Chi Mu pushed open the door to Nie Yijun’s apartment. Without even stopping to change her shoes, she bolted into the bathroom, slumped over the toilet, and began to dry heave.
Nothing came up. In truth, several hours had passed, and the nausea had mostly subsided, but she felt as though that lingering discomfort would stay wedged in her chest unless she managed to throw up.
Realizing it wasn’t going to happen, Chi Mu rinsed her mouth and walked out. Hearing movement in the kitchen, she headed over and saw Nie Yijun boiling something.
“What are you making?”
“Pear soup,” Nie Yijun said. “To soothe your lungs.”
“For me?” Chi Mu was slightly surprised.
“Mhm. You’ll feel better after drinking it.”
Chi Mu crossed her arms and smirked. “Is this your version of ‘the carrot and the stick’?”
Nie Yijun turned around. “When did I give you ‘the stick’?”
“Fine, you’re truly something else,” Chi Mu sighed, exasperated. “I’m going to take a shower.”
Chi Mu made it a quick shower. When she came out, Nie Yijun had already ladled the pear soup into a bowl and set it on the table. Chi Mu took a sip; the sweetness and temperature were both perfect.
Chi Mu glanced at Nie Yijun, who was sitting on the rug by the sofa working on her laptop. “Thanks. It’s actually good.”
“Mhm,” Nie Yijun responded, her tone characteristically cold.
Chi Mu shot her a look. This was exactly why she had hated this woman since their school days; just when you started to think Nie Yijun was alright, she always found a way to make you dislike her the very next second.
But for the sake of the decent pear soup, she decided not to pick a fight today. Besides, she was too exhausted to bother.
Finishing the last drop, Chi Mu said, “It’s late. Aren’t you going home?”
“Hmm?” Nie Yijun looked up. “Are you done with your shower?”
Chi Mu rolled her eyes.
“We didn’t succeed tonight. Where do you think the problem lies?” Nie Yijun asked.
Chi Mu grabbed a tissue to wipe her mouth and walked over. “No idea.”
Nie Yijun looked at her, then at the table behind her. “Done?”
“Yeah.” Chi Mu sat down on the sofa.
“Wash the bowl,” Nie Yijun said.
Chi Mu blinked, telling herself internally: That’s your own body. Restrain yourself. Do not hit her.
“I don’t know how,” Chi Mu lied.
Nie Yijun stood up, walked to the table, took the bowl into the kitchen, and soon the sound of the faucet echoed out.
Two minutes later, Nie Yijun reappeared and stood before Chi Mu. “This situation isn’t sustainable for us.”
Chi Mu looked up, then looked away, waving a dismissive hand. “Can you not stand there? It’s making me dizzy.”
Nie Yijun obediently sat back down on the rug.
She really is fastidious, Chi Mu thought. Refusing to sit on the sofa until she’s showered.
“First, we need to take each other’s lives seriously,” Nie Yijun said. “Second, we must find an effective way to swap back. Do you agree?”
Chi Mu let out a lazy yawn. “Agreed.”
As she spoke, her eyes half-closed, looking ready to drop off. Nie Yijun pursed her lips and delivered a sharp slap to Chi Mu’s calf.
“Whoa!” Chi Mu jolted upright, her eyes snapping wide. She instinctively kicked out. “Are you insane?”
Nie Yijun had anticipated the move. She caught Chi Mu’s leg with both hands and shoved it aside. “Are you awake now?”
“You actually play dirty,” Chi Mu grumbled, rubbing her calf where a red mark had formed.
“Chi Mu,” Nie Yijun said, staring at her. “I’ve been holding this in for a few days. Can you stop being so indifferent toward people and responsibilities? I don’t care if you’re reckless with your own life, but right now I am you and you are me. Since it involves me, I can’t ignore it.”
Chi Mu turned her head away, refusing to look at her.
Nie Yijun continued, “Our lives are now intertwined. Each of us has to live the lives of two people. I won’t mess yours up, and you can’t mess mine up either.”
