"Ouch... my stomach..."
Wang Lanhua's face, which had just been flushed red, instantly turned pale. She clutched her lower abdomen tightly with both hands and fell straight backward.
Grandma Shen held onto her arm tightly and was dragged into a stumble. She was almost scared out of her wits and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Quick! The baby is coming! Lanhua is going into labor!"
Li Dazhuang was so frightened that his calves cramped. He lunged forward to support Wang Lanhua with Grandma Shen, frantically holding up her lower back.
"Lanhua! Hold on! Just hold on! How could you go into labor just like this?"
Wang Lanhua twitched all over from the pain, but her mouth was still unforgiving. She gritted her teeth and cursed, "It hurts to death... Li Chuntao! It's all because of you, you jinx! You made me so angry... If anything happens to me, I won't let you off even if I become a ghost!"
Chuntao was completely stunned by fear, standing frozen in place, not knowing where to put her hands and feet.
Seeing Wang Lanhua's face twisted in agony, Chuntao's heart also knotted up.
Once she snapped back to her senses, she lifted her foot to rush over and help.
But the moment her foot left the ground, Zhou Zhijun grabbed her.
His face was as dark as the bottom of a pot, and his eyes were frighteningly cold. "Stop right there! This has nothing to do with you!"
Chuntao's eyes reddened with anxiety as she struggled to shake off his hand. "Brother Zhijun! My sister-in-law is going into labor! I have to go get Auntie Ma, what if something happens..."
"She brought this upon herself!" Zhou Zhijun's voice was stiff. His gaze swept over Wang Lanhua paralyzed on the ground, and then fell on Grandma Shen and Li Dazhuang, who were in a flurry of panic.
"Tossing about back and forth with such a big belly? Threatening people with her life? If something really happens, she can't blame anyone else!"
These words were like a basin of cold well water poured over Chuntao's head, instantly sobering her up a bit.
But looking at Wang Lanhua's painful state, her heart still clenched tightly.
Suddenly, Grandma Shen slapped her thigh and wailed, "Her water broke! The baby is really coming! What do we do! Quick, go find the midwife..."
Li Dazhuang also panicked. He tightly supported Wang Lanhua's body, turned his head, and yelled at Chuntao, "Chuntao! Quick! Go find someone!"
It was a matter of life and death, so Chuntao could not care about anything else. She used all her strength to break free from Zhou Zhijun's hand and stumbled toward the East Ditch to find Auntie Ma, the midwife from the neighboring village.
But over here, the child in Wang Lanhua's belly was already on the verge of coming out. By the time Chuntao brought someone back, it would be far too late.
Hearing the commotion, the villagers had already surrounded the Zhou family's gate in layers, chattering all at once.
"She has already given birth to two, why is it still so difficult?"
"Could it be a breech baby? My sister had that, and she was in pain for a whole day and night before delivering the baby..."
The first two births went smoothly, so why was this one so hard? Grandma Shen and Li Dazhuang were so frightened that their faces were the color of dirt, and they trembled all over.
Grandma Shen clasped her hands together and muttered to the sky, "Heaven bless us! Please don't let anything happen... Our Li family is counting on this child to carry on the family line..."
Li Dazhuang supported Wang Lanhua's upper body, burning with anxiety. His eyes stared fixedly at the small path to the east, hoping that Chuntao would bring Auntie Ma here soon.
Beads of sweat dripped rapidly from Wang Lanhua's face, and her coarse cloth shirt was already soaked.
Her wailing was as sharp and piercing as a pig being slaughtered, fluctuating high and low, making people's eardrums ache.
Someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, "Aunt Zhou! Didn't you deliver babies when you were younger?"
A woman squeezed to the front, pointed at Aunt Zhou, and said anxiously, "When I had a difficult labor with my second child, you were the one who delivered him!"
Aunt Zhou was indeed a famous midwife in the surrounding villages when she was young, but her health had not been as good in the past decade, so she had long stopped doing it.
However, delivering babies was still something she was very familiar with.
"Her godmother! You know how to deliver babies?" Grandma Shen felt as if she had caught a lifesaver. She scrambled to her feet and begged Aunt Zhou, "Please help, the baby in her belly can't wait!"
