Chapter 1: Mother and Child Are Safe
The night was dark as Lin Yike lay on the operating table in the obstetrics and gynecology department of the first hospital in City A. Her face was ashen, and her body was drenched in sweat. Despite the intense pain, she remained silent, not uttering a single cry.
"Push harder! We can see the baby's head," the midwife's voice echoed in her ear.
Lin Yike clutched the bed railing tightly. After a day and night of excruciating pain, she had no strength left.
"The baby seems to be stuck. It could be a difficult birth. Should we inform Mr. Ruan just in case?" The midwife exchanged a glance with the head nurse.
"No, don't worry about me. Just focus on the baby," Lin Yike's voice was filled with pain but resolute as she tightly grasped the midwife's hand, her own hands wet with sweat.
The doctor was moved by her determination and held her hand in return. "Let's try again. Follow my lead. Inhale, push..."
With the sound of a newborn's cry, everyone in the delivery room breathed a sigh of relief.
The head nurse took the baby away to clean it, and the midwife left the delivery room, taking out her cellphone and dialing a number.
"Mr. Ruan..."
On the other end of the phone, Ruan Qi answered and knocked on the carved wooden door in front of him.
"Come in." A mature and deep voice came from inside.
Ruan Qi pushed open the door and saw a tall man standing by the floor-to-ceiling window.
The buttons on his suit jacket were undone, revealing a crisp shirt. Between the middle and ring fingers of his left hand, a cigarette burned silently.
As Ruan Qi walked closer to him, he could see the concern etched on the man's face. "How's Yike?" he asked, taking a drag from his cigarette.
"The baby's been born safely," Ruan Qi replied with a smile, "Mother and child are safe."
"Anything wrong?" The man arched his eyebrow, with a terrifying sense of calm that made others tremble.
"Oh, the hospital just called. Um, Lin Yike gave birth to a baby boy, six pounds and two ounces, and both mother and child are safe." Ruan Qi immediately replied.
"Mm, I know." The man listened and his deep brow remained calm without a ripple.
Ruan Qi felt like she should say 'congratulations', but before the words could come out, she heard him continue to ask, "What time does the video conference for the US branch start?"
Ruan Qi was stunned and her mind almost couldn't keep up with the pace. She raised her wrist and looked at her watch, carefully answering, "In half an hour."
"Tell Ouyang to get ready and go to the conference room." The man finished speaking, extinguished his cigarette, and turned to walk out the door.
The video conference lasted until the early hours of the next day.
The secretary walked into the conference room holding two cups of strong coffee.
"Don't you want to go to the hospital?" Ruan Qi held back all night and finally couldn't help but ask.
The man sitting opposite elegantly took a sip of coffee and hesitated briefly before giving an order, "Get the car ready."
...
Hospital, ward.
The first ray of morning sun shone through the window and the feeling on the person was warm.
Lin Yike tiredly opened her eyes and looked at the sleeping child beside her. Tears uncontrollably poured out of her eyes.
She was nineteen, and other girls her age would still be snuggling with their parents, but she was already a mother.
Although, this was a child whose father was unknown. Although, she almost collapsed when she first found out she was pregnant. But in the ten months since then, he had sprouted and grown little by little in her body, and had become an inseparable part of her life.
Perhaps, this was motherhood. So when the doctor said she might have difficulty giving birth, she almost unhesitatingly wished to use her own life to exchange for this child's survival.
A knock on the door sounded at this moment. Lin Yike quickly wiped away the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand and hoarsely said, "Come in."
She thought it was a nurse coming to change the IV bag, but the door opened and an handsome young man walked in.