The wait stretched on until nightfall.

Qi Shi and Xia Shi had long since found excuses to leave. Even Zhu Shi was coaxed away by Hua Zhi. Outside, only Hua Zhi and Shao Yao remained waiting. Shao Yao had gone inside twice more during that time.

Through the door came a steady stream of muffled groans. Shao Yao tightened her grip on Hua Zhi’s arm.

Hua Zhi tilted her head to look at her. “Afraid?”

“No.” Shao Yao shook her head. Fear was genuinely not something she felt — she had seen all manner of things in her time following the Shizi. “But hearing her like that, I feel as though my own stomach hurts too.”

Hua Zhi laughed in spite of herself and looked up at the sky, dotted with scattered points of starlight. Such a tremendous storm had raged today, yet after the wind and rain had passed, the sky had cleared again. By the look of the night, tomorrow would surely bring fair weather.

By her reckoning, nearly ten hours had passed. If the ancestors of the Hua Family had any power in the afterlife, she asked them earnestly to watch over the Fourth Aunt through a safe delivery. The Hua Family was in great need of the arrival of a new life.

Basin after basin of bloodied water was carried out. Basin after basin of hot water went in. Then, after yet another hour, Wu Shi let out a great cry — and the wailing of an infant followed.

Hua Zhi leapt to her feet. “The baby is here!”

A moment later, Nanny Lin came out cradling a bundled newborn and offered her congratulations. “Congratulations… to the eldest young miss — a son has been born.”

The phrasing felt awkward to Nanny Lin as she said it, and strange to Hua Zhi as she heard it. Had the Hua Family not fallen into misfortune, the proper words would have been “Congratulations to the Fourth Master” — and then the Fourth Uncle, overjoyed beyond measure, would have come forward to receive the child.

But the Fourth Uncle was not here. He could not come back.

Hua Zhi looked at the small, scrunched face of the newborn and gently took him into her arms. “Your father will love you dearly. Let us wait for him to return together.”

Nanny Lin’s eyes reddened. She turned away and pressed her composure back into place, then turned back with a full smile. “The eldest young miss is quite right. The Fourth Master has always adored children.”

Hua Zhi passed the child back into Nanny Lin’s arms and gave a soft hum of acknowledgment.

“Eldest young miss! Quickly — come quickly.” The midwife’s sharp cry sent Hua Zhi’s heart, which had only just begun to settle, shooting back up into her throat. She gathered her skirts and ran inside. One look at the blood-soaked bedding told her everything before the midwife could say a word.

Hemorrhaging. It could not be.

Shao Yao stepped forward quickly, caught Wu Shi’s wrist and held it for a moment, then opened her medicine chest and withdrew a set of gold needles. She tossed aside her wide-brimmed hat. “Huahua — obstetrics is not my strongest area. I will do everything I can.”

Hua Zhi bit the tip of her tongue sharply. “You have years of experience delivering children,” she said to the midwife, her voice cutting through the panic. “Think of every method you know to stop the bleeding — now!”

The midwife pinched her own thigh hard to force herself calm, then placed her hands on Wu Shi’s abdomen and began to massage with gentle, careful pressure. In all her years of midwifery, she had never once seen a woman survive such heavy bleeding after delivery. This was the most perilous threshold a woman in labor could face. All she could do now was try her best and leave the rest to fate.

Hua Zhi moved to the head of the bed and leaned close to Wu Shi’s ear. “Fourth Aunt — do not close your eyes. Look at me.”

Wu Shi fought with everything she had to hold onto her sinking consciousness, forcing her eyes open with tremendous effort. The wet, weakened state of her lower body and the failing strength draining from her limbs told her plainly that her situation was dire.

“Fourth Aunt — do not give up. Shao Yao is an excellent physician. With her here, you will be all right.”

Wu Shi managed only a faint twitch of her lips in response, her eyes falling half-shut.

Hua Zhi lifted the baby and steeled herself — then gave his bottom a firm pat. The child burst into loud, startled wails.

