Chapter 39: Afternoon Tea
"Your estrogen levels are too high. Try to eat less food that has a lot of estrogen, like soy products."
"Other than that, everything seems fine. Your body is okay, just a bit too skinny. You’re 175 cm but just over 100 pounds. For your height, you should be at least 130 pounds."
As Li Mu walked out of the hospital, the doctor’s words were still echoing in his mind.
His face didn’t show any emotion, he had already expected this kind of result.
"Look at you. I told you, if you don’t have money, just ask me! I’m your big brother. No matter how broke I am, I’d never let you starve! At worst, I’ll just go out a few times less." Ren Tianyou poked Li Mu on the forehead, looking both angry and disappointed. "Eating junk food like that, and now you’ve lost so much weight! You even look like a girl now!"
His head stung from the poking, but Li Mu didn’t argue back. He just let out a silent sigh in his heart.
He used to weigh around 130 pounds, but somehow lost a lot in just one week.
Muscle weighs more than fat, and recently, most of his muscle had disappeared. His body looked smaller, so losing weight made sense.
"Come on! Let me treat you to a big meal! Then we’ll go get a massage!"
"I’ll pass on the second part." Li Mu rubbed the back of his head with his palm and warned with a straight face, "If you take me to that kind of place, Auntie will find out."
"She won’t know unless you tell her!"
Ren Tianyou went quiet for a moment, then teased, "You’ll be 18 in a few months. What’s wrong with showing you the world of men?"
"Not interested."
Maybe it was the hormones or something else, but Li Mu, who wasn’t exactly a pervert before, still had at least some desires.
But now, he felt nothing at all.
What’s worse, he didn’t even get morning wood anymore. Even pictures that used to match his tastes didn’t excite him.
If this went on, he wouldn’t just grow breasts. He’d basically be chemically turned into a eunuch.
The sense of urgency in his heart grew stronger. Even though his parents didn’t want him involved in ghosts and spirits, he had to fight for his own future.
Otherwise, imagine getting a girlfriend, only to end up skinnier than her, with bigger boobs, and still not able to get it up. What would that even be?
At that point… would he even still be a guy?
He shivered from head to toe just thinking about it.
"Let’s go home."
"Go home for what? There’s this new dim sum chain that opened a few months ago. The food’s really good. Wanna try it?"
"It’s the afternoon."
Ren Tianyou put his arm around Li Mu’s shoulders. "Then let’s call it afternoon tea."
But when he touched Li Mu’s thin shoulders, he couldn’t feel any bones. Just soft, squishy flesh. It felt like he was hugging a girl.
Li Mu’s shoulders used to be bony.
After helping Li Mu into the car, Ren Tianyou looked down at his own hand and frowned. He couldn’t shake the feeling that his little brother next door was becoming stranger and stranger.
Could it be… that he had secretly been a girl all along?
Ren Tianyou, who had many years of experience with food, drinks, and dating, was starting to feel out of his depth. He turned to glance at Li Mu in the passenger seat.
Li Mu had both male and female features mixed together. This gave him a kind of charm that could attract both men and women.
“Why are you looking at me?”
Li Mu had already fastened his seatbelt and looked up with his usual cold face, clearly noticing Ren Tianyou’s curious gaze.
“Be honest with me, are you actually a girl?”
“???”
He rubbed his hands together, his eyes half-closed, with that lecherous 'pervy guy drinking water meme' expression, “If you’re a girl, that means we’re childhood sweethearts!”
To be fair, his face already looked a bit like one of those meme guys. Making that expression just added to it.
“Brother, are you so desperate for a girlfriend you’ve gone crazy?”
Besides, they’d only known each other for four or five years, how were they childhood sweethearts?
Ren Tianyou sighed, “I knew it. Life can’t be that nice.”
“If I were a girl, I still wouldn’t like you,” Li Mu replied coldly, stabbing right into Ren Tianyou’s heart.
Being emotionally stabbed like this had become kind of normal for him.
To be honest, Ren Tianyou was a pretty decent guy, easygoing, didn’t smoke much, never drank, almost never cursed, and could be kind of funny at times. But when it came to his private life… things were a bit questionable.
Luckily, he wasn’t that bad. At least he never messed with married women.
The two of them arrived at a newly opened dim sum restaurant in town, riding in Ren Tianyou’s car.
Li Mu had heard of dim sum before, but it was more of a famous Guangdong dish.
He wasn’t sure if this chain was authentic, but the prices were pretty friendly.
The place was inside a Walmart. When it had just opened a month ago, there were long lines at the door. Now, only about 70–80% of the seats were taken. But since it wasn’t mealtime, that was still considered pretty busy.
A server led them to a two-person table by the clear window.
As soon as they sat down, Ren Tianyou asked curiously, “Xiao Mu, did you fall for some girl recently?”
“What makes you say that?” Li Mu looked out the window with a cold face.
“You seem like you’ve got a lot on your mind. If something’s bothering you, tell me. If I can help, I will. Don’t let it affect your college entrance exams.”
“It’s nothing.”
Ren Tianyou nodded knowingly. “So it is a girl, huh? Otherwise, you wouldn’t be wearing perfume. Is it one of those girls who likes Korean drama guys? Is that why you changed your look?”
That orchid smell on Li Mu had first been mistaken for body wash, but now people were calling it perfume.
“It’s really not like that,” Li Mu replied with a blank face, which to Ren Tianyou looked like he was just hiding the truth.
Feeling helpless, Li Mu gave a half-true reason. “It’s something the doctor said. I’ve been thinking about it.”
“I see… well, just eat less junk food. Stay at my place for a few days to eat better. I’ll tell my mom to stop buying soy products too…”
He was still talking when he suddenly noticed Li Mu’s face change. Li Mu was staring out the window in disbelief, his mouth slightly open, looking shocked.
Following his gaze, Ren Tianyou saw Yu Fan, who had stayed over at Li Mu’s house before, walking by outside.
Next to Yu Fan was a girl, who was happily bouncing around like a fairy. She was hugging his arm and shoulder now and then. The two of them looked like a couple.
So… why did Li Mu look so shocked? Even that icy face couldn’t stay calm?
Ren Tianyou thought for a moment and asked, “Do you like that girl?”
Li Mu, clearly jealous, shook his head. “No.”
Why did he get another girl so easily?! Wasn’t his reputation ruined after the whole wig incident?
Ren Tianyou could clearly see the jealousy and was surprised. “Wait… do you like Yu Fan?”
No wonder Li Mu had been acting more girly lately!
But Li Mu turned to him, completely confused, and asked, “Did you hit your head or something?”
Wasn’t that a completely crazy thing to say? Unless Ren Tianyou was secretly into guys and saw everyone that way?
Was this what people meant by “gaydar”?