Chapter 56: Afterwards

Chapter 56: Afterwards

"Look, this is a touchscreen phone, very easy to use." Wang Fan handed over the new phone.

Liao Xing felt out of his element.

He had just learned that five years had passed in the outside world.

The advancements in technology over those five years were so rapid that he found it hard to keep up.

Wang Fan had indeed become a 20-year-old adult, looking quite different from before.

Whereas he himself remained as he was at fifteen, thin, short, with feminine features, and carrying the psychological trauma from his escape from the hospital.

The gap between them was too great, far more than the mere five-year chasm could bridge.

Liao Xing cautiously fiddled with the touchscreen phone.

Touchscreen phones weren't as popular five years ago; he had only used button phones, so he was hesitant to press too hard on this new, large screen, saying sheepishly after a few taps, "Technology has advanced so fast..."

Wang Fan, noticing his discomfort, sat down next to him and patiently explained, "You don’t need to press hard, just a light touch will do, and it also has online payment features."

He was very patient, and Liao Xing, guided by him, seemed a bit more relaxed.

But that was only "seemingly."

When the night was deep and quiet, endless nightmares would still haunt him, waking him up repeatedly.

Liao Xing thought he might never be able to escape them.

He lived in an apartment Wang Fan rented outside, while Wang Fan attended university classes during the day.

He quietly stayed at home, helping with household chores and tidying up the room.

Until one day, Wang Fan gave him a high school admission notice, "I finally got it sorted for you!"

Liao Xing looked at the notice, then suddenly lifted his head, staring at Wang Fan in a daze.

"What are you looking at me for? Do you think I look especially heroic and radiant now?" Wang Fan joked, "How about calling me 'Dad' for fun?"

Liao Xing snapped back to reality, playfully retorting, "Get lost."

He was a bit worried, "How did you manage to get this? Technically, I should be twenty years old now..."

Wang Fan reassured him, "Don't worry, I went through the proper channels, it's all legitimate!"

"But will I still be judged and talked about... Sorry, I'm a bit sensitive now."

As soon as Liao Xing blurted this out, he felt he was bringing negativity to his friend and quickly apologized.

"It's not your fault. Your interests, your personality, are not excuses for others to criticize you. You haven't hindered anyone, you are normal."

Wang Fan said earnestly, "You don’t need to change just because of their biased opinions."

Liao Xing's concerns were pierced by his words, and he couldn't hold back any longer, crying and laughing intermittently, "I... I am indeed a bit scared. I don’t know what will happen when I go out, whether I'll still be subjected to those looks..."

"That won't happen."

Wang Fan assured him, "Absolutely not. Now, there might even be a lot of people who will like you."

Reassured by his friend's repeated promises, Liao Xing finally stepped out and went to his new school.

Not long after school started, he was surprised to find that some classmates were sharing a female-dressing blogger on their phones.

Someone asked the sharer, who replied confidently: "I've been following this blogger for a year now. From his videos or live streams, it's clear that he's not faking or overdoing it for attention, but that's really his personality. I think his cross-dressing and makeup are great, I really like it!"

Liao Xing, observing the enthusiastic discussion, felt like he had returned to the human world.

So... could someone like him also be liked by others?

He quietly joined their conversation.

Liao Xing's homeroom teacher was unaware of his past and simply saw him as a boy who was a bit girlish, treating him without discrimination or favoritism.

This was perfect for Liao Xing, the normal life of an ordinary person he had longed for.

Gradually, he overcame his psychological shadows and began interacting with others, no longer trapping himself in the past.

But the most important person in his heart had always been Wang Fan, unchanged from the beginning.

**

In his third year back in the real world, Liao Xing came of age and officially got into university.

He was accepted into the same university as Wang Fan, but Wang Fan was now a graduate student, and they were not in the same department.

This made Liao Xing feel a bit disappointed.

Wang Fan, however, was delighted: "At least we can be together at the university, I'll take care of you."

Liao Xing: "Ah, alright then."

University offered more freedom than high school, and the university's cosplay club, learning that Liao Xing could cross-dress and had mastered a false voice, immediately decided, "Junior, we need you!"

At that month's mixer party, the cosplay club's new member Liao Xing cosplayed a popular virtual character from an anime. His makeup and voice were so spot-on that it left the attending students agape.

The boys were stunned, wiping away tears from the corners of their mouths after a while, muttering, "Maybe it's not so bad after all..."

The girls screamed in a group, "Ah—my wife—marry me! Please marry me!"

Liao Xing himself was so startled that he nearly lost his composure, but managed to finish his part before hurriedly retreating backstage, pulling Wang Fan into hiding with him.

After the mixer ended, they quickly changed out of their costumes and fled.

"That was terrifying," Liao Xing said with a mix of laughter and tears, "Being too popular isn't necessarily a good thing!"

Wang Fan chuckled, "It's pretty good; more people will like you."

Liao Xing, embarrassed, turned away but was suddenly drawn to a scene outside the school gate.

A young child was crying and shouting at a middle-aged couple, "I can't do it! You two are crazy, I'm just in elementary school, and you want me to go to university?"

Liao Xing frowned and looked more closely at the couple.

Wang Fan, noticing Liao Xing's pause, followed his gaze and felt a sense of familiarity from the father.

"They are..."

He asked uncertainly.

Liao Xing lowered his voice, "That's my parents. Looks like they had another child."

Judging by the child's appearance, around seven or eight years old, it was likely they were conceived when he was sent to the hospital. Thinking about it, they probably stopped paying the hospital fees for him because of this new child.

With a new baby to start over with, what use did they have for their older son with "mental issues"? They simply abandoned him.

Liao Xing could even imagine, as he lay on the hospital's experimental table enduring torture, his biological parents were celebrating the arrival of a new life.

He clenched his hand so tightly that he broke a fingernail.

"Be careful!"

Wang Fan caught his hand, "Don't upset yourself over irrelevant people, let's go home."

Liao Xing came back to his senses, apologizing, "Sorry, it won't happen again. From now on, I'll treat them as strangers."

"That's right! Your legal guardian is now me, they have nothing to do with you."

Wang Fan looked at him with tender eyes—

Liao Xing might not know that the sun he strove for also treasured him as a precious gem.

Just focusing on the present was enough.