32: So you're a woman.

That?

Which one?

A woman's... what?

Wang Fugui's brain, that simple machine usually only used to calculate wages and food intake, completely crashed at this moment. A few words circled and tumbled in his mind, finally hitting with a "boom" and leaving behind a total blank.

He held this light, soft person in his arms. The bite wound on his arm was still stinging with a burning pain, but he couldn't feel it.

He only felt that the person in his arms had suddenly become a stranger.

A woman's... what?

Mother! Of course he knew which one! Back in the village, My mother and his sister had a few days every month where they would be lethargic and irritable, needing to drink a kind of nauseatingly sweet brown sugar water.

My mother had said that it was a "troublesome matter" that only women had.

Wang Fugui's thoughts turned slowly, replaying the past days frame by frame.

Why his "brother's" bones were so thin and his waist so soft, as if it would break with a single pinch.

Why there was always an unshakeable, sweet milky scent on his "brother," which smelled even better than the female workers in the factory who used vanishing cream.

Why his "brother's" skin was so smooth and his hands so small; when he tucked them into his own armpits, it always made his heart feel itchy.

Why his "brother" never bathed in the public bathhouse and never stood up to pee with them.

Why... so that's how it was!

This Silly, she's a damn Girl!

"Fugui, why are you still standing there dazed? Hurry up and get to the hospital!" Old Man Li stamped his feet in anxiety beside him.

"Yeah Fugui, look at this kid twitching in pain, don't delay!"

The urging voices of the coworkers around him pulled Wang Fugui's soul back. He lowered his head and looked at Lin Xiaocao in his arms again.

Her small face was wrinkled in pain, her lips were completely bloodless, and her body was still trembling slightly. Those eyes, which always carried a bit of stubbornness and coldness, were now filled with moisture, helplessness, and pleading.

In this instant, all the shock, doubt, and that little bit of anger at being deceived were all thrown to the back of his mind.

Who cares if it's a man or a woman!

She's my person!

Since she's my person, I can't let her be in this much pain!

"Everyone get out of the way!" Wang Fugui stood up abruptly, his sonorous voice carrying an unquestionable authority.

He held Lin Xiaocao with a posture even more careful than before, as if he wasn't holding a thin youth but a porcelain doll that would break at the slightest touch.

He took long strides, pushed through the surrounding crowd, and rushed toward the dormitory building with great speed.

The coworkers looked at each other.

"This... not going to the infirmary?"

"What's going on? Why is Wang Fugui holding him like he's some kind of treasure?"

"Did you see that bite his brother gave him? He's bleeding! And he's not even angry?"

Wang Fugui was deaf to it all; his heart and eyes were now entirely focused on the hot potato in his arms.

He rushed back to that narrow storage room, kicked the door shut with a "clatter," and reached back to slide the bolt firmly into place.

The entire world instantly became quiet.

He gently placed Lin Xiaocao on the floor bed and wrapped her tightly in the quilt.

Only after doing all this did he straighten up and look at the figure curled into a small ball on the bed, his heart a mess of emotions.

No wonder she's so good-looking; those eyebrows and eyes are more beautiful than a fairy in a painting.

No wonder she's so fragrant; that scent makes his heart restless the moment he smells it.

No wonder she's so soft; every time she burrowed into his arms, it made him feel like his bones were melting.

Wang Fugui, a 1.88-meter Northwest man who had lived for twenty years, was restless over a "man" for the first time. He had thought he was possessed or had developed some kind of homosexual preference.

After all that, this Silly was lying to me!

She's a Girl!

This realization caused the stone that had been hanging in his heart to finally drop, replaced by an even stronger, helpless panic.

When a Girl gets this kind of illness, what should be done?

Wang Fugui was like a beast trapped in a cage, pacing anxiously back and forth in the room of only a few square meters, making the floorboards creak under his weight.

Brown sugar water! Right, brown sugar water!

And... that thing!

He stopped abruptly, slapped his thigh, and turned to rush out.

"Where... where are you going?" Lin Xiaocao asked weakly from the bed.

"I'm going to buy you medicine! Wait for me!" Wang Fugui roared without looking back, pulled the bolt, and rushed out.

At the small shop outside the Red Star Machinery Factory, it was a time when there were few people.

Wang Fugui swept in like a gust of wind, making the door curtain rattle loudly.

"Boss, where's the brown sugar?" he asked in a muffled voice.

