Chapter 165: A Late-Night Encounter
Yu Fan's family was doing fairly well.
His father had an accident years ago and walked with a limp, but thanks to money he saved up before and some good luck, he invested in a factory.
The yearly profits from that investment were enough to support the whole family. His mother had left when Yu Fan was just two years old.
When he was about ten, his stepmother came into the family with her son, Yu Miao. In the blink of an eye, eight years had passed.
Yu Miao’s last name had been changed later on, and Yu Fan’s relationship with his younger brother was pretty good. But he never really liked his stepmother, so even now, he only called her "Auntie."
The night was getting late.
Whenever he was on break from school, Yu Fan was used to staying up late. Tonight was no different.
He sat in front of his computer, doodling random lines with his drawing tablet. His eyes, however, were staring out the window into the night, full of thoughts.
He wondered if Li Mu was crying in her room again, maybe feeling upset about her gender.
She was probably already asleep by now. Back in the dorms, she usually went to bed around eleven.
Liu Shenglong was visiting her house tonight, he shouldn't cause any trouble. What Yu Fan worried more about was Xiao Jing possibly getting greedy and trying to eat him, or just holding his head and bullying him.
“Don’t stay in your room playing on the computer all the time. Go out and get some fresh air if you can,” Yu Jiancheng, his father, noticed the light coming from Yu Fan’s room and knocked on the door, giving him a reminder.
“Got it.”
“It’s time for you to sleep.”
“Okay.”
Yu Fan answered casually. When he was at home, he rarely left his room except for meals or to wash up.
Maybe he was still going through his rebellious phase, or maybe he just really liked being alone.
A little later, he turned away from the night view outside the window, opened a game, and sent a message to Li Mu online.
“Dota?”
There was no reply.
He closed the game right after entering the main screen.
The truth was, Yu Fan just wanted to hear Li Mu’s voice, or maybe show off his gaming skills a little in front of her. But when she didn’t respond, he lost interest in playing.
The sound of footsteps outside his room faded away, and when he looked through the crack under the door, he couldn’t see any light either.
His family was probably all asleep.
It was late at night, and he didn’t feel like drawing or playing games anymore, so he decided to go outside for some fresh air. He figured he’d stop by the 24-hour convenience store and grab a few snacks.
Even though their area was a bit out of the way, and it was only a small town, there was still a 24-hour store nearby, about a 10-minute walk away.
The streets were quiet, and a light rain was falling. Yu Fan didn’t bring an umbrella. He just walked slowly through the drizzle and felt his mood start to calm down.
“Welcome!”
When he finally reached the store, the glass door opened with a soft electronic sound. Yu Fan looked inside and froze for a moment.
“What a coincidence! You came out to buy snacks too?”
Li Mu had just finished paying for her snacks, and they ran into each other at the door.
Their neighborhoods weren’t far from each other, only about a ten-minute ride by electric scooter, and this store happened to be right between them.
“Why are you still awake? I sent you a message and you didn’t reply. I thought you were already asleep,” Yu Fan’s face lit up with a bright, cheerful smile. Just seeing Li Mu made his mood feel a lot better.
“I probably didn’t notice it while I was walking,” Li Mu muttered as she pulled out her phone and checked. Sure enough, she saw Yu Fan’s message.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I was going to watch a movie with Xiao Jing.”
“Perfect timing. I can’t sleep either.”
Yu Fan walked into the store with a cheerful smile and started picking out snacks. As he did, he casually asked, "How about I buy some snacks and we watch the movie at your place together?"
"Then where would you sleep?" Li Mu didn’t leave right away. She stood by the door and waited. "Liu Shenglong is in the living room. If you sleep there, it’ll be cold."
Liu Shenglong’s ghostly presence only affected a small area. Unlike Xiao Jing, who could influence the whole house. At most, it would only make the living room colder.
"Then I’ll just sleep on the floor in your room."
Now that Yu Fan had money, he didn’t hold back. He picked out over a hundred yuan worth of snacks, a whole big bag, to show how sincere he was.
But Li Mu wasn’t clueless. When she saw how eager he looked, she instantly realized what he was up to.
Was he trying to flirt with her or something?
Even though she had only fully become female today, and her mind hadn’t fully adjusted, her sense of caution around guys was already strong. Especially after what happened last time when she passed out in the bathtub.
"Sure, the more people, the livelier." She nodded without showing much expression.
After paying, Yu Fan turned and walked over to Li Mu. He also reached over and took the shopping bag from her hands, then stepped out of the store first.
Li Mu followed behind him with empty hands, yawning every now and then, clearly looking a bit sleepy.
Once outside, Yu Fan pulled out an umbrella he had just bought in the store. One hand held two shopping bags, and the other opened the umbrella, holding it over Li Mu’s head.
"You’re on your period and still went out without an umbrella? You’re going to catch a cold and be in pain."
"I didn’t notice it was raining when I left."
Yu Fan glanced at Li Mu’s shopping bag and saw that it didn’t actually have many snacks. Most of it was different brands of pads.
Maybe since she’s never used them before, she bought a few kinds to try?
He tilted the umbrella more toward Li Mu, so that most of it covered her. Half of his own body was left in the rain, but he didn’t feel cold at all. In fact, he felt unusually excited.
"I think the weather’s getting colder tomorrow. It’ll drop by ten degrees. Make sure to wear more clothes."
"I know."
"Is Liu Shenglong behaving himself at your place? He didn’t cause any trouble, right?"
"No."
Li Mu stayed quiet like she usually did, and it made Yu Fan feel a little nervous.
He noticed that sometimes, when she was with him, she seemed really happy. But other times, like now, she seemed distant and cold. He couldn’t figure out how she really felt about him.
After staying quiet for a few minutes, Li Mu looked up at him with a confused expression.
Why wasn’t this guy being chatty like usual today?
After thinking for a moment, she took the initiative and asked, "What’s your family like? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk about it."
Yu Fan already knew all about her family's matters, including the feminization and dealing with ghosts, but she didn’t know much about Yu Fan’s family.
"My family?" Yu Fan thought for a moment.
"My dad doesn’t work. He stays home all day studying stocks or playing online card games. My little brother is in his third year of middle school, so he’s pretty busy too."
"And then there’s my stepmom..."
"Stepmom?"
"Yeah. My parents divorced when I was little. My brother is her son from before."
Li Mu nodded, a bit curious, and asked, "Since you live at school, didn’t your family say anything?"
"They did, but I didn’t listen. After a while, they just stopped bothering me."
It sounds like when Yu Fan is at home, he’s not as cheerful as he seems on the outside...
They had reached Li Mu’s neighborhood.
Yu Fan didn’t seem to want to talk more about his family, so he changed the subject. "What movie are we watching tonight?"
"Horror movie, maybe?"