If You Could Hear My Heart

Chapter 8: Xu Zhaomu, Behave!

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Beads of sweat covered Xu Zhaomu’s forehead. Her little hands were clawing at the air.

Shen Chi walked over and grabbed her hands. He could feel how ice-cold they were.

Soon after, Xu Zhaomu woke up. Her large eyes were still full of tears, but when she caught sight of Shen Chi, she immediately wiped them away. She sighed, “Ah, I had another nightmare. In the dream, all my food had been snatched away by a dog.”

She had screamed, save me, because her food was being stolen by a dog? Shen Chi smiled.

“Follow me, let’s go eat!” Shen Chi pulled her up roughly.

“Eat? I’m not even hungry. Why do I need to eat?” Xu Zhaomu tried to act tough.

She didn’t like the fact that he could decide when she could eat and when she couldn’t. She wasn’t a dog being reared by him.

“You’re really not hungry?” He stared at her with narrowed eyes.

“No, I’m not hungry. I stuffed myself yesterday afternoon, and I still feel full.” Xu Zhaomu tossed her head from side to side.

“That’s good. Then you don’t need to eat tonight. Have a good sleep with Big White here.” Shen Chi threw a glance at his Tibetan mastiff. He shook his head and prepared to take his leave.

“Eh, eh, eh, dear big brother, I suddenly remembered that I am in habit of having supper. If I miss supper, I won’t be able to sleep. It’s true. I’ll toss and turn in bed and get very uncomfortable.” Xu Zhaomu tugged at his arm. She looked very pitiful.

“I don’t really feel like taking you out now. I need to think about things first.”

“Shen Chi, you are handsome and confident and your future prospects are bright. May you live to be 100 years old. May you live as long as Zhongnan Mountain. May your happiness be as boundless as the East Sea…”

“I’m not going to be moved by your flattery.”

“Then…Xu Zhaomu is a scoundrel, Xu Zhaomu is a liar, Xu Zhaomu is a hoodlum…”

“Mmm, that sounds better.”

Only then did Shen Chi take her out of the dark little room.

Xu Zhaomu held his hand as he led her out of the room. She felt warmth burst forth in her heart.

He took her to the living room. It was late at night, and no one else was up. They were the only people present, along with a table full of good food.

Xu Zhaomu’s eyes sparkled. She no longer cared about her image as she used her chopsticks to pick up a piece of fish.

Shen Chi sat on the sofa and casually picked up a book, before silently starting to read.

Good food, good view, and good looks. Xu Zhaomu felt that life was quite good.

While she ate, she would secretly sneak a few peeks at Shen Chi. During those moments, her food would taste especially good.

This chap was very good-looking. Looking at his profile, the contours of his face accentuated his strong masculine appearance. His nose was straight and his thin lips protruded attractively. His eyes were currently engrossed in reading the book.

As she stared at him, two eyes shot in her direction. “Have you stared at me long enough?”

“Who…who…who was looking at you? There is a fly on the sofa.” Xu Zhaomu hastily lowered her head and returned to stuffing more food into her mouth.

“There are flies in this season?” Shen Chi strode over with his long legs, before stopping in front of her.

“If I said there was, then there was,” Xu Zhaomu muttered.

“Xu Zhaomu, if you lie again, I’ll pinch you to death.”

She was already lying at such a young age. He definitely needed to get a refund on this kid.

“I’m not eating anymore. The fish is full of bones.” Xu Zhaomu slammed her chopsticks down. She glared at him and appeared to be challenging him.

“If you’re not going to eat, then roll off to bed.” Shen Chi had never seen such a girl who was so difficult to teach.

“To your room?” Xu Zhaomu was still glaring at him, wondering why he had to shout.

“Get lost!” Shen Chi picked up his book and stormed out of the living room. He was extremely incensed.

After Shen Chi left, Xu Zhaomu wondered if this could be considered as her win. Just as she had expected, she needed to have thick skin in order to deal with people like Shen Chi.

Then she picked up her chopsticks once more and kept on shoving more food into her mouth. Objectively speaking, these dishes were not bad. She still hadn’t eaten her fill.

The clock on the wall indicated it was 11:00 p.m.

After stretching lazily, she left the living room and prepared to head back to her room to sleep. However, then she heard voices raised in an argument.

She stuck closely to the wall as she walked over. She didn’t have the bad habit of eavesdropping, but she had heard her name mentioned.

“Zhou Ran, I know you have some sly plans up your sleeve by bringing Xu Zhaomu into the Shen family.”

It was the voice of the man she had met earlier in the day.

