Chapter 259: Daughter
The air in the monastic room seemed to freeze.
The candlelight flickered, reflecting the ashen faces of everyone present. The maids had no experience with childbirth and were flustered, creating chaos.
Xue Yuechen’s intermittent cries of pain were chilling.
The mountain wind grew fiercer, and the lead-grey clouds pressed down heavily, casting a vast, desolate hue on the eaves of Shui Yue Nunnery.
“Your Highness… hasn’t Your Highness arrived yet?”
Cold sweat beaded on Xue Yuechen’s forehead, soaking the pillowcase. Her fingers clenched the bedding tightly, like a butterfly struggling in its death throes.
“Princess Consort, hold on, just hold on.” Fei Cui knelt by the couch, wiping her sweat, her voice trembling.
“This maid has already sent someone to the back mountain to inform them. The mountain road must be difficult due to the accumulated snow, causing some delay…”
Li Huan had come to Shui Yue Nunnery to visit but could not stay overnight in the nunnery, so he took his guards to Qing Yun Temple on the back mountain.
Considering the time, he should be here by now.
Xue Sui listened to Xue Yuechen’s suppressed groans, a barely perceptible tension flickering through her.
Although she understood medicine, she had never assisted in a childbirth before, and a thin sheen of sweat quietly formed on her palms.
“Has the midwife not arrived yet?”
Everyone exchanged glances, shaking their heads.
The howling north wind made the paper of the monastic room’s window rustle.
The room was filled with the scent of herbs and blood, making it even colder and more oppressive.
Xue Yuechen’s fingernails dug deeply into the brocade quilt.
“Wuwu… Sixth Sister…”
Perhaps unable to bear the pain any longer, Xue Yuechen suddenly threw the teacup beside her pillow onto the floor.
Xue Sui glanced at the shattered pieces on the ground, motioned for the maids to clean them up, then efficiently bent down, her gaze indifferent as she swept over Xue Yuechen’s pained, contorted face, and said sternly:
“The hardship of struggling in this blood is your own choice. The gate of life and death is but a thin line. If you want to survive the gates of hell, save your strength!”
“Sixth Sister, aren’t you skilled in medicine? Help me, please help me…” Xue Yuechen struggled to get up, the brocade quilt slipping to reveal her greatly distended abdomen. Her gaze involuntarily drifted towards the door.
“This is… Prince Duan’s legitimate eldest son. He must not be lost. Sixth Sister, you must protect Sister’s child…”
“If you want to protect the child, stop exhausting yourself.” Xue Sui interrupted her, pulling at the bedding soaked with amniotic fluid and blood, and again frowned as she felt her wrist pulse.
“Xiao Zhao, go to the mountain entrance and wait. As soon as the midwife arrives, bring her here quickly…”
Xiao Zhao responded and went out.
After about half a cup of tea’s time, a report came from the corridor.
Li Huan, wrapped in a dark sable fur coat, strode over.
“How is the Princess Consort?”
Guo Yunrong stood before the screen, anxiously gathering her robes and curtsying.
“Your Highness, the Princess Consort suddenly went into labor, and the midwife has not yet arrived. Sister Xue is inside assisting with the delivery…”
Li Huan nodded slightly.
He glanced at the slightly ajar door curtain, listening to Xue Yuechen’s suppressed groans from the inner room.
“Tell her, this Prince will wait outside.”
These words reached the inner chamber. Xue Yuechen, as if grasping a lifeline, cried out even more intensely than before. Tears mixed with sweat streamed down, wetting the hair at her temples.
“Your Highness, Your Highness save me… it hurts so much… it’s killing me…”
Li Huan looked at the thin door curtain, his Adam’s apple bobbing heavily.
“Princess Consort, do not be afraid, this Prince is right outside.”
Li Huan’s arrival brought a slight sense of calm to everyone.
A maidservant placed tea and invited him to rest in the guest hall, but he waved his hand in refusal and paced back and forth in the corridor.
Not long after, Xiao Zhao ran back, panting.
“Young Lady, something terrible has happened…”
Li Huan stood under the eaves and asked her in a deep voice, “What is this panic?”
Xiao Zhao glanced at him, caught her breath, and then stepped forward to bow.
“Reporting to Your Highness, a woodcutter just delivered a message saying that a great avalanche has buried half the mountain. The road is completely blocked by fallen snow and rocks… It’s unlikely the midwife can get here anytime soon…”
“An avalanche blocked the road?”
Li Huan retorted sharply, his brows furrowed with icy coldness, very fierce.
Everyone exchanged glances, unable to speak, their faces pale.
Without a midwife, the Princess Consort’s pregnancy was in grave danger…
Guo Yunrong also became anxious,
“When I came today, I also saw that the snow on the mountain was very thick. I didn’t expect the snow layer to suddenly crack and block the entire road…”
Li Huan turned his head and instructed Xiang Yang in a deep voice.
“Gather all the guards and clear the path in the mountain immediately!”
“It’s too late—” The curtain of the inner room was suddenly pulled open, and Xue Sui walked out, standing at the threshold, looking at Li Huan.
“Her cervix has opened five fingers. The Princess Consort’s fetal position is incorrect, and she is bleeding profusely.”
Li Huan’s pupils contracted sharply, and his fingertips clenched his jade belt.
Xue Sui looked at him, paused, and then said, “Your Highness must prepare for the worst.”
