Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!
Chapter 453: Gave Birth to _1

Chapter 453: Chapter 453: Gave Birth to _1

Zhulan finished speaking and felt her trousers were wet. She suddenly experienced a sharp pain in her abdomen and stiffened. Had her water broken?

Xue Han, dumbfounded, repeated, "Is it time for the birth?"

Everyone in the hall was stupefied. Lady Li was startled; she truly hadn’t expected Zhulan to go into premature labor. Frowning, she reconsidered—it wasn’t really premature; it had been over nine months. Now she regretted coming to the Zhou residence.

It was Liu Ya who was more reliable. "My lady, we should go to the birthing room."

The birthing room—the moment Zhao’s premature labor occurred, Zhulan also feared she might deliver early, so the birthing room was prepared well in advance.

Zhulan felt her contractions starting, which were still bearable. Leveraging Liu Ya’s help to stand up, she said to Lady Li, "Today is quite the coincidence; this child seems a bit eager to come out."

Having said that, she paused, called for Steward Ding, and then said to Xue Han, "Please escort the lady out for mother."

Lady Li pursed her lips, unsure whether to stay or leave. If she left, the news of Zhulan going into labor would certainly spread, and everyone would think she had caused Zhulan’s premature labor. She could claim it wasn’t her fault, but no one would believe her. If she stayed, she’d have to face Zhou Shuren’s wrath.

It was precisely because she knew too much that she had been exceedingly polite to Zhulan. Lady Li felt a knot in her heart. Zhou Shuren genuinely loved Zhulan and given her age, premature labor meant the birthing would be even more dangerous. Even if it had nothing to do with her, Zhou Shuren would hold the Min residence accountable.

At this critical juncture, with the Min family already in a precarious situation, they could not afford to clash with Zhou Shuren.

Seeing her mother walk out slowly, Xue Han was anxious. After pinching herself to calm down, she approached Lady Li, "Madam, please."

The look in Lady Li’s eyes deepened. She had observed the young miss of the Zhou family go from panic to composure, which was impressive, especially since the Zhou family came from a scholarly background. Lady Li sighed internally, finding it a pity that the girl was already betrothed. After weighing her options, she decided it was better to leave, to avoid further infuriating Zhou Shuren. "Alright."

Zhulan had already sent the steward to fetch the doctor, and the midwife in the house was well-prepared. Zhulan felt a lot more at ease.

In the government office, Zhou Shuren had people monitoring the movements in the back yard, fearing something might go wrong. As soon as he heard that Zhulan was about to give birth, the young servant reported to him, and Zhou Shuren leaped to his feet and strode out.

Mr. Min’s face darkened. He had been there for a while, with Zhou Shuren beating around the bush. What now, was Zhou Shuren just going to leave him and walk away?

Zhou Shuren stopped at the doorway, his mood extremely low, "My wife is going into premature labor now, Mr. Min. I must beg your pardon and leave."

Zhou Shuren clenched his teeth, firmly believing that Zhulan’s labor was connected to Lady Li. Had Lady Li not visited today, Zhulan wouldn’t have gone into labor!

Mr. Min was taken aback. There was no need for a dark face now, just a terrible headache. His wife was extremely clever; in these years, she had never slipped up. Today, for the sake of a marriage alliance, she definitely would not have provoked Zhulan. That left only chance to blame, and he hated such cursed coincidences. Listening to Zhou Shuren’s tone, it was clear he suspected it had something to do with his wife.

Mr. Min wanted to explain, but all he could do was watch as Zhou Shuren, disregarding all appearance, ran out, unusually fast for a man in his forties.

Zhulan reached the birthing room, with contractions occurring at regular intervals. Oddly, she felt extremely calm, counting through the contractions and timing their frequency.

It would have been even better if she could ignore the sweat on her forehead due to pain.

Madam Song and the midwife had both entered, with everything needed for the birth prepared.

After examining her for a while, Madam Song breathed a sigh of relief. She really feared the mistress would have a difficult labor like Zhao did after a premature birth. Fortunately, the mistress’s condition was not bad. Madam Song thought to herself that having birthed six already made a difference; the experience showed. Some newlywed brides would’ve already started to waste their energy screaming.

