CEO’s Little Wife 2
Before meeting Qiao Yu, Shen Yan had briefly glanced at a photo of him. He still remembered it: a very beautiful boy, but at the time it had not stirred the slightest ripple in Shen Yan’s heart.
As the Shen family’s only person in power now, Shen Yan had seen many people with outstanding looks in his life, men and women alike, but no matter how they appeared, they had never left even the tiniest wave in his heart.
Someone had once said that Shen Yan was a heartless monk, that he ought to be in a temple every day, keeping company with Buddha statues. Shen Yan had heard it and not cared at all.
To him, people were nothing more than a shell of flesh; there was nothing worth clinging to. Rather than spending time wallowing in wine and women, he might as well read a few more documents. Yet today, he vaguely felt as if he had been slapped in the face.
Qiao Yu did not quite match the photo, not because he was uglier than it showed, but because he was a thousand, ten thousand times more beautiful.
Perhaps it was because Shen Yan’s sudden appearance had startled him, or perhaps because Qiao Yu had just awakened from sleep. There was still a faint trace of drowsiness and confusion on the boy’s face. His misty eyes, filled with a watery haze, pierced through the warm yellow light and landed on Shen Yan bit by bit.
Qiao Yu had an exceptionally beautiful face. His features were all rounded and delicate, carrying a youthful softness, somehow giving him the innocent, slightly dazed feeling of a ragdoll cat… harmless and pure.
But Qiao Yu also had a pair of deep, affectionate eyes. In his light-colored pupils there was always a soft, misty tenderness and warmth. The corners of his brows and eyes seemed to carry a pleading sadness, as though he were asking to be cherished. A faint bluish tear mole beneath his eye pushed that seductive charm to the absolute limit.
His skin was as white as porcelain, fairer than frost and snow. His slightly parted red lips and the languid flush left from sleep carried endless shyness and softness, and with that sharp, cutting beauty, he broke through the hard armor around Shen Yan’s heart.
“Mr. Shen…”
The boy’s soft call pulled Shen Yan’s lost awareness back. Only then did he realize his own loss of composure, and in a panic he covered his mouth, stepped back two paces, and sat down again on the sofa by the bed.
“Since you’re awake, let’s talk about the serious matter.”
After all, Shen Yan was still the one in power in the Shen family. When dealing with sudden changes, he could keep his expression calm and continue negotiating. He opened the documents on the low table and spoke at length.
“Sign this divorce agreement. The two of us had never met before today, and I don’t have any feelings for you. I only married you because of Grandfather’s last wish.”
He paused, then said, “Within one year, I will give you the respect and treatment a wife deserves. After one year, we’ll go our separate ways, and I will also give you half of my personal assets, which will be enough for you to live on.”
The boy who had climbed up from the bed was weak and far too slender, making Shen Yan feel that perhaps his words had been too harsh.
Seeing Qiao Yu staring at his face with a somewhat bewildered and helpless expression, Shen Yan could not help softening his tone again.
“Don’t worry. As long as you sign it, I won’t treat you badly.”
Qiao Yu gently interrupted him. In the boy’s line of sight, he was covering his ears, faint tears shining in his eyes, and he apologized softly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you clearly.”
Snap… the sound of the pen in Shen Yan’s hand falling onto the table.
Qiao Yu had never been deaf before. The feeling of a silent world was actually not very pleasant. It made him a little flustered. Shen Yan spoke quickly, and even though he tried very hard to make out the words, he was powerless to do so.
Qiao Yu stretched out his hand and fumbled anxiously all over the bed as if searching for something. There was nothing on the bed, so he turned around and lifted his hips to search under the pillow, exposing a sliver of slender waist, white enough to dazzle the eyes.
Shen Yan’s gaze fell on a tiny object on the gray floor. Only then did he remember that this wife he had never met before seemed to have poor hearing.
He reached out, picked up the cochlear implant that had fallen by the bed, and handed it to Qiao Yu.
Feeling someone nearby, Qiao Yu suddenly turned around and happened to bump into Shen Yan’s chest. Looking down from the bed, Shen Yan thought dazedly that from this distance, it seemed as if he only had to reach out to pull the whole person into his arms.
That realization was oddly cute.
“Are you looking for this?”
Qiao Yu blinked and looked at Shen Yan somewhat blankly, his eyes fixed tightly on Shen Yan’s mouth, as if trying to figure out what he was saying from his lip movements.
When he saw what Shen Yan was holding, he hesitated and nodded. The next second, something cold was pressed against his ear.
Qiao Yu could not help shivering from the chill. Instinctively, he shrank back, covering his ear and curling toward the man’s arms. Shen Yan’s hand also paused unconsciously. Feeling the cold, smooth touch on the back of his hand, he hesitated, pulled back a little, and in the end did not continue. Instead, he gently placed the ear piece into Qiao Yu’s palm.
Qiao Yu’s movements were still not very practiced. He simply followed the method in his memory and slowly put the cochlear implant on his ear. After a brief blankness, the silent world seemed to come alive again.
The next second, he heard Shen Yan’s voice.
“Can you hear me now?”
The voice was not loud; he even had to listen carefully to hear it at a normal speaking volume.
But it was enough to calm Qiao Yu’s somewhat panicked heart.
“I can hear now, Mr. Shen. What did you say just now?”
Shen Yan looked at Qiao Yu, who was now nestled in the soft bedding, and did not answer immediately. Instead, he lightly pressed the slightly opened document back down with his fingertip.
“Qiao Yu.”
“Hm?” Qiao Yu replied softly. Even though he could hear now, he still subconsciously kept staring at Shen Yan’s lip movements.
“Are your ears okay?”
When he first heard that, Qiao Yu even vaguely thought he had misheard. His gaze landed in surprise on Shen Yan’s face, and under the man’s expression that seemed to say, “You heard right,” Qiao Yu touched his ear and replied with a faint smile.
“It’s fine. I’ve already… gotten used to it.”
People with hearing loss always sound a little strange when they speak, because they cannot tell whether their own voice is loud or soft, or whether what they are saying is even accurate.
So when Qiao Yu spoke, he always enunciated very clearly, but his voice was not loud, and his speech had little pauses, making him seem a little slow and a little cute.
Shen Yan gave a soft hum from his throat, his head lowered as if lost in thought. He did not speak, and Qiao Yu did not speak either. Instead, Qiao Yu secretly changed his kneeling position and stretched out the leg that had gone numb from being pressed.
Numb again. He wanted to touch the main character and wondered whether it would stop being numb right away.