Chapter 133 Yang Shunxin checks on the new mother: What does she need?

The deworming pills that quietly emerged amidst the vast swarms of ground dragons didn't attract much attention in Shanghai. However, when the Novel Daily published Yang Shunxin's story, the newspaper's sales increased significantly that day. Editor Bei was somewhat puzzled, but that didn't stop her from continuing to increase the print run—one can't turn down money!

Moreover, this isn't the first time a newspaper has seen such a sudden surge in sales without any apparent reason. A small fish's article can always attract new customers from different angles. If it weren't for the novel encyclopedia going crazy, the novel daily wouldn't have gotten such a good deal.

The original owner did sell the newspaper for a good price, but the poor other staff at the Novel Daily are reportedly owed several months' wages by the Japanese because of the newspaper's poor performance. That guy who's always bowing and scraping and trying to get close to Ma Sai even wants to bring Yao Xiaoyu back—what a shameless thing to do!

Only editors who have had an editor know how lucky it is to have an author who writes well, is diligent, produces a lot of articles, and never defaults on payments. Back then, Editor Bei often envied Huaben Daquan while biting her handkerchief. Now that the cash cow is in her hands, no one can take her away from her!

Thinking of the other editors who were eyeing her gold nuggets at the recent editors' gathering, Editor-in-Chief Bei doubled the borrowing limit for Yao Xiaoyu and called Pi Kangxiu in as well.

...

"So that's why you came to ask me what I need?"

Yao Xiaoyu seemed to be deep in thought, while Pi Kangxiu nodded silently. Editor-in-Chief Bei meant that the manuscript fee was capped at five yuan. The main issue was that raising it further would be difficult to explain to the other authors, but some additional benefits could be provided.

Pi Kangxiu didn't say it explicitly, but he implied through his words that Editor-in-Chief Bei's family background was not simple, which encouraged Yao Xiaoyu to boldly make her demands.

"If you don't use your power, it will expire." Yao Xiaoyu certainly knew this principle, but after thinking for a long time, she really couldn't think of anything she wanted... Wait a minute!

Yao Xiaoyu's eyes lit up as she suddenly remembered something that had been troubling her for a long time. Then, her mind was like a suitcase bursting open, with one need after another popping up, some important and some not, making Yao Xiaoyu's head feel a little swollen.

"You look at the draft first, let me think about it carefully."

Yao Xiaoyu planned to take some time to sort out the things in her head, and Pi Kangxiu nodded in understanding, eagerly plunging into Yang Shunxin's world.

After several months of serialization, Yang Shunxin has grown from a little girl into an adult. She has been married to her husband for three months, but she has not given up her medical skills to be a wife and mother. Instead, she takes on the role of the wife in charge of external affairs and the husband in charge of internal affairs. She is still called Doctor Yang by everyone as she treats people's illnesses, whether big or small, urgent or slow.

The opening paragraphs of the submitted manuscript were not intense: Exhausted, Yang Shunxin finished her day's work and went home with her husband who came to pick her up. The young couple held hands and talked. One second they were arguing, and the next second they were asking each other if they wanted to have a late-night snack. Pi Kangxiu watched and curled the corners of his mouth, but he also thought that the person Yang Shunxin was holding hands with was really displeasing to the eye.

Yao Xiaoyu had written about the female lead's childhood in her previous works, but either she only mentioned it briefly or didn't focus on it enough. Although Pi Kangxiu was able to empathize with her, he mostly focused on her career. However, in "The Medical Practitioner," Pi Kangxiu watched the quirky Yang Shunxin grow up day by day and began to regard the little girl as his own daughter.

And just like that, our own cabbage was eaten by a pig.

Even if he knew it was a good pig, it didn't stop Pi Kangxiu from disliking it for a long time. Regardless of wealth, status, power, or any other conditions, it was a father-in-law's gaze on his son-in-law.

But soon, Pi Kangxiu lost interest in watching Yang Shunxin's love story because Yao Xiaoyu brought a simple, direct, but useful twist—when Yang Shunxin and her husband were eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), an old woman rushed over and said that her daughter-in-law's water had broken.

Pi Kangxiu knew that the pregnant woman would have a good outcome in the end. After all, Yang Shunxin's previous stories only involved setbacks with minor illnesses. He never faltered when faced with real problems. But he still couldn't help but worry: it was childbirth!

Yang Shunxin's expression turned serious when she heard that the pregnant woman had given birth. She hurried home to get her tools, but she was exhausted after a long day and couldn't move quickly. Her husband then hoisted her onto his shoulder and ran home. After Yang Shunxin got her things, he carried her to the new mother's house in the same way.

Yang Shunxin: ...

With lives at stake, Yang Shunxin arranged things one by one and also learned why the old woman had asked her to come over—the eighteenth concubine of a powerful eighty-year-old man was pregnant, and for the safety of his youngest son, all the experienced midwives in the neighborhood had been called over, but Yang Shunxin was the one who slipped through the net.

Pi Kangxiu found it both absurd that such a reason couldn't get him a midwife, and quite reasonable. A former colleague had told him a true story: a warlord had kidnapped a beautiful woman, gotten her pregnant, and then consulted doctors. Every doctor said the woman would have a difficult childbirth and that both she and her unborn child would die.

