Chapter 21
Two days of part-time work left me with a sore back, especially below the waist.
Guan Nan was listless, slumped over her desk, clutching her lower abdomen with one hand, her face pale with pain.
She stared at the stack of books, at the girl smiling at her close to the books, whose head had a line of English letters written on it.
—I like BERRY!
The letters floated before Guan Nan's eyes, and she experienced a momentary hallucination.
The capital letters wobbled
——JIANGLI!
Guan Nan blinked again, and the letters transformed.
—I like JIANGLI!
In an instant, large areas of her ears, face, and neck turned red.
After staring at it for a while, Guan Nan blinked hard, and the letters returned to their original state.
What appeared in her mind was a string of distorted letters, out of order, yet she could still restore them all in an instant.
Guan Nan swallowed hard and turned the little figurine on the table away from her.
It was as if nothing had happened.
"Ahem," the Chinese teacher coughed twice on the podium to remind the students who were daydreaming, but seeing that Guan Nan did not react, she stepped down from the podium and gently tapped her desk with her finger. "A memorial is a special kind of writing. Before this, we have studied Zhuge Liang's 'Memorial on Dispatching the Troops,' which was mainly used by ministers to submit memorials to the emperor. In an era when people were expected to obey their rulers, writing a letter to the emperor was not an easy task. If it was not written well, one could lose their head."
Guan Nan snapped out of her daze and realized she hadn't turned the page of her textbook yet, so she immediately flipped through it to catch up.
Subconsciously, she glanced at Jiang Li out of the corner of her eye.
Jiang Li's lips curved upwards.
Guan Nan was embarrassed.
She couldn't help but think that she had embarrassed herself in front of him again.
How come she always so completely discarded her embarrassment, awkwardness, and disarray in front of him without reservation?
"Let's continue reading 'The Memorial to the Throne'. 'Your subject,' 'your subject' refers to his identity, and 'his subject' refers to Li Mi," the Chinese teacher said, holding the book and slowly walking down the page, reciting the contents of the book. "'Your subject, due to misfortune, has suffered from hardship and misfortune since childhood. When I was six months old, my beloved father passed away.' The opening expresses his feelings and summarizes the misfortunes he has encountered, setting the tone for the entire text."
Guan Nan turned to this page, followed the teacher's pace, and used a pen to circle and mark annotations in the blank spaces of this section.
"Then why did he write it like that in the first place? Was he deliberately trying to gain sympathy?" The Chinese teacher turned back, glanced at Guan Nan's textbook, and forgave her for those few minutes of distraction, considering that she had prepared in advance and had made many annotations.
One classmate said, "No, it's because he and his grandmother depend on each other for survival. His grandmother is sick, and he wants to fulfill his filial duty."
"That's one way to understand it, but we need to consider the whole article..." The Chinese teacher paused the lesson, put the textbook on the podium, and said, "The two of you in the back, should I talk or should you talk? If I talk, you talk too. If I stop talking, you stop talking too. Otherwise, you can come up and talk, and I'll talk after you're done."
Although she didn't call out names directly, her gaze was fixed on the last row.
Suddenly, one, two, three heads couldn't help but turn around to look.
Guan Nan didn't watch the commotion. She secretly rubbed her stomach and finally waited until class ended. She took her water bottle to get water, only to find that because of the weekend, the water bucket was completely empty and no one had refilled it until today.
She returned to her seat with the empty cup, and Jiang Li, who was practicing calligraphy next to her, glanced at her and asked, "Out of water?"
"Mmm." Guan Nan nodded, slumped over her desk, looking dejected.
Seeing this, Jiang Li put down his pen and remained silent.
He reached into the crowded drawer of the desk and pulled out a water cup, then reached for hers, and got up to walk to the far corner inside the podium. He placed the cups on the corner, took the empty water dispenser bottle, bent down to tear open the seal of the new water bottle, and easily carried it up the water rack.
The water bucket was bubbling, and the group looked at it in surprise.
