Child Swapping

"Okay, okay."

Li Yaozong gave a perfunctory reply, his eyes fixed on the delivery room, his heart pounding in his chest.

Wu Ximei was also extremely nervous. She clasped her hands together and kept praying, "God bless my grandson to be safe and sound, please bless him."

Meanwhile, in the delivery room...

Zhao Qiuzhi, dressed in sterile gown and gloves, was delivering Zhao Chunzhi's baby. "Sister, don't shout. If you shout like that, you won't have any strength left."

"When the pain is intense, grab the handrails of the delivery bed and lift yourself up like you're carrying a bucket of water, then push hard like you're defecating."

"Yes, yes, that's it. I can see the baby's head now. Sister, give it a little more push."

Zhao Qiuzhi graduated from a nursing school.

After graduation, I was assigned to the maternity ward of the People's Hospital as a midwife.

She didn't feel anything when delivering babies for others, but when she delivered her own sister's baby, Zhao Qiuzhi was sweating profusely with anxiety. Fortunately, Zhao Chunzhi's baby was in the correct position, and since it was her third pregnancy, the delivery went relatively smoothly.

"Wow!"

With a cry, the baby was born safely.

Zhao Qiuzhi quickly wiped the blood and amniotic fluid off the baby, cut the umbilical cord, checked the baby's gender, and measured the baby's height and weight. Then she wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes, placed the baby on its side in the crib, and let the baby expel the amniotic fluid.

Zhao Chunzhi sat up and asked impatiently, "Qiuzhi, boy or girl? This baby should be a boy, right?"

"Sister, lie down properly, the placenta hasn't come out yet."

Zhao Chunzhi couldn't stay still. She looked at Zhao Qiuzhi with a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. Zhao Qiuzhi knew how much Zhao Chunzhi longed to have a boy, and knowing this made her even more speechless.

She sighed, picked up the baby, and lifted the swaddling clothes so the baby could see for herself.

Zhao Chunzhi immediately looked over.

The moment she saw that it was still a girl, tears streamed down her face. "It can't be, it can't be... My belly was clearly pointed this time, and I craved sour foods when I was pregnant, how could it still be a girl?"

"There must be a mistake, there must be a mistake."

Zhao Qiuzhi sighed as she held her child.

Since the implementation of the family planning policy, this scene has been happening in the delivery room almost every day.

Zhao Qiuzhi gently patted her to comfort her, "Sister, you can't cry right after giving birth, it will ruin your eyes. You and your husband are still young, you'll have other opportunities in the future."

Zhao Chunzhi cried so hard she couldn't speak.

Just then, a baby's cry came from another delivery bed, and the midwife happily announced, "It's a boy! It's a boy!"

The joy of others only made Zhao Chunzhi feel more sorrowful.

Zhao Chunzhi trembled all over, grabbed Zhao Qiuzhi and choked out her complaints, "Qiuzhi, what should I do? What should I do? I've already given birth to two girls, and my in-laws are already very dissatisfied with me. If they find out that this one is also a girl, how am I supposed to live with my in-laws?"

"Sister, whether you have a boy or a girl isn't something you can decide."

"You don't understand, you don't understand... In the countryside, it's a sin not to give birth to a boy. People will laugh at me behind my back, saying that my womb is useless and I can't give birth to a boy..."

The newborn boy in the next bed was crying loudly.

Suddenly, a crazy idea popped into Zhao Qiuzhi's mind. She grabbed Zhao Qiuzhi tightly, as if grasping at the last straw, "Qiuzhi, please help me. Only you can help me now."

"How can I help you? A girl is a girl. Can I turn her into a boy?"

"Yes, you can!"

Zhao Chunzhi stared at the boy next door and pleaded with Zhao Qiuzhi in a low voice, "Qiuzhi, could you switch the two children? I heard that some people who can't give birth to boys bribe people at the hospital to help them switch them..."

"You're insane!"

"Qiuzhi, I beg you, I beg you. You know how mean my mother-in-law is. If she finds out I gave birth to a girl, I won't be able to survive at home... Your colleagues are all in the delivery room. As long as you talk to them nicely, no one will know..."

"No!"

Zhao Qiuzhi refused firmly with a stern face, "This is a crime, I can't help you."

"Akichi..."

Zhao Qiuzhi, like Zhang Guiying, had a fiery personality. She'd been holding back some things for a long time, and now she blurted them all out: "Sister, what's wrong with girls? Aren't girls people? We're women ourselves, why should we join others in looking down on girls?"

"Your in-laws favor boys over girls, shouldn't you treat your child better and make up for the love she lacks? If you, as her own mother, don't love her, who else can you expect to care for and love her?"

"This child is someone you carried for ten months, enduring countless hardships to give birth to. Just because she's a girl, does that mean she's not even as good as other people's boys?"

Zhao Qiuzhi placed the child next to Zhao Chunzhi, saying, "Other people's children were also born with one foot in the grave. I can't do something as immoral as swapping someone else's child for another's."

The last remaining hope was extinguished.

Zhao Chunzhi cried even harder.

If it were Zhao Xiazhi here today, she would be confident she could persuade her to switch children, but Qiuzhi... this younger sister has always been cold-hearted, and once she's made up her mind, no amount of pleading will change it.

Zhao Chunzhi turned her head to look at the baby sleeping beside her, then at the chubby boy next door, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably again.

Why is her life so miserable?

Why is it that other people are born with only boys, while she has given birth to three daughters in a row?

After placental separation.

Zhao Chunzhi was observed in the delivery room for another half an hour before Zhao Qiuzhi and other midwives moved her to a gurney and wheeled her out. Along with Zhao Chunzhi, the mother and baby in the next delivery bed were also wheeled out.

As the delivery room doors drew closer, Zhao Chunzhi's heart leaped into her throat.

"Click!"

The delivery room door opened.

Hearing the commotion, Wu Ximei, who was outside the door, jumped up and immediately went to greet them, "How is it? How is my grandson?"

Li Yaozong also came forward to greet him.

Zhao Chunzhi kept her eyes closed, not daring to look the mother and son in the eye.

Zhao Qiuzhi handed the swaddled baby to Wu Ximei, saying, "Auntie, mother and daughter are safe."

"Huh? Mother and daughter?"

Wu Ximei raised her voice eight octaves, her tone high-pitched and shrill, "No! Impossible! Your sister is clearly carrying a boy. Her belly is so pointed, and she even craved sour foods during her pregnancy... Her reactions are completely different from when she was pregnant with those two girls!"

She wouldn't give up.

He took the child, peeked inside, and saw it was another boy without a penis. His eyes widened in shock. "Impossible! You've made a mistake!"

Li Yaozong was also very disappointed.

Wu Ximei threw a tantrum, refusing to believe reality, causing a scene that drew the attention of everyone in the delivery room. Li Yaozong, feeling ashamed, dragged her away.

When she returned to her ward, Wu Ximei slapped her thigh and cried out in despair.

Zhao Chunzhi's heart was pounding.

After cursing Heaven and Earth, Wu Ximei should curse her next.

For some reason, Zhao Chunzhi blurted out a lie, "Mom, after I gave birth, I vaguely heard people around me say it was a boy... I don't know what happened, but when I woke up, it was a girl."

"What?"

Wu Ximei's crying stopped abruptly, and she stomped her foot angrily, "I knew it! Your belly was definitely carrying a boy!"

"They switched him! That heartless midwife must have taken money from someone else and switched my grandson! Zhao Qiuzhi... I'm going to find Zhao Qiuzhi right now and settle the score!"