That shout immediately brought Wang Ying and Xu Shuang out. When Wang Ying saw that the one knocking on the door was the older daughter from Qian Juhua’s family, she was startled. The little girl’s hair was messy, she was wearing only a thin shirt despite the cold, and had even lost one of her shoes in the snow.
Seeing the girl’s tear-streaked face, Wang Ying was taken aback. She did a quick mental calculation and immediately sensed something was wrong.
Qian Juhua was only seven months pregnant—how could she be going into labor already?
Wang Ying told Xu Shuang to go inside and get her medical kit. She pulled the little girl aside and asked, “Did you go to find the midwife?”
Strictly speaking, childbirth wasn’t really under Wang Ying’s jurisdiction. Barefoot doctors and midwives were two different roles. After the founding of the country, it took more than a decade to establish a system of midwives in rural areas.
Those traditional birth attendants from before the founding had been trained and put to work handling childbirths. Midwives weren’t salaried—they earned a yuan or two per delivery, and the family giving birth might also send over some eggs in thanks.
Wang Ying felt a heavy weight in her heart, and the little girl’s next words confirmed her worst fears: “Our brigade doesn’t have a midwife—we’d have to go to the next one… but my grandma said the snow’s too heavy.”
Wang Ying silently cursed. Of course—that morning, it had already started snowing. Plus, it was the Little New Year festival, so everyone was busy preparing for the holiday and hadn’t had time to clear the snow.
Even in good weather, a trip like that would be incredibly difficult. In bad weather, it was not only dangerous, but would also take at least seven or eight hours round trip.
The little girl, Daya, had a face smeared with tears and snot. “Big sister, please come look! I think my mom’s going to die!”
Xu Shuang had already packed the medical kit inside and brought out a hat and scarf. He slung the kit over his shoulder, ready to go with Wang Ying.
Wang Ying stopped him and signaled for him to wrap the shivering Daya with the scarf.
Xu Shuang hesitated for a moment, then wrapped Wang Ying with the scarf without argument and took off his own scarf to give to Daya.
Wang Ying could feel every breath was filled with freezing air. She swallowed the cold hard and said, “Daya, go find the brigade leader—your Uncle Youfu. Bring him too. I’ll go check on your mom first.”
Daya nodded tearfully, wrapped in Xu Shuang’s large scarf, and ran off.
Xu Shuang gripped Wang Ying’s hand tightly. Neither of them spoke as they trudged through the snow toward Tian Dazhu’s house.
From a distance, they could already hear a commotion.
An obviously older voice inside was wailing and cursing, making vague accusations.
“Heaven bear witness, I only said a few words! She left in a huff on her own! How could falling down lead to this, and how is it my fault?!”
“Dazhu, you can’t just take her side! Your wife has a temper, you know that!”
“Auntie! Auntie! Speak up for me! Hasn’t Juhua always been in poor health? How could just a little fall cause a premature birth?!”
Wang Ying entered the yard and immediately frowned.
For a household with a woman about to give birth, the place was in chaos. The yard was crowded with people still in the middle of arguing.
A sharp-faced old woman was shouting curses, spittle flying, swearing she didn’t say anything wrong. Beside her stood a familiar-looking middle-aged woman supporting her. The two of them were a matched pair, stirring up the mess in the yard.
A man sat on the doorstep of the main house with his head in his hands. His expression was unclear, but based on the fact that both women were directing their words at him, he was most likely Qian Juhua’s husband, Tian Dazhu.
There were also a few neighbors in the yard, along with some curious children.
The yard wasn’t very big to begin with. With everyone crowded in, it felt even more cramped.
Wang Ying walked in, but everyone’s attention was still focused on the two bickering women in the center, and no one even noticed her arrival.
Just then, an elderly woman with gray hair and trembling limbs emerged from inside the house.
“This is bad! Juhua’s having a difficult labor—premature and complicated… you all better go find a midwife!”
Tian Dazhu’s mother spoke loudly, “How are we supposed to do that? The snow’s still falling! By the time the midwife gets here, it’ll be too late! Auntie, think of something—you used to deliver babies for our brigade. You delivered my Dazhu yourself!”
