Let Me Meet You chapter 6
I’m Comforting You
When Li Xuan entered the bathroom, he hesitated for a moment and left the door slightly open. He moved to a corner, trying to find a good angle to keep an eye on the situation in the living room. Not paying attention, he kicked something on the floor and looked down to see it was a watermelon knife.
The blade still had blood on it. Li Xuan instinctively glanced toward the living room, bent down to pick up the knife, and held it up against the wound on his wrist; it fit perfectly.
“This weapon” was definitely right. He looked at the knife, which was half the length of his arm, and hurriedly rinsed his hair under cold water. He wrapped the knife in the clothes he had changed out of and took it outside: “Alright, you can wash up now.”
“So fast?”
Li Xuan thought to himself that he would have preferred to take a bit longer, but did he dare? He didn’t show it on his face: “You go ahead.”
Sheng Min responded with an “mm” and walked around him into the bathroom.
Li Xuan looked down at the blood-stained clothes on his hands and took them along with the knife outside to throw them away. He dragged a chair and sat across from the bathroom, taking out the phone from his backpack and typing Sheng Min’s name into the search bar.
A long list of information popped up. He clicked into the web search and found out that Sheng Min shared the same birthday as him. He paused for a second, made a note of that, and continued scrolling down.
Sheng Min started as a child actor, acting in TV dramas since he was five. However, he only played inconsequential roles and didn’t benefit much from his few popular shows due to his young age.
Around sixteen or seventeen, he began playing supporting roles in some low-budget web dramas, which were obviously not going to be popular from their titles. The company had no real plans for him, often taking random approaches, and he remained relatively unknown.
It wasn’t until the year before last that he participated in a talent show with several other artists from his company. The others were all eliminated, but he unexpectedly debuted in a group, thanks to his looks.
That group only lasted a year before disbanding, but Sheng Min gained some fame from it. Although he wasn’t exactly a superstar, he was no longer anonymous. He then starred in several main roles in dramas that achieved good ratings. Plus, his family background was said to be not very good, and after being low-profile for so many years, he garnered a lot of fan sympathy. He has since become a well-known young idol with multiple endorsements from renowned brands, and his future looked promising.
Li Xuan logged onto a video website. The most popular video of Sheng Min was a dance performance—a duet with a teammate named Qin Zhengchen from his former group. Sheng Min danced the female part.
To be fair, he danced quite well. It didn’t come off as overly feminine, and the two worked well together. However, the barrage of comments was chaotic, with people calling him “wife” and “baby.” Li Xuan frowned at the screen and quickly exited.
The sound of water still hadn’t stopped, and he felt a bit uneasy. He quickly recalled whether there were any windows in the bathroom for Sheng Min to jump out of. Just as he was about to knock on the door, it swung open. Sheng Min, surprised to see him there, paused for a moment and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Li Xuan coughed to cover up. “I’m a bit thirsty. Do you have anything to drink?”
“There’s orange juice in the fridge.”
“The one you endorse?” Li Xuan recalled the ad at the bus station, and the pain from the collision seemed to surge back. He immediately refused, “I won’t drink that.”
“There’s a new cup in the delivery box,” Sheng Min gestured slightly while drying his hair with a towel, then walked over to the water dispenser.
Li Xuan half-squatted in front of the delivery box, tugging at the nylon tie on top. “Do you have scissors? A knife will do too.”
Sheng Min thought for a moment and headed to the bathroom. “There was a watermelon knife….”
“I threw it away.” Li Xuan quickly stopped him and, seeing Sheng Min’s surprised expression, sighed. “How can I compliment you? You’re so reckless, wanting to commit suicide and yet being so careless. That knife was for cutting your wrist, how can it still be used?”
“Can’t it be?” Sheng Min asked in confusion. “Just wash it off.”
“There’s no need to be frugal here, right? I can’t. If you insist, you can go find it yourself.” Li Xuan was too lazy to let him look for another knife and pulled the nylon ties apart, which held firm. He lifted the box to the coffee table and rubbed it against the glass. The whole box was filled with cups of various ceramic designs. “Why did you buy so many?”
“I was insomniac one night. Maybe I slept too deeply; I don’t know… Anyway, I just woke up and sent the order.” Sheng Min didn’t insist on looking for the knife and came over. “Is anything broken?”
Li Xuan shook his head. “No.”
Sheng Min squatted down beside him, glancing roughly through the box. “Is my phone with you?”
“On the table.” Li Xuan casually pointed it to him. He then saw Sheng Min take a picture of the cups and leave a positive review on a shopping app.
Li Xuan knew his expression must be something spectacular at that moment, even without looking in a mirror. If he hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes, he would have refused to believe that Sheng Min truly wanted to die just fifteen minutes ago; the change was too fast. “What are you doing?”
