Chapter 71: Roommate
"I’m done with teaming up with Li Mu."
With a look of sadness, Yu Fan placed a hand on Wu Lei’s shoulder and sighed heavily. “His sister found out we were going to enter the Top Ten Singers competition together, and now she insists on joining us.”
Wu Lei looked confused as he stared at Yu Fan beside him. He had no idea why this guy suddenly came over and started talking to him like they were close friends.
So he could only respond with a confused “Huh?”
“I mean, Li Mu’s not joining anymore. He gave his spot to his sister. Oh, that’s my girlfriend, the one you saw over the weekend.”
“Oh...” Wu Lei scratched his head. But what does this have to do with him?
Message delivered, Yu Fan turned and walked toward his desk mate to spread the word to others, just in case someone recognized Li Mu dressed as a girl on stage later.
Meanwhile, Li Mu looked like he had just eaten something disgusting.
Hell nah! Who's your girlfriend!
He lowered his head, but the scene from the art exhibition came back to his mind.
At first, he thought that painting was haunted and ran off when he and Yu Fan noticed something strange. But later, when they asked a staff member, they learned someone had really liked that painting and bought it on the spot.
Only then did he and Yu Fan feel relieved. To help himself sleep better at night, Li Mu even bought a small hand mirror on the way back and gave Xiao Jing a new “home.”
He reached into the drawer and gently touched the mirror, afraid of losing or damaging it.
“Is Yu Fan acting a little weird today?” Wu Lei turned around and asked Li Mu. “Teaming up with his girlfriend is fine, but now he’s showing off everywhere, making it seem like the whole class has to know he dumped you.”
“And that girl’s probably not even his girlfriend yet, right? Looks more like he’s still chasing her.”
"......"
That sounds... kinda wrong, doesn’t it?
Li Mu nodded and said, “Maybe he’s just too excited.”
“But I heard from Chen Zhihao that you also have a girlfriend now? She even came to your dorm last weekend?”
Li Mu’s calm expression suddenly froze. He looked up and stared toward Chen Zhihao, who was sitting three rows back.
Chen Zhihao was laughing and chatting with a few friends about video games, completely unaware of Li Mu’s stare.
“No, that was just my sister visiting. She probably said that to mess with Chen Zhihao.” Li Mu replied calmly.
Even though it was a little hard to explain, he had no choice but to keep up the story.
Sure, there were holes in the explanation, but this group of classmates didn’t even want to think when playing games. They probably wouldn’t bother figuring out real-life relationships either, right?
Wu Lei nodded like he understood, but his curious gaze still lingered on Li Mu.
A moment later, he couldn’t hold back his curiosity anymore and asked, “Why do you seem happier when you're with Yu Fan than when you're with other people?”
“?” Li Mu looked at him calmly. “Do I?”
“Yeah, when I saw you at the karaoke place playing the claw machine, your face looked so happy. But when you saw me, you instantly looked like you do now, no emotion at all.”
Oh, he meant that time...
Li Mu had thought maybe he really acted different around Yu Fan. But this... was hard to explain too.
He frowned slightly and tried to come up with a reason. “Wasn’t it because I kept failing to get the toy from the machine?”
The school bell suddenly rang. Afraid that Wu Lei would ask more, Li Mu quickly sat up straight and put on his good student look. “It’s homeroom class now. Let’s stop talking.”
No one knew when it started, but more and more classmates were beginning to pay attention to the usually cold and quiet Li Mu.
In the past, Li Mu’s looks could only be described as delicate. Combined with his quiet personality, he didn’t have any close friends in class and was more like an invisible person.
But now, he could clearly feel some classmates' eyes lingering on him from behind.
After being unnoticed for so long, this sudden attention made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
But he could understand it. If he saw a classmate who used to be ignored suddenly becoming better looking and even becoming friends with one of the most popular students in school, he would probably notice too.
He tried to cheer himself up by thinking that he looked more "cool" than "girly" now.
He wondered if he could fix this "girly" issue before the spring exam...
“Li Mu!”
A piece of chalk flew through the air and aimed straight at his forehead.
Even though he was deep in thought, his head tilted slightly on its own. The chalk missed him by a little and flew past his ear, hitting the student behind him, who cried out in pain.
Li Mu looked up at the teacher, Yang Ye, with an innocent face.
Teacher Yang Ye quickly came down from the platform and apologized to the student behind Li Mu. Then he glared angrily at Li Mu.
This student is paying less and less attention in class lately...
But in a vocational school like this, most students could easily drive teachers crazy. Yang Ye was already used to it.
Class continued as usual, but Yang Ye noticed the students weren’t really focused today. He sighed and started chatting with the class instead.
Li Mu simply laid his head down on the desk.
“Hey, hey.”
Someone lightly poked his back. He turned around and looked strangely at the boy behind him.
That classmate was also Li Mu’s roommate. After all, only about a dozen students in their class lived in the dorms.
But while Li Mu was just not close with the other roommates, his relationship with this guy leaned more toward hostile.
Li Mu couldn’t imagine what this guy could possibly want from him.
“What is it?”
“After school, I want to treat you to a meal,” Wang Chen said with a gentle smile.
“......”
Li Mu shrank his neck and slid his chair toward the corner.
What the heck? Did this guy hit his head or something? Or maybe he’s possessed by a ghost?
Wang Chen paused for a second, then explained, “I want to treat you to a meal... and ask if I could get your sister’s WeChat.”
“My sister?”
Li Mu suddenly understood. “You’re trying to steal Yu Fan’s girl?!”
“But you’ve never even met my sister...” he looked at Wang Chen suspiciously, until Wang Chen handed him his phone. On the screen was a photo of Li Mu dressed as a girl, walking with Yu Fan.
Li Mu’s eyes went wide in horror.
“A girl in our class took it,” Wang Chen said with a flattering smile. “They said your sister doesn’t seem very close to Yu Fan. He calls her his girlfriend, but they don’t even look like normal friends.”
“......”
Got it. This was a rumor spread by the girls who liked Yu Fan.
Actually... it wasn’t exactly a rumor. Back then, even though he was walking with Yu Fan, they didn’t act very close.
But hold on, wasn’t it Yu Fan who started this? He was the one going around saying she was his girlfriend.
Li Mu finally figured out what was going on.
“So how about this? I treat you to a meal, and you give me your sister’s WeChat.”
For some reason, even though Li Mu and Wang Chen didn’t get along before, he found Wang Chen kind of likable now.
“Okay. Treat me to some meal outside of school tonight.”