Chapter 392: Rebooting the Exchange, Taking the Child Away

Ji Qingwu planned to first ask the old man about the patient’s condition so she could take over directly.

"How is my eldest sister?"

The old doctor didn’t speak, his head lowered as he stared at the patterns on the armrest.

Ji Qingwu walked up to him, her shadow falling over the lamplight. "How is the Heir’s wife?" she asked again.

Only then did the old doctor raise his head. His eyebrows were completely white, and he replied in a voice at least five times louder than hers.

"Huh? What did you say?"

The old man had to be at least ninety, if not ninety-five. He was so deaf he couldn’t even hear what people were saying. She had no idea where the Cui Family had dug up such an antique.

’So this is the ’experienced’ doctor the Cui Family mentioned.’

Ji Qingwu was certain now. The Cui Family was intentionally making things difficult for Ji Qingrong, even hoping she would die.

Ji Qingwu strode toward the main room. She lifted the curtain and saw four midwives inside, along with two maids who were attending to the patient.

The midwives looked relatively capable and calm.

They had heard the commotion and arguments outside clearly, and fearing they might be the next to be tied up and thrown out, they all retreated nervously to one side.

Only then did Ji Qingwu see her eldest sister lying on the canopied bed, seemingly drifting in and out of consciousness.

Her hair was soaked with sweat, plastered stickily to her face. The veins on her forehead bulged, and a slice of life-sustaining ginseng was in her mouth.

Ji Qingwu’s heart clenched. She hurried forward and placed her fingers on Ji Qingrong’s wrist.

After a long moment, she said, "All of you, get out."

Feng Shuang had been right. The baby in Ji Qingrong’s womb was too large. Her diet in the last month must have been the problem. On top of that, her sister’s birth canal was narrow, making a difficult birth likely.

And the Cui Family had hired an incompetent doctor.

The pulses of both Ji Qingrong and the baby were very weak. But as long as there was a breath of life left, they could be saved.

Ji Qingwu glanced out the window. It had grown quiet outside.

But Chun Xing hadn’t returned yet, and with no useful tools at hand, Ji Qingwu had no choice but to summon the system.

[Host, have you summoned me to exchange for a national destiny buff?]

"Peanuts," Ji Qingwu said, "I need to use my points to exchange for Miracle Recovery so my eldest sister can give birth safely."

The system paused for several seconds before replying.

[...Host, as dual systems are currently running in parallel, the national destiny buff system is on duty on odd-numbered days. The childbirth system only takes over on even-numbered days.]

Upon hearing this, Ji Qingwu’s vision went black.

"You’re a digital system, what’s with this shift rotation nonsense?"

She was furious. "When did this happen! How could I, the person bound to the system, be completely unaware of this?"

[This protocol was implemented starting at 00:00 today. The terms of service have been updated, and a notification was being prepared for the Host.]

’The damn system did this on purpose.’

’The terms of service? Who has the time to read those line by line?’

Besides, so much of the day had already passed, and it only chose to inform her now, when she actively contacted it.

But this system had done far too many unreliable things.

Since she was the one asking for a favor, Ji Qingwu could only grit her teeth and say, "Take as many points as you want. My sister is waiting to be saved right now. Hurry up and get the childbirth system out here."

[Host, the childbirth system is currently offline for maintenance. It will be back online punctually at midnight tomorrow.]

Ji Qingrong couldn’t wait that long, and neither could the baby in her womb. Every extra moment of waiting meant more danger.

She was confident in her own medical skills, but they were ultimately not as fast or effective as the system.

After a moment of thought, Ji Qingwu came up with another idea. "Can’t you just force a reboot?"

[Forcing a reboot may cause system damage and render it unusable in the future.]

"Reboot."

Ji Qingwu didn’t hesitate for a second.

[But, Host, you still have hundreds of thousands of points you haven’t used.]

No matter how she listened, Ji Qingwu felt she could detect a hint of joy in the broken system’s mechanical voice.

"How could points be more important than a human life? Force a reboot now."

[Understood. Rebooting the childbirth system for you now. Please wait a moment, Host.]

Ji Qingwu’s eyes darted about as she bit her lower lip, plotting something.

Soon, the DING of the system coming online sounded.

[Host, exchanging for the Miracle Recovery skill now. Confirming the target: Ji Qingrong, the Heir’s wife of the Duke Zhongyong’s Mansion?]

"Wait a minute."

[But weren’t you in a hurry to use it?]

Ji Qingwu’s eyes shone brightly. "Since rebooting will damage the system, and this is my last chance to use my points, I’m going to exchange them all!"

[...W-What...]

The mechanical voice crackled as if from a bad connection.

"That’s right," Ji Qingwu said. "The points I’ve accumulated over all these years should be enough to buy every single function in the childbirth system."

[Host, please reconsider. You don’t need to exchange for everything now.]

Ji Qingwu, who had always been frugal, decided it was time for a splurge.

Rather than hoarding these points only for them to become useless someday, it was better to spend them all now to her heart’s content.

Ji Qingwu swiped through the panel in her mind, first exchanging for and using Miracle Recovery.

Then, she selected body strengthening, beauty-enhancing, qi-replenishing, and even some secret techniques.

"The target for all of these is me."

Ji Qingwu’s hand flew across the panel again.

"Painless childbirth, postpartum recovery... add these for my eldest sister."

Waves of brilliant golden light showered over Ji Qingrong on the bed.

The light enveloping Ji Qingwu was even more intense, a dazzling, kaleidoscopic light of every color imaginable, more brilliant than a seven-colored rainbow.

「At midnight.」

When Ji Qingrong opened her eyes, she felt as if she had just woken from a nightmare. In her dream, her body was being torn apart by pain, and she was bleeding out.

The child in her womb was fading, about to leave this world with her.

As Ji Qingrong regained consciousness, the first thing she did was touch her stomach.

It was empty. The baby was no longer inside her.

Her eyes widened in terror.

She threw off the covers and lifted her clean inner tunic. Her lower abdomen had no loose flesh; it had returned to how it looked before her pregnancy.

There were no signs she had ever been pregnant.

Not only that, but when she pushed herself up to a sitting position, she felt no pain. There wasn’t the slightest bit of discomfort from her lower body.

Ji Qingrong looked around at her surroundings.

’This is...’

’This is the Marquis Mansion, in Ninghua Hall... That’s right...’

’What in the world happened...’

Chun Xing walked in from outside carrying a basin of hot water. Seeing Ji Qingrong awake, she immediately rushed forward. "Madam, you should lie back down. You just gave birth, you can’t catch a chill."

"Chun Xing, come here," Ji Qingrong said urgently.

Chun Xing set down the basin and came to her bedside.

"The Fifth Missy gave specific instructions. You mustn’t be exposed to any drafts, you must eat warm things, and she even left a prescription for nourishing medicine."

"Then, where is my child?" Ji Qingrong asked.

Chun Xing replied, "The child... the child was taken away by the Fifth Missy."

Ji Qingrong grew more and more confused. "My Fifth Sister took my child?"

Then, understanding dawned on her, and tears began to roll down her cheeks.

"She was here, wasn’t she?"

’At such a helpless and difficult time, who else would have come to help me? It must have been Ji Qingwu.’

With red-rimmed eyes, Ji Qingrong asked, "Where is my Fifth Sister?"