Chapter 3: Production

“The pain in her abdomen made Shen Mingzhi even more clear-headed: she had to live!

‘Send me…’

‘I am her family member, I will sign for her.’

Before Shen Mingzhi could finish her words, a low, stern voice interrupted her, ringing in her ear.

The voice was so steady and powerful that Shen Mingzhi subconsciously looked over, only to see Jiang Shaochen striding towards her, still wearing his white undershirt.

At that moment, in Shen Mingzhi’s eyes, he was like a deity.

And so, Shen Mingzhi was pushed back into the delivery room.

Shen Mingzhi really didn’t expect childbirth to be so painful! She only felt that the pain would never stop, and she was about to be torn apart.

She really couldn’t take it anymore, ‘I want a C-section…’

‘This is your first child, you haven’t even started pushing yet, why would you have a C-section? Keep pushing, take deep breaths, stop howling!’

A doctor sternly interrupted her, even scolding her at the end.

Shen Mingzhi wanted to die, but what could she do?

She followed the doctor’s instructions, breathing, pushing, breathing, pushing… until she was so exhausted that she had no strength left, and the doctor was still pressing on her stomach.

She didn’t know how long it had been, she only felt a warm current flowing from her lower body.

But before she could relax for a moment, her stomach was in severe pain again.

She heard the doctor say, ‘There’s another one, push harder!’

Shen Mingzhi gritted her teeth and continued to push.

When both children were born, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. No one was as miserable as her. After being a ‘mother-to-be solo’ for so many years, she transmigrated into a book in the 1980s, and even had to experience childbirth, twice!

‘Congratulations, you have a pair of twins, a boy and a girl.’

The doctor’s words came to her ears, and Shen Mingzhi subconsciously looked over.

Two children were held in the arms of two doctors respectively. Perhaps out of maternal instinct, Shen Mingzhi subconsciously wanted to see the children.

But before she could speak, she felt her eyelids grow heavy.

Before her consciousness dissipated, she heard the doctor urgently shout: ‘Oh no, the mother is hemorrhaging…’

…

‘Second brother! Don’t be confused, our Jiang family doesn’t owe that widow anything. If you marry her, what about Sister Wanyin?’

Jiang Yinyin’s voice entered Shen Mingzhi’s ears.

Shen Mingzhi couldn’t help but frown.

‘You’re awake?’

The moment Jiang Shaochen’s voice rang out, Shen Mingzhi opened her eyes. She saw Jiang Shaochen opposite her, and Jiang Yinyin with a dark expression.

‘The children?’ Shen Mingzhi blurted out.

Although they weren’t her children, they were the children she had given birth to with all her strength, and she hadn’t even seen them once.

Jiang Shaochen pointed to the hospital bed next to her, ‘The two children are there.’

Shen Mingzhi followed the direction of his hand and saw two children wrapped in swaddling clothes, sleeping quietly in the next bed.

‘Can I see them?’

‘Of course.’

Jiang Shaochen thought about picking up the children to show Shen Mingzhi, but he had never held a child before, and besides, there were two of them!

He had no choice but to call Jiang Yinyin, ‘Yinyin, come and help me hold the children.’

Jiang Yinyin was reluctant, ‘I don’t want to! These children aren’t mine. Our Jiang family has already been kind enough…’

But before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by a surprised female voice, ‘Yinyin, I heard your voice from a long way away. Oh, isn’t this Shaochen? You’ve been so quiet, you already have children?’

As soon as these words came out, Shen Mingzhi and the others subconsciously looked towards the source of the voice.

They saw a plump woman in her forties standing at the door.

Jiang Yinyin’s face was as ugly as it could be. She knew she shouldn’t have let this widow stay. See, now they’ve run into an acquaintance!

‘No, this is the wife of my eldest brother’s comrade-in-arms, we’re here to help.’

Jiang Yinyin hurriedly explained.

The plump woman was even more surprised, ‘Your family is so kind-hearted? Shaoan is gone, and you can still take care of the family members of his comrades! Could this be Shaoan’s…’

‘Aunt Lu, if you don’t understand the situation, don’t spread rumors here, okay? My brother almost died before, and it was this family member’s husband who saved my eldest brother!’

‘Now she’s having financial difficulties and came to us, and she happened to be going into labor, so we sent her to the hospital. There’s nothing like what you’re thinking, go back and don’t spread rumors!’

Jiang Yinyin said seriously.

Aunt Lu suddenly understood, ‘So that’s how it is. I’m sorry then. Then you guys go ahead.’

Aunt Lu left.

But the words that Aunt Lu said were deeply rooted in Jiang Yinyin’s heart.

Jiang Yinyin said with a dark face, ‘I said give her some money and send her away. You were still thinking about justice and righteousness to marry her. Now look what’s happened? Everyone knows Aunt Lu, she can turn white into black.’

‘These are not things you should be worrying about.’ Jiang Shaochen said lightly.

Jiang Yinyin was unwilling to help, so he carried the children to Shen Mingzhi’s side one by one.

Shen Mingzhi felt that life was wonderful.

She, who had never experienced anything before, now that she had truly experienced the pain of childbirth, felt her heart soften when the two children were placed beside her. She subconsciously wanted to get closer to these two children.

‘I’ve already asked someone to prepare things for the children. I will take care of you these few days, you can tell me what you need.’

Jiang Shaochen sat on the stool, sitting up straight.

Shen Mingzhi really didn’t expect that Jiang Shaochen would do what he said, and he was quite nice.

‘Thank you. As for the marriage, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to force yourself.’

She was a widow with two children. Although she was open-minded, the people of the 1980s were different, and the Jiang family were all in military positions.

Jiang Shaochen had a promising future.

She didn’t really want to remarry and climb the Jiang family’s ladder, but only wanted to avoid the original owner’s fate of dying in childbirth.

Now that it was certain that the Jiang family would not sit idly by, there was no need to force Jiang Shaochen.

‘It’s good that you still have some conscience!’ Before Jiang Shaochen could say anything, Jiang Yinyin coldly snorted.

Shen Mingzhi had no good feelings for this culprit who killed the original owner, and said coldly, ‘If you don’t speak, no one will treat you as a mute!’

‘You!’ Jiang Yinyin was about to explode with anger, ‘You widow, leech-like…’

‘What’s wrong with me being a widow? My husband is a martyr like your eldest brother. You are also a family member of a martyr, I don’t ask you to support or help, but you keep saying widow, widow, insulting other family members of martyrs, what do you want to do? Incite class struggle?’

In this era, inciting class struggle was a big deal! If it was heard and spread, it would probably implicate the whole family.

Jiang Yinyin was so angry that she was about to tear Shen Mingzhi’s mouth, but Jiang Shaochen grabbed her arm and coldly rebuked, ‘Jiang Yinyin, haven’t you made enough trouble?’

What she didn’t expect was that a doctor in a white coat walked in from outside, ‘Patient Shen Mingzhi in bed 18, have you named the children? Also, we need your marriage certificate to issue the birth certificate, and the children’s names.’

Shen Mingzhi looked blank.

She had completely forgotten about the birth certificate.

The birth certificate at this time required the marriage certificate of the child’s parents to be issued.

Otherwise, the child would be an unregistered resident, not only unable to register the household, but also facing a fine.

Shen Mingzhi and Zhang Ping had a rushed wedding, and he sacrificed himself before they even had time to get a certificate. The Zhang family also didn’t recognize her and the children’s existence at all.

Where could she find a marriage certificate to ‘register’ the children’s household?”