Chapter 112 Steaming Child
At the end of December, the silver charcoal stove in the room was burning brightly.
After breakfast, Qi Huaijing leaned on the couch, hugged Azhen, flipped through the account book, and read to Chen Tang the income of the shop this year.
"Business is going well this year. The shops in Guangling owned by my second brother have made about 7,000 taels of silver. The shops I own are also making about the same..."
Chen Tang sat opposite, listening to the revenue while calculating the family's New Year expenses.
During this year, Qi Chengzhou was taken care of by Qin. His condition was sometimes better and sometimes worse, and he almost never went out. At most, he would walk in the yard with the help of a cane to bask in the sun. He often had to go back to the house to rest after walking half a circle.
Qi Huaijing knew that his illness was difficult to cure, so he no longer cared about his suspicion and let go of his hands and feet, running the Qi family shop prosperously.
In the huge city of Guangling, without the playboy Second Master Qi, the shrewd and experienced Third Master Qi gradually became famous.
"As for the private property in Beijing, haha, thanks to the money we got from cousin Ling Yun, the income has doubled compared to last year! If we also take into account the two farms that the old man compensated you..."
Qi Huaijing was calculating the public and private accounts one by one, and didn't notice for a moment that Chen Tang suddenly frowned and grasped the edge of the kang table with his slender hands.
"Huai... Huai Jing!"
Qi Huaijing stopped talking and saw her stroking her belly with a frown. He immediately threw away the account book and jumped up.
"It's time to give birth! Is it time to give birth? Is it starting to hurt?"
The doctor said that Chen Tang's baby was born around the New Year or the New Year, and he has been worried about it ever since the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, and has not gone out since.
Chen Tang let go of his hand and slowly let out a breath.
"No, I just want to go...to the bathroom."
Another false alarm.
In just these few days, Qi Huaijing becomes extremely nervous whenever there is any sign of trouble. He has been scared many times.
"...Come, let me help you, slowly."
Shen Tang held his hand, frowned, held his stomach, and slowly turned around on the couch.
As soon as she stood on the ground, she suddenly felt heat on her legs and her fingertips suddenly exerted force.
"Something's wrong, this feeling...I think I'm really going to give birth!"
Qi Huaijing was shocked and immediately looked down to check, and sure enough, his amniotic fluid had broken.
He calmed himself down and tried to make his voice softer.
"Don't panic, Tang'er, don't panic, let's...let's take it slow."
He steadied her and turned to instruct the servants.
"Bai Lu, go ask the midwife and doctors to come over. They said Third Grandma's water just broke."
"Huaping, take the cat away and lock it up. Don't let it run around."
"Chunzhi, go to Yujin Hall and tell Madam to send someone to the Shen family to invite Auntie over, and Auntie Song as well..."
As early as last month, he arranged two midwives at home, and often called them over to answer questions, asking the women about the process of childbirth one by one.
Midwives have been delivering babies for so many years, but this is the first time they have seen a man ask this question.
Qi Huaijing asked the same question over and over again many times, listening and asking various questions at the same time. When he really didn't understand, he asked the embroiderer to make a cotton doll, and then asked the midwife to hold the doll and explain it to him bit by bit.
Not only he had to listen, but Chen Tang had to listen as well. The maids in the room, Huaping, Bailu... no matter if they were unmarried girls or not, all had to listen.
He thought, just in case, just in case, if he was not at home at that time, he had to make sure that there were trustworthy people around Shen Tang.
He was also afraid that there might be mistakes in what the midwives said, so he asked the two midwives to take turns answering the questions. After a few days, he would ask the same questions again, paying attention to whether there were any inconsistencies in their statements.
The midwives were all annoyed by his questions.
But the silver he gave was too much, so he had to be patient and answer the young man's questions over and over again.
I'm not bragging. Qi Huaijing has heard it countless times and feels that he can help people give birth.
But when the matter came to him, he still felt a little weak in the knees, and asked Chen Tang again and again what he felt.
After a while, the midwife felt the belly and the doctor took the pulse, then came over to reply.
"Third Master, it's okay. It's still early! There are at least two hours before the serious time."
Regardless of whether it was serious or not, Qi Huaijing kept his promise and never left Chen Tang for a moment. He was always by her bedside, feeding her water, soup, wiping her sweat and tears, always holding her hand and whispering encouragement.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm always here."
Chen Tang felt waves of fine and dense pain in his waist and abdomen, and couldn't help but clench his hand.
“Oh…ah, it hurts…”
He looked at Chen Tang sweating in pain and felt his chest become so tight that he couldn't even swallow a sip of water.
Mrs. Yue got the news and came here a long time ago.
Qin Jiangyun, Madam Qi, Aunt Song and others also came one after another and were waiting for news outside.
For a business family like this, seeing blood in secret is a taboo, but it seems that Qi Huaijing has no intention of coming out at all.
When everyone saw this, they all had their own thoughts, but no one said a word.
Aunt Song was only thinking about her niece and didn't care about the taboos of these merchants.
Mrs. Yue has never been able to control Qi Huaijing, and at this time, she has become somewhat cunning.
Mrs. Qi is both stepmother and aunt, and both sides' children are considered her own family, so nothing she says would be inappropriate.
Not to mention Qin, even if she had a lot to say, she wouldn't say it here.
Everyone said that the first child would take a long time to be born. Chen Tang started having contractions around lunch time, so Qi Huaijing braced himself and prepared to stay up all night.
Unexpectedly, after feeling pain from noon to nightfall, the baby was born smoothly.
“Wow…Wow…”
The crying was deafening.
Chen Tang didn't expect that the birth would go so smoothly. Although she was soaked from the pain, it was not as painful as she had imagined... that much.
The midwife also had to take care of the woman in labor, so she first prepared the baby and put it into Qi Huaijing's arms.
He caught it subconsciously, motionless, his whole body stiff as if carved from stone.
In the small quilt, a small, red, steaming baby was crying loudly.
His and Shen Tang's child.
The midwife was packing up the placenta and congratulating the host family.
"Congratulations, Third Master, and Third Madam. The young master cried so loudly! Thanks to Madam's good health and frequent movements during pregnancy, everything went smoothly!"
The ladies outside had heard the noise a long time ago, and the midwife went out to report it. When they heard that the mother and child were safe, everyone was beaming with joy.
Seeing that Qi Huaijing didn't move for a long time, Shen Tang slapped him lightly.
"Hurry...let me see the child."
Qi Huaijing woke up as if from a dream, and moved over carefully. Only after he placed the child next to Shen Tang did he relax the tension in his body.
“Wow…wow…wow…”
Such a small and soft child, with his mouth wide open, cried very loudly.
Although it was a little dirty, ugly, and wrinkled, Chen Tang couldn't help but lower her head and kissed it... her child, her and Huai Jing's child.
Seeing Qi Huaijing frowning and staring at the child in a daze, Shen Tang patted him weakly.
"Huai Jing, don't you want a kiss?"
He breathed a sigh of relief and kissed Shen Tang on the cheek.
Shen Tang's smile was weak.
"Silly... kiss the child."
Qi Huaijing stared at the child for a while and shook his head, slowly and firmly.
“…So ugly.”
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