Chapter 108: What a Big Mess
After the three of them looked at each other for a while, it was finally Li Mu who made the decision.
“Alright then, just clean it up a bit and make it look neat,” he said, pressing his lips together and looking up at himself in the mirror.
The barber hadn’t really started cutting yet, only the bangs were trimmed, which didn’t matter much.
But the problem was, once his hair got shorter, Yang Ye would clearly notice the change and realize that the “older sister” was actually just Li Mu in girls’ clothes.
He was screwed.
Wearing a wig wouldn’t help either. Even if he bought a wig that looked like his old hairstyle, fake hair was easy to tell apart. Unless it was a very expensive real-hair wig.
But he didn’t have that kind of time or money.
Well, when the car gets to the mountain, there’ll be a way through. If he gets found out, then so be it. At most, Yang Ye, his homeroom teacher, would scold him a bit. Still, just imagining an adult finding out he wore women’s clothes… that would be seriously embarrassing.
The barber hadn’t touched the scissors again. He looked at Li Mu, then turned to Yu Fan. “So... is it okay now?”
“Go ahead,” Yu Fan said as he rubbed his temples and sat back down.
About half an hour later, Li Mu’s haircut was done.
It still looked like his usual hairstyle, just neater. His bangs were trimmed short so they wouldn’t block his eyes, and the hair on the sides and the back of his head was slightly cleaned up so it didn’t look messy.
But overall, it was still shorter than before.
Yu Fan’s warning had come too late. If he’d spoken up earlier, Li Mu wouldn’t have gotten the haircut at all.
Another half hour passed, and Yu Fan also finished his haircut. The two of them then left the barbershop and randomly picked a fast food place in the village area to sit down.
Since the haircut had taken more than an hour, they had missed lunchtime. There were only a few customers left in the shop.
They each got their food and sat in a quiet corner. Li Mu had already put the earlier frustration behind him. As he ate, he asked Yu Fan, “What did Chen Yi say to you earlier? Was it about me?”
“Can’t tell you,” Yu Fan replied while eating, not even looking up.
Li Mu paused, then tried to bribe him.
“I’m paying for this meal, you know?”
“You forgot? I paid for the crayfish, barbecue, and beer the other night. You got drunk and threw up all over the place, and I was the one who cleaned it up.”
“You always say we’re brothers, but you won’t even tell me this?”
Yu Fan finally looked up at him, laughed, and said, “But you’re always saying we’re not brothers, remember?”
Li Mu put on a serious face, which now could honestly be called pretty, and said solemnly, “We’re brothers who’ve been through thick and thin, slept side by side, and fought ghosts together, even if we don’t share the same parents!”
But Yu Fan just kept eating with no interest, muttering like he was a bit annoyed, “You never say stuff like that normally.”
So difficult to deal with.
He should be nicer to Yu Fan more often. At the very least, he shouldn’t have argued when Yu Fan called them brothers.
After a short silence, Li Mu forced a smile on his face. “Yu Fan, can you tell me now?”
“You’re smiling like it hurts,” Yu Fan said, shaking his head.
“……”
Li Mu took a deep breath and pulled out the video he recorded that night. He held up his phone in front of Yu Fan. “Really not gonna tell me?”
In the video, the two of them could be heard talking.
“You usually cast spells with what?”
“Of course with Asuna doujinshi!”
Yu Fan glanced at the screen and chuckled, shaking his head. “You don’t seriously think that can be used to threaten me, right?”
“You don’t seriously think that’s the only thing I recorded, do you?”
Yu Fan suddenly froze but still acted tough, giving a snort. “I’m not saying anything! I never give in to pressure!”
Li Mu understood what that meant. Yu Fan probably wanted him to play nice, like act cute or sweet-talk him.
Forget it, if he didn’t want to tell, then fine. After all, he had already turned into a girl. Back when his parents left, they didn’t ask him to look for them, or even say goodbye. So getting involved in stuff like this again just felt pointless.
