Let Me Meet You chapter 4

Are you waiting for me to carry you?!

Sheng Min slightly raised his eyebrows, carefully scrutinizing ‘Li Xuan’. Thinking of something, he turned to look at the advertisement behind him.

“Don’t you recognize your own face?” Seeing him move, Li Xuan suddenly felt nervous. It couldn’t be that there was a third person, “…You’re not Sheng Min?”

“I am,” Sheng Min replied somewhat sluggishly.

Li Xuan let out a sigh of relief: “Can you stand up?”

“I can.”

Li Xuan looked at him, but after Sheng Min answered, he didn’t move, and after a while, he showed no sign of wanting to speak again, prompting him: “If you can, then get up.”

“Why should I get up?”

The streetlight cast its light from an angle above, and Sheng Min looked at him, innocent and confused. For a moment, Li Xuan felt that the face before him didn’t look like his own.

“You should still get up for no reason.” Li Xuan coughed lightly. “Are you planning to spend the night here? We should at least go somewhere and talk.”

“Talk about what?”

Upon hearing this, Li Xuan frowned and cautiously raised a finger: “how many fingers am I holding up?”

“One.” Sheng Min looked at him in confusion.

“Not an idiot, I thought I might have a concussion,” Li Xuan said impatiently as he got off the bicycle and pulled him up from the ground. “Let’s talk about you, talk about me, and how we deal with our current situation.”

Sheng Min swayed a bit before stabilizing himself, thought for a moment, and then carefully articulated, “So, we are…,” he pondered for a moment, finding a term from the scripts he had seen before, “…have we swapped souls?”

“Should be.”

“How could this happen?” Sheng Min unconsciously sighed. He just wanted to die; how could he fail at that?

“If I knew the reason, I’d definitely switch back with you right away, not wasting a single second.” Seeing Sheng Min’s clear state of distress, Li Xuan couldn’t help but get a bit angry, “I know you’re a celebrity, but not everyone is so eager to be in your shoes, okay? Even if you feel wronged by swapping with me, you should just bear with it for now.”

Sheng Min opened his mouth: “That’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t care what you meant.”

Li Xuan walked to the side to check his mountain bike. Several places had lost paint, and there was a noticeable dent in the crossbar. The chain had come off, so he squatted down to fix it. After putting the chain back on, he pedaled it a couple of times; it seemed fine.

“Let’s go.” Li Xuan pointed to a nearby shared bike, “You ride that one.”

“Why?” After asking, Sheng Min saw Li Xuan’s face darken again, so he quickly added, “Can’t we just call a car?”

Li Xuan pointed to the large patches of blood on his clothes and then to the bruises and scrapes visible on Sheng Min’s exposed skin, “With us looking like this, it’s like we just had a fatal accident. No matter what kind of car we call, we’ll end up in a police car… Am I making myself clear?”

Sheng Min nodded.

“Now that you understand, let’s get moving.” Li Xuan picked up the bag on the ground and turned around, but Sheng Min was still staring at him. Li Xuan pressed his fingers against his brow in frustration, “Can’t you ride a bike?”

“I can,” Sheng Min instinctively replied.

“Then let’s go.” Li Xuan felt like he would explode if he waited even a second longer, “Are you waiting for me to carry you?!”

Sheng Min didn’t want to go at all; he just wanted to die. But seeing Li Xuan’s tightly furrowed brows, he swallowed his words and sighed, “Fine, let’s go.”

They returned to Sheng Min’s apartment. Instead of going through the front door, they went around through the back garage. There was only one security guard watching TV in the dimly lit guard booth, and he didn’t notice their disheveled appearance.

The two didn’t speak along the way. When they reached the door, Li Xuan leaned against the wall, waiting for Sheng Min to open it. Sheng Min similarly didn’t move. After a two-second stare, Li Xuan suddenly realized he should open the door himself.

“Didn’t you take the keys when you left?” Sheng Min cautiously asked.

“Would you remember to take your keys if you woke up and found your body swapped?” Li Xuan patted his pockets defiantly, “Do you not usually carry your keys?”

Sheng Min shot him a glance but didn’t respond.

“Alright then.” If he had to account for it, this was indeed his fault. He thought for a moment and took the bag off his back. Sheng Min assumed he was looking for the property management number and was about to tell him, but then saw Li Xuan pull a paperclip from his backpack.

Biting one end to straighten it, he poked it into the door lock and skillfully twisted it left and right. The next second, the door opened.

“What exactly do you do?” Sheng Min was taken aback.

“Lock picking.” Li Xuan casually tossed the paperclip into the trash can in the hallway and nudged Sheng Min with his bag, “Get inside.”

Sheng Min’s place was small, a two-bedroom apartment, one of which was set up as a study. Li Xuan had been in a rush to leave earlier and hadn’t paid much attention; now he looked around and saw it was staged like a model apartment, lacking any human touch.

