If You Could Hear My Heart

Chapter 13: Eat Her Up

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

“Don’t mention him. It’ll make me unhappy.” Xu Zhaomu put on a serious expression. She spoke to Li Beiting with great solemnity.

Li Beiting was laughing so hard that his stomach hurt. This was the first time he’d ever come across such an interesting little girl.

At that moment, his house phone started to ring in the living room. He put his basketball down before walking over to pick it up.

“Li Beiting, bring Xu Zhaomu back here.”

That cold, harsh voice caused Li Beiting to jump in fright. He had just been wondering who was calling. As it turned out, it was Young Master Shen.

“Shen Chi, it’s not my fault. This kiddo was sitting outside your house in tears. Don’t think that I kidnapped her.” Li Beiting hastily clarified the situation.

“If you bring her back within five minutes, I won’t pursue this matter.”

“All right, all right, all right. Whatever you want.” Li Beiting dabbed off the sweat.

“Don’t tell her that I was the one who made you bring her back,” Shen Chi said in a cold voice.

“Huh?”

Before Li Beiting could snap out of his stupor, Shen Chi had already hung up. Li Beiting was utterly stumped, and he continued to hold the phone up in midair. Young Master Shen’s actions were truly inexplicable.

In contrast to the way she acted with Shen Chi, Xu Zhaomu didn’t cause any trouble for Li Beiting. She sat quietly on a stool as she stared at the Li family’s living room.

The Li family’s living room wasn’t as lavish as the Shen family’s was. However, Xu Zhaomu felt that it was homier. At least, there were rows of family portraits on the wall that made you realize that a nice family lived here.

She’d once desired a complete family. She had once asked her mother where her father had gone.

However, her mother had kept her lips perpetually sealed. Subsequently, she hadn’t probed any further in fear that she would make her mother upset.

Looking forward, she was pretty certain she would never be able to enjoy the warmth of a family.

When she thought about this, her heart started to hurt again.

“Zhaomu, I have to take you back.” Li Beiting walked over.

“Where to?” Xu Zhaomu stared at him cautiously. “I don’t want to return to the Shen residence. Apart from Auntie Zhou, no one treats me well there.”

“Your Auntie Zhou is looking for you. She’s already made a few phone calls. She’s worried that you got lost.” Li Beiting made up a lie.

“Auntie Zhou is looking for me?”

“That’s right. She’s really worried. When she heard that you were here, she wanted me to bring you back.”

Xu Zhaomu was quite moved. However, when she recalled Shen Chi’s face, she immediately shook her head. “I’m not going back. Shen Chi will eat me up.”

She had learned a new phrase from her manga that day—eat her up. Although she didn’t know what it meant, she knew that the female protagonist would always look scared when the male lead uttered that phrase to her.

Hence, Xu Zhaomu felt that this was quite a powerful phrase. It suited her current situation perfectly.

Unfortunately, she would never be able to learn things from such literature anymore. Her books had been burned up.

Li Beiting was dumbfounded. Then he clutched his belly and burst into a violent fit of laughter. “Eat her up…eat…eat…ha, ha, ha.”

Li Beiting kept chuckling. “I can completely assure you and I will put my morality on the line and guarantee you that Shen Chi doesn’t have any interest toward you.”

Xu Zhaomu was only ten years old. However, even if she was 18 years old, Shen Chi would definitely not be interested in her. It was common knowledge that Young Master Shen liked the Eldest Miss of the Bai family, Bai Man.

“Is your morality worth a lot of money?” Xu Zhaomu expressed her doubts.

Much later on, reality proved that Li Beiting’s morality had been gobbled up by dogs. Didn’t he say that Shen Chi wasn’t interested in her? Many years later, who was the man who pressed her onto a bed regardless of the time of day?

“How could you doubt me? Let’s go. I’ll take you back to the Shen family. Auntie Zhou is most likely worried sick,” Li Beiting said.

Xu Zhaomu had also been afraid that she would cause Auntie Zhou to worry. After all, she quite liked Auntie Zhou. Auntie Zhou always made her think of her mother.

When Li Beiting brought Xu Zhaomu back to the Shen residence, Shen Chi was in the middle of having a leisurely dinner at the dining table.

He sat patiently cutting the steak into small pieces. His movements appeared extremely elegant.

He didn’t even raise his head when Xu Zhaomu stood before him.

“Ahem, Shen Chi.” Li Beiting cleared his throat.

