Jiang Lezhi almost wondered whether everything that had happened last night had merely been a beautiful dream.
And now, that dream had shattered completely.
Her expression fell. Gu Qing and Jiang Jiaojiao noticed and asked cautiously, “Lezhi, what’s wrong?”
Jiang Lezhi clenched her fingers, forcing a smile as she shook her head.
She sent a message in the dormitory group chat: 【I’m going out for a while.】
Just as before, Jiang Lezhi skillfully registered and queued up. After waiting for a while, she heard the doctor call her name and went inside.
Jiang Lezhi typed out an explanation for the doctor about how she had been able to speak yesterday.
The doctor adjusted his glasses.
Jiang Lezhi’s condition was truly rare. Even though he had treated so many patients, he had never encountered a situation like this.
Three years ago, Jiang Lezhi had suddenly become mute.
The day after she turned eighteen, she had suddenly discovered that she could no longer speak.
Unlike people who were congenitally unable to speak—who might still be able to make sounds similar to “ah”—Jiang Lezhi could not make any sound at all.
She could not even produce a breathy sound.
Father Jiang and Mother Jiang had taken her to see every doctor they could find, but they had all reached the same conclusion.
There was nothing wrong with Jiang Lezhi’s vocal cords. In theory, there was no reason she should have been unable to make any sound.
The doctors thought there might be some abnormality in Jiang Lezhi’s mind, because physically speaking, there was nothing wrong with her at all.
So Father Jiang and Mother Jiang had also taken Jiang Lezhi to see psychologists. At first, the psychologists thought Jiang Lezhi might have suffered some kind of trauma, but after several consultations, they discovered that she had no psychological illness.
The doctor told the Jiang family that perhaps one day, Jiang Lezhi would suddenly be able to speak again.
Three years ago, Jiang Lezhi had just finished the college entrance examinations and was about to begin university.
Unable to find the cause of her condition, the Jiang family could only place their hopes in the doctor’s words.
But the fact was that Jiang Lezhi had remained mute for three whole years.
During those three years, she had tried countless times to make a sound, but without exception, she had been unable to produce anything.
Eventually, Jiang Lezhi had gradually come to accept the fact that she had become a little mute.
And now, after finally becoming able to speak, she had woken up to discover that it had been nothing more than a brief flash of brilliance.
Jiang Lezhi’s emotions gradually collapsed. She played the doctor the voice recording from yesterday, when she had been able to speak normally, then looked at him expectantly.
The doctor’s expression became somewhat complicated after listening to the recording.
But since Jiang Lezhi had been able to speak yesterday, that meant there was a possibility she could recover. He comforted her, saying, “The fact that you were able to speak yesterday is a good thing.”
“Think carefully. Did anything happen last night that happened to stimulate you and allow you to speak normally?”
“If you can find the source and try a few more times, it might help with your recovery.”
After leaving the hospital, the doctor’s words continued to echo in Jiang Lezhi’s ears.
What had happened last night…
At six in the evening, at the same time and place.
Jiang Lezhi stood on the slope where she had accidentally slipped the night before, looking at the ground with a determined expression.
Gu Qing hesitated. “Lezhi, why don’t you think about this a little more…”
Jiang Lezhi gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. She even ran a few steps to build up momentum.
Immediately afterward, her entire body rapidly slid downward.
Just like the night before, she slid faster and faster. Tonight, the streetlights were working properly, and the pedestrians on the road hurriedly dodged her.
Finally, she landed hard on her butt. Jiang Lezhi rubbed it as she climbed to her feet.
She tried to make an “ah” sound, but after several attempts, she still couldn’t.
When Gu Qing and Jiang Jiaojiao hurried over, they saw Jiang Lezhi staring solemnly at the streetlight.
They silently took two steps backward…
“Lezhi, don’t do anything rash! You really can’t break the streetlight!”
In the end, the two of them still couldn’t resist Jiang Lezhi’s desire to speak again.
They stood to one side and kept watch for her while Jiang Lezhi picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it at the streetlight.
She tried several times, but couldn’t hit it successfully.
The two people keeping watch were nearly frantic.
It was dismissal time, so there were quite a few pedestrians on the road. On top of that, Jiang Lezhi was famously beautiful, making it impossible for her not to attract attention.
When Tan Qingze passed by, he also instinctively glanced at Jiang Lezhi.
A determined light burst from the girl’s eyes, as though she was bound to smash the streetlight.
He frowned, silently moved a little farther away from Jiang Lezhi, then remembered something and called the campus security office.
Five minutes later, Jiang Lezhi was hauled aside by a security guard and lectured. Her academic advisor was also notified.
Taking into account Jiang Lezhi’s good grades in her major and the fact that she was usually a very well-behaved girl, the academic advisor did not report the matter to the department. He only made her write a self-criticism.
“Lezhi, exactly what did that streetlight do to offend you? Fortunately, you’re not very strong and your aim is terrible. If you had actually smashed the streetlight, it wouldn’t have been as simple as paying for the damage. You definitely would have received an official disciplinary notice!”
“You’re already a third-year student, and you’ll be going out for an internship next year. What will you do if this gets recorded in your file? From now on, you’re not allowed to do anything like this again!”
“Did you hear me?”
Jiang Lezhi lowered her head and nodded.
Watching Jiang Lezhi’s dejected back as she walked away, the academic advisor helplessly shook his head.
This child was usually so well-behaved. What had gotten into her today?
Jiang Lezhi stood beneath the streetlight for a long time, but in the end, her two roommates dragged her back to the dormitory.
She sat on her bed with her head hanging, dispirited.
She had already accepted that she would never be able to speak again, but now she had suddenly regained her voice for a day, giving her hope.
How could she accept the fact that she could not speak again now?
She continuously replayed everything that had happened the night before in her mind.
The streetlight had happened to be broken;
she had accidentally slipped;
and she had collided with… Tan Qingze!
Jiang Lezhi’s confidence flared up again. She pulled out her phone, quickly typed a few words on the screen, and showed them to Jiang Jiaojiao.
“Do you know where Tan Qingze is?”
She had asked the right person. Jiang Jiaojiao pulled up the confession wall and showed it to Jiang Lezhi. “Tan Qingze seems to be at school around this time. Someone just posted on the confession wall asking about him. He’s at the courts right now!”
Jiang Lezhi glanced at the picture, hurriedly put on her shoes, and ran out.
At that moment, Tan Qingze had just made a three-pointer on the basketball court. Cheers continued to ring out from the stands, and everyone else had long since grown used to it.
Wherever Tan Qingze was on campus, there would never be a shortage of spectators, let alone at an outdoor basketball court like this.
“I didn’t notice just now, but what happened to your mouth?”
Tan Qingze rubbed his lips with the back of his hand. “Nothing.”
The other person bumped Tan Qingze with his shoulder. “Don’t tell me you secretly got yourself a girlfriend?”
Tan Qingze recalled the girl he had seen an hour earlier beneath the streetlight, trying to smash it. He gave the other man a speechless look. “What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
Seeing that Tan Qingze’s reaction was somewhat strange, the person who had spoken became even more excited. “No way, you really do have something going on!”
He grabbed Tan Qingze. “Forget the game, forget the game. Hurry up and tell me. Your little girlfriend is quite something—she bit your mouth into this state!”