Chapter 196
Inside the delivery room, unable to hear the frantic pounding on the door, Ye Yunniang breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ah... hiss... Mother, Mother..."
"I'm here."
Cai Damei walked to Ye Yunniang's side and held her hand.
"Mother is here, don't be afraid, don't be afraid."
"Mother... if anything happens to me, the children, I leave them to you... Ah—"
Ye Yunniang's face was covered in sweat from the pain.
"You will raise your own children. I won't do it for you. I'm so old, taking care of Shushu is already hard enough. How would I have the energy to take care of four of them?" Cai Damei flatly refused.
"Mother... Ah... promise, promise me," Ye Yunniang pleaded, her voice trembling.
She felt her consciousness blurring.
"Promise me, Mother, promise..."
"If you want me to promise you, you have to stay alive and well," Cai Damei demanded.
Ye Yunniang couldn't clearly hear Cai Damei's words; she just kept saying, "Promise me, promise me... the children..."
"Yunniang, don't sleep. Yunniang, wake up!" Cai Damei shouted.
Outside, Jiang Mingzhe heard that something was wrong and rushed into the room, ignoring all attempts to stop him.
"Yunniang—"
Ye Yunniang couldn't hear the shouts at this moment; she found herself in an empty, desolate room.
There was no one in the room.
Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared by the window.
"Mother?"
The figure did not respond.
"Pan'er?"
No.
"An'an?"
"Pingping?"
None of them. Then who was it?
"Jiang Mingzhe, is that you?"
The figure moved.
Ye Yunniang breathed a sigh of relief. "Jiang Mingzhe, you actually scared me."
She opened the window and saw the person's face.
"Brother Jun!" Ye Yunniang screamed involuntarily.
"Brother Jun, why are you here? Aren't you, dead? Where is this place?"
Li Jun didn't speak, just looked at Ye Yunniang with gentle eyes.
Then, he reached out and gave her a push.
Ye Yunniang felt her body sink.
Followed by a sharp pain across her body.
"Ah—"
"Wah..."
"The baby is born!"
What was born?
Ye Yunniang wanted to ask, but her head grew dizzy again.
Ye Yunniang once again found herself in the empty room.
She walked quickly to the window and opened it.
"Brother Jun? Where are you? Come out! Mother and I miss you so much!"
Ye Yunniang called out a few times, but Li Jun did not appear.
Ye Yunniang tried to climb out the window, but there was a barrier preventing her.
She couldn't even reach her hand out.
Ye Yunniang could only look around inside the room.
The room was very empty, lacking any objects that could prove where this was.
Bored, Ye Yunniang leaned against the window, waiting for Li Jun to appear again.
Tired from waiting, Ye Yunniang groggily fell asleep.
In her haze, Ye Yunniang heard someone calling her.
"Yunniang, Yunniang left me and the child behind. Yuanyuan was just born and cannot be without a mother. Yunniang, Yunniang..."
The voice was extremely sorrowful.
Hearing the voice, Ye Yunniang felt a bit uncomfortable.
She felt as if she had forgotten something.
What had she forgotten?
"Yunniang."
"Brother Jun." Ye Yunniang stood up. "Brother Jun, you've finally come to see me."
"Go back." Li Jun was very direct, telling Ye Yunniang to go back.
"Brother Jun, don't you miss me and Mother?" Ye Yunniang didn't want to leave.
Having finally seen Li Jun, she wanted to talk with him more.
"Brother Jun, after you left, I got pregnant.
It was a son, and Mother and Father named him 'Pan'er'. Hoping for your return, ah..."
Ye Yunniang wanted to say more, but Li Jun pushed her again.
This time, very hard.
Ye Yunniang lost her balance and fell backward.
Ye Yunniang flailed her arms, trying to grab something to stop her falling body.
But it was useless; her body continued to plummet.
During the fall, Ye Yunniang also heard Li Jun's words.
"Yunniang, take good care of Mother and Pan'er, and take good care of yourself."
The sensation of falling made Ye Yunniang snap her eyes open.
Unshaven and with moist eyes, Jiang Mingzhe said, "Yunniang, you're awake."
