Chapter 71: Hope

Walking down the bright corridor and stepping into the elevator, I felt a wave of dizziness as I watched the translucent platform slowly ascend. Perhaps I was simply not cut out for such luxurious places by nature.

Following Su Xuefei's light footsteps, I walked into this room—one that was familiar yet had only been visited a few times before.

Sitting on the bed, Su Xuefei took a stack of paper cups and several unopened bottles of mineral water from the bag she brought and placed them on the table. Afterward, she took off her coat, revealing a pure white cotton top underneath. Her exquisite and graceful figure gradually unfolded before my eyes, prompting me to quickly look away to avoid excessive embarrassment.

"Yang Chen, take a seat for a moment. I'm going to take a shower; I haven't had time to come back these past few days, and my body feels a bit uncomfortable," Su Xuefei said as she walked up to me and handed me the remote control for the wall-mounted television.

I nodded and accepted the remote, though I had no intention of watching television. Come to think of it, aside from that recent trip home, I hadn't properly watched TV in almost a year. Now, aside from sports channels and movie channels, I had almost forgotten what other television stations even had programs worth spending time on.

Su Xuefei untied the scarf I had given her, carefully laid it out flat on the bed, and then walked into the bathroom, closing the door.

Although I could no longer see the Goddess Su at this moment, in the quiet room, I could hear the sound of her undressing—faint yet heart-stirring. I couldn't help but inwardly curse myself for being a hopeless lech at heart. How was it that my ears, which couldn't even clearly catch phone calls earlier, had suddenly become so sharp at a time like this?

The bathroom then fell silent. After a few seconds, the distinct sound of running water began to stream out, and my heart instantly tightened. I kept telling myself not let my imagination run wild. This was the Goddess Su; I must not desecrate her, even in my thoughts.

I began trying to distract myself, but the more I tried, the less I could control my thoughts. Su Xuefei's perfect curves and her beautiful back, which I had accidentally caught a glimpse of earlier, seemed imprinted in my mind, refusing to fade and even showing signs of intensifying. I raised my hand and pinched my thigh hard, hoping the pain would interrupt these unhealthy thoughts, only to find it completely ineffective.

I kept inwardly cursing myself to figure out what was wrong with me. The Goddess Su usually didn't walk the sexy route, so why was it that just taking a shower next to me could excite me to this extent?

As my body began to react involuntarily, I made a decisive move, jumped up, ran to the wall, turned on the television, and cranked up the volume until I could no longer hear any sounds from inside the bathroom.

*Yang Chen, have you no shame?*

I sighed, leaned against the headboard, holding the remote, and flicked back and forth through the television stations until I stopped on a matchmaking program. I had seen shows like this back in high school and remembered scoffing at them at the time, but thinking about it now, it was truly laughable. Programs like this very bluntly taught certain people a lesson: the necessity of material demands in love. Another takeaway was that whoever takes it seriously loses.

Watching the performances of several male guests, I suddenly wondered if there could really be so many good men left in this world. Looking at the female guests, who were either cute or aloof, could it be that good men and good women all happened to gather here by such coincidence? Clearly, it was loudly telling me: life is like a play, entirely dependent on acting.

Following that, I thought of the girls I had encountered around me. It seemed none of them were particularly pretentious. Although some lacked high social status and others had too little life experience, at least they were all genuine. And, of course, very pretty.

After watching about half of the episode, the bathroom door clicked slightly before being pulled open, and my heart involuntarily skipped a beat... The Goddess Su had emerged from her bath.

Though I tried my utmost to restrain my gaze, my peripheral vision still uncontrollably drifted to Su Xuefei and remained glued there.

Draped in a pristine white bathrobe, Su Xuefei's tall figure was perfectly displayed before me. Her fair, delicate skin was crystal clear, glistening with tiny water droplets that made her look all the more alluring. Her waist-length hair was now coiled up, and her eyes seemed veiled by a faint mist that could melt away at any moment. She walked over to me in unhurried steps, raised her hand, waved it gently in front of my eyes, and said softly, "I'm done washing..."

I pretended as though I had just noticed her, nodding woodenly while my face burned like fire, as if my lie had been seen through.

"Oh, what show is this?" Su Xuefei didn't seem to notice my abnormality, casually sitting down beside me. I instinctively shrank back toward the wall to maintain a distance from her.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Seeing my expression, Su Xuefei quickly covered her mouth with her small hand, her eyes filled with apologies as she looked at me like a child who had done something wrong.

I spread my hands to indicate it was nothing, though the embarrassment in my heart had reached its peak. Looking at her fair skin and the alluring breasts partially visible beneath her loose bathrobe, my heart began to race once again. This time, Su Xuefei seemed to notice my uncontrolled gaze; her fair cheeks flushed slightly, and she quickly turned sideways and whispered, "Don't look around..."

At that moment, I genuinely wished for a crack in the ground to crawl into. Experienced as I supposedly was, how could I become this awkward over such a thing? How humiliating.

*No. If this keeps up, I won't be able to hold back.* Gritting my teeth, I got up off the bed and pointed toward the bathroom.

"Um... you should wash up too," Su Xuefei said softly, blushing and not daring to look at me.

