After knocking for a good while, faint movements finally came from inside the house. Yang Kai's hearing was sharp, and he caught several muttered curses.
The door opened, and a middle-aged woman's face peeked out, eyes heavy with sleep. She frowned at Yang Kai, yawning as she spoke: "What's the matter at this hour?"
Yang Kai stepped back and cupped his fists. "Please forgive the intrusion, madam. Yu Lu is going into labor, and the old midwife asked me to fetch you."
"Yu Lu?" The midwife couldn't place the name at first, but after a moment it clicked. "From the east side of the city?"
"That's right!" Yang Kai nodded quickly.
The midwife acknowledged this with a nod. "Old Zhou already let me know, but it isn't her due date yet, is it? Why is she giving birth tonight?"
"Tonight's heavy rain caused some trouble at Yu Lu's home. It may have unsettled the baby."
The midwife had seen plenty of cases like this and wasn't particularly concerned. She waved a hand. "I see. You can head back first."
"You aren't coming with me?" Yang Kai asked, stunned.
The midwife chuckled. "Childbirth doesn't happen that fast. She's barely started. Even if I went now, there wouldn't be much I could do. It won't be too late to go at first light."
As she spoke, she moved to shut the front door.
Yang Kai planted a foot forward, blocking the door, and said urgently, "When I came, Yu Lu was already showing blood. She may not make it to dawn!"
The midwife looked him up and down, a knowing smile curling her lips. "That concerned about the young woman, is the baby yours?"
Yang Kai had no interest in bantering about such things. Remembering the old midwife's instructions, he quickly pressed a money pouch into her hands. "Please, madam, help us."
The midwife took the pouch, hefted it a few times, and stuffed it into her bosom. "Fine, fine. Listen to me — I've delivered more babies than I can count. Going at first light will absolutely not be too late. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility. Besides, have you seen how hard it's raining? How am I supposed to get there? I'd catch my death walking through all that."
Yang Kai frowned. "If it weren't raining, you'd come?"
The midwife scoffed. "What? You think you can tell the rain when to—"
The last word caught in her throat. The confident smile on her face melted away, replaced by sheer disbelief. The torrential downpour had abruptly stopped. Not only that, the thick clouds shrouding the sky were dispersing rapidly, and cold moonlight poured down, illuminating the world below.
The midwife looked up at the sky, utterly bewildered.
"Madam, a life hangs in the balance!" Yang Kai pleaded earnestly, his eyes fixed on her.
The midwife stared at him with something like suspicion, her mind racing through possibilities she couldn't quite grasp. A shiver ran through her, and in a fluster she stammered, "Wait here — I'll prepare myself and come right away."
Yang Kai nodded.
A moment later, the midwife emerged fully dressed and hurried after Yang Kai toward the east side of the city.
When they reached Old Zhou's door, piercing screams could already be heard splitting through the night sky. The two entered the house, and Yang Kai called out, "Grandma Zhou, she's here."
The old woman's voice came from within. "Quickly, come in!"
Yang Kai glanced back at the midwife, who startled like she'd been struck by lightning and darted into the inner room as if sprouted four legs.
Those heart-rending cries of agony reached his ears, making him feel them in his very bones.
Yang Kai had never imagined that childbirth looked like this. It drove home just how fragile life was — and how precious.
"Boy, heat some water!" Old Zhou's voice called from inside.
Yang Kai hurried in answer and rushed to the kitchen to boil water.
Half an hour later, basin after basin of bloody water was carried out by Old Zhou and dumped into the drain outside, while Yu Lu's desperate screams within gradually grew weaker.
"It's no good, Old Zhou," the midwife's voice rang out. "Breech birth combined with hemorrhage — either one alone is a step through the gates of death for a woman. Yu Lu has both. Not even an immortal could save her now."
"Can't you try anything else?" the old woman pressed.
"What can I do?" the midwife replied. "If we could get a master from Seven Star Workshop over here, perhaps Yu Lu could still be saved. But at this point… all I can do is try to keep the child alive."
"Seven Star Workshop isn't exactly close. We can't make it in time," the old woman said from inside the room, her clouded eyes dark with despair.
"Save… save the baby…" Yu Lu's voice came in broken gasps.
Outside, Yang Kai whispered, "Mu Zhu, Mu Lu — go in and help. Stabilize her life force."
The two small wood spirits, who had been perched on his shoulders this whole time, wracked with worry about what was happening inside, nodded hastily. They flapped their wings and glided silently through the door.
A thought stirred in Yang Kai's mind, and streams of vital energy from his Small World surged steadily into the house.
After the time it takes for one incense stick to burn, a bright, clear infant's cry pierced through the sky. At that very moment, a celestial anomaly appeared — moonlight gathered into a single beam that shot down from the heavens, falling directly upon the house where Yu Lu lay. The void itself trembled.