Chapter 203: Grandpa’s House
After taking a shower, changing clothes, and putting on a men’s wig.
Li Mu had always had a bit of a negative view of wigs. She thought they were just factory-made items, fine for taking photos or looking at from a distance, but if you got close or even touched them, you’d see right away that they were fake.
But to her surprise, the wig Yu Fan bought for her felt almost exactly like real hair, even when she touched it.
While wrapping her own hair under a wig cap, she looked curiously at Yu Fan.
“It’s real hair,” Yu Fan explained. “You know those people on the street who collect hair? The hair they collect is used to make wigs like this.”
“Really...” Li Mu mumbled.
“Some hair salons still do this too, I think.”
“I don’t really know.”
She put the wig on her head, then used the comb that came with it to tidy it up. She asked, “How much did it cost?”
“Not expensive. How pricey can a wig be?”
“True,” she said, then turned to Xiao Jing and said, “Bring me some scissors.”
“Okay!”
Yu Fan suddenly panicked. “What are you doing?”
“The bangs are too long. I’m going to trim them.”
“What if you mess it up?”
“If I mess it up, you can buy another one. There are still a few days left before New Year’s break anyway.”
Li Mu didn’t care at all. She looked in the mirror for a moment, then took the scissors from Xiao Jing and snipped right into the bangs.
The clean, sharp cut felt like it had sliced right through Yu Fan’s heart.
Xiao Jing noticed his face looked a little off and turned to ask, “Brother-in-law, what’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing.”
Yu Fan swallowed hard. This wig was probably the first gift he had ever given Li Mu. Since it was meant to help her trick her grandpa, he had specially bought a more high-end version online. A full real-hair, hand-made wig.
There were even more expensive ones, but those were out of his budget. This one had cost over a thousand yuan.
If Li Mu found out, with her personality, she’d feel terrible about it. Now, there was no way he could tell her.
“Hmm, now it doesn’t cover my eyes.”
Li Mu had cut the bangs kind of like a dog had chewed them, but after tidying them up a bit, it looked okay.
The important thing was that the bangs weren’t too long or poking into her eyes anymore. Her grandpa could accept that length.
She turned her head and looked at Yu Fan, whose face had gone a little dark. She didn’t understand at all.
“It’s just a wig, right?”
“It only cost a few dozen yuan, no big deal.”
Li Mu muttered as she stood up and looked at herself from side to side in the mirror.
Even though she was wearing a jacket, her body still looked pretty slim and feminine. Maybe only wearing thick padded clothes and pants, she could really hide it. Her grandpa probably wouldn’t notice. Even if he did, he’d just think she’d gotten skinnier.
The men’s wig on her head actually gave off a bit of a tomboy vibe, but in the end, she still looked like a girl at first glance.
“Something’s still not quite right.”
She frowned and asked Yu Fan, “Do I still look too much like a girl?”
“Maybe... your facial features?”
“That can only be fixed with makeup, I guess.”
Li Mu sighed lightly. She didn’t use any face wash or skincare products either, hoping her skin would look less pale than usual.
She was also worried her makeup might smudge and her grandpa might notice. Her makeup wasn’t fancy, just a whole set that cost only a few hundred yuan.
“Xiao Jing, you stay here. Don’t run around, and don’t break anything in Yu Fan’s house.”
Old people like her grandpa are usually a bit superstitious. If he saw Xiao Jing, he’d probably get really scared.
“Yu Fan, let’s go.”
Li Mu ignored the pouty, upset look on Xiao Jing’s face and followed Yu Fan out of the room. She even made sure to lock the door behind them.
Now there was no need to worry about Xiao Jing running out.
That guy was pretty timid, so he probably wouldn’t dare to leave his body and wander around as a ghost.
Yu Fan’s electric scooter wasn’t very big. When all three of them went out before, they had to take the bus. But with just two people, it was fine.
Li Mu sat on the back seat like she was used to it. She put on a helmet and held onto the side bars with both hands, staring blankly at the cars in the distance.
“Nervous?” Yu Fan noticed her body trembling a little.
“I’m okay.”
“If you have something on your mind, just tell me. I’m your boyfriend,” Yu Fan said as he started the scooter, slowly riding into the bike lane.
“You’re not alone, you know?” His voice sounded a little faint through the helmet, but Li Mu still heard him clearly.
“Not alone...” she repeated softly.
Maybe because she had always done everything alone for so many years, she still wasn’t used to being in a relationship.
It was still hard for her to open up to someone.
“Yeah. We’ll get married one day too. Other than the first eighteen years of life, from now on we’ll live together.”
“You’re already thinking that far ahead...?”
“Weren’t you the one who told me to think ahead?”
Yu Fan smiled. Even though she couldn’t see his face from the back seat, Li Mu could imagine his gentle smile.
“No matter what happens with your grandpa, or what might happen in the future, it’ll be the two of us...” Yu Fan’s tone became more serious, “We’ll face everything together!”
After a short silence, Li Mu finally nodded. “Okay.”
“Then why aren’t you holding onto my waist?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t couples usually do that?”
Li Mu blushed a little and shyly wrapped her arms around Yu Fan’s waist for the first time.
Her hands felt cold in the wind, so without being told, she held him tighter and slipped her hands into the pockets of his coat. But she still made sure to keep a little space between her chest and his back. She knew how guys think.
But Yu Fan didn’t suddenly brake or try anything like she was worried about. He just kept driving steadily and slowly, like normal.
“When are we coming back?”
“Let’s stay for dinner at your grandpa’s place, okay?”
“Alright. Should we buy a gift or something?”
Li Mu hadn’t thought about that. She hesitated, then said, “Probably not?”
She always just showed up and ate whatever was there, kind of like a bandit passing through, bringing gifts wasn’t really a thing.
“Well, okay... Do I have to meet your grandpa?”
Even though he had comforted her earlier, now Yu Fan was starting to get nervous. “Is this like... meeting the family?”
“Let’s just say you’re a friend for now.”
“But still, just thinking that your grandpa will also be my grandpa in the future makes me really nervous... He’ll probably handle our wedding someday, right?” Yu Fan started rambling, “What if he doesn’t like me, like Aunt Cai? And if I don’t bring a gift, won’t he mind? What if you—”
“Yu Fan, what are you even saying?”
Li Mu cut him off, sounding helpless. “We’re almost there. Just follow me and don’t say anything weird.”
“Is your grandpa hard to get along with?”
“Shut up!”
The village where her grandpa lived wasn’t far from the county town. After a little over thirty minutes of riding, they arrived just outside the village.