Chapter 161: A Timely New Skill
“Our team’s big sow is having a difficult labor! Her water broke an hour ago, but the piglets still haven’t come out. These are our breeding pigs for next year — we can’t afford anything to go wrong. Xiyue, come with me quickly!”
Aunt Chunsheng repeated the news anxiously, brushing the snow off herself and grabbing Ning Xiyue’s hand, ready to run.
The three of them understood immediately that Aunt Chunsheng wasn’t exaggerating — the team’s sow was indeed having trouble giving birth. Their expressions turned grim.
A sow whose water has been broken for over an hour without delivering is indeed showing signs of dystocia. Ning Xiyue had read about this symptom in her book on postpartum care for sows.
Under normal conditions, the piglets should be delivered within half an hour after the water breaks.
“Aunt Yangliu, please help me grab the medical kit from the educated youth courtyard. We might need it — hurry!”
Ning Xiyue shoved the cloth bag full of yarn in her hands into Aunt Yangliu’s arms while running alongside Aunt Chunsheng. As she ran, she shouted instructions over her shoulder.
“Okay, I’ll go!” Aunt Yangliu quickly closed the door and dashed toward the educated youth courtyard.
“I’m coming with you to take a look too!” Aunt Qiujv shouted as she hurried after them, worried about the piglets.
A pregnant sow was, aside from the cattle, one of the most valuable assets of the production team — directly tied to the collective’s income.
The team leader and the village secretary had already been at the pigsty watching over the sow since the first signs of labor.
When Ning Xiyue and Aunt Chunsheng rushed in, the sow still hadn’t delivered a single piglet.
The team leader was pacing anxiously outside, wearing a rare expression of tension and worry.
If Ning Xiyue hadn’t known there was a sow giving birth inside, she might have thought it was the team leader’s wife, Aunt Yangliu, in labor.
Sinful, sinful!
Ning Xiyue silently apologized to Aunt Yangliu in her heart and quickly pushed that thought away.
“Team leader, how’s the sow? Has she given birth yet? I brought Xiyue!” Aunt Chunsheng shouted as she pulled Ning Xiyue toward the pigsty.
“Still nothing.” The team leader’s eyes lit up when he saw Ning Xiyue approach, as if salvation had arrived. He rushed forward, opened the gate to the pigpen, and said anxiously, “Yue-girl, hurry in and check. What’s going on? Our team’s never seen anything like this before!”
The village secretary, frowning deeply, looked at the sow inside the pen.
“Exactly. We went through great trouble this year to pick this sow from the county breeding farm. How could this happen? Even our old sow was better than this one… What a headache.”
“Yue girl, we’re counting on you.”
Everyone present turned to Ning Xiyue with expectant eyes — as if their only hope of delivering the piglets safely rested with the team’s one and only barefoot doctor.
At this moment, Ning Xiyue was incredibly grateful that she had studied that book on postpartum sow care on her own. If she hadn’t, she would be lost right now.
Her job as a barefoot doctor wasn’t just treating people anymore — now she had to be a veterinarian and deliver a sow’s piglets.
Life was truly strange. Who would’ve thought she’d end up being a vet one day?
She had originally studied that book for the pigs in her spatial farm — to ensure she’d never run out of meat. She never imagined she’d be able to put that knowledge to use on the team’s sow too.
The book had come from the sow in her space, and now the knowledge was being used to help another sow — perhaps this was fate.
All these thoughts flashed through Ning Xiyue’s mind in just a few seconds as the team leader spoke. As soon as he finished, she responded quickly:
“Alright, don’t worry, Team Leader. I’ll take a look.”
She took off her army coat and handed it to Aunt Qiujv to avoid staining the coat her older brother had given her, then stepped into the pen toward the restless, agitated sow under everyone’s hopeful gaze.
The sow was straining hard, trying to push out the piglets in her belly — but nothing was happening. No piglets slid out.
The sow lay half on her side, squealing anxiously and extremely tense.
When Ning Xiyue approached to check the sow’s belly and birth canal, it even kicked at her with its hooves.
Only after she patiently soothed it did it allow her to come closer.
While she was examining the sow’s birth canal with her hand, the team leader outside lowered his voice and asked urgently,
“Yue girl, how is it?”
Ning Xiyue frowned. The situation didn’t look good.
[Ding! Dystocia sow detected. Host must place hand on sow’s belly to sign in. Proceed with sign-in?]
At this critical moment, the system’s voice chimed in — and that could only mean something important. Without hesitation, Ning Xiyue placed her hand on the sow’s belly and gently stroked it.
“Sign in.”
[Sign-in successful. Animal Clinical Cesarean Skill acquired. Cesarean Operation Gift Pack received — surgical tools and medications included.]
A timely new skill — and this time, it was an instant-learn ability.
As the system’s voice faded, Ning Xiyue’s mind was instantly filled with knowledge of surgical techniques for animal cesarean sections. Scene after scene flashed through her head until she had a basic grasp of the procedure.
Looking again at the suffering sow before her, Ning Xiyue felt a surge of confidence — she was eager to try delivering the piglets herself.
But she couldn’t act without permission.
She turned to the anxious team leader and shook her head.
“Team Leader, this is a bit complicated.”
“What’s wrong?”
Ning Xiyue looked at him seriously and explained:
“The sow’s birth canal is too narrow, the piglets are too large, and it looks like the uterus is slightly twisted. The piglets can’t enter the birth canal from the uterus, which is why the labor isn’t progressing. In this situation, the sow won’t be able to deliver on her own. If this goes on too long, the piglets could suffocate.”
Aunt Chunsheng, who had been feeding the team’s pigs every day and eagerly waiting for the piglets to be born, panicked when she heard this.
“What should we do? We must get those piglets out — they’re next year’s mission pigs!”
The team leader pressed his hand to his forehead, forcing himself to stay calm. Looking at the composed Ning Xiyue, he asked,
“Xiyue, do you have a solution? Tell us, and we’ll cooperate.”
“There’s only one way to ensure the safety of both the sow and the piglets — surgical removal. That means a cesarean section. But I’ve never performed one before. I’ve only studied the theory. The decision is yours, Team Leader, and it must be made quickly.”
Ning Xiyue laid the difficult choice before them and stood in the pigpen, waiting for the team leader’s decision.
“What’s a cesarean section?” Aunt Chunsheng asked in confusion.
Aunt Qiujv, who had heard about cesareans for humans, explained,
“I heard they make an incision in the belly and take the baby out. In big cities, people sometimes deliver babies that way.”
“What?! Won’t that kill her?” Aunt Chunsheng gasped, covering her mouth.
“Auntie, if handled properly, there’s no problem — it can even be easier than natural birth.”
After saying this, Ning Xiyue turned to the team leader — his brow furrowed, clearly struggling with the decision — and reminded him,
“Team Leader, we need to act fast. Every minute we wait, the piglets are in more danger — and it could eventually harm the sow too.”
Just then, a villager came rushing over:
“Team Leader! The old veterinarian next door is seriously ill and bedridden. He can’t come.”
“Dawei… there’s no other way,” the secretary murmured beside the team leader.
“Yue girl… how confident are you?” the team leader asked, still torn.
This was about the production team’s entire plan for next year — the sow and the piglets inside her were far too important.
“Team Leader, all I can say is — if we try, there’s still a chance we can save them all. If we don’t, it could mean one sow and a dozen dead piglets.”
There was nothing else she could do. The sow wouldn’t give birth naturally — surgery was the only option.
