Transmigrated Genius: Fragile Heiress Reigns Supreme-Chapter 742 - 743: Birth (Part 4)

If it weren’t for an urgent matter, he wouldn’t have come to the palace in the middle of the night.

Xiao Yanyi frowned deeply, his usually gentle face was full of anxiety: "It’s my fourth brother.... my fourth sister-in-law is giving birth today, and I hope His Majesty allows my fourth brother to enter the city promptly..."

"Fourth Madam is giving birth?" Chief Chang was stunned as he heard it, and Xiao Yanyi nodded, his voice slightly unsteady: "Mother and child are in danger!"

"Please wait a moment!" Chief Chang turned around to push the door, and the palace gate gradually opened a crack. But before he could enter, a furious shout from the Emperor echoed from inside: "Get out!"

Chief Chang was startled. Tonight, the Emperor had read the reports from Jiangnan, where the Min Family had tied up many civilians on the city tower. If Huang Da attacked the city, these civilians would be targets, and they even threatened to flood the city with water from the canal. Huang Da was currently in a standoff beneath the city tower, making the Emperor furious—so much so that even the good news of Grand Commander Xiao’s return to the capital was somewhat overshadowed.

"Yes!" Chief Chang shivered at the door, not daring to enter, and quickly retreated, looking apologetic towards Xiao Yanyi: "Marquis... what do you think..."

Xiao Yanyi frowned deeply, glanced at the great hall whose lights were already out, furrowed his brows, and gave Chief Chang a look, saying in a deep voice: "The Marquis will wait here for His Majesty." Pausing, he continued: "I am a bit thirsty; can I trouble you for a cup of tea?"

Chief Chang looked deep into Xiao Yanyi’s eyes, straightened his face, nodded, and said: "Marquis, wait a moment!" With that, he waved his Buddhist Dust, taking the two little eunuchs at the door away with him.

Xiao Yanyi made a decisive move, not hesitating to push the palace door: "Your Majesty, your humble servant, Marquis Xuanning Xiao Yanyi, requests an audience for an urgent matter!"

Madam Jiang’s face turned iron-blue; having experienced the danger of difficult labor herself, Tong Xiyan also knew the peril of childbirth. Upon hearing, her face turned pale: "How... how could this happen." She looked at the Grand Dowager: "The... the last time we had Doctor Wen deliver for the elder sister-in-law, bring him here."

The Grand Dowager’s face was as calm as water as she shook her head: "When Commandery Prince Rong had the accident, Doctor Wen hanged himself in the Prince Manor." In reality, no one survived to walk out of the Prince Manor.

"Sixth Sister." Tong Xiyan listened, lifted the curtain, and rushed inside, tears falling down, seeing Xiqiu lying on the bed with closed eyes and furrowed brows: "It’s fine, it will be fine, you have to hold on."

Xiqiu nodded randomly, not paying attention to talking with her, and it happened that Nanny Cen finished making the medicine and came in. Xiqiu half-leaned and drank it all in one go.

Time seemed to pass slowly, everyone was waiting for the labor-inducing medicine to take effect. Xiqiu opened her eyes and asked Chunliu: "What time is it now?"

Chunliu glanced at the pocket watch: "Quarter past the hour of 7 p.m."

The contractions had completely disappeared.

Xiqiu had already lost all hope, she frowned and looked at the midwife, her voice deep as she asked: "Do you have any more solutions?"

The two midwives were almost unsteady, as two hours had passed since the water broke, and the cervix of the Madam hadn’t moved at all. If there is still no movement soon, the child inside also feared would be hard to save. Once the fetus couldn’t be saved, to deliver it would need a dangerous medicine, and after using such a medicine, it would be hard for the Madam to conceive again in the future.

The two midwives looked at each other...

This is the Great Governor Mansion; if anything happens to the Madam tonight, none of them here might survive. Instead of all dying, it might be worth taking a risk, and perhaps there is a sliver of hope still.

Nanny Cai steadied herself and looked at Xiqiu.

At this moment, the Grand Dowager was helped inside by Madam Jiang, and everyone couldn’t avoid it anymore. It seemed that more people could at least brace each other’s spirits.

The Grand Dowager stood at the entrance, as everyone looked towards the midwives.

The two midwives knelt on the ground, their faces full of terrified anxiety, stammering their reply: "In the past... there have been such cases, where the water broke but nothing happened..." They paused and uneasily glanced at the Grand Dowager: "Is it preserving the mother or the child."

Before Xiqiu and the Grand Dowager could speak, Tong Xiyan sprang up, pointing at the midwife and scolding: "What good are you if you can only choose between saving the mother or the child!" After speaking, her eyes reddened: "Even so, the priority should be to save the mother."

Madam Jiang frowned: "Fourth Sister!" Pausing: "Let her finish speaking."

The Grand Dowager was present, the Sixth Son-in-law was absent, and the Sixth Sister was already a member of the Xiao Family; the only one who could speak and decide was the Grand Dowager.

Ruan Jingliu silently frowned.

The Grand Dowager trembled upon hearing it, closed her eyes, and reopened them with the might of someone of authority: "Tell me, how to preserve the mother, and how to preserve the child?"

The two midwives knelt on the ground, trembling, hesitantly answering: "If preserving... the child, then..." She looked towards Xiqiu: "cut open the Madam’s belly with scissors..." Even though the Grand Dowager had heard of it, she couldn’t help her vision going black for a moment, barely holding on, as the midwife continued: "If preserving... the mother, then use scissors... to dismember the child and take it out."

"Silence!" Ruan Jingliu first voiced, stopping the midwife. Tong Xiyan jumped up, furious: "So apart from using scissors, you have no other methods?" It indeed was a method where only one could be saved; if the mother were preserved, the child must die, and if the child were preserved, the same would be true for the mother.

Madam Jiang and Bilian supported the Grand Dowager, who closed her eyes in deep contemplation, full of exhaustion... why is the Xiao family’s offspring so difficult to bear?

Tears flowed down the weathered, yet vibrant eyes of the Grand Dowager, trailing down her cheeks. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The two midwives, scared from the scolding from Tong Xiyan and Ruan Jingliu, collapsed on the ground.

Xiqiu’s face turned calm as water, settling into silence. She touched her unmoving belly, her heart thoroughly chilled. The child she carried for nearly ten months... She couldn’t be like her past life, where even in death, she drifted away like a leaf in the wind, leaving no trace behind, with no one remembering her or any ties...

She looked at the Grand Dowager and asked: "Where is Fourth Master, has Fourth Master returned?"

Madam Jiang released the Grand Dowager, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. She quickly wiped away her tears and replied: "I will, I will go outside and see if the Fourth Son-in-law has returned!"

With that, she quickly lifted the curtain and rushed out.

Tong Xiyan and Chunliu and Biwu cried at the bedside uncontrollably.

"Mother!" Xiqiu spoke, looking at the Grand Dowager, slowly uttering a few words: "Save the child!" This was the continuation of her life. If there truly was no choice, if all was beyond hope, she could die, but the child could not.

Everyone was stunned. Tong Xiyan shook her head: "No, no!" Yet couldn’t utter a word, choked up for a long time, she insisted: "There has to be another way." After finishing, she looked expectantly at Ruan Jingliu, hoping she might have some good method, but with expertise, even the skilled Ruan Jingliu couldn’t guarantee every possibility, and she stood there with a defeated look.