two children after being driven out by her in-laws, rather than remarrying. Such a person wouldn’t easily give in, and she didn’t know what the Zhang family would do to her.

They didn’t speak along the way.

Entering the village, the smell of food wafted over, and Jiang Yiyi suddenly felt hungry.

Dinner was rich, cooked by Gu Yunchi, four dishes and a soup, two meat and two vegetables.

Jiang Yiyi was really starving, and she ate without lifting her head.

Gu Yunze gave her several ribs. Gu’s mother saw it and was happy in her heart. Her wooden son finally opened up and knew how to cherish his wife.

“I heard from Zhou Fen that you saved someone.”

Gu Yunchi said.

Jiang Yiyi hummed.

“What happened to that person? I heard from Zhou Fen that my brother was covered in blood.”

Gu Yunchi was purely gossiping.

“Miscarriage.”

Gu Yunze answered, letting Jiang Yiyi eat in peace.

Gu Yunchi found it unbelievable. Now that family planning had been implemented, every household was reluctant to have even one more child, and pregnant women were treated like gold. How could someone have a miscarriage?

“She suffered a lot.”

Gu’s mother sighed, and Gu Yunchi nodded. A miscarriage wasn’t a small matter; at best, it was just the loss of a child, at worst, it could result in the death of both mother and child.

“I wonder who was so careless.”

Jiang Yiyi didn’t answer, and neither did Gu Yunze.

After dinner, they sat in the yard for a while, washed up, and went back to their rooms to sleep. Yesterday, locking the door didn’t stop Gu Yunze, so today Jiang Yiyi didn’t lock it, lest Gu Yunze’s animalistic nature flare up again.

But Gu Yunze didn’t act like the previous two nights. He just hugged her and gently kissed her forehead. “Sleep.”

Was this reform? Jiang Yiyi couldn’t believe it. The books said that men who had tasted the forbidden fruit were terrible, not only wanting it every day, but also wanting it several times a day.

But after guarding Zhao Lan for an afternoon, she was really exhausted, and closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep soon after.