Chapter 34: Lin Xi’s Home
Lin Xi’s home was in the center of the county town.
Her apartment complex was one of those older buildings from the 1970s or 1980s, with seven or eight floors and no elevator. But the location was really good. Right across the street was the County Prosecutor’s Office, and just around the corner was the Department of Education. A few more steps would take you to the Public Security Bureau.
Li Mu and Yu Fan took a ride-hailing car to get there.
Even though it was the city center, there wasn’t a big shopping area nearby, so it wasn’t very crowded.
When they got out of the car, Li Mu looked up at the entrance of the apartment complex.
There were only six buildings in the whole complex. Li Mu had delivered food here a few times before, so he was somewhat familiar with the place.
Since he still had Lin Xi’s memories, he was able to spot her balcony window right away.
Yu Fan also got out of the car and came over to Li Mu, smiling brightly and speaking in a gentle tone.
“Shouldn’t you get a camisole or something? I remember girls in middle school usually wore those…”
Li Mu immediately punched him in the waist.
Catching him off guard, Yu Fan clutched his side and yelped in pain.
You pervert!
Even if he couldn’t win a fight, Li Mu had to land at least one punch!
It was a shame his muscles had shrunk a lot from the feminization. Otherwise, he was confident that one punch could have sent Yu Fan straight to the hospital.
Li Mu calmly stood up straight again and walked into the apartment complex.
Yu Fan hobbled behind him, holding his side, his smile completely gone. His face looked gloomy and lifeless now.
He hadn’t expected Li Mu to be so violent.
He looked so delicate and quiet, like the kind of guy who wears glasses and gets mistaken for a bookworm.
“Lin Xi’s mom is a full-time housewife. She should be easy to talk to,” Li Mu said as he walked. “You’ll handle the conversation.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll just watch.”
Li Mu knew he wasn’t good at talking to people. Besides, Yu Fan had a smooth tongue and was pretty good at getting along with middle-aged women.
It mostly came down to his bright and handsome face. Girls who met him usually liked him right away. Meanwhile, Li Mu’s increasingly soft and girly looks might not be as popular with older folks.
Just look at the neighbor auntie, she fell for Yu Fan’s charm in just a few sentences.
The two of them slowly climbed up to the seventh floor and stopped in front of Lin Xi’s door.
After leading the way, Li Mu took a step back and hid behind Yu Fan.
He could still manage to force himself to talk with strangers if he had to, like when he looked for the shaman last time, but only because he had no other choice.
Now that Yu Fan was here, he planned to stay quiet and out of the way.
Yu Fan glanced back at Li Mu’s indifferent face, which looked like he had nothing to do with this, and sighed as he raised his hand to knock.
But before he could, the door suddenly opened, surprising him enough that he quickly stepped back.
A middle-aged woman came out to place a bag of trash by the door and noticed the two young men standing there.
“Who are you?”
Yu Fan quickly flashed his annoying sunny smile. “We’re Lin Xi’s classmates.”
But the woman only looked at him for a second before her eyes moved past his shoulder and locked onto Li Mu’s cold and emotionless face behind him.
She stared at him from head to toe, not saying a word for a long time.
Since she stayed silent, Yu Fan had no choice but to nervously continue, “We came here to…”
“Lin Xi?!” the woman suddenly shouted in surprise and joy.
“???”
Several question marks seemed to pop up above both of their heads.
Yu Fan was suddenly pushed aside, and Li Mu looked confused as he watched the woman run out of the room barefoot and throw her arms around him.
He looked down at the woman burying her face in his chest, not knowing what to do.
“Lin Xi, Lin Xi... you’re back... Mom knew you’d be okay. I’ve been waiting for you for so long...”
The woman in his arms was sobbing, holding tightly around Li Mu’s waist, so tight it actually hurt his back and waist, like his bones couldn’t take it.
He had no idea where to put his hands. His face turned red, and he looked at Yu Fan in panic.
What’s going on?
Why does Lin Xi’s mom think he’s Lin Xi?!
Yu Fan was quiet for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, “Yes, I brought Lin Xi back.”
“You—!”
“It’s okay. It’s just good that she’s back...”
Lin Xi’s mom kept muttering to herself, and whatever Li Mu was about to say got stuck in his throat. He had no choice but to lower his eyes and gently pat her back, his voice soft, “I’m back.”
“Have you eaten lunch?”
“Yes, I have.”
“You silly girl, you’re already grown up, and you stayed away from home for so long. Do you know how worried Mom was?” Lin Xi’s mom looked up at his face and gently touched his cheek, tears streaming down her own. “You’re Lin Xi, right? You are Lin Xi, aren’t you?”
Li Mu stayed quiet. He didn’t know how to answer.
He noticed that at some point, a few tears had also rolled down from the corners of his own eyes.
“You can just call me Aunt Cai,” Lin Xi’s mom said as she calmed down. She wiped away Li Mu’s tears and stood up, still choking a little on her words. “Come in.”
Li Mu finally relaxed a little. He really didn’t know how to handle a woman crying.
He gave Yu Fan a questioning look, and Yu Fan leaned in and whispered in his ear.
“Lin Xi just passed away. This is just to comfort her. She’s not stupid, she probably sees some of Lin Xi in you.”
So that’s why Lin Xi’s memory stayed in my body, letting me see what she saw and even making her mom think I’m her?
“Don’t look at me, I don’t know either,” Yu Fan shrugged. “Maybe Lin Xi still has a wish that hasn’t been fulfilled?”
“Have a seat,” Aunt Cai said as she came out of the kitchen with two cans of Want Want Milk drinks. She handed them over and sat down first, but her eyes never left Li Mu.
Li Mu sat down stiffly, holding the drink with both hands, head down, saying nothing.
“You really look a lot like my daughter,” Aunt Cai said, her eyes red but trying to smile a little apologetically.
“I understand,” Li Mu nodded slightly.
Yu Fan then got to the main point. “Here’s the thing, Auntie. The three of us, me, him, and Lin Xi, we were all friends. We think there’s something strange about her death. We know Lin Xi wasn’t the kind of person who would take her own life...”
He was cut off by Aunt Cai’s emotional response. “Yes! Yes! It was definitely the school’s fault! If the railing on the rooftop hadn’t been broken, Lin Xi wouldn’t have died!”
Whether Lin Xi had jumped or fallen because the railing gave way, Li Mu and Yu Fan didn’t really care about that.
What mattered to them was what had happened in the week before she died.
Yu Fan carefully asked, “I mean... did Lin Xi seem a little off before she died?”
“She had been staying at school that whole time. By the time we heard anything, it was already the hospital calling...”
Okay, wrong person to ask.
Li Mu and Yu Fan looked at each other, and Li Mu instantly lost interest in Aunt Cai and just wanted to leave.
But Aunt Cai seemed to notice what he was thinking. She suddenly placed her hand over his, which was resting on the couch, and asked softly and sadly, “Can you keep me company for a while?”
“This...”
“I’ll go outside for a bit. You two talk,” Yu Fan said immediately, standing up without hesitation.
Li Mu realized Yu Fan had just sold him out again, but he still forced himself to nod.
After Yu Fan left, Aunt Cai looked up at Li Mu again.
In that moment, it felt like the image of her daughter was slowly overlapping with Li Mu’s face.