The first soul swap
Lu Er had a dream in which she was being licked relentlessly by a giant tongue. No matter how hard she tried to shake it off, the tongue wouldn't budge, and Lu Er ran all the way, only to be chased by it the whole way.
Finally, Lu Er ran out of strength and was knocked down by that bright red tongue. The tongue was dripping with saliva, sticky and warm, feeling like it had just been baked.
In a daze, Lu Er opened her eyes a crack. And then, and then, she discovered…
That tongue really looked freshly made.
Large, fleshy paws, yellow fur, and the smell of drool. With each confirmed location, Lu Er's heart sank a little further.
She shakily raised her gaze upwards.
On the bedding beside him lay a golden retriever, no bigger than half a leopard. The dog was panting, and upon seeing its owner awake, its tail immediately rose high and began wagging wildly, its paws poised to pounce.
Lu Er couldn't dodge in time and felt a thick, sticky, warm sensation on her cheek. It looked nine-tenths like the one in her dream.
Lu Er: "..."
If this is a dream, then she hopes to wake up soon.
But.
This doesn't look like a dream at all!
Lu Er jumped up as if she had been electrocuted, turned her head, and was immediately stunned by the completely unfamiliar surroundings.
Where am I?
The question remained unanswered, because the large golden retriever immediately stood up after her. Its excited, bright eyes were fixed on her, clearly showing a predatory and ready-to-attack expression.
We're doomed.
No, she's afraid of dogs!
at the same time.
In the sweltering summer heat, steam rises in the air. The heat is like a hunting net, tightening until it strangles you.
Ruan Xiyan was woken up by the heat. He groggily opened his eyes, sweat still dripping down his neck, stickily wetting his entire shoulder.
Did he leave the air conditioner on last night? It's so hot.
Ruan Xiyan subconsciously reached out to wipe his sweat. His bare shoulder was covered in sweat, and as he traced the lines with his fingertips, he suddenly felt a thin, long strip.
Ruan Xiyan: "..."
In disbelief, he tugged at the thin strap. It was indeed the one he was wearing.
As if confirming her suspicions, Ruan Xiyan lowered her head. A pale yellow cloth was wrapped around her chest, and below that was a slender waist and abdomen with skin so white it reflected light.
This is clearly a young girl's body.
Ruan Xiyan froze.
...Is he sleepwalking?
Ruan Xiyan sprang to his feet with a swift movement. He was on the bed, which was sky blue. Directly opposite him was a brown wooden table, and to his right were green curtains. On the corner of the blanket was an open math book with so many words it made his eyes blurry.
This is not his room.
Where is this?!
—
Lu Er darted and ran around in the unfamiliar room, with the big golden retriever chasing after her. She used everything—the bedside table, the sofa chair, the bay window—but the golden retriever seemed even more delighted, pressing closer with a furious urge.
Finally, Lu Er was cornered against the wall with nowhere to escape.
Just as the evil golden retriever, with its fluffy head swaying, slowly approached her, the door was suddenly pushed open with a bang.
The girl, about seven or eight years old, looked around the room and her gaze fell on the Golden Retriever and Lu Er, who were currently entangled. She was speechless for a moment: "I thought there was some noise. Mao Mao, come here."
Hearing the girl's words, the golden retriever wriggled its rear and obediently went out with her. With the crisis averted, Lu Er finally breathed a sigh of relief and slid down to the ground against the wall.
Suddenly remembering something, before she could calm her wildly beating heart, Lu Er quickly called out to the girl, "Wait!"
The moment the voice rang out, a pure male tone shattered the last glimmer of hope in Lu Er's heart.
The girl glanced at her, her expression telling her to spit it out as soon as possible. Lu Er swallowed hard, pointed to herself, and said, "Who am I?"
"..."
The girl fell silent, only the twitching corner of her mouth betraying her feelings: "Cousin, has your chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) not gotten better after all this time?"
Fortunately, despite the complaints, the girl still replied: "You, Ruan Xiyan, I, Ruan Tang's cousin, it is now 11:01 AM on June 30th, 20X. Your task is to go downstairs, have breakfast, and then play Egg Waffle Party with me."
Ruan Xiyan didn't know how long it took her to process the fact that he had become a girl.
The first thing he did, despite his feverish face, was to quickly put on the short-sleeved shirt hanging by the bedside.
