Chapter 493 Tong Nanyuan Gives Birth

Chapter 493: Tong Nanyuan Delivers Twins

Lu Lingyun arrived at the Tong residence.

The Tong residence was in utter chaos.

Lu Kuan had even pleaded with the Emperor that day for leave to return and stay by Tong Nanyuan’s side during her delivery.

Tong Nanyuan was carrying twins!

"Big sister, you’ve finally come!" Normally calm and collected, Lu Kuan now wore a panicked expression. "Nanyuan’s belly is so large, and she’s carrying twins—what are we going to do?"

Women in their family line had a high probability of bearing twins.

But twins were often a death sentence.

If it were a single child, she might’ve been as lucky as Lu Lingyun in her past life and survive.

With twins, most mothers died in childbirth, leaving the babies behind.

Seeing him like this, Lu Lingyun asked, "Did you call the imperial physician?"

"Yes! And it was the Emperor who sent him to me!" The emperor favored Lu Kuan. Upon hearing his wife was in labor, he waved a hand and sent the best midwife from the Imperial Hospital to accompany him home for the delivery.

"Ah—"

A scream rang out from the room.

"Nanyuan!" Lu Kuan lunged for the door, but the servants in his courtyard stopped him.

"Men can’t go in during labor! It’s bad luck!"

"Screw that!" Lu Kuan, now furious, began cursing. "I want my wife alive! Physician Lin! Save her first! I want her saved!"

Seeing Lu Kuan so distraught, Lu Lingyun also grew anxious. At that moment, Shuang Hong rushed in with a ledger.

"Madam, this is the record Old Qian compiled in Jiangnan, detailing childbirth cases of hundreds of women from your maternal lineage."

Hearing this, Lu Lingyun quickly opened the ledger.

Lu Kuan also rushed to her side to read the records.

Lin Xiuniang, age 14, died in difficult labor, leaving one son.

Lin Lijiao, age 15, died in difficult labor, leaving twins—a boy and a girl.

Wei Keqing, age 16, died in difficult labor, leaving twin girls.

.......

Almost 80% of the women in their family died in childbirth.

Most were just fourteen or fifteen. The further Lu Lingyun read, the more horrified she grew. Lu Kuan’s eyes reddened.

"This is all my fault!" He was so remorseful that tears nearly fell. "Why did I let Nanyuan get pregnant? I could have adopted one—why did I let her march into death’s door?"

As Lu Kuan’s voice broke beside her, Lu Lingyun’s gaze grew increasingly calm.

Unshaken, she kept reading until she finally found a few survivors.

Cao Tian'er, age 18, the child was stillborn after a difficult labor, but the mother lived—though she never conceived again!

.......

Li Xiang, aged seventeen, died in childbirth. The mother survived but never conceived again.

Lu Lingyun noticed that three cases in a row involved women giving birth at seventeen or eighteen, and at that age, the mothers were more likely to survive!

She couldn’t help but think of her past life—she was just seventeen when she had Li Wenxun’s child.

That age...

"My lady! Look at this!" Shuang Hong pointed to several marked pages in the ledger. "Captain Qian mentioned in his letter to pay special attention to the marked ones!"

Hearing this, Lu Lingyun turned straight to a marked page.

Li Herong gave birth at twenty-nine, both mother and baby doing well.

"What?!"

"My lady, it says here. This woman married into a military family, and her husband left shortly after they married. By the time he returned, she was already twenty-nine, but she had a safe delivery!"

Lu Kuan hurried over when he heard this.

"Was there anything special about her diet? How was the delivery handled?"

"Master, apparently not!"

Lu Lingyun kept flipping and saw written:

Bai Guiniang had twins at thirty, mother and babies all fine!

This...

Lu Lingyun’s eyes widened. She kept flipping and saw the last entry.

Zhao Ping'er had twins at twenty-five, mother and babies all fine!

After these, there were no more successful cases.

Out of hundreds of examples, only these three had both mother and baby survive.

She reviewed these three cases again and suddenly found a common thread—all had given birth at a relatively older age! Each had been delayed by other circumstances, and the youngest among them was twenty-five.

A sudden realization hit her.

In Jiangnan, girls usually married much earlier. Those who gave birth at fourteen or fifteen rarely survived childbirth, but by seventeen or eighteen, more mothers made it through...

Could it be that their family's childbirth mortality was due to age?

"Big Sister, what’s going on? Only three out of nearly a hundred had safe deliveries..." Lu Kuan, by now, was completely beside himself. He frantically searched the ledger for more success stories.

At that moment, Lu Lingyun took firm hold of his wrist.

"Kuan'er, perhaps by some miracle, Nanyuan might be fine!"

Lu Kuan froze at her words. Just then, another scream came from the room.

"Ah—"

"Nanyuan!"

Before Lu Kuan could rush in, the back-to-back cries of newborns echoed from within.

She's given birth...

Lu Kuan was truly frantic this time. He pushed past everyone and rushed into the delivery room, only to find the midwives inside all smiling at him.

"Congratulations, Master! Healthy twins—one boy, one girl! Both the little miss and little master are safe and sound!"

"How is Nanyuan?!"

That wasn’t what mattered to him. He charged forward, only to hear Tong Nanyuan's annoyed voice from inside, "What are you doing?! Why are you barging in here?!"

"Nanyuan..." Lu Kuan hugged her as if they’d been through a life-or-death ordeal.

"What’s wrong with you... It’s just having a baby. I wasn’t even scared, why are you?" Tong Nanyuan said, her tone laced with sweetness.

At that moment, Physician Lin approached and congratulated Lu Kuan, "Congratulations, Master Lu. Your wife had the easiest delivery I’ve seen in years—twin births, both mother and children perfectly safe! And from what I observe, her recovery will be swift."

Lu Kuan was stunned. Lu Lingyun then entered and said, "Kuan, this is what I meant by a happy accident. It turns out the women of our maternal lineage fare better the later they give birth! Nanyuan is thirty this year—her body could handle twins!"

It was truly a heart-stopping moment. After this great fright, Lu Lingyun had finally unraveled the mystery.

So, women really shouldn’t give birth too young! Especially in this era, where frail thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girls endured childbirth like torture!

She immediately called for Shuang Hong, "Later, remind Captain Qian—tell the women of our maternal lineage that they should wait until after twenty-five to have children. The later, the better!"

Lu Lingyun was determined to spare the women of her clan the dangers of early childbirth!