Chapter 182: The Aunt Next Door
Li Mu noticed that her hair seemed to grow faster than most people’s.
It had only been a month or two since her last haircut, but her bangs were already long enough to almost cover her eyes.
Even though she was wearing men’s clothes, no one would mistake her for a guy at this point.
Thankfully, she was slowly getting used to being a girl. She had gotten used to using sanitary pads, wearing women’s underwear, and even started to accept the more feminine way she felt inside.
That evening, she rode home on Yu Fan’s electric scooter.
The competition was tomorrow. According to Yang Ye, she should buy a decent-looking women’s outfit instead of going on stage wearing the black unisex outfit she had. That really wouldn’t look right.
Yu Fan was sitting on the couch, helping Xiao Jing braid her hair. Li Mu sat beside him, looking at women’s clothes online on her phone, so she wouldn’t get overwhelmed when they went out shopping.
“Let’s eat out after we buy the clothes, okay?” Yu Fan asked, still working on the braids.
“Okay.”
“What kind of clothes are you thinking of getting?”
“Well, it’s winter, so I’m not buying a skirt, that’s for sure.”
Li Mu turned her phone screen toward Yu Fan. “Something like this?”
The model on the screen was wearing a mid-length brown trench coat and dark blue skinny jeans. That kind of outfit could hide her figure and didn’t feel too feminine. Most importantly, the coat looked really cool.
She imagined herself in sunglasses, wearing that outfit. It would look sharp and stylish.
“Trench coats are pretty expensive, right?”
“True.”
Even though she made some extra money recently during their trip to Yingfeng Town, Li Mu still didn’t feel like spending hundreds of yuan on a coat.
Even online, decent ones cost at least over a hundred, and the quality might not even be good.
She lowered her head and continued browsing, muttering as she scrolled.
“Blazers look too grown-up... padded jackets are too thick... it’s only about ten degrees out, wearing that would make me sweat like crazy... and wool sweaters show off your body too much...”
So hard to choose.
“What do you mean show off your body?”
Yu Fan perked up at those words and leaned over to take a look. He saw a white, tight-fitting turtleneck sweater that really showed off the model’s chest.
“This one’s perfect!” he said.
“What?”
“I think it suits you really well,” he said seriously. “Besides, it’s not too cold here, so with that sweater, you won’t even need a jacket. Saves money too.”
Yu Fan already knew what kind of person Li Mu was. She had grown up poor, so she wasn’t used to spending money on herself.
Of course, she could be generous when it mattered. For things like class reunions, she always paid her share without complaint.
“Won’t that look too plain?”
“No way. Students don’t need to dress so fancy. Yang Ye just said to wear something a bit more feminine. It’s not like he told you to wear a dress or something.”
“But…”
Li Mu was still a bit unsure. Her body had mostly stopped changing now, but her bra size had already reached 34C. For someone who used to be a guy, it was hard to accept.
Having more soft flesh didn’t feel like an advantage. It just got in the way. No matter what size it was, it still felt too big.
Wearing a loose coat helped hide it during normal days. But if she had to wear something that showed her figure, it made her uncomfortable.
“I really think it’ll look great on you,” Yu Fan said sincerely.
“Fine.” Li Mu gave in with a sigh and nodded. “Let’s go see if we can find something like this in the shops.”
As Li Mu opened the door and was about to put on her shoes, she suddenly noticed the door across the hallway opening too.
She froze for a moment, and saw the auntie from next door stepping out. When the woman looked up and saw the pretty girl in front of her, she also froze in surprise.
“Are you... Li Mu’s girlfriend?”
“Uh…”
Li Mu didn’t know what to say and stood there awkwardly.
Yu Fan was about to come out as well, but when he saw Li Mu standing frozen at the door and heard an unfamiliar voice outside, he stopped himself.
He quickly patted Xiao Jing on the back and said, “It might be someone who knows Li Mu. You should go hide.”
If it was someone who had known Xiao Jing when she was alive, things could get really complicated.
Not everyone was so easy to fool.
Xiao Jing nodded and quickly ran into the bedroom to hide.
In the hallway, after a moment of silence between Li Mu and the auntie, Li Mu turned around and said in a small, embarrassed voice.
“I am Li Mu.”
The auntie usually ran a small supermarket in the neighborhood and was very busy. She cared about Li Mu, but because she was often working, she usually asked Ren Tianyou to check on Li Mu instead.
So except for seeing Li Mu once during the National Day holiday, she hadn’t seen her lately. Now, looking at the girl in front of her, the auntie felt that she looked really familiar.
Even though Li Mu now looked just like a girl, her eyes, eyebrows, and facial features hadn’t changed much.
“You’re... Li Mu?” the auntie asked after looking closely for a while, sounding unsure.
“I…” Li Mu didn’t know how to answer.
She thought about saying she was Li Mu’s cousin, which might have worked, but after the spring exams, she would be living at home full-time. Then she would be running into the auntie all the time, there would be no way to keep lying.
The auntie seemed like an open-minded person, but Li Mu still wasn’t sure if she could accept the fact that the boy from before had become a girl.
Her hand held tightly onto the doorframe, and she nervously looked at the auntie.
“Why do you… look more and more like a girl now?”
The auntie stepped closer in her slippers, studying Li Mu from head to toe.
Her face still had a trace of the old look, but her body...
Li Mu hadn’t put on her coat yet, and her chest was clearly noticeable. Her jeans showed her slim legs and wider hips. She stood with her legs pressed tightly together, looking nervous and a little scared.
Her face tried to stay calm and cool, but she couldn’t hide the panic in her eyes.
No matter how you looked at her, she looked like an innocent young girl in every way.
Li Mu lowered her head, blushing from the auntie’s stare. And this was just the neighbor auntie, with no blood relation. If she had to face her grandfather like this…
“Where are you going now?”
“Going to buy some clothes.”
Li Mu explained, lips pressed together.
“Oh, alright then.”
The auntie clearly didn’t know how to talk to this now unfamiliar version of Li Mu either. She quickly went back into her apartment, came out again with some fruit, and said, “Remember to eat more fruit.”
“Okay.”
Li Mu reached up to the top of the shoe cabinet and grabbed her coat, putting it on to hide the shape of her chest.
Only then did the auntie stop staring at her chest, and instead looked at her legs.
“Why do you seem a bit shorter than before?”
“Not really.”
She had been measured during a physical test, and she really had shrunk a little.
But she wasn’t too upset. After all, a girl who’s 170 cm tall is still quite tall and stands out easily.