SC Chapter7

Shen Yunjie’s premonition was quite accurate.

That night, Tian Nanxing was sleeping soundly with a spread-eagled posture when he vaguely felt his hand brush against someone as he turned over. Startled, he abruptly opened his eyes. Shen Yunjie was sitting by the bed, looking at him.

“Hey, in the middle of the night…” Tian Nanxing was startled and groggily sat up.

Shen Yunjie sighed, “Are you awake?”

Tian Nanxing was rubbing his eyes when he suddenly noticed something was off with Shen Yunjie’s breathing: “What’s wrong?” He reached out and realized that Shen Yunjie’s clothes were completely soaked.

“There’s some movement, I wanted you to take a look.” Shen Yunjie’s hand rested on his abdomen as he frowned. Tian Nanxing took Shen Yunjie’s wrist and felt his pulse: “How long has the pain lasted?”

Shen Yunjie thought for a moment: “It started around nightfall.”

Tian Nanxing pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on: “What time is it now?”

“It should be just past the Yinshi[mfn]3-5 AM[/mfn].” Shen Yunjie replied, then closed his mouth and said no more. He bent slightly forward, his thin shoulders trembling as he endured another contraction.

“How can you be so careless? Why did you endure it for so long? Why didn’t you call me sooner?” Tian Nanxing couldn’t help but scold him. Shen Yunjie didn’t hear a word; he only felt the pain was even worse now than before.

Tian Nanxing stopped wasting time, jumped out of bed, and helped Shen Yunjie onto the bed. “Are there any competent servants?” Shen Yunjie was half-sitting while holding his belly and panting rapidly. He groaned in a low voice: “Yes… the mute servant can… he’s outside, you tell him…”

“Lie down for a bit; I’ll be right back.” Tian Nanxing pulled the blanket over him and hurried out without even putting on his outer robe. Shen Yunjie endured the pain alone for a moment. It hurt too much to sit up but he couldn’t lie down nor did he have the strength to turn over either. His breathing grew heavier. He desperately gripped the edge of the bed with his fingertips, his eyes stung from sweat, and they were swollen and sore.

Tian Nanxing instructed the mute servant to boil water and decoct the medicine and to prepare all the necessary items. Then he returned to the room and lit a candle. Only then did he clearly see Shen Yunjie’s appearance. In just the time it took to prepare a cup of tea, he looked barely clinging to life. His face was pale with his forehead covered in cold sweat, he bit his lower lip bitten until it bled, and his wet, long hair was scattered across the bed. He clutched his stomach weakly, the pain so intense that he didn’t dare hold it tightly.

“Guess what I was going to say?” Tian Nanxing wiped the sweat from Shen Yunjie’s forehead with a cloth.

Shen Yunjie managed to force a smile with his pale, blood-stained lips while enduring the pain to straighten his waist. He spoke weakly: “You wanted to say… that I, too… have fallen to this state…”

Tian Nanxing couldn’t bear to watch any longer. He pressed down on Shen Yunjie’s hand and said, “I just think you didn’t have to push yourself into such a predicament.”

“You’re telling me this now…” Shen Yunjie smiled bitterly while pointing to his belly, “It’s a little late, ugh…” As soon as he spoke, another sharp pang of pain hit him. Shen Yunjie groaned and tightly clutched the wrinkled clothes around his waist.

Tian Nanxing checked his pulse again before putting down the curtain, untied Shen Yunjie’s clothes, examined him carefully, and instructed, “It’s still early. You’ll probably have to endure a few more hours. Try to get some sleep when the pain eases.”

Shen Yunjie nodded with difficulty and closed his eyes. Dazed and wracked with pain, his mind drifted through the years he had spent by Xie Yunyi’s side. Scene after scene flashed like a lantern slide, finally stopping at the day he stepped on the red silk at Prince Wujing Mansion…

As dawn approached, Shen Yunjie could no longer suppress his groans of pain. A warm cloth touched his forehead as Tian Nanxing gently woke him up.

