Gu Tingshang had seen that she’d been quiet for so long and was about to go over and check on her, maybe even try to comfort her.
Though he wasn’t very good at comforting people.
But he knew she liked money, so he’d planned to use some to dry her tears.
Who could have guessed this ungrateful wretch would give the betrothal money her husband had given her to her ex-husband?
What man could put up with that?
Gu Tingshang reached out and took both checks from her hands.
“If carrying this money around makes you uncomfortable, then you don’t have to keep it.”
“No! Give it back. Who gives someone betrothal money and then takes it back?”
Gu Tingshang was tall. He raised his hand, and Lin Zhixu couldn’t reach it even when she jumped.
“Give it to me! Give it back!”
After a few jumps, Lin Zhixu clutched her stomach and collapsed over the edge of the bed. She stopped moving.
Her face had gone pale, and she looked to be in a lot of pain.
“Zhizhi, what’s wrong?”
“It hurts. My stomach hurts so much.”
Gu Tingshang saw that her robe was covered in blood. He panicked.
He’d been a little rough just now, and maybe used too much force and asked for too much—but he hadn’t gone that far, had he?
“Zhizhi, I’m taking you to the hospital.”
Lin Zhixu refused, sobbing so hard she could barely speak.
“Give me the money, or I’m not going. I’d rather die from the pain.”
“I’ll give it to you. I’ll give it to you.” Gu Tingshang handed the money back.
This woman really did value money over her life. She was nearly dying of pain and still wanted to scrape together money for her ex-husband. Idiot.
Gu Tingshang carried her to the hospital in a rush, forgetting that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.
The doctor examining her took one look and knew what had happened.
Her eyes were full of contempt and reproach.
“Young people really need to learn some restraint. The poor girl’s on her period! This, this, this…”
“Just look at her. She’s been hurt this badly.”
“Of course it hurts!”
“You, as her husband, really don’t care whether your wife lives or dies. If you keep this up, what will become of her health?”
Gu Tingshang turned his face away, unable to meet the doctor’s eyes.
He’d slept with a woman for the first time and caused this much trouble. He’d never been so humiliated.
“Doctor. I didn’t. She wasn’t. Before…”
He spoke two words at a time, and the doctor couldn’t understand him at all.
“What do you mean, you didn’t and she wasn’t? If you hadn’t, would she have been hurt?”
“Are you saying she did this to herself?”
Gu Tingshang was so mortified he could have died. But to save face, he had to spend a few more words explaining.
“I mean, she wasn’t on her period then. Do you understand now?”
Seeing that he still wouldn’t admit he was wrong, the doctor continued lecturing him.
“So she wasn’t on her period—that means you can be this rough?”
“Have you ever done this before?”
Gu Tingshang blushed and said nothing.
He had no experience, which was why everything had turned into such a mess. His wife hadn’t been cooperating, and he’d been in too much of a hurry. Of course he’d gotten it wrong.
Looks like he’d have to study up properly from now on—get some educational materials and do some research.
“Enough!”
One glance at the young couple’s faces told the doctor all she needed to know.
So they were both clueless and had just let passion run away with them, without any restraint.
She took two marriage and family-planning booklets from a cabinet and handed them to Gu Tingshang.
“Take these home and read them with your wife.”
Then she prescribed some medicine and gave Lin Zhixu careful instructions.
“Your wife seems to have menstrual cramps. Every month, when she has her period, you can make her some brown-sugar water.”
“If you have time, warm your hands and gently massage her abdomen.”
“Take these two boxes of medicine home and dissolve them in hot water. Three times a day for three days.”
“This ointment is for external use. I don’t need to explain how to apply it—you should understand.”
“Also, go to the supermarket downstairs right now and buy a pair of underwear and a pack of sanitary pads. It’s not appropriate for her to be wearing nothing at all.”
Gu Tingshang’s expression twitched. His face turned dark, then red, then green. He looked like an ancient glacier dusted with a packet of rainbow-colored powder—quite a sight.
He hurried to the supermarket and said two words to the cashier.