“You can go now,” Shen Chi replied nonchalantly.

“You…you’re abandoning your benefactor once you’ve achieved your goal. You should at least invite me for a cup of tea,” Li Beiting protested.

However, Shen Chi continued to eat his dinner with his head lowered. Li Beiting was being ignored, and he was left in an awkward position. He could only leave the Shen residence after glaring at him. “Whatever. Let’s just treat this as my good deed of the day.” Li Beiting tried to comfort himself.

Xu Zhaomu also glared at him. However, her stomach made a disappointing gurgle. She couldn’t hide the sound.

She had not eaten for the entire day, and this was unacceptable.

On the contrary, Shen Chi continued to mind his own business. He ate his own food, completely ignoring Xu Zhaomu.

The steak emanated a tantalizing fragrance. There was even an entire spread of dishes on the table. Xu Zhaomu really wanted to sit down.

No, she couldn’t. Starving to death was a small matter. If she yielded to him, how would she be able to live with herself?

So Xu Zhaomu held her head high and brushed past Shen Chi’s shoulders as she walked out of the room. However, after taking a few steps, a certain person’s cold, demonic voice rang out faintly, “Aren’t you very capable? What did you return for?”

“You think I wanted to come back? Auntie Zhou was the one who wanted me back. I was merely afraid to make Auntie Zhou worry. Nobody wants to see you.” Xu Zhaomu huffed.

Shen Chi sneered. In the end, she was only a ten-year-old child. She was unable to read people.

His mother didn’t like her at all.

Shen Chi didn’t speak any more, and Xu Zhaomu remained rooted on the spot for a long time. Honestly, as long as he’d said, “Let’s eat together,” she would have forced herself to accompany him for the meal.

However, Shen Chi remained taciturn. Xu Zhaomu clenched her teeth and walked up the stairs alone.

Her manga had been confiscated, and she hadn’t even eaten. Xu Zhaomu felt that her days here were even worse than her days at the orphanage. At the very least, she was still allowed to set off firecrackers in the orphanage.

In the middle of the night, she was roused from her sleep due to hunger. Xu Zhaomu clutched her belly and whimpered, “I’m hungry, very hungry.” However, no one cared about her.

She turned on her desk lamp and scoured her room for edibles. However, the cupboard was even cleaner than her face. There was nothing inside at all.

The clock struck one o’clock. It was already one hour past midnight.

The entire house was plunged into silence. She could only hear her stomach grumbling.

Xu Zhaomu had no choice but to head downstairs stealthily. She might just be able to find some food down there.

She didn’t dare to turn on the lights. If she were to be caught…it would harm her image.

Just before descending the last flight of stairs, she saw a black silhouette seated on the sofa.

The silhouette was completely still and silent on the sofa.

“Ah, ah, ah!” Xu Zhaomu was so frightened that she screamed.

Who would still be sitting there silently in the middle of the night? It gave her a huge scare.

Bang! Shen Chi got up from the sofa and turned on the living room lights.

Xu Zhaomu immediately ran off. How could it be him? Did he have a bad habit of staying up late at night? She was finished. If he realized that she was downstairs searching for food, her image would be completely destroyed.

Shen Chi grabbed her by the collar and dragged her back down. “Why are you wandering around at night instead of sleeping?”

“Really? Hee, hee, I sleepwalk.” Xu Zhaomu squeezed out an ugly smile.

She realized that Shen Chi’s face had gotten dark again, and that his face looked very unsightly. She didn’t know who had made him upset this time. She only knew that it definitely wasn’t her.

“Stop lying to my face! There is food on the table. Just go and eat it.” Shen Chi let her go.

Her ruse had been uncovered. Xu Zhaomu felt as though she had really lost all her reputation.

She could only look down at the floor and walk past Shen Chi, before sitting at the table to eat. The dishes were still warm, and she found this quite strange. Did the cutlery of rich people possess automatic self-heating capabilities?

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Even after pondering this 100 times, Xu Zhaomu could not understand.

Shen Chi didn’t sit down again. He walked up the stairs slowly.

Xu Zhaomu thought that it would be unkind of her not to show any concern. So she asked quietly, “Why aren’t you sleeping at this hour?”

Shen Chi’s footsteps paused for a moment. He didn’t reply and simply continued walking up the stairs.

Xu Zhaomu had been ignored. She harrumphed and pouted, before continuing to indulge in her meal with great pleasure.