Xie Xu knew that Xie Yi was currently deeply infatuated with that young lady named Xiaodie and surely wouldn’t have any interest in Shi Mu. Dispelling the surprise in his heart, he sat down and conversed with Shi Mu. “Whatever made Xiaomu think of practicing medicine and treating people?”
He answered candidly, “To make a living.”
Xie Xu nodded. “For a young master of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to know medical skills is quite reasonable.”
Shi Mu didn’t really want to bring up that family. “I am no longer a member of the Shi family.”
A minor official like the Junior Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices carried no weight in the capital, so why would these princes concern themselves with him?
Besides, he was merely a concubine-born son, and not knowing the intricate details of the situation was completely normal.
Xie Xu smiled and asked, “Then what kind of medical formulas do you know?”
Mentioning his medical expertise, he appeared rather confident. “I know quite a few. If Your Highness feels unwell anywhere, you can come find me.”
Xie Xu nodded in understanding. “I certainly will.”
Beneath his polite surface, however, he held a sense of disdain.
As a prince surrounded by countless imperial physicians, why would he ever seek out a young man like him?
He also felt that this young fellow was rather foolish, running around the streets and alleys day after day in such bitter exhaustion just for a few taels of silver.
If he were to follow him, he would enjoy endless wealth and glory.
Xie Yi’s gaze landed on the fair profile of the youth lowering his head to drink tea, when suddenly he felt a wave of nausea rise in his chest. He pulled out a handkerchief to cover his mouth and retched softly.
Noticing that he was unwell, the imperial guard Cheng Ji immediately asked, “Your Highness, what is wrong?”
Recalling that his uncle had felt unwell in a similar manner last time, Xie Xu asked, “Imperial Uncle, are you alright?”
Xie Yi took a sip of water, though he too found it quite strange. This had already occurred twice; with no prior warning, a sudden wave of chest tightness and nausea would strike.
Moreover, these symptoms came quickly and went just as fast, returning to normal in an instant.
Seeing his uncle unwell, Xie Xu immediately thought of the young man before them and grew playfully mischievous.
“Xiaomu, since Imperial Uncle is feeling unwell, why don’t you examine him for my uncle?”
Shi Mu wasn’t particularly eager to look at Xie Yi, so he turned his profile away and refused, “Prince Ling probably looks down on a humble rural doctor like me.”
As the words left his lips, a leisurely voice drifted from beside him. “I do not.”
Shi Mu turned his face back to see Xie Yi holding a folding fan between his fingers, a playful glint in his phoenix-like eyes.
Shi Mu thought to himself: Do you look like you are actually sick?
Xie Yi lowered his fan and placed his wrist on the table. “I must trouble Dr. Shi to diagnose me.”
Shi Mu faced him directly. “Then state your symptoms.”
“I have experienced two brief instances of chest tightness and nausea. The last time was ten days ago, and both lasted only a single moment.”
Shi Mu continued asking, “Did you experience diarrhea, vomiting, or a lack of appetite?”
Xie Yi shook his head. “No, everything is completely normal.”
Since he was full of vitality, Shi Mu had known all along that nothing was seriously wrong.
As the capital’s premier wastrel who undoubtedly lived in dissipation day and night, having a bit of gastritis was entirely normal.
He bent down to retrieve a medicine bottle from his medical box, placed it on the table, and said, “Take these.”
Xie Yi glanced down at his own wrist. “Does Dr. Shi not need to take my pulse?”
Shi Mu shook his head. “No need.”
Xie Yi looked puzzled. “No need?”
Growing somewhat impatient with him, Shi Mu frowned and said, “Do I not know your condition? You are perfectly healthy everywhere, so rest assured.”
When these words were spoken, for some reason, the quiet atmosphere turned somewhat subtle.
Xie Xu pondered for a moment. “Xiaomu, are you very familiar with my uncle’s condition?”
Shi Mu explained with utmost solemnity, “I am a doctor.”
Xie Xu nodded, finding it entirely reasonable. “It seems Xiaomu truly possesses some medical skill.”
“Of course.”
