Chapter 1
When Aunt Zhu was sent to the hospital, she had already lost consciousness.
She suffered from high blood pressure, which was usually well-controlled with regular medication. Having worked for the Xie family for many years with good wages and benefits, she hadn’t had an episode in nearly two years. This time was an accident. She was so angered by her family that her blood pressure spiked, nearly triggering a cerebral thrombosis. Given her advanced age, although there was no immediate danger to her life, she remained unconscious for a long time before finally awakening.
The first thing she did upon waking was to hurriedly make a phone call.
“Oh my, look at this silly brain of mine. How could there be anyone at home to answer the phone?”
Normally, she was the only one who would answer the phone. Now that she was in the hospital, who would be there to pick up?
She quickly dialed Xie Yunli’s secretary instead.
Zhou Wei was somewhat surprised to receive the call, as Aunt Zhu rarely contacted him about anything.
This also meant that when she did call him, it was definitely something important.
“What? You fainted?”
Upon learning of this incident, Zhou Wei’s heart also skipped a beat.
Aunt Zhu was a housekeeper who had worked for the Xie family for many years, but in reality, there was only one person she needed to care for: Xie Yunli’s wife who had never shown her face, Wen Ran.
Xie Yunli was twenty-nine years old this year and had been married for over two years. Not many people knew about this, because when his career was just starting a few years ago, Xie Yunli had only just taken over his father’s abandoned factory. He had no substantial family fortune or deep connections, and Xie Yunli’s personality in his earlier years was rather aloof with a small social circle. When he got married back then, only a few people around him knew about it.
Of course, there was no need for any grand wedding ceremony either, because for his wife, such a thing would have been impossible to accomplish.
Because Xie Yunli’s wife had suffered from autism spectrum disorder since childhood, she was unable to communicate normally with others. In the more than two years since she married Xie Yunli, the two had never lived together, and the number of times they had met could be counted on one’s fingers. Sometimes Zhou Wei even felt that Xie Yunli had forgotten he had a wife. When others occasionally asked whether he was married, he would always deflect or simply avoid answering altogether.
Zhou Wei had been his driver for just over two years at most, and truly didn’t understand why he had entered into this marriage. But based on common reasoning, he probably owed that family a favor and was therefore compelled to marry their daughter.
Aunt Zhu had been caring for that lady for many years and was said to have voluntarily followed her to the Xie household.
Zhou Wei was getting the details over the phone while Aunt Zhu’s voice sounded panicked, clearly very worried.
He found it somewhat incomprehensible. After all, she was an adult in her twenties, not a child who had just been diagnosed with autism a few years ago. Was there really a need to be so panicked? Could staying home alone for one day really cause her to starve to death?
“If you’re fine now, why don’t you hurry back? Mr. Xie still needs to visit a client later, so he probably won’t have time to rush home…”
Aunt Zhu: “Oh dear, I’m still on an IV drip. I can’t leave even if I wanted to. The doctor said I need to stay for observation, and besides, this hospital is quite far away. I can’t get back anytime soon…”
Zhou Wei: “It’s just one day. Nothing serious will happen, right? How about asking the property management to check on her?”
As far as he knew, that house was a detached villa that Xie Yunli had bought for a high price. It was his best property, with first-class environment and security services.
Aunt Zhu became anxious upon hearing this: “What do you know! Miss Wen can’t be left alone for even a day! She can’t cook, can’t make phone calls, and can’t go out by herself! The property management can’t just enter someone’s home casually either. It’s too unsafe. Since I haven’t returned, she probably hasn’t eaten anything from yesterday until now! How about you give the phone to Mr. Xie and let me talk to him!”
This was simply complete inability to take care of herself. Zhou Wei thought to himself, no wonder Mr. Xie doesn’t go home even once throughout the year. Having such a wife is like having no wife at all.
While he was trying to comfort Aunt Zhu, who was almost crying from anxiety, Xie Yunli got in the car.
He was also holding his phone, taking a call. Zhou Wei quickly said he would call back later and hung up.
Xie Yunli finished his three-minute phone call and hung up. Seeing that Zhou Wei wasn’t starting the car, he looked up at him: “What’s wrong?”
“It’s like this, Mr. Xie. Aunt Zhu called saying something happened.”
“Aunt Zhu?” Xie Yunli paused for a moment, as if it took him a few seconds to recall who that was. “What happened?”
“Aunt Zhu said her blood pressure flared up and she was unconscious at the hospital for a day. She’s worried something might happen to Wen… to your wife, so she asked me to tell you.” Zhou Wei almost said that lady’s name directly, but no matter what, she was still Xie Yunli’s properly wedded wife, so he should respect her status.
Xie Yunli said, “I see.”
Seeing that he had no other instructions, Zhou Wei quickly started the car and headed to the client’s location according to the original plan.
