“The baby is lying sideways in her belly—it’s a difficult labor! You’d better find someone else to deliver it!!”
The midwife hurried toward the door, afraid that if she stayed a moment longer and the mother died in her hands, she would have to bear the blame.
A seven- or eight-year-old girl in tattered linen clothes immediately dropped to her knees and kowtowed to the old woman nearby when she heard this.
“Grandma! My mother is having a hard labor! Please let me go out and fetch a doctor to save her!”
Her arms and ankles were covered in bruises of all sizes—an alarming sight.
“I won’t spend your money. Tomorrow I’ll find a broker and sell myself!”
Several other women and children nearby also pleaded bitterly.
“Mother, Xiuyun is having a difficult labor this time. Please let us go fetch a doctor!”
“Mother, this is a matter of life and death!”
The cries of pleading mixed with the laboring woman’s agonized screams, filling the air with desolation.
Song family’s eldest son, Song Zhiyong, stood to the side on his lame leg, his weathered face full of helplessness.
The old woman narrowed her slanted eyes and guarded the doorway stubbornly.
“Fetch what doctor? Who doesn’t give birth on their own? She’s the only one who thinks she’s so precious!”
“Bah! A lowly, worthless tramp!”
“If you want to fetch a doctor, it’ll be over my dead body!”
No sooner had the old woman finished speaking than her whole body began to convulse. The next moment, she fell stiffly to the ground.
It had… actually come true.
“Mother, are you alright?”
“Mother, what’s wrong?”
The entire family gathered around her.
Wu Yulan opened her eyes to see the concerned faces of her family. She froze.
What was going on? Hadn’t she died suddenly?
A flood of unfamiliar memories poured into her mind, making her dizzy.
After quite a while, Wu Yulan finally sorted things out. A medical PhD in her previous life, she had transmigrated into the body of a shrewish, sharp-tongued, vicious old woman in a fictional ancient era.
At this very moment, the original body’s third daughter-in-law was in difficult labor. Not only had this malicious old woman refused to spend money to hire a doctor, she had also stood guard at the door to prevent anyone from going out to fetch one.
Even so, when she collapsed, her daughters-in-law and grandchildren still showed genuine concern for her.
Looking at the thin, stick-like “children and grandchildren” before her, Wu Yulan silently cursed, “You old beast!”
Her chest tightened. Did this mean that from now on… she would have to live under the identity of this vicious old woman?
From inside the room came the laboring woman’s painful cries.
Wu Yulan jolted awake.
Forget it. Saving a life comes first!
Her brows sharpened as she barked at the stunned crowd, “What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and get a doctor!”
The little girl kneeling on the ground cautiously glanced at Wu Yulan.
Seeing that she didn’t even spare her a look, the girl scrambled to her feet and dashed out the door like a mad thing.
“Mother, wait for me! I’ll definitely bring a doctor to save you!”
When Wu Yulan saw the others still standing there blankly, she scolded again, “What are you dawdling for? Hurry up—boil water! Cook some food!”
Hearing this, the youngest son, Song Zhishu, poked his head over. “Mother, how did you know your son was hungry?”
Wu Yulan glanced at Song Zhishu, dressed in fine cotton clothes with fair skin and delicate features, and ignored him.
This was the youngest son the original host had doted on endlessly, treating the rest of the family like beasts of burden for his sake.
If he had been promising, that would be one thing. But he was utterly useless—living off the entire family’s support and unable even to pass the lowest-level scholar exam.
Thinking of this, Wu Yulan silently rolled her eyes at Song Zhishu and turned to shout toward the kitchen, “Boil a large pot of hot water, cook some porridge, and boil two eggs!”
Song Zhishu smacked his lips. “Thank you, Mother. Studying has been giving me headaches lately—I do need some eggs to nourish myself.”
Not only Song Zhishu, but everyone else assumed the porridge and eggs were for him.
Wu Yulan couldn’t be bothered to explain. After washing her hands, she headed straight for the room where the laboring woman was.