Logically speaking, even if this person only cared about the child, he should have sought out a doctor with better medical skills. But what did this beast do? A month before the beauty was due to give birth, he summoned all the doctors and midwives in the city to his residence, saying that as long as the beauty and the child were safe, everything would be fine, but if any of them died, all of them would have to be buried with her.

Many midwives were pre-arranged, but this man wouldn't listen, saying his beautiful woman's life was extremely precious and that if she dared to leave, he would shoot her in the head. The women in labor outside were anxious, but seeing the houses surrounded by soldiers, no one dared to move. Many pregnant women died during childbirth because they didn't have midwives to help them; some died before giving birth, some survived but others...

Pi Kangxiu was stunned when she heard this, feeling that her knowledge had limited her imagination. Then her friend said that something even more shocking was yet to come.

The woman went into labor on her due date. Doctors and midwives, risking their own lives, disregarded the traditional separation of men and women and worked together to create a miracle of mother and child safety. The beast did pay as agreed, but the moment the male doctor received the money, the beast ordered his men to gather around and shoot them. When asked why, the beast was completely self-righteous:

“They looked at my woman’s thigh and touched my woman’s body. Shooting them dead is already too lenient.”

Some say it was to save the beauty's life, but that beast also has his reasons: one thing at a time, he's already paid for the life-saving favor.

"...So all those people are dead?"

At that time, Pi Kangxiu was inexplicably afraid to speak loudly, for fear of disturbing something, while his friend just shook his head meaningfully.

"You'd never guess the final result."

The beauty suddenly erupted.

She didn't know when she had found a gun, nor did she know where she got the strength to get out of bed after giving birth. With a light and effortless movement, she ripped a hole in the beast's forehead.

But that wasn't the end. The beauty cruelly brought her newborn child to the beast, forcing him to watch his only offspring being thrown to the ground before he died, leaving him only half a cry.

The beauty didn't survive either. It wasn't that someone attacked her, but rather that she left and fired a gun right after giving birth, which caused severe postpartum hemorrhage. Everyone tried to save her, but it was too late. In the end, they could only bury her with her family according to her last wishes.

"That beauty is also a pitiful one."

My friend sighed and said that the beauty was the youngest daughter in her family. Because of her blood clotting disorder, she was pampered and protected from a young age. Her family never planned to let her get married. She and her brother were the only two children in her family. Because of the big age gap, her sister-in-law treated her like her own daughter and had no objection to her staying at home for the rest of her life.

As a result, the whole family went out for a trip, and that beast took a liking to the beauty. When he refused to marry her, the beast came to their door and kidnapped her. She had been enduring hardship for her niece's life, but she only found out before giving birth that her niece had already been killed by the beast.

Pi Kangxiu sighed again as he thought of that family's tragedy. Aside from the mass burials in the city, this kind of thing actually happens everywhere. Many people, as long as they have a little bit of power, can drive those below them to their deaths.

...

The mother's condition was relatively smooth. When the baby turned one month old, Yang Shunxin even received eggs from the old woman. Pi Kangxiu only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the old woman come to the door with a smile. She also remembered a series of rules, such as that midwives should never use rusty scissors.

Others might be skeptical of Yang Shunxin's story, but Pi Kangxiu had helped Yao Xiaoyu contact several medical clinics. Moreover, when Yao Xiaoyu first submitted her manuscript, she said that all the knowledge points she could include had been repeatedly verified and were based on the experience of doctors.

Pi Kangxiu didn't know how those old doctors who were so attached to tradition could have relented, but that didn't stop him from regarding it as gospel: when you can't find a doctor, this book might just save your life!

After this chapter is published, I can buy more newspapers. My relatives and friends may not need treatment for foot odor, some may not be bald, and some may not even care about kidney deficiency. But childbirth is different. Other treatments may not be curable, but at most they will cause discomfort. This is the difference between life and death!

Pi Kangxiu calculated the number of her relatives and friends in Shanghai, and then considered the postage to send the newspapers to other places. Finally, she decided to randomly select lucky people from different regions and send out several copies of the newspaper at a time for them to distribute in their local areas.

"I've made up my mind!"

Yao Xiaoyu's shout interrupted Pi Kangxiu's train of thought. While Pi Kangxiu was reviewing the manuscript and pondering, Yao Xiaoyu finally finished organizing and categorizing the information, finding the two most needed items in her mind.

"Little Fish wants a house in the leased area, and she also wants penicillin?" [1]

Editor-in-Chief Bei repeated Pi Kangxiu's words, ignoring the part about being able to pay for it herself. She thought the girl was really smart and well-informed, and she really dared to ask for it—there weren't many places in Shanghai that could meet her requirements, but her family happened to be one of them.

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The author's note: The story of the beautiful woman is fictional, but the story of the whole family being killed without any reason, the male doctor being beaten to death after helping a woman give birth, and the mother seeking revenge are all true stories. At that time, the lives of people at the bottom of society were truly not worth anything.

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[1] Penicillin: Penicillin was first discovered in 1928. This is a hypothetical scenario.

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