“I’m not!” Chi Mu protested. “I told you I’d fix the blood phobia.”
“It’s not just the blood. You need to know basic first aid and simple theories of AO General Medicine,” Nie Yijun said. “Don’t tell me you can’t; you learned all of this in class.”
Chi Mu, who was just about to say she couldn’t, found herself cornered. But she pushed back anyway. “I just can’t. It’s been seven years since I graduated. I haven’t touched a medical book in seven years, I’ve forgotten everything!”
“Then relearn it. You have the foundation; it won’t be hard.”
Chi Mu opened her mouth to argue but found no ground. She wanted to hit her but didn’t want to bruise her own body. Finally unable to contain herself, she kicked Nie Yijun’s shoulder.
Nie Yijun didn’t dodge. She took the kick, tumbling slightly against the side table.
“Feel better?” Nie Yijun asked.
Chi Mu turned away in silence.
Nie Yijun sat back up properly. “If you don’t feel better, you can kick me again. I won’t hit back.”
“You’re sick,” Chi Mu muttered.
“I am sick,” Nie Yijun replied.
Chi Mu rolled her eyes so hard she practically saw her own brain.
Nie Yijun slowly enunciated: “Genetic Pheromone Disorder Syndrome.”
Chi Mu’s eyes snapped back down. She didn’t understand. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Genetic Pheromone Disorder Syndrome,” Nie Yijun repeated. “It’s congenital—a pheromone misalignment disease. It causes my sense of smell to be worse than average, and I don’t have normal pheromones.”
Chi Mu instinctively touched the gland on her own neck. It felt no different from a normal one.
“No wonder your pheromones smell so weird,” Chi Mu noted. “And no wonder your nose is useless.”
“Mhm,” Nie Yijun nodded.
Chi Mu poked and prodded her own body. Nie Yijun said she was sick, but aside from the pheromones and the sense of smell, everything else seemed perfectly normal.
“Is it dangerous?” Chi Mu asked.
Nie Yijun paused. “Symptoms flare up once a month.”
“What?” Chi Mu’s voice nearly cracked.
“It flares up during the days of my period,” Nie Yijun reassured her. “It’s not scary. Just some loss of appetite and low energy. Nothing major.”
Chi Mu was genuinely spooked. She let out a breath and said, “You really are high-maintenance.”
“Let’s move on,” Nie Yijun said. “I’ve told you my situation. Is there anything about you I don’t know?”
“Nope,” Chi Mu said, propping her legs up on the side table. “I’m perfectly healthy and never worry about money. Becoming me is the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to you.”
“Your ‘useless’ life, you mean?” Nie Yijun retorted.
“Damn you!” Chi Mu kicked Nie Yijun again. “Can you watch your mouth? It’s called enjoying life! What is money for if not for enjoyment?”
It was a hard kick, but Nie Yijun didn’t feel the pain. She brushed off her arm, stood up, and said, “I’m going back. Tomorrow is Saturday, so Morse is closed. I’ll come over to take you for desensitization therapy.”
“Just get out!” Chi Mu threw a throw pillow at her.
By the time Nie Yijun returned to the Chi residence, it was very late. The villa was silent. As she walked through the outer hall, she saw a light on in the glass-walled corridor. Chi Xi was sitting in her wheelchair, looking out at the backyard. Outside, only the dim ground lights glowed, tracing a ring of light around the flower beds.
Sensing someone’s presence, Chi Xi turned her head.
She froze for a moment, clearly not expecting to see “Chi Mu” at this hour.
Chi Xi’s expression quickly shifted back to its usual mockery. “You really are a leopard that can’t change its spots. You just can’t go a night without running wild, can you?”
“I had an emergency,” Nie Yijun said.
“Of course,” Chi Xi turned her wheelchair toward her. “Going crazy with your fair-weather friends and every type of Omega imaginable, that’s your ’emergency.'”
