“Morning.”
A familiar feminine voice sounded, as usual.
His head was spinning as Xie Shuo connected the voice that had been in his ears for all this time to the face in front of him.
So this was what she looked like.
The rumors were true; she was beautiful and charming, yet Ye Yuan Nian willingly married her off.
Ye An stood on the balcony for a while but turned around and walked back inside when she began to feel a little cold. Seeing Xie Shuo sitting motionless and dazed against the headboard, she couldn’t help but feel that something was strange. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”
After he returned to his senses, Xie Shuo looked at her, not knowing how to react.
Ye An stepped forward and sat down beside him, worried that he somehow caught a cold during the night. She reached out to touch his forehead.
She had just come in from the outside, so her fingers were cool. Xie Shuo looked up and caught a glimpse of her wrist bone, fair like snow.
“Feels a little warm…”
Once Ye An finished speaking, she realized that her hands might have been cold, so she put her hands under the comforter to warm them up.
She was close enough to where Xie Shuo could see her thick eyelashes that curved slightly up. He could also see her soft cheeks and her tightly pursed red lips.
After warming up her hands, Ye An reached out to touch his forehead again. This time, however, her wrist was caught.
Xie Shuo held her slender wrist and put it down. However, he didn’t massage it like usual and just looked at her instead.
Ye An felt even weirder.
He usually didn’t sleep very well and would wake up earlier than her. She didn’t know what happened, but he slept later than her today. He was still asleep even when she had finished her morning routine.
Now that he was awake, he sat in bed looking confused.
“Does your head hurt? Do you want me to get you some medicine?” Ye An asked softly and patiently.
She was about to get up, but Xie Shuo grabbed her hand and finally spoke, “No.”
Hearing his tone of voice, Ye An didn’t sense any signs of discomfort. She assumed that he was just in a bad mood from waking up and said, “If your head doesn’t hurt, go wash up and head downstairs for breakfast.”
She retracted her hand and walked to the closet, ignoring him.
This Eldest Young Master had always been moody, going from gentle to irritable every few days.
Xie Shuo looked at her slender figure, and a phrase suddenly flashed through his mind:
“If the day comes where your eyes heal and you can see, we can divorce and no longer have anything to do with each other.”
As the sound of footsteps faded away, Xie Shuo sat in silence for a moment before lifting the comforter and getting out of bed.
As soon as he took a step, the scene in front of him suddenly became blurry, and the sky seemed to spin. A sharp pain entered his eyes, and he staggered to the bed to support himself.
The shadows and light overlapped as if they were turbulent waves. After some time had passed, his eyesight regained some clarity, but there were still a few dark spots left.
He raised his hand and massaged his head, waiting for the dizziness to subside before moving again.
After he washed up and came out of the bathroom, Ye An had already prepared clothes for him to wear as usual.
She reached out to support him. The woman’s slender fingers wrapped around his arms and were as fair as jade.
“If you don’t go outside today, this sweater should be enough.” Ye An handed the clothes to him and turned to leave.
She had also changed into a beige homey clothing set, appearing gentle and calm.
Xie Shuo glanced at her, put the sweater down, and untied his nightgown.
After changing and exiting the room, he found that while the layout of the bedroom was the same, the furnishings were unfamiliar. Compared to before he went blind, the room had fewer fragile items.
In the dining room, the sun shone through the windows. A vase of flowers sat on the table, looking delicate and vibrant under the speckled sunlight.
Seeing light again after spending time in the darkness made everything aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
Xie Shuo felt that everything seemed unreal, even when he sat down and began to eat a bowl of porridge.
He couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Ye An sitting next to him. She was holding a small spoon to eat her porridge with her head down. Her long eyelashes extended down, and her features were serene.
He was really able to see.
The only thing was that the dark spots in his vision appeared and disappeared periodically, making his eyes sore and uncomfortable.
“Call Professor Cen later and ask about his availability this afternoon. I want to make an appointment.”
Ye An was stunned upon hearing such a request. She looked up, asking, “Is it that urgent?”
She did recommend for him to go see Professor Cen last night, but she expected the appointment to be scheduled for the next few days.
Xie Shuo put his bowl down and massaged his temples, responding with a light, “En.”
Seeing that his expression was off, Ye An also put down her bowl and reached out to support him. “Does your head hurt again? I’ll help you get the medicine.”
Xie Shuo let her support him upstairs. After taking medicine, he sat on the sofa and closed his eyes.
Ye An had sensed that something had been strange about him today, but she couldn’t tell what was wrong. She took advantage of this chance to call Cen Qingyan and made an appointment for a check-up later in the afternoon.
“The appointment has been scheduled. I’m going to pack a little. How about you go rest for a while?”
Xie Shuo opened his eyes to see a vague outline of her figure. He shook his head.
He didn’t dare to sleep now in fear of not being able to see anything when he woke up again.
Ye An didn’t press him any further. She found a blanket to cover him with and turned to prepare for their departure.
There was quite some distance between the Xie residence and the research institute, so the two ate lunch in advance and set off at eleven o’clock.
When they arrived, it was half-past two in the afternoon.
Like before, Xie Shuo and Cen Qingyan went into the patient room for the check-up while Ye An waited for the results outside.
