Chapter 87: A Solution
As the homeroom teacher, Yang Ye had to fully understand his students' physical and mental well-being, especially for those who lived in the dorms.
Otherwise, if something happened, he'd be fired directly, like the homeroom teacher of the class next door, and never allowed to be a teacher again.
Recently, he had been paying even more attention to Li Mu. After all, this student seemed to be getting... prettier? Not that he was a pervert or anything, it was just that when a boy suddenly starts to look more beautiful, something is definitely going on.
Then he noticed that Li Mu might be into wearing girls’ clothes.
A prettier appearance combined with cross-dressing? It actually made sense.
A boy who wants to dress like a girl would probably try all kinds of ways to make himself look more attractive. Honestly, this kind of story didn’t feel out of place at all when it came to Li Mu.
Maybe his quiet personality was because he was hiding his desire to cross-dress?
But now... Yang Ye was starting to doubt everything.
“Are you sure that’s not Li Mu?”
“It’s really not,” Yu Fan said with a helpless sigh.
He usually only lied in a joking way and didn’t have much experience lying seriously, so now he was feeling nervous, worried that Yang Ye might catch on.
Yang Ye nodded. “Then go call Li Mu here.”
“???”
“Um...” Yu Fan scratched his head so hard it felt like his hair might fall out.
What now?
Could Li Mu create a clone of himself? Probably not, right?
He had no choice but to take out his phone and, with some hesitation, dialed Li Mu’s number.
The call connected quickly.
“Hello.” The voice on the other end sounded unfamiliar.
“Put it on speaker,” Yang Ye said.
Yu Fan turned on speakerphone and asked, “Is Li Mu there?”
“Oh, hey, Yu Fan. Li Mu said he climbed over the school wall to go use the internet,” came the reply, it was Wu Lei, Li Mu’s deskmate. “He left his phone in the classroom, and I can’t find him right now.”
That excuse might work for now, but it wouldn’t last forever.
Yu Fan mumbled to himself and looked up at Yang Ye, who now had a very dark expression on his face.
“Li Mu’s even climbing the wall to skip class now?”
“He really did. A while ago, he even snuck out at night to hang out with me,” Yu Fan said, sounding very confident.
Yang Ye nearly cursed out loud. Was it really okay to admit something like that in front of a teacher?
“Forget it,” he sighed, starting to wonder if Li Mu had some special reason for dressing like a girl.
He had heard before that Li Mu planned to take part in the singing contest with Yu Fan as himself, but then, for some reason, he suddenly switched to pretending to be his “sister.”
Of course, there was also the small chance that she really was Li Mu’s sister.
But unless someone saw both Li Mu and “Li Juan” together at the same time, it was hard to prove either way.
When they got back to the room, they found “Li Juan” still softly humming the song. The way “Li Juan” gently moved her head to the music made her look just like a simple, sweet girl next door.
Honestly, it was a huge difference from the usual Li Mu.
Yang Ye even started wondering if Li Mu had been possessed by a ghost or something. Then, he began to doubt his own judgment again.
Maybe... maybe she really was Li Mu’s sister?
He walked into the classroom and casually tested Li Mu by saying, “Tomorrow is the sports day. Help me write a cheer-up message.”
“Huh?” Xiao Jing turned her head and looked at him with a confused face. “I won’t be here tomorrow.”
That was true, Xiao Jing would be staying inside the mirror tomorrow.
Yang Ye kept a straight face while observing this so-called Li Juan, but he still couldn’t spot anything unusual.
They really didn’t seem like the same person.
At least, the personality was totally different.
Feeling even more puzzled, Yang Ye quietly finished teaching the vocal class. He reminded the two students to practice regularly and then left to return to the teacher’s dormitory.
As soon as he left, Li Mu’s expression suddenly changed. He looked downcast, and after a short moment, his face turned red. He quickly pulled his hood over his head.
“I need to go home for a bit,” Li Mu said softly.
Even when asking for something, this guy usually beats around the bush. He was just too shy.
Yu Fan could tell that Li Mu was no longer being controlled by Xiao Jing, or he wouldn’t be acting this embarrassed.
He also understood what Li Mu really meant and smiled with squinted eyes. “Alright, I’ll wait for you.”
Li Mu pretended to stay calm and nodded, then turned and walked into the bathroom. A moment later, the cool and serious-looking boy came back out.
First, he asked Yu Fan to call Wu Lei so he could get his phone back. Then, he hid his girl’s outfit back into the wardrobe in the dorm. After that, he followed Yu Fan out of the school gate.
Even when he was sitting on the back seat of Yu Fan’s electric scooter, Li Mu still felt nervous and uneasy.
“What are you thinking? Do you really want Yang Ye to believe you have an actual sister?”
“Yeah,” Li Mu said with a flat tone.
He just couldn’t accept letting others know he wore girls’ clothes, especially not someone older like Yang Ye.
It’s like how a boy who likes cross-dressing might be okay with telling his friends or even dressing up with them, but he would never tell his parents.
“Then you’ll have to show up in front of Yang Ye with your so-called sister,” Yu Fan pointed out.
“I’m working on that,” Li Mu mumbled. “Xiao Jing said she can turn into the way I look when dressed as a girl.”
As a spirit inside the mirror, Xiao Jing always showed herself using the appearance of someone else. Li Mu used to think she couldn’t control how she looked and could only copy other people. But yesterday, he finally learned that she just enjoyed messing around.
However, Xiao Jing really couldn’t return to how she looked when she was alive.
Yu Fan thought for a moment and said, “But the problem is, Xiao Jing has never left the mirror in ghost form, right? And Yang Ye can’t see ghosts.”
“She stays in the mirror because she’s scared of dying. As for Yang Ye... we can trick him into doing a ghost-communication game.”
“A game, huh... Winter Clothing Festival is coming up. Maybe we can plan something.”
The Winter Clothing Festival, along with Tomb Sweeping Day and the Ghost Festival, is one of the three big festivals related to ghosts, though it’s not as well-known as the other two.
Yu Fan sighed, feeling a headache coming on. “What kind of bad idea is that? Just explain things clearly. This is way too much trouble. What if that ghost-summoning game brings in real ghosts?”
“......”
“Alright, I get it. You’re shy. I’ll help you come up with something, but forget about the ghost-summoning thing.” His electric scooter stopped outside Lin Xi’s apartment complex. He turned around and noticed that Li Mu looked a bit gloomy.
He grinned, his smile extra warm. The golden light of the setting sun made him look like sunshine itself. “Go talk to Aunt Cai. I’ll figure something out for you. Don’t walk around with a sad face all the time. Didn’t Yang Ye say you look good when you smile?”
“And don’t look cold in front of Aunt Cai either. Hurry up. I still have to go help Chen Yi tonight.”
Li Mu was stunned for a second, then quickly turned away and got off the scooter.
Even though he usually thought Yu Fan’s sunny smile was just him being sarcastic, during heavy moments like this, that smile really did feel comforting.
“You go ahead and take care of your things. My home isn't far from here. I’ll treat you to a meal another time.”
“Oh? How about tomorrow then?”
Li Mu stopped mid-step, turned around, and glared at Yu Fan.
You're doing this on purpose, aren't you! Can't you tell I was just being polite?