TTLJDFL chapter 4

It turned out the youth who’d been crying from the very start was named Xiao An, and he didn’t even know his own surname.

For as long as he could remember, he had been sold from one place to another.

Fortunately, he’d still been young at the time, or he might have been sold straight into a brothel.

But even having avoided that fate, being married off as a concubine to a burly man who didn’t cherish his spouse at all was hardly a good outcome either.

In any case, it was all because of the harsh social realities of this era.

Xiao An was a slow-witted child ,while everyone else kept a faint wariness around Qin Muwen, he’d occasionally poke his head over to say hello whenever he passed Qin Muwen’s door .

He’d been crying all day today because he was terrified Qin Muwen might have a difficult birth and lose both his life and the baby’s.

And how could Qin Muwen’s husband be out drinking at a time like this, not caring one bit about his own spouse?

Xiao An felt it was so unfair to Qin Muwen.

But then again, given the state of this society, his own fate was hardly any better.

If he didn’t have a child within a few more years, the Li family might well throw him out, and then he truly wouldn’t have anywhere to go.

Even if Xiao An had a child of his own someday, he’d still have to face that same fate of giving birth alone.

By the time he stopped crying, Xiao An himself wasn’t sure whether he’d been crying for Qin Muwen or for his own doomed future.

But no one expected that, at that very moment, Li Jin would actually come back and bring with him fragrant eggs.

As a concubine married into the Li family, Xiao An’s usual food was thin porridge and pickled vegetables.

In the whole village, only Li Daniu’s family and the village head’s family were even somewhat well-off.

Other households, even if they raised chickens and ducks, they never slaughter it for meat.

Some households had three generations under one roof, as long as the grandparents were alive, the family couldn’t be divided.

Eggs were precious, unbroken ones would be taken to town to sell at market by the women of the house on market days.

Cracked ones would be stewed for whoever plowed the most fields.

Sometimes the adults couldn’t bear to eat them themselves, and would secretly save them, bringing them home at night to give to their own children to build up their strength.

So it was safe to say this whole roomful of ge’er probably hadn’t eaten eggs in a very long time.

Not in their wildest dreams had they imagined Li Jin would make them egg pancakes, sprinkled with scallions, it was simply delicious.

One of the ge’er, a bit older but even thinner-looking than the rest, had a flash of envy in his eyes.

“AWen, you really lucky . Even while you’re giving birth, your husband’s stewing you egg custard and cooking chicken soup with actual meat in it.”

Meat meant a chicken had been slaughtered. Villagers only killed chickens during holidays and festivals to celebrate.

Perhaps a wealthy household might do so upon the birth of a son, but no family ever slaughtered a chicken and made soup specifically because a spouse was giving birth.

Qin Muwen didn’t know how to respond. He had absolutely no idea why Li Jin had suddenly decided to be so good to him.

Though he was Li Jin’s spouse, that man had never once treated him like a human being.

Qin Muwen was actually quite thin himself, and a bit taller than the other ge’er, with slender legs and arms, which made his belly look especially large right now.

The cotton bedding had been stripped from under him, only a clean, coarse cloth sheet remained on the makeshift wooden plank bed.

That was because they were worried about Qin Muwen soiling the bedding during birth, cotton stained with blood was such a hassle to wash.

So he was essentially sitting on a cold, hard wooden bed right now.

He had already been sitting like this all morning, his belly gripped by cramping pain more times than he could count.

But the baby still showed no sign of coming.

Watching Qin Muwen’s expression grow more sorrowful, Xiao An quickly picked up the chicken soup and said, “Don’t be scared, the baby will definitely come. You and the baby will both be fine. That egg custard earlier probably wasn’t enough, eat a bit more and you’ll have the strength.”

In this era, there was no notion yet among village mothers-to-be of nausea from oily food—after all, who got to see more than a few pieces of meat during pregnancy anyway?

But Li Jin had deliberately skimmed off the layer of oil and foam from the soup, leaving only the delicate, savory broth.

The flatbread, softened by soaking in the soup, released a burst of scallion fragrance on the tongue, and Qin Muwen took several more bites.

The aroma of the food gradually dispelled the heavy, oppressive atmosphere in the room.

If everyone had previously thought Qin Muwen was going to die, that notion had now completely flipped.

If Li Jin cared this much about his spouse giving birth, then even if the King of Hell himself showed up, Li Jin would be standing guard outside to hold him back.

Qin Muwen and the baby would surely be fine.

Meanwhile, Li Jin quickly rinsed himself off again, this time skipping washing his hair.

He’d originally not wanted to put back on his dust-covered outer robe, planning to just wear his inner garments.

