Chapter 189 The Fat Boy
Lu Zheng quickly got his bicycle onto the back of the jeep. Rubbing his frozen hands, he said to Peng Fei, "Drive faster! Qianqian can't hold on much longer!"
"Hold on tight!" Peng Fei slammed on the gas, and the jeep, like a roaring beast, broke through the wind and snow, speeding towards the village.
Inside the black sedan, Lu Rensheng's fingers tightened suddenly as he held the cigar. He saw a jeep rushing towards him like a mad bull through the snow, the roar of its tires crushing the snow piercing his eardrums.
In this awful weather, who wouldn't dare venture into the mountains?
The car window rolled down a little, and a cold wind blew in, carrying snowflakes with it.
Lu Rensheng squinted and saw that Lu Zheng almost stumbled when he jumped out of the passenger seat, and then helped a man in a white coat down!
The man, accompanied by his assistant and carrying a silver equipment bag, was half-dragged and half-pulled by Lu Zheng into the courtyard. The hem of his white coat swept across the snow, leaving a trail of messy but hurried footprints.
Lu Rensheng slammed his fist on the leather seat, cigar ash falling all over his knees. This kid actually managed to invite someone?
In the delivery room, just as Grandma Zhang threw the blood-stained cloth into the basin, Lu Zheng burst through the door, panting like a broken bellows: "Dr. Zhang! Quick! Please take a look at Qianqian!"
The doctor, surnamed Zhang, pushed up his fogged-up glasses, glanced at Xia Qianqian curled up in pain on the kang (heated brick bed), touched her stomach, and decisively said, "Transverse lie, umbilical cord wrapped around the neck twice, surgery is necessary immediately!"
"Surgery?!" Lu Zheng's forehead veins bulged as he grabbed the doctor's arm. "How can you perform surgery in this rural area? Won't it be dangerous?"
Dr. Zhang wasn't angry. He pulled out some sterile cotton pads from his instrument bag and said, "Comrade Lu, now is not the time to hesitate. The mother has already lost more than 30 ml of blood. If we don't perform a cesarean section soon, both the mother and the baby will be in danger."
He spoke very quickly: "I brought a full set of disinfection equipment and anesthetics. You immediately get all the irrelevant people out of the room, disinfect the room with alcohol, and boil two kettles of water!"
Seeing that Lu Zheng was still stunned, Dr. Zhang patted him on the shoulder and said confidently, "Don't worry, I've done many of these surgeries at the provincial hospital. As long as the disinfection is done properly and penicillin is used to reduce inflammation after the surgery, both mother and child will be safe."
Looking into the doctor's resolute eyes, Lu Zheng's anxiety subsided slightly. He said to the midwife and Wang Meihua, "Grandma Zhang! Mom! Let's do as the doctor says!"
The disinfection work was proceeding in an orderly manner. Lu Zheng heard the soft sound of glass syringes clinking together, as his assistant was preparing the anesthetic.
Xia Qianqian's suppressed cries of pain gradually subsided, presumably as the anesthesia took effect. When Lu Zheng was "invited" to the outer room by the doctor, he kept turning back to look at her.
Only after the wooden door closed, cutting off all sight, did he feel as if his bones had been removed, and he slid to the ground, leaning against the cold door panel.
The clanging of metal instruments, the doctor's deep voice giving instructions, Xia Qianqian's occasional muffled groans...
Every sound was like a needle, piercing his heart. He bit his lip hard, his cheeks aching and numb, cold sweat streaming down his temples.
"Lu Zheng, is this going to work?" Wang Meihua paced nervously in the doorway. "Surgery on her stomach... Qianqian, she..."
Lu Zheng suddenly stood up, his voice hoarse but unusually firm: "Mom, Dr. Zhang is an expert from the provincial capital. He said it can be done, it can be done!"
He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "Go to the kitchen and see. After Qianqian gives birth, she needs to have some nourishing food."
