The Beautiful Wife I Picked Up Is A Little Mute - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Coming Along?

Autumn had arrived, and a chill soaked the air. Most pedestrians on the street were huddled tightly in their coats.

Yet, an Omega standing at the gates of A University was still dressed for summer.

The Omega was thin and small, looking as if he were malnourished, standing a full head shorter than the passersby. His white t-shirt, adorned with a small bear pattern, was washed out and bore two patches. The fabric was worn soft and wrinkled, clearly a garment he had kept for years, reluctant to replace.

In the twilight, Xie Mo walked sluggishly, dragging a gray nylon sack behind him. His frail frame compared to the oversized bag looked almost comical. The bag sagged limply, the thirty-odd bottles at the bottom clinking in the empty space.

Still, this was the result of his entire afternoon. A gang of thugs controlled the scrap collecting on this street; they were unreasonable and aggressive, and Xie Mo couldn’t compete with them.

Suddenly, his dull gray eyes lit up. He stopped in his tracks.

Without blinking, he stared at a beverage bottle sitting on a nearby bench. There was still a small amount of liquid left inside. Xie Mo hesitated for a moment, then chose to crouch by the roadside not far away. He wanted to see if anyone would come back for it.

Students entering and leaving A University cast brief glances at him as they passed, but their eyes quickly moved away in boredom.

“Is there something wrong with that guy’s head? I’ve seen him loitering here several times.”

“Tsk, and he’s an Omega. Probably got tossed aside after someone got bored of him. Otherwise, what Alpha would let their Omega out to pick through trash?”

The harsh whispers reached his ears clearly. Xie Mo’s shoulders flinched, and he buried his head even lower, pretending not to hear. He had heard these kinds of taunts countless times; his feelings had shifted from initial hurt to a dull numbness.

About ten minutes passed, and the bottle on the bench remained unclaimed.

Clutching the edge of his sack, Xie Mo gathered his courage and hurried forward. He grabbed the bottle and tossed it into his bag as if he had snatched a precious treasure.

It was getting dark. His family—specifically, his Alpha—was waiting for him to cook dinner. If he didn’t return soon, the Alpha would get angry again.

Dejected, Xie Mo did a rough count of the empty bottles in his bag and began walking toward the scrap yard five hundred meters away. Today’s haul was truly meager; he secretly decided to leave home earlier tomorrow.

As he walked with his head down, making mental calculations, his nose suddenly collided with a warm chest carrying the scent of Cypress wood.

The force of the impact sent Xie Mo tumbling backward onto his nylon bag. The sharp edges of the plastic bottles poked into his spine, making him see white spots from the pain. He was momentarily speechless.

The Alpha he had run into, however, remained motionless. His cold, hard brow furrowed as he looked down at Xie Mo sprawled on the ground.

Xie Mo bit his lower lip in silence, his eyes stinging with tears. Struggling to get up, he began picking up the bottles that had spilled out, tucking them back into the bag one by one.

Ji Hanyue was already in a foul mood. He was almost home when he realized he had left his suppressants in the dormitory. This sudden collision was the spark that ignited his suppressed anger.

Seeing that the other person was just preoccupied with gathering his things without offering a proper apology, Ji Hanyue grabbed the Omega’s slender wrist.

“Don’t you have eyes?” he snapped impatiently.

The moment their eyes met, Ji Hanyue froze. Only then did he realize he had collided with an Omega.

The Omega’s thin shoulders were trembling slightly. On his small, palm-sized face, his tear-filled eyes looked like glass beads soaked in water. His hair was a mess, and a faded suppressant patch was messily stuck over the gland on the back of his neck.

He’s actually quite cute, Ji Hanyue thought, even if he’s dressed like a little beggar.

Xie Mo’s back was still burning with pain. The tall silhouette of the Alpha before him seemed to block out most of the twilight. This man was half a head taller than the Alpha at home; Xie Mo had to strain his neck just to see his face.

Not wanting to cause trouble, Xie Mo set down his bag and began gesturing frantically with his pale fingers: “I’m sorry.”

He then tried to pull his hand out of the Alpha’s grip, picking up his bag to continue on his way. The scrap yard would be closing soon.

Ji Hanyue watched the retreating figure. The loose t-shirt swayed against Xie Mo’s bony frame. With every step, his frail body looked as if it might be knocked over by the evening breeze.

For some reason, a strange emotion welled up inside him. Ji Hanyue cursed under his breath and, acting on a whim, chased after him.

Before he could get far, Xie Mo felt a powerful hand grip him again. He gasped silently in pain. Turning around, he saw Ji Hanyue staring at him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Xie Mo opened his eyes wide in confusion. After a moment of hesitation, he shook the bag in his hand as a response.

But clearly, that wasn’t what the Alpha meant. Ji Hanyue’s voice rose a few decibels: “You ran into me and think you can just leave like that?”

Xie Mo wanted to say that he was the one who fell, and that he had already apologized. But seeing the Alpha’s relentless attitude, he began to sign again, his movements slow and clear: “I—am—sorry.”

Ji Hanyue watched his hand movements with a flash of confusion. “Are you forming hand seals or something?”

Xie Mo: “…”

Suddenly, Xie Mo grabbed Ji Hanyue’s hand and forced it open, anxiousness written all over his face as he “wrote” three characters in the Alpha’s palm.

The sky was almost pitch black. If the scrap yard closed, he couldn’t sell the bottles, which meant he couldn’t buy groceries for dinner. An angry Alpha was terrifying; he didn’t want to make his Alpha angry.

Then, to his horror, Xie Mo realized that apologizing three times hadn’t helped at all. As soon as his fingers touched Ji Hanyue’s palm, the Alpha gripped his hand tightly, refusing to let go no matter how much he struggled.

The innate wariness an Omega feels toward a strange Alpha began screaming in his mind.

Ji Hanyue didn’t care. He leaned down slightly to level his gaze with Xie Mo’s. His other hand gripped the Omega’s pointed chin, scanning his face.

“Can’t you talk?” The Alpha’s voice was low and harsh, yet carried a hint of hidden curiosity. As he spoke, he forced Xie Mo’s lips open. The tongue was there; it hadn’t been maliciously removed. It seemed the boy was only here because of poverty.

Xie Mo gripped his sack tightly. Hearing the question, he nodded frantically: I can’t talk, please let me go.

What he didn’t realize was that his terrified and helpless expression only served to further pique the Alpha’s interest.

Ji Hanyue glanced at the nylon bag filled with trash. As if thinking of something, he gave an ambiguous smirk.

“There are a lot of soda cans inside the university. Those are heavier than plastic bottles and sell for more. Do you want them?”

This was undoubtedly tempting for Xie Mo, who had a poor harvest today. But he was hesitant—it was too late.

However, the Alpha’s next words dispelled his worries.

“The school is hosting a basketball tournament lately. You know how it is—people get thirsty when they’re tired. There are tons of discarded bottles near the courts.”

Ji Hanyue observed the Omega’s reaction as he continued, “If you don’t go pick them up tonight, the cleaning crew will take them first thing in the morning. You wouldn’t want to miss that chance, would you?”

The nineteen-year-old Xie Mo had already seen the greatest evil imaginable: being sold by his own relatives to a worthless Alpha. That was a blunt, undisguised evil.

But this kind of evil—clothed in “kindness” and dipped in sugar—was something Xie Mo was encountering for the very first time.

Xie Mo thought to himself: If I can sell a lot of bottles for a lot of money, maybe the Alpha won’t blame me for being late. Maybe… he might even treat me kindly for a little while.