In the General's Mansion in the northern frontier, the afternoon sun shone warmly on the courtyard. Shen Zhao, with her large pregnant belly, was enthusiastically directing her maid to pick the newly blooming wisteria flowers under the eaves, saying she wanted to learn how to make flower cakes.
“The one on the left! Yes, the one that’s the most purple!” She pointed up on tiptoe.
"Madam, please slow down!" the maidservant reminded her anxiously.
Before she could finish speaking, Shen Zhao tripped over something and stumbled! She cried out in surprise, instantly losing her balance and falling towards the hard stone steps beside her!
"Zhaozhao—!!!"
A dark shadow flashed past like lightning! Lu Qi had just stepped into the courtyard when he saw this scene, and his heart almost stopped beating! He burst out with unprecedented speed, and just before Shen Zhao's body was about to crash into the stone steps, he narrowly used his own body to cushion the impact!
"Ugh!" Shen Zhao crashed heavily onto Lu Qi. The impact made Lu Qi groan, but he held Shen Zhao's stomach and head tightly with his arms.
"Zhao Zhao! Zhao Zhao, how are you?!" Lu Qi ignored the sharp pain in his back from hitting the stone steps, his voice trembling as he anxiously checked on his wife in his arms.
Shen Zhao's face turned deathly pale, and her forehead instantly became covered in cold sweat. She gripped Lu Qi's collar tightly, her voice trembling violently and choked with sobs: "Lu Qi...it hurts...my stomach...it hurts so much..."
Lu Qi looked down and was utterly terrified! Beneath Shen Zhao's pale yellow skirt, a glaring wet stain had appeared and was rapidly expanding, faintly tinged with blood!
"Help! Help! Help!!!" Lu Qi's roar, like a wounded tiger, instantly shattered the tranquility of the General's Mansion. "Go find my sister-in-law! Find the midwife! Quickly!!!"
The entire general's mansion erupted in chaos! Footsteps, exclamations, and running sounds filled the air.
Outside the delivery room.
Lu Zheng paced back and forth in the corridor with his hands behind his back and a solemn expression, each step causing a slight tremor in the ground. Luo Qingrou sat on a chair to the side, clutching a string of Buddhist prayer beads tightly in her hand, her fingertips turning white, muttering incantations, but her eyes were fixed on the tightly closed door, through which maids kept coming in and out with hot water and clean cloths.
Every time the door opened, the glaring blood in the copper basin made Luo Qingrou's heart clench even tighter.
Lu Qi, like a trapped beast, leaned against the cold pillar, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at the door. His brocade robe was torn in the back by the stone steps, blood seeping through, but he seemed oblivious. His fists clenched so tightly they cracked, his nails digging deep into his palms. The occasional, suppressed groans of pain emanating from within felt like dull knives repeatedly cutting into his heart.
"Why isn't it better yet...why is it taking so long..." His voice was hoarse, filled with unprecedented fear and helplessness. He suddenly grabbed a young maid who had just come out carrying an empty basin, his grip so tight it almost crushed her arm. "How is Madam?! Tell me!"
The young maidservant turned deathly pale and trembled violently: "General...Madam...Madam...the midwife said...it's twins, and premature...the cervix is dilating slowly...she's still pushing..."
"Force? How can I force her when she's in so much pain?!" Lu Qi released his grip as if burned, grabbing his hair in frustration, and roared at the closed door, "Zhao Zhao! Hang in there! Do you hear me! Hang in there!"
Luo Qingrou couldn't bear to watch any longer. She got up and went to her son's side, grabbing his trembling arm tightly. Her voice was forced and calm: "Qi'er! Calm down! You're only making Zhao Zhao more nervous! An'an is inside; she's the best doctor! There's also Dr. Wang, who delivered An'an, and Granny Wang, an experienced twin deliverer! Zhao Zhao is lucky; he'll be alright!" Despite her words, her own voice trembled almost imperceptibly.
Lu Zheng also stopped and said in a deep voice, "What's the panic! My Lu family's wife is not that delicate!" But his tightly furrowed brows and clenched fists also betrayed his inner anxiety.
Time seemed to stand still...
Each sudden, piercing cry of pain from Shen Zhao felt like a whip lashing at Lu Qi's heart. Countless times he wanted to rush in, only to be held back by Luo Qingrou and his father. As he watched the basins of blood being carried out, his vision blurred, and a tremendous fear of loss completely engulfed him.
"Mother..." Lu Qi's voice was broken and choked with sobs. This iron-blooded general, who had never retreated in the face of thousands of troops on the battlefield, was now like a lost child. "Zhao Zhao... she lost so much blood... will she..."
"Shut up!" Luo Qingrou interrupted him sharply, her eyes also reddening. "Don't talk nonsense! Zhaozhao and the children will be alright! May the Bodhisattva protect them, may our ancestors protect them..."
Just then, an unusually sharp and shrill scream suddenly came from the delivery room, followed by a brief silence!
Lu Qi's blood instantly turned to ice! He no longer cared about being stopped and burst into the room like a mad tiger!
"Zhaozhao—!!!"
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