Chapter 101: The Fool Is Here
Other than going to the hospital for a check-up, Li Mu didn’t leave the house at all that day.
After Ren Tianyou dropped him off, he went to get the car repaired. Meanwhile, since the afternoon, Li Mu had been busy cleaning the entire house.
Some people, when feeling down, like to lie around and do nothing, letting their mind wander and making themselves feel even worse.
But Li Mu preferred to stay busy, doing something or anything, to keep his mind from overthinking.
It wasn’t until evening that he finally slowed down and lay down on the bed, exhausted. He stared at the ceiling, his throat dry and his heart full of unspoken frustration.
‘How did I end up becoming a woman?’
Even though his “little brother” was still there, the doctor said that with a small surgery, he could become a complete woman.
Just like how many college graduates feel lost about the future, Li Mu also felt confused. He had no idea what his life would be like from now on.
It felt like ever since his parents disappeared, his life had already gone off the usual path.
Now with this change, turning into a woman, it was like being forced off a bumpy road and thrown onto a river path instead.
And the problem was… he didn’t know how to swim.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Li Mu stood up and went to open it. It was Ren Tianyou, back from the car repair shop.
"Xiao Mu, what did you say earlier?" Ren Tianyou walked in carrying a bag of snacks, smiling as he asked.
It wasn’t that he had bad hearing, he just couldn’t believe what he thought he heard before. Maybe the car accident messed with his head?
"......"
"You cleaned up the whole place? Pretty hardworking."
"Why is your house always so cold? Maybe the developer used cheap materials when building it."
He chuckled and handed a bag of chips to Li Mu. Then he fell quiet, not sure what to say next.
After a long pause, he carefully asked, "Maybe you should get another detailed check-up?"
"This doesn’t seem right. Could the doctor have made a mistake?" Ren Tianyou scratched his head in confusion. Everything about this situation felt strange to him.
He’d known Li Mu for four or five years. They were as close as brothers.
But how had he never noticed that Li Mu might actually be a girl?
And that face, Li Mu’s now very feminine face, had only changed in the past month or so, right?
During the National Day holiday, Li Mu still looked like a normal guy. Maybe his body looked a bit unusual, but the doctor back then only said it was because of bad eating habits.
"If nothing’s wrong, then you can go now. Don’t tell Auntie." Li Mu grabbed the snacks and turned to go back inside.
Watching Li Mu’s back, Ren Tianyou called out, "I’ll just leave the snacks on the table. Get some rest tonight. Do you want me to help you take Monday and Tuesday off so you can go for more check-ups?"
"No need."
Ren Tianyou sighed, put the snacks down, and turned to leave, mumbling to himself, "Something just doesn’t feel right..."
As the door closed behind him, Li Mu paused for a moment, then walked back to the living room.
He curled up on the sofa, hugged the snacks, and started stuffing them into his mouth.
His whole body ached from all the cleaning, so now he just tried to eat away his stress.
He stared blankly at the TV, where a variety show was playing.
Why does Xiao Jing always like watching these shows?
It was always either a variety show or some idol drama.
If no one else was around, or if it was just Li Mu, Xiao Jing would sometimes laugh out loud at the TV in weird ways.
But today, she’d been unusually quiet. If it weren’t for the low room temperature that felt unnatural, he might’ve thought she was just sleeping.
He tried hard to fill his mind with other thoughts, but slowly, even his hand that was grabbing the chips began to slow down. In the end, he lay flat on the sofa.
Maybe because he was already mentally prepared, he couldn’t even cry.
“Lin Xi, you really messed me up...”
By nature, Li Mu was a calm and logical person. Even though he felt down now, he was mostly thinking about the future.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
Regarding his identity, Chen Yi had said before that he could help sort it out.
As for his social life, it wasn’t a big problem. In just a few months, the spring exams would be over, and he’d graduate and leave school.
Then, he could change his identity and go to university as a girl.
The timing was actually pretty good. Once he started university, no one around him would know who he used to be. No one would know he was once a boy.
The only relative he really needed to worry about was his grandpa. He would need to be careful with his feelings and hopefully keep it all hidden. He’d also have to say that he never planned to get married. After all, it wasn’t likely that he’d marry another man as a woman.
And the neighbor aunt, even though she cared about him, was just a neighbor. She wouldn’t be able to say much about this kind of thing.
Thinking about it this way, maybe becoming a woman at this point in life wasn’t so bad?
He paused, then raised his head and looked at the door, which had just been knocked again.
“Brother Tianyou, can’t I just have some peace and quiet?”
He got up from the sofa and opened the door, only to see that annoying smiling face standing outside.
“What is peace and quiet?”
So it was this fool again!
Why was he always around, even on weekends?
For some reason, just seeing this guy made Li Mu feel a little better.
Even though he and Yu Fan always teased and messed with each other, he had to admit that spending time with Yu Fan was actually kind of fun. Since meeting him, Li Mu had even started to become more cheerful.
“Xiao Jing said you went out and came back acting all weird, so I came to check on you.”
Without waiting for an invitation, Yu Fan squeezed into the house, mumbling as he looked around, “You don’t seem like you’re in a bad mood, though?”
“Xiao Jing?”
Li Mu turned to look at the mirror on the table, and the phone placed in front of it.
In the mirror, Xiao Jing, who looked like a mini version of Li Mu, tilted her head up proudly with a smug face that said, ‘Yep, that’s me! Hurry up and praise me!’
Li Mu wanted to smash that mirror.
“It’s nothing,” he said coldly, turning back to the sofa. He added, “Close the door.”
“Got it~”
Yu Fan happily closed the door, sat down next to Li Mu, and threw an arm over his shoulder.
“So what happened? Come on, tell me. I need some gossip to cheer me up.”
At first, Li Mu felt like maybe he should say something, but the moment he saw Yu Fan’s annoying grin, he completely lost the desire to talk. He turned his head away in disgust.
“Hey, come on! We’ve been through thick and thin together. We’ve even slept in the same bed and performed on stage together! Aren’t we brothers?”
When Li Mu stayed silent, Yu Fan acted all dramatic, “Don’t tell me you don’t see me as a brother anymore!”
“Never in the first place.”
Yu Fan was speechless for a second but quickly smiled again. “You’re just shy, that’s all.”
Stop being so full of yourself!
Li Mu moved away from him on the sofa with a very annoyed expression.
Right now, in Yu Fan’s eyes, he was only becoming girly. But even so, he has already been tricked many times.
If Yu Fan ever found out that he had actually become a girl… wouldn't he be tricked to death?