Ji Ai'er, dressed in her school uniform as usual, was carrying Ji En's school bag and waiting for him at the door.
After a long time, Ji En still hadn't come out. She looked at the wristwatch Ji En gave her last year, which she liked very much. But when she saw the hands pointing to 7:58, she lost control.
"We're almost late!" Ji Ai'er rushed into the dining room and said to Ji En, who was still sitting at the table, eating slowly.
"What's the big deal?" Ji En glanced at her, thinking she always overreacted, making him uncomfortable. Besides, it wasn't the first time he was late, so she should be used to it by now.
"Today's the final exam!" Ji Ai'er reminded him cautiously.
"I can let you copy mine!" Ji En said with a smile, still eating his sandwich slowly. Anyway, he always finished his exams early, while Ji Ai'er always took her time.
"I don't want to." Ji Ai'er said directly. Although Ji En often skipped classes and still easily got high scores, she didn't have that talent. She needed to study hard to improve, so she hoped to take the exam on time and complete it. That's why she was particularly nervous today.
Finally, Ji En finished his breakfast. When Lao Li dropped them off at school, the exam had already started. She could imagine how terrible her grades would be.
Due to Ji En's family's special background, even though they were late, the invigilator still let them in to take the exam.
Ji Ai'er hurriedly opened the exam paper and found the questions familiar, as Ji En had explained them to her before. This slightly calmed her previous nervousness.
Ji En glanced at the exam paper and realized these were the questions Ji Ai'er couldn't do before, which he had explained to her. It seemed Ji Ai'er was good at predicting questions, Ji En thought.
In the afternoon, during the math exam, Ji Ai'er felt uncomfortable in her stomach, a bloated and dull pain. But since math was her weakest subject, she didn't dare to distract herself or waste time asking the teacher to go to the bathroom, enduring it until the end of the exam.
Ji En had been pretending to nap at his desk for an hour, waiting for Ji Ai'er, thinking how she was always so slow.
When Ji Ai'er stood up, she felt her waist aching and then heard someone behind her shout, "Ji Ai'er, you're bleeding."
She looked at where they pointed and saw the entire back of her white skirt had turned red. Her face instantly heated up, not understanding what was happening or if she was about to die.
Ji En rushed over, saw Ji Ai'er bleeding, and immediately carried her to the school infirmary.
"You must save her!" Ji En told the doctor on duty, thinking Ji Ai'er couldn't die no matter what.
"There's no major issue. This is a normal phase for girls," the doctor said after looking at Ji Ai'er. "You should wait outside."
"What do you mean?" Ji En didn't understand and didn't want to leave.
Ji Ai'er didn't understand either. Did every girl go through this?
"It's menstruation, a sign she's growing up," the doctor explained patiently, knowing Ji En's background.
After Ji En left, the doctor gave Ji Ai'er a pair of pants to change into and a sanitary pad with wings, teaching her how to use it and explaining some basic knowledge about adult physiology.
"This was covered in health class, but I guess you and Ji En skipped those classes," the doctor's words made Ji Ai'er feel embarrassed. She had indeed missed a lot of knowledge by skipping classes. Unlike Ji En's high intelligence, she was just an ordinary student, and her knowledge came from diligent studying every day.
When Ji Ai'er walked out of the infirmary, Ji En was waiting outside.
"Are you okay?" Ji En asked her in a tone he had never used before.
Ji Ai'er nodded, now understanding that this was a monthly cycle she would experience from now on.
This year, both Ji Ai'er and Ji En were 14 years old.