Long Ning was doing his usual morning routine when he noticed something. Looking at the clock hanging on the wall, he saw that it was already seven o'clock in the morning.
By this hour, Tang Yazhu should already be awake and cooking breakfast for him. If not, she would either be clipping some of her favorite tulips or taking care of the two cats.
"Where's Bao'er? Is she out?" Long Ning immediately asked a passing maid. 'Maybe she's still out exercising?'
"No, Young Master. We have not seen Young Lady. Perhaps she is still asleep?" the maid answered respectfully before walking off.
It was not like Tang Yazhu to still be asleep at this hour. Long Ning knew her as a morning person - something was definitely off. Worried, he stood up from the long sofa and walked up to her room.
Knocking on her door once, Long Ning heard no answer. Knocking a second time, he still heard no answer. Knocking on her door a third time, there was still no answer.
"Bao'er? Are you awake?" Long Ning asked, worry laced in his voice.
Long Ning did not immediately rush into her room. Although they were living together in one house, he still respected her privacy and wanted to wait for when she was comfortable enough before invading her privacy - such as sleeping in the same room.
When Long Ning did not hear Tang Yazhu answer his question, he immediately entered her room to look for her. He did not have to go find the spare key for her room as he knew that she was not used to locking her door.
Entering her room, he reminisced about how this was the second time he had ever entered her bedroom; the first time being when he was showing her room to her when she first came to this house. Then, Long Ning saw Tang Yazhu in her bed - coiling about - and moved closer to her.
"Bao'er?" Long Ning carefully called out.
However, when Long Ning got closer to her, he saw the beads of sweat on her forehead and her pale complexion.
"Bao'er! What's wrong?!" Long Ning asked in a panicked voice, touching her face only to feel the icy coldness.
"I-It… hurts…" Tang Yazhu muddleheadedly mumbled in a small voice.
"Where does it hurt? Don't worry. I'll take you to the hospital now!" Long Ning said with fear apparent in his voice at seeing her suffering in pain and not knowing what to do to lessen her pain.
All Long Ning could do was to lift up her blanket and try to carry her out from her bed to head to the hospital.
"No… Don't take… me… there…" Tang Yazhu stopped him, speaking in a weak voice before coiling back on her bed like a snail to hug her cramping abdomen.
However, Long Ning no longer wanted to listen to her the moment that he saw the bloodstains on her bedsheet. Just seeing caused him to freak out even more and instantly install a hospital in their house.
"No, you're bleeding! How can I not?! I'm taking you to the hospital now!" Long Ning worriedly shouted, completely brainless.
What if her condition got worse? What if there was something wrong with her that needed immediate medical attention? There were too many what-ifs in his head and all he could think of was that he could not lose her. If she did not want to go to the hospital, then he would call the family doctor instead.
Tang Yazhu really wanted to laugh at his reaction, but she currently had no energy to even laugh at him. Seriously, she was only having her monthly period - nothing horrible. Only, she did not think that her menstrual cramp would be so horrible!
When Tang Yazhu was still in her original body, she never had to bear this kind of pain. Her menstrual cycles were more than bearable. However, fuck this! Curse this fucking body! Why do women have to suffer like this?! She wanted to cry.
God it fucking hurts. Damn this body. She did not know that Ren Bao would have such horrible menstrual cramps - making her just want to kill herself to end the pain!
"It's just… my period… call a… maid…" Tang Yazhu breathlessly told him.
"A-are you sure? I still think the hospital's a better place! I don't think a maid will help at this moment!" Long Ning questioned, doubting her as he could not stop worrying about her.
"If you want me to get better, then go call a maid now," Tang Yazhu gave all of her strength to force him to have no choice, but to call for a maid.
When Cao Lanfen was called over by Long Ning, she was deathly afraid. The young master was so frightening that she could only tremble while following behind him and praying for her own safety just as her own fellow maid sisters prayed with her.
However, when they entered the room of their young lady and Cao Lanfen saw Tang Yazhu coiling in bed in pain with her hands on her lower abdomen, the maid immediately understood the situation and rushed to her side to help her out.
"Lanfen? Thank god… You're here…" Tang Yazhu mumbled weakly.
Tang Yazhu knew everyone who worked in the villa and greatly praised Cao Lanfen as someone who could pick up the situation at first sight.
"Yes, Young Lady. Please do not worry. I understand," Cao Lanfen said in a reassuring voice and quickly rolled the blanket away from Tang Yazhu.
Then, Cao Lanfen turned to look at Long Ning who was currently wearing a very grim expression on his face.
"Young Master, please do not worry. Young Lady is simply starting her menstrual cycle. It is normal for a woman to get stomach cramps during this period. Young Master, please help me carry Young Lady to the bathroom first," Cao Lanfen tried to assure Long Ning.
After hearing those words, his face finally turned a bit more normal compared to his previous grim expression as if Tang Yazhu was about to die. Well, he did not know much about a woman, but he at least understood the words 'menstrual cycle.' Thus, he walked over to carry Tang Yazhu to the bathroom as Cao Lanfen followed right behind them.
Once he place Tang Yazhu stably in the bathroom, he exited the bathroom and waited for her outside. In the meanwhile, he paced back and forth in her room the entire time although knowing a period should not be able to kill. Well, he hoped that to be true.
Long Ning did not know much about the menstruation cycle, so he did not know what he could do to help his beloved. All he could do was just anxiously stand around and wait in her room.
