Chapter 19: The Girl Fast Asleep in Early Summer

Instead of explaining further to Chen Ye, Jiang Xin hurriedly fled the room and went out to the balcony. She felt that if she stayed any longer, she might just regain the ability to speak out of sheer panic.

However, she was careful about leaving Chen Ye alone in her room. At the very least, she left the door open. If he even shifted his chair, she would hear it from outside. Besides, she had tidied up the room last night, ensuring nothing embarrassing was left out in the open, so she wasn't worried about him seeing anything he shouldn't.

As for that nightgown and those two pieces of...

Jiang Xin couldn't help but cover her face with her book, letting out a soft, embarrassed whine through her nose. She had changed out of them this morning. She hadn't expected Chen Ye to come over, so she had simply left them on the bed. Thank goodness Chen Ye hadn't noticed them, she thought, breathing a deep sigh of relief.

Inside the fish tank, a little Brazilian turtle resting on a rock stretched its neck to stare at the girl. It couldn't understand why this terrifying bipedal female ape was emitting such an unprecedented scent today. It was a scent similar to the one it gave off during mating season.

It took a long time for the heat in Jiang Xin's cheeks to subside. She finally got up and lay down on the lounge chair on the balcony, reading her book while basking in the sun. She was only a fraction of the way through *Faust*. Because she was mute, she hadn't gone out with friends since junior high. Hiding at home to read and watch television were her only two activities.

Meanwhile, inside the bedroom.

Chen Ye had already turned on the computer and was navigating with the mouse. He had indeed taken advantage of Jiang Xin's kindness. A normal girl wouldn't bring a male classmate home when her parents were out. A slightly kinder girl might lend him her computer, but out of politeness and to avoid awkwardness, she would only do so when her family was around. But a girl like Jiang Xin had brought him home behind her parents' backs. She had even endured the awkwardness of being alone in the same room to quietly wait nearby, simply because she was worried he might not know how to operate the computer.

But he wasn't an eighteen-year-old boy. He was thirty-four.

He wasn't going to be moved to tears by her kindness and suddenly fall for her in a burst of teenage hormones. Although his youthful body did influence his emotions and thoughts to some extent, reason would always gain the upper hand once the hormones settled.

Taking a deep breath to suppress his inner restlessness, Chen Ye focused his entire attention on the screen.

He logged back into Intigriti and checked the review progress of the vulnerabilities he had submitted. He found that they had only received the email but hadn't started the review process yet. The skills of foreign programmers were undeniable, but their work ethic left much to be desired. Chen Ye had experienced this firsthand when dealing with foreign IT companies in his past life. He figured it would take at least half a month to get a reply.

He then opened CSDN, casually browsing through the professional IT community. A person could never make money beyond the scope of their own knowledge—he strongly agreed with this sentiment. When he was first reborn, a multitude of money-making schemes had popped into his head, but after a moment's thought, he knew he couldn't pull off most of them.

Exploring unfamiliar territory required a margin for error, and he currently had zero margin for error. Even for industries guaranteed to take off, he lacked the capital to enter. Therefore, it was better to make whatever money he could within his field of expertise as soon as possible. Finding vulnerabilities for foreign internet companies was a solid, fast way to earn cash.

And during this time, he could also build a good relationship with Jiang Xin.

After shooting the breeze on the forum with a bunch of IT guys who were significantly older than his current self, Chen Ye continued his search for system vulnerabilities in Giant Company. He remembered that although the Vista system of this era had been out for two years, it was still riddled with security flaws and game-breaking bugs. He wasn't looking for anything groundbreaking; he just needed to find a few minor exploits worth a couple of hundred or perhaps a couple of thousand dollars.

In an era where the average annual disposable income was still less than ten thousand yuan, a thousand dollars was a very substantial amount. But these things couldn't be found just by willing it; sometimes, it relied heavily on luck.

As time ticked by, Chen Ye felt as if he were back at his old job. Within two hours, his head was spinning. He figured he must have developed some kind of work-induced PTSD. Exhaling sharply, he stretched his arms and got up to leave the room for a break. He also wanted to see what Jiang Xin was up to.

But when he stepped out and glanced around the living room, she was nowhere to be seen. Chen Ye peered further out and finally spotted the beautiful silhouette in white sleeping on the balcony's lounge chair.

He walked over quietly.

The balcony faced south. It was approaching four in the afternoon, and the slightly orange sunlight filtered through the screen window, casting a glow on the girl. The early summer breeze blew gently, brushing past like willow branches and causing the hem of the dress clinging to her calves to flutter slightly.

Jiang Xin was fast asleep.

Her sleeping posture was well-behaved, just as quiet and still as she usually was. The half-read book was pinned under her hand. Her soft pink lips were slightly parted, opening and closing subtly with each breath.

Standing in the living room, Chen Ye studied her makeup-free yet pure, endearing face through the glass sliding door. It was the kind of face that instantly sparked a protective instinct. As his gaze instinctively swept over her, he realized that Jiang Xin's curves were far beyond what he had imagined.

He had originally thought her figure was slightly inferior to his ex-wife, Su Siyun. He never expected that Jiang Xin, who had always bundled herself up tightly in his past life, was truly blessed with such a remarkably voluptuous figure.

Chen Ye quickly retracted his gaze and knocked lightly on the glass door.

Startled by the slightly sharp sound, Jiang Xin's eyes flew open, a hint of wariness in her gaze. Her expression softened, however, when she saw Chen Ye. But a second later, she realized she had just fallen asleep on the balcony—and Chen Ye had definitely seen her!

Did she have an ugly sleeping posture? Did she snore? Did she talk in her sleep?

Her face flushed instantly, but quickly cooled down. She remembered she was mute.

The girl silently pushed herself up from the lounge chair, quietly tucked her exposed, slender calves back under the hem of her dress, and finally slipped on her slippers to stand. She slid the glass door open and looked at Chen Ye with questioning eyes. Bringing both hands into fists, she lightly tapped her right fist against her left. Keeping her left fist still, she turned her right fist upward, opening her palm, and finally used her right index finger to trace a character in the air.

"What's wrong?"

But Chen Ye wasn't paying attention to what Jiang Xin was trying to convey. Instead, his eyes were glued to her hands the entire time. Her hands were small, but the skin was as white as snow, practically blending in with her white sleeves. Her fingers were long and slender with faintly pink tips. The joints subtly peeked through with her movements, yet her hands appeared incredibly soft and delicate, even a little bit plump.

They looked like they would be perfect to hold and play with, he thought to himself.

He immediately banished the thought from his mind the moment it surfaced. He wondered what was wrong with him. Why had he been having all these random thoughts ever since he entered her house? Could an eighteen-year-old's body truly dictate a thirty-four-year-old's mind? Hormones were simply too powerful!

Pulling his gaze away, he asked straightforwardly, "Can I use... Can I learn some basic sign language from you?"