Chapter 10
After the evening study session, Xia Li was still waiting for Xia Weining at the door. Seeing her come out, she hurriedly called out, "Teacher Xia."
"What's wrong? Are you in a bad mood?"
"How do you know?"
Xia Weining chuckled, "Your low mood is written all over your face. You look listless. What's wrong?"
Xia Li looked up at Xia Weining, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, as if he was in an awkward situation.
"You don't have to treat me as a teacher. We are friends. I will keep your words confidential."
"Can I trust you?" the little girl asked timidly.
"Of course, you can always trust me."
Xia Li pursed her lips, hesitated and murmured, "My friend seems to be a bit like what you said today. What should I do?"
"Wang Xiuhan and Zhao Lin?"
"How do you know?"
Of course she knew that there was another girl, and they were called the "Four Heavenly Kings" by their class teacher back then.
Xia Weining was most curious about Xia Li. "Would you ever think about skipping classes or falling in love prematurely?"
"No, I like going to school."
Looking at the 'self' in front of her, she felt both relieved and emotional. She was diligent, studious and obedient, completely the perfect image of a good student in her imagination, but she also existed in reality.
"Leave the two of them to me, and you focus on your studies."
"Don't say I told you that. I just don't want to see them go further and further astray."
"I see."
The two good friends really need to think of an effective way to deal with their problems. Xia Weining doesn't want to see them go back to their old ways.
The next day, Xia Weining had no classes in the morning, so she went to school after lunch. As soon as she entered the school gate, Tan Ya pulled her aside and said, "I have something very important to tell you."
"What's going on? It's so mysterious."
"There's a very good guy in my father-in-law's unit. How about you meet him?"
Xia Weining politely declined, "No thanks."
"The young man has good conditions. He's a regular employee of a public institution, an only child, and has a car and a house. His parents are both workers with pensions, so he doesn't rely on you for his retirement."
"Why would he choose me when he has such good conditions?"
"You're not right. I'm not bad either. I'm a sacred people's teacher, and I'm beautiful too."
Before Xia Weining could agree, Xia Li came trotting over, bent over and panting heavily, "Teacher, I finally found you."
"Don't be impatient, tell me slowly, what happened?"
"Go check it out! Shen Yuting is crying in the bathroom."
Tanya was a little anxious, "What happened?"
"She had her period, and the paper she used was too thin, so it got all over her pants and even on the chair. People in the class saw it, and someone said it was disgusting."
Xia Weining paused, her thoughts involuntarily drawn back to the past. She had experienced the same thing once before.
She had her first period in elementary school. She was young and had her period less often. Her mother worked away from home and her grandmother didn't say much. She didn't understand much either. The school toilets were a row of squat toilets with no barriers. She was afraid of being seen changing toilet paper, so she went to the toilet secretly every time, and often got it on her pants. She went to junior high school with this wrong understanding of menstruation.
At that time, she rarely used sanitary napkins. She always used thick paper, which did not absorb blood. In addition, she did not control her diet and ate a lot of ice cream every day. Her menstrual flow was very heavy, and it often took her ten days or so to finish her period. Every time, blood would get on her pants. Later, her mother bought her sanitary napkins, but she could not tell the difference between daytime and nighttime ones, so she used daytime ones at night, so blood would still get on the bed. Later, she used two daytime ones spliced together at night.
In order to get up quickly at school, she would sleep with her pants on. She still remembered that one time when she had her period, her pants were wet but she didn't know it. She got up in the dark to go to morning reading, and twenty minutes later went to do morning exercises. She felt uncomfortable at that time, but did not ask for leave from the teacher. When she returned to the classroom after running exercises, everyone looked at her strangely.
It was only when her desk mate reminded her that she discovered that the chair was stained with blood. She walked to her seat with her head down in shame, her face flushed, and wiped the stains on the chair bit by bit with paper. A boy in the front row glanced at her with disgust and said it was disgusting. This was a classmate she thought she had a good relationship with.
One sentence destroyed her self-esteem and face. She felt ashamed and thought that others would look down on her.
After wiping the chair clean, she asked her homeroom teacher for leave to go back to the dormitory to change clothes. When she left the classroom, she touched her pants and found her hands were sticky. She was so ashamed that she burst into tears.
After changing her clothes, she walked into the classroom with her head down, not daring to look other people in the eye. She had been sitting there reciting lessons all morning, drawing non-stop with a pen, muttering to herself, but not a single word could enter her mind.
She couldn't concentrate, or rather, her brain could only do one thing. Constantly thinking about that sentence consumed all her energy. She was trapped in the eyes of others and couldn't extricate herself. Finally, she spent the morning self-study class in a daze of sadness and regret.
She spoke very little that day, and except for going to the bathroom, she sat in her seat without moving. She felt as if she had been abandoned by the world, which made her already sensitive heart even more fragile and her already inferior self-esteem even less confident.
From then on, her menstruation became a secret that she could not speak of, that is, menstrual shame. Every time she had her period, she would wear black pants so that it would not be visible on her clothes.
Later, her mother told her not to eat cold or spicy food during her period and to drink more hot water. The amount of menstruation gradually returned to normal, but the shame about menstruation did not disappear. It was not until she met a female physical education teacher in college that she realized that girls should take care of their bodies, not exercise during their period, and can rest on the side during physical education class. The teacher would also say that she must rest well because her face was so pale.
