“Dissolve this in warm water, once the mother drinks it, it’ll ease the pain and lift her energy.” With the mother’s condition stable, Doctor Mu took out a packet of medicine he’d prepared and handed it to Zhang Qiaofeng. “Also make her a bowl of sugar water with egg, giving birth is hard physical work, she needs the strength.”
“All right, I’ll go do that right now.”
Zhang Qiaofeng took the medicine packet and hurried out.
“Fuling, you said just now that Yu Heng stole the pearl, what exactly happened?” Before the next contraction came, Li Shuiqin turned to stare at Yu Fuling, pressing for an answer. “He told me the pearl was a gift from his mother, but I don’t know why his mother would give a fake pearl that even the pawnshop turned its nose up at.”
“Eldest Sister-in-law, right now just focus on giving birth in peace. Father’s going to the market this afternoon to buy what you need for the birth, so put your mind at ease and don’t think about anything else.”
“How can I not think about it? Giving and stealing are two different things!” If she weren’t in labor, Li Shuiqin would have been angry enough to stamp her feet. “Did he even think about how I and my child are supposed to hold our heads up in this family in the future?”
“When you decided to sell Xie Leyi behind Father and Mother’s backs, did you think about how you’d hold your head up in this family afterward?” Yu Fuling didn’t go along with Li Shuiqin’s words, instead throwing back a question that struck right at the heart.
Doctor Mu, a regular visitor to the Yu household, rubbed his nose and lowered his head, the Yu family’s real daughter was quite different from the adopted daughter they’d had before.
“I—!”
Li Shuiqin was at a loss for words, it was true, she’d been in the wrong first.
“Have the baby first. As long as you and Big Brother live properly and honestly from now on, Father and Mother will be at ease.”
“But… ahh…” Li Shuiqin, wanting to argue back, had her thoughts scattered by another contraction.
“Breathe in, breathe out, don’t hold it in.” Doctor Mu quickly guided Li Shuiqin, then turned and brought over a long bench, standing it upright. “Here, lean your arms on this, once you have something to brace against, it’ll go easier.”
Just then, Zhang Qiaofeng came in carrying the medicine water and the sugar water with egg.
Li Shuiqin, who happened to be hungry too, drank it all down in one go, and felt much of her lost strength return, her stomach didn’t hurt quite as much as before either.
“Don’t let your guard down, the worst pain comes right at the moment of birth.” Doctor Mu, being a man, wouldn’t be able to stay in the room once the mother was actually giving birth. “I’ll go check whether the midwife has arrived.”
“Thank you for your trouble, Doctor Mu.”
Zhang Qiaofeng saw Doctor Mu off, then, noticing her eldest daughter-in-law’s forehead covered in sweat, hurried to wipe it with a handkerchief. “Shuiqin, don’t think about anything right now, just focus on giving birth safely.”
“But…”
Back when Li Shuiqin had decided to go back to her own family’s home, it wasn’t out of fear of her parents-in-law scolding her, it was because the matter of her selling Xie Leyi had dragged up the whole business of the two babies being switched, raising the whole thing to a level she genuinely didn’t know how to face, so under her husband’s encouragement, she’d fled back to her own family instead.
“Eldest Sister-in-law, if Father and Mother really blamed you, they’d have gone to your family’s home to demand an explanation long ago, why would they just sit on their hands? Just like Mother said, don’t think about anything right now, just focus on having the baby safely. Besides, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to come back to Father and Mother’s side either. As for who’s right and who’s wrong, that’s not something to sort out in a hurry.”
Although to outsiders the whole affair made Yu Fuling look like the victim, after just one day and one night together with her parents, whatever sadness she’d felt leaving the Marquis’ estate had already been cast to the back of her mind.
“Yes, I should have the baby first.” For some reason, hearing Yu Fuling’s words calmed Li Shuiqin’s anxious heart at once, and then came another wave of even sharper pain, so intense she could only grip the bench tightly, sucking in cold breath again and again.
