If You Could Hear My Heart

He peeled shrimp after shrimp for her, and she never grew tired of eating them.

Actually, she wasn’t that fond of shrimp, but the ones he peeled for her somehow tasted different.

He sat beside her, peeling a shrimp and then immediately feeding it to her. He quickly grew accustomed to this gesture.

“I want to eat fish now,” Xu Chaomu pointed at another dish.

“So you’re torturing me by making me pick out the bones, aren’t you?” Shen Chi knew she was teasing him.

“Four, how come you’re so smart?” Xu Chaomu squinted her eyes playfully.

When she was in a good mood, she would call him Four, as if it was just second nature.

“If your Four isn’t smart, then who else can be considered smart?” he retorted unabashedly.

“Shameless.”

Shen Chi chuckled, carefully picked the bones from a piece of fish, and then placed it in her bowl.

He had been busy up until now and hadn’t even had a bite to eat.

Meanwhile, Xu Chaomu ate contentedly, not being overly polite with him at all.

But truthfully, his cooking was quite good; this was the first time in all these years that she had eaten a meal he made.

The first time, and also the last.

She ate with relish, trying a bit of every dish. Many times, a bitter taste lodged in her throat, but she swallowed her tears down with it.

She wasn’t one for melancholy, so she always tried to forget unpleasant things.

“Four, when did you buy this villa?”

“Been a while now. Do you like it?”

“I like it. Are you going to give it to me?” Xu Chaomu teased on purpose.

“If you like it, I’ll give it to you.”

“You better save it for your wife; I can’t accept such a thing.”

“Jealous again? Stop it. In a bit, I’ll take you to the rooftop to sit, I have something to give you.”

“Is it valuable? If it’s not, I don’t want it,” Xu Chaomu huffed.

“You’ll know when you see it.”

“Oh, then let’s take a look. Maybe on a day when I’m short of cash, I can pawn it.”

“No way, you keep it properly,” Shen Chi said with a stern and serious face.

Xu Chaomu thought to herself, the handful of croton seeds from five years ago had really paid off—not only was there dinner, but also a gift.

Finally, she was full and patted her stomach, shaking her head: “No more for me, I’m satiated.”

“Finally managed to feed you enough. Wait a moment, I’m going to eat a few bites,” Shen Chi replied.

After speaking, Shen Chi washed his hands again, while Xu Chaomu idly swayed in her chair.

When he came back, she was still sitting there, eyes whirling around.

The corners of his mouth slowly curved upward. How he wished he could see her like this every day.

“Mumu, go upstairs and fetch me a jacket,” said Shen Chi, flicking the water droplets off his hands and slowly walking towards the dining table with his long legs.

“Don’t you have hands? I won’t fetch it.”

“I must have spoiled you for nothing, you ungrateful little creature. Who peeled shrimp for you just now? And now you can’t even be happy to fetch a jacket for me,” he complained.

“Yeah, right, I’m not happy. What are you going to do, hit me?” Xu Chaomu laughed joyfully.

“Such an ungrateful creature. Fine, leave it; I’ll fetch it myself later.”

As long as he saw her smile, everything was good.

Having said this, he sat down to eat his meal.

Xu Chaomu, meanwhile, hugged an ugly doll pillow, amusing herself with it.

Seeing that she didn’t speak, he teased her, “Do you like having a daughter?”

“Mmhm,” she replied, looking down as she continued to play.

“I like it too,” Shen Chi said lightly.

Xu Chaomu gave him a contemptuous look. What’s your liking got to do with me?

“Well, work hard to have a daughter in the future,” Shen Chi added.

Her daughter would definitely be like her, lively and cute, optimistic and cheerful, and surely a lot of boys would chase after her.

“You don’t need to worry about this, Fourth Brother. You should just try harder to give me a nephew instead. When the time comes, my daughter might consider your son.”

“You sure think far ahead,” Shen Chi laughed.

“It’s just a consideration, and my daughter might not even fancy your son. I’ve said it before, Fourth Brother, you really need to work on your temper, otherwise, when you have a son, no one will want him with that stinky attitude.”

“Why wouldn’t anyone want your son?”

“It’s your son, not mine!” Xu Chaomu glared.

“What’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine.”

“What kind of crap logic is that!” Xu Chaomu fumed.

“Keep it classy.”

He always managed to annoy her, but thinking about it, there weren’t many times she really exploded, she’d just endure and it would pass.

“I won’t bother arguing with you, you little punk.”

Shen Chi chuckled softly, leisurely finished his dinner, then wiped his hands with a napkin and carried all the dishes into the kitchen.

“Xu Chaomu, can’t you come over and help me out?”

“What are you going to do, hit me?”

“Come here, wash the dishes!” Shen Chi pulled her hand.

“No, I don’t want to wash dishes, it’s bad for my hands, you’re abusing a minor!”

“When you were working part-time at the hotel, how come you never said washing dishes was bad for your hands?” Shen Chi snorted coldly, always making excuses.

Corner of Xu Chaomu’s mouth twitched, this man had quite the memory.

“When I worked part-time at the hotel, washing dishes paid!”

“Help me wash dishes, and you’ll get paid too.”

“How much?”

“One hundred per dish.”

“Too little, not doing it.”

“You’ve learned to haggle with me now, huh?”

After saying that, Shen Chi pulled her hand and dragged her over to the sink, then hugged her from behind, taking her hand to wash dishes.

He rested his chin on her shoulder, patiently holding her hand as they washed each dish one by one.

Xu Chaomu pressed close to his chest, her breathing quickened considerably. She still liked him after all. It was only when she was close to him that she felt a different kind of heart-fluttering excitement.

But suddenly, she remembered that during the press conference, he had said to Bai Man, “Forever in love.”

Now, however, things with her were unclear. Plus, these past few days, he had kissed her many times, as if he were on some sort of drug.

Suddenly feeling angry, she yanked her hand away, “You’re about to get married, and you’re so unclear with me, don’t you feel ashamed?”

“How do you write the word ‘ashamed’?”

Shen Chi captured her hand, adamantly preventing her from moving.

They’ve already got the marriage certificate, what’s unclear about that? If he swept her off to bed now, yeah… that would be perfectly justified.

“First time seeing someone with such thick skin; shameless!”

Facing such a scoundrel, Xu Chaomu was thoroughly out of tricks.

“Alright, dutifully wash the dishes for me, and afterward I’ll take you to the rooftop.”

“I’m not going. Take me back to school.”

“Not taking you.”

“Then where am I going to sleep tonight?” Xu Chaomu lamented, this man was always so domineering and unreasonable.

“You can choose to sleep with me.”

“I’m not interested in second-hand men!” Xu Chaomu declared self-righteously.

Although, her life goal used to be to hold him, kiss him, sleep with him. But that was in the past, back when he didn’t have a fiancée.

“Speaking of second-hand men, I have a score to settle with you,” Shen Chi lowered his voice.

“What score?” Xu Chaomu’s heart skipped a beat.

She had wronged him in so many ways, she really didn’t know which score he wanted to settle.

“Do you know what my circle of friends think of me, Shen Chi, now?”

“It’s nothing more than dark and cold-hearted, cunning and ruthless, right? Given your unpopularity, there must be no nice words.”