Chapter 64: Countless Times
Li Mu carefully thought back to how his little sister used to be.
She was pretty well-behaved, a little shy, and even her short rebellious phase ended quickly, right after their parents chased her through two streets and gave her a good scolding.
But now, this Xiao Jing...
She swears, and even though she’s still a bit quiet, she now curses at people and seems to have a strong possessive streak.
Li Mu noticed that possessiveness early on. For example, she didn’t like anyone else living in the house. Li Mu had been living there for a few years already, but she would still often play tricks like flickering the lights to scare him. Back then, Li Mu couldn’t see ghosts, so he just thought it was an electrical problem.
Once, a cousin came to stay over. He hadn’t even spent half a day there before he got scared and never came back.
Yu Fan also said Xiao Jing’s mind was kind of dirty...
Honestly, with her personality now, it was really hard for Li Mu to believe she was the same sister who had passed away. He even started to wonder if Xiao Jing was just some ghost that showed up, and he accidentally took her for his sister.
Even though the spring exams were coming up, their class still had weekends off. On Friday afternoon, most of the dorm students filled out a “leaving school” form and disappeared again.
Only one person stayed behind, Chen Zhihao, who wasn’t very close with Li Mu.
Chen Zhihao looked pretty average, the kind of guy you couldn’t pick out in a crowd. He wore glasses and had a bit of a gentle vibe, but he was also the one in the dorm who smoked the most.
Having him around made Li Mu feel uncomfortable.
On Saturday morning, Li Mu woke up to the strong smell of smoke.
Still half-asleep, he turned over and asked in a hoarse voice, “Can’t you smoke outside?”
Chen Zhihao slept on the bed directly across from Li Mu. He was now sitting in the middle of the room, flipping through a book and memorizing English while smoking to stay focused.
He looked up at the sound, and saw Li Mu wrapped tightly in his blanket, showing only his pretty, delicate face, eyes half-closed and clearly annoyed.
Maybe because Li Mu was still sleepy, his face didn’t have the usual cold, distant look. Instead, his voice sounded a bit cute and grumpy. With that face that was starting to look more and more like a girl’s, the distance between them instantly felt shorter.
Good-looking people, as long as they aren’t rude, always seem to win others over easily.
Chen Zhihao casually tossed his cigarette butt into a water-filled soda bottle and muttered, “I can’t focus when memorizing stuff without a smoke.”
“You’ll get lung cancer sooner or later,” Li Mu yawned, his eyes still drooping.
His hair had gotten a bit long and was now falling softly, almost covering his eyes.
He usually kept it mid-short, with bangs that covered his eyebrows. It needed trimming once a month.
“Want to go get a haircut later?” Chen Zhihao noticed his long bangs too. “I’ve got a membership card.”
“No thanks. I need to catch up on sleep, I didn’t sleep well last night.”
After the room check last night, he had snuck out to a quiet spot on campus to practice singing, hoping he wouldn’t have to rely on Xiao Jing.
But it didn’t work.
Besides, Xiao Jing was the one who had to go on stage to sing, not him.
There was already a girl’s outfit, a wig, and some simple makeup in his wardrobe... all stuff he had ordered online a few days ago, just in case.
He regretted selling his old set. Now that he had to buy everything again, it had cost him a lot.
As for the money he made selling the outfit? He had already paid Yu Fan back.
As soon as Chen Zhihao left the dorm to get a haircut, the half-asleep Li Mu suddenly became wide awake. He flipped over quickly and jumped down from the top bunk.
Then his foot twisted, and he fell straight to the ground.
“Damn! I can even trip like this?” Li Mu said in disbelief.
Maybe because of the effects of "turning more feminine," his tear ducts had become more sensitive. Just the pain from twisting his ankle made his eyes turn red.
He used to be really good at jumping down from the top bunk. Back then, he could even grab the bed frame with both hands and pull himself up using only arm strength.
Now, with less muscle, he wasn’t used to it. Gritting his teeth, he lowered his head to check his slightly swollen and red ankle.
Just then, the door opened. Chen Zhihao came back to grab his phone and looked confused when he saw Li Mu on the floor.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.” Even though he had been wincing in pain just moments ago, Li Mu quickly put on a calm face. “I just slipped.”
Chen Zhihao stared at him silently. At least now, Li Mu looked more like his usual self.
“I’ve got some Yunnan Baiyao. Want me to help you?”
“No need.”
Li Mu grabbed a chair to support himself and stood up slowly, limping over to his seat.
His lips were twitching from the pain, but he still tried to look calm.
“Alright then. The medicine is in my drawer. I’m heading out to get my hair cut.” Chen Zhihao grabbed his phone and left the room again.
As soon as he was gone, Li Mu hopped on one leg over to Chen Zhihao’s desk and started opening drawers to look for the Yunnan Baiyao.
Come to think of it, Uncle Chen Yi always kept some in his car too.
“You’re so clumsy,” his mouth moved on its own, and a slightly cute, mature-sounding girl’s voice came from his throat.
Li Mu gave up trying to hide it. While rubbing the medicine into his leg, he said, “Still not used to it. My body keeps changing every day. I have to adjust all the time.”
“Can’t you just ask Lin Xi to stop messing with your body?” he muttered, then realized Xiao Jing was also inside his body.
So… was this double the effect of turning feminine?
Maybe it wasn’t that bad. The changes were still pretty small.
“Maybe it’s not Sister Lin Xi’s fault?” Xiao Jing said.
Li Mu paused. “But it only started after I met her…”
He stopped mid-sentence, thinking deeply.
It wasn’t just after meeting Lin Xi, maybe it started even earlier.
Like… could the car accident have something to do with it?
But car accidents are pretty common. There must be tons across the country every day, and you don’t hear about people turning into girls because of them.
Still, ghosts are known to mess with people’s emotions and health. Maybe a ghost could somehow cause this change in his body…
Okay, maybe it does sound pretty crazy. He couldn’t figure it out.
“Forget it…” he mumbled. “I’m used to it now. If I turn into a woman, so be it.”
Even while saying that, he still sent a message to the online girlfriend he was supposed to meet.
For all these days, he had been sending her a message every day, but she still hadn’t replied.
Maybe she really was scared off by the accident?
He didn’t care that much about the online relationship anymore. Online dating was never very reliable anyway. He had been a bit blinded at the time.
After hopping on one foot to the door and locking it, Li Mu turned his eyes to the wardrobe.
Well… he had already worn women’s clothes before...
Even though last time only Yu Fan and Lin Xi saw him, and this time the whole school might see him.
Might as well try the outfit first, he’d figure out the rest later.
In his head, he started comparing two things: would it be more embarrassing to dress as a guy and sing in a girl’s voice, or to wear women’s clothes to hide his identity?
Probably the first one… after all, he had already cross-dressed once.
Right after changing his mind, a line Li Mingjuan once said suddenly popped into his head:
“Cross-dressing only happens either zero times or countless times.”
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Note:
Li Mingjuan said that in Chapter 38.