As soon as she pushed the door open, a heavy smell of blood hit her.
Inside, Li Xiuyun clutched her stomach in agony, while the eldest daughter-in-law, Wang Guiqin, anxiously tended to her below.
Seeing who had entered, Wang Guiqin shrank back slightly. “Mother… why are you here?”
Wu Yulan said nothing. She walked over, reached out, and felt Li Xiuyun’s pulse, then examined her abdomen.
When she discovered the baby was in a breech position, her brows knit almost imperceptibly.
“Hold her down for me!”
After giving the order, she picked up a pair of scissors from the side.
Wang Guiqin looked horrified, her voice trembling slightly. “Mother… you… what are you going to do?”
Wu Yulan’s face was stern. “What do you think? Of course I’m delivering the baby. Or do you want both mother and child to die?”
At the sight of the scissors, Li Xiuyun’s already gaunt face turned even paler. But then she thought about how this child might not be delivered at all.
If it couldn’t be delivered, it would mean two lives lost.
With that thought, she bit her pale lips. “Mother, you… you can cut. The child is more important!”
Wu Yulan pressed her lips together and approached with the scissors.
Then, without hesitation—
Li Xiuyun trembled all over, squeezing her eyes shut and biting her lip hard.
Yet the pain she expected never came.
“Snip—”
“This ragged clothing is in the way. Might as well get rid of it!”
After cutting open the garment with the scissors, Wu Yulan tore the clothes apart completely and tossed the scissors aside.
Li Xiuyun was stunned.
“Mother, weren’t you going to cut open my stomach and take… take the baby out?”
Wu Yulan’s vision darkened for a moment, and she cursed inwardly again. That damned old woman—what had she reduced this poor girl to!
“The clothes were in the way.”
After explaining briefly, Wu Yulan placed her hand over Li Xiuyun’s belly.
“Bear with it!”
As she spoke, she shot Wang Guiqin a meaningful look.
Wang Guiqin hesitated for a moment before placing her hand over Li Xiuyun’s, though she didn’t dare press too hard.
Wu Yulan glanced at her, then focused all her attention on Li Xiuyun’s abdomen.
She was about to perform an external cephalic version—turning the breech baby around so it could enter the birth canal properly.
As a battle-hardened medical PhD, performing a version was second nature to her. But now that the amniotic fluid had already broken, the situation was extremely dangerous.
Therefore, Wu Yulan was especially cautious.
Feeling her movements, Li Xiuyun’s nerves tightened.
“If you don’t want both mother and child to die, relax immediately!”
Hearing Wu Yulan’s words, Li Xiuyun quickly adjusted her breathing, forcing herself to relax.
As soon as she steadied her breath, she felt Wu Yulan’s hands leave her belly.
“Mother…”
Enduring the pain, she called out timidly.
Wu Yulan patted the calloused hand. “Don’t be afraid. The baby is in the right position now. Next, you just need to follow my lead and push. You’ll deliver the child safely.”
Looking at her mother-in-law at that moment—still sharp-tongued and harsh in appearance—Li Xiuyun nevertheless felt a trace of reassurance with her by her side.
“Mother! I will never forget your great kindness in this lifetime. If the child is born safely, Xiuyun is willing to serve you like an ox or a horse to repay you!”
As soon as she finished speaking, a contraction hit, and the pain forced a cry from her lips.
“Ah—!”
“Listen to me. Take a deep breath…”
…
With the cry of a newborn, Li Xiuyun finally relaxed completely.
“It’s born! It’s born!”
Wang Guiqin shouted happily.
Suddenly thinking of something, Li Xiuyun forced her exhausted eyes open. “Is it… a boy or a girl?”
She had already given birth to one daughter. If this child were also a girl, her eldest daughter would be sold off by her mother-in-law.
Her sisters-in-law’s children had been treated that way—two baby girls in the family had already been sold. She didn’t want Chun Ni to…
At the thought, Li Xiuyun’s lips trembled even more violently.
“Mother… is it… is it a boy?”