Chapter 563 is unreadable.
The scorching heat seemed to be baking away the last bit of moisture between heaven and earth. Before noon, there were hardly any people on the streets; the sun was so intense that it was unbearably hot.
These past few days, the clinic has been seeing mostly people suffering from heatstroke due to strenuous outdoor labor and intense activity.
Li San Niang then performed acupuncture on a man suffering from heatstroke, when Nan Xing walked over with a woman who looked like an old lady from a wealthy family.
"Dr. Li, this is a request for you to make an outpatient visit."
After bowing to Li San Niang, the woman respectfully addressed her: "Dr. Li, my wife is a cousin of Liu Ruyi's wife. My wife is about to give birth, and after hearing from Liu's eldest daughter-in-law that Dr. Li's medical skills are superb, we would like to invite Dr. Li to our home for a consultation."
Upon hearing this, Li San Niang washed her hands, picked up her medical kit, and followed the old woman into the carriage with Qiu Xiang.
Along the way, Li San Niang learned about the complicated marriage ties from the old woman.
Liu Ruyi (who appears in Chapter 416 and is a member of Gao Dasao's family) is the sister of the mother of this woman named Tang Lijiao. However, Tang Lijiao was born later and is older than Liu Ruyi.
Liu Ruyi was about ten years older than Tang Lijiao. After giving birth with the help of Li Sanniang, Liu Ruyi felt that Li Sanniang was tight-lipped. Therefore, Liu Ruyi introduced the female doctor Li Sanniang to Tang Lijiao, who was also married in Chang'an.
Tang Lijiao married into a noble family. Because the grandmother of this family wanted to see her great-grandson before she died, Tang Lijiao married into Yue Wenyuan's family before she reached the age of marriage.
The following year, Tang Lijiao, who had just turned 18, consummated her marriage with Yue Wenyuan. Naturally, at the beginning of this year, Tang Lijiao was diagnosed with a two-month pregnancy.
Whether it was fate or something else, Grandmother Yue actually survived and is still alive today.
However, because Tang Lijiao is petite like her mother and is also young, her pregnancy has been very difficult. Now, she is almost nine months pregnant and will soon be born.
Everything sounded alright, and Li San Niang just assumed she was a first-time mother who wanted to have a peaceful delivery.
But when Li San Niang and Qiu Xiang arrived at Yuejia's house, got off the carriage, and were greeted by maids and led into Tang Lijiao's courtyard, and saw Tang Lijiao's current appearance on the bed in the inner room, Li San Niang finally understood why Liu Ruyi had introduced her to Tang Lijiao.
Looking at Tang Lijiao lying face up on the bed, Li Sanniang could only think: "She's dead!"
Why did Li San Niang come to this conclusion without even taking a pulse or feeling the pulse?
Tang Lijiao's current appearance is simply not the way one would expect her to survive childbirth.
Women who are already petite have narrow pelvises, and childbirth relies on a wide pelvis to allow the baby's head to pass smoothly through the birth canal.
If a woman is petite, an episiotomy can be performed to widen the soft birth canal and assist in the delivery of the baby.
But that comes with a condition: the child must be macrosomic (large for gestation).
But the appearance of Tang Lijiao that Li San Niang saw was, to put it bluntly, like the queen ant in an ant colony whose only function was reproduction. Her abdomen was swollen high, and her whole body looked like a steamed bun full of yeast, plump and soft.
The shock on Li San Niang's face was so obvious, and it grew increasingly ugly, as if she were about to turn into a villain. Not to mention the old woman who came to fetch her, even her mother-in-law sitting at the Eight Immortals table could sense it.
With a dark face, Li San Niang greeted her mother-in-law and Tang Li Jiao. She listened to her mother-in-law say, "Although Ru Yi and Jiao Jiao are different in age, they are sisters and will still be close even after they get married."
Ruyi said, "Doctor Li is one of the best doctors in Chang'an. We'd be grateful if he could examine Jiaojiao."
Li San Niang didn't move, sitting motionless on the other side of the Eight Immortals table.
"Dr. Li?"
Li San Niang raised her head and smiled at her mother-in-law with an obvious fake smile. "On my way here, I overheard the old women in Madam Yue's household talking about Madam Tang's situation."
Li San Niang saw her mother-in-law glance at the old woman standing obediently behind her, then turn around and nod at Li San Niang.
"Madam Tang married into the family early because of the old lady's affairs, and became pregnant just after turning fifteen, is that correct?"
"Is that so? What do you think?"
"Excuse my intrusion, but may I ask how many sons and daughters Madam Yue has?"
Although Madam Yue was somewhat puzzled, she could tell from Li San Niang's appearance that she was not the kind of brainless and wicked woman, so she replied, "I have already given birth to three sons and two daughters, and Jiao Jiao's husband is my youngest son."
Li San Niang nodded, then stood up and glanced at Tang Lijiao, who was lying on the opposite bed looking like a big worm, before turning back to bow and greet Madam Yue.
"Since Madam Yue successfully gave birth to three sons and two daughters, she must know that pregnant women must be careful about what they eat and cannot eat whatever they want."
And I imagine that Lady Tang must not have looked like this before she got married, right?
I don't know why Madam Yue deliberately treated Madam Tang this way.
But I am truly unable to treat this ailment; I implore Madam Yue to seek another more skilled physician.”
After saying that, Li San Niang picked up the medical kit at her feet, looked at the old woman behind Madam Yue, and gestured for her to take her and Qiu Xiang away.
Madam Yue blushed. She, the wife of a seventh-rank official, had never been spoken to like this by a woman without any rank!
However, when Madam Yue turned her gaze to Tang Lijiao, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty, causing her face to turn red and white in turns.
Li San Niang and Qiu Xiang were eventually led out the door, and Li San Niang naturally declined the consultation fee offered by the old woman.
"I didn't even see a patient, so how can I charge a consultation fee?"
Li San Niang also refused the Yue family's carriage and hailed a carriage on the street with Qiu Xiang. "Let's go to Liu Niangzi's house. We must tell her about this."
"Third Sister, what's this?"
"The child in Madam Tang's belly is a death warrant; the day the child is born will be the day Madam Tang dies."
Given her condition, it's impossible for her to give birth naturally.
Even if I were to perform an episiotomy on her, it wouldn't work!
Li San Niang could tell what Qiu Xiang was thinking just by looking at her, and said directly, "I know you said you could have the child removed by cutting open the abdomen like Jiu Niang did."
But did you see how big Tang Niangzi's belly was?
Even if I could perform a cesarean section to remove the child, at most I could guarantee that the child might survive. But with that cut on Tang Niangzi's body, even if I stitched it up, the wound wouldn't heal and would get infected. She would still die, and die a very painful death.
I really don't understand how a woman who has given birth to three sons and two daughters could not know how to take care of herself during pregnancy.
How did you raise Madam Tang to be like that?
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