Broken Bonds

Chapter 4

The clothes, seeming no different than ice, were torn off Yan Feili's body; with Beitang Ao then crudely changing him into the dry clothes Qiu Yeyuan had found for him to wear.

Since Yan Feili's body was left completely weakened from earlier he was forced to allow Beitan Ao in dragging him off the bed to peel off his garments; leaving his protruding abdomen to lay bare before the Sect Master.

Beitang Ao gazed at the other man's once well-toned body which had now become deformed, the original path of a scar left behind from a time before on the now squirming stomach appearing ever more malevolent, unknowing as to why his chest currently surged with rage.

Qiu Yeyuan furrowed his brows from beside them, at the sight of the lack of pity the Sect Master expressed towards the pregnant one being treated.

"Ah..." The pain Yan Feili felt was already hard to withstand, and changing out of his garments was even more unbearable, as apart from the pain throughout his entire body, he could not perceive anything else.

But compared to that, what he was even more reluctant to bear, was his completely undignified appearance being witnessed by the leader of his sect.

"Sect... Sect Master..." Yan Feili looked at Beitang Ao's frigid mien, pleading: "Please... please leave... I don't... I don't want you here..." Beitang Ao paid no mind to his words, grabbing both his hands and tying them on the bedside.

After his pain-filled spells, Yan Feili unconsciously gripped the cloth binding him tightly. Sensing the Sect Master had no intention of leaving, Yan Feili felt utterly ashamed.

Facing the Sect Master, he at least wished he could control his voice as much as possible, thus unexpectedly making him into an even sorrier sight to behold. And honestly, how could something like that even be possible?

"General Yan, how long has it been since your water broke?" Qiu Yeyuan asked yet again.

Being in the midst of pain, Yanfeli had no way to calculate, only able to mumble: "I think... I think it was before... before it snowed..."

"Then how long ago has it been since your contractions started?" The snow had already been falling for two hours.

"Ngh..." Yan Feili was aware of Beitang Ao standing coldly beside his bed, the eyes belonging to that man made him prickle with pain, yet he had no way to avoid them.

"From... from the start of the New Year's Feast..." To be more precise, from since the Sect Master brought out his incomparably beautiful fiance for all to behold, his contractions had begun; the intense heartache he felt in that moment seeming to have been carried down to his stomach.

In fact, for the last few days that had passed, he continuously felt his body had been heavy—his abdomen had become heavy.

It was even moreso since earlier this day where he had felt a faintly discernible type of pain. But upon hearing of the Sect Master's return, he was not able to go find Qiu Yeyuan to let him have a look, and instead forced himself to go take part in the New Year's feast soon afterwards.

Who would have known, the time for him to wait had long passed.

"What?" Qiu Yeyuan was startled hearing those words, because from noon when the New Year's Feast began till the present—was at least ten hours. [1]

Furthermore, he recalled, not only did Yan Feili continue to stay at the banquet, he even went as far as paying respects to the Sect Master by accompanying more than a few fellow brothers in drinks.

How could he have endured labour-pains for a several hours?! Beitang Ao knitted his brows, simply sitting on the chair at the bedside staring at Yan Feili.

Soon a constant increase in labour pains, along with a surge of amniotic fluid flowing out little by little, was proceeded by an unborn child who was gradually being squeezed out through that opening.

With his groans growing increasingly louder and ever more muddled, Yan Feili felt as if he had become a wild beast, only being able to incessantly push himself to his limit at Qiu Yeyuan's command.

But in the back of his mind, he was clearly aware the Sect Master was sitting beside him, looking at his pitiful state while giving birth—an appearance, which can be said, had not one ounce of dignity.

Never had there ever been a moment like this one, where Yan Feili wished he could die of pain.

"Ngh... Ahhh..." His constantly suppressed moans, soon became screams.

The pain emitted from the lower half of his body was akin to it being torn apart—like some kind of inhuman torment! Sweat poured from Yan Feili without end, and because of his bites, both his lips were also drenched in blood.

Hearing Yan Feili's shattered screams, seeing his state while giving birth, caused Beitan Ao to rise to his feet and begin pacing the room uneasily.

No matter how aloof and withdrawn the Sect Master was, upon seeing such a scene, even he was also unable to distance himself from the man's panic and anxiety.

Especially since the one lying there currently giving birth was not a woman, but a general under his command.

And even beyond that, was because of what he knew of Yan Feili, the one who was about to be birthed from this man's belly, was more than likely to be his own flesh and blood.

Beitang Ao, when he first come upon this matter, surprisingly even felt somewhat flustered.

As the dead of night drew near, unknowing of when the New Year's Feast had come to its end, those people who drank to their merry fill, all scattered. The snow carried along by the howling frigid winds, fell, ushering in the New Year that had come.

No one would make their way to this quiet and remote part of the Northern courtyard, thus the entire Bamboo Garden was left sheeted in a vast expanse of white while deep withing an inner room of its abode, an intermittent burst of screams, remained barely audible to one's ear.

Unknowing of how long had past, the weak cries of a child then sounded, finally declaring the hardship of Yan Feili had met its timely end.

His disheveled state lain on the bed, Yan Feili's entire being was like someone who had just been fished out of the sea, completely dripping in sweat.

Qiu Yeyuan used the warm water to wash the babe clean, then cut apart a quilt to wrap the newborn child.

All while Beitang Ao's sharp gaze glanced towards the infant, and although he was already mentally prepared, seeing that bright scarlet plum blossom shaped birthmark on the left part of the young one's chest, his face still could not help but change.

...........

Note:

[1] "五个时辰": five shíchen[an old time measurement which divided days into 12 two hour periods]. Time measurements are originally in this '时辰:shíchen' format but I converted them to average hour periods in this text.