Chapter 123: On Campus
They had originally asked for two days off, but in the end, they only used one day.
In the afternoon, Yu Fan lay on his desk like he had no will to live, almost falling asleep.
Li Mu hadn’t slept well all night either. He stared at the teacher on the podium with tired, lifeless eyes, resting his chin on one hand, but he couldn’t understand a single word.
He wanted to rest his head on the desk and nap, but right now he couldn’t do that at all. It would hurt too much.
It wasn’t until the end of the school day that Li Mu felt a little more awake.
Wu Lei, who sat next to him, turned to look at him, then glanced at Yu Fan.
He suddenly realized something. “Did you guys stay out all night?”
“Sort of,” Li Mu replied casually.
Then he saw Yu Fan walking over and saying, “Let’s live together outside the school.”
“???”
“The homeroom teacher already said it, right? He’s not okay with you living alone outside. So I’ll stay with you.”
“No way.”
Li Mu still wasn’t sure if this guy was gay, so there was no chance he’d walk into that kind of situation on purpose. He wasn’t some lovestruck girl, after all.
Yu Fan still sat down next to Li Mu and added, “But living in the dorm isn’t safe.”
“What’s not safe about it?” This time, Wang Chen, who was sitting behind them, spoke up.
Li Mu and Yu Fan both turned to look at Wang Chen like he was a villain, making him freeze for a second.
If it weren’t for Wang Chen, Yu Fan wouldn’t even be thinking about having Li Mu move out. At most, he would’ve just reminded Li Mu to keep a low profile in the dorm.
But what Wang Chen said before was way too creepy. Whether he just wanted to mess with Li Mu or was actually serious about chasing him, the guy was clearly a weirdo.
Li Mu felt a headache coming on as he packed his books.
He had planned to work hard this semester and get into a good university. But so many things kept happening, and recently he hadn’t been paying attention in class or taking notes.
The tests and quizzes they’d gotten back lately were hard for him to even start, so he had to copy answers from classmates.
He used to be around the top ten in the class, but now he was probably at the bottom.
After tidying up his desk, he looked up and asked Yu Fan, “Can you go borrow some notes?”
“Borrow notes?”
Most students in class only wrote well enough to understand themselves. When it came to class notes, the handwriting was usually so messy that no one else could read it.
After thinking for a bit, Yu Fan looked over at Wang Ruoyan. “Wang Ruoyan’s notes should be okay. At least you can read them.”
“Then go ask her.”
But Yu Fan quickly shook his head. “Can’t. Ever since those girls found out I have a girlfriend, they’ve stopped talking to me. If I go up to her, it might look weird.”
The “girlfriend” he was talking about was actually Li Mu in disguise, dressed as a girl.
Even though a few people had already found out, luckily Yang Ye and Wang Chen weren’t the gossiping type, so the secret hadn’t spread.
“How about my notes?” Wang Chen suddenly offered his notebook from behind. “They’re a bit messy though.”
Li Mu froze for a second, then looked super grossed out. “No thanks.”
He immediately stood up and walked out of the classroom. Yu Fan quickly followed behind him.
“I have to go home tonight, I can’t stay in the dorm,” Yu Fan said as he walked beside Li Mu. “Last time I stayed over, my dad scolded me.”
“Okay,” Li Mu replied casually. He didn’t really care whether Yu Fan stayed in the dorm or not.
“Then I’ll head out first?”
“Don’t ask me,” Li Mu said helplessly as he turned to look at him. “Just cancel the rental on that house in the village area.”
“That might not be a good idea,” Yu Fan scratched his head. “What if you really need it one day?”
He smiled brightly. “You know your situation right now. Living in the boys’ dorm is kind of risky. You should keep asking the homeroom teacher for permission to live off-campus. Or maybe just say you’re going home to live?”
“The homeroom teacher’s not stupid.”
Yang Ye knew where his house was, so he also knew that even if Li Mu took the earliest bus in the morning, he still wouldn’t make it to class on time.
Before, he always got a ride from Yu Fan. Even though the electric scooter was slow, it was still faster than the stop-and-go public bus.
“Besides, my dormmates are pretty nice.”
Even though he didn’t talk much with them, after two months together, he felt sure there weren’t any crazy troublemakers in the dorm.
They were all the kind of guys who wouldn’t even move if a naked girl stood in front of them. Basically, shy virgins.
Yu Fan left first.
For some reason, a little wave of loneliness hit Li Mu after he left.
Maybe he had spent too much time with Yu Fan lately and had gotten used to hanging out with him all day.
It felt kind of like when you were a kid and a favorite cousin came to visit, and when they left, you’d feel sad too.
He went to the cafeteria by himself.
Looking at the crowd of students packed around the food counter, he instinctively turned and said, “You go stand in line.”
But behind him was just a confused student who had just walked in.
For the past few days, he had eaten almost every meal with Yu Fan and gotten used to letting him stand in line while he saved a seat.
With no choice, he rolled up his sleeves and went to squeeze in and fight for food with the crowd.
Since not all students lived on campus, and there were many cheap and tasty restaurants outside, there was never quite enough food in the school cafeteria.
If he waited until this crowd cleared out, he probably wouldn’t even get any meat.
Maybe because his body was getting more feminine, things actually went more smoothly this time. As he pushed through the line, the students in front turned to look at his face, blushed a little, and automatically made space for him.
But instead of feeling happy, like when Wang Chen used to give him snacks to please him, this time he felt kind of... embarrassed.
I’m a guy, okay?!
What are you blushing for?!
He finally got to the front of the line, and the cafeteria lady in a mask looked up and asked, “What would you like, young lady?”
“I’m a guy,” Li Mu couldn’t help replying. “One fried chicken leg.”
It was one thing to get teased about his looks by Chen Yi and the fortune-teller lady, but even strangers now thought he was a girl?
“You're so pretty,” the lady chuckled and didn’t believe him. She happily put the biggest drumstick on his plate and said, “A tall girl like you shouldn't be so thin.”
Even though Li Mu weighed over 100 pounds, his height was over 170 cm, so he still looked slim overall.
Except for his chest...
He was starting to think all his body fat had gone there.
Too tired to keep arguing with the lady, Li Mu just ordered two meat dishes and one veggie, then paid by scanning his phone.
The food looked about 10–20% more generous than usual. Probably another “bonus” from his face.
That made him even more annoyed.
Not even Yu Fan was around, so he had no one to vent to.
Yu Fan had a good personality and didn’t lose his temper. No matter how impatient or cranky Li Mu sounded, he never minded.
Li Mu angrily pushed his way out of the crowd, holding his tray, only to look up and see that there were no empty seats left in the cafeteria.