The deeply sleeping Gu Jia Ning was woken by wave after wave of pain in her stomach.
Because of the pain, her forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat. Dazed, Gu Jia Ning looked at the calendar hanging not far on the wall, and suddenly remembered—it was her period today.
"Gu Jia Ning, are you an idiot? It's your period and you actually chose to jump into the river in the middle of winter. No wonder you can't get pregnant, no wonder your stomach hurts." Gu Jia Ning muttered, cursing herself under her breath.
Even though her period always came on time, the first day was always painful. Now after jumping into the river and exposing herself to cold water, how could her stomach not hurt like this?
By the time she managed to get a new sanitary pad on and return to bed, she was already so weak from the pain she almost had no strength left.
Looking up, she saw the door was closed. Her family, not wanting to disturb her rest, hadn't come in.
What should she do?
"System, do you have any painkillers?"
[Host, your current points are 0. You can't exchange for anything. You must complete the newbie task to unlock the System Mall.]
[Huh, Host, you may not need to redeem painkillers after all.]
Gu Jia Ning curled up under her covers, holding her stomach, her face pale as paper.
It hurt. It hurt so much.
With this kind of pain, there was no way to bear it without painkillers.
The pain was so intense that she didn't even notice the sound at her window.
By the time she realized, the window had already been opened from the outside, and a man nimbly jumped in.
"Your stomach hurts, doesn't it?" That familiar, low voice sounded. Gu Jia Ning looked up. The man half-knelt by her bed, eyebrows pinched, worry in his eyes.
The familiar face made Gu Jia Ning freeze for a moment, and in the next second, her eyes grew red-rimmed.
It was Sheng Zexi!
He—why was he here?
Seeing Gu Jia Ning not answering, Sheng Zexi thought her pain had gotten worse. He stood up and took things out of his bag.
Only then did Gu Jia Ning realize—he'd come holding something.
The next second, Sheng Zexi held up a thermos and pulled a chair up beside the bed, sitting down. His right hand stretched out in front of Gu Jia Ning—a white pill resting in his palm.
"Take this painkiller first. Then eat this sweet rice-wine egg."
Painkillers and other Western medicines were precious in these days. Sheng Zexi had gone to great lengths to get this one painkiller.
Gu Jia Ning stared in surprise. No wonder the system said she didn't need to exchange for painkillers—it turned out Sheng Zexi had brought one.
Her stomach hurt so badly she couldn't think too much. She quickly took the painkiller.
Sheng Zexi opened the thermos. A sweet whiff of rice wine drifted out. Maybe because of the brown sugar, the liquid was tinged brown, and a poached egg floated on top, with red dates and goji berries swaying gently around it.
"I bought this near the county hospital. They said it can help with your kind of pain, and also replenish your blood and warm you up."
Gu Jia Ning looked up at him, a little surprised. "How did you know about… that?"
Sheng Zexi looked down, slightly embarrassed. "Before, when I stayed at your house, I found out by accident." Actually, that day Gu Jia Ning didn't look well, and he saw her sneak off to wash her underclothes. He guessed it; for some reason, Sheng Zexi remembered the date.
After the matchmaker left today, he'd planned to come to the Gu Family directly. Suddenly remembering today's date, he turned around and went to the county town to buy things.
"You must not have much strength left. Let me feed you." Sheng Zexi wrapped Gu Jia Ning in the quilt, propped her up in a half-sitting position, and stuffed a pillow behind her back.
The moment he leaned in, Gu Jia Ning caught a whiff of his cool, grassy scent—but just for a second before he pulled away again.
Sheng Zexi sat back on the chair, took a spoon, scooped up a spoonful, and brought it to Gu Jia Ning's lips.
Gu Jia Ning bent her head and drank. The temperature was just right—warm, not scalding, and sweet.
Thinking of what Sheng Zexi said about warming her up, Gu Jia Ning knew he must have found out about her jumping into the river today.
Yet, he'd still come. He remembered her period days, brought painkillers and the sweet rice-wine egg.
Sheng Zexi actually treated her very well. How come she'd never seen it before?
Thinking about her past life, Gu Jia Ning couldn't hold back. Her red-rimmed eyes leaked shining tears.
"Sheng Zexi, why are you so good to me?" The girl pursed her lips, sniffled, her voice soft and choked as she asked.
Her sudden tears threw Sheng Zexi into a panic. Hearing her question, he suddenly thought of something—and couldn't help but let out a half-angry laugh.
He curled his lips with a mocking sneer. "What, you don't want me to treat you well? You want Wen Zhuqing to treat you instead? Too bad, you jumped into the river and that pretty boy didn't even show up."
"Gu Jia Ning, are you really that brainless? You actually jumped into the river in midwinter over some man. You're like an old man trying to hang himself because he thinks he'll live too long."
"I always knew you were dumb, but now I see you're even dumber than I thought."
Gu Jia Ning looked up, her teary almond-shaped eyes glaring at him in anger as she retorted, "If I'm so dumb, why do you want to marry me? Why do you even want to meet with me for marriage interviews?"
Sheng Zexi was immediately at a loss for words. He licked his back teeth, inwardly gritting—how did this girl always manage to get under his skin?
After a few seconds, he let out a soft, annoyed laugh. "Yeah, I'm just under your spell."
Because of his stepmother, Sheng Zexi, who had always disliked women, wasn't sure exactly how, but ever since he'd ended up living with the Gu Family while recovering from an injury, he couldn't look away from Gu Jia Ning.
He knew perfectly well she was spoiled and willful, lazy, didn't like studying, and was definitely not clever.
But he'd still fallen for her—utterly and completely, heart and soul.
Why? Sheng Zexi himself couldn't say for sure.
Maybe it was because once, when he was down after failing to visit his mother's grave on her death anniversary, she was the only one who noticed, and she taught him how to fold paper cranes. She said: "If you write your wishes on them and set them afloat on the river, the ones we've lost can see them."
She said, "Death isn't the end. As long as you don't forget, the person will always live on in our hearts."
Maybe it was that time, on his birthday, she persuaded her mother to make him a bowl of birthday noodles.
She said, "I can't make noodles, but my mom does. Since you're living in our house, on your birthday, you're one of us. Eat birthday noodles, and you'll have a long life."
No one knew that since his mother had died, he'd never eaten birthday noodles again.
No one saw that, when he bowed his head to eat, his eyes were red, and his hands trembled just a little.
Love comes from nowhere—and sinks deep without warning.
He knew she'd jumped into the river for another guy, but he still agreed to the arranged meeting with her. He came here, full of hope, buying things and waiting anxiously.
"I treat you so well. If you still can't forget that pretty boy—"
Sheng Zexi said casually, not yet finished, when Gu Jia Ning cut in, "You're right, he's not worth it. He's not worth me doing this, so I thought it over. I'll give him up. I'm willing to try with you."
Sheng Zexi was suddenly stunned, only feeling the softness of the girl's words in his ear, almost unreal.
Gu Jia Ning blinked, her pale little hand reached out from under the covers and tugged lightly at his sleeve. "You don't want to?"