Chapter 2: The Little Male Supporting Role Drinks Milk

The doctor’s forehead was still covered with sweat, but his tone was relaxed and cheerful. “Mother and child are safe, but the mother lost a lot of blood and is extremely weak. She needs to be well-nourished.”

Upon hearing that the mother and child were safe, Qin Zhan took a deep breath and finally relaxed. “Can the mother and the old lady be arranged in the same ward?”

“No problem.” The commune health hospital had few people and many empty beds. The doctor readily agreed.

So, Qin Zhan and the medical staff moved the mother and child to the ward where Widow Ji was.

Looking at the sleeping woman and the red-faced baby lying beside her with his eyes closed, Qin Zhan’s heart softened. This was his first time seeing a newborn baby.

The doctor added, “Although the baby was held in the womb a bit too long, the body is unexpectedly healthy. It shows that the woman had good nutrition during pregnancy. Thankfully so. It was this nutrition that allowed her to hold on until birth. If her health had been a little worse…”

The doctor didn’t finish the sentence, but Qin Zhan understood the meaning.

While speaking, the woman was pushed into the ward.

In the ward, seeing the unconscious Widow Ji and her daughter-in-law, and the just-born baby, Qin Zhan had to say to the midwife, “Auntie, both Aunt Ji and her daughter-in-law are women. As a man, I’m not convenient to take care of them. Could I ask you to lend a hand? I will pay you for your effort.”

“No need to pay. Your Aunt Ji and I are acquainted. Comrade, don’t worry. I will take care of her until she wakes up.” The midwife and Widow Ji were from the same village. They weren’t especially close, but had no conflicts either. In the countryside, helping each other was common. No one needed to be paid for it.

Qin Zhan did not insist on the matter. “Then Auntie, I’ll go to the guesthouse and buy some food. Later, I’ll trouble you to eat here.”

Midwife: “What trouble? Comrade, go do your things first.”

Qin Zhan first went to the guesthouse. He never imagined that a visit to Ji Aihua’s hometown would turn into such a serious situation. Fortunately, Ji Aihua’s wife and child were safe. Otherwise, he would never forgive himself in this lifetime.

Then he went to the supply and marketing cooperative. At the state-run restaurant, meals needed to be packed in personal containers. He had one lunchbox, used for meals on the train, so he went to the cooperative to buy two more. Luckily, he carried all kinds of ration coupons. Most were his own, and a small part was pooled from his comrades for Ji Aihua’s family.

Besides the small amount of coupons, the comrades also pooled together 500 yuan. Qin Zhan did not accept the money. Those comrades were not wealthy either. He only took the coupons.

For Ji Aihua’s sacrifice this time, the unit had given him his mission bonus in advance—180 yuan. Including the condolence money, Qin Zhan brought it all. But condolence money was based on military service. Ji Aihua did not serve long, so the amount was small. The standard was forty months of salary and subsidy before death. Ji Aihua’s monthly wage was 10 yuan, so he was given 400 yuan in wages, 200 yuan in subsidy, and 180 yuan in bonus—a total of 780 yuan.

However, Qin Zhan had prepared 2,000 yuan. The additional 1,220 yuan came from his own private savings. The 1,220 yuan was about eight months of his salary. As a single man, he ate in the army canteen, wore army clothes, and had no other living expenses. Over the years, his salary and bonuses had been saved up and were quite ample.

At the state-run restaurant, Qin Zhan ordered three portions of cabbage and shredded pork noodles. He ate one on the spot and packed two portions. One for the midwife, and one to keep for Widow Ji.

While Qin Zhan was eating, Ning Xin in the commune health hospital was in complete distress.

Her messy memories told her she had transmigrated into a book. It would have been fine if she had just become a woman in labor, but the problem was—she had entered a book. And not as the heroine’s friend or the male lead’s sister who could live peacefully, but as the mother of a deeply affectionate and silently sacrificing male supporting character.

Ning Xin was a law student in her third year of university. Last year, her parents died in a car accident after attending a wedding. This year, during the Qingming Festival, she visited their graves. On her way back, she was hit by a car. Traffic was heavy during the holiday. On the way to the hospital, she lost consciousness. Just before that, she could feel her life slipping away and knew she was not going to make it. At that moment, she even felt it was a relief.

Because… car accidents are excruciatingly painful.

However, for her, one moment she was in agony, and the next she had regained consciousness. It felt like having surgery without anesthesia.

She just didn’t expect to transmigrate into a book.

Was it because she shared the same name as the male supporting role’s mother? But her name was Ning Xin^[1]宁馨, and the character in the book was Ning Xin^[2]宁新, just with a different character.

