If You Could Hear My Heart

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The youth crossed his arms, furrowing his brow. Why did this girl’s gaze seem so lecherous?

“Achi, you are five years older than Chaomu. Don’t be so fierce with her; in the future, she will have to call you her brother,” the woman said with a slight curl of her lips, as if she was softly chuckling.

“Brother? Ha, brother, give me a hug,” Chaomu said with a vigor, shamelessly stretching out her arms.

She rubbed against the youth’s arm, wrapped her arms around his waist, and looked up at him with a smile.

Her eyes were watery and crafty, and her little face was filled with innocence.

“No hugs!”

The youth had a stern face.

“No hugs?” Chaomu challenged.

“No hugs!”

“Then I’ll hug you!”

With a jump like a monkey, Chaomu leapt onto the youth’s back, her arms hooked around his neck, giggling uncontrollably.

The youth’s face turned as dark as could be, yet Chaomu clung to him like a stubborn plaster, impossible to shake off!

“Get down!” the youth commanded coldly.

He had never seen such an immodest little girl at the age of fifteen, and she was only ten; what would the future hold?

“Let me give you a kiss, and I’ll get down,” she bargained.

The little girl stubbornly clung to the youth’s neck, her legs wrapped around his waist.

At that age, she had no understanding of the propriety between men and women, which was evident in her behavior around Shen Chi; she had never understood it.

“I’m telling you to get down!” the youth erupted.

“Chaomu, come down, Achi is getting angry. He doesn’t like to fool around with girls,” the woman said with a gentle smile.

“So stingy. Just let me kiss you, just one kiss. You won’t be fooled by a kiss, you won’t suffer a loss from a kiss… Ah! Jerk!”

Chaomu held onto the youth’s neck, leaning in as she spoke, thinking, I will kiss you, whether you agree to it or not!

However, with a forceful pull, the youth pried her hands from around his neck, and Chaomu, caught off guard, fell back and landed on the ground, her butt blooming with pain instantly!

The youth snorted coldly, looking down imperiously at Chaomu on the ground.

“Chaomu, are you alright? Come on, get up; your clothes are all dirty.”

The woman hurried to help Chaomu up and dusted off her clothes.

The orphanage director held his forehead in headache, his mouth twitching involuntarily, not wanting to speak. This Chaomu, going to live with the wealthy, would surely turn their house upside down!

“Achi, be more gentle with girls in the future. Chaomu is just a little older than you, she doesn’t know anything. If her fall caused any serious injuries, what would we do?” the woman said, frowning and scolding the youth.

“She looks sturdy enough to me. A lesson might do her some good, so she doesn’t tarnish the Shen Family’s reputation in the future,” the youth replied coldly.

“You just wait!” Chaomu hissed through clenched teeth.

“Chaomu, you haven’t answered me yet. Are you willing to go with me?” the woman asked softly.

“I am willing!” This time, Chaomu didn’t even think before answering.

She swore that she absolutely had to kiss this boy! There was plenty of time ahead, and she was determined not to let him escape her grasp.

So, at the age of ten, Chaomu, still without a full set of hair, set herself a lofty goal: to kiss him!

Later, once that goal was achieved, she set another, even more ambitious one: to sleep with him!

The youth’s complexion had been rather unpleasant throughout, and now he stepped back several paces as if fearing contagion, keeping a distance from Chaomu with disgust.

“It’s good that you’re willing. Once you’re at our house, we will treat you well. I’m going to handle the paperwork; you and Achi go ahead to the car,” the woman said, patting Chaomu’s head with a gentle gaze, as if she were looking at her own child.

“Mhm!” Chaomu responded crisply.

Shaking his head, the director thought to himself that the girl must have amassed good fortune over several lifetimes to have someone still willing to take her in, especially someone who had specifically chosen her.

The woman smiled and brought Xu Chaomu over to the boy’s side, “Achi, take Chaomu to the car, I’ll be there in a bit.”

The boy grunted unwillingly from his throat and didn’t even glance at Xu Chaomu.

“Chaomu, you have to be good in the future, don’t cause trouble for others. Read more books and stop ripping them up everywhere. When you see elders, be polite and don’t shout and scream,” the orphanage director advised Xu Chaomu.

“I got it, I got it, I wish you a long life and blooming peach blossoms,” Xu Chaomu replied.

In fact, what Xu Chaomu really wanted to say was, the score you gave me on the entrance exam is how old I wish you’ll live.

But then she thought, the director only gave her sixteen points, and it was pretty obvious the director was way past sixteen years old.

So, Xu Chaomu felt that it was still important to be kind. Besides, living a long life…was just a casual saying anyway, very few people could achieve that, she guessed.

“So disrespectful,” the director shook her head.

After the woman and the director left, only Xu Chaomu and the boy were left at the entrance of the large courtyard.

Without looking back, the boy walked straight out.

“Hey, wait for me, don’t be so stingy, it was just a hug, I didn’t do anything to you. If you don’t like my hugs, you can hug me from now on,” Xu Chaomu said.

Pattering along behind the boy, she ran until she was out of breath, but still couldn’t catch up to him.

“Wait for me, you haven’t told me your name yet! My name is Xu Chaomu, the ‘Xu’ from Xu Chaomu, the ‘Chao’ from Xu Chaomu, and the ‘Mu’ from Xu Chaomu. Isn’t it a nice name? You can call me Chaomu, or Mumu, or even Amu, Xiaomu, and Mumu, and I wouldn’t mind. But don’t call me by my full name, that would make us seem like strangers,” she said.

“Hey, are you listening to me? Ouch…”

Just as she was trotting forward, the boy suddenly stopped and Xu Chaomu bumped into his back, almost falling face first to the ground.

She rubbed her forehead, feeling wronged.

“Are we that close?” the boy turned around, giving her a cold look, not really wanting to have any association with her.

“Doesn’t a hug count as being close?” Xu Chaomu said with a wounded face.

“Stay away from me, I don’t want to see you within three steps!” the boy warned her.

“Why the attitude, think you’re something just because you’re handsome? Curse you to be a bachelor all your life!” Xu Chaomu’s eyes were filled with contempt.

“Has anyone ever told you, you’re very noisy?”

“No, am I? I’m just not that noticeably quiet. There’s a lot I haven’t said yet, you…”

“Get in!”

The boy, clearly impatient, grabbed the edge of her clothes and threw her into the car, then sat next to her with a dark expression on his face.

He couldn’t understand why his mother would adopt such a skinny and ugly, and terribly chatty little devil from the orphanage!

“Ow, my head hurts, it hit hard… ow…”

Xu Chaomu cried out in pain, inching her way onto the boy.

Although they were both in the backseat, the boy had tossed her all the way to the inside, while he sat on the outer side.

Xu Chaomu slowly moved closer, inching closer to the boy.

The boy was really good-looking, like a sculpture of white jade. Especially now, as the sunlight gently shone through the car window, a few beams of light rested on his face, highlighting his handsome profile, long eyelashes, and straight nose.

“Has anyone ever told you that you resemble someone?”

Xu Chaomu propped her chin and looked at him.

The boy furrowed his eyebrows and gave her a stern glance.

“Can you give a reaction, please? A tender heart needs flowers and applause!”

“Who?”

At last, the boy spit out a word, but actually, he had no interest at all.

“Xu Chaomu’s boyfriend!”

The corner of the boy’s mouth twitched. In the future, was he really going to have to live with her?