Since his name wasn't written in the math book, Ruan Xiyan then found a small mirror on the table. With a nervous heart, he held up the mirror.
The girl had delicate features, and her eyes held an inexplicable familiarity. It took Ruan Xiyan a moment to recall who this girl was.
...It's the girl I almost bumped into yesterday.
What was his class monitor's name again?
The textbooks piled up on the table were colorful, and Ruan Xiyan casually picked one up and opened to the first page.
Lu... Erhai.
Ruan Xiyan tried hard to recall anything about this person, but found it to be pitifully little. In her memory, he was the class monitor with excellent grades and a quiet demeanor.
...So why did he become Lu Er?
"I must be dreaming." Ruan Xiyan immediately decided to go back to sleep.
A muffled vibration suddenly sounded, and Ruan Xiyan was stunned. She looked around for a while and finally found a cell phone under her pillow.
The caller ID wasn't saved; it was a stranger. But just one glance at the number almost brought tears to Ruan Xiyan's eyes.
This is his phone number!
After a few minutes of calming down, Lu Er confirmed that she had completely transformed into Ruan Xiyan and then tried to find a solution.
The method of knocking her unconscious and waiting for her to wake up was too unreliable. After all, the feeling of the golden retriever licking her cheek was so real that just thinking about it gave her goosebumps.
While pondering, Lu Er found Ruan Xiyan's phone in the bedroom. The phone was set to unlock with a fingerprint sensor; Lu Er pressed her thumb, and the phone unlocked successfully.
She guessed that if she had become Ruan Xiyan, then there was a high probability that Ruan Xiyan had also become her.
With this in mind, Lu Er dialed his mobile phone number.
Eight seconds later, the call was connected.
"..."
"..."
For a moment, both sides fell silent. Lu Er reacted quickly and said, "Ruan Xiyan?"
Hearing the person on the other end of the phone call her name in her own voice was truly eerie. Ruan Xiyan suppressed her thoughts and replied, "Yes, it is. You are... Lu Er?"
"Hmm." Sure enough, the truth was exactly as imagined. Lu Er rubbed his temples. "I don't know how it happened, but it seems like we've swapped bodies. To be more precise, maybe we've swapped souls."
"..." This kind of supernatural phenomenon is still too mind-bending. Ruan Xiyan asked blankly, "Then what should we do?"
Lu Er took a deep breath: "I don't know either. Let's meet first, see the specific situation, and then discuss countermeasures."
"……good."
"Shall we meet at...the bookstore we met yesterday?"
“It’s not easy to talk in a bookstore.” Ruan Xiyan thought for a moment, “There’s a coffee shop nearby, let’s meet there.”
"Okay, sure."
After hanging up the phone, Ruan Xiyan took a long, deep breath. Now, he had no choice but to accept this bizarre situation.
—
However, as the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning, and Ruan Xiyan's obstacle was right after she stepped out of the room.
Cui Feng didn't go to work today. Seeing Lu Er come out of her room, she casually instructed, "Xiao Er, after you've had breakfast, remember to wash your clothes."
Ruan Xiyan took a few steps before realizing he was being called. He turned around, standing there hesitantly, looking confused: "Washing clothes?"
"Yeah, it's hot in the factory, and I get sweaty and smelly, so I changed a few more clothes." Cui Feng didn't notice anything unusual and lay on the sofa watching TV.
Lu Er's mother-like woman told her to do the laundry... no, she told him, Ruan Xiyan, to do the laundry.
The house wasn't large; the kitchen, living room, and three bedrooms could all be seen by looking up. The washing machine was next to the passageway of the small balcony. Ruan Xiyan walked straight over and saw a metal bucket filled with dirty clothes.
Ruan Xiyan was no stranger to washing machines; he could easily operate both the fully automatic one and the washer-dryer combo at home.
But this washing machine in front of him, with its square recess and round lid... how come he's never seen it before?
Ruan Xiyan fell silent.
He only knows how to use the kind of washing machine he has at home. He knows absolutely nothing about this kind of washing machine.
Ruan Xiyan squatted down, intending to search for a tutorial on the spot, but fell silent when she saw the password unlock option pop up on the screen.
He forgot to ask Lu Er for her phone password.
Ruan Xiyan refused to believe it. If there was no fingerprint unlock, fine, but there was no facial unlock either?
He held the phone to his face and waited a while; it turned out that there was indeed nothing there.
Ruan Xiyan: "..." He felt a little hopeless.