“Shen Cexian, you’re just pretending to be cool in front of me. I don’t believe you can feel at ease when you see her?”

It was Auntie Zhou!

Why would they be mentioning her?

“Zhou Ran, does tormenting me make you feel happy?” Shen Cexian responded.

“Of course. My number one wish as long as I’m alive is to see you die a terrible death!” Zhou Ran clenched her teeth.

Xu Zhaomu was shocked by Zhou Ran’s words. She could not imagine these words coming out of Auntie Zhou’s mouth.

To Xu Zhaomu, Zhou Ran was beautiful, elegant, and generous, just like a goddess who had descended into the mortal world. Her every frown and smile seemed to exhale the fragrance of magnolia flowers.

“Zhou Ran, you are nothing compared to her,” Shen Cexian said coldly.

It was frosty outside. Hugging herself tightly, Xu Zhaomu left. She didn’t want to listen any more. She was afraid that this world wasn’t as beautiful as she’d expected.

Xu Zhaomu developed a high fever some time past midnight.

She was tossing and turning as she flung herself around her bed, crying out for her mother.

But even if she cried out to the heavens and earth, there would be no response.

Shen Chi only realized that Xu Zhaomu had contracted a relentless fever in the morning.

“Don’t leave me…Mom…don’t leave…” Due to her fever, Xu Zhaomu was in a very muddled state. The words that left her mouth were jumbled and unclear.

Shen Chi had originally stopped by to call Xu Zhaomu downstairs for breakfast with him. He’d discovered that the door of Xu Zhaomu’s room was still closed. No matter how hard he knocked, there was no response.

“Xu Zhaomu, open the door.”

No one responded.

“Xu Zhaomu!”

There was still no response.

He finally started to panic. He opened the door and ran in.

Xu Zhaomu’s blanket had fallen onto the ground. She was fidgeting restlessly and sweating profusely as she mumbled gibberish.

Shen Chi ran over to her.. He grabbed her arm, only to realize that her entire body was burning hot. She had a very high fever.

“Xu Zhaomu, wake up!” He remembered that she had fallen into the water the day before.

“Mom…mom…don’t leave! Don’t leave Zhaomu all alone…”

“What did you say?” Shen Chi lowered his head.

However, he couldn’t hear anything clearly. Xu Zhaomu’s eyes were shut and tears were visible at the corners of her eyes. She appeared to be in pain.

“Worrisome!” Shen Chi frowned.

He walked back to his room and made a phone call. Very soon, the Shen family doctor came over.

The doctor took Xu Zhaomu’s temperature. “She’s got a fever. I’ll give her one bottle of an IV drip.”

Shen Chi stated, “IV drips are not good for the body.”

“Giving her IV hydration would be swifter. But she can also do without it. I will prescribe some medicine for her and monitor her to see if her fever subsides.”

“Mmm.”

The doctor retrieved a few boxes of medicine from his bag. “Young Master, you must definitely give me a call if anything new happens. Otherwise, there could be a problem if her mental state is altered from the fever.”

“I understand her way too well. On the contrary, it might be better if her mental state was altered.”

After the doctor left, Shen Chi did not head downstairs to have breakfast.

Since yesterday, he had finally realized something. His mother did not like Xu Zhaomu, and his father hated her. Hence, even the servants had been treating her accordingly.

When his hand touched Xu Zhaomu’s hair, the girl suddenly grabbed his hand and refused to let go.

“Xu Zhaomu, behave!” Shen Chi warned her.

Xu Zhaomu finally woke up. She broke into tears, before shoving the blanket aside and hugging Shen Chi.

Her mental state hadn’t been altered by the fever. Her state of mind was very clear.

If she didn’t make a move now, there wouldn’t be a better time in the future.

Eight octopus tentacles stuck onto Shen Chi. Shen Chi shoved her forcefully but to no avail. With mucus and tears streaming down her face, she rubbed against him.

“Big brother Shen Chi, I know you care about me the most of anyone here.”

“If you die, my family will have to deal with the legal consequences.”

“Then do you want me to die or not?”

“Don’t want.”

“Then isn’t it obvious, you still care about me.”

Shen Chi’s face took on its usual look of frustrated anger. This was some dogsh*t logic.

“I’m going to count to three, and you better lie down! One…”

“Two…”

“Three!”

Xu Zhaomu didn’t move in the slightest. Her tears turned into laughter. “I’m not going to lie down. What can you do to me?”

Shen Chi wished he could toss her out of the window. If he, Shen Chi, asked someone to head east, no one would dare to head west.