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Chapter 07: You Used to Call Me So Affectionately…

It was only natural that Wei Xun resented her.

Que Wanshu didn’t expect his forgiveness, nor did she intend to explain herself. Back then, among the many choices she had, she did choose to give him up.

So now, facing his sarcasm, she simply responded calmly, “She’s my relative.”

She could accept help from her family—but not from him.

Upon hearing this, Wei Xun let out a bitter laugh. He truly wanted to slice her heart open and see whether there was even a shred of genuine affection for him inside, to see what he meant to her at all.

Forget her parents—even that so-called “little aunt” who popped out of nowhere meant more to her than he did?

“Does Mr. Wei have any more questions?” Que Wanshu glanced at her watch. “If not, I’ll begin today’s therapy session. We’ve already lost quite a bit of time.”

Lost time just from answering a few questions? And now he’s just “Mr. Wei”?

Look at that—once, she’d called him so sweetly “Ah Xun” and “Xiao Bao,” and now he’d been reduced to nothing more than “Mr. Wei.” Truly a heartless woman.

There was fury simmering in Wei Xun’s eyes. His voice carried a sharp edge as he said, “Is that so? Sorry for wasting Teacher Que’s time.”

The word “sorry” came out through gritted teeth. Even if Que Wanshu weren’t a level-ten expert in interpreting “Xun-speak,” she could’ve easily sensed the emotion behind it—let alone when she was one.

She felt a bit helpless but showed nothing on her face, and proceeded to calmly begin questioning him about Wei Qian’s medical history.

She had assumed Wei Xun was only there to cause trouble. But to her surprise, he was able to answer every single question in detail—he clearly understood Wei Qian’s condition and had frequent interactions with the child.

After filling out the evaluation form, Que Wanshu picked up a small teddy bear-shaped wooden rattle and said to him, “Uncle Wei Qian, I’ll now be using sound toys to assess Wei Qian’s auditory abilities. I’ll need you to take turns with me, mimicking the same actions and sounds. Is that okay?”

“No,” Wei Xun replied flatly. Seeing her confused expression, he finally snapped. “Do I not have a name?”

Que Wanshu: “…?”

She stared blankly at him. He looked visibly upset, a low-pressure storm hanging around him. Even little Wei Qian, happily playing with his toy cars in between them, glanced up at his uncle.

Seeing her confusion only made Wei Xun more irritated.

Calling him Mr. Wei was one thing, but now Uncle Wei Qian? So to her, he didn’t even deserve a name anymore—just an accessory to his nephew?

A vein popped visibly on his forehead. He growled, “Or has Teacher Que already forgotten what her ex-boyfriend’s name is? Hah. How heartless.”

Of course, that wasn’t what Que Wanshu meant.

At this point, she realized what had made him upset. Letting out a silent sigh, she softly called, “Wei Xun.”

“…”

That gentle voice flowed into his ears, transmitted to his brain, tugging at his nerves and spreading a bittersweet, tingling sensation through his heart. The anger swelling inside him suddenly came to a halt—he felt strangely at peace.

It was like he had suddenly become a lion that had been properly soothed. He answered in a low voice, “…Mm.”

Que Wanshu explained, “It’s not that I’m unwilling to say your name, but for Wei Qian, the word ‘Uncle’ is more familiar than ‘Wei Xun’. So in front of him, I always call you that.”

Wei Xun’s lips twitched—he looked like he wanted to smile, but the expression straightened almost immediately.

He clicked his tongue and said, “Fine. You can call me Uncle.”

Que Wanshu: “…”

She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she felt like they had a different understanding of the word “Uncle.”

Still, she didn’t pursue it further. She picked up the rattle and began assessing Wei Qian’s auditory abilities.

Auditory ability can be divided into four stages: detection, discrimination, identification, and comprehension.

The first stage is the ability to detect sound; the second is to distinguish between different sounds—such as “meow” and “woof”; the third is to identify specific sounds—for example, recognizing that a “woof” comes from a dog and a “meow” from a cat; and the final stage is the comprehension of spoken language.

For adults who lose hearing later in life, auditory training focuses on the stages of identification and comprehension to mitigate the effects of hearing loss and improve quality of life.

But for children born with hearing loss, sound is a completely unfamiliar sense. Auditory training for them is not about rehabilitation from existing ability, but rather building ability from scratch. Therapists must start with detection—helping children develop the ability to perceive sound and link it to the world around them—before moving on to language comprehension.

Before getting a cochlear implant, Wei Qian had used a hearing aid for a period of time along with auditory training, but the results were poor. That’s why doctors recommended the cochlear implant.

Many parents mistakenly believe that once their child receives a cochlear implant, they will be the same as children with normal hearing and no longer need auditory rehabilitation—but this is a misconception.

A cochlear implant, also known as a bionic ear, works by inserting an array of electrodes into the cochlea and connecting them to the auditory nerve. An external processor picks up sound and transmits it through the internal implant, which then sends electrical signals to the nerve, producing the sensation of hearing.

But the sound from a cochlear implant is not the same as what a healthy ear hears—it resembles mechanical electronic sounds, or is sometimes described as muffled, like speaking underwater. Until the brain can reprocess this unfamiliar input, most recipients find it hard to adapt.

Helping the brain rebuild a new understanding of sound—this is an especially long process.

