Chapter 49: I’m Sorry, I Didn’t Know the Severity
Bai Xiangxiu was even more nervous than he was. Her palms were sweating as she breathed rapidly and heavily, her face burning so hot that one could practically boil water with it. But since hiding was out of the question, the only thing she could do was tightly shut her eyes. No matter what he did, there would be nothing to be afraid about if she didn’t open her eyes.
She felt something drop down on her face. Was that a drop of water? She didn’t think too much and stretched out her hand to wipe it off, only to realize that it was hot. The male lead couldn’t be crying, could he? What kind of man would cry at a time like this? It must be his sweat—wait, it looks like I’m not the only one who’s nervous! This made her feel a little more relaxed, until she remembered the scene of passion between the male lead and Miss Lin from the novel. She could only assume that she was in for a tragic night.
To be honest, by modern standards, it would be fairly normal for a barely twenty year old guy to have never even held a girl’s hand. They would be in college, and most likely never had a girlfriend before.
However, men in ancient times matured much earlier and married quite early as well. People Long Heng’s age were already considered “old”, yet he still acted quite adolescent. It looked like everything the novel had said was true; he really didn’t know much about relationships between the sexes. No, even worse than that—it was more like he didn’t even have the faintest clue.
Bai Xiangxiu was now even more scared. Although it was good that the male lead was pure, she was about to die from the pain of being pinched and prodded every which way, so much that she could almost cry.
Long Heng could tell she was in pain, and did his best to make his movements gentle. But given the circumstances, her stunning face and body were mounting an overwhelming assault on his last bit of self control. When all was said and done, he was still a man. When it came to times like these, a man’s self-control was practically nil.
Suddenly, without knowing exactly what happened, a feeling of warmth spread over his fingers. It was a familiar sensation, something he had experienced countless times on the field of battle. He lifted his hand without thinking to take a look at what it was, and the horror of what he saw was like a bucket of icy water splashing down from the sky, soaking him to the bone and chilling his heart to its core.
Blood…
He had hurt her!
Bai Xiangxiu had been bearing it all with her eyes screwed tight. Suddenly hearing those words caught her by surprise. When she came to her senses, she hurriedly pulled up her rumpled clothing. She was a unique, mesmerizing beauty with the way her tousled hair flowed and clung to her body. And yet the corners of her eyes were reddened, making her look quite pitiful. Long Heng couldn’t take his eyes off her.
At the moment the male lead could do nothing but worry. While he liked the way she looked right now, it wasn’t enough to lift his spirits. After all, he wasn’t a monster. He wouldn’t proceed to conquer someone who already injured.
“Hurt?” Her voice was a little husky, which gave birth to a renewed flame in Long Heng’s body. He couldn’t stay any longer, hurriedly getting off the bed and slipping on his clothes. There was a patch of blood on the bed where the two had been tussling about. He couldn’t help but grab hold of the sheets and say, “There’s blood, so you must be injured.” But when looking into her adorable, limpid eyes, he couldn’t tell if anything was wrong.
He wanted to reach out to her but he was afraid he would hurt her again, so he anxiously called to the guards outside, “Bring help, call the doctor over.”
“That’s not…” She began to protest, but it seemed the guards outside were already rushing for help.
Bai Xiangxiu’s face suddenly turned crimson. Once she had a moment to think about it, she quickly figured out what had happened. Her period had paid her a visit! She calculated the dates—wasn’t it supposed to only arrive in a few days?! But even though she knew what was happening, the male lead hadn’t the slightest inkling. Looking quite panicked, and seeing that she hadn’t replied to his question, he said, “Move a bit and let me see where you’re hurt.”
“I-I’m not hurt.” If she told the truth in a situation like this, wouldn’t the male lead want to chop her in two? She was too scared to tell him, so she figured she’d better just lower her head, grab tight onto the sheets and sit there not knowing what to do. Although she knew Long Heng was worried about her, she really couldn’t bear to tell him something as awkward as this.