“Fourth Aunt — look at your son. You have given the Fourth Uncle another boy.”

Wu Shi struggled and opened her eyes again to look at the child she had fought so hard to bring into this world — the curve of his features bore a striking resemblance to her husband’s face.

“Fourth Aunt — only you can protect your own child with everything you have. That is a shelter only a mother can give. Do not pin your hopes on anyone else — not even the Fourth Uncle.”

Wu Shi’s chest rose and fell in rapid, labored breaths. Shao Yao glanced up at her briefly, then continued driving in the needles.

“A child who causes his mother’s death the moment he is born — do you think Bailin would treat him kindly?”

“If the Fourth Uncle were to learn that you died bringing him a son, should he feel guilt or resentment? Can you be certain he would not take it out on this child?”

“A child whose father dislikes him and whose elder brother offers him no protection — how much hardship would he have to endure before he grows up?”

“Fourth Aunt — your life does not belong to you alone. It belongs to the Fourth Uncle. It belongs to this child.”

Something surged through Wu Shi all at once, flooding her with sudden strength. She forced her eyes wide open and bit down on her lips and tongue — anything to keep herself alert.

She could not die here. She would not.

Her husband had not yet come home. Her firstborn son was not yet three years old. Her second son had only just drawn his first breath. If she were gone, who would her children have? Even if her husband were to come home one day, he would not mourn a deceased wife for the rest of his life. She had no faith that Hua Pingyang’s devotion ran that deep, and the Hua Family would not allow him to remain alone forever.

Was she to trust that a stepmother would treat her children well?

She could not die. She would not die.

A ferocious will to live erupted from Wu Shi. The light that had drained from her eyes rekindled. She fixed her gaze on the child asleep in Hua Zhi’s arms, his cheeks still wet with tears, and she wrestled with death for the right to remain among the living.

Gold needle after gold needle, from crown to heel. Shao Yao swiped her forearm across her damp brow, then drove in the final needle — into the Guanyuan acupoint.

The bleeding had not stopped.

The midwife had retreated to the side, completely at a loss.

Shao Yao pressed her fingers to Wu Shi’s pulse for a moment, then retrieved two small vials from the medicine chest. One she uncorked and tipped directly into Wu Shi’s mouth. “Swallow it — do not waste a single drop.”

Wu Shi swallowed in labored gulps. The effort was such that the tendons in her neck stood out in stark relief, her features contorted.

The second vial held something unknown. Shao Yao brought out yet another set of needles, dipping each one into the vial before each insertion. By the time she finished this set of needles, Shao Yao was so exhausted she could no longer move from where she sat. If even this life-saving needlework was not enough, then it would only mean that the King of Hell refused to release her.

“It has stopped — it has stopped!” The midwife’s voice came out shrill with relief — and no one in the room said a single word about the volume.

Hua Zhi passed the baby into Nanny Lin’s arms and walked to the foot of the bed to look. The dark reddish-black blood staining the bedding was horrific to see, but it had indeed stopped.

After losing so much blood, there was no telling how long the recovery would take.

Hua Zhi watched as Shao Yao pressed her fingers to Wu Shi’s wrist and checked. “How is she?”

“Severe deficiency of both qi and blood — the body has taken tremendous damage. But she has held onto her life.” As for the likelihood of bearing another child in the future — that was something better said privately to Huahua. Shao Yao looked up, her expression utterly pitiful. “I am hungry.”

“You worked incredibly hard.” Hua Zhi touched her head gently, dabbed the sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief, and said, “When we get back, I will have Fu Dong make you something good to eat.”

Shao Yao broke into a wide smile — so bright and sudden that even the midwife, who had been slightly wary of her, found the inexplicable dread dissolving away almost entirely.

Seeing the Fourth Aunt still forcing herself to remain conscious, Hua Zhi walked over and said gently, “Fourth Aunt — it is all right. Rest now. When you wake up, it will all be behind you.”

Wu Shi managed one weak pull of her lips, and in the next moment she was deep asleep.

Shao Yao packed away her needles, and the two walked out of the room side by side.