Chapter 38: Riverside Park
The next afternoon.
After having lunch at his neighbor’s house, Li Mu slowly followed Ren Tianyou to the underground parking lot.
His car wasn’t anything fancy.
A few years ago, Ren Tianyou was working hard in Shanghai with the exhausting “996” schedule (working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week). Later, his health started to have problems, so he returned to the county, used his savings to buy a car, and started living a more laid-back life.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Li Mu held a bag of clothes in his arms and stared coldly out the window.
As Ren Tianyou buckled his seatbelt and started the car, he asked, “What did you bring?”
“Clothes.”
“You really know how to have fun.”
“......”
Li Mu ignored him, looked down at his phone, and started thinking about what to do next.
Ever since hearing what Chen Yi said, he had felt lost. His body was slowly becoming more feminine, but he still didn’t know what to do.
His parents didn’t want him involved in the supernatural world, but he was already deeply caught in it.
Even without talking about his changing body, there were still the ghost in the mirror at home, the ghost that almost killed Yu Fan, and the grieving mother who lost her daughter.
If he still wanted to live like a normal person, his future would probably mean fully turning into a woman, or something in between.
And he would have to move away, carrying guilt and regret, to another city. But if he met ghosts again there, he’d just have to keep running...
The worst part was that he seemed to have some kind of “ghost magnet” now. It had only been one week, and he’d already seen more ghosts than most people would in a lifetime.
He could live with meeting ghosts, but turning into a woman? That was hard to accept.
“We’re here.”
Li Mu came back to his senses and saw that the car had already stopped. He looked around and realized they were at the entrance of Riverside Park.
Fengcheng County was split by a wide river, and this park sat right next to the Fengcheng Bridge by the water.
Ren Tianyou looked around inside the car, scanning the girls near the park entrance. With a curious grin, he asked, “So which one’s the girl you’re meeting?”
“I don’t know. I’ll call and ask.” Li Mu got out of the car and dialed the number left by the buyer on the secondhand online marketplace.
If buyers on that app counted as online friends, then this was his second time meeting one.
The first time, he got into a truck crash and almost died… He even suspected his ability to see ghosts came from that accident.
The call connected, and at the same time, a girl standing at the park gate picked up her phone too.
“Hello, are you the one wearing black?”
“Yeah, the one with the skull on the shirt.”
Li Mu looked at her and then held back his words. “Li Mingjuan?”
“Who are you?” Li Mingjuan sounded confused.
Li Mu hung up without answering. Holding the bag of clothes, he walked straight over to her.
Li Mingjuan looked up, blinked her eyes and said, “Li Mu?”
Meeting her again, Li Mu was once more hit by the strong smell of her perfume. It was so heavy it made him feel sick.
“Yeah.”
“Why are you selling... women’s clothes on a secondhand online marketplace?”
Li Mu pressed his lips together. After a moment of silence, he asked back, “Then why are you buying secondhand women’s clothes and makeup?”
“I’m broke! The same clothes on Taobao cost more than 300 yuan, but you’re selling them with makeup for just 300 total.”
“And there’ve been a lot of creeps lately. I’ve already lost three sets of clothes this week. If I lose more, I won’t have anything to wear.”
So he sold it too cheap?
Li Mu had never sold secondhand clothes before, so he didn’t know how to price them. He just wanted to sell them quickly before anyone found out, so he had set the price at half of what he paid.
He looked down at the bag of clothes in his hands and clumsily explained, “My friend…”
Then he realized that might sound like he was making it up, so he added more details. “These were actually sold by Yu Fan. You insisted on meeting in person, and he was too embarrassed.”
Li Mingjuan didn’t notice he was lying and suddenly understood. “Oh, so Yu Fan isn’t into cross-dressing anymore? I heard just last week that he was really into it.”
“Maybe he’ll do it again in the future,” Li Mu replied seriously.
When it came to throwing Yu Fan under the bus, Li Mu didn’t hold back at all.
“Well, people always say cross-dressing only happens either zero times or countless times.”
That sentence hit Li Mu a little too hard.
Who said that? He was only going to cross-dress once! Never again in this life!
“Here’s your stuff.” He handed the shopping bag to Li Mingjuan.
She actually looked pretty excited. She happily checked the items inside while muttering, “These are women’s clothes Yu Fan wore! And makeup he used too! If Lin Xi knew about this, she’d be so jealous…”
But her smile slowly faded. Looking more and more gloomy, Li Mingjuan let out a sigh and nodded to Li Mu, “All good. I already sent you the money, just double-check it.”
“Yesterday… you and Yu Fan came to ask about Lin Xi, right?” Her tone got heavier. “The night Lin Xi passed away, I actually dreamed about her.”
“Huh?” Li Mu became interested.
People say that when someone dies, close friends might see their ghost in a dream-like state.
“She said she was really upset. The two of us had a deal, whoever won over Yu Fan first would get to be the ‘dad.’ But then she died first.”
Wait, girls make bets like that too? Competing to be the “dad” instead of the “mom”?
If that’s the case… Could it be that Lin Xi stayed inside me because she wanted to hear Li Mingjuan call her 'Dad'?
No way… that would be way too ridiculous, right?
Li Mu kept a straight face and didn’t say anything.
“That night, I dreamed of her jumping off a building. It felt like someone pushed her...”
Li Mingjuan looked down, her eyes slightly red. “She had been acting strange the whole week before she died, acting crazy, like a totally different person. I kept telling her to take time off and see a therapist, but she didn’t care.”
“It's true that we both liked Yu Fan, but back then, it was like she couldn't live without him, her liking suddenly turning into obsession.”
“Do you know if something happened before she started acting weird?” Li Mu wasn’t surprised by what she said.
After all, Lin Xi’s ghostly personality probably came from being mentally affected by a ghost. Otherwise, he couldn’t believe anyone could be that ridiculous.
“No, we always went everywhere together. We were roommates.” Li Mingjuan shook her head.
“Really?”
Li Mu thought to himself, there were no signs of ghosts in the school, so maybe Lin Xi saw a ghost when she left campus… but it didn’t seem like that either.
He could ask Chen Yi about it, but yesterday when they met, the conversation had focused more on himself.
“Well, that’s all. I’m leaving now.” Li Mingjuan gave him a small smile, then turned away and walked off with sadness on her face.
Even though she always acted tough in Lin Xi’s memories, she clearly cared about her a lot.
Li Mu turned around and looked at Ren Tianyou’s car on the side of the road. He slowly walked over, planning to grab some lunch and then head to the hospital for a check-up.
But as soon as he got in the car, Ren Tianyou looked disappointed. “Xiao Mu, come on! I’m telling you, you need to make a move on that girl! Be more active!”
“She’s just someone from a secondhand online marketplace.”
“No, man, you gotta cast a wide net. If you just wait for the perfect one, when will I ever get a sister-in-law? When can I finally go to your wedding and drink your wedding wine?”
Li Mu gave him a cold look and fastened his seatbelt before replying, “Well, I don’t see you getting married.”
“I’m used to being free.”
“No one wants to marry you,” Li Mu mercilessly exposed the truth. “I heard you’ve gone on more than fifty blind dates.”
Girls might hang out with someone like him for fun, and maybe even date him, but when it came to marriage, they all ran like they saw a wild animal.
Ren Tianyou hit the gas and replied with a nonchalant expression, “No worries. If no girl wants me, you can just take a trip to Thailand for me.”
“Disgusting.”