Chapter 83: Dorm Life
The school dorm rules weren’t very strict. Besides locking the doors during class hours and not allowing the opposite gender inside, day students could occasionally stay over for a few nights, and the dorm supervisor usually wouldn’t notice.
It was Yu Fan’s first time staying in the dorm, but he had visited before when he didn’t feel like going home in the afternoon. So he already knew his way around pretty well.
Through the heavy rain, the two of them walked side by side into the dorm building.
Even with umbrellas, the rain was just too heavy. Li Mu’s pants were completely soaked, and his old shoes, which he’d worn for years, were filled with water. Everything felt cold and uncomfortable.
When he opened the door to their dorm room, Li Mu was surprised to find that, for once, everyone was there.
Usually, only four people were around in the dorm. Wang Chen liked working out, so he usually came back just before the dorm closed for the night. During the day, you’d only see him during nap time and at night.
Then there was Liu Menglong, a serious gaming addict. He slept through classes and rushed to the internet café as soon as school ended. Since the semester started in September, he had probably stayed in the dorm for less than a week total. He was like a hidden character in a game.
But today, somehow, he hadn’t gone to the internet café.
Li Mu muttered to himself, maintaining his usual stern expression, and walked straight to his seat.
"Hey, Yu Fan, what brings you here?" Chen Zhihao saw Yu Fan enter behind Li Mu and greeted him warmly. "Want some chips?"
"I thought the rain was too heavy, so I’ll wait until it calms down before going home," Yu Fan said cheerfully. He took a small bag of chips and leaned against the closet while chatting. "If it doesn’t stop raining, I might just stay the night."
"Where are you going to sleep?"
"Didn’t Li Mu say there’s an empty bed in your dorm? Whose bed is it? I’ll go say hi to him."
Chen Zhihao pointed to the guy sitting in the corner watching a livestream on his phone. "Him. He’s here today by chance."
"The rain’s too heavy, so I didn’t feel like going to the internet café," Liu Menglong replied without looking up.
Yu Fan still had his bright smile. Even though he didn’t really know Liu Menglong well, he went over and quickly found something to talk about. "Watching PDD’s stream? Oh, are you a fan of IG too?"
At first, Liu Menglong didn’t feel like talking to someone he didn’t know, but when he looked up and saw Yu Fan’s friendly smile, he felt it would be rude to ignore him, so he replied, "Yeah, kind of."
Then, somehow, the two of them started chatting easily about games.
Li Mu had only sat down for a few minutes, but when he turned around, he saw Yu Fan eating Chen Zhihao’s chips, chatting about games with Liu Menglong, talking about anime with Zhao Yu, and even discussing fitness with Wang Chen... No matter the topic, Yu Fan could keep the conversation going with ease. With his warm smile, he was more popular in the dorm than Li Mu himself.
While feeling a little jealous of Yu Fan’s social skills, Li Mu quietly lowered his head and got busy with his own stuff.
He rolled up his wet pants, showing a bit of his pale ankle, and kicked off his soaked shoes.
When he took off his socks, he saw that his feet had turned pale and wrinkled from being soaked in water. They were ice-cold, almost numb.
He normally didn’t pay much attention to his feet, but now that he looked, he felt like they had become a little smaller.
Anyway, they looked much whiter and smoother than before, not like a guy’s feet at all.
He didn’t think too much about the changes in his body. If he still cared as much as he did in the beginning, he probably would’ve gone crazy by now.
After taking a shower and brushing his teeth, Li Mu returned to the dorm, ready to lie down in bed. But the heavy rain outside still hadn’t stopped.
Yu Fan looked a little anxious. When he saw there was no empty bed in Li Mu’s dorm room, he had planned to wait until the rain got lighter before heading home. But now, it seemed like the rain was going to keep pouring all night.
It was getting late, and even if he wanted to walk home in the rain, traveling at night was more dangerous than before.
He went to the dorm room next door to check, but there were no empty beds there either.
“It’s already nine o’clock. So where are you going to sleep tonight?” Li Mu quickly climbed up his bed ladder, pulled the blanket up to his neck, and poked his head out to look down. “Sleeping on the floor?”
“But there’s no blanket either,” Yu Fan said, clearly frustrated. Then he turned his head and glanced at Chen Zhihao’s bed, looking like he wanted to ask but wasn’t sure if he should.
He and Chen Zhihao weren’t that close, just regular friends. If he asked to share the bed, he would probably get turned down.
Sure enough, before Yu Fan could say anything, Chen Zhihao quickly shook his head. “I’m used to sleeping alone.”
Yu Fan looked at the others, but he wasn’t familiar with any of Li Mu’s other roommates. In the end, his eyes went back to Li Mu.
Li Mu immediately felt something was off. He quickly pulled his head back under the blanket, turned his body to face the wall, and started playing on his phone, pretending not to see Yu Fan.
But then, he felt the bed shaking.
“Hey, we’ve been through so much together. Sharing a bed just for one night shouldn’t be a big deal, right?”
To be fair, it wasn’t unusual for friends to share a bed in the dorm.
Li Mu had been living in the dorm for three years and had seen roommates share beds before. He never thought it was weird. In fact, he kind of admired that kind of close friendship.
But, his body was currently becoming more feminine! And he wasn’t even that close with Yu Fan!
“I do mind.”
“It’s fine. Your bed’s not that big, but I think I can still fit.”
Yu Fan grinned and tried to climb up, but Li Mu suddenly pulled his body back, then stuck out his foot and pushed it toward Yu Fan’s face.
Startled, Yu Fan quickly turned his head to dodge it.
Seeing how stubborn he was, Li Mu quickly turned to Wang Chen, who was lying on another bed, and said, “Why don’t you share your bed with Yu Fan tonight? I’ll give you my sister’s WeChat tomorrow.”
Wang Chen’s eyes lit up. Without a second thought, he moved over and made space. “You better not be lying.”
Yu Fan finally gave up and slowly climbed onto Wang Chen’s bed, still mumbling, “We’ve been through thick and thin together, and now even sharing a bed is a problem.”
“Heh,” Li Mu replied coldly and lay back down.
Sitting on Wang Chen’s bed, Yu Fan looked around and asked, “Is it a little crowded?”
Neither of them was fat, but Wang Chen had a strong, muscular build from all his workouts. And Yu Fan was tall, over 180 cm, with a big frame.
The two of them tried to lie down together but quickly realized it only worked if one of them slept on their side.
“Wait… you didn’t take a shower, did you?” Wang Chen suddenly noticed.
“Then lend me some clothes?” Yu Fan said confidently. “Besides, your bed smells like sweat and I didn’t even complain! Look at Li Mu’s bed, it smells nice!”
Li Mu slightly lifted his head and casually threw a Stitch plushie at him.