“Midwife Zhou is here, Midwife Zhou is here.”
At the very last moment, Yu Heng arrived with Midwife Zhou from the neighboring village.
The experienced Midwife Zhou washed her hands clean, prepared everything needed, and helped deliver Li Shuiqin’s baby.
“Heaven help us, heaven help us.”
From inside the room came Li Shuiqin’s screams now and then, each one piercing Yu Heng’s ears. He knelt in the courtyard, hands pressed together, praying for his wife and child’s safety.
“The baby’s head is coming out now, push a little more.”
Midwife Zhou’s voice was loud, but firm and forceful. “Push more.”
“Ahh!”
Following a scream from Li Shuiqin at the very edge of collapse, a loud cry rang out across the small courtyard of the Yu household.
Yu Qingshan, just then pushing the cart up to the gate, heard the baby’s cry and quickened his pace into the house.
“Father!”
The moment Yu Heng saw his father, it was like seeing a savior, and he ran toward him quickly. “Where have you been, do you know Shuiqin’s given birth?”
Yu Qingshan listened for a moment to the sounds coming from the room and parked the cart. “If it weren’t for the trouble you caused in the first place, would Shuiqin have suffered like this? Good thing her due date was this month.”
He didn’t even need to go in and ask what had happened, he’d already guessed.
“Yu Heng, Yu Heng, Shuiqin’s given birth, a girl.” Zhang Qiaofeng carried out her newly washed eldest granddaughter, and seeing her husband had returned, walked up to him happily. “Qingshan, look! We’ve got a granddaughter now.”
“A girl?”
Yu Heng’s brow furrowed, and he muttered under his breath, “Why isn’t it a boy?”
“Well, when your mother had you, I was disappointed too, why wasn’t it a girl?” Yu Qingshan shot his son a cold glance, then handed the granddaughter to his wife. “It’s windy out here, carry the baby inside. Oh, and I’ve bought everything Shuiqin needs.”
“Didn’t we say the family’s out of money?” Only now did Yu Heng notice the cart was piled full of things.
“Weren’t you the one going on about splitting the family up? If we’d really split up, Shuiqin would’ve been left drinking the northwest wind [1]drinking the northwest wind (he xibei feng, 喝西北風) Idiom, going hungry, having nothing to eat jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3372146_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3372146_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); for food, sooner or later!” Yu Qingshan gave a cold, mocking remark. “What are you standing around for, hurry up and carry these things in.”
“Oh, right.” Since the things were for his wife, Yu Heng was happy enough to carry them.
“Well, look at all this excitement?”
Just as the whole Yu family was joyfully celebrating the arrival of a new life, Second Brother Yu Zhuo, who hadn’t been home for several days, showed up.
“Second Brother, you’re back?”
Yu Heng, sweating profusely as he carried things in, called out to his second brother at once. “Eldest Sister-in-law’s given birth, come help me carry things.”
“Isn’t Eldest Sister-in-law at her own family’s home? Why’s she suddenly back?” Yu Zhuo’s steps drifted toward the cart instead, and looking at the pile of things, he pursed his lips. “Are all these bought for Eldest Sister-in-law?”
“Of course. Shuiqin giving birth was like walking through death’s door, during her month of confinement she needs to eat well and build her strength back up.” A moment ago while carrying things, Yu Heng had secretly opened the bundles and looked, brown sugar, chicken, duck, and white flour, all genuinely good things, and he naturally felt pleased about it.
“Boy or girl?” Yu Zhuo asked, sounding as casual as if he were asking whether you’d eaten today, without a trace of the joy an uncle should feel.
“A girl.”
“Well, that’s what Father and Mother wanted anyway.”
Yu Fuling, walking out of the room carrying a wooden basin, looked up and noticed there was an extra person in the courtyard, muttering quietly to herself, “Big Brother called him Second Brother, so that makes him my second brother?”
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