‘Do you want me to prioritise the patient or the baby?’ the doctor asked.
‘What?’ Gu Jiao Wu asked.
Gu Jiao Wu looked at Qiao Tan Yuan who was in so much pain that she couldn’t speak, and he made his choice.
‘Prioritise the patient,’ Gu Jiao Wu said.
Gu Jiao Wu thought Qiao Tan Yuan was still young, she and Shen Cheng could have another baby in the future.
Qiao Tan Yuan couldn’t believe what she heard. She found reserved strengths to open her eyes.
‘Keep… the baby,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said firmly in a soft voice.
‘Make a final decision, the patient or the baby?’ the doctor asked.
‘The patient,’ Gu Jiao Wu said.
‘The baby…’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. ‘Doctor, I’m begging you to keep the baby.’
‘You’re crazy,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. He hated to see her in a weak condition. ‘You’re still young. In the future you can have another baby.’
Didn’t Qiao Tan Yuan know she was in a life and death situation? Gu Jiao Wu thought she must be crazy if she wanted to keep the baby.
‘No…’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
Qiao Tan Yuan wanted her baby. She was in immense pain. She held Gu Jiao Wu’s hand. ‘Keep the baby.’
Qiao Tan Yuan wanted her baby, because the baby was Gu Jiao Wu’s baby. It was her only chance to have Gu Jiao Wu’s baby. She cried, she wanted to keep her baby.
Gu Jiao Wu was moved by Qiao Tan Yuan’s determination to keep the baby. He saw her cry and held her hand. ‘Qiao Tan Yuan…’
What was Qiao Tan Yuan thinking?
Qiao Tan Yuan didn’t want to see the look in Gu Jiao Wu’s eyes.
‘Doctor, listen to me and keep the patient,’ Gu Jiao Wu said.
‘Prepare for a C-section,’ the doctor said to the nurses.
Gu Jiao Wu would have wronged the Qiao Household and Shen Cheng if he let Qiao Tan Yuan risk her life.
The doctor was about to perform a C-section when Qiao Tan Yuan forced herself to keep her eyes open and look at Gu Jiao Wu.
‘You don’t have the right…’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
Qiao Tan Yuan wouldn’t allow Gu Jiao Wu to kill her baby. Her heart hurt too much. Gu Jiao Wu, how could he be so cruel? He hated her and he hated her baby. But he was the father, how could he kill her baby?
‘I have the right,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. ‘If you want to keep the baby then you need to use all your strengths to give birth to the baby. Or…’
Qiao Tan Yuan knew what the alternative Gu Jiao Wu wanted to say was.
Gu Jiao Wu thought it would be meaningless if Qiao Tan Yuan died and the baby lived. If Shen Cheng was in the delivery room, he was certain Shen Cheng would make the same choice.
‘You…’ Qiao Tan Yuan said. Suddenly she felt the most painful contraction. ‘Ah…’
Qiao Tan Yuan used her leftover strengths to push.
‘That’s right, push,’ the doctor said.
Qiao Tan Yuan had one desire, she wanted her baby to live.
‘I can see the baby’s head,’ the doctor said. ‘One more push.’
‘Ah…’ Qiao Tan Yuan cried out and bit Gu Jiao Wu’s hand.
‘That’s right, push like the doctor instructed,’ Gu Jiao Wu said. ‘One last push and you can see your baby.’
‘Ah…’ Qiao Tan Yuan cried out and bit Gu Jiao Wu’s hand harder.
Gu Jiao Wu’s hand bled, but he could only see the pain on Qiao Tan Yuan’s face.
Qiao Tan Yuan pushed again and felt her body completely drained.
‘Waah, waah…’ the baby cried.
Qiao Tan Yuan delivered her baby and fell unconscious.
‘Qiao Tan Yuan…’ Gu Jiao Wu called.
‘Congratulations, you have a daughter,’ the doctor said.
Gu Jiao Wu didn’t look at the baby or the doctor. He lost all feeling in his hand, Qiao Tan Yuan was unconscious.
‘Doctor, how is the patient?’ Gu Jiao Wu said.
‘The patient will be OK after resting,’ the doctor said and pa.s.sed the baby to a nurse.
Gu Jiao Wu sighed in relief. After he regained his senses, he laughed at himself. What was he thinking? Why was he worried about Qiao Tan Yuan’s survival? Was it because he didn’t want to be the one to tell Shen Cheng, Qiao Tan Yuan died under his watch? He didn’t want to think about why anymore. He grabbed a tissue and wipe the blood off his hand. Then he turned around to leave, but the nurse carrying the baby stood in front of him.
