Sixty-four-year-old Lan Xiuhe in despair
When Lan Xiuhe was awakened by excruciating pain, she was not fully conscious and her hand touched her stomach.
"Child...child..."
Gu Zuozuo put a low-level healing pill that she had made herself into her mouth, and used her slender fingertips to help her swallow it down.
"Sister-in-law, you are in great danger right now. You need to give birth to the baby in your belly. It will be very painful, extremely painful. Can you bear it?"
The baby is stillborn and cannot be expelled on its own. The mother has to massage her abdomen to force the baby out, which means she has to endure several times more pain than a normal childbirth!
Lan Xiuhe gripped Gu Zuozuo's arm tightly, her pale, bluish face filled with a pleading and unwavering expression.
"Please help my child, I'm not afraid of pain...please..."
Gu Zuozuo pursed her lips, a hint of regret flashing in her eyes, and then turned to get busy.
The people who were whispering outside suddenly heard a piercing scream, which terrified them so much that they broke out in a cold sweat.
Lan Xiuhe had never realized that childbirth was so painful. She had given birth to two daughters before, but none of them had made her feel like she was living a life worse than death.
Her lower body felt as if it had been cleaved open by a knife, and her stomach felt like it had been scraped and chiseled. Lan Xiuhe's hands, covered in chilblains and deformed, clenched tightly around the patched bed sheet beneath her, veins bulging and joints white.
Gu Zuo skillfully kneaded and pressed her bulging belly back and forth with her left hand, showing no sign of leniency, which made the other aunties and grandmas who were helping her grin.
Standing at the head of the bed, Ma Quan stared at his wife's pitiful state with bloodshot eyes. He was useless; he couldn't protect his wife and children!
"I can see the head!"
Aunt Li exclaimed in surprise and rushed forward to help.
Shortly after, with an even more pitiful wail, a baby covered in bruises was delivered.
"Child... why isn't the child crying?"
Lan Xiuhe lost all her strength, and even her consciousness became blurred.
"Quick! Gu Zhiqing! Xiuhe is bleeding heavily from below!"
Gu Zuozuo remained calm, pressing with her left hand to help expel lochia, while using her right hand to insert a needle to quickly stop the bleeding from worsening.
"It's a boy."
Aunt Li glanced at the now-grown baby in her arms, a look of pain flashing across her eyes.
Bang!
A thud was heard as Ma Quan fell to the ground. Everyone looked over and saw him lying stiffly on the ground, his face ashen.
Gu Zuozuo sighed. Another troublemaker. His mental fortitude is really poor. If he had known this would happen, why didn't he stand up and protect his wife and daughter in the first place?
Having just rescued Lan Xiuhe, she had to give Ma Quan, who was lying on the ground, a few acupuncture needles to wake him up and make him realize the consequences of his inaction.
Lan Xiuhe had recovered from the shock, but looking at the motionless little bundle in Aunt Li's arms, she felt a pang of heartache, as if her premonition had been shattered.
"Gu Zhiqing, is there any hope for him? He can still be saved, right? Can't you save him? Please! Save him! I'll do anything for you!"
Lan Xiuhe tried to get up and kowtow to her, but found that she had no strength at all and was so desperate that she almost fainted.
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