Chi Xi was wearing a long nightgown. Beneath the hem, there was only emptiness. The wheelchair stopped in front of Nie Yijun; her line of sight was level with Nie Yijun’s waist.
Chi Xi stared at her straight legs, her eyes flickering. “Going wherever you want, whenever you want, that must be a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?”
Chi Xi’s tone was far from kind, but Nie Yijun was oblivious to the subtext. She knelt down to meet Chi Xi’s eyes. “Is there anywhere on your body that feels uncomfortable?”
Chi Xi leaned back slightly. She was caught off guard by “Chi Mu’s” question and her reaction. Usually, she wouldn’t even get close before Chi Mu vanished into thin air.
“The internal organs,” Nie Yijun continued. “How is the skin on your surgical sites holding up?”
Chi Xi pursed her lips, her hands gripping the armrests of the wheelchair tightly. She flicked the control on the armrest, and the wheelchair spun around to leave.
Nie Yijun stood there, puzzled. What a strange pair of sisters.
She initially had no interest in the dynamics between the sisters, Chi Mu and Chi Xi; it had nothing to do with her. But now, things were different. She and Chi Mu shared this bizarre connection, and having inherited Chi Mu’s life, she naturally began to treat it as her own.
The Chi family members were actually quite decent people to be around. Chi Zhe was stern, and while Shi Ya had a temper, she was always smiling as long as Chi Mu remained obedient and stayed out of trouble.
Chi Xi was also an impressive individual, managing the massive Morse Jewelry all by herself.
Nie Yijun had grown up with very little family and was currently living alone. She still held a sense of reverence and longing for the concept of family, and the atmosphere in the Chi household gave her a genuine sense of home.
When it came to family, Nie Yijun had her own principles.
She did not agree with Chi Mu’s behavior. Regardless of the circumstances, Chi Xi was this body’s twin sister. As a doctor herself, Nie Yijun simply could not turn a blind eye to a family member’s health.
The next morning, Nie Yijun rose early. On the second floor, she ran into Shi Ya, who had just woken up.
“Waking up this early on a Saturday to go wild?” Shi Ya asked.
“No, I’m going to the hospital,” Nie Yijun replied.
Shi Ya grabbed her arm. “Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, I’m-” Nie Yijun thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth. “Going to see a classmate.”
“Oh.” Shi Ya immediately let go, turned to head downstairs, and chuckled until her shoulders shook. “Fine, you’ve finally learned how to make up excuses.”
Nie Yijun followed her down. Chi Mu’s credibility was truly zero; no one believed her even when she told the truth.
“Oh, careful, careful!” Shi Ya suddenly rushed down the stairs.
Chi Xi had emerged from her room, wearing a prosthetic on her single leg and leaning against the wall for support. Shi Ya hurried over to steady her. “Are you uncomfortable again?”
The heartache in her voice was so clear that even the emotionally dense Nie Yijun could pick up on it.
“Yeah, my left leg was bothering me last night.” Chi Xi draped an arm around Shi Ya’s neck, her voice soft and gentle. “It’s nothing major.”
“Why didn’t you tell me last night? we should go to the hospital,” Shi Ya said. “If it’s uncomfortable, don’t wear the prosthetic.”
“It was just a bit of pain, but it stopped later. No need for the hospital; just call Dr. Cai to come take a look.”
As Shi Ya helped Chi Xi onto the sofa, Nie Yijun walked over and knelt in front of her. She reached for the hem of the skirt, intending to lift it.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Chi Xi immediately clutched her skirt.
“Let me see,” Nie Yijun said.
Chi Xi shoved her hand away. “What do you know about it?”
“While I don’t specialize in orthopedics,” Nie Yijun said, looking her in the eye, “I still know a thing or two. Let me see what’s going on.”
Chi Xi gripped her clothes and refused to let go. Shi Ya poked Nie Yijun’s shoulder with a finger. “Stop making trouble! Weren’t you going to the hospital? Good, we’re going too. Let’s go together.”