Chapter 4: Should I Cry Now?

Ten months of pregnancy, one day of labor.

In any era, childbirth is a gate of hell that a pregnant woman can hardly avoid.

Even with the constant nourishment and nurturing of innate Qi, Chen Yun still withered at a visible rate until the day of delivery arrived.

For this reason, Li Boyang’s father in this life—Li Yu—had to return home early to stay by his wife’s side.

As the only hunter in the village, Li Yu’s status in the village was not low.

Coupled with the rumors that "Chen Yun is suspected to be under the protection of the Mountain God," a midwife had been waiting at their home since early morning.

"How is Yun’er?"

He paced back and forth anxiously at the entrance of the delivery room.

At this moment, Li Yu did not look like a burly, rough man at all.

Regarding this, the midwife’s assistant, who had long been accustomed to such things, continued her work with a calm face, too lazy to pay any attention to Li Yu.

Instead, it was the old village chief nearby who was kindly comforting Li Yu, who had already asked this question countless times.

"Just set your heart at ease!"

"Your wife is in such good health, and you’ve hired the best midwife within a hundred miles; there won’t be any accidents."

Before the old village chief could finish his sentence, a sudden scream from Chen Yun was heard from inside the delivery room.

"Ah!"

Hearing this scream, Li Yu immediately lunged toward the door, wanting to pull it open.

But before he could reach out, he heard the midwife’s voice from inside the room.

"Don’t come in!"

"You rough men have too much Yang energy; you absolutely must not come in!"

Having said that, the midwife inside the room was heard speaking to Chen Yun.

"Push, you must not lose your breath at this moment!"

"It’s just this last bit of effort, push harder!"

Distraught, Li Yu listened to the sounds from the room and could only pace back and forth in agitation.

Fortunately, although Chen Yun’s screams were miserable, her voice remained full of vigor; one could not tell at all that it was the voice of a pregnant woman.

No one could say for sure how much time had passed.

The only thing certain was that Chen Yun’s screams continued from sunset until the bright moon hung high.

"Ah!"

Accompanied by the final scream, Chen Yun, who had persisted for so long, finally fainted as she had wished.

Immediately following this came the midwife’s voice, tinged with terror.

"This is..."

Realizing something was wrong, Li Yu could no longer care about anything else and immediately pushed open the delivery room door and rushed in.

Then, what met his eyes was the midwife holding the infant with trembling hands, while her assistant shivered beside her.

"What is it? What happened?"

"Where is my wife? And what about the child? Why didn't I hear any crying?"

Seeing the infant in the midwife’s hands at a glance, Li Yu, who had barely managed to relax, hurriedly asked.

However, the response he received was the midwife’s trembling hands reaching out.

"You... you... your wife gave birth to a freak..."

Instinctively taking the infant from the midwife, Li Yu only then saw the appearance of this newborn clearly.

It was actually an infant who neither cried nor made a fuss, sporting a head of downy hair as red as flames.

Seemingly sensing Li Yu’s horrified gaze.

The infant in his hands slowly opened his eyes, surveying this world with a gaze full of curiosity.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Heaven is my witness, Li Boyang swore that he absolutely did not intend to scare the midwife and Li Yu.

To conceal his innate anomalies, Li Boyang could be said to have racked his brains.

Not only did he try hard to control the power of his Sword Pellet during the birth process.

He even consciously kept the Heavenly Eye between his brows tightly shut, not daring to open it at all.

If one did not look closely, one could only vaguely see a crack at the center of the newborn’s brow.

Li Boyang had considered many things and had been very thorough, but he had neglected the influence of those meat chunks from Xi Luo.

Perhaps out of curiosity, and also to ensure Li Boyang could be born successfully.

The meat chunks Xi Luo fed to Chen Yun were not ordinary animal meat, but the flesh and blood of spirits and monsters living in the mountains.

Only such spirit meat could provide sufficient nutrients for Li Boyang in the fetal stage, allowing him to refine a continuous stream of innate Qi.

Unfortunately, Li Boyang, having developed in this manner, would naturally and inevitably be affected by the flesh of those spirits and monsters.

Being born with a thick head of downy hair as red as flames was one of these residual effects.

Because the vision of his normal eyes had not yet fully developed.

Li Boyang, who had barely managed to open his eyes, could not actually see what was happening around him.

But judging from the midwife’s words and Li Yu’s various reactions...

It was not difficult for Li Boyang to discern that something must have gone wrong with him.

Just as Li Boyang was hesitating whether to open the third eye between his brows to see what the situation was, Li Yu finally spoke.

"What freak?"

"Don't talk nonsense, you old woman!"

"This is my son; no matter what he looks like, he is my son!"

Glaring fiercely at the midwife, the domineering air Li Yu had developed from years of hunting fierce beasts in the mountains was fully revealed at this moment.

"It’s just that his hair is a bit red; we can just shave it off."

As Li Yu spoke, he reached out and rubbed Li Boyang’s head.

Feeling the soft texture of the red hair, Li Yu then added another sentence.

"By the way, I have twenty catties of cured meat hanging in the next room..."

"There is also some gold and silver on the table; don't forget to take it when you leave later."

Recovering from his terror, the midwife immediately realized that Li Yu was bribing her.

After hesitating for a moment, the midwife turned to look at her assistant, then nodded without hesitation.

"Li family lad, don't you worry."

"This old woman saw nothing today, and no one will say a word of gossip to outsiders."

Receiving the midwife’s hint, the assistant beside her also immediately nodded in understanding.

"Mm, then I won't keep you here for a meal."

Hearing this, Li Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief, then carried Li Boyang to his wife’s side.

Looking at Chen Yun, who was pale but otherwise unharmed.

Li Yu hesitated, but finally placed Li Boyang, who had still not cried or fussed, beside her.

No matter what was going on with this child, he was the flesh and blood of himself and Chen Yun.

"Yun’er, this is our child!"

Leaning down gently, Li Yu pressed his forehead against Chen Yun’s face, not even noticing when the two midwives had left.

"Although he looks a bit strange and won't cry..."

"But these cheeks look exactly like yours."

Hearing his father in this life say this, Li Boyang finally realized what he had overlooked.

From birth until now, he had been nervously controlling the anomalies of his birth, but he had forgotten to cry like a normal infant.

[If I cry now... would it seem a bit deliberate?]

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(End of Chapter)