Mother without a child

Meanwhile in another world

In midwinter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from heaven, a beautiful young woman sat next to the window, which had a frame of brown ebony. As she sat there doing nothing, she looked sometimes at the falling snow, and it happened that a tear come out from the edge of her eyes. She began to reminisce about her memories.

"Ah! I figured that getting pregnant would be as easy for me as everything else had been in my life. After all, when I really wanted something and worked hard for it, it always seemed to fall into place. So, we tried everything we could from consulting the best physician to consuming elixirs, but nothing happened. I was a bit surprised, but not in the least bit concerned. If anything, we must keep working harder. The higher one cultivation the harder it is to produce a child."

More months passed. Then a year. Then two, three, four, five.

During this time, we went to every possible physicist. Nothing was wrong, or at least nothing they could find. The physicians weren't anxious, as, after all, we were still young. Relatively.

I didn't care if I was young, I didn't care if I still had time. I wanted a baby, and I had been wanting a baby for years. The stress, both emotional and physical from physician's prescriptions and treatments, was overwhelming. My husband was loving and supportive, and it was hard for him as he is the Patriarch of the Qin Clan, I know more than anyone that he desires a child to inherit his position. He knew it meant that we didn't conceive, but he could never know what it felt like when my stomach ached and I felt it begin, and then I would have to stare at the cruel and bold blood, reminding me and screaming that I wasn't pregnant.

After six years of trying, I finally fell pregnant. We were thrilled. I couldn't believe that I was carrying a baby. I immediately stopped cultivating, since I wanted to make sure that I could sleep when I wanted, eat what I needed, and not have any unnecessary stress in my life. Fortunately, my husband was doing extremely well managing the clan, so I did not need to worry about him at all.

As the weeks passed, I watched as my body began to change. First, everything seemed so tender, then slowly I noticed a small budge in my tummy. In time, it was hard to have anything around my waist. I was in love with my baby and my pregnancy. Every morning I woke up with a smile on my face, so grateful for being able to carry this child. We had already picked out names, if he is a boy then Qin Wentian and if she is a girl then Qin Yu.

I didn't realize that while we were struggling for a baby, others just assumed that my husband did not want to impregnate me or if he was impotent. When everyone heard the news of my pregnancy they were thrilled. Finally, the Qin Clan will have a new young master.

Now that I was pregnant, I started to hear comments, "Congratulations Madam, you've finally decided to have a baby!" I didn't know how to respond. I just couldn't believe that others thought that any of this had been my choice. But then again, before I knew how hard it would be, I also thought that it was all in my hands.

I did everything perfectly right. I ate all the right foods, did the recommended amount of exercise, slept well, and took my daily supplement. When we first heard our baby's heartbeat, we both broke down crying. We had been waiting for so long for this.

As my due date approached, my mother from the Su Clan had come to be with us and to help deliver the baby. My in-laws were also around to make sure that my every whim and need was being taken care of.

In the beginning, everything was fine. I was progressing nicely and by the intensity of the labor figured it wouldn't be much longer.

Before I knew what was happening, my calm and supportive environment became frantic and panicky. I just started crying and praying, not knowing what was happening. There wasn't time to explain but it was clear that they had to get my baby out and immediately.

I didn't feel any pain since all I wanted was my baby girl to be alive and well.

Suddenly I saw my husband stood in the corner crying, knowing that he needed to be strong but fearing that he couldn't. They opened me up and screamed at one another about the cord. I watched in a daze as they tried to unwrap the cord from around my baby. I could see her, but I hadn't yet heard her. She never screamed.

I kept waiting for them to remove the cord since I figured that it was preventing her from crying. It was preventing her. Unknown to anyone until that point, my cord had been so tightly wrapped around her little neck that it had strangled her. They removed the cord. But my baby girl was no longer.

No one needed to tell me what had happened. The tears streaming down their faces was enough. They cried as they started to explain that as she descended in the birth canal, the cord tightened and tightened. There was nothing they could have done. There was nothing I could have done.

I was asked if I wanted to see and hold my baby. I did. My mother washed her off and wrapped her perfectly, so caring and loving. Then she handed me, my daughter, peaceful and beautiful as if she was sleeping. My Qin Yu.

We stayed with our baby for a while, holding her and crying. She was perfect. Perfect. Everything was developed, ten little fingers and ten little toes. She was exactly how I had envisioned her. Only she wasn't alive.

Following our loss, we tried again to have children. But for whatever the ultimate reason is, I never became pregnant again. Yet Qin Yu always was our reminder that we needed to have hope and we needed to give hope.

I felt that if I had suffered such an experience, there had to be a reason and a meaning. I knew how much I loved Qin Yu, and I knew how I would have taken care of her had she lived. And yet, as I mourned my loss, I read in horror of stories of women who had abandoned their babies, left them for dead, or abused them terribly. Those babies were more fortunate than Qin Yu since they were able to live, but something had to be done to ensure that they live a life of joy and not suffering.

End of reminiscent

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Suddenly the door was knocked by someone.

Knock! knock! knock!

"Who is it?" Asked Su Ling.

"It's Qin Mei. Something happened to the Patriarch. He just returned with our clansman, but they said he suffered a serious injury. The elders request for your presence at the Clan's Medicine Hall." Answered Qin Mei, one of the maids responsible to take care of the mansion.

"What happen??" Su Ling shocked. She never thought that someone as powerful as her husband suffered harm in his own territories.

"I don't know, but I heard they mentioned something related to an ancient tomb, space disruption, and a baby."

"Alright. I will be there immediately."