The shopkeeper's wife was a fat woman in her forties. She was cracking melon seeds and watching TV, and upon hearing him, she lazily pointed to the shelf: "There, get it yourself."

Wang Fugui grabbed two bags of brown sugar and stood frozen on the spot.

His gaze drifted toward another shelf.

That shelf was filled with colorful plastic packaging printed with various words he didn't understand, such as "Daily," "Night," "Cotton Soft," "Mesh"... Wang Fugui only felt his face suddenly burn up. The heat was even higher than his body temperature fresh out of the furnace, spreading from the base of his neck to the tips of his ears.

My mother, for a big man to come and buy this stuff is just too embarrassing!

But at the thought of the small figure rolling in pain in the storage room, he steeled his heart and gritted his teeth.

So what if it's embarrassing! It's better than letting her die of pain!

He took heavy steps to that shelf, his tall figure almost completely shrouding that small area.

He stiffened his neck, not daring to look closely, and reached out his large, fan-like hands to sweep across the shelf in a mess.

He couldn't distinguish between daily or night use, or long wings; he just grabbed whatever he could and held a huge pile in his arms.

"Boss, checkout!" He slammed the items onto the counter. The brown sugar and the pile of colorful packaging were mixed together, looking particularly striking.

The fat woman's gaze moved from the TV to the pile of items. She was stunned at first, then revealed a knowing smile.

As she scanned the items, she slowly teased, "Oh, young man, buying these for your wife? You care for her so much; your wife is truly lucky."

"No! I... I'm getting them for someone else!" Wang Fugui's face flushed red as he stammered a rebuttal, his behavior only making it more obvious.

He pulled out a handful of crumpled change and slapped it on the counter. Without even waiting for the change, he picked up the pile of things and rushed out of the shop like he was escaping a predatory beast.

"Hey, I haven't given you your change yet!" the shopkeeper's wife shouted from behind.

Wang Fugui's figure had long since disappeared around the corner.

The shopkeeper's wife looked at his fleeing back and shook her head with a laugh, muttering, "Young people nowadays are so thin-skinned. They're embarrassed to admit they care for their wives."

Wang Fugui carried the bag of "evidence" and sneaked back to the dormitory building like a thief.

He first used the electric rice cooker to boil a pot of water, then found a large bowl with a chipped rim, tore open a bag of brown sugar, poured most of it in, and mixed it with the boiling water.

A thick, sweet fragrance instantly filled the small room.

He stirred it haphazardly with chopsticks and, not caring if it was hot, brought the bowl to the bedside.

"Drink it! Drink it while it's hot!"

Lin Xiaocao struggled to sit up, but the dull pain from her lower abdomen left her with no strength.

Without a word, Wang Fugui reached out to support her shoulders, letting her lean against his solid chest, and then clumsily brought the bowl to her lips.

"Drink slowly, it's hot."

Lin Xiaocao leaned weakly against this burning "human wall" and took small sips of the black, thick brown sugar water from his hand.

The sweet liquid slid down her throat, carrying a searing temperature into her stomach, seemingly dispelling a trace of the chill.

After a bowl of brown sugar water, Lin Xiaocao's complexion looked a bit better, but she was still in severe pain, and another layer of cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

Wang Fugui set the bowl aside, handed her the plastic bag, and awkwardly turned his face away.

"That... put it on yourself."

Seeing the items in the bag, Lin Xiaocao's cheeks instantly flushed red. She was so ashamed she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. She reached out to take the bag and clutched it, but she was in too much pain to move.

Wang Fugui waited for a long time, only hearing the person beside him breathing more and more rapidly, accompanied by suppressed sobs.

He looked back and saw Lin Xiaocao clutching her stomach, shivering with pain under the quilt, her small body curled into a ball.

The brown sugar water was taking effect too slowly!

Wang Fugui was so anxious he was scratching his head.

He looked at her pale little face and the lower abdomen she was tightly clutching, and a thought suddenly jumped out.

My mother had said that if the stomach is cold, just use something hot to warm it up.

Something hot?

Am I not a hot thing? I'm hot all over!

Wang Fugui stared at Lin Xiaocao's lower abdomen, which was rising and falling slightly due to the pain. Under that thin layer of clothing, it must be frighteningly cold.

He took a deep breath as if he had made a major decision.

Then, he reached out that large, frighteningly hot hand—the one that had just been bitten and still bore bloodstains—and slowly, tentatively, moved it toward her stomach.