Chapter 60: Yu Fan’s Way of Solving Problems
Sitting on the edge of the basketball court, eating a hamburger the teacher had bought, Li Mu looked a little worried.
The other students were all smiling and excited. Most of them had only ever been taken advantage of before, this was the first time they got to take advantage of a teacher, and they were loving it.
“What’s wrong? I even bought you a hamburger and you're still not happy?” Yang Ye, the homeroom teacher, asked curiously as he took a bite of his own burger and sat down next to Li Mu. “I heard you and Yu Fan are joining the ‘Top Ten Singers’ event?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s great. Just make sure it doesn’t affect your schoolwork.”
Yang Ye yawned, then stood up. “I’m heading back.”
Even though he was already in his thirties, Yang Ye was still single and lived in the teacher dorms at school… only three teachers lived there now. One of them was Li Mu’s math teacher, who had just bought a house and was about to move out.
After watching the teacher walk away, Li Mu turned to look at Yu Fan.
The polite smile on his face instantly disappeared.
He didn’t bother pretending when he was around friends.
“There’s a serious problem,” he said in a heavy tone.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Fan asked, still eating his burger. He handed Li Mu a bottle of cola from the school store.
Li Mu sighed. “When Xiao Jing sings using my voice, it sounds completely like a girl’s voice.”
Maybe it was because girls and guys use their voices differently. Even though Li Mu’s voice was already kind of neutral, when Xiao Jing controlled his body, the sound came out more like a cool, mature woman’s voice.
He had originally hoped his singing would sound more normal, but instead, when Xiao Jing used his body to sing, it sounded just like a girl, and there was no telling it was actually a guy.
A man singing in a woman’s voice… even if the judges didn’t think it was weird or just for show, Li Mu himself felt super embarrassed about it.
“A girl’s voice? Your voice already doesn’t sound much different from a girl’s,” Yu Fan muttered as he sat beside him.
“There’s a big difference!”
Li Mu had used a voice recording app to listen to himself before. While it was more neutral, you could still tell it was a man’s voice.
“What’s there to worry about?”
“Think about it, if a man gets on stage and sings in a girl’s voice, what will the judges and audience think?”
Yu Fan glanced at him and said, “Then just wear girl’s clothes. You don’t even need to show an ID or student card to sign up, just a name and contact info.”
Why is your solution always crossdressing?
This guy clearly just wants to see me in a dress and is using every excuse to bring it up.
“I already sold my girl clothes to Li Mingjuan,” Li Mu said, using that as an excuse.
“Just buy new ones then.”
“I don’t have any money.”
Now Yu Fan leaned in with a face full of excitement, clearly enjoying the drama. “Want me to buy you a couple outfits online?”
What are you so excited about?!
Li Mu’s mouth twitched. “Forget it. I’m not joining the contest.”
“I already handed in the signup form. You can’t just quit like that,” Yu Fan said seriously. “Besides, this is Xiao Jing’s dream. She died in a car accident when she was just a teenager. All she wants now is to sing one song on stage. She’s been through so much, and her dream is so small… and you, her brother, can’t even—”
Before he could finish, Li Mu stood up, face blank, and walked away.
He couldn’t listen to things like that. If his heart softened, he might actually end up crossdressing.
Just imagining it was painful enough. A guy singing on stage with a girl’s voice was already awkward, but wearing a dress while doing it? Yeah, both were just as embarrassing.
Yu Fan happily followed behind Li Mu, still trying to convince him. “Look, the sign-up form didn’t ask for gender. So if you wear girl’s clothes and say you’re a girl, no one will question it!”
“Even if your talking voice still sounds like a guy, you can learn to fake a girl’s voice, right? That way your speaking and singing voices will match. Then just wear a dress, and who would know you’re actually a guy?”
“Um…”
Seeing Li Mu hesitate, Yu Fan smiled like a sneaky fox. “I only wrote down the group name on the sign-up form. So when we go on stage, at most our classmates will just wonder why the ‘class flower’ Yu Fan is singing with some girl they’ve never seen before, right?”
“Class flower?”
Yu Fan stood up straight. “What? You think I don’t deserve the title?”
Technically, the class didn’t have an official “class flower,” but everyone kind of agreed it was Yu Fan.
He was popular with the girls, treated everyone warmly, and aside from the rumor that he liked crossdressing, he was seen as practically perfect.
But only Li Mu knew this guy was black-hearted inside, like crude oil when cut open.
“Well then…” Li Mu stopped walking and turned around. “How about you wear girl’s clothes too?”
To be honest, a good-looking guy still looks fine in girl’s clothes. Two crossdressing dudes singing as a duo on stage? That’d be legendary.
“…I’m out,” Yu Fan said and quickly turned to leave.
Li Mu didn’t stop him, just raised a brow. “What happened to ‘life and death’ brothers? That’s it?”
Yu Fan paused, his face full of regret. “I still want a girlfriend, man…”
Totally unreliable!
“You could be your own girlfriend.”
“Goodbye!” Yu Fan bowed dramatically and ran off.
Li Mu hadn’t really expected Yu Fan to share the burden anyway. After tossing his burger wrapper into the trash, he muttered to himself, “Xiao Jing, when you sing or talk, can’t you try to lower your voice a little? At least make it sound like a guy’s?”
“Well, I'm asking a bit too much of you...”
He let out another long sigh.
If he had known it would turn out like this, he wouldn’t have been so quick to promise he’d help Xiao Jing fulfill her wish to sing on stage.
It had sounded simple at first. Xiao Jing wanted to sing, and there just happened to be a singing contest at school. What perfect timing, right?
It’s not like he hadn’t been possessed by a ghost before. Last time, when Lin Xi took over his body, nothing bad happened.
Back then, his voice still sounded like a guy’s. Even though Lin Xi made his tone a bit softer, it was still clearly a male voice.
But now… this time felt different.
As he thought about it, Li Mu skipped lunch and headed straight back to the dorm.
Also, Xiao Jing not only had a female voice but still acted like a teenager. So he could only let her take control during the performance. Otherwise, who knew what kind of trouble she might cause?
Crossdressing… wasn’t totally out of the question.
Three of his dormmates had already returned. Aside from Zhao Pan, who he knew fairly well, Li Mu didn’t interact much with the other two.
The room was full of smoke. Smoking was technically banned in vocational school dorms, but the rules weren’t strictly enforced. Even the dorm supervisor, an old uncle who took roll at night, would even ask students for cigarettes.
Li Mu was used to the smell. He just frowned slightly and sat down in his seat.
“Hey, Li Mu.”
Just as he sat down, one of the dormmates suddenly asked, “I heard you and Yu Fan are teaming up for the singing contest?”
“……”
He looked up. “Who told you that?”
“Yu Fan.”
Wait a minute! Yu Fan just said no one would recognize him even if he wore a dress!
And now he’s already sold me out?!
Now it doesn’t matter how well he dresses up. If he gets on stage with Yu Fan, everyone will know that tall ‘girl’ is definitely him!