Sheng Min sat quietly on the couch for a while, staring blankly at the wall across from him. Li Xuan walked over, bent down, and waved a hand in front of his eyes.

“What should we talk about?” Sheng Min snapped back to reality.

What to talk about. Li Xuan wanted to ask the same. They needed to discuss everything, but he didn’t know where to start. He scratched his head, feeling a mess inside, and absentmindedly reached towards Sheng Min’s waist.

“What are you doing?” Sheng Min raised his hand to block it in surprise, almost hitting himself in the face.

“Getting a cigarette.” Li Xuan turned his head and grabbed his arm, pulling out the pack from his pocket, “Why are you reacting so much? I’m just touching you through your clothes; besides, I’m touching myself, right? No need to freak out.”

“…But you’re using my hand to touch.” Sheng Min muttered quietly.

That made sense. Li Xuan was momentarily speechless, glancing at his own hand, feeling a bit embarrassed, “Did I want to use it? We’re both guys; can’t you be more generous?”

He pulled out a cigarette to awkwardly change the subject, “Got a lighter?”

Sheng Min shook his head. Since they met earlier, he kept reacting this way. Li Xuan didn’t expect much and put the cigarette back on the table. The night breeze blew through the window that wasn’t tightly shut, chilling him as it hit his damp clothes.

“Let’s take a shower first.” Their clothes were still half-wet, and Li Xuan pressed his forehead. “We can’t chat if we catch a cold.”

Sheng Min responded with an “Mm,” then looked at him, “How do I wash?”

“Just wash with water.” Sheng Min hesitated to respond, and Li Xuan, feeling a headache coming on, said, “What else do you think? Should I cover my eyes so you can wash me? …And you’re nodding? Are you being dramatic? We’re both guys, and I have everything you have. Even if you’re better looking, you’re still a guy, right? I have no intention of taking advantage of you. If you really feel at a loss, then you shower first and let me go after, that way it can balance out your heart a bit, okay?”

“You’re not ugly; you’re quite good-looking,” Sheng Min said, confused by Li Xuan’s sudden rant. “As long as you don’t mind.”

“What would I mind?” Li Xuan was puzzled.

Sheng Min shook his head, paused for a moment, then asked him, “Didn’t you just say I’m good-looking?”

Li Xuan didn’t catch on right away and was momentarily stunned, instinctively replying, “You’re okay.”

“You didn’t say that just now; you clearly said I was good-looking.”

“What do you want to say?” Li Xuan frowned, unable to help himself. “Are you just trying to prove you’re at a disadvantage here?”

Sheng Min smiled lightly, “It’s okay, as long as you think I looks good. You should go wash up first… oh, I’ll get you a set of clothes.”

He got up and went to the bedroom. Suddenly cooperating, Li Xuan was a bit surprised, watching his back for a couple of seconds before turning and entering the bathroom. As soon as he opened the door, a strong smell of blood hit him. The bathtub was half-filled with bright red blood.

“Killing a pig during the New Year wouldn’t release this much blood,” Li Xuan said, reaching in to pull the plug and let the water out. He washed his hands and took the clothes from Sheng Min.

“The water heater is broken, so only cold water is available,” Sheng Min turned on the heating, and even though he was feeling low, he still managed a small smile, “You’ve killed pigs before? Aren’t you a locksmith?”

“I break into pig pens to kill other people’s pigs,” Li Xuan said, shaking the droplets of water off his hands irritably. He raised his hand to take off his clothes, noticing that Sheng Min was still standing at the door. “Are you watching? I promise I won’t touch around, you don’t need to supervise.”

Sheng Min leaned against the doorframe and thought for a moment, “I still don’t know your name.”

“Li Xuan.”

Sheng Min nodded. He certainly didn’t believe Li Xuan was a butcher, but his skill with breaking locks did raise some doubts about the legitimacy of his profession. However, he didn’t want to think about that now and simply smiled, “No matter what you did before, you won’t need to do it anymore. I have savings.”

After saying that, he closed the door and went out.

Li Xuan didn’t care if he had savings, but he thought Sheng Min was crazy.

The blood on the bathroom tiles had already dried. Li Xuan spent a long time rinsing it off with the showerhead, but he could still see patches of blood. He felt annoyed watching it and started scrubbing. Suddenly, he caught sight of the wound on his wrist… Li Xuan suddenly realized something was off.

He had been hit by a car; it was an accident. But with such a big gash on Sheng Min, it couldn’t just be an accident. The shock of swapping bodies was too much; he hadn’t realized right away that Sheng Min had committed suicide…

‘As long as you think I look good.’

‘You go first.’

‘I have savings.’

…

Li Xuan felt a chill run down his spine, randomly grabbed a bathrobe, and suddenly flung open the bathroom door.

On the balcony, Sheng Min was leaning against the railing, one leg already swung over, hanging in mid-air.