Chapter 2200 - 1440: Ambassador of Hope

Chapter 2200: Chapter 1440: Ambassador of Hope

Spring in Nandu arrived quietly.

First, tender green buds appeared on the branches of the plane trees, then white flowers bloomed on the magnolia trees by the entrance of the Institute, and next, dandelion seeds floated in from somewhere and took root on the lawn outside the window of the rehabilitation training room, blossoming with the first tiny yellow flowers.

Chen Jianguo stood up for the first time without a walker on the last day of February.

That morning, he was alone in the rehabilitation training room. Sister Li had gone to the cafeteria to get food, Tang Shun had gone to attend a meeting, and Fritz was bathing M7 in the animal room. Chen Jianguo held onto the parallel bars for a moment, waiting until his legs stopped trembling and his breathing steadied, then a thought popped into his mind.

He let go of his right hand.

The parallel bars were still on his left side, but his right hand was suspended in the air, without support. His body swayed a bit, the muscles of his right leg tensed instantly, his knee bent slightly, and then steadied.

He stood there, using only one hand to grip the bars, standing for three seconds.

Then he let go of his left hand too.

He stood without holding onto anything, with both legs firmly on the ground, knees unbent, back and waist straightened, like a tree finally standing upright after being blown by the wind for a long time.

One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, five seconds.

His body began to sway, the muscles in his right leg trembled slightly, like a string that had been held taut for too long. He quickly grasped the parallel bars, his palms sweaty.

But he had stood for five seconds, five seconds without holding anything, standing on his own.

When Sister Li opened the door, Chen Jianguo was leaning against the parallel bars, panting, with an inexplicable expression on his face, as if he was both laughing and crying.

"Jianguo, what’s wrong?"

His voice was shaking, "I just... stood up."

"You stand every day."

"It wasn’t a supported stand, it was an unsupported stand. Standing without holding onto anything, with my own legs, for five seconds."

The lunch box in Sister Li’s hand almost fell to the ground. She put it down and walked up to Chen Jianguo, looking at him.

"Really?"

"Really, I truly stood up."

Sister Li’s eyes turned red, she took out her phone and called Yang Ping. When the call connected, her voice was choked with emotion: "Professor Yang, Jianguo stood up, unsupported, for five seconds."

There was silence for two seconds on the other end of the line.

"I’ll be right there."

By the time Yang Ping arrived in the rehabilitation training room, Chen Jianguo had tried three more times, standing for six seconds the first time, seven seconds the second time, but only three seconds the third time before his legs trembled violently.

"That’s enough," Yang Ping said, "You’ve done well today, save the rest for tomorrow."

Chen Jianguo sat in a wheelchair, gasping for breath.

"Professor, I was able to stand."

"I saw, five seconds, six seconds, seven seconds, you’re making progress."

"When will I be able to walk?"

Yang Ping crouched down to meet his eyes.

"Jianguo, do you know how long it took M7 to go from standing to walking?"

"No."

"Two weeks, it started stepping after standing solidly for two weeks. But M7 is a monkey, its quadrupedal gait is innate. You’re human, two-legged walking is learned, something you learned at one or two years old, and now you have to relearn it, which will be much slower than M7."

Chen Jianguo’s eyes darkened for a moment but quickly became firm and confident.

"Slow is okay, if M7 can walk, I can too. It took two weeks for it, I’ll take two months, two years, whatever it takes, as long as I can still learn."

Yang Ping looked at him for a few seconds, then stood up.

"Okay, starting tomorrow, we’ll practice walking."

On the first day of walking practice, Chen Jianguo fell seventeen times.

The floor of the rehabilitation training room was covered with thick mats, and Tang Shun stood nearby, ready to assist at any moment, but Chen Jianguo refused to be helped.

"Let me do it myself," he said, "M7 did it by itself, too."

He held onto the parallel bars to stand up, released one hand, then the other, standing firmly. Then he shifted his weight forward, lifting his right leg off the ground, moving it ahead.

He stepped forward, his left foot still in place, his right foot landing twenty centimeters ahead. Then he needed to shift weight from the left foot to the right foot and step forward with the left foot too.

Halfway through shifting his weight, his right knee suddenly buckled, and he fell like a wall crashing down, with a "thud" as his body hit the mat, kicking up a cloud of fine dust.

Tang Shun rushed over to help him, but Chen Jianguo waved him off.

"No need, I’ll get up myself."

He pressed his hands against the mat, inching his way up, grasping the parallel bars, standing up again. Then, he started stepping forward again. Step forward, fall, get up, stand, repeat. He fell seventeen times, and got up seventeen times. On the twentieth attempt, he managed to step both feet forward.

Left foot forward, right foot behind, standing on the mat, not holding anything, he stood for two seconds, then slowly and controlledly sat down, not falling this time, but sitting on his own.

"Professor," he turned his head to look at Yang Ping standing at the door, "I took two steps."

Yang Ping walked over, crouched down, and looked at him.

"Two steps?"

"Two steps, one with the left foot, one with the right foot, two steps."

Yang Ping extended his hand, and Chen Jianguo took it, their hands interlocked wordlessly.

Far away in Heidelberg, Weber received Yang Ping’s email that evening.

The attachment was a video taken with a phone, not high quality, but clear enough to see every movement of Chen Jianguo, from letting go of his hands, to standing steady, to taking the first step, falling, and getting up.

Weber watched the video several times.