“Underwear!”
The cashier first glanced at her own backside, wondering if her pants had split or if her underwear was showing.
Only then did she understand what he meant. She went to the back and brought out a pair of men’s underwear.
“Young man, what size do you wear?”
Gu Tingshang closed his eyes and spat out two more words.
“Women’s!”
The cashier was baffled. She went to the back again and picked out a few pairs of women’s underwear.
“These are the latest styles, with lace. The girls all love them. Why not take a couple?”
Thinking that Lin Zhixu was on her period, Gu Tingshang figured these wouldn’t be comfortable. He said two more words.
“Cotton!”
The cashier nearly had a heart attack from frustration.
“Listen, young man, is something wrong with you? You’re buying something, but you’re only giving me one bit of information at a time. Can’t you just explain everything at once? Are you doing this on purpose to make my life difficult?”
“I’ve had to run back and forth for you. Do you think that’s not tiring?”
“Forget it. Go buy it somewhere else. I’m not serving you.”
There was no other shop near the hospital besides this little supermarket. His wife was waiting for the things, and he didn’t have time to go farther afield.
For Lin Zhixu’s sake, for the first time in his life, he swallowed his temper and humbled himself before the supermarket cashier.
“Could you also get me a pack of sanitary pads, please? Sorry for the trouble.”
“That’s more like it. You clearly know how to speak properly. Why pretend to be all cold and aloof? You act like some domineering CEO.”
The cashier picked out two pairs of cotton underwear and gave him a pack of sanitary pads.
“Young man, it’s nice of you to buy your wife personal items.”
After scanning the payment, Gu Tingshang grabbed the things and ran.
He didn’t want to remember this humiliating scene for even a second.
The first day of his marriage was the most humiliating day of his life.
Gu Tingshang rushed to the gynecology clinic, only to discover that Lin Zhixu had vanished.
“Zhizhi?”
“Zhizhi, where are you?”
“Lin Zhixu?”
He searched the waiting area for ages and even called into the women’s restroom twice, but couldn’t find her.
The doctors and nurses all said they didn’t know. They’d been too busy to notice.
At last, the cleaner told him, “Oh, you mean that pretty young woman? The one wearing a long men’s robe?”
“I saw her just now. She ran out of here carrying a bag of medicine, then got on a black motorcycle and left.”
Gu Tingshang punched the wall, with nowhere to vent the nameless fury rising inside him.
He tried to call Lin Zhixu, only to realize that the day had been so hectic he hadn’t even gotten around to adding her contact information.
“Hah. Trying to run away!” Gu Tingshang crushed the underwear and pads in his hand into a ball, his sharply defined handsome face radiating icy menace.
He called Nan Zhou.
“Lin Zhixu ran off. Send me her number!”
Nan Zhou had changed his number, and Gu Tingshang had only found out after asking around in Xigang.
His voice was colder and harsher than Hell King Lin’s.
When Nan Zhou heard the news, he was both angry and worried. He couldn’t help scolding Gu Tingshang.
“Zhizhi ran off? Where could she go this late? She’s always been well-behaved. She never goes out after nine at night, let alone runs away from home. Did you bully her?”
“Gu Tingshang, she’s still a young woman. She won’t turn twenty-three until next month. How can you be so heartless?”
“Picking on a young woman—what kind of man are you?”
Gu Tingshang said nothing.
It had been normal marital relations, hadn’t it? Theoretically, that didn’t count as bullying.
He just hadn’t been careful enough and had hurt her.
But for her to run away from home without even saying a word was going too far.
“How is she well-behaved? She’s been picking fights with me all day. On the very first day of our marriage, she made my heart and liver ache. She took my money and sneaked off, leaving me here alone. And you have the nerve to lecture me? Send me my wife’s number. Stop wasting time.”
Gu Tingshang rarely spoke in such long sentences.
Whenever he talked this much, it meant he felt guilty. He used irrelevant words to cover up his mistake.
And he’d deliberately emphasized “my wife,” staking his claim while twisting the knife in Nan Zhou’s heart.