"Teacher Xia, what are you thinking about?"
Tan Ya called Xia Weining several times, but she didn't respond, so she bumped into her this time.
Xia Weining came back to her senses and said, "No, I didn't think about anything."
The three of them hurried to the bathroom. The little girl was squatting in the corner crying. Xia Weining squatted down and hugged her shoulders, "Does it hurt?"
"Um."
"Come on, I'll get you some medicine."
The little girl raised her head and looked at her blankly. Xia Weining gave her an affirmative look and walked out of the bathroom holding her hand.
"How do you feel after taking the medicine?"
"My belly feels warm."
Xia Weining took out a sanitary napkin from the drawer of her desk and said, "Take this."
"Teacher, how much is this?"
"No money, just use it."
"That's not good. I saw this in the supermarket. It's very expensive."
Xia Weining sighed in her heart. It turned out that sensible children were the most sensitive and the most pitiable.
"Just think of it as a gift from your teacher. Go back to class with Xia Li."
"Thank you, teacher."
After she finished speaking, she showed no intention of returning. Xia Li immediately understood, "Are you ashamed of yourself?"
The little girl nodded in surprise and hesitation, and Xia Weining hugged her with heartache.
"Don't be ashamed. This is a normal phenomenon that every girl experiences. It's our unique physiological characteristics. There's nothing shameful about it. This is our monthly date with our bodies. It's pure, sincere, and flawless."
"Okay, Mr. Xia, I understand."
"You have dysmenorrhea, so be careful. Eat less cold and spicy food these days and drink more hot water."
"Okay, thank you Teacher Xia and Teacher Tan."
Xia Weining looked at Xia Li and said, "When you and Shen Yuting enter the classroom together, you must walk in with your heads held high."
The two girls smiled at each other and said, "Okay."
Xia Weining knew this kind of pain. She didn't want other girls to be as sensitive and self-deprecating as she was. She patted Tan Ya beside her and said, "Teacher Tan, you are the team leader. What's a good way to deal with this?"
"We must be vigilant against this phenomenon and tell Teacher Li that we must guide students to bravely oppose verbal bullying."
"There is also behavioral bullying," Xia Weining added.
"Teacher Li is a gay man. Is it appropriate for him to handle this kind of thing?" Tan Ya looked at Xia Weining and said, "Talk to Teacher Li. I'll leave this matter to you."
"As a newcomer, what should I do if I don't know how to handle this kind of thing?"
"Don't worry, I'll be there to support you, it's okay."
In the end, this task fell on Xia Weining. Tan Ya and the head teacher, Teacher Li, were both present at the class meeting that day.
The classroom was noisy. Teacher Li was the first to enter the class, and the noise stopped instantly. He sternly said to the audience, "Go outside and listen. The whole corridor is filled with the sound of our class talking. I don't know where you get so much to say. Why don't you start by speaking? I'll wait here for you to finish."
The people in the audience were so quiet that they dared not utter a word. Teacher Li then continued, "Since you are all silent, I will say this now. Let's hold an impromptu class meeting today."
After saying that, he looked at Xia Weining and said, "Teacher Xia, I leave it to you."
Xia Weining walked to the podium and took out a sanitary napkin to show it, "Do you know what this is?"
"Know."
Many girls blushed after saying this and lowered their heads shyly. A few boys laughed. Xia Weining slammed the table and shouted, "What are you laughing at? What's so funny?"
He casually pointed at someone, the one who mocked Shen Yuting, “Shi Zhuangzhuang, what are you laughing at?”
"No, nothing to laugh at."
Xia Weining walked up to him with a sanitary napkin and asked, "Do you think this thing is disgusting?"
"It's not disgusting. Do you think it's disgusting for girls to have their periods?"
Tian Zhuangzhuang understood what Xia Weining meant, blushed and shook his head in denial, "It's not disgusting."
"Classmate Tian Zhuangzhuang is right." Xia Weining patted his shoulder, "Sit down first."
She returned to the podium. "Students, we must have sufficient respect for our bodies, ourselves, and others, and establish correct cognition. You are all young and at the most promising age. Don't waste your time on meaningless things. Respecting others begins with respecting yourself. When we laugh at or bully others, we lose our own integrity. I hope you understand."
"Understood."
Xia Weining found Shen Yuting's position, nodded to her, and smiled from the heart.
Chen Yuting looked at Xia Weining excitedly, tears welling in her eyes. She picked up a pen and wrote on the notebook, "I like Teacher Xia."
Xia Weining returned to the office and reviewed the matter carefully. He felt that there were still areas that needed improvement and that he had to find a way to really help these girls.
She was just about to go talk to Tan Ya when Zhou Renting came in and stopped her. "Teacher Xia, do you have anything to do tonight?"
"Nothing. What's wrong?"
"My friend opened a restaurant. Would you like to go over and have a meal together?"
Xia Weining felt a little embarrassed and touched her neck awkwardly, "I won't go. Have fun, you guys."
"Why……"
Before Zhou Renting could call her, she had already walked out of the office, leaving behind only sighs of loss.
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