Shen Yunjie’s vision was blurry, and his body was constantly covered in sweat. He struggled to grab Tian Nanxing’s sleeve: “Thirsty…” Tian Nanxing helped him sit up slightly and advised, “Drink the medicine first; I’ll get you water.” Not long after feeding him the herbal medicine, Shen Yunjie suddenly arched his back with a cry of pain and began to tremble all over.

Tian Nanxing actually let out a sigh of relief and said, “It’s coming soon, hold on.” Shen Yunjie believed him, but he unexpectedly suffered through nearly two more hours. The pain in his abdomen became sharper and sharper. Shen Yunjie fiercely bit down on a cloth pad as he tore the bedsheet beneath him with his fingers, but he did not utter a sound, terrified of making a noise that would alert others.

Tian Nanxing’s back also broke out in a sweat. Shen Yunjie was exhausted from enduring for so long, but the child still showed no signs of appearing. Seeing Shen Yunjie about to pass out, Tian Nanxing quickly inserted a needle and said, “Yunjie! Don’t sleep, do you still want this child?”

Shen Yunjie coughed a few times, which intensified the tight pain in his abdomen. His vision was dark. He murmured in a low voice, “Young Master…”

Tian Nanxing’s hand was steady as he inserted the needle, and he spoke to distract him: “Don’t pass out. Let me tell you about your Young Master.”

Shen Yunjie genuinely tried to open his eyes and turned his head to look at Tian Nanxing.

Tian Nanxing said, “After Shizi woke up, he was silent all the way. I saw his mental state was too poor, so I didn’t dare place him in the farmhouse as originally planned. Do you know about the Ghost Hand of the Xiao Sect in the martial world?”

Shen Yunjie frowned and groaned in pain, but Tian Nanxing covered his mouth: “I was wrong; I shouldn’t have asked you random things. Don’t speak, use this little bit of strength to give birth to your child instead.”

“That Old Ghost Xiao, felt his end was near, so he wanted to take a final closed-door disciple to pass on the Xiao Sect’s face-changing art. I thought that if Xie Shizi[mfn]In Chinese, the surname came before the title[/mfn] could be taken in by him, at least he would have a skill so he wouldn’t starve, right?”

Tian Nanxing gently pressed down on Shen Yunjie’s lower abdomen, urging him to push while also comforting him: “Later, as soon as Old Ghost Xiao saw your Young Master, he immediately wanted to take him as his last disciple, saying he had a rare talent only seen once in a hundred years. The old fellow clung to Shizi and said it would be a shame to not use such beautiful hands for something like making flatbread.”

Shen Yunjie’s brows were tightly furrowed, his waist and abdomen arched as he groaned and cried out in pain. Tian Nanxing fell silent, watching nervously as the little one slowly settled into his palms. A moment later, the child’s tiny cries filled the air.

Tian Nanxing wrapped the child and held him out for Shen Yunjie to see: “You’re so thin, yet your little flatbread is quite plump.”

Shen Yunjie braced himself to sit up, reached out, and took the child from Tian Nanxing’s arms. He stared blankly for a long time, then suddenly tears fell. He gently pressed his face to the child’s forehead, closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he no longer looked at the child in his arms but called out to the mute servant in a hoarse voice.

The mute servant came in from the inner room, knelt by Shen Yunjie’s bed, bowed, then took the child from his master’s hands and placed him in the vegetable basket beside him. The child’s swaddling cloth was covered by green vegetables. The mute servant bowed again and then hurried away with the basket.

Tian Nanxing looked at Shen Yunjie and was speechless for a moment.

Shen Yunjie leaned on the edge of the bed, swaying, and said through gritted teeth, “Shizun is coming back soon. I cannot keep the child by my side.”

Tian Nanxing didn’t know how to comfort his friend, so he could only gently support him. After thinking for a moment, he said, “The Xiao Sect resides in Yongjia Commandery, Kuozhou. He has changed his name to Xiao Ning. If in the future…”