From the Carp that Brings Children to the Celestial Officials

Chapter 100 Lesson

As autumn deepened, the school at the foot of Yuanling Mountain was busier than usual.

Some children peered curiously into the houses, wondering why so many women had come today.

In the past, outsiders were not allowed to enter or leave this school, let alone women.

However, their behavior only earned them a few scoldings from the teachers. Seeing the teachers' faces turn as black as charcoal, the children dared not make any more small movements.

The gentlemen glanced at the house in the distance and sighed inwardly.

It's just that the carp god's offer was too tempting, and they ultimately couldn't resist the temptation.

I am ashamed before the Dao Ancestor.

In contrast to the curiosity of outsiders, although the doors and windows of these houses were closed, oil lamps and incense were lit inside, and the air was filled with a faint, slightly sweet herbal fragrance.

Behind the neatly arranged tables and chairs sat thirteen midwives from various villages and thirty-five newly recruited women.

In fact, where they couldn't see, a circle of strange figures sat around.

The porcelain-faced maidens stood motionless, like statues, only occasionally shifting their eyes; the mist crane maidens concealed most of their bodies in the mist, each holding paper and pen, ready to listen attentively to the lesson; while the usually most active magpie-clad maidens chattered quietly.

If it weren't for a force blocking the sound from spreading, people outside would probably have heard them commenting on the women's clothes.

The midwives and prospective midwives were excited but also a little reserved. These people had lived half their lives, or even most of their lives, and now they were entering school.

There was never such an opportunity before; even the village school wouldn't accept girls.

When they chatted among themselves, they discovered that they had all received divine guidance.

Everyone knows that the goddess of Yuanling Mountain is efficacious, but this is the first time that someone has truly been inspired by her.

They were also worried that they might offend the gods by behaving rudely, so they all tried to sit up straight, with only a third of their buttocks touching the stool, and their eyes were wide open like bulls.

There were actually free paper and pens on the table, but they didn't dare touch them. These were things for cultured people; they couldn't read a single word.

"I am truly grateful that you all came as invited."

"I am your instructor, you can just call me Fragrant Lady."

The old woman walked in from outside and greeted everyone.

Although the Bed Goddess manifested her presence with the help of the temple, she cast no shadow under the lamplight, which seemed rather mystical.

Upon seeing this, everyone quickly stood up and bowed.

But these rural women knew nothing of etiquette. Some bowed, some nodded and bent over, and some even knelt down on the ground, ready to kowtow.

In fact, there are quite a few people like this.

For a moment, the entire school was in chaos.

Helpless, the incense sticks in the incense burner behind her glowed slightly, and more wisps of smoke rose, quickly spreading throughout the room.

She spoke a few comforting words, and everyone felt at ease, and unconsciously followed her instructions.

Seeing that the scene had calmed down, she cleared her throat and slowly began to speak:
"Today's lesson is not about teaching you a particular technique, nor is it about having you memorize a few herbs."

"I want you all, whether you're experienced or new, to put aside your past experience for now." The bed-keeper paused, looking at the midwives in the front row.

She had actually practiced these words repeatedly for a long time. When she was alive, she was just an old woman who helped deliver babies and didn't know many words. Even when the God of Carp Spirits compiled this "Brief Record of Pregnancy and Childbirth", she didn't understand it very well.

But since she was a midwife herself, the more she learned, the more she realized the preciousness and importance of this thing. So she secretly worked hard. When she encountered something she didn't understand, she didn't dare to ask You Ming, so she kept asking Wu Mo.

After hearing that You Ming was going to arrange for her to teach human midwives, she even shared her understanding with Wu Mo, asking Wu Mo to help organize the language and write it into a document.

Because she couldn't read, she asked the little mouse mother to read to her every day, and she would recite it over and over again.

He wouldn't stop until he could express most of the key points in his own words.

“I know many of you have saved lives and are skilled and capable. But what I’m going to talk about today is not just how to deliver a baby, but a new understanding of the subject of childbirth.”

Grandma Bed was a little nervous at first, but seeing that everyone was listening attentively, she spoke much more fluently.

Because she herself was a midwife, she naturally knew how people perceived childbirth and where the common misconceptions lay.

"Let's first talk about the fundamental principles of production, that is, the theory of production."

"It takes ten months for a child to be born from the mother's womb. This time varies slightly, but generally, it is the expected delivery date, which is 280 days after the woman stops menstruating..."

"You need to remember a few things: first, observe the fetal movement; second, observe the shape of the abdomen; and third, observe the complexion."

"If the abdomen is high and hard, and the baby moves a lot, it may be breech; if the pregnant woman feels a downward pressure in her abdomen after walking around frequently, it often means that labor is imminent..."

The midwife explained in detail that even the most experienced midwives could vaguely make some judgments based on this knowledge, but it was not a completely systematic approach.

Everything they have comes from oral traditions passed down from the previous generation and their own personal experiences.

Many truths can be summed up in a single sentence, but for these illiterate women, it is almost impossible to organize their experiences into an outline or to trace the underlying principles from the knowledge passed down by their elders.

A faint fragrance permeated the air.

This is a medicinal incense that Master Tang helped to prepare. It has a hypnotic effect to a certain extent, so that every word spoken by the bed-keeper is firmly imprinted in their minds.

This saved everyone the trouble of taking notes, since these women were illiterate.

"Of course, you may not have a direct impression of what I'm saying. Now, we need to have a more intuitive understanding of the structure of the human body."

The old woman patted the side, where a large seashell was placed in the corner.

The seashell opened slightly, and a delicate figure emerged from it. A breath of cloud exhaled from its mouth, which immediately transformed into the shape of a woman in the void.

The woman's clothes disappeared quickly, followed by her belly, revealing a cross-section inside which lay a fetus.

This scene was incredibly bizarre in itself, and coupled with its somewhat bloody appearance, the women would have been horrified to death under normal circumstances.

After all, even if they deliver babies their whole lives, they will never have the opportunity to see so directly what the human body and fetus look like.

However, because the hypnotic effect was still in effect, everyone seemed to be in a semi-conscious state, and their minds were surprisingly calm.

The figure in the void slowly rotated to various angles, allowing everyone to clearly see the structure inside its body.

(End of this chapter)