The old midwife stomped her foot. “Juhua’s only just started labor. If someone goes now, even if it takes seven or eight hours, it’ll still be in time! This baby will probably come slowly…”
Before she could finish, she was interrupted by a sharp-tongued woman standing next to her: “Oh, my poor sister-in-law! Why is your fate so hard? Finally a baby boy, and now it’s a difficult birth!”
That one shout was enough to infuriate Qian Juhua inside the house. She was already in premature labor after a fall, in terrible pain, and on edge because of the difficult labor. Hearing her sister-in-law speak like that outside pushed her over the edge, and she began yelling in anger.
So now there was yelling inside the house and a ruckus outside. The shouting from both sides had the old midwife sweating profusely.
Wang Ying grew alarmed. All this shouting—if she used up all her energy yelling now, how would she have the strength to give birth later?
Wang Ying, furious, stepped forward, but Xu Shuang stopped her and handed her the medical kit. “Let me.”
Xu Shuang didn’t hesitate. He stepped up and shoved the two chattering women straight into the snow. He was careful with his force, making sure they landed in the soft snowdrift.
“Ow! Which bastard pushed me?!”
Xu Shuang said firmly, “Shut up! Let my wife go in and take a look.”
The old lady shouted, “Who the hell is your wife supposed to be?! What business is this of yours?!”
But her daughter-in-law, by the snowlight, saw clearly that the one who had pushed her into the snow was the boy from the Xu family—Xu Shuang.
And his wife… wasn’t that Wang Ying?
The others finally took notice. The one standing in the yard with a medical kit on her back—wasn’t that the new barefoot doctor of the brigade, Wang Ying?
Wang Ying also got a clear look at the two women lying in the snow. That familiar-looking woman—wasn’t she always hanging around with Li Chunjuan? She always rolled her eyes at Wang Ying, which was why Wang Ying remembered her so clearly.
“Hurry, hurry, Dazhu, let Ying girl go in and take a look!”
The two women lying in the snow were now desperate.
“Why are they letting an unmarried girl go in there! Isn’t that bad luck?”
“She doesn’t know anything about childbirth! She’s not even as good as a midwife!”
Wang Ying said nothing. She stood in front of Tian Dazhu, who slowly lifted his face from between his knees. From below, he looked up—Wang Ying was standing at the doorway, her gaze calm.
“You’re the husband. Your wife is giving birth, and you’re just letting her do it in this kind of environment?”
Wang Ying was full of disdain. “I’m going in to check on your wife now. If you have any sense of responsibility, go find someone to get the midwife from the neighboring brigade. You stay here. If anything happens later, as her direct family member, you’ll need to be present.”
After she lightly finished speaking, Wang Ying took the medicine box and went into the house.
Although there was a heated kang bed inside the Tian family’s house, it wasn’t very warm. The room was also pitch black, lit only by an oil lamp.
Wang Ying set down the medicine box and asked Qian Juhua, who was lying on the bed with a pale face and covered in sweat, “The midwife isn’t here yet. I’ll take care of you for now, do you agree?”
She still remembered how snobbish and arrogant Qian Juhua had been the last time they met. If, even at this critical point, she still refused to cooperate, and considering her husband was useless and the rest of the household was a mess, Wang Ying would really have to reconsider how much effort to put into this.
Fortunately, though Qian Juhua was rough and poor, she wasn’t stupid.
The old midwife hadn’t been chosen as an official birth attendant because she was too old and couldn’t adapt to new practices. For years, no one in the brigade had gone to her for childbirth, showing how out of touch she was.
With Wang Ying here, at least there was some assurance.
So, even though Qian Juhua also doubted whether Wang Ying, who had never given birth herself, truly knew what she was doing, she understood that Wang Ying was probably her best chance.
“I agree!”
Qian Juhua’s eyes were full of desperation. “Please! Please help me!”
Wang Ying opened the medicine box and greeted the old midwife, who was drenched in sweat. “Looks like it’s you and me pulling an all-nighter together.”
