Chapter 45: First menstruation isn’t annoying, but men are annoyed

Ten days later, Zheng Yang’s first menstruation arrived.

To her own surprise, she wasn’t all that flustered.

Following Wu Chun’s “instructions,” she had put on a sanitary pad in advance those days—

Not to mention, it was quite comfortable.

But she thought that wasn’t the main reason.

The main reason was the meticulous care from her beloved dad and best friend, making her feel warm all over—

So warm that she actually found herself looking forward to her first menstruation.

So when it came during class, even though it was a bit uncomfortable, Zheng Yang gently bit her lip, clearly feeling the strangeness below, and two emotions surged irresistibly.

Shyness, and happiness.

Wait… why happiness?

Zheng Yang, you’ve fallen!

This is a woman’s period!

What the hell are you, a man, happy about?

But but… how can this feeling not go away?

She blushed, wrote a note, crumpled it in her hand, stretched her arm behind her back, and shook her little hand.

Wu Chun took the note from her hand, opened it, and read—

“It’s here.”

She understood immediately, bent over, covered her mouth, and laughed.

She also tore a piece of paper, wrote “Congratulations!” on it, then tapped Zheng Yang’s back with her pen.

Zheng Yang reached behind and took the note.

‘Hehe, I really want to see Yangyang blush,’ Wu Chun thought gleefully.

Sure enough, after reading Wu Chun’s reply, Zheng Yang grew even more embarrassed.

Her face felt swollen with shame.

She was sure her face was completely red, so she lay down to recover for a bit.

Wu Chun knew she was embarrassed, so she also hid behind a book and laughed while lying down.

The teacher at the podium saw two people lying down and coughed twice.

“Zheng Yangyang, don’t sleep!”

Zheng Yang quickly shot up and sat straight as a rod.

Wu Chun, on the other hand, was laughing uncontrollably behind her.

“Wu Chun, you too! You think I wasn’t talking to you?”

Pfft—

Both girls couldn’t help it and let out a tiny laugh.

But what could they do? They couldn’t very well tell the teacher that Zheng Yangyang had gotten her period, right?

Zheng Yang once again realized that as a girl, she would always face some small grievances that boys couldn’t understand.

When class ended at noon, the two walked hand in hand to the cafeteria.

Zheng Yang gently pinched Wu Chun.

“It’s all your fault. What’s there to congratulate? You got me scolded by the teacher.”

Wu Chun grinned mischievously.

“Congratulating my Yangyang on being able to have babies now!”

“Wow! Chunchun, you’re so petty! It’s been so long!”

“Petty? You didn’t have reproductive function before, but now you do. Isn’t that worth celebrating?”

Zheng Yang suddenly remembered that her dad had also wanted to “celebrate” with her a few days ago. S

he couldn’t help thinking:

They all say it’s a good thing.

Is it really a good thing?

Then she thought of her own feelings of happiness and shyness—

Maybe it really was?

If she set aside her male identity, then it really was…

But how could she set it aside? When she thought of herself, a grown man, having female reproductive function…

Ah, so embarrassing.

Zheng Yang realized that even this embarrassment, rooted in her history as a male, was heavily influenced by female emotions.

She felt a bit confused—

Forget it, she’d just stop thinking and let things be.

She started to not really want to sling arms around Zhang Zihan and the other boys anymore.

It wasn’t that she no longer saw them as “bros,” but rather an instinctive desire to keep some distance, something she couldn’t quite explain.

‘This is also what it feels like to be a girl,’ she thought.

Wu Chun asked if it hurt.

She said a little, but she could totally bear it.

Wu Chun told her that the first two days were most likely the most painful and to be mentally prepared.

Zheng Yang thought warmly, ‘With you all around, I’m not afraid of the pain.’

Sure enough, the next morning, she felt a stronger sensation inside her lower abdomen, like someone wringing out a towel on her uterus.

The pain made her break out in a light sweat.

Luckily, the worst pain lasted less than half an hour.

That was far less than what she had mentally prepared for, so she was very content.

When she got home that evening, she excitedly told Zheng Shiqiang, “Dad, my period only hurt for half an hour. I was prepared for two days of pain. Haha, I’m so happy!”

Zheng Shiqiang affectionately tapped her nose.

“Silly girl, do you have to tell your dad such detailed things?”

Zheng Yang tilted her head.

“So what? I love Dad. I wish Dad could see through every detail of me!”

Zheng Shiqiang was taken aback.

Zheng Yang’s face instantly turned red.

“Ah… I didn’t mean my body! I meant… I…”

Zheng Shiqiang laughed so hard he coughed.

“Alright, the more you explain, the worse it gets. Dad understands. Hurry up and eat your late-night snack!”

Even though she had misspoken, Zheng Yang still felt a shy happiness.

But as a person, no matter how well or how excellent you are, you still can’t avoid troubles.

A few more days passed, and Zheng Yang’s new trouble appeared.

It had nothing to do with studying.

The source was Zhang Zihan.

She didn’t know if it was because she had played ball with them less during her period and had almost never slung arms with them, but Zhang Zihan had become more proactive.

She recalled that when she was still a high school boy, she had similar behavior—

Adolescent boys were often like that.

The less response they got, the more they were pushed away, the more they wanted to get close, especially to pretty girls.

Right after lunch every day, Zhang Zihan would come find Zheng Yang and casually put his arm around her shoulder.

“Bro Yang, let’s go play ball!”

Even if Zheng Yang said no for several days in a row, he still came every day to put his hand on her shoulder and ask.

After asking Zheng Yang, he would then ask Siyuan.

“Siyuan, let’s go!”

Siyuan did go along, but one time when he came back, he said to Zheng Yang, “I don’t think Zhang Zihan actually wants you to play ball.

He just wants to be close to you.”

Zheng Yang had actually noticed it too, but could she agree with Siyuan? If she said yes, wouldn’t the next step be to push Zhang Zihan away?

It wasn’t that she was reluctant; she didn’t want to hurt Zhang Zihan—

She knew adolescent boys were fragile too.

Worse still, she couldn’t say anything.

Because that’s exactly how she used to treat Zhang Zihan and the others—

Slapping shoulders, calling each other brothers, patting backs, linking arms—

She had done all those things before.

Sometimes she might have gone even further than Zhang Zihan.

If she could do it, why couldn’t Zhang Zihan?

Could only the officials set fires while the commoners couldn’t light lamps?

Wanting to have her cake and eat it too?

So she could only reply, “No way, Siyuan, don’t you think you’re overthinking it?”

Siyuan snorted, noncommittal.

But Zhang Zihan didn’t stop.

He would even come to Zheng Yang during breaks when there were a lot of people, pinch—

Not pat, but pinch—

Her shoulder, and ask, “Bro Yang, about that homework, can I copy yours…”

Zheng Yang felt a bit uncomfortable—

There were her bra straps on her shoulders.

She felt like she was being roasted over the fire by her past “carefree” behavior.

The worst was one time when she was walking in the hallway, Zhang Zihan wrapped his arm around her neck from behind. “Bro Yang, why didn’t you braid your hair today?”

And Zheng Siyuan saw it.

Zheng Yang’s whole body went stiff at that moment.

She didn’t know what to do.

It wasn’t the kind of “fear of offending others” from when she was an old corporate drone.

Rather, as someone who had been through it, she genuinely didn’t want to hurt Zhang Zihan and Siyuan’s feelings.

Even though she knew that the wounds of adolescence could also make people grow.