"Then just say I'm sick and you're worried about me, so you're staying with me for the night."
"That's alright." Chen Zhenzhen nodded. "But being sick isn't a very reliable excuse. My mom's first reaction will definitely be to make me go to the hospital with you, and it'll be quite troublesome to cover it up then, in case she wants to see the medical records or something."
"Then what do you think is reasonable?" Zhang Zhaomu asked casually.
"I told you that you had terrible menstrual cramps, so I stayed with you at your house."
Zhang Zhaomu: "?"
"I'm a grown man, and I have menstrual cramps?"
Chen Zhenzhen smiled mischievously. "My mom doesn't know you're a man, and she can definitely accept the reason of menstrual cramps, since most women can empathize with that."
"No, change it!" Zhang Zhaomu shook her head frantically. "Don't I have any pride? You could even say I have some terminal illness, that would be better than menstrual cramps."
"You can choose between menstrual cramps or me telling my mom you're a boy," Chen Zhenzhen threatened.
Zhang Zhaomu gritted her teeth. "So what if I have menstrual cramps!"
"On the bright side, you can use this excuse every month."
"As expected of you, Zhang Zaowan, you always manage to find strange ways to comfort yourself." Chen Zhenzhen gave a thumbs up. "Try to act convincingly later, make your voice weak, don't be too loud."
"Don't worry, I'm a pure acting talent."
The two returned to their rented apartment first. Zhang Zhaomu took out his phone and skillfully adjusted the voice changer software.
Then Chen Zhenzhen dialed her home phone number and put it on speakerphone.
"Hello?" The call connected quickly, and a mature female voice came through.
"Mom, it's Zhenzhen." Chen Zhenzhen spoke first. "I'm at Zhang Zaowan's house. She's not feeling well today, and I wanted to keep her company."
Zhang Zhaomu pressed the voice changer button and said in a slightly high-pitched voice, "Good evening, Auntie Wang."
"Good evening to you too." The other person asked with concern, "Are you feeling unwell? Have you been to the hospital?"
"I'm fine." Zhang Zhaomu glanced at Chen Zhenzhen and said awkwardly, "It's just... I got my period, and it hurts a bit."
Chen Zhenzhen couldn't help but chuckle, covering her mouth to stifle her laughter.
Zhang Zhaomu glared at him angrily.
"Oh! You're on your period, right?" Auntie Wang understood and said, "I'll have Zhenzhen get you a hot towel to apply. At your age, you should pay more attention to your diet and eat less cold food. My Zhenzhen is disobedient; she drinks ice water every day and likes to stay up late. She suffers terribly from the pain every time she has her period..."
"Mom!" Chen Zhenzhen quickly interrupted, her face slightly flushed. "Why are you saying this?"
"I'm not talking to you anymore. I still have to take care of Zhang Zaowan. I'm sleeping at her place tonight and I'm not coming back."
"What's the rush! I still have something to say to Zhang Zaowan." Auntie Wang said, " Zaowan, you and Zhenzhen are such good friends, and I haven't even met you yet. If you have time this weekend, come over to our house for dinner. Auntie will cook you something delicious."
Zhang Zhaomu was stunned for a moment, then frantically winked at Chen Zhenzhen.
Are you crazy? If I really went to Chen Zhenzhen's house, Auntie Wang probably wouldn't want me to eat anything, but rather she'd chop me up and make me into a meal!
Chen Zhenzhen quickly interjected, "Mom, why are you suddenly bringing this up? Zhang Zaowan or evenings; she has tutoring to do."
"You still have time to eat, right? It won't take up much time," Auntie Wang said. "You and Zhang Zaowan have been good friends since junior high school, and she's taken good care of you all these years. As a parent, it's only right that I treat her to a meal."
"Mom, really, you don't need to—"
"It's settled then, Saturday afternoon. I'll buy the groceries in advance. Remember to come in the Zaowan!"
Then the phone rang and hung up.
The two looked at each other in bewilderment.
After hesitating for a long time, Chen Zhenzhen finally blurted out, " Zhang Zaowan, do you think it's too late for you to go to Thailand for sex reassignment surgery now?"
"Are you even speaking human language?" Zhang Zhaomu said irritably, "Anyway, I'm definitely not going. Figure it out yourself."
"Every time she asked you to come to my house before, I always made excuses to avoid it. But judging from my mom's tone this time, she seems determined to see you, otherwise she wouldn't have hung up on me so easily." Chen Zhenzhen looked troubled. "Is she starting to suspect something?"
"Maybe." Zhang Zhaomu sighed. "After all, voice-changing software is quite common nowadays. If your mother accidentally comes into contact with information about this, she'll be able to detect anything unusual."
"That's true." Chen Zhenzhen recalled, "My mom said a couple of days ago that she wanted to see your photos. I told her that you don't like taking pictures, and she was very puzzled, saying that we've known each other for so many years, shouldn't we have a photo together or something? I had to go to great lengths to change the subject."
"Looking back now, I should have photoshopped a picture and shown it to her; maybe she wouldn't have pulled this stunt today."
"It's come to this now." Zhang Zhaomu spread his hands. "Why don't we just lay it all out? At most, I'll just take a detour when I pass by your street in the future."
"No way!" Chen Zhenzhen quickly said, "My mom will definitely forbid me from having any more contact with you."
"Now you know you can't say no?" Zhang Zhaomu snorted. "You always use this to threaten me. I thought you weren't afraid at all."
Chen Zhenzhen didn't reply, but her eyes darted around before she said, " Zhang Zaowan, weren't you amazing at your image makeover? How about—"
"Don't even think about it!" Zhang Zhaomu suddenly took a step back.
"I haven't finished yet!" Chen Zhenzhen leaned closer. "You're quite pretty too. If you wore a wig and a dress, you might really look like a girl."
"Wearing a skirt?" Zhang Zhaomu laughed in exasperation, pulling up her trouser leg. "Look at my thick leg hair, is it appropriate for me to wear a skirt?"
"You could shave it, or wear black stockings to cover it up..." Chen Zhenzhen suggested softly.
"Please, have some decency," Zhang Zhaomu said irritably. "I'm over 1.8 meters tall, and you expect me to dress up as a woman? Even your blind mother could tell! Besides, I can't use a voice imitation; I'd just give myself away as soon as I opened my mouth!"
"What can we do?" Chen Zhenzhen said, somewhat resigned.
"If you really want to dispel your mother's suspicions, why don't you just send a real girl to the meeting?" Zhang Zhaomu suggested. "Anyway, your mother has never met me."
"That's right!" Chen Zhenzhen's eyes lit up.
"Bring your gossipy deskmate; she'll definitely be interested," Zhang Zhaomu said.
" Qianqian won't do." Chen Zhenzhen shook her head. "I have photos of her with me on my WeChat Moments. My mom has met her."
"Then just pick anyone from your class."
"That won't work either. If we come to the school for parent-teacher conferences or something, wouldn't it be obvious if we looked for classmates?" Chen Zhenzhen pondered. "We have to find someone my mom wouldn't normally have the chance to meet."