Chapter 284: Mother and Daughter Are Safe
“Both mother and daughter are safe. Congratulations,” Mother Pan announced with a warm smile.
Mother Gu exhaled a long, shuddering breath, her shoulders collapsing. Thank heavens. As long as they are safe, nothing else matters.
Hearing those words, Gu Tingxiao’s eyes instantly welled with tears, and a single drop spilled over the edge of his cheek. He stared at the tiny bundle cradled in Mother Pan’s arms, his limbs freezing as he completely forgot how to move. He was so incredibly tense and overwhelmed that he barely even dared to breathe.
This was his and Wanyan’s child. From this moment on, an unbreakable, living bond existed between them.
“She’s a big baby—exactly 6.6 kilograms,” Mother Pan noted. In this era, it was rare for a newborn to be quite so husky and well-nourished.
She leaned forward, intending to hand the infant to Gu Tingxiao, but he stepped back, quickly shaking his head. “I’m covered in field grime,” he refused roughly, his eyes darting toward the double doors. “Is Wanyan alright?”
Seeing that his focus was entirely on his wife, Mother Gu couldn’t resist stepping in. She carefully scooped her granddaughter out of Mother Pan’s arms. The baby’s face was still a bit red and wrinkled, but the contour of her eyes perfectly mirrored Sheng Wanyan’s. Mother Gu couldn’t help but wonder if, once those little eyes fluttered open, the girl’s face would look just as radiant and lovely as her mother’s. Her features were remarkably delicate for a newborn; she was undeniably going to grow into a striking beauty. Who knew how many prominent families would be lining up at their gate to propose marriage when she came of age?
At this stage, she couldn’t judge much else, as all newborns tended to look alike, but she noted that the baby’s nose was straight and high-molded—a direct inheritance from Gu Tingxiao.
“Wanyan is doing perfectly fine,” Mother Pan reassured him. “The doctors are finishing up her post-delivery care, and then we’ll wheel her back to the ward.”
Gu Tingxiao nodded, though his heart remained tightly wound because he still hadn’t laid eyes on her.
“Here, take the child back inside for now,” Mother Gu said reluctantly, handing the bundle back to Mother Pan, though she hadn’t nearly look at her enough. “You can wheel her out alongside Wanyan in a few minutes.”
Mother Pan cradled the infant and disappeared back into the delivery suite to perform the final check-ups.
A short while later, the doors swung open, and Gu Tingxiao rushed to the side of the gurney as Sheng Wanyan was wheeled into the corridor. Looking down at her pale, utterly drained little face, his chest tightened into a painful knot. He mentally resolved right then and there that they would never go through this ordeal again. One child was more than enough for them. If his wife had to navigate these terrifying, life-threatening gates just to expand their family, what would he do if something ever went wrong?
“Sweetheart, how do you feel?” he whispered, leaning over the guardrail.
Sheng Wanyan offered a faint, exhausted smile and shook her head gently. During the delivery, she had been gripped by a terrifying panic when the baby’s head became wedged. Given the underdeveloped medical technology of the era, a single complication could easily turn fatal. Thank goodness the worst had passed, and her daughter had entered the world safely. There was no greater blessing.
“I’m fine…” she murmured.
The moment the words left her lips, her eyelids fluttered shut and she succumbed to sleep. She was completely spent; bringing a child into the world in this day and age was an incredibly grueling test of endurance.
Seeing her eyes snap shut so abruptly, Gu Tingxiao panicked, assuming she had lost consciousness. He frantically called out for a doctor, prompting the nearby physician to offer a patient, reassuring explanation.
“The patient is simply exhausted and has fallen into a deep sleep. Let’s get her back to the ward so she can rest in peace.”
Only then did the tension leave Gu Tingxiao’s frame. He walked faithfully alongside the nurses, helping them guide the gurney back to her designated bedside.
Sheng Wanyan’s labor had begun in the dark hours of the night, and by the time the baby arrived, the morning sun was already high in the sky.
Now that Gu Tingxiao was securely installed at the bedside, Mother Gu could finally step away to catch her breath. She needed to head back to the apartment to prepare some nourishing recovery meals. Gu Tingxiao had marched straight from the battlefield to the maternity ward without a single hour of sleep, and seeing him sitting rigidly on the stool, his eyes locked onto Sheng Wanyan, she knew there was zero chance of convincing him to leave.
“Tingxiao, I’m going to head back to the compound to whip up some proper postpartum food,” Mother Gu instructed quietly. “Keep a strict watch over Wanyan and the baby while I’m gone.”
Gu Tingxiao nodded. He would protect his wife and daughter with his life.
“If the little one wakes up before I return, feed her a few spoonfuls of warm water first,” she added. “We don’t know when Wanyan’s milk will come in.”
While some expectant mothers began producing colostrum in their final trimesters, Sheng Wanyan’s body hadn’t shown any early signs. Mother Gu was secretly worried about her milk supply, resolving to brew a massive batch of traditional pig’s trotter broth to stimulate production the moment she hit the kitchen.