These words indeed diverted Wang Meihua's attention. "Right? Qianqian lost so much blood and had such a major surgery; how can she not receive proper treatment?"
Her previous worries vanished, and Wang Meihua turned and rushed to the kitchen. She had heard that light pigeon soup was the best thing to drink after childbirth, as it replenished qi and blood and prevented weakness. A couple of days ago, Lu Zheng had somehow gotten two live pigeons, which were being kept in a corner of the kitchen!
She muttered as she ran, not even having time to tie her apron: "Perfect for killing it and making soup for Qianqian! The first thing she needs after she gets off the operating table is a hot drink!"
Watching her hurried figure disappear into the distance, Lu Zheng's tense nerves relaxed slightly. The sounds of busy activity coming from the kitchen strangely dispelled some of the somber atmosphere in the delivery room.
He pressed the door panel back up and heard Dr. Zhang inside whispering to his assistant, "Add another 0.5 ml of anesthesia... Prepare the scalpel..."
My heart jumped into my throat again.
The aroma of pigeon soup wafting from the kitchen was so rich and intense, mixed with the sweet warmth of angelica and goji berries, yet it couldn't soothe the wrinkles in Lu Zheng's heart.
He leaned against the cold earthen wall, his feet grinding deep and shallow pits in the snow. Every half minute, he couldn't help but look up at the sky, where the leaden-gray clouds resembled a pale, bloodless face.
He looked up at his watch again, and the hands slowly moved one tick, but it felt like an eternity.
"Wow--!"
Suddenly, a loud cry rang out.
Lu Zheng shuddered; the sobs struck his heart like blows. His taut nerves snapped, and he slid down the door and sat on the snow, his scalding tears hitting the frozen ground and splashing up tiny snowflakes.
She gave birth! Qianqian gave birth!
But the joy was quickly overwhelmed by a new fear. The child cried. What about Qianqian? How is she?
He struggled to get up and try to break down the door, but just as his hand touched the latch, the door creaked open from the inside.
The assistant removed his blood-stained gloves, a tired but relieved smile on his face: "Comrade Lu, congratulations! Mother and child are safe! Dr. Zhang is still stitching up the mother, so he asked me to come out and tell you first. Don't worry!"
"Mother and child are safe..." Lu Zheng murmured, repeating these four words over and over, his voice trembling uncontrollably, "Thank you... thank you all... thank you so much..."
The assistant waved his hand: "No need to thank us, it's your own accurate prediction! If you had arrived half an hour later, the mother would have lost too much blood, and we wouldn't have been able to save her."
He added, "The new mother has just undergone a cesarean section. The blood loss and anesthesia have left her with both qi and blood deficiency. She needs to rest for at least 100 days."
He pulled a prescription from his white coat pocket: "This is a prescription from Dr. Zhang. Remember to avoid raw, cold, and spicy foods, and absolutely no contact with cold water—"
"I've got it! I've got it all! Don't worry, I'll take good care of Qianqian!"
Wang Meihua rushed over wearing an apron, her hair all disheveled. Hearing this, she smiled and said, "It's good that mother and child are safe! Did Qianqian give birth to a boy or a girl?"
Her assistant laughed as she shook him: "Oh! I was so busy I forgot about that, it's a big, chubby boy! He weighs at least seven pounds!"
"Kid?!" Wang Meihua's eyes instantly reddened. She wiped her face, slapped Lu Zheng's arm, and grinned from ear to ear. "Good lad! Now you finally have an heir! Qianqian is really something!"
Lu Rensheng also heard the crying, and the pocket watch in his hand fell to the floor mat with a "thud".
He sat there stiffly, staring through the car window at the tightly closed door of the east wing, oblivious to the fact that his cigar had burned his hand as it burned to the end.
Lu Yaoting was also stunned: "Dad...it seems like he gave birth?"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
But the intermittent cries of the baby pierced his ears like needles, reminding him that he had lost again.
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