Jiang Qin didn’t get up right away. Instead, she remained in bed, gauging the waves of pain.

Once she was sure it felt like the contractions the doctor had described, she quickly got up.

"Qinqin, you’re up? Would you like some water?" Lan Yuyan had woken up the moment she opened her eyes.

He was already holding a glass of warm water.

Jiang Qin took the glass and had a sip, her expression calm. "We should probably go to the hospital now," she said. "I think I’m going into labor."

CRASH—the glass dropped to the floor and rolled a couple of times.

"G-Going into labor??" Lan Yuyan panicked for a moment but quickly composed himself, immediately using his Light Computer to alert the others.

He then took a maternity dress from the wardrobe and quickly helped Jiang Qin change out of her nightgown.

The others had arrived by then. Yun Xie stepped forward, lifted Jiang Qin into his arms, and said, "Cang Hong is already waiting in the Flying Car. Shi Lichuan is picking up Si Xu on the way to the hospital. We’ll go on ahead."

As for everything needed for the birth, each of them had a kit prepared in their Space Button, so there was no need to pack.

The group soon arrived at the hospital.

Jiang Qin felt fine, actually. The pain in her lower abdomen was currently no worse than menstrual cramps.

They had already pre-registered her; she just hadn’t wanted to stay at the hospital ahead of time.

Besides, it wasn’t far from home, so they didn’t need to go through the admission process again.

Before they left the house, Lan Yuyan had already contacted the obstetrician who had been handling all her prenatal checkups.

As Yun Xie and the others watched with worried eyes, Jiang Qin was taken into the delivery room.

A doctor settled her into a birthing pod.

As a medicinal fluid inside the pod enveloped her entire body, the faint, aching pain disappeared.

She only felt a pleasant warmth spreading through her body, along with a wave of drowsiness.

When she next awoke, she had no idea how much time had passed. Through the pod, she could see a nurse and a Medical Master still on duty outside.

"Miss Jiang, you’re awake? Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby girl."

Jiang Qin: "..."

’What did I have? Oh, right, I had a daughter!’

’So this is Interstellar childbirth? You just take a nap and it’s over???’

’She had heard about it before, but she’d thought you just slept in the birthing pod during contractions to avoid the pain, and that you still had to push the baby out yourself.’

’But it turned out she’d given birth in her sleep. For real, you just sleep through the whole thing?!’

The new mother herself was utterly baffled.

She asked, "Where’s the baby, then?"

The nurse tapped the top of the birthing pod a few times, and a monitoring screen appeared before her.

On the screen, a tiny infant was fast asleep.

She had short, slightly curly black hair and rosy cheeks, unlike any newborn Jiang Qin had ever seen before.

’This... is my baby?’

At this thought, Jiang Qin felt her heart melt into a puddle.

"Miss Jiang, you can’t come out of the birthing pod just yet. You need to undergo some post-partum recovery, so I’m afraid you’ll have to stay in here for one more day."

"Mm, okay. And my partners?"

"Once I leave, the gentlemen can come in after they’ve been sterilized, but they’ll only be able to stay for ten minutes."

After all, this was a delivery room, and the birthing pod couldn’t be moved, so family members weren’t permitted to stay for long.

Jiang Qin nodded in understanding and fell silent.

After a few minutes of joyfully watching her daughter, she saw figures outside the pod and heard Yun Xie and the others’ voices.

"Qinqin, how are you feeling now?"

"Does it hurt? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"

In response to their worried questions, Jiang Qin chuckled. "It doesn’t hurt. I didn’t feel anything. The birthing pod is truly amazing—I woke up, and it was already over."

At her words, the worried looks on their faces finally eased.

Cang Hong then whispered joyfully, "Qinqin, I just saw our daughter. She’s so cute."

Shi Lichuan’s voice trembled slightly. "That’s right. She’s so tiny... I don’t even dare to try and hold her."

He was afraid his hands, calloused from years of holding weapons, might accidentally hurt her delicate, fragile skin.

"Haha! But didn’t you say you were going to be in charge of her care? How can you take care of her if you’re afraid to hold her?"

"I... I’ll practice more. For now, let..."

Shi Lichuan glanced around, but he couldn’t think of anyone who was a better fit.

Cang Hong, the only one without calluses, didn’t seem particularly reliable. Everyone else’s hands were calloused.

After all, they either wielded weapons or built them.

Though Lan Yuyan had been a merchant for several years, he had also come from a military academy, and the intense training from his youth had left his hands calloused, too.

Still, he was gentler than the rest, so Shi Lichuan said, "Let Lan Yuyan take care of her for now. I’ll keep practicing."

"Hmph. Qinqin, don’t worry, I’m not like this guy who can’t back up his words. Leave our daughter to me; you can rest easy."

Yun Xie shot him a cool glance and reminded him, "Shi Lichuan gets a perfect score on every parenting test."

Meanwhile, Long Hao was usually the one with the lowest score.

Even though his "bottom" score was still very high, he was last compared to the others.

"I was just going easy on you guys. You joined this family before me, so I have to give you some face, don’t I?" Long Hao argued, too stubborn to admit defeat.

At this, everyone else just looked at him with contempt.

"Fine, fine! So I lost two points for wrinkling my nose at the simulated smell of baby waste.

Do you have to keep bringing it up? During the second test, I was able to handle it without flinching."

At that, Jiang Qin burst out laughing.

She had never seen the courses they were taking, so she had no idea the males’ parenting tests actually covered things like that.

’This was her first time hearing about their curriculum, and it was surprisingly entertaining.’

"Alright, that’s enough from all of you. Don’t disturb Qinqin while she’s resting. Let’s head out for now."

Yuan Ling was reluctant to leave and tried to linger, but he was forcibly dragged away by Long Hao.

The others were more sensible. Even though they desperately wanted to stay with her longer, they didn’t linger in the delivery room.

After all, they couldn’t cause trouble for the medical staff. Rules had to be followed.

Since they couldn’t stay with Jiang Qin, they had no choice but to split into two groups. Yun Xie and Yuan Ling would continue to stand guard outside the delivery room, while the others went to see the baby.

They would swap places later on. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

...

When Lan Yuyan arrived at the nursery, he found someone was already there.

He saw Si Xu, who was furiously snapping photos of the tiny baby in her infant pod. He then sent a whole batch of the pictures to Mo Chen, as well as a copy to Jiang Qin.

He included a message: "Very cute."

If he weren’t trying to maintain some sense of boundaries, he would have just come out and said, "I want to be her godfather."

Unfortunately, since his good friend had yet to officially join the household, he didn’t dare to ask.

Meanwhile, Mo Chen, who was on duty on Prison Star, hadn’t slept all night since receiving the news in the wee hours of the morning.

He was only able to finally breathe a sigh of relief when he received Si Xu’s message.

Although Interstellar childbirth had long been considered free of danger, exceptions still happened every decade or two.

So until he received definitive news, his heart couldn’t rest.