Fortunately, every cloud has a silver lining. Lu Er made a phone call, and Ruan Xiyan quickly grasped at this lifeline. He glanced at Cui Feng, took a few steps towards the balcony, and whispered, "Hello?"
"I forgot to tell you where I live, and the phone password, I'm sorry," Lu Er said apologetically. "The password is 1117, I live on Pinglin Road, you..."
Ruan Xiyan was comforted by her timely rescue and quickly said, "It's okay, I'll navigate out." He lowered his voice, afraid that a guilty conscience would be exposed, "Um, your mother asked me to do the laundry. Your washing machine... I don't know how to use it."
Lu Er understood what was going on and immediately said, "That's not my mom... never mind, we use a twin-tub semi-automatic washing machine."
"Just follow my instructions." Ruan Xiyan walked back to the washing machine. The variety show on TV could conveniently cover up the noise from here. "First, separate the clothes by color, then add the appropriate amount of water based on how many clothes you have, then add the detergent, and set it for about ten minutes..."
Ruan Xiyan: "Shall we wash the light-colored clothes first?"
Lu Er: "Yes, wash the light ones first, then the dark ones."
Ruan Xiyan followed the verbal instructions, but was completely baffled: "Why isn't water coming out of this drainpipe?"
Lu Er: "...It shouldn't be connected to the tap."
Ruan Xiyan felt embarrassed: "...Oh, I see."
There was no air conditioning on this land, so Ruan Xiyan drained the water, added water, and dehydrated the soil. After all that, he was covered in sweat.
"Can this last one come back and spin dry again?" The twin-tub washing machine was quite noisy, so Ruan Xiyan raised her voice, "Waiting here takes a bit of time."
Hearing his panting, Lu Er lowered her eyes slightly and said, "Yes, that's fine."
“…” After a moment of silence, she said, “I’m sorry to have you do the chores at my house.”
Ruan Xiyan waved his hand, his tone lively: "What's the big deal? If I don't do it, we'll be exposed." He then asked, "How's it going on your end? Can you find a spot?"
"Luckily, no one's home. We can find you using the navigation." Lu Er went downstairs but didn't see Ruan Tang. The house was empty, so she made it out the door without incident.
"See you later."
"Um."
—
The coffee shop was blasting cool air.
Lu Er arrived a while ago and texted Ruan Xiyan to tell her her exact location. Ruan Xiyan said the bus was taking a while, which Lu Er understood.
Why did this happen between her and Ruan Xiyan? As a materialist, Lu Er only thought that the idea of soul swapping existed in imagination.
But this fantastical story actually happened to them.
Lu Er was deep in thought, her head aching. In the brief moment she turned her head away, Ruan Xiyan came into view. She raised her hand, and Ruan Xiyan saw it and ran over. Strictly speaking, it was one Lu Er who ran over.
Seeing yourself walking towards yourself from a third-person perspective is actually... kind of creepy.
"Am I late?" As soon as Ruan Xiyan entered the coffee shop, he was enveloped by the cool air conditioning, like burying his head in a pile of ice cream on a sweltering summer day. He felt much more comfortable.
Lu Er shook her head. A waiter leaned forward and asked, "Would you two like something to drink?"
"..." Lu Er didn't speak. She wasn't in the mood for coffee right now. Ruan Xiyan glanced at her and said, "Two Dirty cups, please."
The waiter left, and shortly after, the coffee was served. Neither of them knew what to say, so they remained silent.
Ruan Xiyan pushed the glass away: "It tastes better if you drink this earlier. I'll treat you to it."
“…Thank you.” Lu Er paused for a moment, then gently sipped her coffee.
"...By the way, we woke up like this, right?"
"Um."
Ruan Xiyan racked her brains: "Today is June 30th, could it be that Halley's Comet was there last night, causing this special phenomenon?"
Lu Er calmly stated, "Halley's Comet will return in 2061."
"Could it be that aliens kidnapped us last night to do experiments on us...?"
Lu Er's face didn't move, while Ruan Xiyan awkwardly scratched her head: "I was just kidding."
This was so absurd, it exceeded, even defied, the understanding of two Earthlings. Puzzled and unable to understand, Ruan Xiyan suddenly had the idea to pinch her arm.
"..." Lu Er calmly stopped him, "No need to pinch anymore, I've already pinched him."
Ruan Xiyan: "..."
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