Li Dazhuang also pleaded, "Aunt Zhou, please be kind and save Lanhua and the baby! I'll kowtow to you!"
Aunt Zhou stood still, tightly gripping a broom in her hand, her expression very calm.
She glanced at Wang Lanhua, who was half-dead from pain on the ground, and then slowly looked at Grandma Shen and Li Dazhuang, saying word by word, "I can deliver the baby, but you must promise me one thing..."
"What is it? I'll promise anything! As long as I, Li Dazhuang, can do it, I won't refuse!"
"Okay! Okay! We'll promise anything!" Grandma Shen stomped her feet in anxiety. "Her godmother, stop keeping us in suspense and save Lanhua!"
"From now on, no one from your Li family is allowed to interfere with Chuntao's affairs!" Aunt Zhou's voice was not loud, but every word was clear, striking the ears of everyone present.
"Chuntao's matters will be decided by herself, and no one else has the right to control her!"
With a life at stake, how could Grandma Shen and Li Dazhuang dare to say no? They nodded hastily, "Okay! Okay! We promise! Chuntao's matters will be her own decision, and we will never interfere again!"
Seeing Wang Lanhua's face growing paler and her wailing getting softer, Aunt Zhou dared not delay any longer. She quickly instructed Li Dazhuang and a few strong men to carry her into the Wang house.
She then shouted at Grandma Shen, "The baby is breech! Hurry to the kitchen and boil some water! It needs to be boiling hot!"
Grandma Shen stumbled toward the kitchen to start the fire, constantly muttering, "Please don't let anything happen."
Seeing his mother helping with the delivery, Zhou Zhijun turned around, got on his bicycle, and headed down the path toward the neighboring village.
Just past the East Ditch, he saw Chuntao stumbling back.
"Auntie Ma isn't home, what should we do?" Chuntao was so anxious that her eyes were red, and her voice carried a sobbing tone.
"If something... if something terrible happens to my sister-in-law, my conscience will never be at peace for the rest of my life..."
Zhou Zhijun quickly jumped off the bike, supported the swaying Chuntao, and gently comforted her, "Don't be afraid. My mother is helping Wang Lanhua deliver the baby. Everything is fine now."
Hearing this, Chuntao's tightly knotted heart instantly relaxed. Her eyes grew hot, and she almost shed tears. "Really? That's wonderful..."
"Yes!" Zhou Zhijun nodded. He reached out to tidy the loose hair on her forehead, his tone still gentle. "Let's go, we're heading into town."
Chuntao froze for a moment, still a bit worried. "Then... has my sister-in-law given birth yet?"
"Rest assured. With my mother there, the baby in her belly will come out sooner or later." Zhou Zhijun patted her shoulder with a firm tone.
All this tossing about had delayed them for quite a while, and the first bus to the county town had long departed.
Chuntao said cautiously, "We missed the first bus. How about... we go tomorrow instead?"
Zhou Zhijun did not speak. He helped her sit on the back seat of the bicycle and then got on himself before saying, "Let's not delay any longer. The sooner, the better."
Zhou Zhijun was right. Taking advantage of the fact that Wang Lanhua was having a baby and Liu Cuilan and the others were not home, they needed to hurry to the county town to get the household register and apply for their marriage certificate, avoiding any further complications.
By the time the two rushed to Qingshan Street, it was already close to noon. The next bus to the county town would not arrive for over an hour.
At the intersection stood a large passenger tricycle. The driver hollered at them, "You two heading into town? I just need two more! We leave as soon as we're full!"
Zhou Zhijun left his bicycle with a familiar grocery store on the street, then gently helped Chuntao up into the back of the tricycle.
By the time they arrived at the county town, the sun was already dipping toward the west. The two of them grabbed a quick bite at a small restaurant near the station, then hurried on their way to the police station.
While passing the entrance of a food market, Zhou Zhijun suddenly heard someone calling him from behind.
He whipped his head around. The moment he recognized the person, his expression instantly tightened, and his footsteps came to a dead halt.
