Chapter 283: Born!
The dried mud caked in the deep creases of his knuckles was heavily stained with blood. He had clearly fought with everything he had. He simply chose to never speak of his own suffering.
“You’re hurt,” Sheng Wanyan whispered, her heart aching as she reached out to cup his face. A second later, her hands moved to unbutton his dirty jacket.
Gu Tingxiao quickly caught her wrists to stop her. Sheng Wanyan narrowed her eyes, instantly seeing through his defense. This man was definitely hiding something serious from her.
“Let me look.”
“Sweetheart, I’m perfectly fine.”
Sheng Wanyan wasn’t about to be fooled. If he was truly fine, why would he refuse to let her see? “Let go.”
Gu Tingxiao kept a tight grip on her hands, but Sheng Wanyan knew exactly how to handle her husband. She simply let the tears flow, and the moment he saw them, his resolve crumbled. His wife held absolute power over him. What he feared most in this world was her tears, and seeing her weep left him with no choice but to surrender.
Sheng Wanyan pulled up his torn shirt, her breath catching at the sight of the jagged, fresh lacerations mapping his skin. Then her eyes locked onto a crude, heavily stitched line slicing across his abdomen. She recognized it instantly.
It was a gunshot wound, and he had deliberately tried to conceal it.
Gu Tingxiao shifted guiltily under her gaze. He had come incredibly close to losing his life out there, nearly breaking his solemn vow to return to her safely.
“Wanyan, don’t look anymore,” he murmured.
“Shut up!” Sheng Wanyan snapped, throwing him a sharp, freezing glare.
Gu Tingxiao froze, completely cowed. Who would dare move in a situation like this? If he truly angered his wife, she might refuse to look at him for weeks. She might even pack his bags and exile him back to the Capital permanently. He lay perfectly still, submissively allowing her to inspect his injuries. Yet, looking at her furious, tear-stained little face, a strange sense of profound relief settled over him.
“If I hadn’t forced the issue, how long were you planning to keep this from me?” she demanded.
“They’re really just minor injuries,” he coaxed softly. “The stitches are secure, and they’ll close up in no time. I promise you, the field medic said it’s nothing to worry about.”
Sheng Wanyan didn’t believe a word of it. He was just trying to pacify her. A gunshot wound was always a brush with death. He was clearly trying to spare her the anxiety by minimizing his pain. Though she was furious, she also knew the immense weight he carried on his shoulders, and she couldn’t bear to scold him the moment he stepped off the battlefield.
“Protect yourself better next time.”
“I will,” Gu Tingxiao promised, his eyes softening as he caught the deep, unvarnished tenderness shining beneath her anger.
He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a word, Sheng Wanyan suddenly gasped, her features twisting in pain as her hands flew to her swollen belly.
“Wanyan, what’s wrong?”
“It hurts…”
The sharp ache in her abdomen returned with a vengeance. Completely panicked and out of his depth, Gu Tingxiao spun around and bolted out of the curtained space to yell for a doctor.
The duty physician rushed in, but the moment he conducted a swift examination, his eyes widened. She was already eight centimeters dilated. It was incredibly rare for a patient to progress this far into the transition stage while sleeping.
“The patient is in active labor!” the doctor shouted, instantly flagging the emergency. “Wheel the gurney to the delivery room immediately! Family members, clear the path!”
Mother Gu returned from the corridor balancing the fresh thermos of water just in time to see the flurry of activity. She quickly dropped her things and joined Gu Tingxiao, sprinting alongside the gurney as the nurses guided it down the hallway.
“You’re going to be okay, sweetheart. Everything is going to be just fine,” Mother Gu encouraged breathlessly. She hadn’t expected the labor to advance the second she turned her back. The little one in Wanyan’s womb truly loved its mother; wanting to spare her a grueling, drawn-out labor, the baby was in a desperate hurry to arrive. It was a remarkably considerate child, waiting precisely until its father crossed the threshold before making its move.
Sheng Wanyan was drenched in sweat, a sharp cry escaping her lips with each passing wave of pain. Seeing her endure such agony, Gu Tingxiao’s face drained of all color.
“We’re right here,” Mother Gu soothed, running a hand over her brow. “Conserve your breathing, Wanyan. Don’t be afraid.”
Sheng Wanyan gripped Gu Tingxiao’s hand with terrifying strength, her throat too tight to form words. She was terrified, nervous, and utterly overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of the contractions. Yet, beneath the fear, a profound sense of anticipation bloomed as she awaited the arrival of their child.
They reached the double doors of the maternity ward, and the nurses swiftly pushed the gurney inside. Gu Tingxiao was firmly locked out in the corridor, reduced to peering through the small glass pane.
