After driving for fifteen minutes, the two came to Los Robles, apartment 2311.
After climbing up to the fourth floor together, Howard knocked on the door of apartment 4A.
Raj noticed that there were some cardboard boxes and old furniture piled up at the opposite door of 4B.
"It seems that Penny has really moved here," he thought quietly to himself.
After a moment, the door opened.
"We both have good news to tell you!" When he saw Leonard, Howard immediately broke into a smile and walked into the apartment.
Raj nodded to Leonard with a friendly smile and followed him in.
After watching the complete episodes of "The Big Bang Theory," he had come to think that Leonard was genuinely a good person. Kind-hearted, hard-working, devoted to those he loved, and always there for his friends—he could be said to be the most endearing character in the entire show. His only real flaw was that he tended to be a bit too passive and easily pushed around.
"What good news?" Leonard asked, looking puzzled.
"I found footage of Hawking's speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1974," Howard announced proudly. "And Raj discovered a terrestrial planet."
"Wow, really?! Congratulations!" Leonard turned to Raj with genuine excitement when he heard this.
"Thank you. But I haven't confirmed it completely yet, so it's a bit early for congratulations," Raj responded modestly, waving his hands, though internally he was one hundred percent certain that it was indeed an Earth-like planet.
"Yes, it's really not worthy of congratulations," Sheldon interjected with a dismissive curl of his lips. "It's just stumbling upon a rock that's been drifting aimlessly through the universe for billions of years. With enough luck, anyone could find it."
Raj frowned when he heard these words.
When he had watched the "Big Bang Theory" episodes before, he knew Sheldon was sharp-tongued, self-important, and socially tone-deaf. But because he wasn't the target of those barbs, the comments weren't offensive—they were actually entertaining. Now, however, having become Raj himself, hearing such dismissive and rude words directed at him actually stung.
"You don't believe in luck." At this moment, Leonard continued, trying to smooth things over, "But if Raj really discovers an earth-like planet, it is genuinely something worthy of congratulations. Think about the implications for astrobiology alone."
Hearing him take the initiative to defend him, Raj felt warm in his heart. It was nice to have at least one friend who would stand up for him.
"Hmmh~" Sheldon shrugged disdainfully, clearly unmoved by Leonard's argument.
Although Raj knew that Sheldon was not bad in nature—that his dismissiveness came from his peculiar worldview rather than genuine malice—seeing him act so conceited still made Raj want to punch him sometimes.
At this moment, Howard had inserted the videotape of Hawking's speech into the VCR and then sat on the sofa, reaching for the remote control to start playing it.
"Hey, Howie, now is not the time," Leonard said quickly, trying to dissuade him.
"Why not?" Howard asked, genuinely puzzled as he looked up at Leonard.
"Leonard has a lady visiting," Sheldon announced matter-of-factly, being the fastest to explain the situation.
"Yeah, your grandmother came to see you again?" Howard said casually, not yet grasping the significance.
Last Thanksgiving, Leonard's grandmother, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, had visited him unexpectedly and stripped naked in the living room, leaving an unforgettable and deeply uncomfortable memory for everyone present.
"No, it's not a lady—I mean, not that kind of lady. It's a new neighbor," Leonard quickly explained, stumbling over his words.
"Wait a minute~" Howard immediately stood up when he heard this revelation, his interest clearly piqued. "So there is really a lady here? An actual young woman?"
"Yes," Leonard nodded reluctantly.
"Then you drove us away because you wanted to communicate with her?" Howard asked curiously, a knowing smirk spreading across his face.
"I didn't want to communicate with her," Leonard defended himself quickly, his voice rising slightly.
"That is to say, others can communicate with her?" Howard pressed, his eyebrows waggling suggestively.
"Can we please stop saying the word 'communicate'?" Leonard said awkwardly, his face reddening.
Raj was also speechless for a while, shaking his head at Howard's behavior.
Howard was too lecherous and impatient. Whenever he heard there was a woman involved, his mind immediately went to talking to her, flirting with her. Raj really didn't know what his brain was made of sometimes.
At that precise moment, a girl wrapped in a bath towel came out of the bathroom with bare feet, her wet hair dripping slightly onto her shoulders.
"Leonard, isn't there supposed to be a knob or something that sends water from the tub out of the shower?" she asked as she walked into view, clearly not expecting company.
Immediately, she noticed Howard and Raj standing in the living room, both staring at her.
The moment she saw Raj, her eyes seemed to light up with interest.
"Oh! I'm sorry," she stopped abruptly and greeted them awkwardly, pulling her towel a bit tighter. "I'm so sorry, hello everyone~"
"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Howard said eagerly. When he saw her, his eyes practically lit up like Christmas lights, and he immediately approached her with his most charming smile. "I'm Howard Wolowitz, an engineer in the Department of Applied Physics at Caltech. Some of my research results, you may already be familiar with—they're orbiting Jupiter's largest moon right now, taking high-resolution digital photographs."
"Oh. Well, I'm Penny, and I work at the Cheesecake Factory," Penny replied with a polite smile. She glanced at Howard briefly, then looked past him toward Raj with considerably more interest. "Are you also their colleague?"
"Yes, he is Rajesh Koothrappali." Howard offered to introduce, "But he suffers from selective mutism and cannot talk to girls."
"Really?!" Penny exclaimed in surprise. It was the first time she had heard of such a strange condition. What a pity that this handsome guy with an exotic style had such an issue.
"Of course not." Raj said with a smile, "It's just because my accent is a bit different, and I'm afraid of being laughed at, so I usually don't like to talk much."
Seeing that he actually spoke, Howard, Leonard, and Sheldon were all startled and stared at him wide-eyed.
They had known Raj for three years and had never seen him speak in front of women. The only exceptions were when the girl wasn't particularly attractive, or when she was mixed in with a larger crowd where he felt less pressure.
"Raj, is your selective mutism cured?" Howard asked suddenly in surprise, his voice rising with disbelief.
Raj simply smiled and didn't say anything more.
Raj's selective mutism had always been mainly psychological in nature. Because he lacked confidence when facing women and didn't dare communicate with them directly, the condition had developed over time. In the original timeline, after he was devastated by a broken relationship at the end of the sixth season, the illness had miraculously healed without any medical intervention.
Since Raj no longer had psychological problems in this area, he could talk to girls freely, and so his illness had been cured.
"I think your accent is very interesting," Penny said with a friendly smile.
"Thank you," Raj nodded, appearing more relaxed.
"Actually, I can talk like that too." Seeing that Raj's accent had aroused Penny's interest, Howard immediately began to imitate it.
He was a skilled imitator, not only knowing how to beatbox, but also able to mimic stars such as Nicolas Cage and Al Pacino. It was even easier to imitate Raj, who he spent time with every day.
Penny frowned when she saw him doing this, clearly uncomfortable with the impression.
"I'll take you to get that knob," Leonard said quickly. Seeing Howard pestering Penny, he hurriedly stood up.
"Ah, thank you," Penny nodded gratefully and followed him.
"Bonne douche!" Seeing this, Howard quickly shouted behind them.
"What do you mean?" Penny stopped, turned around and frowned, asking with a puzzled expression.
"It's French, meaning 'have a good shower'. It's a congratulatory expression, and I can say it in six languages," Howard proudly showed off.
Penny pursed her lips in embarrassment, not quite sure how to respond.
"Save it for your blog," Leonard complained, and then left with Penny.
"好好洗澡!" Howard shouted at the top of his voice in Mandarin.
Raj couldn't help smiling when he heard this broken Chinese pronunciation.
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