A sudden gust of wind howled outside, forcing its way through a hole in the window with a whistling sound.
The tattered window paper flapped violently, unable to drown out the desperate, rhythmic creaking of the bed boards.
Rough, calloused hands swept over every inch of her delicate skin, carrying a raw, desperate urgency. Yet, his trembling fingertips held a trace of unexpected softness.
Every touch was like a red-hot brand, searing her heart with a scalding heat...
Her voice was already hoarse, too spent to cry out, and her strength was gone, unable to push him away!
The room was pitch black, she could see nothing, only feel his powerful physique and the undeniable, solid force of him.
Suddenly, Chun Tao felt an unusual sensation beneath her. "Stop... I... my monthly visitor is here..."
Her throat was parched and scratchy as she mustered all her strength to utter those words. It had come just in time; surely Zhou Zhijun would let her go now.
"What's here?"
Zhou Zhijun didn't understand what she meant and showed no intention of stopping.
"Please... my period is here... it's that time!" Chun Tao pushed against him with her hands.
Although Zhou Zhijun had never been with a woman, he knew women had their monthly courses.
He gritted his teeth, cursing inwardly. What terrible timing!
He was at his limit, poised and ready, but facing the woman he cherished, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't.
A few years back, a woman in the village had fallen ill and later died because her husband hadn't stopped during her time. He couldn't bear to harm the woman he adored. Even if it killed him with frustration, he couldn't do it now.
With a heavy groan, he rolled off the bed. Groping on the dresser, he found a match and lit the kerosene lamp.
Chun Tao lay exposed like a fully ripened ground cherry. She hastily pulled the coarse bedsheet around herself.
Under the dim, yellowish lamplight, her small face flushed a deep, translucent red. Too embarrassed to look at him, she quickly shut her eyes.
"Please, just go! They'll be back soon!" she pleaded, her voice choked with tears.
Zhou Zhijun didn't leave. Instead, he walked to the bedside and reached out to touch. It was indeed blood.
"Where are the pads? I'll help you put one on."
The men in the village, bathing together, often talked about women's matters. He had remembered it all, knowing women needed a belt with padding during their time.
"No need, I'll do it myself. Just go!" She was already mortified beyond belief. He wanted to help her pad herself?
"Don't be stubborn. Where are they?" His voice turned cold and hard again. Still unclothed, he stood by the bed.
It seemed he wouldn't leave unless he helped. To make him go faster, Chun Tao had to tell him, "In the dresser!"
He pulled open the shabby dresser. Inside were a few old clothes. He rummaged through them but saw no belt, only a small cloth bundle.
Opening it, he found a pink cloth belt. One side had two elastic bands, with a string threaded through each end.
The bundle also contained a stack of clean, worn coarse cloth. He looked at the belt, then at the cloth, his brow furrowing slightly.
He was just a man who had only heard other men talk about this thing; he had no idea how to use it.
But he was clever and quickly figured it out. He folded two pieces of the coarse cloth neatly and slotted them into the elastic bands at each end of the sanitary belt.
Nowadays, sanitary napkins were sold in the shops in town—soft things many women used. But Chun Tao was still using this coarse cloth.
Her skin was so delicate, it would surely hurt if chafed. With no tissue paper available now, this would have to do!
He lifted the sheet covering her and gently used a clean cloth to wipe the bloodstains from her body.
Even her most private parts had been seen by him. She wished she could just disappear into the ground. She covered her face with the sheet, tugging it downward in an attempt to hide herself there.
"Don't move!" Zhou Zhijun's voice was low, but carried a cold edge.
He carefully secured the sanitary belt for her, tying the strings at each end around her waist.
Chun Tao wasn't just pretty in the face; her figure was also impossibly good. Where it should be slim, there wasn't an ounce of extra flesh; where it should be full, it was ample. Before, just looking at her through her clothes had been enough to set his mind adrift.
Now, Zhou Zhijun had not only seen everything but had also touched her. The fire he had just suppressed rose within him again.
His eyes grew red, his breathing became ragged once more. Hearing his heavy breaths, Chun Tao grew frightened again.
"I beg you, please leave now!"
He had seen her inside and out, and even helped her with the sanitary belt. It was the greatest shame in the world.
If Liu Cuilan found out about this, she would surely beat her to death, or even drag her through the streets and back to Li Village.
A crowd of onlookers would pelt her with clods of dirt, cursing her as "shameless," "tramp," "loose woman"...
On such a hot day, she had herself wrapped up tightly, yet she didn't feel a trace of warmth. Her whole body felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar, shivering with cold, her teeth chattering.
Thinking of the consequences if someone discovered them, she couldn't help but sob again.
He didn't say a word. He ran to the kitchen, poured a bowl of hot water, and placed it on the broken cabinet by the bed. "Drink some water and get to sleep. It's late."
Zhou Zhijun quietly walked out of the room and closed the door properly.
The wind outside had already died down. Listening to his footsteps fade into the distance, Chun Tao covered her mouth and wept aloud.
She wasn't afraid of hardship, of exhaustion. She could do any work, bear any burden. What she feared was this endless darkness.
The bitterness in her heart was the most torturous, like drinking a bowl of bitter herbal soup—you couldn't spit it out nor swallow it down.
Wang Jieshi's escape, her mother-in-law's nitpicking, Wang Haichao's wicked intentions, and Zhou Zhijun's bullying... each and every one of these burdens pressed on her heart, making her feel like she was suffocating.
Zhou Zhijun had seen all of her, but he hadn't succeeded in his aim. He definitely wouldn't let it go. How was she supposed to live from now on?
The more she thought about it, the more she felt that living was worse than dying for some peace. But then she remembered how her grandmother had struggled to raise her.
If she died, Wang Lanhua would leave her brother, and her grandmother would surely be heartbroken, devastated!
She cried herself to exhaustion and had just drifted into a fitful sleep when the rooster in the yard began to crow.
Rubbing her sore, swollen eyes, she got up from the bed. The moment she stood on the floor, her legs gave way, threatening to collapse. She quickly steadied herself against the wall.
All year round, she never even had her fill of coarse black bread. Several times while working in the fields, she had felt the world spin and nearly fainted.
Last time she went back, her grandmother said she had lost weight and specially boiled an egg for her to nourish her body.
A single egg couldn't make up for the deficiencies in her body, but it made her heart feel a sliver of warmth. In this world, there was still someone who cared about her!
As she came out of the main room, the pigs in the pen heard the noise, lifted their heads, and grunted at her. The old ox in the cattle shed lowed along.
For four years since marrying into the Wang family, every day was filled with endless chores. She had to rise at the first crow of the rooster and would still be sewing shoe soles under the kerosene lamp late into the night, making shoes for the whole family.
No one felt any pity for her, and to make matters worse, her mother-in-law, Liu Cuilan, found fault with her every which way, accusing her of putting on a weak and listless act for everyone to see.
Meanwhile, at the township health center, after the doctor started her shift, Wang Haichao stammeringly explained Liu Cuilan's condition. The doctor, a middle-aged woman, was both exasperated and amused by his account.
"What you've done is quite novel! If it gets infected, it'll be a real problem. This kind of situation is beyond what our health center can handle. You need to go to the county hospital immediately!"
Wang Haichao was stunned upon hearing this and quickly begged the doctor, "The county is so far away. Doctor, please, can't you just remove it here?"
"I've already told you, the health center doesn't have the equipment for this... You men, what on earth are you thinking all day? To actually do such a thing!" The female doctor was also annoyed. "And at your age..."