Jiang Li stood expressionless in front of the water dispenser, listening to the nonsensical teasing about his previous "weakness," without making any response.
However, Chen Aimei glanced back at Guan Nan, who was slumped over the table, looking listless, and her expression turned somewhat grim.
The classmate who asked Jiang Li to change the water last time spoke up unhappily: "Jiang Li, aren't you weak?"
The implication is, why is it no longer weak and can be changed now?
"Yangmei," Yu Shu, who had witnessed the whole thing, naturally noticed Guan Nan's weakness and said sarcastically, "Does he need to report to you whether he's weak or not? What's your relationship with him?"
Yang Mei's full name is Ouyang Mei. Upon hearing Yu Shu's words, she glared at him fiercely and said, "What's it to you?"
"Then you have to change the water for us next time too." The water glass in his hand was too eye-catching. Chen Aimei didn't follow Ouyang Mei's words. Instead, she smiled sweetly with her eyebrows curved and spoke softly.
Ouyang Mei: "Yeah, you've already helped her, why aren't you helping us?"
“Me too,” Yu Shu chimed in, “Brother Jiang Li.”
Chen Mengjie stepped in to smooth things over, blaming Jiang Li for helping next time, and said righteously, "Don't say anything more, Jiang Li will help you next time."
Upon hearing her words, Chen Aimei glanced at her with a mocking expression, as if to say, "You certainly know how to play the good guy."
"..." Jiang Li seemed impatient, filled two cups with hot water, and asked with a half-smile, "You sit next to me?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Aimei and Chen Mengjie's expressions changed slightly.
They knew better than anyone else that Jiang Li had never been so proactive with other deskmates, but it seemed like he made an exception for Guan Nan as his deskmate.
After saying that, Jiang Li didn't bother with anyone else and returned to his seat with his cup.
The water cup was too hot, so Guan Nan carefully held it to her lower abdomen and thanked Jiang Li, saying, "Thank you."
"Hey, what are you thinking?" After a while, Jiang Li put away the calligraphy book and lazily twirled the pen. "I'll read my self-criticism and you cheer me on."
Guan Nan stared blankly: "...Huh?"
She didn't know what was wrong with her at the time.
Upon seeing Jiang Li go on stage, I blurted out "Go for it!" on a whim.
Jiang Li raised an eyebrow: "Want to see me on stage a few more times?"
"no."
"You want to see me read a self-criticism?"
Jiang Li might be used to reading a self-criticism in front of the whole school, but she really couldn't accept it, and quickly shook her head: "No."
"Oh," Jiang Li asked with interest, "What is that?"
"......"
Guan Nan kept her head down, unwilling to admit that she had spoken without thinking, and mumbled, "It's nothing."
Jiang Li smiled, in that familiar, drawn-out tone, "Oh."
His "oh" sounded like he had half a sentence left unsaid, and Guan Nan waited and waited, her focus on the reading comprehension slowly fading.
However, the rest of the sentence was never heard.
Guan Nan felt a little embarrassed and slowly turned the cup that was resting on her lower abdomen.
The next second, the school bell rang.
Seeing that she hadn't drunk any water, Jiang Li placed his own water cup in the middle, indicating that she should use it to cover her stomach.
The scene from just now was still fresh in Guan Nan's mind, and she also remembered what Chen Aimei had said last time. Without thinking, she refused in a muffled voice: "No need."
Jiang Li paused, his tone softening slightly: "What do you mean?"
"This isn't right." Guan Nan gripped her water glass tightly, keeping her head down and not daring to look at him, and said hesitantly.
Jiang Li: "Are we friends?"
Guan Nan hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Why not?" Jiang Li chuckled, turning his head to look at him casually, his voice devoid of emotion. "What kind of suspicion are you trying to avoid?"
"......"
Realizing her thoughts had been seen through, she instantly lost her temper and mumbled guiltily, pressing her lower abdomen, "Aren't you going to drink?"
