Mianmian forgot about the exam, forgot about everything around her—all her senses were focused on that heart-stopping scene.
A powerful shock mixed with an indescribable thrill surged through her body like an electric current, making her fingertips tingle and her heart pound like a drum.
She could even feel her cheeks uncontrollably begin to burn.
The teacher’s arched body remained in that position for about a minute, yet it felt as long as a century.
Then, the force seemed to temporarily recede. Her tense body suddenly relaxed, as if all her bones had been pulled out. She slumped forward, her forehead pressing heavily against the edge of the lectern. Her shoulders heaved violently as she let out broken, rapid gasps.
Large beads of sweat rolled from her forehead and temples, dripping onto the smooth lacquered surface of the lectern and spreading into small dark stains.
The exam hall remained quiet. Most students were buried in their test papers, seemingly unaware of the abnormality on the lectern.
Teacher Hu still maintained her position with her forehead pressed against the lectern, her shoulders rising and falling slightly, as if she had exhausted even the strength to lift her head.
It wasn’t until the proctor walked over and whispered a question that she straightened up with extreme slowness and difficulty. Her face was frighteningly pale, sweat-soaked strands of hair stuck to her temples and cheeks, and her lips were colorless.
Holding onto the edge of the lectern, she tried several times before barely managing to support her heavy body. She almost dragged her feet, moving step by step with extreme slowness out of the classroom door.
Mianmian had no mood to answer questions anymore; her mind was filled with thoughts of her.
She spent two hours finishing the exam, hastily checked it over, and then handed it in early.
Afterward, she couldn’t resist and walked toward the office.
Suddenly, an extremely suppressed groan, as if using every ounce of strength in her body, clearly reached her ears through the thick door.
The sound was low, pained, like the whimper of an injured beast, carrying a heart-wrenching despair.
Immediately after, came heavier, more urgent panting.
Mianmian trembled all over and, without another thought, forcefully twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.
The afternoon sunlight was mostly blocked by the thick curtains, leaving the office dimly lit.
The air was filled with a faint, indescribable sweet and fishy scent, mixed with the smell of sweat.
Mianmian’s gaze was instantly fixed on the scene in the corner, her blood seeming to freeze at that moment.
The simple folding bed usually used for napping was laid out.
Teacher Hu was half-kneeling, half-leaning on the folding bed in an extremely awkward position, her back to the door.
Her skirt was bunched around her waist, revealing the sleep shorts she was wearing.
They were wrapped tightly from her waist to the tops of her thighs, completely covering her.
Her head was deeply buried, and her shoulders trembled violently. Each tremor was accompanied by an uncontrollable, tearful gasp.
The teacher seemed to be enduring some unimaginable pain, her body writhing intensely.
“Ugh—mm!!”
A shame-filled moan escaped from between her tightly clenched teeth.
Her hands gripped the crumpled thin blanket beneath her with all her might, the veins on the back of her hands bulging.
Her face was twisted in agony. Sweat streamed like small rivers from her forehead, temples, and neck, dripping onto the blanket beneath her and spreading into dark stains.
Her brows were tightly furrowed, her eyes tightly shut. Her long eyelashes were damp with tears, sticking together in clumps.
Mianmian’s breath caught, her mind going blank.
She stood frozen at the doorway, her entire body numb. The scene before her struck with an impact far beyond anything she had ever imagined or known.
This was not the beautiful birthing videos she had secretly watched online, nor was it the sacred, radiant moment of birth described in novels.
This was the most primitive, most exposed, most wretched, and most heart-stopping struggle for life.
Sweat, tears, and perhaps other fluids, mixed with the teacher’s suppressed, agonized cries, formed a scene that shook her to her very soul.
After about a minute, Teacher Hu seemed to have exhausted her strength. Her body slumped forward abruptly, her head buried in the blanket, her chest heaving violently as she gasped like a broken bellows.