–
Basins of bloody water were carried out of the monastic room, and Xue Yuechen’s screams, mixed with the mountain wind, tightened everyone’s hearts.
Outside the monastic room, Li Huan paced back and forth.
His great cloak was lifted by the wind and then fell heavily, but he seemed oblivious.
Xiang Yang behind him quietly advised, “Your Highness, it’s freezing cold. Why don’t you go to the guest hall to warm yourself by the fire?”
“No need.”
Before he finished speaking, Xue Yuechen’s piercing cry suddenly came from the monastic room, as she continuously called out “Your Highness,” a sound that was sharp and terrifying…
In contrast, Xue Sui’s voice sounded exceptionally calm.
“Push! Push harder!”
Li Huan’s body trembled, and he rushed to the room door.
“Ping An, how is it?”
Jinshu opened the door a crack and bowed to Li Huan, “Your Highness Prince Duan, childbirth is a bloody affair. It is not suitable for your noble person to approach. Please wait comfortably in the guest hall.”
Li Huan looked at the dark red bloodstains on her sleeve cuff, feeling as if his heart was being squeezed by a hand.
After an unknown amount of time, the cries from the inner room gradually weakened…
Xue Yuechen’s face was pale and ashen, half her body seeming to be submerged in blood.
In her blurred consciousness, she grabbed Xue Sui’s sleeve.
“Save the child… Sixth Sister, you must save my legitimate son…”
Xue Sui knew the importance of this child and what it meant to Xue Yuechen.
Her fingertips trembled slightly, and she remained silent.
“Nonsense! The mother’s life is paramount, save the mother!” Li Huan shouted sternly from outside the door.
His voice was as deep as ice, unable to conceal a subtle trace of anxiety.
“No… I want my child…”
Xue Yuechen exerted a sudden force, her vision went black, and she fainted from the pain.
“Princess Consort!”
Xue Sui removed her grey outer robe, wearing only a plain white inner garment. Her sleeves were rolled up high, revealing a hideous old scar on her wrist.
She touched Xue Yuechen’s sweat-soaked forehead, which felt burning hot.
“Ru Yi, fetch my silver needles!”
The silver needles had long been polished in strong liquor until they gleamed.
Ru Yi tremblingly handed over the needle case. Xue Sui calmly picked up a silver needle and, as swift as a shooting star, inserted it into Xue Yuechen’s Baihui acupoint.
“Princess Consort, wake up! Don’t sleep, the child is still waiting for you to open your eyes and see him…”
Stimulated by the acupuncture, Xue Yuechen slowly regained consciousness. Looking at Xue Sui before her, tears streamed down her face onto the pillow.
“Sixth Sister… Sister has nothing… only this child… I beg you…”
She tightly grasped Xue Sui’s hand, her fingernails almost digging into her flesh.
Xue Sui frowned slightly, pulled her hand away, and tossed the blood-stained handkerchief into the copper basin.
“Get slices of old ginseng! Bring hot wine! And go to my room to get a jar of locust flower honey…”
The blood-stained handkerchief soaked into the copper basin, and the clear water instantly spread into a scarlet hue…
Xue Sui looked at the basin of bloody water.
Suddenly, she remembered being dragged out of Xue Mansion at the age of eight, the bloodstains winding on the ground…
“Sixth Sister… save my child…” Xue Yuechen’s breath was weak, her fingertips gripping the brocade quilt, spasming uncontrollably.
“Inhale—” Fine beads of sweat appeared on Xue Sui’s forehead.
The moment the silver needle entered the Tanzhong acupoint, Xue Yuechen let out a scream from her throat.
“Your Highness… Your Highness, please save our son…”
Li Huan looked at the swaying curtain of the monastic room, his fists clenching slightly.
In his ears, Guo Yunrong’s chanting of sutras suddenly intensified, mixing with the whistling cold wind, further thickening the scent of blood.
“Almost there, I can see the child!” Xue Sui looked up, and the candlelight ignited two golden flames in her eyes.
“Princess Consort, steady your mind, follow me, push, push harder…”
“Push harder!!”
Xue Yuechen bit down on the soft wood, whimpering in pain, tears mixed with sweat soaking the pillow completely.
From noon to dusk, and then from the second watch to midnight…
“Wah—”
A weak yet clear infant’s cry pierced the silence of Shui Yue Nunnery.
Xue Yuechen, exhausted, released the bitten handkerchief and fainted again.
Xue Sui turned, met Fei Cui’s suddenly stiff expression, took the crying infant to the copper basin to wash it, and wrapped it in swaddling clothes.
Hearing the baby’s cry, Li Huan rushed to the door almost instantly.
The door was pushed open from the inside, and Xue Sui walked out. The front of her plain white inner garment was stained with a large patch of blood, and cold sweat clung to her cheeks, yet her back remained straight.
She glanced at Li Huan, her voice hoarse.
“Congratulations, Your Highness. It’s a daughter. Mother and daughter are safe.”
Li Huan dazedly took the swaddled infant, cradling the purplish-skinned baby. There was no joy in his eyes, only a complex, unreadable expression.
“Ping An, you’ve worked hard.”
“Your Highness, the Princess Consort has worked hard.”
After speaking, Xue Sui turned and went back inside, her upright back carrying a hint of coldness.
Li Huan stood holding the swaddled infant, silent and stunned.
I’m not feeling well today, so I’m only posting one chapter. See you tomorrow, muah muah~
