The Little Deaf Man Decided to be Spoiled

Chapter 1

Chapter 1
Reports say that Jing City is about to experience its hottest summer in nearly 50 years, starting this month.
The old cabin, devoid of air conditioning, was scorched by the intense sun into a living steam box, making even the air seem thin from the humidity.
Ji Ruan was awakened by the vibration of his phone. Opening his eyes, he didn't intend to answer the call but just stared blankly at the ceiling.
Nothing has changed.
The room, no more than five square meters, showcased peeling and yellowing walls. An old calendar from an indeterminate year hung on the wooden door, its edges tattered and colors faded, one corner drooping from the heat causing the adhesive to weaken.
Lying on the bed, Ji Ruan could feel the heat from the mattress beneath him, as if it might catch fire. The sticky dampness of his body made him admit: he really did transmigrate into a book.
Into an old clichéd story, where he is the downtrodden protagonist, repeatedly emotionally and physically tortured after entering into a contractual marriage.
He couldn't recall the title, but remembered the pitiable protagonist shared his name. And the domineering man he contractually married was surnamed Gu, called Gu Xiuyi.
In the last two years of his life, Ji Ruan was bedridden with a severe illness, mostly isolated from the outside world. His only pleasure was listening to his cousin narrate various melodramatic novels.
One of the protagonists in those novels shared his name and surname. At the time, his cousin teased him, saying that in conventional melodramatic tales, the domineering figure is always surnamed Gu, and the vulnerable one often has the name Ruan.
Back then, Ji Ruan had enough energy to smack her on the back of her head. Holding her head, she jokingly cursed him, saying he might end up transmigrating into one of those stories.
Surprisingly, her words came true.
After his death, Ji Ruan really did transmigrate.
Although he had lived only a short 20 years, Ji Ruan came from a well-off family, never having lived in such a dilapidated cabin or experienced a sauna-like summer after waking up.
The oppressive heat seemed to fog Ji Ruan's brain. The phone by his pillow vibrated incessantly, and he mechanically reached out to grab it.
-- Assistant Song.
The most reliable assistant of Gu Xiuyi. From Ji Ruan's memories, when they signed the marriage agreement, it was this assistant, accompanied by a lawyer, who discussed the terms with Ji Ruan's original self. The protagonist, Mr. Gu, never once showed his face.
The phone was an old model, probably repaired multiple times, with a highly unresponsive touchscreen. It took Ji Ruan several taps to hang up.
Then, several messages popped up on WeChat.
[Mr. Ji, are you ready? I'm on my way to pick you up.]
[I'll be there in about 20 minutes.]
Ji Ruan stared at the screen for a couple of seconds before remembering that he was to be picked up to go to Gu Xiuyi's home.
While Ji Ruan could access some of the original host's memories, they weren't all available to him. They only surfaced when relevant to the unfolding events, as if the world within the book was too lazy to provide a full account of events outside Ji Ruan's scope.
He was in a contractual marriage with Gu Xiuyi, which meant that once he was brought to Gu's home, he'd soon be obtaining a marriage certificate with this man he'd never met.
The fingertips holding his phone trembled slightly.
He quickly skimmed the sealed marriage contract at the foot of his bed. Despite Ji Ruan's previously affluent background, the staggering amount promised to him at the contract's end made his eyes widen.
After a moment, Ji Ruan typed back, trying to maintain his composure.
[I'm ready, thank you.]
Assistant Song sent back a cheerful smiling face.
Putting down his phone, Ji Ruan took a deep breath. After a night of heat, his thin T-shirt was damp and crumpled. With a grimace, he tugged at the neckline and headed to the bathroom.
No sooner had he closed the bathroom door and the sound of the shower begun than the door was flung open again. A slightly panicked Ji Ruan stepped out, leaving wet footprints on the tiles.
From behind his right ear, he removed a small device, black in color and contoured perfectly to the shape of his ear.
Wrapping the tiny device in a couple of napkins, Ji Ruan pressed on it gently, then put it back behind his ear. After pausing for a few seconds to ensure it was dry, he removed it again, placed it on the table, and only then went back into the bathroom.
He had a hearing impairment.
One ear had compromised hearing while the other was nearly completely deaf. He relied on a cochlear implant from his childhood to manage daily life.
Part of the cochlear implant was surgically embedded behind the ear, and the other part was an external processor. When worn, he could hear; when removed, he was essentially deaf.
Such delicate devices were both expensive and fragile, prone to damage from impacts or moisture. Being new to this body, Ji Ruan had inadvertently worn it into the shower.
An instinctive reaction reminded Ji Ruan of the device's value. The moment water hit him, his heart tightened. Hurriedly removing it, he almost slipped, giving himself quite a scare.
Warm water cascaded over him, enveloping him from head to toe. Rubbing his face, Ji Ruan silently reminded himself to be careful in the future. He must avoid accidents and protect this seemingly insignificant device, as it was his only connection to the world of sound.