Chapter 227: A Chance Encounter
Now that she was no longer in school, there was no need for her to dress as a boy to hide her gender. Even though most classmates already knew she was a girl, she still had to keep up appearances back then.
Originally, Yu Fan had planned to rent a car and hire a driver to take Li Mu around the nearby cities for a day of sightseeing.
But the Longfeng Mountain Scenic Area was quite far. Even taking the high-speed train from the county town would take a few hours. A round trip would take several days, so renting a car didn’t really make sense.
He was thinking that after the New Year, he would get a driver's license. Then, he could easily use a shared car to take Li Mu out to have fun.
After they finished eating, Li Mu really did go to remove her makeup, but she didn’t change out of her dress. Instead, when packing her luggage, she even added a few more sets of dresses.
Now that she wasn't in school anymore, she didn't need to wear boys’ clothes to hide her identity. Even though most people already knew she was a girl, it was still necessary to act like it at the time.
"Did you bring your ID card? Don’t forget your phone," Yu Fan reminded her.
"I know," Li Mu answered.
"Check again to make sure you didn’t forget anything, charger, bank card, stuff like that?" Yu Fan was nagging like an old mother. "Also, bring some cash. Don’t forget your phone again. And change into shoes with thicker soles, we might need to climb some mountains."
"Oh right, Xiao Jing, do you have an ID card?"
Yu Fan suddenly remembered something important and turned to look at Xiao Jing standing at the bedroom door.
The silly girl shook her head blankly, "I don’t know?"
"I had Uncle Chen Yi help her get a temporary ID card yesterday. It's only valid for five days. I have it with me," Li Mu said.
"You really think of everything," Yu Fan said with admiration.
A temporary ID card was enough to buy a train ticket, but it had to be handled at the service counter, and you needed to use the ticket to enter and exit the station. It would be a bit more troublesome.
You had to admit, Uncle Chen Yi handled things fast and well. It was Uncle Chen Yi who had helped sort out Li Mu’s ID and household registration before, and now he even managed to get a temporary ID for a "ghost" like Xiao Jing.
"Even ghosts can get IDs..." Yu Fan muttered.
"They said normal ghosts can't, but harmless ones like Xiao Jing are fine for a temporary one," Li Mu explained.
Finally, Li Mu finished packing her things. She packed her old middle school backpack so full it was about to burst, then hung it on Yu Fan's shoulder.
"Why didn’t you bring your own luggage?" she asked.
"I was planning to surprise you..." Yu Fan gave Xiao Jing a glare. "Let’s go downstairs to my building first. I’ll grab my stuff, it’ll just take a few minutes."
"Alright."
Honestly, Li Mu’s biggest interest in traveling was trying all the food.
She would have preferred to travel to Sichuan or Guangdong to eat their famous dishes. But since it was close to New Year, it wasn’t a good time to travel too far. Yu Fan had already planned a closer trip.
Xiao Jing carried a small schoolbag she had used while she was alive. She hopped along happily beside them, clearly very excited.
Li Mu and Yu Fan walked side by side along the street. She looked a little worried. "I hope Xiao Jing doesn't start smelling bad..."
"She probably won’t. It’s much colder in the mountains than it is here," Yu Fan said.
"Good thing it’s winter," Li Mu sighed.
If it were summer, Xiao Jing would definitely start smelling after being outside for just two or three days.
Their homes weren’t far apart. After slowly walking across two streets, Li Mu and Xiao Jing entered Yu Fan’s neighborhood.
Li Mu and Xiao Jing sat down on a stone bench in the community garden, while Yu Fan quickly ran into the building to get his luggage.
"Sister, are you happy?" Xiao Jing asked, swinging her legs.
"There’s nothing to be happy about," Li Mu replied.
"But I saw you smiling nonstop," Xiao Jing said.
Li Mu paused and immediately wiped the smile off her face. "No, I wasn’t."
While they were talking, Li Mu suddenly noticed a cute and clean-looking student nearby. The student looked shy, keeping their head down, their eyes flickering nervously as they slowly walked toward them.
