Chapter 37: Is Li Mu as Beautiful as Diao Chan?
Three years ago, a car accident caused the gas tank to explode.
The three people in the car were burned beyond recognition, but technology was still able to confirm in many ways that they were Li Mu’s parents and younger sister.
At the very least, traffic cameras at the intersection had clearly captured the faces of the three people in the car.
But unexpectedly, after three years, something shocking happened.
Li Mu sat on his own sofa, elbows resting on his knees, head down, still trying to make sense of what Chen Yi told him today. He felt confused.
His head was full of too much information...
Yu Fan had already gone home. His family was strict, and he hadn’t told them he stayed over at Li Mu’s house last night. He was probably going to get scolded or even hit when he got back.
After all, in today’s world, it’s not just girls staying out overnight that worries parents. Boys need to protect themselves too, especially someone like Yu Fan, who is handsome and eye-catching.
Li Mu sighed, reached out, and turned the mirror on the table away from him. Then he looked down at the slight bulge on his chest.
After a long day of running around, the bumps on his chest were sore from rubbing against his clothes. They were probably red and swollen by now.
Actually, there were already signs of development last week, but at that time it was just a slight bump. Li Mu thought it was just because the weather was getting colder. When he was at school, he usually sat quietly, so there wasn’t much rubbing or discomfort.
He opened the drawer under the table and found a box of band-aids. After hesitating for a moment, he lifted his shirt and tried to place the band-aids on the sensitive areas.
This way, the bumps wouldn’t be as noticeable and wouldn’t hurt so much from rough clothes.
After all, it’s not like he could go out and buy a bra for women, right?
Even though he had already lost most of his pride when he wore women's clothes last time, he still couldn’t bring himself to do that.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door, giving Li Mu a fright while he was doing something private.
He quickly pulled down his shirt, straightened his face, and acted like nothing was happening as he went to open the door.
As expected, it was his neighbor Ren Tianyou at the door.
“You’re not going to work tonight?”
“Nope, I’m scared to death.” Ren Tianyou handed over a dragon fruit. “Here, my mom gave this to you.”
“Thanks. Please thank your mom for me.”
Li Mu took the fruit, but Ren Tianyou had already walked into the house casually, took out his phone, and asked, “Honor of Kings or PUBG?”
“???”
“I’m used to staying up late. I can’t sleep at night,” Ren Tianyou said cheerfully as he sat on the sofa. “So I came to play games with you.”
“I...” Li Mu was about to say that he didn’t play mobile games, but then remembered the lie he told earlier during the day. So he could only agree, “Okay, give me a few minutes, I’ll go wash my face.”
After all, in Ren Tianyou’s eyes, if Li Mu was willing to stay up all night playing games with Yu Fan but not with him, it might make him feel left out.
The only problem was that he had to download the game first.
There was no home internet or Wi-Fi at Li Mu’s place. Since he usually stayed at school, using mobile data was enough. So downloading the game made him feel a little guilty about the cost.
After pretending to wash his face, the game had finished downloading. Li Mu slowly returned to the sofa and reminded him, “I’m going to sleep at midnight. I stayed up last night and didn’t take a nap today.”
“Okay.” Ren Tianyou crossed his legs, but his eyes kept wandering toward Li Mu’s chest.
Li Mu noticed and pulled his feet up onto the sofa, curled himself up a bit, and turned his body slightly to block Ren Tianyou’s view.
After a short pause, Ren Tianyou asked, “That... chest muscle of yours... maybe you should go to a hospital and have it checked?”
Calling it a “chest muscle” was a nicer way of putting it. Ren Tianyou was someone with lots of romantic experience, and if he couldn’t tell the difference between a man’s chest muscle and a woman’s chest... then all his so-called experience would be worthless.
Li Mu was thin, so the bump on his chest didn’t look like extra fat at all.
So most likely, it wasn’t from eating too much fried chicken and soy milk or anything like that.
“I don’t have money.”
“Then how about I take you for a check-up tomorrow? My mom said you look too skinny and was worried you might be sick,” Ren Tianyou said generously. “I’ll book it online for you now, and I’ll pay.”
Li Mu was also very curious about what was happening to his body.
If it could be solved with science, that would be great.
So he nodded in agreement and took the chance to ask for more. “Since we’re going to the hospital anyway, how about we do a full check-up?”
“Sure. I don’t dare to go out at night these days anyway. I’ll just spend the money I would’ve spent on girls on you.”
So... did that make him a girl?
Li Mu had just started to feel good about getting a free check-up, but that mood disappeared immediately.
Ren Tianyou didn’t actually play mobile games much. People his age preferred computer games. So even though Li Mu wasn’t very good at the game, he didn’t mind.
After finishing a game, Ren Tianyou looked up and asked, “Xiao Mu, what body wash do you use? You smell really nice.”
“Some random brand,” Li Mu replied. Then he asked, “Brother, do you know where my parents went?”
“Didn’t they pass away?” Ren Tianyou kept his head down and continued inviting Li Mu to play another game.
“Do you know what kind of work my parents did?”
Ren Tianyou gave him a strange look. “If you don’t know, how would I know?”
So it wasn’t like in anime, where everyone else knows the main character’s family secret except the main character himself.
Otherwise, Li Mu would’ve been even more annoyed.
His parents truly didn’t want him involved in anything supernatural or dangerous.
He felt a little down, but suddenly a notification popped up on his phone. Someone had placed an order for the used women’s clothes and makeup he listed on a secondhand online marketplace.
His sadness instantly disappeared. He quickly opened the message and checked the buyer’s info and comment.
They wanted to meet in person to make the trade? From the profile, it looked like a girl.
“Why did you quit the game?”
Li Mu was happily chatting with the girl, arranging a time and place to meet tomorrow. He replied, “Take me to Riverside Park around noon tomorrow. I’ve got something to do, and after that, we can go for the check-up.”
“Oh? Got a date?” Ren Tianyou stopped playing too and curiously leaned over to see who Li Mu was chatting with.
But Li Mu suddenly remembered he was selling used women’s clothes, so he quickly tilted the phone screen away and looked up with a cold face. “What, do you have a spying problem?”
“Oh~” Ren Tianyou squinted his eyes and gave a very creepy grin. “Be careful in the park. If someone sees you, they might call the police.”
Li Mu froze for a second. Would selling used clothes get him arrested?
Then he realized what Ren Tianyou meant. He gave him a look full of disgust. “Can’t your brain think about anything else?”
“Come on, I’m a guy. Xiao Mu, don’t pretend. I bet your computer’s full of ‘good stuff’ too.” Ren Tianyou winked and nudged him. “We’ve got nothing else to do tonight, wanna share a few?”
“......”
Li Mu turned away from him and sat with his back to Ren Tianyou.
In Ren Tianyou's perspective, Li Mu was wearing a fitted short-sleeved shirt. His smooth back, slim waist, and soft curves looked just like a girl’s.
Without noticing it, the boy next door had really grown up beautifully.
The scent of orchid lingered around his nose, and strange thoughts started popping into his head.
Ren Tianyou quickly forced himself to stop thinking that way.
Yeah… looks like it’s time to find a girlfriend. Otherwise, even Li Mu is prettier than Diao Chan.