Chapter 330 A Narrow Escape
Old Master Shi also came to his senses. He quickly opened his medicine box and took out several silver needles:
"Miss Jiang, hold her up. I'll try to use acupuncture to help her breathe and give her a chance to live! Aunt Wang, listen to my instructions, let's try to correct the baby's position together!"
Jiang Ling nodded vigorously, held Hongxiu's hand tightly, and kept calling out to her and encouraging her.
Master Shi's silver needles fell precisely, piercing several key acupoints.
Hongxiu's body trembled violently, letting out a suppressed groan of pain, her eyelids twitching again.
"There's a response! Honey, follow me, take a breath, and push!"
The midwife seized the opportunity and, following Master Shi's instructions, skillfully and firmly assisted in the adjustment.
Hongxiu mustered all her strength and let out a hoarse cry of pain.
Jiang Ling and the midwife worked together, one gently pushing and the other guiding the delivery.
"Push harder! The baby's head is out!" the midwife shouted.
A resolute glint flashed in Hongxiu's eyes. She gathered her strength once more and exerted it forcefully.
Time passed second by second, and finally:
"Wow--"
A faint cry from a newborn broke the heavy atmosphere in the room.
The midwife, holding a bright red baby boy, cried with joy, "It's born! It's born! It's a boy! Mother and child are safe!"
Jiang Ling let out a long sigh of relief, her tense nerves finally relaxing, her back already soaked with cold sweat.
Looking at Hongxiu's pale yet relieved face, she felt a surge of joy: "Hongxiu, you did it! You're alright!"
Hongxiu smiled weakly, her gaze falling on Jiang Ling, before everything went black and she fainted completely.
"Hongxiu!" Jiang Ling exclaimed.
Old Shi stepped forward to take her pulse again and breathed a sigh of relief: "It's nothing, she's just exhausted and asleep. She'll be fine after a few days of rest."
Jiang Ling breathed a sigh of relief.
Hongxiu slept for a full day and night.
Jiang Ling stayed by her bedside almost every step of the way, tucking her in, wiping her chapped lips with a warm handkerchief from time to time, and cooking a soft millet porridge as instructed by Elder Shi, preparing to feed her when she woke up.
Sister-in-law Shi also took extra care of Hongxiu, not only looking after the newborn baby but also boiling water to wipe her body and change her into clean clothes.
When the villagers heard that Jiang Ling's friend had given birth safely, they brought eggs, brown sugar, and homemade soft dumplings, all hoping to help the new mother recover.
It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that Hongxiu slowly opened her eyes.
Her eyes were still somewhat dazed as she looked around.
The simple mud-brick walls, the dim oil lamp, Jiang Ling guarding the bedside, and the sleeping baby in the distance—it took a while for them to fully wake up.
"Sister Jiang..."
Her voice was still weak, but it carried a genuine warmth, "I really... am not dreaming?"
Jiang Ling was overjoyed to see her awake and quickly took her hand in his. The temperature from her fingertips was much warmer than before.
"It's not a dream, it's real. You gave birth to a healthy son, who is fair-skinned and very energetic."
Hongxiu turned her gaze to the swaddling clothes, but her eyes did not show much affection; instead, they were tinged with a hint of barely perceptible sorrow.
Her eyes reddened, and she looked at Jiang Ling, her voice low and hoarse: "I thought... I would never see you again."
As she spoke, tears silently streamed down her face.
Jiang Ling quickly grabbed a cloth to wipe her tears and gently comforted her, "Don't cry, I'm right here. You've survived a great ordeal, you're bound to have good fortune later. You're not allowed to shed tears during your postpartum period."
It took a while of persuasion for Hongxiu to calm down.
Jiang Ling finally asked the question that had been on her mind, "What exactly happened? How did you end up all alone in the snow in Shijia Village? Where's Fang Shijie? Didn't he say he would take good care of you?"
Mentioning Fang Shijie, Hongxiu's eyes darkened, her nose turned slightly red, and tears welled up again: "He lied to me... Sister Jiang, he lied to me from the very beginning."
She took a deep breath and slowly began to recount her experiences after the separation.
It turned out that after Hongxiu arrived in the Great Sheng Dynasty, Fang Shijie did take good care of her and was gentle and considerate, but this kindness was accompanied by a strong ulterior motive.
He frequently probed Jiang Ling's past, inquired about the origins of her special supplies and weapons, and even tried to persuade Jiang Ling to submit to the Great Sheng Dynasty and serve him.
“He asked me to write a letter inviting you over, but I knew he had ill intentions, so I kept refusing. He then stopped treating me as well as before, keeping me in a small courtyard and not visiting me for ten days or half a month at a time.”
"Later, his attitude softened, and I thought he had changed his mind. But one time I overheard him inadvertently reveal that Sister Jiang had come to the Great Sheng Dynasty with the marriage alliance. Only then did I realize why he was no longer pressuring me to write letters."
"He said that once you come, we sisters will be reunited."
“A month ago, I heard from the border army that the princess of the Dayu Dynasty who was to be married off had been killed by bandits at the border. I tried every means to find out about you. They said that no female officials survived at the scene. I didn’t believe it, so I took advantage of the laxity in the defense and escaped from that courtyard. I ran all the way to the border.”
She paused, a hint of lingering fear flashing in her eyes: "I dared not take the main road, so I could only run along the small paths towards the border, thinking that the farther away from Shengjing the better, so that I might be able to find you. But I was pregnant, and my strength couldn't keep up, and then I encountered heavy snow... I suffered a lot along the way. In the end, I couldn't hold on any longer and fainted in the snow."
"I'm so glad that God has been kind to me, that I survived and was able to see Sister Jiang again." As she spoke, she threw herself into Jiang Ling's arms.
Jiang Ling listened, feeling both angry and pained. She gripped Hongxiu's hand tightly and said in a low voice:
“Hongxiu, don’t be afraid. With me here, no one will be able to bully you and your child anymore. Once you’ve recovered, I’ll take you back to the Great Yu Dynasty, and we’ll live together from now on.”
"Really?" Hongxiu's eyes lit up, then dimmed again. "But... I'm afraid Fang Shijie will come looking for us. He's powerful and won't let us off easily."
Jiang Ling's heart sank.
This was her biggest worry.
For this reason, she dared not contact anyone outside, fearing that Fang Shijie's people would intercept the news. Xiao Ran was probably still frantically searching for her.
Jiang Ling suppressed her worries and gently comforted her, "Just rest and don't think too much. We're about to go to war, and I've already made preparations with the villagers. We've reinforced the caves and even made cement. Even if he comes looking for us, we'll have a way to deal with it."
Just then, Old Shi came in carrying a bowl of brewed herbal medicine: "Miss Hongxiu is awake? Perfect timing, this bowl of herbal medicine is to replenish qi and blood, drink it while it's hot."
Hongxiu took the medicine bowl, looked at the dark brown liquid inside, hesitated for a moment, but still pinched her nose and drank it down.
The medicine was bitter, but a warm feeling spread through me, and I felt like I had regained some strength.
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