Chapter 7: Right Index Finger Function Restored

Among the options on the Lottery Draw wheel this time, Ye Qinghe noticed that there were more body recovery options than the last spin.

He didn't think much of it, assuming each spin would simply have some variation.

As the pointer gradually slowed, Ye Qinghe's heart leapt into his throat.

Because at the current rate of deceleration, the pointer looked very likely to land on the option for Right Index Finger Function Restored.

It was only one finger, but Ye Qinghe felt that was far better than something like "Introduction to Hacking" or "Advanced Financial Knowledge."

"Come on! Come on! Come on!!!"

Watching it draw closer and closer, Ye Qinghe couldn't help but cry out.

And the pointer did exactly as he hoped — it crept, little by little, onto the Right Index Finger Function Restored option. It had barely entered the segment, but it was unmistakably pointing there.

"Yes!!!!"

Ye Qinghe couldn't hold back a loud shout of triumph.

He had finally caught a glimpse of hope for recovery. Even if it was just one finger, compared to before — when not a single part of his body could move — Ye Qinghe was overjoyed!!!

Outside, Ye Dali had been crouching down, digging into the drain with his hand, when his body suddenly stiffened. His ears perked up involuntarily.

He thought he'd heard Ye Qinghe shout something, but when he strained to listen, there was nothing — only the sound of rain and water dripping from the eaves.

"What's wrong? Dali? Why are you suddenly heading back?"

Ye Dali stood up and turned to go inside. The neighbour was puzzled — the drain had been partially cleared, but wasn't fully unblocked yet. Why was Ye Dali stopping now?

"I just remembered something. I'll come back and finish it in a bit!"

Ye Dali had no time to worry about that. He needed to find out what had happened to Ye Qinghe inside.

Ye Qinghe wasn't the type to make a sound like that under normal circumstances. He had to know what was going on.

"Qinghe, what happened?"

The moment he pushed open the door, Ye Dali saw Ye Qinghe on the bed — smiling with joy, tears streaming down his face. He rushed over and dropped to one knee beside the bed.

"My right hand — my right index finger can move!!!"

Though he had only been fully paralysed for two days, Ye Qinghe had truly had enough. He felt that even the most brutal tortures in history couldn't compare to this. Especially since just the day before yesterday he had been a perfectly normal person — able to run, able to jump — and then suddenly he'd been stuffed into a body where only his head could move. Anyone would crack under that.

"Really?! Really?! Move it again, let me see! Let me see! Waaah!!!!"

Ye Dali was far more emotional than Ye Qinghe. He immediately grabbed Ye Qinghe's hand and asked him to move the finger. When he saw the finger actually shift slightly under Ye Qinghe's control, this forty-year-old man broke down crying like a child.

Three years!!!

Three years!!!

He had poured in countless sleepless nights, every last penny of the family's savings, consulted endless specialists and charlatans, visited hospital after hospital, tried every method imaginable — all while fearing that his handsome, bright-eyed Ye Qinghe would be bedridden forever. And now, there was finally a turning point!!!

He was truly overjoyed!!!

All the fear, resentment, and helpless frustration that had been building inside him over these years seemed to pour out with his tears in this single moment.

"Dad, you've worked so hard these three years!!"

Ye Qinghe carried all the memories of his predecessor and knew exactly what this man — now crying like a child — had endured over those three years.

"It wasn't hard! It wasn't hard at all!! As long as you get better, no matter how much suffering there is, it's worth it. Son, let's go to the hospital — right now, let's go to the hospital. Let the doctors take a look, see if your condition has improved, see if there's a way to treat it now..."

"Dad!"

"They said before they couldn't find the cause, and nothing they tried worked. But now that there's improvement, surely they can figure something out, right? Come on!! Let's go right now..."

"Dad!!!"

Ye Dali suddenly jumped to his feet, flushed with excitement, and started gathering things to take Ye Qinghe to the hospital. He was so overjoyed he could barely contain himself — he wanted a doctor to look at Ye Qinghe immediately, to find out if he could be treated, if there was finally a way forward!!

In his excitement, he forgot that a torrential downpour was raging outside. In his excitement, he couldn't even hear Ye Qinghe calling out to him.

Ye Qinghe had to raise his voice and shout again before Ye Dali finally snapped back to reality.

"Hm? What is it?"

"It's too late now — the doctors will have gone off duty. And there's a heavy rain outside. Even if we wanted to go, we couldn't. There's no rush. Since there's already a sign of improvement, maybe things will gradually get better on their own. We don't need to rush to the hospital — and even if we went, it'd be pointless. They couldn't figure it out before, and they won't be able to figure it out now."

Ye Qinghe wasn't keen on going to the hospital. He wasn't sure what the doctors might want to do with him once they found out his body was recovering — run experiments on him, perhaps.

After all, they had run every kind of test before and found absolutely no cause. Every medication they tried had zero effect.

"Right, right, right!! We can't go now. We'll go tomorrow. Qinghe, we still need to go to the hospital. Now that there's improvement, we have to let the doctors see. What if there's a way to treat it now? Maybe some of the earlier treatments finally kicked in?"

But Ye Dali didn't see it that way.

Even if the doctors hadn't found the cause before, even if they hadn't cured Ye Qinghe, they were still the most qualified people available. Now that there was finally improvement, he couldn't rest easy without having the specialists take a look.

As he spoke, Ye Dali dug out the specialist's phone number from before and called.

Watching Ye Dali excitedly telling the specialist on the other end of the line that his finger could move, Ye Qinghe knew this was unavoidable.

No matter what he said, Ye Dali would never agree to skip the hospital visit.

After the call ended, Ye Dali looked over at Ye Qinghe lying silently on the bed and assumed he was worried about money.

"Don't worry about money. We haven't spent much these past few months, so I've managed to save a little. As long as your health improves, I can pick up designated driving at night too. I'm still young — I can handle it!"

Ye Dali said it with a smile, but the words hit Ye Qinghe like a punch to the chest.

"I'm still young!"

The man was over forty. Over these three years, his belly had disappeared, he'd lost a noticeable amount of weight, and he looked at least ten years older. Still young?!

Money!!!

Ye Qinghe desperately wanted to earn some money in a short amount of time.

The Stand Till the End production team had said that defending the podium for three episodes would earn an annual salary of 200,000 yuan from the Think Tank, and defending for six episodes would double that to 400,000. This was probably the fastest way he could get his hands on real money right now.

That money — he had to get it.