Sensing that Xie Yi was looking at him again, Shi Mu lowered his head and drank his tea minding his own business.
Look all you want, I will let you look your fill.
Outside the tavern, although the rain was easing, it showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. Soon enough, Chunshi Tower’s signature dishes were served one by one, and the mandarin fish chosen by Xie Xu was indeed exceptionally plump.
Shi Mu didn’t rush to eat; seeing that there were too many dishes, he decisively had the shopkeeper pack two of them to go, planning to bring them back for Jiang Xiaolan.
Xie Xu chuckled again. “You really know how to calculate, eating here and packing to go as well.”
Shi Mu shot him another crisp, bright remark, “Thank you, Your Highness,” leaving the other man with nothing to say.
With the food packed, the three of them were just about to eat when a commotion suddenly erupted outside Chunshi Tower.
Shi Mu heard a man shouting, “Hurry up, hurry up, or something bad will happen!”
Intermingled with the cries was the painful groan of a woman.
Immediately afterward, two men wearing straw rain capes rushed past outside in the rain, pushing a handcart carrying a groaning woman.
Not expecting the rainy road to be so slippery, just as they reached the front of Chunshi Tower, one of the men lost his footing, causing the handcart to tip sideways and sending the pregnant woman sliding onto the ground.
Before Xie Xu could react, the young man beside him had already stood up and rushed out of the tavern like a gust of wind.
Reaching the handcart, Shi Mu saw that the woman was in late-stage labor. Although she was covered with a straw cape and quilts, having fallen into the rain, her clothes were soaked through.
Furthermore, the intense pain of her contractions caused her to groan uncontrollably.
Shi Mu hurried forward to help, working together with the two men to lift the parturient back onto the handcart.
The two men offered profuse expressions of gratitude and briefly explained the situation.
It turned out the two men were the woman’s husband and younger brother. The woman had been in labor for an entire day without delivering, and with the family unable to find a midwife on short notice, they had no choice but to rush her toward Chunyu Hall on Plum Blossom Avenue.
Having settled the parturient, the two men were just about to resume their journey through the rain when they were abruptly halted by a sharp cry from the young man: “You cannot go any further!”
“What is the matter?” The two men turned around in bewilderment.
Shi Mu’s gaze fell below the parturient.
Even in the rain, it was evident that a continuous stream of clear fluid was leaking from beneath her.
Her amniotic sac had already ruptured.
To make matters worse, protruding from the fully dilated cervix alongside the fetal presenting part, Shi Mu caught a fleeting glimpse of a bright red, ribbon-like structure.
It was an umbilical cord prolapse.
An umbilical cord prolapse meant the umbilical cord lay beneath the fetus and was being compressed by it.
While it did not immediately endanger the mother’s life, it was fatal to the baby inside the womb.
During gestation, the umbilical cord supplied nutrients and oxygen to the fetus. Once compressed, blood and oxygen delivery would be impaired, causing intrauterine fetal hypoxia. If oxygen delivery was cut off entirely, fetal death would occur within seven to eight minutes.
Shi Mu’s heart clenched in an instant. He immediately reached out, lifted the baby’s presenting head inside the mother to relieve pressure, and shouted, “No! The child is in grave danger!” Glancing aside, he yelled, “Quick, bring her inside Chunshi Tower! I will deliver the baby for her!”
The two men were dumbfounded.
“What does this young fellow mean?”
Offended by such an ominous declaration, the husband immediately grew displeased. “How can you say the child won’t make it? Do you even know how to speak!”
Sensing Shi Mu’s urgency, the owner of Chunshi Tower also hurried over and explained to the two men, “He is Dr. Shi! Hurry up and listen to him by carrying the lady inside!”
Everyone in Ping’an Ward knew the owner of Chunshi Tower. Hearing that the young man was a doctor, the two men realized the situation was dire and hurriedly hoisted the cart, carrying the parturient into a partitioned screen booth on the ground floor of Chunshi Tower, placing her on the wooden floor.
Manager He quickly secured the tavern doors.
From start to finish, Shi Mu remained by the parturient’s side, supporting the baby’s head with his hand to prevent any compression of the umbilical cord.
