Chapter 43: Dad, I love you

“38 years old,” “old man,” “old corporate slave”—

These labels were originally Zheng Yang’s armor.

She had always believed that this armor could help her calmly handle everything about her new identity.

However, it failed in the face of the most normal thing for a girl.

Not only did it fail, but it also had negative effects—after all, if she were purely a girl, she wouldn’t have an extra bit of shame from being male.

Not one bit, but many bits.

She had no choice but to beg Wu Chun to teach her how to buy sanitary pads.

Teaching wasn’t enough;

She even had to beg her to bring her along.

Who was Zheng Yang?

She rarely asked for help for her own matters.

The one time she did, it was to buy sanitary pads.

Wu Chun taught her very diligently, but she was still a bit puzzled: Didn’t Yangyang have any exposure to this kind of knowledge?

As a girl, even if she hadn’t gotten her period yet, she should have learned at least a little.

On the other hand, Zheng Yang wasn’t a blank slate, but she was like having six out of seven orifices open—

Completely clueless.

Moreover, she showed obvious impatience while learning.

It wasn’t impatience with Wu Chun, but with the many distinctions of sanitary pads:

“Day use vs. night use,” “before and after period,” “heavy flow vs. light flow,” and so on.

She thought she could just stick a pad to her underwear, change it every two or three days, peel it off after seven days, and be done.

“Two or three days?”

Wu Chun’s mouth fell open in shock.
“I didn’t even tell you to change it every two or three hours, so you saying two or three days is way off!”

“Two or three hours?”

This time it was Zheng Yang’s turn to gape.

“That’s way too troublesome!”

She had never seen Bai Jie change that often either.

“Most of the time, changing it once every half a day is enough. When the flow is particularly heavy, it’s possible to change it every two or three hours,” Wu Chun explained.

“Man, even changing it every half a day is a pain…”

She recalled when she was still a man, she wouldn’t even change her underwear for three or four days.

Wu Chun glanced at her, turned, and picked a pack of 240mm pads from the shelf, thrusting it into Zheng Yang’s arms.

After a moment’s thought, she chose two more packs: one 260mm and one pair of sleep shorts.

“The longer ones might poke into your butt crack. First try the 240mm; it should be enough.”

“These sleep shorts are for wearing at night during the heaviest days. Don’t wear them during the day; it’ll be too stuffy…”

Zheng Yang held the three different packs of pads like they were three bombs.

Along with Wu Chun’s “teaching,” every word exploded in her mind, as if reshaping her soul in this way.

She felt that this time was different.

It was unlike every previous time she had adapted to being a girl.

Whether it was being moved by her father at Golden Era, later playing girls’ games with Wu Chun, or finally being accepted by Zheng Shiqiang after confessing her identity, or the completely different experience of going to the bathroom multiple times a day compared to a male—

All of these made her more and more adapted and accepting of her female body.

But still, there were many times she could forget about being male or female, and she would still find the thrill of being a man.

However, menstruation would remind her once a month, for seven days each time, that she was a girl, that she could bear children, and that she needed to pay attention to everything about being a female.

It was like a root, making her realize at all times that inside her lower abdomen, there was a uterus—something she was extremely unfamiliar with, yet completely her own.

She suddenly became aware of a realization—whether it was correct or not she didn’t know.

In the past, she had joked with some friends after drinking, saying that women were “rootless beings.”

And now, she understood:

If a man’s root was that thing, then a woman’s root was the uterus—a healthy uterus that could menstruate.

She had a root now… A girl’s root.

This realization made her face flush bright red.

At the checkout, the young guy scanning items had long grown accustomed to girls buying pads, but Zheng Yang felt her face growing even hotter.

Back home, Zheng Yang didn’t do her homework.

Instead, she laid the three packs of pads on the table, crossed her arms, and waged a mental battle over whether to try them on first to see how they felt.

She didn’t even hear Zheng Shiqiang calling her for a late-night snack.