He glanced at Xie Yunli in the rearview mirror. There was no expression on his face. He was still casually leaning back in the rear seat, looking out the window with a cold expression.
Actually, saying that Xie Yunli had a cold personality was indeed true, but most of the time he was still relatively gentle. Just like his name suggested, among the many young people with various personalities in today’s society, he possessed a rare composure and warm, courteous nature.
Of course, that was most of the time.
Xie Yunli also carried the drive and ruthlessness his father had when starting his business from scratch. Having mixed in society for a long time, he would occasionally have impulsive and irritable moments. When truly provoked, he would turn hostile on the spot.
In short, he was quite formidable.
Before long, Zhou Wei’s phone rang again. It was still Aunt Zhu calling. Just as he was about to pick up the phone, Xie Yunli’s hand reached over.
Zhou Wei quickly handed him the phone.
Unexpectedly, Xie Yunli was very patient. After inquiring about Aunt Zhu’s condition, he told her to rest well at the hospital.
“I know. I’ll go see her. Don’t worry.”
Not knowing what else Aunt Zhu rambled on about, Xie Yunli finally said: “Alright, I understand.”
After hanging up, Xie Yunli began making calls. He called the client first, then the company’s project manager. Without Zhou Wei having to ask, he could tell from the conversation that Xie Yunli was arranging for someone else to visit the client in his place while he went home.
So Zhou Wei immediately adjusted the route.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the villa district.
Even for Xie Yunli himself, his last visit was during New Year’s, which was already over seven months ago. Fortunately, the guard at the entrance still recognized his car and let them drive straight in.
Zhou Wei parked the car in the garage. “Should I wait for you, Mr. Xie?” He was also curious whether Xie Yunli would stay overnight here.
“You can go first,” Xie Yunli said. “Take a taxi back. Leave the car for me.”
“Alright.” Zhou Wei handed him the car keys, then got out and left.
This villa district had a very nice environment and was quite peaceful. The property he had originally bought was a detached house with its own courtyard. A single tree was planted in the small yard, and there was nothing else besides that. Only after getting married did he add some things, but even then, it was just a table and chairs set placed in the courtyard.
He was about to ring the doorbell when he suddenly realized that the person living inside would never open the door for others. In the past, Aunt Zhu had always opened the door for him.
His wife was named Wen Ran. She had suffered from autism spectrum disorder since childhood, which others commonly referred to as autism.
Early foreign experts researching this condition had described the characteristics of autistic patients as: extreme preference for solitude, severe lack of emotional contact with others, strange and repetitive ritualistic behaviors, mutism or significantly abnormal language, high-level visual-spatial skills or mechanical memory abilities that contrasted with learning difficulties in other areas, and attractive physical appearance.
Anyone who looked up information about this condition would see related terms such as self-enclosed loners, neurodevelopmental disorders, incurable, communication barriers, and so forth. Clearly, these were not characteristics of ordinary normal people, but rather of a special group.
The causes of autism are very complex and cannot be cured for life. To this day, no expert has been able to perfectly explain the causes of autism. Apart from some early treatment and intervention, there are no treatment methods that can completely cure it. Moreover, the symptoms and severity displayed by each autistic child are different.
Many autistic children don’t learn to call “mama” or “papa” until they are several years old, can’t put snacks in their own mouths, show no response to others’ teasing, are highly sensitive to their surrounding environment, have repetitive and rigid behaviors, and so on. Many of them are unable to communicate normally with others even after growing up.
Fortunately, the Wen family had some family wealth. It was said that in order to let Wen Ran live like a normal girl, they had paid quite a price. Whether it was special schools, autism therapists, or various experts, they had tried everything.
However, this was ultimately an incurable condition. Their neural networks were inherently defective and extremely fragile. Getting them to learn to live and study like ordinary people was already extremely difficult. Some children with severe autism could never live independently throughout their entire lives.
Wen Ran was the same.
Even though she looked no different from a normal girl, she still belonged to this special group. Even though she was already in her twenties, she still could not establish normal communication with others.
Most of the characteristics that children with autism spectrum disorder have, she probably had during her childhood. Although she had improved significantly after growing up, she was still very different from normal people.
Aunt Zhu’s panic showed just how much this competent housekeeper was also a smart person. She knew that Wen Ran could not establish a normal marital relationship with Xie Yunli, and she had never bothered him with daily life matters. This time, she was truly anxious because of this sudden incident.
Wen Ran was now alone at home.
She seemed to have never been home alone before.
Even though they had been married for two years, Xie Yunli could not be completely certain whether Wen Ran could live independently or handle various emergency situations. Because ever since Wen Ran’s mother passed away, her own condition had been very poor.
Xie Yunli walked to the door and, without further hesitation, pressed the doorbell.