On one hand, I did indeed intend to take a shower; it had been a long time since I had properly tended to myself, and the discomfort was real. On the other hand, I planned to use water to thoroughly drench my mind, which stubbornly harbored impure thoughts.

Stepping into the bathroom, I took off my clothes and placed them in the wardrobe on the side, then turned the handle, deliberately letting out a bit more cold water. The mildly chilly stream washed over my body, instantly banishing the restless desires that had been difficult to suppress, leaving behind only a numb physique and a slightly bewildered state of mind.

After finishing the shower, I realized a crucial problem: I had no towel.

Turning off the water, I stood in the doorway of the bathroom in a daze. It seemed I would just have to wait for the water to dry on its own... Now that truly was a tragic story.

After a while—perhaps because the humidity in the bathroom was too high—the water still hadn't dried. I even grew somewhat tired from standing.

"Yang Chen? It's been a while... Aren't you done yet?" Su Xuefei's voice suddenly came from the doorway, startling me so much that I gave a sharp shudder and hurriedly knocked hard on the door to signal that I wasn't finished.

The space outside the door then fell silent. I secretly praised the Goddess Su for her cleverness; otherwise, this would have been truly awkward.

I retrieved my clothes from the wardrobe, pulled them on, and then turned around, preparing to put on my lower garments. Right at that moment, Su Xuefei's voice rang out: "Yang Chen, what's wrong? Are you okay? I'm coming in."

"Don't—"

Suddenly, the bathroom door was pushed open. Su Xuefei stood prettily in the doorway, gazing at me as I stood in semi-profile, freezing instantly in place. I subconsciously spun around, completely at a loss for what to do.

"Yang Chen!" Su Xuefei suddenly rushed in and hugged me tightly from behind. I was instantly stunned. What... what was going on?

"Yang Chen... you—you spoke. You spoke just now!" Su Xuefei's voice was actually trembling slightly, turning choked with emotion a moment later. "You're okay... This is... wonderful..."

I... spoke? Listening to Su Xuefei's tearful voice, the original embarrassment instantly vanished without a trace. I stood there dumbfounded, letting the Goddess Su embrace me while attempting to open my mouth to speak, yet failing to utter a single syllable for the longest time.

This sensation was just like forgetting how to speak, unable to find the feeling of producing sounds. I could only mechanically open and close my mouth, yet lacked the ability to translate the formulated language into sound through vocal cord vibrations.

However, hearing the Goddess Su's words, I also recalled that it seemed I really had spoken out loud just now. Although it was only a single word, I truly had said it. Was this merely an involuntary reaction, a instinctive behavior, or could it be that my brain tissue had only suffered minor damage and still possessed the possibility of recovery?

"That's wonderful..." Su Xuefei hugged me tightly. For the first time, I was pressed this close to Su Xuefei's body—warm and soft. A faint, refreshing natural fragrance drifted into my nasal passages, leaving me somewhat intoxicated.

I wanted to turn around, but lowering my head made me too mortified to do so. I could only reach out and gently pat her fair, slender fingers.

Following my movement, Su Xuefei finally loosened her arms from around me and stepped back a pace. Seeing my appearance at that moment, she let out a cry of surprise, instantly shoved the door open, and ran out.

Left behind, I helplessly hurried to pull on my pants. What kind of mess was this? Full of scares and surprises—could this even be counted as a pleasant surprise?

Pushing the door open and walking back into the bedroom, I felt too ashamed to even face Su Xuefei. Although I didn't know how much Su Xuefei had actually seen, it felt to me as though wearing clothes right now was no different from wearing nothing at all—it was agonizingly embarrassing.

Su Xuefei had already turned off the television and was lying on the inner side of the bed, playing with her phone. Although her face was flushed and she didn't look me directly in the eye, I constantly felt a strange atmosphere hanging between us—awkward yet ambiguous, leaving one at a loss for what to do.

Lying on my side of the bed, I stared at the ceiling and took a deep, deliberate breath, while my mind was simultaneously flooded with mixed emotions: excitement and embarrassment, joy and bewilderment.

I wanted to recover. I truly did. No matter what, I wanted to speak; I wanted to sing. I had never desired it quite this much before...

"Yang Chen, I looked it up online. There's a possibility of recovering your speech function through training." Su Xuefei put her phone aside, sat up, and looked at me with a face full of joy. "Then let's not waste any time. Let's start training today."

*Training?* Even if recovery was possible through training, how was one supposed to train? Was it going to be like teaching a toddler how to talk?

Seeing my puzzled expression, Su Xuefei walked over to the side of my bed and whispered, "I'm sorry about just now. I thought something had happened to you, so..."

I forced a bitter smile at this innocent, silly girl. Clearly, I was the one who had taken advantage of things, wasn't I?

I also took out my phone and typed: *How do we train?*

Seeing that I didn't seem to mind what had happened earlier, Su Xuefei slowly recovered her previous demeanor and said softly, "First, follow me through some basic pronunciations to slowly trigger your memory. Besides, judging by the fact that you suddenly spoke just now, I suspect your language system has no issues; rather, it's the language memory part that was damaged."