Village Doctor's Women-Chapter 169: Mysterious Change

「In the operating room.」

Ever since following them inside, Xu Liang had been reduced to doing nothing but offer encouragement. He had never felt so useless in his entire life. He could only watch helplessly as his wife suffered. He had never witnessed childbirth before, so he could never truly appreciate how difficult and painful it was, despite hearing others talk about it. But now, watching his wife look as if she had lost half her life, he finally understood.

So... it was this difficult.

Xu Liang stood by her side, continuously holding her hand and murmuring words of encouragement. Beyond that, there seemed to be nothing else he could do.

It turned out... he was this useless.

Just then, he noticed his wife’s grip was growing weaker, and she seemed to be drifting into a semi-conscious state. A wave of panic washed over him. The medical staff, who were monitoring her closely, also saw the change. They began calling her name to keep her focused while simultaneously updating the attending physician on the situation.

The attending physician looked up, glanced at the adjacent monitor, and frowned immediately. "Something’s not right with the fetus," she said. "It’s likely that the fetal movement before they arrived at the hospital affected its position. The fetus has shifted, the umbilical cord is wrapped around its neck, and its head isn’t facing down. Furthermore, the patient is at risk of a major hemorrhage. We must correct the fetal position immediately!"

"Call Director Zhao!"

"But Director Zhao isn’t on duty today... Will he make it in time?"

"Find any available doctor and see if we can get them in here. If that’s not possible, we’ll have to proceed with a cesarean section."

The attending physician was frantic. That very morning, Xu Liang and Hu Tiantian had come in for a prenatal exam. She was only one centimeter dilated, and the baby’s position was normal. They were all set for her to be admitted that afternoon to await labor. Moreover, Xu Liang and his wife were very open-minded; as soon as Hu Tiantian knew the fetal position was normal, she chose to have a natural childbirth. Barring any surprises, it should have been a straightforward natural birth. But no one could have predicted that shortly after leaving the hospital, they would return to find the situation had changed so drastically. The arrangements for a natural delivery were now completely inadequate.

Hearing this, Xu Liang suddenly grew calm. His past life of violent conflict had given him the composure to handle emergencies. When he heard the attending physician wanted to find outside help, an idea ignited in his mind.

There’s a doctor out there who can bring people back from the dead.

With that thought, Xu Liang spoke to a nurse and started to head out.

But the doctor stopped him. "Xu, where do you think you’re going? Your job right now is to stay with your wife and give her strength, understand? Don’t get in our way. The patient’s willpower is crucial at a time like this. Are you just going to abandon your wife and child?"

Indeed, what the patient needed most was Xu Liang’s encouragement, so the attending physician’s words were harsh. She was an old hand in obstetrics, a woman in her forties or fifties named Zhou Cui. She was normally gentle with the couples who came for check-ups, but now her face was stern, and her booming voice truly stunned Xu Liang. In the operating room, a doctor would dare to shout like that not just at a former gangster like Xu Liang, but at any leader who walked in.

Xu Liang froze, a wry smile on his face. "Doctor Zhou, I’m not running off. You said you couldn’t find a doctor to help, right? I happen to know one. He came to the hospital with me just now."

"Oh?" Attending physician Zhou Cui was taken aback. She knew Xu Liang was no ordinary man and might actually know a skilled doctor, so she asked directly, "Which expert is it?"

Expert? The word made Xu Liang pause for a second before he gave Wang Jian’s name. To me, Wang Jian isn’t an expert. He’s a hundred times more formidable than any expert in this hospital. He’s someone who could save me even after my heart was pierced.

"...Wang Jian."

"Wang Jian?" Zhou Cui repeated. Who is that? She didn’t recognize the name, though it sounded vaguely familiar. She couldn’t place it. None of the prominent doctors in obstetrics and gynecology that she could recall matched that name. Of course, it never occurred to her that this Wang Jian wasn’t from her department at all. He had once been a nobody in the Chinese medicine department and was now just a village doctor.

But the patient’s condition was too critical to waste time calling someone from another hospital. Zhou Cui could only nod. "Fine, but first you must ask him if he knows how to correct the fetal position. If he doesn’t, I’m proceeding with a cesarean section."

With that, she instructed a nurse to contact a surgeon, while Xu Liang, with help from the staff, quickly removed his scrubs and left the operating room.

To the bewildered stares of the others waiting outside, he walked straight up to Wang Jian and asked bluntly, "Can you correct a fetal position?"

"Hm?"

The others had been about to ask if the baby had been born, but one look at Xu Liang’s expression and his question told them something was terribly wrong. All eyes turned to Wang Jian, who simply nodded.

Seeing him nod, Xu Liang breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Hurry, come with me." Without waiting for a response, he grabbed Wang Jian’s arm and pulled him toward the operating room.

"What’s the situation inside?" It was a testament to Wang Jian’s confidence that he remained so calm; any other doctor would have been terrified by Xu Liang’s frantic demeanor.

"The doctor said it’s a fetal malposition. The head isn’t facing down, and I think the umbilical cord is wrapped around its neck."

