Chapter 21: First Victory

  The man was even more nervous, this was the last straw to save his wife's life, if it didn't work, his wife would be dead for sure! He held his wife in his arms and kept calling out to her in a low voice, while the old woman stood aside with her hands clasped together and her neck shrunk, looking rather indifferent.

  Time passed bit by bit, and Left Shao Yang's forehead was covered in cold sweat. The man occasionally turned his head to glance at Old Man Left Gu, then looked at Young Master Left Shao Yang, seemingly asking him why he still hadn't reacted. Left Gu's face was expressionless, while Left Shao Yang forced a smile, with an air of confidence on his face, but in his heart, he was becoming more and more uncertain.

  At this moment, the woman suddenly arched her body and let out a long, ear-piercing scream. The sound was like cold wind seeping in through the door gap: "Ah——, it hurts! My belly hurts so much! Ah——"

  The three people in the house were all flustered. The man hugged his wife tightly and turned to look at Zuigui: "Old Langzhong, what...what's going on?"

  "Ah?" Zuo Gui also panicked, releasing his hands that were holding onto his sleeves, and said flusteredly: "This..."

  Zuo Shaoyang was delighted in his heart and hurriedly bent down to ask the woman who had just given birth, "How are you feeling?"

  The woman in labor clutched her swollen belly and groaned in agony: "It hurts! Ah——, it's coming out——, ah, so painful!" Suddenly, a foul smell emanated from between her legs, accompanied by dark, blood-tinged amniotic fluid that flowed out.

  "Alright! It's coming down! It's going to come down! - Use force! Use more force! Slow down your breathing, right, like that! Use force!"

  The whole family finally reacted, and Liang's wife rushed into the house, shouting urgently: "Zhong'er, you men get out quickly! Hey, a few wives outside, come in and help! Xiangxiang, bring hot water! And straw and paper! Quick! Quick!"

  The man hastily put down his wife, took three steps in two strides, opened the door and rushed out: "It's coming down! Auntie, big aunt, sister-in-law, please help!"

  The house was suddenly in an uproar, with people crying and laughing, not knowing what to do. Angelica shouted: "You all quickly go in to help, I'll get hot water, there's just the right amount of hot water in the pot! Toilet paper is on the cabinet, straw is in the kitchen, - you several quickly go help!"

  Those old wives and young daughters-in-law finally came to their senses, suddenly became busy, some ran to hug the straw, some went to find toilet paper, others twisted their waists and squeezed into the house, shouting "Daughter-in-law! Use force! Use more strength!"

  Soon, hot water, straw and grass paper were sent into the house. The women all went in and closed the door. The noisy sound inside finally subsided a bit. The old man was overjoyed, with tears streaming down his face, holding his son's hand, standing outside the door, shouting wildly through the door, as if this could help in some way, but it's unclear whether it would work or not.

  When everyone in the house became like headless flies, Zuo Shaoyang stood there as if nothing had happened. He glanced at his father, who was still dazed and didn't know what was going on.

  After a while, the women inside the house shouted with excitement: "It's out! The stillbirth is out! Oh my god, you child, even in death you want to take your mother with you? How unfilial!"

  "Wooo..."

  Another crying sound came from the house, listening to the voice, it was the woman who gave birth, presumably heartbroken that her son had already died in the womb, but she didn't care about herself being pulled back from the gates of hell just now.

  Everyone in the hall cheered up.

  Zuo Shao Yang was overjoyed and couldn't help but smile foolishly. During his university days, he interned at a famous Chinese medicine hospital, following a well-known local old Chinese doctor to copy prescriptions, encountering some simple medical cases, the old doctor also let him learn to diagnose and prescribe, then correcting his mistakes. At that time, he had also cured some patients, but those were just ordinary diseases, rarely encountered complex and difficult cases, and had followed the old doctor to participate in consultations for critical illnesses, but never had the opportunity to treat such severe symptoms himself.

  This time, he judged and used the method alone, successfully pulling a critically ill patient back from the brink of death, his heart filled with great joy and success, for a moment, he didn't know how to be better.