Yet her actions only caused Long Heng to worry more. He went over to her and pulled her close to him. “Let me have a look at you. I promise I’ll be more gentle this time.” They couldn’t continue like this; they had to figure out where the injury is, right?
“Th-there’s no need, I’m fine. This concubine’s body is fine…” Waaah! She was on the verge of tears. The situation was already awkward enough for a girl her age to be going through. How can a great lord like yourself not understand? Can you just leave me to be the unloved female supporting character?!
Once Long Heng saw her crying, he calmed down a bit and stepped back. He clenched his hand into a fist. “Please forgive me, I don’t know my own strength.”
Eh?
Bai Xiangxiu was so caught off guard that she forgot to cry for a moment, and looked at Long Heng with surprise. He’d really just apologized to her, hadn’t he? That very prince with the icy countenance, the man they called “Fierce Ghost” 1, was actually apologizing to her?
Or, maybe he wasn’t so ruthless after all! She wiped off her tears. She had to settle this now, otherwise when the doctor showed up, it would just be even more awkward. So she said in a low voice, “It’s not Your Highness’ fault, it’s this concubine’s…’you know what.’”
She immediately felt like she could collapse on the floor after speaking these words, but what was worse was that she could feel Long Heng still quizzically staring at her out of the corner of her eye. It was only then that she realized just how much of a blank slate he was when it came to girls.
She couldn’t help but let out a sigh and say, ”It’s… the thing that women get every month, so, you should go wash up, okay?” His hand still had traces of blood on it. This was really putting her outlook on life to the test!
Unfortunately, Long Heng was still hesitating, thinking to himself: What thing that women get every month? It finally seemed to dawn on him, and now he was the one that couldn’t help blushing a deep crimson. Even Bai Xiangxiu could see it.
Why did she suddenly have the impression that the male lead was quite cute when he was embarrassed? No, no, no—it wasn’t necessarily that he was embarrassed, maybe it was that he was mad? Look, he was so mad his whole face was turning red.
Long Heng couldn’t stand still any longer, and he turned around and called out, “Get Xiao Shi in here!” What he meant was he wanted her to come in and deal with the situation.
Xiao Shi rushed in not long after, crying, “Madame Xiu, are you okay? Did His Highness hurt you?” That was the most likely possibility. How could a delicate little thing like herself possibly face up against a man born and raised on the field of battle?
“Don’t talk nonsense, hurry up and hand me a monthly pad. Also, come help me change my clothes. Hurry, the doctor is about to arrive.” Bai Xiangxiu pushed aside the covers and hurried down off the bed. She had to see everything put in order before anyone arrived, otherwise she’d be made a laughingstock.
“Huh?” Xiao Shi’s mental capacity was limited, so her head spun in circles for a minute. She knew her mistress was to serve the prince in bed since he was here, yet her mistress’ period had come at this critical moment. And now the prince had gone and called for the doctor and was standing outside with a darkened look of utmost seriousness…
When she had thought of this, she suddenly had the urge to strangle that mistress of hers. Or if not her, then her monthly bleeding. It should’ve at least postponed its arrival by a few days! But it was no use. Her mistress had to change her clothes as well as the bed sheets. Xiao Shi couldn’t do it on her own so she called in Bao Qin and Bao Yu. Bao Yue had just gone out to look for the doctor.
Although Bai Xiangxiu had never quite gotten used to them waiting on her, under the circumstances it seemed the only thing to be done was to call them in to change the sheets.
But once the two girls had come in and seen the blood stains on the bed, it was hard for them not to start overthinking the situation. Their faces immediately turned as red as tomatoes. Should they leave everything for old madame to see the good news or go ahead and wash them?
They naturally knew of the prince’s condition since they’d served the old madame for a while. They wouldn’t have been sent here otherwise.
As they thought back to how the prince had carried Madame Xiu in like she was nothing more than a tiny cup of tea, their mental capacities quickly grew exhausted and they couldn’t bring themselves to reply. How long had it been before it was all over? Hadn’t this finished up just a bit too quickly?
1. A play on his title of Prince Li. “Li Ghost” means a fierce and vicious ghost
