“Madam, push harder! I can see the baby’s head!” Nanny Li knelt at the foot of the bed, her voice tinged with barely contained anxiety. Nearly fifty, with gray at her temples, she was the dowry nursemaid Liu Xun had brought from her maiden home. Now, her calloused hands firmly supported the new life about to enter the world.
“Ah, ” Another wave of searing pain tore through Liu Xun, her nails digging deep into her palms. In a daze, she heard her mother-in-law, Madam Mu, outside: “It’s been a whole day. Why hasn’t she given birth yet? Could it be…”
“Be quiet!” Mu Yang snapped under his breath. “What do women know? Xun’er is strong and healthy. She’ll give birth safely.”
A bitter smile tugged at Liu Xun’s lips. Her parents-in-law were keeping watch outside the door, but her husband, Mu Mingyuan, was nowhere to be found. At the thought of the man who spent his days haunting brothels, pain flickered in her eyes, only to be swallowed by another contraction.
“Nanny… I… I can’t go on…” Liu Xun whispered, her face as pale as paper.
Nanny Li’s forehead beaded with sweat. She turned and shouted at the maid beside her, “Go brew another bowl of ginseng soup! Quickly!” Then she bent to whisper in Liu Xun’s ear, “My lady, remember what your father told you before he left. You’re a daughter of the Liu family, born to a family of generals. What hardship could you possibly fail to overcome?”
Liu Xun’s unfocused gaze sharpened at those words. She remembered the worry in her father’s eyes before he rode off to war, and his sigh when she insisted on marrying into the Mu family. That was right. She could not give in, not for the Liu family’s honor, and not for the innocent life in her womb.
“Ah, ” A piercing cry rang out, and at last a baby’s wail filled the delivery room.
Looks good, keep up the good work