Chapter 29: Qiqi’s gender has changed!
Scenic Hotel, Mountains.
“Fog?” Liu Wangjiang raised a brow. His basket was half-full of mushrooms, so he decided to head down the mountain. But after a few steps, he realized the path was gone.
Thick fog cloaked everything, blurring the scenery beyond a few meters. He checked his phone—no signal. The surroundings felt alien. He’d foraged this area for days, familiar with its trails, yet now every tree and blade of grass seemed strange.
Did I eat a bad mushroom at lunch? Hallucinations? His brows furrowed.
A sharp scream cut through the fog, familiar. Who?
Pausing, he headed toward the sound.
Another scream rang out, guiding him. Pushing through branches, he moved swiftly through the forest.
The fog thinned, revealing a clear spring he’d never seen before, a weathered stone tablet by its edge. Across the spring sat someone in soaked men’s clothes, long wet hair clinging to their neck and shoulders.
Wangjiang looked up, and their eyes met.
The basket of mushrooms crashed to the ground. His purple pupils contracted.
The person had Lu Qingqi’s face, but softer, more delicate, with a feminine grace. It’s him—no, her!
Wangjiang strode forward.
Lu Qingqi, seeing him, covered her face, voice trembling with a sob. “Don’t look! Go away!”
He didn’t stop, gently pulling her hands from her face. Her feminized features, long hair, and unmistakable curves were laid bare, screaming an impossible truth: Lu Qingqi was a girl.
His throat tightened, but he kept his voice steady. “How did this happen?”
Lu Qingqi stammered, tears streaming. “I-I don’t know… Fog came, I was picking mushrooms, fell into this spring, and when I climbed out… I was like this…”
She sobbed. “Why do I look like this? How can I face anyone? My girlfriend, my parents…”
Her cries echoed. Wangjiang’s gaze flicked to the spring’s stone tablet.
“Don’t cry. I’ll figure it out,” he said, calming her.
“Really?” She grabbed his wrist, her warm, damp palm desperate. “Wangjiang, help me… If I can change back, I’ll never fight you again. I’ll do whatever you say. I won’t care about you stealing my girlfriend, won’t spread rumors about you being impotent… Just fix this!”
Her frantic promises spilled out, but Wangjiang’s focus drifted. Her touch was softer than ever, her faint orchid scent mingling with the spring’s crispness, intoxicating.
So this is Qiqi as a girl.
Suppressing a surge of emotion, he patted her hand. “Calm down. There’s a way.”
She gripped tighter, eyes bright with hope.
Noticing her soaked clothes clinging to her curves, he shrugged off his jacket and draped it over her. His warmth enveloped her, the oversized coat hiding most of her body. She blushed, shrinking into the collar.
Wangjiang approached the stone tablet. Three clear characters: Niang Ni Quan—Spring of Drowned Girl.
Spring of Drowned Girl? His mind raced. He knew it from Ranma ½: a legendary spring where a girl drowned 1,500 years ago. Those who fall in are cursed—cold water turns them female, hot water reverses it.
But this was fiction! Its existence shattered biology—genes, chromosomes, XX, XY, all meaningless. His materialist worldview trembled. If this is real, are there other supernatural forces?
Thoughts swirled, but he pushed them aside. The fact was clear: Lu Qingqi was female. That was enough. Existence is reason enough.
Returning to her, she asked, “What’s on the tablet?”
“Nothing, just a stone,” he lied smoothly.
“What now? Am I stuck like this?”
“Don’t panic. Sit. Wait for the fog to clear.”
Minutes later, the fog lifted, revealing a winding path resembling the one down the mountain. “The fog’s gone! We can go!” she exclaimed, but as she stood, pain shot through her ankle. “Ow… I sprained it.”
“I’ll carry you,” Wangjiang said, extending a hand. “Give me your ID.”
“Why?”
“You want to go back looking like this?” he countered.
Her face paled, understanding dawning. “Your place,” he continued. “We’ll figure out how to reverse this.”
She nodded eagerly. “Wangjiang, you’re a good guy! I misjudged you. You didn’t… didn’t steal my girlfriend.”
He smiled, bending to carry her on his back, his purple eyes swirling with hidden currents.
Yes, I’m a good guy.
My basement’s big and spacious.