Last night was a full moon—the perfect night for a bountiful harvest!
It deserved the name because it wasn’t just over the course of that brief evening. No, it had all unfolded within the single hour that Ye Zhibai herself had specified.
Ye Zhiyun had claimed the prize she had longed for all this time.
There, upon the snow-white, fluffy bedsheets.
Two vivid crimson “little blood flowers” stood out starkly against the pristine fabric, the proof of Yun’er’s triumph.
One bloom came from Ye Zhiyun herself.
The other, naturally, from Ye Zhibai.
Yun’er had always been formidable, and with the divine artifact’s heavy firepower boosting her this time, she had finally fulfilled her heart’s desire. She gave her most precious gift to Ye Zhibai.
In exchange, Ye Zhibai offered Yun’er something equally priceless.
That was the beauty of the perfectly matched divine artifact.
The giving of love was always reciprocal. Face-to-face, it demanded effort from both sides to achieve such a monumental feat!
Nor was the harvest Yun’er’s alone.
Ye Zhibai had reaped her rewards as well!
Beyond sharing Yun’er’s profound bliss, she had learned an unforgettable lesson amid that fleeting moonlit night.
Namely, that the length of a battle line had nothing to do with its ferocity.
She had once naively believed that by keeping things brutally short, she could hold the unbeatable high ground and reign supreme over the bedsheets.
Last night’s reality had proven her dead wrong.
Perhaps a drawn-out campaign of gentle advances was the true path to preservation and well-being.
When an entire war’s arsenal was crammed into a single hour, it unleashed a sky-shattering, relentless barrage!
Crushing the enemy over ten hours or over one—which packed more punch? No need to tally the scores; it was plain as day.
At any rate, even as she slipped into hazy slumber, Ye Zhibai’s mind still swirled with phantom images of Yun’er swaying rhythmically back and forth.
Her physical prowess was probably an innate superpower.
Guang Yu had once declared that as long as Ye Zhibai didn’t roll her eyes and black out, it counted as a win.
By those standards, this had been a humiliating rout!
She had no face left to show that fox!
~~~
The next morning dawned early—at least for Ye Zhibai.
She had actually woken far sooner than expected.
Under normal circumstances, after Yun’er’s onslaught left her seeing stars and passing out, she wouldn’t stir until noon or even the afternoon.
Yet today, before eight in the morning, her eyes snapped open wide.
She lay there staring up at the ceiling, where light and shadow twisted through the curtains into bizarre, otherworldly patterns, evoking that crisp morning freshness.
Guang Yu had finished her moonlight soak and reverted to her Little Tea Cat form, now curled peacefully on the floor in deep slumber.
Clinging warmly to Ye Zhibai’s right arm—far from uncomfortable—was the utterly bare Yun’er.
Of course, there were also the two little red flowers staining the foot of the bedsheet, along with the divine artifact that hadn’t quite dried yet.
It was all so serene.
A quintessentially morning scene, one that begged for curling up and stealing a bit more shut-eye.
But Ye Zhibai couldn’t drift off again.
Her head felt leaden and foggy, desperately craving sleep while her thoughts refused to string together. Still, sleep eluded her.
Achy back and sore waist—that was surely the aftermath of last night’s exertions.
The night before that had left the same lingering effects. Perfectly normal.
The real problem ran deeper.
Dizziness plagued her… her lower belly throbbed with pain, and she felt utterly drained of strength.
Even thinking took Herculean effort; she had no patience for it.
The sensations had crept in gradually since waking.
And they were only growing worse.
Her mind echoed with a single grim refrain.
“I’m toast.”
This shouldn’t be happening!
The previous battle’s intensity hadn’t been any milder, yet she’d bounced back without half this misery.
Why was she falling apart so badly this time?
Ye Zhibai tried closing her eyes to take stock of her condition.
Forget that. Her skull buzzed unbearably.
In her previous life as a medical student, she’d only scratched the surface of theory. Diagnosing herself on the spot was beyond her.
Even the world’s greatest healer couldn’t mend their own body.
Besides, Ye Zhibai was bone-tired and foggy-brained; her thoughts ground to a halt.
All she could do was grope for the most obvious explanations with her muddled awareness. Maybe her stomach had been exposed outside the covers all night and caught a chill?
Or perhaps Guang Yu had left the window cracked when she came back from the yard, letting a sneaky draft chill her head?
Both seemed plausible.
Ye Zhibai shifted her body slightly to the left.
The movement eased the pain a touch.
But in that instant—
Ye Zhibai froze.
?!
Her thigh… something warm and slick seemed to be trickling down it?!
What the—?!
That jolted her into sharper focus!
Her head still throbbed, but the fog lifted a fraction.
Her first instinct was to slide her hand downward, pressing her palm against her thigh.
Sure enough, she felt a slick puddle of fluid!
Bewildered, she withdrew her hand from beneath the covers and brought it trembling before her face.
“…”
Her little face drained of color.
In the dim light filtering through the curtains, she could just make out her palm, smeared thick with dark red.
This shade was nothing like the vivid crimson from last night’s stains on the bedsheet.
Far more ominous.
Yet they shared one telling trait.
Both were blood.
Ye Zhibai’s pupils dilated in shock.
With bleary, sleep-heavy eyes, she glanced at Yun’er beside her.
Then at Guang Yu, still fast asleep on the floor.
The girl drew a deep breath.
Resolve hardened her features.
She jabbed frantically at Yun’er’s shoulder with her clean elbow!
Her other hand snatched up a pillow and hurled it at the slumbering Little Tea Cat!
“Meow?!”
No time for sleep!
Come quick and look at Little Zhibai!
This wasn’t just her being toast.
She was about to flatline!
~~~
It turned out to be a massive false alarm.
Yun’er, now dressed in a fresh nightgown, carefully folded the quilt stained with those dark red streaks.
She gave her bedridden sister a wry smile as she explained.
“Don’t worry, Sis. This is just a girl’s monthly visitor—y’know, Aunt Flo dropping by. Happens a few days every month. But… I’m sorry. That was careless of me. I figured your cycle was still the usual end-of-the-month thing like before. After all those years lying in the hospital, it seems to have shifted since two years ago.”
“…”
Ye Zhibai should have guessed it.
Yeah, right—like she could have!
How was she supposed to pivot to a girl’s perspective and consider such a logical yet utterly absurd possibility that fast?
She never imagined she’d live to see her own period!
Wah, now the reality of her transformed body hit home like never before.
No escaping it!!
Truth be told, her first panicked thought upon seeing the blood had been that Yun’er went too hard last night!
Ahem, good thing that wasn’t it—talk about brutal!
There had been a bit of blood yesterday… but that was the blood of bliss, Yun’er’s tender gift.
Of course, this latest blow had demolished what little pride Ye Zhibai had left.
Yun’er fetched sanitary pads from her room. Without waiting for her sister to puzzle out how to use them, she gently helped Ye Zhibai to her feet and applied one with meticulous care, ensuring a perfect seal.
Once it was done, Ye Zhibai flopped facedown on the bed, her expression icy throughout.
Had her face betrayed her true feelings, it would have screamed mortified despair—the kind that made one contemplate leaping from a window!
Being a girl was seriously tough!!
Now she got it.
Guang Yu, rudely awakened by the flying pillow, rolled on the floor in fury, still in her Little Tea Cat form.
Too lazy to shift back to human shape—with only paws at her disposal—or she surely would have flipped Ye Zhibai the bird!
Rowdy at night, and still causing chaos in broad daylight!
