Chapter 124: Can This Baby Not Be Born?
As soon as Ye Jiamei refused to help, Yu Chunmu panicked and immediately dropped to his knees with a loud thud, kowtowing to her.
Wang Ying, who was holding onto Huang Xiaoju, looked at Ye Jiamei with pleading eyes.
“Second Sister-in-law, Xiaoju is my niece from my maternal family. Please, don’t listen to them. Just consider how good Chunmu is, and do it for my sake—please save Xiaoju and her baby!”
Although Wang Ying belonged to the third branch of the Yu family, they were the closest to Yu Luo’s family. Along the way, the third branch had helped them countless times.
Seeing Wang Ying plead like this, and looking at Yu Chunmu’s desperate attitude, Ye Jiamei had no choice but to nod.
“I know some medicine, but delivering a baby is not my specialty. I can only do my best. I will give Xiaoju a labor-inducing injection. If her cervix opens naturally, she will be able to deliver. But childbirth is always dangerous—whether she and the baby make it through will depend on their fate.”
Upon hearing Ye Jiamei’s words, both Yu Chunmu and Wang Ying nodded repeatedly.
“Yes, yes! Every woman risks her life giving birth. If anything goes wrong, we won’t blame you, Aunt. I swear to the heavens!”
Saying this, Yu Chunmu dropped to his knees again, completely ignoring the bloody beast corpses scattered on the ground and the sorrow consuming the Yu family’s direct line over Yu Yingying’s condition.
Right now, his entire world was focused on his wife. Without hesitation, he raised his left hand and swore to the heavens.
“Yes, yes! Second Sister-in-law, we won’t blame you. Please, just help us!”
Seeing their sincerity, Ye Jiamei nodded.
“Chunmu, ask Yu Zhengqing if we are continuing on our journey tonight. If not, set up the tents, boil water, and prepare clothes and bedding for the baby. If we have to move, be ready for her to give birth on the way. The labor-inducing injection won’t work immediately.
For now, lay Xiaoju down flat, elevate her legs, and try to keep her amniotic fluid from leaking too much. I’ll go prepare the medicine.”
“Understood!”
Ye Jiamei and her family searched through their belongings, pretending to take out a porcelain medicine box from their basket while actually retrieving it from a hidden stash.
She also grabbed some medical tools and placed them inside the porcelain box before drawing the labor-inducing medicine into a syringe and returning to Huang Xiaoju’s side.
“Aunt, Eldest Uncle said we must keep moving. It’s not safe to set up camp here.”
Yu Chunmu had barely finished speaking when, from a distance, a piercing scream rang through the night, followed by an abrupt silence.
After that, all that could be heard were muffled sobs from the Yu family’s direct descendants.
Judging by the sounds, Ye Jiamei knew Yu Zhengqing must have personally severed his daughter’s mangled leg and was now using a hot iron to cauterize the wound.
Imagining that scorching iron pressing down on such a severe injury, even as a doctor, Ye Jiamei couldn’t suppress a shudder.
“Alright. I’ll give her the labor-inducing injection now. In two periods of time, I’ll check if her cervix has opened. You should still prepare a pot of hot water and all the baby’s necessities—you might not have time later.”
Just as Ye Jiamei finished speaking, a distinct smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
The agonized screams of Yu Yingying, who had regained consciousness only to be plunged back into pain, echoed in the night.
People bit their lips, holding back any sounds of discomfort or pity.
Even Liu Lan, who had been so fixated on her daughter-in-law’s labor, left to watch the scene unfold among the Yu family’s direct descendants.
Seeing Liu Lan’s behavior, both Ye Jiamei and Yu Luo couldn’t help but shake their heads.
If Huang Xiaoju ended up giving birth to a girl, with a mother-in-law like Liu Lan, her life would undoubtedly be miserable.
After administering the injection, Yu Zhengqing ordered everyone to re-harness the carts.
They carefully placed the unconscious Yu Yingying, her wounds bandaged, onto a sled carriage before setting off again.
“Xiaoju, if you start feeling pain, let me know.”
“Okay.”
Given the hundreds of beast corpses around them and the overwhelming stench of blood, staying in this area was not an option.
They couldn’t risk the safety of over a hundred people for the sake of one woman.
Even Yu Zhengqing, who had his own wounded daughter to worry about, was prioritizing the journey.
After traveling nonstop for over an hour, Yu Zhengqing finally ordered everyone to stop and set up camp again.
Huang Xiaoju, however, still showed no signs of labor—the cervix had only dilated four fingers wide.
A further examination revealed that her amniotic fluid was nearly depleted, and the baby was already showing signs of oxygen deprivation.
When Ye Jiamei informed Yu Chunmu of the situation, the man was so terrified that he began trembling uncontrollably.
“Then don’t have the baby! Can’t we just stop this?!”
“What nonsense are you saying?! The baby is already inside her—it has to come out! If we do nothing, both mother and child will die!”
Ye Jiamei’s sharp words made Yu Chunmu collapse onto the ground in despair.
“In the village, we’ve seen this before—women unable to give birth, suffocating the baby inside them, and dying from complications themselves. Chunmu, you should have been prepared for this from the start.”
Instead of comforting her son, Liu Lan only made things worse with her indifferent words.
Yu Chunmu, horrified, could no longer accept what was happening.
He didn’t want his wife to suffer a difficult labor.
Even if life in exile was harsh, he just wanted Xiaoju to survive.
“There is one method that could save both mother and child, but it carries a twenty-percent risk. Either they both make it, or we lose one—or even both of them. The choice is yours.”
“What method?”
Liu Lan’s eyes instantly lit up.
She desperately wanted to save her first grandson.
As for Huang Xiaoju? To her, a daughter-in-law was just a daughter-in-law—not her own flesh and blood.
If she barely cared about her own daughters, why would she value a son’s wife more?
“A cesarean section.”
“What?!”
The moment Ye Jiamei said it, Liu Lan screamed in horror, startling the men who were setting up tents.
Yu Chunmu nearly fainted from shock.
“Mother, why are you even considering this? There’s a risk! Even if many women have survived this procedure, others have died, along with their babies. Clearly, they’ve never even heard of this method—there’s no way they’d trust it. What if we try to help but end up making things worse?”