At this moment, every second the baby spent in the mother’s womb multiplied the danger tenfold.
Feeling his heart racing, Shi Mu ordered in a deep voice, “Support the fetal head.”
The man nearby was the parturient’s husband. Seeing his wife soaked through, he still felt a trace of squeamishness; more importantly, he had no idea what the doctor was trying to accomplish.
Just as he hesitated and lingered without extending a hand, an angry shout rang out: “Hurry up!”
Startled, the man instinctively stretched out his hands.
Shi Mu freed his hands to check the fetal heart rate and amniotic fluid.
The amniotic fluid had already turned turbid, and the fetal heart rate was dropping. Fortunately, this parturient was at full term, her cervix was fully dilated, and her contractions were normal, meaning delivery could be expected in a short time.
Had it not been for this, Shi Mu would have immediately performed a cesarean section.
Assisting a parturient through delivery was normally the work of a midwife.
Right now, however, he was the midwife.
With the fetal heart rate still falling, Shi Mu instructed the parturient, “Your cervix is fully dilated. First adjust your breathing, and when the pain and contractions hit, you must push with all your might. If you don’t deliver soon, the child will be in extreme danger.”
The parturient stammered, “O-Okay.”
Knowing the child was in danger and daring not delay for a second, she endured the excruciating pain and pushed in coordination with Shi Mu’s instructions.
In just over a minute, a brand-new life detached itself from the maternal body and arrived in this world.
He cut the umbilical cord and tied it securely. Soaking wet, Shi Mu carried the drenched infant out into the outer hall.
The parturient’s husband rushed over excitedly, reaching to take the child from Shi Mu’s hands, only to be pushed away by a raised hand. “Do not move.”
Startled, the man watched as the youth calmly laid the baby flat upon the brought-up swaddling cloth and dried him off.
That is my child? What right does he have to refuse me?
Furthermore, although he had recently heard that there was a young doctor with decent medical skills in Ping’an Ward, a husband naturally held a degree of disdain toward a young man practicing as a doctor.
Dissatisfied, he spoke up, “Doctor, I am grateful that you delivered my wife, but you cannot stop me from holding my own child!”
Shi Mu truly had no time to entertain him at the moment. The newborn was currently showing signs of asphyxia, a low heart rate, and weak muscle tone, requiring immediate resuscitation.
Shi Mu instructed, “Bring me my medical box.”
As the words fell, the medical box was placed right beside his feet. It seemed Xie Yi had brought it over for him, but Shi Mu had no energy to spare on that now.
If oxygen deprivation lasted too long, exceeding ten minutes, it would cause permanent neurological disabilities even if life was saved.
Shi Mu first used a suction tube to clear the amniotic fluid and meconium from the infant’s respiratory tract.
Then he turned the baby onto his side and patted his back.
Shi Mu was neither a pediatrician nor a neonatal nurse; even though he knew the procedures, his practical experience was zero.
Yet at this very moment, a new life rested entirely in his hands.
Even if he couldn’t do it, he had to try.
Every gaze was fixed intently upon Shi Mu.
At this point, everyone finally realized the infant’s predicament.
Every child enters the world crying. Yet this child before them made no sound and showed not the slightest movement.
Shi Mu kept his head lowered, continuously performing various rescue maneuvers.
Though people didn’t understand what he was doing, they knew he was exhausting every possible means to save this child.
In Xie Yi’s field of vision, the young man kept his head bowed, his expression concentrated yet fraught with an unconcealable urgency.
He had watched him treat patients before, and he had even diagnosed him earlier. Yet while Xie Yi had previously doubted whether he was truly capable, at this very moment, the youth’s devoted heart striving to rescue a life brook no skepticism.
The first thirty seconds, the second thirty seconds, the third thirty seconds.
Clearing the airway, stimulating respiration.
Finally, following positive pressure ventilation, the infant—right in the palm of Shi Mu’s hand—unexpectedly let out a resounding cry.
Like a ray of sunlight piercing through layers of clouds, or a tender shoot breaking through the soil.