A while later, Cao Lanfen walked out of the bathroom and changed the bedsheets with a new one before going into the closet to pick out some clothes for Tang Yazhu to change into. When she saw how anxious Long Ning was, she gave him some tips on how he could help out their young lady. With that, he immediately left the room after Cao Lanfen went back to the bathroom.
Moments later, Tang Yazhu left the bathroom with aid of Cao Lanfen holding onto her arm to stabilize her. In fact, Tang Yazhu was on the verge of crawling on the floor due to the pain she was feeling and she was even cursing her body non-stop inside of her head because of how much she was in.
When she was placed back on the bed, she finally scanned the room - only to notice that Long Ning was no longer in the room.
Knowing who Tang Yazhu was looking for, Cao Lanfen informed, "Young Master said that he had something to do."
"Okay, thank you. Can you get me a cup of milk?" Tang Yazhu asked as she laid down on the bed.
She felt like her entire body was drained of energy, causing her to only be able to make weak motions. At least her head can still think though. At the same time, she was guessing that perhaps her husband just left for work. This caused her to give a sigh of relief as she thought that it was a good thing that he was no longer in her room or else he would freak out even more.
However, a while later, the door opened. She thought that it was Cao Lanfen, but the person carrying a tray of food was no one else other than her husband.
"Hubby? What are you doing here? I thought you already went to work," she spoke and looked at him with a complicated expression on her face.
He was still wearing his usual black slacks with a white long-sleeved button-up and a necktie - but it was a bit lose - his normal attire for work.
"I'm taking a day off. I want to take care of you," he told her as he placed the tray of food down before getting a good look at her.
Although she was still slightly pale in complexion, at least she no longer looked like a ghost. Then, he looked at the food he brought in. Earlier, the maid told him about some foods that would help lessen the pain of the stomach cramps. Then, he was reminded of the fact that she had yet to eat anything today - so he left to go make some food for her.
"I'm fine. You don't have to make a big deal out of something like this," Tang Yazhu told him, although her eyes were already getting teary just knowing that he was doing this for her.
"How can I not worry? I can't stand looking at you in pain. Even if I know that this is a period and that you get this every month, I can at least do this much to help you," Long Ning said.
He wanted to take care of her and ensure that nothing could ever harm her. However, he could not do anything about the menstruation cycle. Maybe, he will have to ask Medical Technology to find a cure for this "disease."
"Hubby… You're so sweet, you're going to make me cry!" Tang Yazhu emotionally stated.
"Eat this. I made this breakfast for you after doing a little research. I heard that this is good for your body at this time of the month," he said and handed her a cup of milk first before feeding her some kale and broccoli mixed vegetables.
"Here, I brought a heating pad for you. I heard that it'll help make the pain more bearable," he said as he rolled down her blanket to pull up her shirt a bit to show her abdomen and then placed the heating pad on her lower abdomen.
"Wow… This thing really works!" Tang Yazhu appreciated it immediately and hugged it.
The heating pad really did minimize the pain. She was so glad to meet someone like Long Ning. Without him by her side, she would never have known about such a thing.
After drinking the cup of milk that he brought for her, she finally ate the food that he prepared. Then, she suddenly felt a bout of food cravings.
"Hubby, I want to eat fries, burgers, chocolates, and pizza," Tang Yazhu suddenly told Long Ning.
For Tang Yazhu, this was the best delicacy she could have while on her period. However, for Long Ning, he could only frown and show an unhappy expression on his face.
"No, those are highly processed foods and are high in fats. They're not healthy for your body," Long Ning sternly rejected her craving.
Then, he peeled an orange for her, but since she was so angry, she rejected to eat his orange.
"No, I don't want to eat an orange. I want to eat those things," Tang Yazhu angrily cried out and stopped eating.
Suddenly, Long Ning remembered what the maid told him earlier, "Women on their periods are emotionally unstable, so they are more likely to have mood swings. If Young Miss gets angry, then sad, then happy, it is very normal. When women are on their period, the one thing they need is to be understood."
Long Ning suddenly felt a headache coming as he massaged his forehead to deal with the behavior of his wife. He finally knew what a mood swing was. Earlier, she was feeling so happy - on the very of tears - and now she was angry. It feels like he is trying to please a child who is currently throwing a tantrum.
He could only heave a sigh. When fighting an argument with his business rivals, he knew he had a high chance of winning. However, when it comes to his wife, he felt like all of his knowledge and understandings of the world was being crushingly defeated. He could not win at all!
"I can let you eat this, but I definitely not those other foods you've mentioned," Long Ning relented a tiny bit by pulling out a bar of dark chocolate from his pocket and giving it to her.
With the sight of the dark chocolate bar in his hand, her anger finally lifted and her eyes changed from one of crying to happiness as her eyes sparkled as though what was in his hands was not chocolate but a shining diamond.
"Hubby! I love you so much!" Tang Yazhu cheerily exclaimed as she took the dark chocolate bar, opened the wrapping, and bit into happily.
As her behavior quickly changed once again, Long Ning could relax his tense nerves. Although he was not happy about having her eat something a bit too sugary, he thought that it was still fine as the chocolate was very high in cacao. No matter, this was still good for her in some ways.
Throughout her period, Long Ning had his work cut out for him. Although he did not go to work as he took days off, his stay at home was definitely harsher than at work.