But he was still really upset.
After just five minutes of eating, Li Mu was too angry to eat anymore. He put down his chopsticks and pulled out his phone to play.
“These days they’re promoting not wasting food. You’ll be a bad example for kids like this,” Yu Fan said, glancing at the half-finished meal on Li Mu’s plate.
Li Mu hesitated, then suddenly started eating again, like the food had done something wrong to him.
Because the haircut had taken a while, by the time they finished lunch and got back to school, class was about to start again.
That afternoon was class with their homeroom teacher, Yang Ye, and Li Mu was even more worried.
He had to wear girls’ clothes again soon… This time, he was sure he’d be found out.
Maybe he should just say he’s not feeling well and skip class?
If it came down to it, maybe he should just admit the truth. It’s not like Yang Ye was a bad person, he probably wouldn’t tell anyone. So if he could just survive the awkward beginning, it might be okay.
While Yang Ye was teaching at the front of the class, Li Mu totally spaced out.
He rested his chin on his hand, leaned against the wall, and stared blankly at the blackboard, without really listening at all.
Next to him, Wu Lei looked uncomfortable and moved his chair away a bit. He glanced at Li Mu but didn’t say anything right away.
He was probably one of the classmates who noticed Li Mu’s changes the most.
Even his roommates didn’t know as much. After all, when Li Mu went back to the dorm, he usually just washed up and went straight to bed, playing on his phone. He didn’t talk much with his roommates.
When Yang Ye turned to write on the blackboard, Wu Lei finally couldn’t take it anymore and whispered, “Li Mu, can you move your legs a bit?”
Li Mu looked down at his own legs, which were crossed on purpose, then looked at Wu Lei’s leg, which had been pushed into the aisle. He snorted a little through his nose and ignored him.
Normally, Wu Lei always sat with his legs wide open, so Li Mu got used to sitting with his knees together, and had even been teased by Yu Fan for it.
Since he didn’t get a reply, Wu Lei scratched his head, but seeing Li Mu’s serious face, he could only mumble to himself, “You’re acting more and more like a girl these days…”
“Not just your looks, even your personality too.”
He kind of missed the way Li Mu used to be. Now that Li Mu looked so pretty, it made talking to him feel a bit weird.
Li Mu argued in his heart, ‘I’ve always had a manly personality!’ While still pretending to pay attention in class but actually daydreaming.
As he spaced out, he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small card.
It was his ID. Inside the bag Chen Yi had given him before, there had also been his household registration papers.
Li Mu looked down for a quick peek, and his heart skipped a beat. Then he quickly stuffed the card back.
His body was now a girl’s, and his ID also showed him as a girl. The only thing that could comfort him now… was that "little Li Mu" hadn’t disappeared.
That small male feature was the only thing left that helped him believe he was still a guy.
Suddenly, a strong chemical smell came from behind. Li Mu turned around and saw Wang Chen seriously applying hair wax.
This afternoon, Wang Chen was especially flashy. Not only did he style his hair neatly with wax, he also wore nerdy black-rimmed glasses and a clean white shirt. At first glance, it looked like he was going on a date.
Hmm, dressed up like this, the guy actually looked kind of okay.
Wait! A date?!
Li Mu suddenly remembered something Chen Zhihao told him last week. Wang Chen might be planning to wait for his “sister” on Monday.
So, Wang Chen was trying to go on a date with him?!
Li Mu’s scalp tingled. But just then, Yang Ye turned back around, so he quickly looked at the blackboard again, even though his mind was a complete mess.
He was about to be found out by Yang Ye… and had to deal with Wang Chen too.
Wang Chen sat right behind him. There was no way he wouldn’t notice the haircut… Even if he was a bit obsessed, once he saw Li Mu in girls’ clothes, he would definitely start to figure things out.
Damn it! Yang Ye, you really dug me a deep hole! Why did you tell me to get a haircut for no reason?!
Nope. No way. He had to skip vocal lessons today!