“Yangyang!”

Zheng Shiqiang called as he walked to Zheng Yang’s bedroom.

He found that the door wasn’t closed, but she was sitting upright, staring at the three rectangular packages resembling toilet paper on the table.

He approached and saw, then burst out laughing with a “pfft.”

“Dad, don’t laugh!”

The battle in Zheng Yang’s mind was reaching its climax; she didn’t want to be disturbed.

“Okay, okay, I won’t laugh, I won’t laugh…”

Zheng Shiqiang couldn’t suppress the smile at the corners of his mouth and started walking out.

Zheng Yang thought he wanted to leave her alone, but half a minute later, she heard his footsteps behind her again.

Slap!

A stack of red bills landed on the table in front of Zheng Yang.

“Dad, what’s this?”

Zheng Yang finally looked up.

Zheng Shiqiang clapped his hands together.

“Congratulations to our Director Zheng for finally becoming a real little girl!”

Zheng Yang rolled her eyes.

“Dad, you’re so annoying! You always rub salt in my wounds.”

“Hey~ This is called a sense of ceremony.”

Zheng Shiqiang smoothed her ponytail.

“To be honest, if you hadn’t gotten your period yet, I would have been worried. So this is good news, definitely worth celebrating!”

“No, Dad, I haven’t actually started yet. My chest is just a little sore and swollen. Chunchun said this is a precursor; it could be a week to a month or two before it arrives.”

Zheng Yang picked up the cash and handed it back to Zheng Shiqiang with both hands.

“So no need to celebrate just yet.”

Zheng Shiqiang pushed the money back.

“When has your old dad ever taken back money he’s taken out?”

“Pfft~ Overbearing CEO!”

Zheng Yang laughed, then set the money down again.

“Well, thank you, Dad.”

“Good girl.”

Zheng Shiqiang patted her head again.

“So since you haven’t started yet, what are you staring at these three packs of pads for?”

“I’m hesitating whether to get used to them in advance.”

“What’s there to hesitate about!”

Zheng Shiqiang said with complete disregard.

“Start practicing every day from today on. Otherwise, when it suddenly comes, you’ll be caught off guard and come crying to your dad.”

Zheng Yang let out another “pfft” of laughter.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Dad, you’re so funny. What girl comes crying to her dad when she gets her period? Hahaha…”

“Isn’t my Yangyang exactly like that? Otherwise, how could you talk about it with your dad so calmly?”

“I feel like you’re making fun of me again.”

Zheng Yang pouted.

“How could that be, baby?”

Zheng Shiqiang patted Zheng Yang’s shoulder.

“Alright, your dad’s lovingly made late-night snack is going to get cold. Go eat!”

Zheng Yang’s heart softened at the word “baby.”

She stood up and muttered as she walked out, “I’ve told you so many times, you don’t need to make late-night snacks. You’re fattening me up!”

“I’m happy to cook for my own dear daughter!”

My own dear daughter…

Zheng Yang didn’t know where the emotion came from.

Her eyes got a little wet, but she couldn’t suppress the smile on her lips.

“Wow—coke chicken wings! And egg fried rice! I love your egg fried rice the most, Dad!”

“Big deal! Getting so excited over egg fried rice.”

Zheng Yang grinned, sat down, and started eating without caring about her table manners.

After wolfing down a few bites, she half-joked, “Dad, if I get fat, will you still love me?”

“You’d better get fat into a ball. Then I’ll change your name to Zheng Ball Ball.”

Pft—cough!

Zheng Yang choked and tears came out.

That emotion from earlier surged again, giving her a strange courage.

With tears streaming, she smiled sweetly at Zheng Shiqiang and said, “Dad, I love you!”

Then, embarrassed, she hurriedly buried her head in her food.

‘Oh my god, what did I just say? So cheesy!’

‘Is it because of the emotional instability Chunchun mentioned?’

‘But… it feels so good to be happy.’