Chapter 44: Get Out!
So hungry.
Li Mu sat curled up at the head of the bed, hugging his knees and resting his head on them.
It was already evening, but Ren Tianyou still hadn’t come.
Zhang Hui sat in front of the computer, nervously playing with his phone. He kept glancing at the gap under the bedroom door, feeling uneasy.
“Do you have a rag or some old clothes? I’m scared the cockroaches will crawl in through the door,” Zhang Hui asked, turning to look at Li Mu.
“Yeah.”
But Li Mu still couldn’t help asking, “Why are there so many cockroaches?”
“I wanted to see if we could use the kitchen, so I opened one of the cabinets,” Zhang Hui replied, still shaken by the memory of the cockroaches swarming out.
Got it, there’s a cockroach nest in the kitchen cabinet.
If he had known, he would’ve done a deep clean of the house back in September before leaving for school.
It was probably because the seasoning bottles in the cabinet weren’t sealed well, and the kitchen hadn’t been cleaned properly.
Thankfully, they had been eating next door these days, and only ordered takeout when at home. Otherwise, it would’ve been him who discovered the cockroach nest.
Just thinking about cockroaches crawling all over the living room and dining area made Li Mu feel sick. He wished he could redo the whole house.
But then again, he had a pretty, delicate face, and now looked even more girly, so being afraid of cockroaches didn’t seem too out of character. At least it didn’t feel like a big contrast. But Zhang Hui… seriously? You’re a former soldier! Look at those muscles! Look at how manly you look! Aren’t you even a little embarrassed?
Maybe he noticed Li Mu’s confused look, so Zhang Hui tried to explain, “I’m just scared of cockroaches, okay… they might land on your face.”
“Mm.”
Li Mu’s half-hearted reply made Zhang Hui feel a little judged.
With nothing to do in the room, they each played on their phones for about half an hour. Eventually, Zhang Hui couldn’t sit still anymore.
To be honest, he didn’t really like how girly Li Mu seemed.
But now that both of them were stuck in the room because of cockroaches, he felt like he didn’t have the right to complain about his cousin’s behavior anymore.
“Hey, cousin… do you play League of Legends? I used to be a top-ranked player, I even thought about going pro.”
“No.”
“Then… what kind of job do you think would be good for me?” he asked, changing the topic.
Zhang Hui joined the army right after high school. Now he was 20. If he wanted to, he could go to college, but he really wasn’t good at studying.
But in a small town, just having a high school diploma wasn’t enough to get an office job.
Li Mu thought for a moment and asked, “Food delivery?”
“I don’t want a job where I get treated badly all the time.”
Then anything in customer service was basically out.
So what could a high school grad do?
He glanced at Zhang Hui, he wasn’t especially good-looking, but at least he was strong and fit. “You’d be perfect as a… steel scrubber.”
Rich women usually liked that type, at least the young and strong ones. Maybe.
“Steel scrubber? What’s that?”
This slang hadn’t become popular when Zhang Hui was still in the army, so he was totally confused.
It was already past 6 PM. Normally, Li Mu would have gone next door to eat around this time. But now, he could only stay hungry and didn’t even dare open the door.
He let out a quiet sigh, leaned against the bed, lowered his eyes, and tried to look deep in thought, while actually grumbling in his mind.
What’s the point of Zhang Hui being so big and strong if he’s afraid of cockroaches too?
But for some reason, the little bit of dislike Zhang Hui had for him earlier… seemed to be fading away.
There was a knock at the door, and at the same time, Li Mu’s phone buzzed. He looked down and saw that Ren Tianyou had come to save him.
“You go open the door.”
Zhang Hui shook his head without hesitation. “No way!”
“You’re a man!”
“So are you!”
Li Mu replied confidently, “No, I’m not!”
After all, he was already becoming more and more feminine. Who knows if he still counted as a man anymore? Even “little Li Mu” wasn’t working properly now.
After getting used to this feminine body every day, Li Mu had learned to laugh at himself, kind of like how someone ugly knows deep down that compliments are just being polite.
Seeing Li Mu’s shameless face, Zhang Hui had no choice but to get up and carefully peek outside.
He didn’t see any cockroaches, so he relaxed a little and ran toward the front door.
But as soon as he reached the door, his face turned pale.
A cockroach was sitting right on the doorknob, not moving at all.
Then came the sound of the bedroom door closing and locking.
Li Mu felt a lot safer, but Zhang Hui was terrified.
He slowly picked up a broom from the corner and gently poked the cockroach. As soon as he did, its wings spread wide, it was even thicker than most people’s thumbs, and it flew straight at his face.
This grown man screamed loudly and ran away.
…………………………………
“So... you two guys were too scared to leave the room because of cockroaches?” Ren Tianyou looked at the two men with a strange expression.
He could understand Li Mu. He already knew Li Mu was scared of cockroaches, and with Li Mu's delicate appearance, even being afraid of cockroaches didn't feel out of place.
But this cousin of Li Mu’s... there were no words.
Ren Tianyou stepped on a passing cockroach and shook his head. “Last time I helped clean your place, I didn’t see that many cockroaches.”
“He opened the kitchen cabinets, and they all came out,” Li Mu quickly blamed Zhang Hui.
Last time they cleaned, they only wiped the counters. They hadn’t checked the cabinets at all.
Zhang Hui looked down, too embarrassed to say anything.
“Your cousin, huh...” Ren Tianyou sat on the couch. “Wanna come to my place for dinner?”
“I’ll go eat by myself,” Zhang Hui said, shaking his head. “I’ll look around and see if I can find a job.”
Ren Tianyou nodded and didn’t insist. After all, they had only made enough food for three people. He was just being polite.
“Alright, Li Mu, let’s go eat. My mom’s already done eating and gone downstairs.”
Li Mu was already starving, so he quickly stood up and followed Ren Tianyou out.
But just before leaving, he turned around and reminded Zhang Hui, “Be back before nine...”
He wanted to say it’s not safe outside at night, but thinking of how Ren Tianyou didn’t seem to care last time, he changed his reason.
“I usually go to bed by nine, so if you’re late, no one will open the door for you.”
“Got it.”
Zhang Hui watched them leave, then sighed and leaned back on the sofa, holding his head.
He hadn’t planned to stay at Li Mu’s place, but his grandfather had insisted.
He and Li Mu weren’t really close. His cousin’s girly appearance made him uncomfortable, and after that embarrassing moment just now, staying here felt even worse.
He needed to find a job that came with a place to stay, anything, just to get out of here.
As he was lost in thought, Zhang Hui suddenly felt goosebumps on his skin. The air around him seemed to grow colder.
He paused, confused, and looked around.
Then he noticed the bathroom light was on. He didn’t remember turning it on.
Not wanting to waste electricity, he walked over and turned it off.
But the light turned on again.
Frowning, he looked up at the half-body mirror in the bathroom.
In the mirror, Zhang Hui’s reflection was staring directly at him.
“This is my house!” The reflection bared its teeth angrily. One hand quickly flipped the light switch on and off. “Get out!”
A cold chill rushed straight from the top of his head down into his brain.