After a moment, the student stood in front of Li Mu, face red with embarrassment.
Li Mu suddenly had a strange feeling...
And without thinking, she reached out and pinched the student’s cheek.
Right away, the boy’s face turned even redder, and Li Mu felt a bit happy, like she was teasing an innocent young boy.
"Do you need something?" she asked.
"Um, pretty sister, are you my brother’s girlfriend?" he asked.
"???"
She froze for a second, then remembered that Yu Fan did seem to have a younger brother.
Since it was just after lunch, it made sense that they would run into Yu Fan’s brother coming home from school.
Li Mu looked closely at Yu Miao.
The boy looked like he was in middle school.
His face was soft and young-looking, and his slightly long bangs covered his forehead. His cheeks were round and made him look very sweet and obedient.
Before, Li Mu couldn’t imagine what Yu Fan’s little brother would look like wearing a "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" helmet. But now that she saw him, it actually fit him really well.
"Are you Yu Fan’s brother?" she asked.
"Yeah," Yu Miao nodded.
Li Mu smiled a little, "That’s right, I’m your brother’s girlfriend."
"For real?" Yu Miao looked up, mouth wide open in surprise. "My brother actually has a girlfriend?"
"And she's so pretty too..." he added.
Her smile grew bigger, and she laughed as she said, "Aren't you going upstairs to eat?"
"Come on, let’s go!" Yu Miao pointed to the building where he lived. "My parents want to meet you too!"
"No, I mean, why aren't you going home to eat?" Li Mu clarified.
"You’re not coming with me?" Yu Miao asked.
Li Mu shook her head lightly.
"But why not?"
"You’re so annoying," Xiao Jing suddenly cut in. "My sister said she doesn’t want to go, so just leave it! Why are you asking so much?"
Even though Xiao Jing was scolding him, Yu Miao’s face turned so red it almost looked like he was bleeding.
Li Mu noticed something, the boy was indeed shy when looking at her, but he could still look her straight in the eyes. His shyness was like that of an innocent boy facing a beautiful woman. But whenever he looked at Xiao Jing, he would quickly glance away, blushing hard.
This...
She turned to glance at Xiao Jing, who was sitting casually on the stone table, and then at Yu Miao, who was staring at the ground, looking super shy.
The situation felt kind of strange...
Does he even know that Xiao Jing, if she doesn’t take care of herself, can start smelling bad?
"Um, um..." Yu Miao started to panic when he realized everyone was staring at him. His forehead even began to sweat.
Xiao Jing jumped off the stone table and curiously walked over. "You look about the same age as me."
Xiao Jing had died at twelve years old, so now she looked about fifteen or sixteen.
"Yeah," Yu Miao answered, suddenly straightening his back and putting on a serious face, probably even more serious than when facing his teacher.
"That ‘Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf’ helmet was yours, right?" she asked.
Yu Miao immediately lost his serious look, his face falling into a pout.
"Don’t bring that up..." he mumbled.
"Okay then. Anyway, you’re not as handsome as your brother," Xiao Jing said.
"......"
"And you're already fifteen, why are you still so short?" she added.
"......"
"Do you have a girlfriend? Or does no one like you?" she asked.
"......"
Li Mu couldn’t help laughing. She quickly grabbed Xiao Jing by the collar and pulled her back.
If they were at home, she might’ve smacked her on the head, but outside, she was worried that if she hit her too hard, her head might fall off...
Just then, Yu Fan came running down the stairs with a bag of luggage. When he saw Yu Miao, he looked shocked and rushed over even faster.
"What’s wrong?" he asked, looking around nervously.
Seeing Li Mu pulling Xiao Jing close, he thought maybe the two kids had gotten into a fight.
"Nothing. Let’s go," Li Mu said casually.
"Alright. Yu Miao, go upstairs and eat. It's late, why are you still hanging around?"
"Okay," Yu Miao said obediently.
After Yu Miao walked away, Li Mu leaned close to Yu Fan’s ear and whispered:
"I think your brother might be having his first crush."
"No way."
"It looks like he fell for Xiao Jing at first sight."
"???"