“If her milk is delayed, we can just feed her the imported formula,” Gu Tingxiao replied bluntly.
Mother Gu threw him a look of classic maternal disapproval, though she knew he was simply being practical. For now, that was their only fallback. Still, as a grandmother, she desperately wanted her grandchild to have an abundance of natural milk. Imported formula was fine, but it couldn’t match the nutritional value of breastmilk; children who weren’t breastfed often suffered from weaker immune systems and caught every bug going around.
“Fine, you oversee things here,” Mother Gu sighed, reaching for her basket. “I need to place a long-distance call back to the capital to deliver the news.”
With that, she turned and departed. If she stayed in the room any longer, her stubborn son would likely drive her blood pressure through the roof.
The moment the door clicked shut, the small family was left in their own private sanctuary. Gu Tingxiao studied Sheng Wanyan’s resting features for a long moment before turning his gaze to the wooden crib stationed beside the mattress.
The infant looked incredibly fragile, so tiny that he feared a careless touch might break her. Her miniature fists were tucked neatly against her cheeks as she slept soundly beneath her blanket. Gu Tingxiao stared at the mother and daughter, entirely motionless, as if he could spend an eternity simply memorizing the sight.
A profound, boundless contentment flooded his chest. He had never truly visualized himself as a father, but looking at the crib, the reality of his new identity finally solidified. When Mother Pan had initially handed him the bundle in the corridor, his mind had been too fractured by panic to process the event. Now, the adrenaline was fading, replaced by a pure, soaring joy.
He was a father now. He carried the weight of a new life on his shoulders, and an indescribable sense of devotion anchored his soul. In the past, he had always harbored a lingering guilt that he wasn’t providing enough for his wife, constantly pushing himself to secure a more comfortable lifestyle for her. Now, that instinct expanded; he wanted his daughter to inherit a beautiful life, and he was determined to forge the absolute best living environment and opportunities for her growth. Every bit of it would require his unyielding effort.
Gently reaching out, Gu Tingxiao took Sheng Wanyan’s hand in his own, his voice dropping to an exquisite, reverent whisper. “Thank you, my beautiful wife.”
Across the lane, the news that Sheng Wanyan had delivered a healthy baby girl quickly reached Grandpa and Grandma Sheng. They were thoroughly caught off guard; everything had seemed perfectly normal during their afternoon visit yesterday, yet her water had broken in the middle of the night.
Grandpa and Grandma Sheng immediately dropped their chores and rushed toward the hospital, with Pan Yue bringing little Huzi along. Huzi was nine months old now, an age where he loved being carried outdoors to observe the compound, and he could already stand up quite sturdily by anchoring his hands against the edge of a bedframe. He had even begun babbling basic words like “Dad,” “Mom,” “Grandpa,” and “Grandma.” Though his pronunciation was a slurry of baby talk, the family could translate his sweet, childish babbles perfectly. Hearing his tiny voice never failed to leave the elders so ecstatic they wanted to hand him the entire world on a silver platter.
When the Sheng family stepped into the ward, Sheng Wanyan was still sleeping deeply, and the room was blissfully quiet.
Stepping around the mattress, they gathered around the wooden crib to peer at the newborn. When Sheng Wanze discovered his sister had given birth to a daughter, he shot Gu Tingxiao a look of intense envy. Daughters were like cozy, warm cotton jackets that brought nothing but sweetness to a household, whereas sons were like leaky leather coats that only offered trouble. How on earth did Gu Tingxiao secure such incredible fortune on his very first try?
“Oh, my goodness… look at her. What an absolutely precious little girl,” Grandma Sheng whispered, her face radiant with joy. Holding a great-grandson in one branch and now welcoming a great-granddaughter in another—she felt profoundly blessed by the heavens.
“Ah~!”
Little Huzi babbled, pointing a chubby finger toward the infant in the crib, his eyes filled with pure confusion as he looked at the tiny creature.
“That’s your little cousin, Huzi,” Sheng Wanze whispered, leaning down to address his son with mock seriousness. “From this day forward, you have an absolute responsibility to protect her from any bullies. Do you understand?”
Huzi didn’t absorb a single syllable of the lecture, simply finding the tiny, sleeping form in the crib fascinating. “No~!” he babbled loudly.
“It’s your little sister,” Pan Yue corrected gently, trying to guide his pronunciation. But at nine months old, enunciating complex syllables was a massive challenge.
“No~!”
“Sister.”
“Without!” Huzi huffed, his little face flushing red as he grew frustrated with his mother constantly rejecting his attempts to speak.
“Alright, alright, I give up. Trying to teach you linguistics is a lost cause,” Pan Yue laughed, shaking her head. “I’ll let your father handle your vocabulary lessons.”
With a smile, she handed the squirming boy over to Sheng Wanze. But because his father had been deployed for four months, Huzi’s memory of him had faded significantly. The moment he found himself pinned in the unfamiliar, rugged embrace, his eyes turned glossy and red, and he began to struggle fiercely to break free.
