Du Heng no longer had the mind to scold anyone. He asked Zhao Bin, "Are there no other vehicles in your village?" "All the cars belong to young people who either haven’t come back or went to work earlier this morning and drove off. I tried to flag down some passing cars, but when they heard it was a difficult labor, they all shook their heads and refused, just like that driver, afraid of getting involved or having someone die in their car." That’s just how the world is these days. People will even try to sue for compensation if they trip themselves while walking. Anyone would steer clear of transporting a woman in difficult labor. Everyone wants to be a good person, but they are also afraid their family cannot bear the cost of being one. Du Heng said no more and turned once more to walk up the slope. "Hurry up and flag down a car. If anyone is willing, have them come up and find us." Back in the courtyard, the husband of the woman in labor had regained some strength. Listening to the sounds of Huo Yinhua and the others inside the room encouraging his wife, he could only pace anxiously in the courtyard. Du Heng walked over to the man. Seeing his tension, he tried to make conversation to alleviate his mood. "Don’t worry too much. Our doctor and nurse are inside; everything will be fine." The man glanced at Du Heng but said nothing. "What were you doing this morning? Why did you only just come back?" "I went with my boss to deliver goods out of town this morning. I got the call halfway and turned back immediately." "Don’t you have any brothers or sisters?" "My hometown isn’t Jinzhou; it’s Linzhou. My mother and sister-in-law are already on their way." Listening to the man’s words, Du Heng paused for a moment. A live-in son-in-law? "Then, who was that short, elderly person who just went out to find a car?" "My wife’s adoptive mother." "Adoptive mother?" Du Heng paused again. This family relationship is quite complicated. Thıs text ıs hosted at 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝕟𝕖𝕥 The man glanced worriedly towards the room. "My wife was found by my mother-in-law. She and my father-in-law never had children of their own, so after they found my wife, they raised her as their own daughter." When Du Heng first saw her, he thought the old woman was quite advanced in age, especially since the woman in labor looked to be in her twenties. He’d assumed it was a case of parents having a child late in life. He hadn’t expected this kind of family situation; it was quite surprising. Just as he was about to ask more, the door curtain was lifted, and Huo Yinhua came out again. "Dean, the woman in labor is too weak. Her contractions are feeble, and the fetus can’t come out. We’ve given her fluids, but it hasn’t had much effect. I need some high-calorie food now to help her regain strength." Du Heng immediately turned to the man. "Do you have any chocolate or anything like that in the house? Find it quickly." The man, however, became flustered. With a face full of regret, he said, "No, I don’t. I wanted to buy some for my wife, but my mother-in-law didn’t let me; she said not to eat things indiscriminately." He smacked his own head. "I should have bought some." Seeing the man’s distress, Du Heng quickly shouted, "Stop hitting yourself! What good will hitting your head do? Hurry up and look to see what else you have to eat in the house. Bring it all out." The man came to his senses and rushed into the other rooms. Seconds later, he emerged with two pieces of bread and three pieces of cake. "Doctor, this is all I found. Will this do?" Huo Yinhua, also anxious and helpless, snatched the three pieces of cake and went back into the room, not even glancing at the bread in his other hand. At this point, bread wouldn’t be enough to immediately replenish the woman’s energy. Besides, how could she eat two large, dry pieces of bread? Seeing the cake Huo Yinhua had taken in, Du Heng knew it was merely a drop in the bucket and wouldn’t solve the actual problem. He immediately put on a face mask and said to the man, "Go and call Zhao Bin in." After saying that, he prepared to enter the room once more. Seeing Du Heng about to enter the delivery room, the man instinctively wanted to reach out and stop him, just as Du Heng had stopped him earlier. But remembering Du Heng was a doctor, he awkwardly lowered his arm. Watching Du Heng’s retreating figure, the man’s expression changed several times. Finally, he gritted his teeth, turned, and ran out the door. When Du Heng entered the room again, the eyes of the three women inside were all fixed on him. They hoped he could once again bring about a miracle, just like before. Du Heng didn’t speak. He just took the woman’s pulse and then said, "Wait for me for a few minutes; I’ll be right back." With that, he hurried out of the room again and rushed towards the main entrance, where he bumped into Zhao Bin, who was running back. "President Du, were you looking for me?" Zhao Bin asked, panting heavily. "Go to your clinic. I need to decoct some medicine." Zhao Bin wasted no time and turned to run towards his clinic. Fortunately, the clinic was just two courtyards away, very close, only a few steps. Upon entering the clinic, Du Heng immediately said, "Astragalus, rhizoma ligustici... Add boiling water and decoction with strong fire for ten minutes." Zhao Bin, still panting, began taking medicine from the cabinet without pause. "President Du, what kind of prescription is this?" "The Giving Birth Pill." Hearing the name, Zhao Bin knew what the medicine was for and asked, "Hasn’t the baby come out yet?" "The contractions are weak, and the conditions are insufficient, so we can’t force it; the baby can’t be born. Therefore, I’ll prescribe a formula to tonify qi and blood. This will forcefully boost the mother’s qi, helping the baby to be born sooner. However, this method can be somewhat harmful to the mother’s body, so I’ll also add blood-tonifying medicine to minimize the damage and nourish her." "So, traditional Chinese medicine can also help with childbirth." Du Heng said impatiently, "Isn’t that obvious?" Zhao Bin fell silent. His knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine was limited to prescribing commonly used verified prescriptions, and even then, it was more a matter of rigidly applying them by rote.