"When have you ever seen me drink hot water?" He was in a bad mood, a mocking smile playing on his lips, and his words were quite sarcastic.
Having probably seen too much of the friendly side, she was a little uncomfortable seeing Jiang Li like this all of a sudden, her expression flustered and embarrassed. "I..."
She hesitated for a long time, unable to speak, and then lowered her head again.
He placed the water glass on her desk, turned his head to look at the blackboard, and the two of them remained silent.
He seemed genuinely unhappy.
The water was clearly meant for her. Guan Nan frowned and remained silent for a few seconds.
Silently, I reached out and wrapped two layers of tissue paper around the surface of the water glass. I didn't have the courage to cover my lower abdomen with it. After hesitating for a long time, I heard a voice in my ear: "Use it, it's clean."
Guan Nan pursed her lips and stiffly moved the water glass from her stomach to her navel.
I don't know if it was because I drank hot water, covered my stomach, or my attention was diverted, but the pain in my lower abdomen seemed to have decreased a lot. It was no longer as painful as before, causing dizziness, cramps, cold limbs, cold sweats, and diarrhea.
......
Chen Aimei called her name, interrupting her reverie, "Let's go eat."
"Huh?" Guan Nan slumped over her desk, her face pale. "Right now, I don't really want to eat?"
"Are you in a lot of pain?" Chen Aimei stared at her, her eyes scrutinizing her.
Guan Nan whispered, "It hurts a little on the first day."
"So what are you going to eat later?"
"I don't know yet."
Chen Aimei pouted: "Alright then, you can rest for a while first."
Guan Nan was feeling unwell and her mind was sluggish, so she didn't notice the subtle changes in the air.
She was the only one left in the classroom.
A moment later.
Luo Haoyu left but then returned.
"Guan Nan." He stood by the desk and called her name.
Guan Nan struggled to lift her head, her eyes clear and moist, her expression full of confusion.
"Someone asked me to give you this." Luo Haoyu remained as calm as ever, his expression never revealing his emotions.
Ibuprofen, hand warmers, brown sugar ginger tea.
Guan Nan was taken aback; every single item in front of her had the effect of relieving menstrual cramps.
Seeing that Luo Haoyu was about to leave, Guan Nan immediately called out to him, wanting to know who the other person was: "Luo Haoyu."
"?" Luo Haoyu turned around and looked at her.
"Yes," Guan Nan hesitated for two seconds before politely asking, "Do you know who it is?"
Luo Haoyu replied with a stiff face, "I don't know."
After saying that, he turned and left the classroom, his school uniform soaked with sweat on his back.
They came in a hurry and left in a hurry, all in a flurry of activity.
Guan Nan stared at them for a long time, noticing the name of an off-campus pharmacy on the brown sugar bottle, and kept thinking about who it could be.
Jiang Li, Qi Yang, Chen Aimei.
Guan Nan couldn't find a fourth person besides them.
She guessed it was probably Chen Aimei; since the other person was a girl, she would understand this kind of pain.
Guan Nan took an ibuprofen, made some brown sugar ginger tea, ate the half-eaten bread left over from the morning in her schoolbag, put on a heat pack, and continued to sleep on her desk.
On an early autumn night, Guan Nan was covered in sweat under the covers.
She started having wild thoughts, wondering if anyone in the world could die from menstrual cramps, and if not, whether she would become the first case in the medical community of someone dying from menstrual cramps.
Should a woman who dies from menstrual cramps undergo a cesarean section?
What did they pull out of it?
Will this make the news?
Just thinking about it made Guan Nan feel ashamed, and she bit her lip.
— "Guan Guan".
"It's okay."
"My baby is good, Mommy is here."
In a daze, Guan Nan seemed to see her mother's figure, her soft hand patting her back, gently humming the lullaby from her memory.
Guan Nan drifted off to sleep to the soft humming of "Moonlight shines on the pond, little shrimp, be a good boy and go to bed①".
Her lips moved silently, and a single hot tear slid down her cheek.
"Mom, I miss you so much."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