The old midwife sighed in relief when she saw Wang Ying come in.
If the Tian family wasn’t going to get a real midwife, she had just about decided to quit too.
She’d only agreed to come because Tian Dazhu promised a one-yuan payment. If the baby didn’t make it or something happened to the mother, she’d be the one taking the blame.
Now that Wang Ying was here—a half-public official—she could take responsibility. The old woman was also willing to earn some karmic merit.
“Just call me Granny Tian,” she said.
Wang Ying pulled out two pairs of rubber gloves from the medicine box and handed one to Granny Tian. “Granny Tian, please put these on.”
At-home childbirths in those days especially needed protection against infection.
Granny Tian obediently put them on and began explaining Qian Juhua’s condition. “Premature labor, and it’s a difficult birth. She’s been inactive throughout the pregnancy, and it’s been years since she had her last child. This one isn’t going smoothly… plus she fell and probably hurt her leg too.”
Wang Ying placed her hand to check, and just one touch confirmed what Granny Tian said—it was still far too early to be giving birth.
But Qian Juhua was already drenched in sweat like she’d been pulled from a river, breathing heavily from the pain. She told Wang Ying, “When I had Da Ya and Er Ya, I was in labor for more than a day too…”
Slow labor is often due to the cervix opening slowly. For some, it opens in three or four hours; for others, it can take a whole day. Qian Juhua had always had slow labor and was mentally prepared for it.
But this time wasn’t the same.
This was a premature birth, and she was injured!
Wang Ying felt much more pressure now. She pulled out two kinds of herbs and took them outside to Tian Dazhu. “Boil some water, cook these herbs and keep them warm on the stove. Make something for your wife to eat. And heat up the kang—it’s freezing in there!”
A woman in labor, and the room was still cold!
She looked at her pocket watch. It was past 8 PM. With a long sigh, she said to Xu Shuang who had come close, “Maybe you should go home and eat something first, then come back?”
It was supposed to be a nice evening for the Little New Year, and now the two of them were stuck in this mess.
Xu Shuang shook his head. “I’ll keep watch out here for you.”
Tian Dazhu’s mother and sister-in-law were still trouble. Even after Wang Ying went in, they’d started cursing again, only shutting up when Xu Shuang glared at them.
“We really need the brigade leader here to keep things under control.”
Wang Ying nodded. Something was clearly off in this household—what kind of family causes drama while a woman is in labor? There was definitely something deeper going on.
Xu Shuang shot a cold glance at Tian Dazhu, who hadn’t moved a muscle even after Wang Ying’s words. He felt nothing but contempt for a man like that.
Just then, Tian Youfu arrived.
With him there, the arrogance of Tian Dazhu’s mother and sister-in-law visibly deflated.
Wang Ying was busy inside, so Xu Shuang dealt with Tian Youfu.
Tian Youfu had braved the snow to get there. Da Ya, bundled in a scarf, had tears and snot frozen on her little face, too cold to even cry.
Xu Shuang explained the situation to Tian Youfu. “Please arrange for someone to fetch the midwife. Wang Ying is our brigade’s doctor. She’s not supposed to be handling childbirths. She’s just helping out.”
Tian Youfu agreed and was about to tell Tian Dazhu to go.
But Xu Shuang stopped him. “Tian Dazhu can’t go. He needs to stay here. If anything happens, he has to be the one to make decisions.”
Xu Shuang remembered clearly what Wang Ying had said earlier and stood firm.
Tian Youfu thought about it and agreed. He pointed to Tian Dazhu’s younger brother, Tian Erzhu. “You go!”
Tian Erzhu, who had been dragged along by his wife and had just been standing silently like a decorative plant, froze when he was suddenly given this task. “Me? I’m not going!”
It was snowing heavily—it was terrifying! Walking in snow like that felt like sinking into water. A round trip would take seven or eight hours; wouldn’t he freeze solid?
Tian Erzhu’s wife also objected fiercely. “Why should my man go! It’s not our baby! If his wife is giving birth, why can’t he go himself?”