Ning Xin sorted out her thoughts and stopped dwelling on the cause of transmigration. In the novel, the male supporting role’s mother died on the way to the hospital. By the time she was sent to the commune hospital, she was already dead. But since there was still fetal movement, the doctors performed a C-section and delivered the baby.

Fortunately, the baby was very healthy after birth. Though he had stayed in the womb longer, thanks to the good nutrition during pregnancy, he was born in good shape.

However, first the son died, then the daughter-in-law died. Widow Ji, the baby’s grandmother, couldn’t bear the blow and fell gravely ill.

Widow Ji had three sons and a daughter. Ji Aihua, the father of the male supporting role, was the second child but the eldest son. His older sister had married, and his two younger brothers were already married. Due to Ji Aihua’s military service, the original Ning Xin became pregnant later than her two sisters-in-law.

In the novel, it was briefly mentioned that Widow Ji, seeing she was sick and unable to raise the child, and not trusting the younger sons’ families, entrusted the baby to Ji Aihua’s superior—Qin Zhan.

This part of the story was only lightly mentioned. The male supporting character’s background was explained in just a few lines. The novel was written from the heroine’s perspective, so details about the Ji family were not clear to Ning Xin.

She only knew this was a heroine-centric novel, and everyone doted on the heroine. She had thought the heroine was very blessed, but felt the male supporting role was pitiful.

Although he always had enough food and clothing growing up, and Qin Zhan treated him very well, even Qin Zhan’s parents treated him like their own grandson, the boy still knew about his past and often heard gossip. For example, that Qin Zhan couldn’t get a wife because of him, or that he was a burden. So, he developed a sensitive nature, proud yet insecure.

Back when she read the novel, Ning Xin truly felt sorry for the little supporting character.

But pity was one thing; she never wanted to enter the story herself.

This era had no air conditioning, no internet, no smartphones. How was a modern person supposed to live like this?

But then again, being alive was better than being dead.

Also, the Ning Xin in the novel died in childbirth. That meant she had taken over this body after the original owner passed. If nothing unexpected happened, she might live out the rest of her life here.

So what would she do next?

Be a widow raising a child?

People online always said having a baby without pain was great.

She wanted to tell them with real experience—it was not great at all. It’s only “great” if many conditions are met. In the original character’s case, her husband was dead. She was a rural woman with no money, no education, no job. She couldn’t even feed herself and still had to raise a child. What was so great about that?

Just as Ning Xin was lost in thought, she felt someone moving her clothes, lifting them upward.

Who is it? Oh my god, who will save her? Ah…

Ning Xin shouted, but the cries from her soul could not reach her body.

Right, why is it that she is clearly awake, her body can feel things, yet she cannot control it?

Ning Xin was terrified, it felt like she had been drugged, left to be slaughtered.

Immediately after, she felt her chest being sucked.

Ning Xin was completely stunned, she struggled desperately, fought with all her might, but it was still useless, she could not control her body, it felt like her soul and body were separated.

At this moment, the other party had already started noisily sucking her breast milk. The sensation of her chest being sucked was indescribable, she was angry, shocked and humiliated.

Wait… sucking breast milk? Could it be the newly born male supporting character? Just as this thought rose in her mind, it was immediately confirmed.

Qin Zhan came back with a lunch box and as he arrived at the door of the hospital room, since the door was not closed, he saw the scene inside at a glance. He saw the mother lying on the bed with her top lifted, and the newborn baby was being half-held by the midwife, lying on the side of the mother with his little head buried in her chest.

Qin Zhan hurriedly turned around. Because he only caught a quick glance, he did not see clearly, but his heartbeat still sped up a bit and he felt a strange embarrassment. “Auntie, I brought dinner back for you and Aunt Ji, it’s noodles bought from the state-run restaurant, not sure if you’ll eat it.” As for the mother who had just given birth, he did not bring anything for her as he did not know what she should eat after giving birth.

Upon hearing it was noodles, the midwife subconsciously swallowed her saliva. Since the second half of last year, food had become scarce and now it was already September this year, nearly a whole year had passed and even drinking rice soup had become a luxury in her home. Usually, they ate wild vegetable buns and occasionally had sweet potatoes and taro. Fortunately, in earlier years, they had dried a lot of wild vegetables and bamboo shoots, otherwise they would have starved by now.

Even so, everyone had lost a lot of weight, their skin was sallow, and their energy was very poor.

“We’ll eat it, we’ll eat it,” the midwife quickly replied, her voice raising several decibels out of urgency, afraid that Qin Zhan might not have heard. Then she added, “Comrade, I am feeding the baby milk right now. I saw that Aihua’s wife has a lot of milk and it’s time for the child to drink, so I fed him.”