But then he remembered there were still three ge’er in the house, in a world where even men could give birth, if he walked out wearing only his inner clothes, it might well damage those young men’s reputations.

Thinking about this, Li Jin couldn’t help but curse under his breath at this bizarre world he’d landed in.

Not long after he finished washing up again, he suddenly heard a heart-wrenching scream.

Li Jin’s heart clenched violently.

As a doctor, he’d witnessed counbirths births. Even cutting someone open and seeing the blood-soaked abdominal cavity usually left him calm inside.

But this time was different. His heart was pounding fiercely. The youth’s thin, pale face suddenly surfaced in his mind. Li Jin didn’t know if this was sympathy talking or something else entirely, but he genuinely found himself worrying about that youth.

Li Jin wasn’t a fool. From the person he’d encountered on the ox cart a to the attitudes of everyone else in the village, it wasn’t hard to guess that the original owner of this body had definitely not been a good person.

Otherwise, why would everyone hate his that much ?

When an entire village looks down on someone, that’s proof enough of poor character.

Li Jin thought that the youth in labor had truly suffered a hard fate, having been married off to someone like the original Li Jin.

The sounds from the room grew more and more anguished. Li Jin paced back and forth in the courtyard like any ordinary worried husband.

Many times he wanted to push the door open and go straight in, but he worried about interrupting the youth’s labor. All he could do was wait quietly outside.

About another hour passed, and the screams from inside gradually grew weaker. Li Jin thought this must mean the youth’s cries weren’t syncing with his breathing anymore, he was running out of strength.

Li Jin felt he truly couldn’t wait any longer, he had to go in himself.

Just then, the door was suddenly flung open. Xiao An ran out crying, “Li Jin, A-Wen can’t hold on—go say a few last words to him, quickly…”

The other two ge’er, also afraid the youth might die right there on the bed, didn’t want to remain in the same room as a corpse, and filed out one by one.

Li Jin left Xiao An outside and went in alone, bolting inside room.

On the shabby-looking wooden plank bed lay a youth whose face was as pale as a sheet of paper .

Li Jin swiftly stripped off his outer robe, left wearing only his inner garment.

Li Jin knew the youth wasn’t dead, he’d simply run out of strength for the moment.

A thin sheet covered his body, and beneath it, his chest still rose and fell steadily.

Li Jin walked to the bedside and frowned, why was this bed so hard?

He spotted quilts piled on a low cabinet on the other side, grabbed them, and spread them over the other half of the bed, then lifted the youth and laid him down on the quilts.

As Li Jin moved him, the youth’s consciousness gradually returned.

He looked at Li Jin, his eyes as still and lifeless as cold ash.”Am I going to die?”

Li Jin sat down at the bedside, letting the youth’s head rest on his lap, and smoothed back the sweat-soaked hair at his temples. “No, you won’t. Not with me here.”

This was the truth. Though he’d never treated Qin Muwen before, he’d handled cases like this eighty, a hundred times over, he could guarantee this youth named Ah-Wen would not die.

Qin Muwen looked up at Li Jin, eyes brimming with tears. He genuinely couldn’t understand how this man could change so quickly.

Before, he’d been beaten at the slightest provocation, told to just hurry up and die so Li Jin could remarry.

And now, suddenly, he was being told he definitely wouldn’t die.

Li Jin quietly studied Qin Muwen as well, feeling like he’d truly committed some sin in a past life.

This youth’s face looked far too young, he surely wasn’t even eighteen yet.

In the modern world, a youth like this would probably be dominating the basketball court, or lost in some video game.

But in this era, a youth like this lay on a bed, belly swollen with child, asking him flatly, “Am I going to die,” in a clam tone.

But Li Jin knew he must want to live, otherwise he wouldn’t have held on this long.

Li Jin felt a deep ache of pity for him. He smoothed the youth’s hair again and took his hand in his own.

“Don’t panic,” he said.

“There’s no rushing childbirth. In a bit, you’ll hold onto my hand, and when I tell you to push, you push. You can dig your nails into me all you want, it’s fine, it’ll help you push with the right timing.”

There was no trace of his usual careless in Li Jin’s voice now instead, it carried a strange, soothing power.

Qin Muwen clutched Li Jin’s hand with both of his own, as though grabbing onto a lifeline.

Qin Muwen accidentally brushed against a blister in his palm.

He remembered Xiao An mentioning that Li Jin had cradled the bowl of egg custard in his bare hands the whole time, worried it would cool down, and had burned blisters into his palms because of it.

Now that the blister had burst, it must hurt. But Li Jin just looked into the youth’s eyes and smiled. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”