Wang Jian fell silent. This was an extremely critical situation. The fact that Xu Liang would pull him into this mess spoke volumes about his trust. From another perspective, however, it was a massive crisis being laid at Wang Jian’s feet. Still, Wang Jian asked, "In a hospital, they would normally perform a cesarean section for this... They wouldn’t call for a Chinese medicine practitioner."

Xu Liang nodded. "When I mentioned you, Doctor Zhou was preparing for a C-section, but she said there was a risk of a major hemorrhage, so..."

Just as Xu Liang began to think Wang Jian couldn’t handle it, Wang Jian continued, "If you had asked any other Chinese medicine practitioner, they probably wouldn’t have taken this on."

Xu Liang immediately understood the unspoken implication and felt his heart settle. He knew Wang Jian. When it came to saving lives, he was a man of his word and would never speak with such certainty unless he was confident.

After disinfecting and changing into scrubs, Wang Jian entered the delivery room and was met with several pairs of eyes. Their gazes quickly turned to skepticism.

"Are you sure you can correct the fetal position?" As a senior obstetrician who had also worked as a specialized midwife, Zhou Cui had a wealth of experience and had met countless doctors in her field, but Wang Jian was a complete unknown. So she asked doubtfully, "The patient’s condition is extremely critical. If you aren’t certain, don’t waste our time."

She then looked at Xu Liang. "You need to make the decision. Let me perform the C-section now, and we might still be able to save both of them."

Zhou Cui’s tone wasn’t pleasant. Obstetrics was a field ripe for medical disputes, so when things went wrong, she had to leave the final decision to the family. In her eyes, Xu Liang dragging in some random young doctor was tantamount to gambling with the lives of his wife and child. She had never shown a shred of kindness to such reckless husbands.

Xu Liang was on the verge of telling her to proceed with the C-section, but then he looked at Hu Tiantian on the operating table. She was looking at him, and he rushed over to take her hand. "Honey, are you okay?"

Apparently, while Xu Liang was out, Doctor Zhou had explained the situation to Hu Tiantian. Now, having regained a bit of strength and seeing Wang Jian appear, she knew what her husband had done. "Let Doctor Wang try," she said, her voice strained. "I can still bear it."

Those four words, "I can still bear it," nearly made Xu Liang break down.

Wang Jian had approached them from behind at some point. Hearing Hu Tiantian’s words, he placed his hand over their clasped hands. A warm current flowed from his palm into their bodies. This warmth was like a gentle stream irrigating a parched field. The energy within Hu Tiantian was instantly stirred, and she was filled with newfound strength. To everyone else, she suddenly looked much more spirited. It was like a shot of pure adrenaline. Even Xu Liang felt his own frayed nerves calm under the influence of the warm flow. The couple stared at Wang Jian as if they had seen a ghost.

Wang Jian spoke at the perfect moment. "Don’t worry. Leave it to me."

As if possessed, Xu Liang and Hu Tiantian both nodded.

In fact, a deeper thought crossed Xu Liang’s mind. He had felt this same warm current when Wang Jian saved his life before. He had later dismissed it as an illusion, but today, he felt it again. For some reason, the term ’internal power’ popped into his mind. His confidence in Wang Jian soared to an unprecedented level.

Zhou Cui and the nurses all witnessed the change in the patient. They watched in astonishment as the data on the monitors gradually stabilized and even the color returned to the patient’s face. If they didn’t know Hu Tiantian was far from death’s door, they might have suspected it was a case of terminal lucidity. In that single moment, Zhou Cui began to see Wang Jian in a new light. Many mothers ended up in critical condition simply due to physical exhaustion.

If every obstetrician had an ability like Wang Jian’s, wouldn’t that...

A thousand thoughts raced through Zhou Cui’s mind. When Wang Jian asked her to step aside, she did so without another word.

She then watched as Wang Jian placed his hands on Hu Tiantian’s belly and closed his eyes. If not for the patient’s miraculous improvement just moments before, Zhou Cui would have spoken up again. After all, who corrects a fetal position with their eyes closed? But Wang Jian’s hands never stopped moving. It seemed as if he located the fetus’s position with just a light touch before his hands began to move over her belly in a pattern resembling Tai Chi. The sight made Zhou Cui frown deeply, and she had to fight the urge to intervene several times.

Just then, the nurse monitoring the ultrasound suddenly cried out, "Doctor Zhou, look!"

Zhou Cui turned her head just in time to see the baby on the screen turn over and then begin to flip its head down. This meant Wang Jian had not only untangled the umbilical cord but had also turned the baby, restoring it to the proper position for a natural birth. Zhou Cui also noticed Hu Tiantian’s complexion; far from looking exhausted, she seemed to be getting stronger by the second. Although this was a wonderful development, it was completely beyond her understanding.

By now, Wang Jian had already stood up, wiping sweat from his forehead. Even at his current level, performing such a delicate task while simultaneously ensuring the patient’s stability was incredibly taxing. Thankfully, the outcome was good.

"Fortunately, I have not failed you."