“Wanyan… please be safe,” he muttered, his voice cracking.
Wound up in tight circles, he paced the concrete floor. Watching her suffer through the glass made his chest tighten so violently his legs threatened to buckle beneath him. He had never felt this level of paralyzing terror, not even when the enemy bullet had torn through his flesh. His very blood felt frozen in his veins.
Inside the delivery suite, the medical team moved with practiced, efficient speed, setting up the sterile instruments and conducting the final examinations. The director of the military hospital had personally stepped in to manage the delivery, assisted closely by Mother Pan as the head nurse.
Sheng Wanyan lay back against the pillows, her ankles firmly secured by the attending nurses.
“Just focus entirely on my voice and match my rhythm,” the director commanded gently.
Sheng Wanyan nodded, drawing a deep, deliberate breath as she attuned her mind to the heavy pressure in her lower body.
“Inhale.”
She dragged the air into her lungs, steeling her resolve.
“And push.”
Following the doctor’s precise cue, Sheng Wanyan channeled every ounce of her remaining physical strength into the effort.
Out in the corridor, the sudden, absolute silence from behind the heavy doors pushed Gu Tingxiao to the brink of panic. Mother Gu was equally sick with anxiety, pacing the hallway in frantic lines, entirely too consumed by her own fears to offer him comfort.
“Why is it so quiet? Why can’t we hear anything?” he pressed, his hands flattening against the wood.
“It’s only the initial phase,” Mother Gu panted, trying to anchor herself. “Childbirth doesn’t happen in a flash.”
The explanation offered no comfort. If this was just the beginning, how much more agony would his wife have to endure before the end?
A few minutes later, a muffled sound finally pierced the thick wood—first, a low, tightly restrained whimper from Sheng Wanyan. Gradually, the whimpers escalated into sharp, agonizing screams, and with each rising note, Gu Tingxiao felt his heart shatter.
Hearing her suffer so miserably sent a shockwave of pure dread through Mother Gu’s chest.
“Ahhhhhhh…!”
The piercing shriek broke Gu Tingxiao’s final reserve. His knees gave out entirely, and he sank onto the cold concrete floor. Will she be okay? Please let her be okay. His mind spun out of control, conjuring every horrific, worst-case scenario until his thoughts were a chaotic blur of terror.
Mother Gu wrung her hands, staring desperately at the doors, utterly blind to the clinical progress inside.
“Wanyan…” Gu Tingxiao whispered to the empty air, repeating his wife’s name over and over like a desperate prayer.
Mother Gu didn’t even have the energy to tell him to get up. It was a bizarre, heartbreaking sight—a decorated officer standing well over 1.8 meters tall, collapsed on the floor like a hollow, soulless shell. Even as a woman who had witnessed countless crises, she had never felt this level of visceral dread. She stepped closer to the window, trying to catch a glimpse of the interior.
She couldn’t see a thing through the frosted glass, but the raw, unvarnished pain in Sheng Wanyan’s screams vibrated through the frame. The sound shook her to her very core, and for the first time, she fully understood the absolute terror consuming her son.
Sheng Wanyan’s labor had hit a dangerous complication. Because she had been nourished so beautifully throughout her final trimesters, the infant had grown remarkably husky, and the baby’s head had become firmly wedged in the birth canal. A prolonged delay risked fetal suffocation.
“The head is stuck!” the director’s voice sharpened inside the room. “You must give me everything you have on this next wave! Push!”
Sheng Wanyan locked the air in her chest, summoning every shred of primal, maternal strength left in her body to force the child free.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
Out in the hallway, the terrifying scream made Mother Gu stumble, a wave of dizziness hitting her so hard she nearly fainted. Merciful heavens, please protect them.
Then, the screaming stopped. An absolute, dead silence blanketed the delivery suite, leaving Gu Tingxiao completely distraught.
“Why did the sound stop? What happened?!”
Mother Gu couldn’t find the breath to answer him. How could she possibly know? “Just… just wait a moment longer,” she whispered, her voice trembling.
The very next second, a sharp, reedy wail pierced the silence, echoing clearly through the corridor. The baby had arrived safely.
“Waaaaah… waaaaah…!”
Gu Tingxiao froze on the concrete, his eyes wide. Is that… our child?
A few minutes later, the heavy doors clicked open, and Mother Pan stepped into the hallway, a soft, wrapped bundle cradled securely in her arms. Gu Tingxiao scrambled up from the floor so fast his boots skidded against the tiles.
“How is she? How is my Wanyan?” Mother Gu rushed forward, her voice frantic as she reached the nurse. Gu Tingxiao was a half-step behind her, his breath hitched in his throat as he waited for the verdict.
