After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

The atmosphere in the west wing was completely different from the tense yet relaxed atmosphere in the east wing. Su Xiaoqing lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), her forehead soaked with sweat, her face even paler than when her sister had given birth, her lips even pale as if they had lost blood. The contractions came on suddenly and violently, with short intervals, leaving her almost no chance to catch her breath.

As soon as Grandma Chen entered the room, she washed her hands and went forward to examine Su Xiaoqing. She carefully massaged Su Xiaoqing's high belly for a while, and her brows gradually furrowed. She then checked the condition of the birth canal. The dilation was indeed faster than that of Su Xiaoyin, and it was already close to three centimeters, but this did not make her feel relieved.

"Da Nian's family," Grandma Chen pulled Chen's mother aside slightly, lowered her voice, and her usual calm expression softened a bit, "the situation... is a bit troublesome. The baby's position isn't quite right; it feels like a breech presentation."

"Break presentation?" Mrs. Chen's heart sank. Even those from farming families who didn't know much about medicine had heard how dangerous breech births were—prone to difficult labor, endangering both mother and child. She gripped Grandma Chen's hand tighter, her voice dry: "Grandma, you have so much experience, please think of something..."

Grandma Chen patted her hand, signaling her to calm down, then turned back to the edge of the kang (heated brick bed), her face regaining its reassuring smile. Her tone, however, was more steady and forceful as she spoke to Su Xiaoqing, whose consciousness was still somewhat throbbing from the pain: "Child, don't panic, Grandma's here. The baby's position is a little unpredictable; we have to work together to turn it right. Listen to Grandma, don't push randomly, follow my strength, we'll try little by little, okay?"

Su Xiaoqing managed to nod between bouts of excruciating pain, her eyes filled with dependence and fear. Chen's mother immediately stepped forward, took her daughter-in-law's cold hand, and repeated words of comfort, her heart pounding like a rabbit's.

Grandma Chen began attempting external cephalic version. Her movements were steady and gentle, slowly massaging Su Xiaoqing's abdomen in one direction, trying to adjust the baby's position. Sweat seeped from Grandma Chen's forehead, and Su Xiaoqing bit her lip, enduring the discomfort compounded by the contractions.

Time passed slowly, and the sky outside the window changed from a deep black to a dark blue, foreshadowing the approaching dawn. However, the progress in the west wing was worrying. The fetus seemed to be quite large, and with limited space to move in the mother's womb, Grandma Chen could feel the tiny bottom and feet sliding around several times, but it still couldn't successfully turn into a head-down position.

Su Xiaoqing's strength was rapidly draining away amidst the continuous, intense pain and her repeated, futile efforts. Her groans grew weaker, her eyes began to glaze over, and the color drained completely from her lips.

"Child! Hang in there! Don't fall asleep!" Grandma Chen raised her voice, her hands moving swiftly, her tone urgent. "Think about it, your sister just gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, what a blessing! Your baby is waiting to see its mother too! Can you bear to give up? Give it your all, try one more time with Grandma!"

Chen's mother was also so anxious that her eyes reddened. She kept wiping Su Xiaoqing's face with a damp cloth and calling out in her ear, "Xiaoqing! Wake up! Look at your mother! It's alright, everything will be alright!"

However, Su Xiaoqing's response grew increasingly weak. Grandma Chen examined her again, her expression growing even more grave. She shook her head slightly at Chen's mother and said quickly in a very low voice, "Sister-in-law Chen, it's not turning around anymore. The birth canal is almost fully dilated. If we delay any longer, the baby might suffocate, and the mother will be in danger too... We have to make a decision."

Chen's mother's heart leaped into her throat. Looking at her daughter-in-law, who was barely breathing on the kang (a heated brick bed), and then at her son guarding outside the door, and the two newborn babies in the east wing, a tremendous sense of sorrow and despair welled up in her heart. She gritted her teeth and said in a hoarse but clear voice, "Save the mother! Mother-in-law, no matter what, save the mother first! The child... we've done our best for the child..." Before she could finish speaking, tears were already streaming down her face.

Perhaps it was the words "save the mother" that spurred Su Xiaoqing, who was on the verge of falling into a coma, or perhaps it was the cries of her mother-in-law and Grandma Chen that pierced through the fog of pain. She suddenly opened her eyes, a strange clarity flashing in them, her voice weak but resolute: "No... Mother... save the child... please..."

"You silly child!" Chen's mother's tears flowed even more fiercely.

Seeing the tenacious maternal light in the new mother's eyes, Grandma Chen steeled her resolve, knowing she couldn't hesitate any longer. "Alright! Let's give it our all, mother and daughter!" She took a deep breath, adjusted her technique, and said, "Sister-in-law Chen, you hold her shoulders. Girl, listen, Grandma is pressing on your belly. Use all your last bit of strength, just this once! For the baby! Three, two, one—push!"

Grandma Chen skillfully applied pressure to specific points on Su Xiaoqing's abdomen, coordinating with the uterine contractions, in an attempt to help the baby be delivered. Su Xiaoqing, as if in a final burst of energy, let out a low, inhuman growl, using the last of her strength to struggle downwards!

After a tearing, excruciating pain, a sudden sense of relief washed over me!

"It's out! The head is out!" Grandma Chen exclaimed in surprise, her hands moving quickly, carefully supporting, rotating, and pulling.

"Wah—!" A long-suppressed, unusually loud baby cry suddenly burst forth, making people's eardrums vibrate and dispelling the almost stagnant despair in the room.

"It's born! It's born!" Mother Chen cried tears of joy, almost collapsing from exhaustion.

Grandma Chen deftly handled the first child, cutting the umbilical cord and handing the little one, who was crying loudly and clearly had been holding back in the womb, to Chen's mother. But she didn't dare to relax at all, because she was touching the other one in Su Xiaoqing's belly!

"Child! Don't sleep! There's another one! There's another baby in your belly!" Grandma Chen shouted, slapping Su Xiaoqing's cheek.