Xiong Jingfei quickly turned back around to ask the old granny why did she do that to her. Except, she was nowhere to be found. Where did she go?
She couldn't find the old granny anywhere! Xiong Jingfei was sure with the old granny's old age, she couldn't have run that fast!
Then she listened. There was no sound or sight of a waterfall, rocks, and a thick forest surrounding her.
Where am I?
She quickly looked around with her eyes, not moving an inch from her spot. She appeared to be inside a wooden room and behind a silked screen door.
"Push!"
"Push more!"
"Ahhh! I can't!"
"Mistress, please continue pushing!"
The sound of the heavy waterfall was replaced with a woman screaming, and many women's voices begging someone to push harder.
Xiong Jingfei took a peek from behind the silked screen door. Two women were wearing a blue hanfu dress, an older woman wearing a purple hanfu dress, and a child wearing a yellow hanfu dress. The shouting was coming from them, and the scream was coming from a woman lying on the bed.
She couldn't see any of their faces, but Xiong Jingfei can tell the woman on the bed was in the middle of giving birth. Of course, she has never witnessed anyone giving birth, but it wasn't hard to tell from the looks of it.
One of the women in the blue dress was patting away the sweats on the forehead of the woman giving birth.
"We need more hot water!"
The other woman in the blue dress rushed passed the silked screen door and out the door. She carried a bunch of bloody rags out the door with her.
Xiong Jingfei sighed in relief that she didn't notice her. What will happen to her if they saw her? She was trying not to get caught while trying to figure out where the hell did the old granny do to her. Where did the old granny bring her?
"Mistress! The baby is almost out. Please push harder!" The older woman, who looked like she can be a grandma, in the purple dress said excitedly.
The woman, who the old grandma told to push harder, she screamed and tried pushing again.
Xiong Jingfei gripped the wooden frame of the silked screened door. Even she can feel the pressure put on the woman trying to give birth and the urgency in the old grandma's voice for the survival of the mother and baby.
"Xu Song, give me another clean rag!"
"Okay!"
A girlish voice belonging to the child in the yellow dress said with confidence. She didn't sound like she was afraid of the screaming or the bloody scene in front of her. Like it was normal for her as she grabbed another clean rag to give to the old grandma.
Xu Song? Xiong Jingfei finally took notice of the quiet little girl standing in the corner. The screaming of the mistress and the older woman took her attention away from the child. It can't be the same Xu Song she saw in her dreams, right?
It was! Just a younger version of her, a Xu Song who hasn't reached the age of marriage yet.
Xiong Jingfei smiled. That confident and scowling face of the child Xu Song was the same when she gets older.
Her eyes traveled to the bony fingers of Xu Song, holding onto the rags. It wasn't just the age that made Xu Song look different. You can almost see her bones! Is she not getting enough to eat?
Xu Song did answer the wet nurse confidently, but her hands were unable to stop shaking.
"Mistress, you need to push even harder than ever right now!" The old grandma demand, ignoring her drenched back and exhaustion.
Xiong Jingfei wanted to run out there and help them, but what can she do? She wasn't an expert or a doctor! She would be in their way more than helping them. Both parties looked exhausted, and it seemed like the woman was having a hard time giving birth.
"Mistress, please push harder. If you don't, you and the baby will die together." The woman in the blue dress patting the sweats away begged.
"Shut up! Don't say such ominous words!" The old grandma scolded, but she knew what was said wasn't wrong. It was just something she didn't want to accept.
"Ahhh!" Their mistress cried and screamed, pushing even harder than ever.
The old grandma's eyes lit up, "You're doing great! I can see the baby's head!"
When the baby was finally out. The old grandma cried out with joy and quickly wrapped the baby in a clean cloth.
"Mistress, it's a baby girl!"
The old grandma gave the baby to little Xu Song to hold. She went back to cleaning up the mistress's lower bottom.
Xiong Jingfei heard the mistress on the bed sighed out in relief. More of a relief that the baby was delivered safely than it was finally over.
The mistress laid still, drained of energy. She wanted to close her eyes and take a rest, but life wouldn't go that way for her. Something spicy was building up inside her stomach and shot up her throat.
"Mistress!" The old grandma screamed, shocked to see that her mistress coughed out blood. That's not supposed to happen after a woman gives birth!
Everyone in the room and including Xiong Jingfei, went into panic mode.
"Go get a doctor! Hurry! Our mistress is coughing up blood!"
The woman in the blue dress who rushed out the door earlier. She was the same person to rush back out the door again.
Within seconds, the doctor entered as if he was prepared for this to happen. He checked the mistress's pulse, and could only sadly shake his head. Mistress's health didn't look good.
"Doctor, what is wrong with our mistress?"
The doctor kept shaking his head and wouldn't say a word.
They all knew what that meant for their mistress. They cried and begged for the doctor to save their mistress.