The greenery outside the window was withered and yellow. The air was filled with a sense of desolation in the dismal winter season.
Ye An was a little chilly. She rubbed her hands together and sat on the side.
Inside the patient room:
Cen Qingyan finished the examination on Xie Shuo and said with a surprised smile on his face. “With your current condition, I will say that you are close to complete recovery. You should stay for a week for observation and return when your condition is completely stable.”
Xie Shuo got up from the hospital chair and said abruptly, “Professor Cen, please keep this secret for now and don’t tell anyone about my recovery.”
Cen Qingyan was momentarily stunned and somewhat confused. “Your wife as well?”
Xie Shuo reaffirmed, “Especially my wife, please don’t let her know.”
—
Ye An waited outside for a long time. When she heard the sound of the door finally opening, she hurried to meet them.
“Professor Cen, how is he?”
Cen Qingyan looked at her and paused. He used the same rhetoric of changing the phrasing but not the message. “His condition has improved a lot recently. I’ll have him stay for a week and try a new treatment plan.”
Ye An wasn’t upset upon hearing this news. After experiencing this situation multiple times, she was could face the news calmly. At least his condition was getting better and not worse.
She glanced at Xie Shuo and gripped his hand tightly, fearing that he was upset.
Xie Shuo looked at her after feeling the strength of her grip, not letting her notice the truth.
After getting settled in the patient ward, Ye An sat beside his hospital bed like in the past.
“Are you tired? If you’re not tired, how about we go for a walk?”
It was four in the evening, so the sun was still strong. Xie Shuo said, “Let’s go tomorrow.”
Ye An thought for a moment before grabbing her phone and saying, “Then how about I read to you?”
Xie Shuo recalled how she had read to him previously and wasn’t interested. He said indifferently, “No.”
…He didn’t want this or that; why was he more difficult to accommodate today than ever before? He clearly was the one that brought up a walk and listened to her poetry narrations.
Ye An felt helpless seeing his cold appearance. She covered the back of his hand, squeezed it, and smiled. “Don’t be sad. Professor Cen has already said that your condition is slowly improving. Maybe you’ll even recover soon.”
Xie Shuo looked up, feeling the warmth on his hand. He was slightly startled by her warm smile and the concern for him in her eyes.
To be honest, he wasn’t sad. He just hadn’t seen the light for too long, and since he recovered so suddenly, his eyes felt a bit uncomfortable.
Moreover, he had just regained his sight, so there were many things that he needed to sort out.
Seeing that he was still silent, Ye An grabbed his hand and leaned closer to him. “Didn’t you just promise that we would work things out last night? Why are you ignoring me today?” She leaned on his shoulder and poked his chest, saying in a coquettish tone, “You acting like this can be counted as emotional manipulation.”
She was very close to him in such an intimate posture. He could touch her forehead if he lowered his chin slightly. His nose detected the light fragrance in her hair, and her red lips were in his line of sight.
Xie Shuo turned away and asked in a low tone, “Can you find the poetry from last time?”
Seeing that he was finally speaking, Ye An let go of him happily and stood up. “I’ll get it now.”
Her footsteps faded and returned not long after. She had quickly found the poetry book and sat down beside his bed again.
A gentle female voice sounded throughout the room, pleasant to the ear and dynamic with emotion.
Xie Shuo looked at her as he listened to her reading the poetry. When she suddenly looked up, their gazes collided.
Afraid that she would notice something, Xie Shuo didn’t dare to stare at her again. He averted his gaze to her hands holding the book.
Her hands were beautiful; she had slender fingers, which were pale and delicate. Her nails were neatly trimmed and tinted with light pink.
They felt nice too.
Xie Shuo’s fingers moved slightly, almost giving into his habit of grabbing her hand and playing with it.
Ye An was unaware of his actions. Her head was lowered, and she read the poems quietly. A strand of hair fell on her cheeks, and she seemed immersed in her reading.
The sunset turned darker, and after the sun set behind the mountains, night fell.
In the evening, Xie Shuo leaned against the headboard, not feeling tired even after taking a shower.
Ye An came out of the bathroom, and when she saw that he was sitting quietly again, her head began to hurt.
Wasn’t he fine yesterday? Why was he so dispirited today?
“Aren’t you tired?”
Ye An sat down beside him and felt somewhat cold, so she lifted her legs and put them under the blanket.
Xie Shuo looked up at her. She had just taken a shower and still smelled like her shower gel. Under the lamplight, her skin appeared fair and smooth, and he could almost see the peach fuzz on her cheeks.
She always liked to get close when talking to him. He couldn’t see before, so it didn’t make much of a difference, but when he lowered his gaze now, he caught a glimpse of her delicate collarbone and the supple skin under her neckline.
“You sleep first,” Xie Shuo said quietly without opening his eyes.
Ye An was worn out by his fickle mood. She leaned against the head of the bed and made a fierce pinching action in front of his face. Since her movements were just for show, her fingertips didn’t touch him.
After fake pinching his nose, she couldn’t hold back her urge to touch his eyelashes.
Xie Shuo, who could now see: “…”
So this was what she usually looked like in front of him.