A vibrant life, stretching into the endless river of future time, brimming with infinite possibilities.
The stone hanging in Shi Mu’s chest finally dropped. For some reason, as a veteran doctor long accustomed to such scenes, his eyes still grew somewhat hot.
The husband, the younger brother, the parturient who had already delivered the placenta and dragged her exhausted body out from behind the screen, and even Prince Ling Xie Xu, who had originally been entirely indifferent to the matter.
In this instant, everyone wore the exact same moved expression.
No one could fail to be touched by the arrival of new life.
Because this was a celebration of life.
A moment later, the parturient’s husband cried out in ecstatic joy, “Wonderful! I am a father!”
The family never imagined that they had set out to seek treatment at Chunyu Hall, only to deliver their child right here in Chunshi Tower.
Moreover, it was Dr. Shi who had brought back to life an infant who hadn’t even let out a cry at birth.
Recalling his previous prejudices against Dr. Shi, the husband felt an overwhelming wave of guilt.
So much so that facing the young doctor, his face burned with embarrassment. “Dr. Shi, I truly apologize. My ignorance was to blame earlier, and I am deeply grateful to you for working so hard to save my wife and child.”
Standing nearby, Manager He also broke into a smile.
The young master had been busy for a long time, and beads of sweat covered his forehead. He curved his lips in a smile. “I was not the one working hard; your wife was.”
Looking toward the parturient, who was resting alone to the side while everyone else fussed over the baby, he reminded her husband, “The one who bore this child for you is the one who suffered the most. You must take good care of her.”
Startled, the parturient suddenly burst into tears.
Her heart was wrapped in such warm, tender comfort by these simple words, and all the physical pain she had endured dissolved in this instant.
Though not everyone understood, someone finally saw what she had sacrificed in this battle of propagation and survival.
“I certainly will!” The husband walked over to wipe away his wife’s tears, soothing her gently, “Do not cry. If you shed tears during your confinement, your eyes will ache later on.”
Having packed up everything, Manager He opened the doors of Chunshi Tower. The rain outside had cleared, and the residual glow of sunset spread across the western horizon, turning the entire firmament into a softly tinted amber.
Watching the family depart, Shi Mu sat down on a stool and slowly let out a breath.
Such emergency rescues were intensely physically draining.
Yet saving lives meant sparing no effort.
Xie Xu truly hadn’t expected that coming to Chunshi Tower for a meal with Xie Yi would treat him to such a thrilling spectacle.
Not only could this young doctor save lives, but he had saved both a parturient and a newborn infant.
Even so, Xie Xu still felt the young fellow wasn’t particularly bright, and with an amused smile, he tactfully advised, “Xiaomu, look at how exhausting it is doing humble work like a midwife, why don’t you…”
Before he could finish, he was coldly cut off by Shi Mu. “A midwife is humble?” Pressing his brow, his eyes flashed with stubborn sharpness. “Then what does that make you, someone who was delivered into this world by a midwife?”
“You…”
As a prince, being rebuffed so bluntly left Xie Xu with nowhere to save face.
This young man was simply too audacious.
Wanting to throw a tantrum, but worried Xie Yi might punish Shi Mu, he suppressed his anger and stormed out of Chunshi Tower.
Soaked from head to toe in amniotic fluid and blood, Shi Mu stood up, intending to leave.
Having worked busily for the better part of the day without even eating a meal, his legs grew weak and bumped against the leg of the stool. The pain made him instinctively want to bend over, but the next second he was caught by someone.
“Be careful.”
The warmth of a palm passed through his clothing fabric onto his skin, and Shi Mu felt a distinct, tingling numbness dart straight into his heart, making his already weak legs wobble unsteadily.
His body listing to one side, he leaned against Xie Yi’s chest.
Instead of the scent of blood, Xie Yi’s breath was enveloped in a faint fragrance of jasmine, like a damp mist brewing in the mind. After permeating all his thoughts, the surroundings receded completely.
Left only with the dark eyes of the youth before him—who stared in stunned distraction, long lashes blinking—he dazedly called out, “Xie Yi…”