Ye Yunniang raised her hand.
Jiang Mingzhe caught Ye Yunniang's hand and pressed it against his own face.
"You've lost weight."
"I'll gain it back by eating a bit more." Jiang Mingzhe held Ye Yunniang's hand tightly.
"Yunniang, I almost lost you. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have let you get pregnant and have a child."
Ye Yunniang remembered that she had been giving birth.
"The baby?"
"Yuanyuan, Mother is taking care of him. He is very well," Jiang Mingzhe had just finished speaking.
Cai Damei walked in holding the baby.
"Yunniang is awake."
"Mother." Ye Yunniang tried to sit up, but her body felt soft and devoid of strength.
"Don't move. The imperial doctor said you need to rest in bed," Jiang Mingzhe gently held Ye Yunniang down.
Ye Yunniang stopped moving, her eyes fixed on the baby in Cai Damei's arms.
"Look at your son."
"A son?" Ye Yunniang looked at Jiang Mingzhe in confusion. How was it a son?
"You probably saw it wrong in your dreams," Jiang Mingzhe explained.
"Could he have been switched?"
Cai Damei patted Ye Yunniang. "What nonsense are you talking about? You gave birth at home, with so many of us surrounding you. How could he be switched? In broad daylight, you must have seen a ghost."
"I really did see a ghost," Ye Yunniang thought of seeing Li Jun and wanted to say it out loud. But catching a glimpse of Jiang Mingzhe's haggard face, she swallowed the words down.
"I must have seen it wrong in my dream."
Ye Yunniang held Jiang Mingzhe's hand. "I'm hungry."
"I'll go to the kitchen to give some orders." Jiang Mingzhe got up and left.
Cai Damei placed Yuanyuan beside Ye Yunniang.
"Yuanyuan, this is your mother," Cai Damei said to Yuanyuan.
Yuanyuan looked at Ye Yunniang and grinned.
Big round eyes, a chubby little mouth—just like in her dream.
She really had seen it wrong, mistaking a boy for a little girl.
"Yuanyuan, I'm your mother." Ye Yunniang reached out and rubbed Yuanyuan's head.
Yuanyuan opened his mouth and babbled.
Ye Yunniang looked at Yuanyuan for a while and soon fell asleep from exhaustion.
When Ye Yunniang woke up, Jiang Mingzhe was keeping watch by her side.
Li An and Gu Cundong were also there.
Seeing Ye Yunniang awake, Li An walked over and hugged her.
"Mother~" Ye Yunniang's five days of unconsciousness had terrified Li An.
"I made An'an worry. Mother is fine," Ye Yunniang comforted Li An.
"You are not fine, you have a major issue." Once familiar with someone, Gu Cundong had a very sharp tongue.
"Doctor Gu, what is wrong with my wife?"
"Master, you must save my mother."
Gu Cundong stated his diagnosis from taking her pulse.
During Ye Yunniang's previous two deliveries, she hadn't properly observed her postpartum confinement, leaving behind root ailments. This time, she gave birth prematurely.
It had damaged her foundation.
Ye Yunniang would not be able to get pregnant again, and her body needed to be carefully nursed.
Otherwise, her lifespan would be compromised.
Gu Cundong prescribed some medicine and gave instructions to Jiang Mingzhe.
It would be best for Ye Yunniang to observe a 60-day postpartum confinement.
He would come every five days to perform acupuncture to speed up Ye Yunniang's recovery and conditioning.
Jiang Mingzhe agreed.
Observing confinement in the scorching heat of July and August with the doors and windows closed made the room very stuffy, but Ye Yunniang didn't feel much heat.
She only felt a chill deep in her bones.
Even though being locked in the room was very boring.
Ye Yunniang didn't complain much.
This incident not only frightened her family, but Ye Yunniang herself was also left with lingering fear.
Her family also knew that her confinement was arduous. Every day, they took turns keeping Ye Yunniang company, chatting with her to relieve her boredom.
Li An specifically requested Gu Cundong to adjust his class schedule.
"Mother, is this pressure okay?"