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Interestingly, the younger the child, the stronger the brain’s neural plasticity. Compared to adults, younger children are more capable of adapting and forming auditory representations of cochlear implant sounds in the brain. Therefore, with appropriate training after implantation, a large number of child recipients can achieve good language development—sometimes even indistinguishable from their normal-hearing peers.

This is why the timing of cochlear implant surgery and auditory rehabilitation training for children with hearing loss is crucial. Wei Qian is currently one year and eight months old, which is still within a good window—not too late.

From Wei Xun’s description, it’s clear that before receiving the cochlear implant, Wei Qian showed minimal response to sound. Loud noises like doors slamming or car horns rarely startled him, and he had little interest in sound-producing toys or voices calling his name. Even at the age when children usually begin babbling, he hardly made any vocalizations.

During today’s session, Que Wanshu used a variety of sound toys near him, but it was apparent that he barely reacted—aside from occasional subtle glances—before seeing the toy.

His response in turning his head to locate the source of sound was also quite inconsistent.

Wei Xun frowned as he observed, while Que Wanshu maintained a natural, smiling demeanor.

“Qianqian, it goes ‘dong, dong, dong’—let’s bang the drum!” she said cheerfully, holding a small drum and stick, striking the drum while imitating the realistic drum sound: “Dong, dong, dong, let’s bang the drum!”

Seeing this, Wei Qian stared intently at the drumstick in her hand and reached out to grab it, but Que Wanshu passed it to Wei Xun instead. “Your uncle’s turn.”

Wei Xun’s expression was a bit stiff, but under Que Wanshu’s encouraging gaze, he mimicked her actions and tone: “Dong, dong, dong, let’s bang the drum.”

His voice was very flat and low—not the kind of sound that would typically engage a child. But perhaps because he often played with his nephew, Wei Qian responded more to his voice and movement.

Wei Qian repeatedly waved his arms, trying to grab the drum from Wei Xun, all while shouting “Ah! Ah!” Que Wanshu smiled and handed the drumstick to him.

Wei Qian was a very smart child. While his auditory abilities had to start from scratch, his cognitive, emotional, gross motor, and fine motor development were all on par with typical children his age—he wasn’t far behind.

As soon as he received the drumstick, he immediately imitated the actions of Que Wanshu and Wei Xun, forcefully banging the drum with the stick. Que Wanshu cooperated beside him, repeating, “Dong, dong, dong, let’s bang the drum!”

After repeating it a few times, she smiled and patted Wei Qian’s head. “Qianqian, you’re amazing!”

Perhaps realizing he was being praised, Wei Qian waved the drumstick and started laughing.

The smile on Que Wanshu’s face deepened. She reached up to gently tap his little nose and said with a bright smile, “So happy! Is it because teacher praised you? Who’s the best little kid today? It’s—our Qianqian!”

As she spoke, she held both of Wei Qian’s hands and gently shook them up and down, making him giggle uncontrollably.

The therapy room was momentarily filled with the woman’s soft, bright voice and the child’s laughter. Meanwhile, Wei Xun sat silently to the side, staring unblinkingly at Que Wanshu.

When she happened to lift her gaze and her smiling eyes met his in mid-air, he suddenly felt his breath hitch, his heart skipping a beat.

Long-suppressed emotions suddenly ignited like a spark on dry grass, setting his heart and soul ablaze.

By now, the session was coming to an end. Que Wanshu was discussing Wei Qian’s performance in class with Wei Xun. Outwardly, he seemed composed, but in reality, his thoughts were drifting.

He tried to focus, but her gentle, rambling voice kept drawing his mind away, so he shifted his attention to his little nephew beside him.

“Qianqian’s eyesight is quite sharp. He often catches sight of the toys with his peripheral vision even before noticing their sounds. This is completely normal—when one sense is weak, other senses often compensate. So, his visual sensitivity is especially acute. That’s why, when choosing toys, it’s better to avoid overly flashy, light-and-sound toys. Instead, go for simpler-looking ones that make sound.”

Wei Xun nodded. “Mm.”

“After going home, you need to continue using the same approach to play with Wei Qian. After all, therapy sessions are only once a week. It’s impossible to expect great results from just an hour a week. The real progress depends on how much practice and interaction the family does at home.”

Wei Xun nodded again. “Alright.”

The therapy session wrapped up there, but before they left, Que Wanshu suddenly said, “Oh, about the next session…”

Before she finished, Wei Xun replied, “Next Wednesday at the same time, right? Then—”

“No,” Que Wanshu interrupted. When Wei Xun looked up at her, he saw her gazing steadily back, her expression unusually serious. “I want to know when your sister and brother-in-law are available.”

Wei Xun paused. “…What do you mean?”

“I want your sister or brother-in-law to bring Wei Qian for the next session,” Que Wanshu said. After a moment, she added, “And the nanny needs to come too.”

Wei Xun: “……”

After Wei Qian’s therapy session, while Que Wanshu was tidying the room, she suddenly received a message from Zheng Luli.

Concerned, the message read: “How did the session go? Was the patient’s family hard to deal with?”

Holding her phone, Que Wanshu thought of the man who had just left with a dark expression as he pushed the stroller away. She sighed inwardly and tapped the screen to reply:

“Pretty hard to deal with.”

That’s putting it mildly.

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