Shen Yu wanted to stop her, but he didn’t have the strength to lift a finger.
He opened his mouth. “Mom… don’t go…”
But his voice was too faint. Wang Xiulan didn’t hear him at all and had already rushed to the doorway.
If they actually went to the clinic and the doctor took her pulse, only to say it was menstrual cramps caused by an irregular period—
How was Shen Yu supposed to show his face around Hongxing Brigade after that?
Even though the body was Cheng An’an’s now, the humiliation would still be his.
And going to the doctor over menstrual cramps? The whole village would laugh at him for an entire year.
“Mom, don’t make such a big fuss.”
Cheng An’an spoke up, successfully stopping Wang Xiulan.
“She’s just dealing with that monthly thing women get. It’s not some serious illness.”
“Go make her a bowl of brown sugar water. Put two slices of ginger in it, too. She’ll be fine after drinking it while it’s hot.”
Only then did Wang Xiulan understand.
“Oh! I thought she had some terrible disease. So it’s just her period!”
She let out a sigh of relief, all the panic draining from her at once.
“You scared me half to death. Seeing An’an in so much pain, I thought her intestines had ruptured!”
Wang Xiulan looked at her “daughter-in-law” crouched on the floor, her eyes filled with the sympathy of someone who had been through it herself.
“An’an, you seem to have a rather weak constitution. You probably have a cold womb, huh? No wonder you’re in so much pain.”
“Wait here. Mom’s going to make you some brown sugar water. That brown sugar was sent over by your second aunt’s family during New Year’s. We’ve been saving it because we couldn’t bear to use it. This is the perfect time to give it to you and help build your strength.”
With that, she hurried out.
The room was once again left with just the two of them.
Shen Yu laboriously lifted his eyelids and glared at Cheng An’an on the bed.
“You… you did that on purpose…”
“I did it for your own good.”
Cheng An’an’s smile was innocent yet utterly infuriating.
“If you never experience menstrual cramps, how are you supposed to understand a woman’s heart, Comrade Shen Yu? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes. You should treasure it.”
Not long afterward, Wang Xiulan returned with a bowl of brown sugar ginger tea.
Her face was full of maternal affection.
“Here, An’an. Drink it while it’s hot. It’ll stop the pain.”
Shen Yu lowered his eyes and stared at the bowl of brown sugar water.
Drink?
He was a soldier who had fought through barrages of gunfire. He could bleed without shedding a tear. And now he was supposed to drink this stuff that only women were supposed to have?
“I’m not drinking it.” Shen Yu turned his head away, his voice weak but stubborn. “Take it away.”
“Hey, why are you being so stubborn?” Wang Xiulan grew anxious. “This is brown sugar! It’s precious! How are you supposed to feel better if you don’t drink it? Listen to Mom and drink it.”
Cheng An’an, lying on the bed, chimed in at just the right moment.
“Oh, Mom, don’t bother persuading her. An’an is only thinking of the family. Maybe she thinks this little bit of pain is nothing and can just be endured, so she wants to save the brown sugar for us.”
Shen Yu whipped his head around, sending murderous glares at Cheng An’an one after another.
That damn woman!
He snatched the bowl from Wang Xiulan’s hands.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
He downed several big mouthfuls.
The spicy heat of the ginger mixed with the sweetness of the brown sugar and traveled all the way down his throat, instantly spreading a warm sensation through his stomach.
He had to admit it.
The dragging pain in his abdomen really did seem to ease up a tiny bit.
“That’s more like it.” Wang Xiulan happily took the empty bowl. “All right, get some good rest. Mom’s going to wash the dishes. Don’t do anything tonight. Just lie down and take it easy.”
The moment Wang Xiulan left, Shen Yu slumped back onto the little stool.
“Feeling better?” Cheng An’an asked.
Shen Yu didn’t want to answer her.
Not only did his stomach hurt, but he felt even more miserable inside.
It was like he had just spent three days and three nights wrestling enemies in a muddy swamp. His whole body was sticky and damp, unbearably uncomfortable.
And most importantly…
He could feel that the menstrual cloth inside his pants was already reaching its limit.
“Hey.” Shen Yu spoke through a dark expression. “What do I do when this thing gets full?”
Cheng An’an blinked. “Full? Change it.”
“And what do I do with the used one? Throw it away?”
“Throw it away?” Cheng An’an looked at him as though he were an idiot. “Big brother, do you have any idea how hard it is to get cloth coupons? And you want to throw it away? Are we sitting on a gold mine? Of course you wash it.”
Wash it?
He had endured drinking brown sugar water. He had endured wearing that damned thing.
And now she wanted him to wash it?
Wash it himself?
“I’m not washing it.” Shen Yu refused without hesitation. “I’d rather die.”
“Oh, then just leave it there in your pants.” Cheng An’an couldn’t care less. “It’s not my crotch that’s going to stink and grow maggots.”
She helpfully added, “Just so you know, if menstrual blood isn’t washed out promptly, it gets stiff once it dries and can rub your inner thighs raw. It can also breed bacteria and cause gynecological problems. Do you really want to go to the commune clinic and let everyone in the whole commune take a look at your rotten underwear?”
Shen Yu: “…”
Five minutes later.
By the well in a corner of the courtyard, Shen Yu had mixed warm water in a wooden basin and tossed the soiled underwear and menstrual cloth into it.
The red bloodstains quickly diffused through the water.
He crouched beside the basin, holding a bar of soap as he scrubbed the menstrual cloth.
These hands had once held guns, dismantled explosives, and mastered every kind of close-combat technique.
Now they were washing a menstrual cloth.
“This has to be a hallucination.” Shen Yu scrubbed the cloth harder and harder as he repeated silently to himself, “I’m dreaming. When I wake up, I’ll still be in the jungle on the border, roasting snake meat.”
But the occasional stabbing cramps in his abdomen mercilessly reminded him:
This wasn’t a dream.
This was cruel reality.
He scrubbed so hard that his teeth clenched, as though the thing in his hands wasn’t a piece of cloth, but Cheng An’an’s throat.
“Why is the Shen family’s daughter-in-law so hardworking today? What are you washing out here in broad daylight?”
A passing auntie leaned against the doorframe, poking her head inside curiously.
Shen Yu’s hand jerked. He quickly shoved the thing in his hands beneath the water, then turned and shot her a cold glare.
The auntie felt a chill run down her back under that stare. She muttered, “Crazy,” then turned on her heel and hurried away.
To avoid any more nosy people passing by, Shen Yu simply got up and shut the courtyard gate.
He had just crouched down to continue washing when the wooden gate was suddenly hammered with loud bangs.
The knocking was frantic and impatient. It sounded less like someone knocking and more like someone coming to collect a debt from the dead.
“Sis! Open the door!”
“Open up! I know you’re home!”
“Don’t hide in there without answering! I can smell the meat!”
A loud, duck-like voice hollered from outside.
Hearing that voice, Cheng An’an, who was comfortably lounging on the bed, raised an eyebrow.
Oh?
Looks like trouble has come knocking.