Married to the Protagonist – Chapter 12

Those with frail health are more prone to painful menstruation.

Especially in the two days before the onset of menstruation, lower back pain, weak legs, and abdominal cramping were like they could take Chen Jinyao’s life away.

This tragic appearance akin to having a terminal illness scared Yan Cheng. He didn’t pay attention during his physiology class and never knew a woman’s period could be so terrifying.

Applying a scalding hot heat pack on the stomach was useless. Yan Cheng hugged her and gently massaged her lower abdomen with his scorching palms, yet it still didn’t help. Since waking up, Chen Jinyao was like her soul had been sucked away, listless and painfully writhing in agony. What’s more frightening was that even in such a half-dead state, she still stubbornly struggled to get up to go to work.

“……” Yan Cheng did not admire her professionalism at all. He slowly narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Then he locked Chen Jinyao by her neck with absolute force, pressing her back onto the bed. He casually flipped off the blanket covering him and wrapped Chen Jinyao in it, bundling her up tightly like a zongzi1 so that she couldn’t move at all before he finally breathed a sigh of relief. With a turn of his body, he flipped onto the stiffly lying Chen Jinyao, stacked one on top of the other with only the distance of two fingertips. They faced each other eye to eye and could peer into each other’s dark pupils.

Chen Jinyao was baffled for two seconds, “??????”

“Is being a model worker very honorable?” The man’s voice was still slightly hoarse from just waking up recently. After grabbing his phone from the bedside table, he rolled off Chen Jinyao, ruffled his messy hair, sat cross-legged to the side, and dropped his pitch-black eyelashes dejectedly. “Can’t you just call in sick?”

His tone was oddly scolding for some reason, and sarcastic.

After the sarcasm ended, he got up and climbed off the bed. Wearing slippers, he went to the window.

He was already familiar with the lock screen password of her phone.

It seemed that not just her lock screen password.

After unlocking it, Yan Cheng was also clear about everything inside.

Under Chen Jinyao’s widened eyes of shock, Yan Cheng quickly found the landline number of her clinic. He glanced at her before directly dialing it.

The clinic’s normal business hours were 9 a.m. It was 7:40 a.m. now, still early. But generally, the duty nurses Xiao Liu and Xiao Li would go in early to open the doors. They rented a place together. For convenience getting to and from work, their place was only a ten minutes walk from the clinic by foot, very close by.

At this moment, Xiao Liu had just opened the rolling shutter door with a whoosh when it rose up. She then heard the front desk phone ring and thought it would be a patient making an appointment in advance. Never did she expect it to be a call asking for leave from the person who paid her salary.

“My wife is feeling unwell today, so she’s not coming to work.”

Then, before she could respond, still in her shocked state without reacting, without even getting the chance to say “Oh, okay, got it”, the call had been hung up already.

The lingering beeping sound in her ear sparked Xiao Liu’s imagination.

Feeling unwell? Which part was unwell? Why did she suddenly feel unwell?

My god, suppressing the urge to scream out loud, Xiao Liu instantly turned red and felt like she knew a terrible secret.

After a rainy night, one would have thought the clear sky would return.

Who knew more snow would fall instead of the fleeting and melting petty snowflakes. Drawing the curtains and peering through the slightly misted window, you could see what was like snow petals.

Yan Cheng threw Chen Jinyao’s phone back to her. Towering over her, he cast an extremely dangerous look at her as he sneered thinly. It seemed like regardless of consequences, he would beat up the menstrual pain-stricken Chen Jinyao.

After quite a while, his vicious looking eyes gradually showed some restraint. He heaved a long sigh and turned around to change his clothes.

Chen Jinyao didn’t notice the scene teetering on the brink of life and death.

Even if she did notice, with her feeble body, she could still glibly give the rebelling Yan Cheng some quality education.

It was a pity she was busy doing business now.

Right after she tapped in her order for breakfast, her phone lit up with ding dong sounds as WeChat messages kept pouring in in quick succession. They were past patients who’d had their cavities treated by her before.

They found her now because they wanted to bring some business for her.

Chen Jinyao’s dental clinic was near the university town. Most of those who came to have their teeth examined usually were university students.

Compared to regular hospitals, although her clinic also had standard permits and licenses, the business was still mainly dependent on referrals from patients who had their teeth fixed here.

Those who trusted her dental clinic would generally bring friends or classmates whose teeth they wanted to correct or who had serious tooth decay.

Her work WeChat ID was filled with patients she’d treated coming and going. If they had any issues, they would directly contact her there.

Ji Xiaot: [It’s my dorm mate next door. She wants to straighten her teeth, so I’m here to help ask, like how much would it cost and so on.]

Ji Xiaot: [My classmate is not very well off economically speaking. So I wanted to ask if you, Dr Chen, could give her a little discount?]

Chen Jinyao thought for a moment. She didn’t think this was a big deal. After all, the other party had already referred business to her, so she ought to sell her some face.

There would be a small discount, but not too huge a discount.

As for whether the other party could afford the price, it was outside her consideration.

Straightening teeth wasn’t as imperative as treating tooth decay.

Chen Doctor: [Sure, tell her to add me on Wechat and we can discuss the details directly.]

After typing, her lower abdomen cramped again.

A hot sensation came, unconsciously making her bite her lower lip slightly.

Flipping over, she changed from lying ramrod straight to curling up on her side. She threw her phone aside. Her eyes narrowed as she stared blankly at the lively and vigorous Yan Cheng for a moment. “Why are you dressing like you’re going out?”

Yan Cheng turned around to face her steadily.

After silently staring at each other for dozens of seconds, he finally spoke lazily. In a ‘how dare you even ask’ profound tone, “I am going out.”

“I take back what I said about making breakfast for you. There’s a good breakfast place downstairs. I’ll go buy some food and bring it back up. It can also ensure a wide variety.”

After saying that, he deliberately paused for a few seconds to create some atmosphere.

“Fried potato shreds?” The man seemed a little disdainful. Then he blew out his cheeks, murmuring lightly, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll blow up the kitchen?”

Chen Jinyao: “……”

  1. zongzi – a Chinese rice dumpling made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. See a photo here (?). ↩︎

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