Chapter 186 Difficult Birth
The midwife paused, her brows furrowing. She glanced at Lu Zheng's stubborn, red-eyed expression, then at Wang Meihua, twisting the cloth twice in her hand.
Even an upright official finds it hard to settle family disputes. This family insists on having the man stand in the delivery room; what right does she, an outsider, have to say anything?
Wang Meihua looked at Lu Zheng and said to him, "If you want to stay, then stay! It'll be a good opportunity for you to see the suffering Qianqian has endured for you!"
"Grandma! We want to stay too!" Daya and Erya tugged at Wang Meihua's clothes, causing the red ribbons on their braids to buckle.
"Go away!" Wang Meihua slapped their hands away and winked at the door. "If your father stayed, he could at least hand you water and wipe your sweat. What can you two do here besides cause trouble? Go stand guard outside the door and come in only when you hear someone calling from inside!"
The two girls reluctantly stepped outside the threshold, with Er Ya still clinging to the door frame and peeking out: "Grandma! Just call if you need anything! I can run really fast!"
The door closed, leaving only four people inside.
Steam rose from the basin of hot water, swirling around the ceiling with the stench of blood. Xia Qianqian suddenly cried out in pain, her eyes tightly shut and her hands clenched as if she were trying her best to endure the pain.
Lu Zheng stood by the kang (a heated brick bed), his hand hanging in mid-air, as if he wanted to touch it but was afraid of breaking it, his throat so tight that he couldn't speak.
The midwife glared at him and took a bowl of brown sugar and eggs from the stove: "Aren't you going to feed her? If she doesn't have the strength to give birth later, you'll be crying then!"
She pressed her protruding belly and muttered, "This transverse lie, I'm afraid I'll be up until the wee hours of the morning."
"Grandma Zhang, what exactly does 'horizontal position' mean?" Lu Zheng couldn't understand the midwife's words and had a bad feeling. His heart was in his throat.
Grandma Zhang gestured and said, "Let me put it this way, normally babies are born head down, like a weight, coming out smoothly. But your daughter-in-law's baby..."
She paused before saying, "It's lying sideways in my belly! Hands and feet first, that's called a 'transverse lie,' it's the most dangerous. I really don't have any confidence that I'll be able to give birth safely."
"Not confident?" Lu Zheng was struck dumb, frozen in place.
He had thought it would just be a bit more strenuous during production, but he never expected it to be a matter of life and death! Cold sweat soaked his back, and even his voice began to tremble.
"Grandma Zhang, you're the most experienced midwife in our village! You've delivered most of the babies in the village yourself! Please, I beg you, think of another way!"
He grabbed Granny Zhang's arm tightly and pleaded, "As long as Qianqian and the child are safe, I'll give you anything you want! Even if it means selling everything I own..."
"Sigh—" Grandma Zhang was shaken so badly that she stumbled, but she couldn't break free. Instead, her eyes reddened.
“Lu Zheng, do you think this old woman is unwilling to help?” She shook her head. “Since Qianqian married into the village, how much have you helped the village? Not to mention anything else, Qianqian’s medicine alone has saved so many lives. Who doesn’t praise your kindness? If there were a way, would I just stand by and watch?”
Grandma Zhang took a deep breath, her eyes filled with helplessness: "You don't know how dangerous a transverse lie is until you've seen it. The baby is lying across the birth canal like a wedge, and no matter how hard the mother tries, it's all in vain. He'll drop down a bit, and I'll have to reach in and turn him. Whether he can turn around or not depends entirely on whether God will open his eyes."
"If they turn around, will the mother and child be safe?" Wang Meihua's face turned pale upon hearing this, and she grabbed Zhang's arm, refusing to let go.
Grandma Zhang didn't answer immediately. She first turned her head to look at Xia Qianqian, who was in so much pain on the kang (a heated brick bed) that she was about to faint, before pulling Wang Meihua back two steps to the corner of the wall.
He whispered, "Turning it is possible, but the baby is as tender as tofu! Even with my old hand, I have to use both skill and brute force to get in. Sometimes, if I turn too fast, I often break arms and legs! What's even more dangerous is when the umbilical cord gets wrapped around the neck. Even if the baby survives when it's pulled out..."
She raised her hand and tapped her temple: "A few years ago, there was a case in the next village where the child was born with a horizontal lichen. I arrived too late and they had to pull him out by force. The child was covered in purple marks, like an eggplant. He survived at the time, but later they found out he had become a mentally challenged person who didn't know anything."
She shook her head and said, "He doesn't respond when we call him, he drools while eating, and the old couple cried themselves blind, but it was no use."
Wang Meihua swayed, and if it weren't for Grandma Zhang supporting her, she would have almost collapsed to the ground.
She bit her lip hard, trying not to cry out. How could Qianqian's life be so miserable? What should she do?
Lu Zheng clenched his fists tightly, staring at Granny Zhang as he said, "Even if it costs me my life, I won't give up! Granny Zhang, you have to save Qianqian! I beg you!"
“Silly child, we all live in the same village, how could I not do my best? But when it comes to matters of life and death, it’s not something an old woman like me can decide.”
She glanced at Xia Qianqian: "If it really comes to that, you need to give me a definite answer beforehand about whether to save the mother or the child."
The four words "protect the mother and protect the child" struck Lu Zheng's heart like four heavy hammer blows.
He froze completely, his blood seemed to freeze instantly, and even his breath felt like ice crystals.
He never imagined that such a cruel choice, which he had only heard about in plays, would actually be placed in front of him.
Qianqian is his life, and the child in her womb is the fruit of their love; both are inseparable parts of his life!
How is he supposed to choose?
No matter which option you choose, it will be excruciatingly painful!
"Ah—!" Xia Qianqian cried out in pain again, so shrill it seemed to rip out one's soul.
The midwife was supporting her waist as she strained. The hot water in the basin had already been changed three times, and a blood-stained cloth floated on the surface. The smell of blood was so strong it was almost unbearable.
Looking at Xia Qianqian's sweaty face and the way she bit her lip so hard that she refused to cry out, Lu Zheng felt as if his heart was being squeezed by an invisible hand, and the pain made it hard for him to breathe.
He wanted to help, but found himself too afraid to even touch her. He could only watch helplessly as she suffered. This feeling of powerlessness gnawed at his internal organs like a venomous snake.
"I'm going out to clear my head." Lu Zheng turned around abruptly, his voice hoarse.
He needs to calm down and come up with a solution!
He cannot lose Qianqian, and he cannot lose their child!
He staggered out of the east wing, the icy air filling his lungs and causing him to cough violently.
The snow on the courtyard wall was blown by the wind and hit his face like countless needles, but he felt no pain—the pain in his heart was a thousand times more piercing than the wind and snow.
Lu Zheng leaned against the cold wall, slowly slid down to sit on the ground, and ran his hands through his messy hair.
What should he do? Can anyone tell him what he should do?
"What exactly happened inside?" Lu Rensheng asked.
Lu Rensheng had never seen Lu Zheng look so dejected before. He frowned slightly, took a cigar from his silver cigarette case, flicked out a gold-plated lighter, and with a "click," a pale blue flame danced in the wind and snow.
The rich, smoky aroma of the cigar mingled with the chill in the air. He offered the cigarette to Lu Zheng, his posture still condescending: "Have a smoke, it'll make you feel better."
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