Chapter Ninety-Six: Mother and Child Safe

“Not good, the bleeding won’t stop.” The doctor nearby glanced at the situation beneath the woman and then turned to Xie Qingtang, her face bleak with worry.

Yet Xie Qingtang paid them no heed. She remained wholly focused, inserting one silver needle after another into the woman’s body, then slipped a slice of ginseng under her tongue. “Remember, for your child, for your future happiness, you must not give up. As long as you hold on to your faith, we will not abandon you.”

“Yes, I must give birth to this son for my husband.” With the ginseng dissolving under her tongue, the woman regained a sliver of strength. Blood continued to be transfused, and she mustered her will to fight against the pain, following Xie Qingtang’s instructions.

But the woman’s body was simply too frail. Even with the aid of the silver needles and the ginseng, her strength ebbed away as the blood loss continued, her vitality slipping further with each passing moment.

Seeing this, Xie Qingtang bit her lip, steeling herself to take a desperate risk. Drawing a deep breath, she retrieved a vial from her medical kit and addressed the woman, “This is a labor-inducing medicine. If you drink it, your child will likely come out quickly, but there is also a chance it won’t work—and you could die here. Rather than leave the question of whose life to save to those outside, I’d rather let you decide for yourself: will you save the child, or yourself?”

“If you take this, I will do all I can to save your child, but I may not be able to save you. If you refuse it, I will certainly be able to save you, but I may not be able to save your child.”

With these words, the operating room fell into sudden silence. A single tear slid down the woman’s cheek. Slowly, she raised her trembling hand and took the vial from Xie Qingtang.

“Save my child, whatever it takes.” With that, she drank the medicine in one gulp. Two minutes later, her belly convulsed violently, as if the child inside could wait no longer to be born.

But the child’s eagerness was agony for the mother, worsening her hemorrhaging. The hospital’s blood bank was running dangerously low.

Xie Qingtang’s eyes reddened, but she said nothing, for she had to seize these final moments to save the child. Soon, the baby was born, and a smile of relief flickered across the doctor’s face.

Yet the massive blood loss sent the woman into a coma. The blood bank’s reserves were exhausted, and her life hung by a thread. Everyone knew her chances of survival were slim.

While others began to give up, Xie Qingtang refused to surrender. As long as there was a sliver of hope, she would not let go. So, as the doctors and nurses tended to the newborn, she swiftly pulled out every silver needle from the woman’s body.

She took a bottle of medicinal powder from her kit, dipped a needle in it, and began piercing the woman’s body with renewed urgency. By the time the doctors finished cleaning and wrapping the child, they turned to see the woman bristling with needles, like a porcupine—an astonishing, almost terrifying sight, especially as the powder on the needles slowly turned a dreadful shade of red.

Then, something even more shocking occurred: the hemorrhaging finally stopped. Xie Qingtang, spent and drained of all strength, at last allowed herself a deep sigh of relief and collapsed to the floor.

“The bleeding has stopped!” The nurse who had doubted Xie Qingtang stared in disbelief.

In those tense moments, Xie Qingtang had summoned all her focus, inserting so many needles in just five minutes that she was left utterly exhausted. It was a long while before she could recover herself.

“The rest is in your hands now. I trust you can save her.” Xie Qingtang turned to the doctors and nurses.

With the bleeding staunched, the treatment could proceed as normal. The doctors nodded, and Xie Qingtang gathered her kit and left the operating room.

As she stepped out, a crowd surged toward her. Among them, a weathered middle-aged woman grasped Xie Qingtang’s hand. “My daughter is in there. How is she?”

“Don’t worry, her will is strong. She will survive.” Xie Qingtang smiled gently, and the woman pressed her hands together in gratitude, tears of relief streaming down her face.

But as these words fell, the woman’s husband collapsed to the floor, muttering, “My son is gone.”

Seeing that his first response to his wife’s survival was not joy, but sorrow for the child, Xie Qingtang suddenly felt a deep sadness. Was that woman inside, who had chosen to save her child at the brink of death, truly making that sacrifice for such a man?

Because both mother and child were in critical condition, it was only after the doctors and nurses had stabilized them that they were wheeled out of the operating room.

When this happened, the man—Aben’s cousin—finally broke into a smile, realizing both mother and child had been saved. The crowd of onlookers in the maternity ward burst into cheers at the happy ending.

Only Gu Xiujin noticed the exhausted Xie Qingtang. He approached, and to her surprise, stood up from his wheelchair and took her hand.

“Gu Xiujin, what are you doing?” Xie Qingtang asked in confusion. In the next moment, he had her sit in the wheelchair and quietly pushed her through the cheering crowd, out into the quiet beyond.

No one noticed their departure; all eyes were on the mother and child who had survived against the odds.

“Gu Xiujin, do you know? In that operating room, I asked the woman to choose between her life and her child’s. Without hesitation, she chose the child. If not for the medicine my master left me, I could never have saved her.” Xie Qingtang’s voice was soft as she spoke to Gu Xiujin behind her.