‘Sir, look at your daughter,’ the nurse said. ‘She looks exactly like you.’
Gu Jiao Wu froze. He wanted to say he wasn’t the baby’s father. But he looked at the baby’s face and swallowed his words. The baby in the nurse’s arms had pink cheeks and had their eyes closed. He stared at the baby’s small pink face, the baby’s small hand was in her mouth.
‘Sir, you should hold your daughter and bond with her.’ the nurse said.
The nurse didn’t wait for Gu Jiao Wu’s reply and carefully laid the baby in his arms. He felt an electric shock. He thought the baby was a loveable small pink lump. The baby’s eyes were closed, her small head turned to the side and she pouted her small lips.
‘Your daughter is a little greedy kitten,’ the nurse said affectionately. ‘She wants to drink milk the moment she’s born.’
The nurse carefully picked up the baby from Gu Jiao Wu’s arms. He was startled to lose the warmth in his arms. He didn’t know what he should do. The baby wasn’t his daughter. Why did he want to hold the baby? He shook his head and walked out of the delivery room.
Outside the delivery room, one of Gu Jiao Wu’s a.s.sistants pa.s.sed him a bag.
‘Executive Gu, this is your wife’s bag,’ the a.s.sistant said and he coughed awkwardly because he forgot Gu Jiao Wu and Qiao Tan Yuan were divorced.
Gu Jiao Wu didn’t hear his a.s.sistant’s mistake and accepted Qiao Tan Yuan’s bag. He looked at the bag and thought about the little baby’s loveable pink face.
Qiao Tan Yuan was wheeled to a private hospital room and the doctor asked Gu Jiao Wu to follow her to Qiao Tan Yuan’s room.
Gu Jiao Wu followed the doctor. Inside the room, the nurse laid the baby in a baby’s bed next to Qiao Tan Yuan’s bed.
Gu Jiao Wu couldn’t hear anything the doctor said.
‘It’s your first time being a father,’ the doctor said. ‘It’s normal to be anxious. But you’ll get used to being a father soon. Take care of your wife. She risked her life to give birth to your daughter.’
During the delivery, the doctor didn’t hear what Gu Jiao Wu said to Qiao Tan Yuan. But she thought Gu Jiao Wu and Qiao Tan Yuan was a loving husband and wife to support each other during a life and death situation.
‘Your daughter is waiting for your wife to wake up to drink milk,’ the doctor said. ‘But you need to take good care of your wife.’
The doctor gave pamphlets for Gu Jiao Wu to read and left the room with the nurse.
Gu Jiao Wu held the pamphlets and looked at Qiao Tan Yuan and the baby for a while. Afterward he flicked through the pamphlets. It was a guide for new parents to take care of their newborn. Why did he need to take of Qiao Tan Yuan and the baby? He put the pamphlets and Qiao Tan Yuan’s bag on the bedside table, turned around and walked toward the door. But he turned around and looked at the baby who still had their eyes closed. He instinctively walked to the baby’s bed. He looked at the baby’s small wrinkled face, eyelids, naturally red lips, small hands against pink cheeks and ebony hair. The baby looked really loveable.
Gu Jiao Wu’s confused heart suddenly rejoiced. He felt the baby was a mysterious miracle. One moment the baby was in a mother’s stomach and the next moment the baby entered the world and appeared in front of his eyes. The baby’s face did look familiar to him and he remembered the nurse’s observation, ‘Sir, look at your daughter, she looks exactly like you.’
Gu Jiao Wu turned around to look at Qiao Tan Yuan who was sleeping deeply. On the bedside table were the pamphlets and Qiao Tan Yuan’s bag. He stepped to the bedside table, picked up the bag, took out the phone and stood in front of the baby’s bed. He compared the photo of himself sleeping next to the baby’s face. His whole body tensed. His sleeping face and the baby’s small face looked exactly the same. Even the way they were sleeping was the same. The baby…
Gu Jiao Wu’s head was flooded with Qiao Tan Yuan’s contradicting lies… ‘I’m six months pregnant… the baby belongs to Shen Cheng… we’re divorced and the baby isn’t yours…’
Not Gu Jiao Wu’s daughter? He didn’t believe the lies. Even if Shen Cheng stood in front of him and said Shen Chen was the father, he wouldn’t believe the lies. He took out his phone and called his a.s.sistant. He plucked a strand of his daughter’s hair and a strand of his hair and bagged their hair strands.
Gu Jiao Wu’s a.s.sistant quickly arrived in the private hospital room.
‘Use this for a DNA test,’ Gu Jiao Wu instructed.
End of Chapter Fourteen