“Leaving a good review.” Sheng Min typed a long evaluation, muttered to himself while correcting a typo before sending it, and when he noticed Li Xuan looking at him, he said, “This can help improve the shop’s…”
“I know, I know.” Li Xuan replied, speechless. “No need to explain. I’m not really out in the countryside slaughtering pigs.”
“The quality is quite good, and it’s not easy for the seller.” Sheng Min picked out a blue cup from the box and handed it to him. “This one looks nice; take it.”
Li Xuan accepted the cup, realizing how inappropriate it was to say, “You know it’s not easy. You’re good looking, and your future is set. Many people in the world have neither. Why do you still want to die?”
“I have both; it’s not my fault.” Sheng Min said softly.
“I never said it was your fault.” Li Xuan stood up and shrugged. “Whatever you want to do is up to you, but let me remind you again: you can’t die right now. If anything happens to you before we swap back, it won’t be a suicide; it will be murder.” He then recalled, “Your birthday on the internet is real, right?”
Sheng Min looked up, seeming a bit helpless but showing no other emotions. “I really didn’t change my age.”
“I didn’t say you did! Why are you being so defensive?” Li Xuan was baffled.
Sheng Min bit his lip and fell silent. Li Xuan grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. “I mean, we share the same birthday, so maybe that’s why we swapped.”
Sheng Min paused for a moment, saying, “Well, that can’t be changed.”
“Thanks for being so smart. I wouldn’t have thought of that if you hadn’t mentioned it.” Li Xuan took the cup over to the water dispenser, rinsed it out with hot water, and drank half a cup in one go.
“Stop with the passive-aggressive remarks.” Sheng Min saw him drinking and felt thirsty too. He grabbed the bottle of orange juice from the fridge and said softly, “I didn’t say anything wrong; it can’t be changed… it’s more reliable for us to die once together.”
“I didn’t say it could be changed; I was just letting you know.” Li Xuan felt a headache when he heard him talking about dying. “Don’t always think about dying; trying to lure me to join you is definitely not going to work.”
“I wasn’t.. okay fine.” Sheng Min sighed, realizing his words were indeed not very honest. “Let’s not think about that for now. Should we bandage the wound on our bodies?”
Though the wound on his wrist was deep and had gotten wet, it was the only one. Li Xuan was very skilled in treating wounds; he didn’t need help, disinfecting with hydrogen peroxide, sprinkling the powder on expertly without even furrowing his brow. Biting the end of the bandage, he wrapped it around his wrist in a few circles, finishing the whole process in under five minutes.
Seeing that Sheng Min was still slowly tending to the bruise on his arm, Li Xuan tapped his shoulder. “Turn around; there should be bruising on the back. You need to ice it.”
Li Xuan had quite a few messy injuries on his body, besides the bruises and scrapes from the accident, there were also several old scars. In particular, there was a cut on his waist that was about ten centimeters long, and even though it had healed, it was clear that the initial cut was deep.
Sheng Min had seen it when he was taking a shower earlier. He wanted to ask how it happened, but then thought better of it, feeling it was a private matter, so he only asked, “Do you often get hurt?”
“Less than before,” Li Xuan didn’t answer him directly and pulled out a lot of ice cubes from the refrigerator, placing them in a plastic bag to press against his back. “It hurts a bit, just endure it.”
He didn’t want to say more, so Sheng Min didn’t ask any further.
The living room fell silent, and no one spoke. Sheng Min was becoming numb from the ice; he wanted to tell Li Xuan it was enough, but when he turned around, he found that Li Xuan was nodding asleep.
“Are you very tired?” Sheng Min instinctively pushed him a little. “Go sleep in the bedroom.”
Li Xuan had rushed around so much all night and was genuinely exhausted. He hadn’t felt it while he was caught up, but once things quieted down, drowsiness washed over him rapidly. “A bit… you lost too much blood; I feel very dizzy.”
Sheng Min felt a bit guilty and took the ice bag from his hand, throwing it in the trash can. “Then you should go in and sleep. Maybe after a nap, we’ll have switched back.”
“Do you really think so?” Li Xuan rubbed his eyes, looking at him like he was silly.
Sheng Min paused for a moment. “I’m trying to comfort you.”
Li Xuan didn’t respond, not sure if it was due to his dizziness. Sheng Min turned to face him and hesitated before saying, “But what if we can’t switch back…”
“If we can’t switch back, then we’ll figure out how to fit in first.” Li Xuan stifled a yawn, covering his mouth. “Anyway, you’re not allowed to die.”
Sheng Min let out a quiet sigh. “Let’s talk about it when we wake up in the morning; I see you can barely keep your eyes open now.”
“Yeah.” Li Xuan walked to the bedroom door and suddenly remembered, “Where are you going to sleep?”
“I’ll sleep on the sofa,” Sheng Min said. “It’s fine; you sleep. I’m not used to sharing a bed with someone.”
“Alright.” Li Xuan didn’t dwell on the issue any longer. His drowsiness was thick, and his mind wasn’t clear, so he lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep again.