  Zuo Gui's old father looked up, his hands hanging down, peeking out to look at the tightly closed bedroom door, stuttering and asking: "Really... really came down?"

  Zuo Shaoyang laughed and said: "Yes, Dad, your medicine really works!"

  "Ah——?" Left Gui's face already had irrepressible joy, but in the midst of that joy, there was even more confusion.

  After a while, the door opened and an old aunt came out with a bundle wrapped in a towel, scanned the crowd with her eyes, and choked up saying: "It's... it's a son! Alas... what a hard life!"

  "Where's my wife? How is she?" The man asked anxiously.

  "It's nothing, it's inside, don't go in yet, it's very dirty!"

  The man didn't care about those things, rushed in, hugged the woman in labor, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing in his arms.

  The woman next to her hurriedly comforted her and told her not to cry, saying that crying during the postpartum period would harm her eyes. The new mother then stopped crying.

  They carefully carried the woman out on a door plank, placed her in the main hall, wrapped a towel around her forehead and covered her with a quilt up to her nose, only exposing her eyes.

  That man came over and kowtowed to Zuo Gui: "Thank you, old divine doctor, for saving my wife's life!" The sound of his head knocking on the ground was loud.

  Zuo Gui helped him up, but Zuo Gui was still in shock and couldn't understand why the medicine had caused a miscarriage. He didn't know why this happiness had fallen from the sky, wondering if it was just his own luck or if heaven had opened its eyes.

  "Father, let this elder sister take a look. Is it still alright? Should we add two more doses of postpartum nourishing medicine?"

  The old man and that fellow repeatedly said: "Right! Trouble Old Lang again to take a look, open some medicine to supplement!"

  Zuo Gui hurriedly squatted down, and Hanzi helped pull out his wife's arm from under the quilt. Zuo Gui took her pulse again and asked about her feelings. Smiling, he said: "It's all right now, go back and rest, don't catch a cold or get tired, and don't touch cold water."

  The old man and Hanzi both responded in unison.

  Zuo Gui got up and returned to the back of the table, delightedly picked up his pen and wrote a prescription for postpartum nourishment, handing it over to Zuo Shao Yang. Zuo Shao Yang took a look, this nourishing prescription was quite balanced, nothing needed to be added or changed, so he followed the prescription to prepare the medicine, packaged it and handed it over to the old man.

  The old man thanked him and took the medicine package, exchanged a glance with the man, hesitated for a moment, and asked in a low voice: "Young brother, how much does this medicine cost?"

  Zuo Shaoyang smiled and walked over, speaking in a low voice: "Old man, normally we would just follow the store's rules and give you what's due. But our pharmacy has been having some... issues lately, and we're in urgent need of money. I'm really sorry to ask, but could you please just give us whatever you can? We won't mind if it's a little or a lot. Just consider it a favor to me, okay?"

  "Good!" The old man nodded gratefully, took out his purse from his bosom, and looked at his son. The man had already taken out the purse from his bosom and handed it to the old man. The old man padded it with his hands, lowered his head, and with a face full of shame, presented it to Left Guizhong: "Old gentleman, I'm really sorry, you saved my daughter-in-law's life... originally, I told this young gentleman that we would sell our land, houses, and all our belongings..."

  "Cough! Cough!" The old woman coughed heavily behind him and glared at him.

  The old man looked rather fearful, and lightly trembled as he said: "We only brought this little money, it's really not enough to show our respect, just consider it a diagnostic fee, and wait for better days in the future..."

  The old woman suddenly stepped forward and snatched the two money bags: "Let me see how much money is inside!"

  She tore open the purse, looked inside and exclaimed: "Oh my! There's over two hundred coins in here! Are these few packets of rotten medicine worth so much money? I'll go buy some to return to them!"

  Zuo Shaoyang's ears were pierced by her words, and he coldly said: "Auntie, that was uncalled for..."

  "Did I say anything wrong? Give me the prescription, let me see how much it costs. Your medicine cabinet has prices marked on them, I'm not trying to take advantage of you! I'll pay for each medicine one by one! - Give me the prescription!"