She struggled to turn her face slightly, as if trying to adjust her position, but her gaze unexpectedly met Mianmian’s horrified, stunned eyes at the doorway.
A look of utter shame and humiliation flashed across the teacher’s face.
Her lips trembled violently, wanting to say something, but no sound came out.
Her eyes, soaked with pain and sweat, quickly glazed over with a layer of desperate tears.
Only then did Mianmian snap back to reality.
“Teacher! What’s wrong with you?” Mianmian rushed to her side, crouching down, looking at her helplessly, afraid to touch her.
“It’s… it’s nothing… my stomach… just a little uncomfortable… maybe I ate something bad…” Teacher Hu finally managed to squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth, her usually gentle and refined voice now hoarse and unrecognizable.
Even in the midst of extreme pain, panic, and helplessness, the teacher still remembered to protect the little girl’s innocence, unwilling to tell her the truth.
Mianmian’s feet felt nailed to the floor, unable to move.
She had wanted to ask if the teacher was giving birth, but an indescribable mix of fear, awe, and intense agitation gripped her tightly, rendering her speechless.
She could only watch, helplessly, as the teacher endured the most violent baptism before the birth of life, alone on that narrow folding bed.
After a brief respite, stronger contractions swept over Teacher Hu once more. Her body arched violently, like a bow stretched to its limit, and a low, inhuman, beast-like growl escaped her throat.
Her face flushed crimson from the extreme exertion, veins bulging on her neck.
Her swollen abdomen heaved and contracted violently, like a volcano about to erupt. Her legs kicked uncontrollably, her toes curled tightly, and the tops of her feet stretched taut.
This bout of pushing seemed even more intense, more prolonged.
Just then, the office door was flung open.
Teacher Zhang, who was on patrol duty, stood at the doorway, a stack of exam papers still in hand. The expression on his face froze completely the moment he saw the scene inside, turning into utter shock and bewilderment.
“What… what in the world… Xiao Hu?! Ji Mianmian?! What’s going on?!” Teacher Zhang’s voice cracked.
Mianmian couldn’t speak.
Teacher Hu’s pushing was forcibly interrupted. She frantically fumbled to pull up her pants, trying to cover herself.
Several other teachers, alerted by the commotion, rushed in. Upon seeing the scene before them, they all gasped in shock before hastily scrambling to call an ambulance.
“Teacher Hu, are you… are you giving birth?”
Someone wet a towel and placed it on Teacher Hu’s burning forehead.
Teacher Hu was still trying to cover it up: “No… I… I… probably… not yet…”
A young, inexperienced female teacher went to massage her painful stomach and even tried to help her up to use the squat toilet.
But her hips kept sinking downward, and no matter how they tried to support her, she couldn’t stand up.
In the end, it was the older Teacher Li, who had given birth before and had experience, who noticed that the maternity pad was already soaked through.
The tightly wrapped shape also looked wrong.
She pulled down Teacher Hu’s maternity pad in one swift motion.
Mianmian held her breath, her eyes fixed unblinkingly.
Swollen and glistening.
A tiny black head, bobbing up and down, full of life.
With the teacher’s effort, it slowly, bit by bit, revealed itself.
“Ah———”
“Oh my god!!”
The young female teachers huddled together, screaming one after another.
Teacher Hu gasped for breath, sweat and tears smeared across her pale face, her eyes unfocused.
An ambulance soon arrived with sirens blaring and carried away Teacher Hu, who was still struggling in pain.
In the end, she couldn’t quietly hold on until the end of her shift, nor could she wait for her loved one to pick her up.
Once the commotion was over, the teachers and students dispersed.
Mianmian stood amidst the mess, still immersed in that unprecedented, overwhelming flood of emotions—awe, shock, and an inexplicable sense of warm responsibility.
So, the test of life’s arrival was far more brutal, yet more magnificent, than any paper-and-pen exam.
Far beyond the vague, secret fantasies she once had while secretly stroking her own belly through her school uniform fabric.