Zhulan had just reached a count of five hundred when she heard someone forcefully opening the door, and looking up, she was stunned. "How did you get in here?"

Zhou Shuren held Zhulan’s hand, panic-struck deep inside, "I—I was worried about you."

Zhulan chuckled with a burst; it was the first time she had ever heard Zhou Shuren stutter. Enduring the pain, she tried her best to show her finest side so that Zhou Shuren could see clearly. She spoke with certainty, "I’m doing very well, and the baby is also very well-behaved."

Zhou Shuren observed Zhulan carefully. Other than some fine sweat on her forehead, Zhulan indeed wasn’t lying. His heart, which had risen to his throat, finally settled, "He must be a well-behaved child."

Zhulan nodded, "Yes, he has always been good. He hasn’t caused me much trouble since I’ve been carrying him. He loves me, and now that it’s been over nine months, he probably doesn’t want me to bear too much burden, so he has decided to come out early."

Zhou Shuren caressed Zhulan’s swollen belly, his eyes brimming with tenderness, "Little guy, you mustn’t make your mother suffer. Come out quickly."

Zhou Shuren paused, "Otherwise, daddy will get angry, very angry."

Zhulan, "...."

Don’t scare him, if you do, he might not come out at all!

Outside the delivery room, the children of the Zhou family were waiting in the courtyard, and no one dared to go in and pull their father out.

Zhulan felt another contraction. She knew that the contractions that followed would be more frequent, so she let go of Zhou Shuren’s hand, "You should go out and wait. With you here, I actually feel pressured."

She was genuinely frightened; she was afraid Zhou Shuren would faint from excitement. Look, she had merely furrowed her brows during the last contraction, and Zhou Shuren’s grip on her hand had really hurt.

Zhou Shuren calmed his heart; he wanted to stay with Zhulan. He pursed his lips and stayed silent.

Old Lady Song twitched the corner of her mouth, knowing her master did not mind tradition, but the truth was, his presence was really hindering. She took a deep breath, "Master, with you here, the midwife is afraid to proceed. Please, Master, go outside and wait."

Zhou Shuren turned his head to look at the midwife. The midwife’s face instantly turned pale. After a moment of silence, Zhou Shuren finally stood up, "Fine, I’ll wait outside."

If he weren’t afraid the midwife might lose her professionalism from fright, he wouldn’t have left.

Zhou Shuren was deeply displeased; the level of professionalism was really lacking to be frightened like that!

After Zhou Shuren left, looking back three steps at a time, Zhulan exhaled in relief, finally he was gone. She didn’t have to hold back her expression anymore. The last round of contractions really hurt.

Outside, Zhou Eldest saw his father come out with a dark face and braced himself to approach. Lady Li also hurriedly followed. The couple had the same thought synchronized in their minds, both silently chanting, "Don’t be afraid of father, don’t be afraid of father."

But alas, they were a step too late. Xue Han, the youngest and most favored one, asked anxiously, "Dad, Dad, how is mom?"

Seeing his children’s concerned faces, Zhou Shuren’s expression softened a bit, "The situation is manageable."

The whole room breathed a sigh of relief; they were most afraid of the mother’s advanced age making the situation bad.

Inside the delivery room, Zhulan had no idea how much time had passed. She only knew that her sweat had soaked her clothes. She only heard the midwife announce that the birth canal had opened. Following Old Lady Song’s instructions to breathe in and breathe out, Zhulan felt like cursing. It was so painful that she couldn’t help but cry out loud.

Zhulan overestimated herself; the pain was too much, and following the instructions to push made it even worse.

Zhulan felt like she was running out of oxygen, her mind going blank. With one last push, she heard the cry of a baby. Despite trying hard to keep up her strength due to her age, she couldn’t hold on any longer and fainted.

Old Lady Song immediately checked on her and laughed, "She’s passed out from exhaustion."

The midwife was relieved; she had been scared to death and didn’t want to face Mister Zhou. She then smiled broadly, "It’s a boy, and a hefty one at that."