Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 123 Xiao Xiaoxiao

How's the food in the cafeteria?

"not good."

"Unappetizing?"

"It's delicious."

"So it's because you're not eating well?"

"Not really, it's just that I ate a bit too much, and my roommate was giving me weird looks."

"It's okay, as long as you're full. You must be exhausted today. If you're hungry tonight, we can go out for a late-night snack, but no barbecue, I'm having a bit of trouble biting into skewers right now."

Hearing Han Zhou's slightly amused voice on the phone, Gu Zheng's heart was touched, and she smiled faintly while holding the phone.

Perhaps that's why she likes Han Zhou. When the two of them are together, they don't need to care about anyone's opinions. Han Zhou never tries to persuade her to eat less because he's worried that she'll embarrass herself by eating too much. Instead, he seriously criticizes the restaurant for having too small bowls.

There were many similar incidents. She could never forget what Han Zhou said that day: as long as she was right, he would always support her.

She was a little worried today, after all, the university is a big place, and the two of them are not in the same department, and they don't have as much free time as during the summer vacation. They might see each other less often in the future, and she was worried about what would happen if Han Zhou ignored her one day. But now it seems that she was overthinking it.

That guy obviously can't live without me.

"I can't live without you," that's what that guy said, and she took it seriously. If he ever dares to renege on his promise, she'll beat him up badly and make him even more badly hurt than he is today.

With a light tap of her fingertips, Guzheng replied with a pig emoji with its hands on its hips, looking arrogant, with three words above its head: "You're treating."

Han Zhou quickly replied with an emoji, an "OK" gesture, followed by a sentence.

"You can choose any place under ten yuan."

"Stingy guy..."

Gu Zheng muttered to herself as she took off her headphones, a slight smile playing on her lips, her eyes curving into beautiful crescents.

At the same time, her roommate's voice suddenly rang in her ears: "Guzheng, get ready, it's time to go to the gymnasium."

"it is good."

Gu Zheng nodded, sent Han Zhou a message saying "I'm going to the meeting," and then got up and left the dormitory with her roommate.

The gymnasium is large enough to accommodate all the freshmen. The freshmen group posted a map showing the positions of each class, and there were students holding signs with their class names in different areas, so it was easy to find your class.

When Han Zhou and his two companions arrived at the gymnasium, it was already packed with people. The gymnasium was bustling with activity, and the air was filled with the constant chatter of conversation. The faces of the freshmen were filled with excitement and curiosity, and their smiles were eager. They were clearly looking forward to their wonderful university life.

The downside of having a lot of people is that it gets hotter, but thankfully it's not the sweltering heat of the past anymore, so it's bearable.

Chen Zheng looked around. He was quite normal in the dormitory, but he became noticeably timid when he came to a crowded place. He looked around at the crowded people with an unnatural expression and followed behind Chen Long, whose eyes were shining, without saying a word.

"Our class is over there!"

Compared to Chen Zheng's social anxiety, Chen Long was much more excited. His eyes were like radar, and he immediately spotted the "E-commerce Class 1" sign not far away. He ran over excitedly, obviously to see if there were any pretty girls in the class.

Han Zhou sighed inwardly, Chen Long was quite a talent in the community. He still couldn't forget the shocked look on the cafeteria lady's face when the guy asked her if she was married.

He and Chen Zheng followed, slowly standing at the end of the class line. Since the people in front couldn't see them, they quietly observed the others in the back row.

The purpose of this gathering is to confirm the reporting status of each class and to organize the teams in advance for the military training that will begin tomorrow. The students in the class will only meet briefly before being divided into different teams. They will have to get to know each other better at the class meeting after the military training ends.

However, this did not diminish everyone's curiosity about the other classmates. The boys and girls stood in two rows in perfect unison, glancing at each other. The bolder ones had already started chatting and soon became friendly, forming "brotherly" or "sisterly" relationships.

There are also aloof individuals who are completely absorbed in their phones, one hand in their pocket, wearing a Bluetooth earphone, not even glancing at anyone else. It's unclear whether they are genuinely aloof or using this method to mask their awkwardness when facing strangers.

Besides these, there were others engrossed in their games, others nervously handing out chocolates to everyone, still others asking each other about their college entrance exam scores, and even someone like Chen Long who directly asked for someone's contact information and was refused on the spot.

Surrounded by people, Chen Zheng's social anxiety was on full display, so he could only chat with Han Zhou, whom he was relatively familiar with, to ease the awkwardness.

Han Zhou joked, "Are you afraid of this kind of scene?"

Chen Zheng pushed up his glasses and admitted somewhat embarrassedly, "Pretty much. It's okay when there are few people, but when there are many people, I feel very uncomfortable and I don't dare to make eye contact with others, especially strangers and girls."

"Really? Then you might need to learn from Chen Long in this respect." Han Zhou looked at Chen Long, who was chatting happily with several boys in front of him, and smiled. "Or perhaps it would be better to say that you complement each other."

Chen Zheng said with genuine envy, "To be honest, I really admire his confidence, but this guy's tricks are too obvious. Look, the reason he deliberately speaks so loudly and keeps emphasizing that he knows Sanda is probably to attract girls' attention, but he is destined to be disappointed."

"How to say?"

"If Chen Long had a face like yours, he could attract a lot of girls' attention even if he stood still without saying a word. But he's only average-looking. Trying to show off like this might just make him look bad."

You might as well just say he's a regular person...

Han Zhou listened silently, then shook his head and smiled wryly, "I don't think he'd feel any ill will. He just has a loud voice; he's not up to any bad intentions."

Chen Zheng didn't refute, but suddenly looked in one direction and asked, "Have you ever heard of a controlled experiment?"

"What controlled experiment?"

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment. Before Chen Zheng could answer, a slightly chubby girl walked up to him, took out a piece of chocolate from a box in her arms, and said nervously, "You... hello, classmate, this chocolate is for you. My name is Deng Xue. We will be classmates from now on. Please take care of me."

"Thank you."

Han Zhou did not refuse the girl's kindness and smiled as he accepted the chocolate from her. He had noticed before that this girl named Deng Xue had given chocolates to every classmate, probably trying to build good relationships in advance.

It's clear she's a rather introverted girl, and it takes a lot of courage for her to do this; perhaps she wants to change herself.

Deng Xue took another chocolate from the box and handed it to Chen Zheng, who was standing next to her. Then she looked at Han Zhou again, opened her mouth, and asked somewhat shyly, "Um... classmate, can you tell me your name?"

"Excuse me, I forgot to mention, my name is Han Zhou." Han Zhou quickly introduced himself.

"Han Zhou..."

The girls who had been listening intently silently noted down the name. They had long been interested in this handsome boy and wanted to ask him about his hands. Deng Xue was also curious about this, and she mustered up the courage to ask the question on their behalf.

"Han Zhou, how...how did you hurt your hand?"

Han Zhou casually laughed and said, "I wasn't paying attention when I went out today, and I accidentally broke a bone."

"I see..." Deng Xue said with some worry, "It should be alright soon?"

Han Zhou patiently replied, "It will probably take about a month; you'll need to rest for a while."

"Oh...then you should take care of yourself and get some rest."

Deng Xue clearly wanted to chat with Han Zhou a little longer, but she knew it wasn't appropriate, so she turned to the side and gave chocolates to the girl next to her.

Seeing Deng Xue walk away, Chen Zheng asked in a low voice, "How did it go?" "How did what go?" Han Zhou asked, puzzled.

"This is the result of the control experiment. I've been observing this just now. When Deng Xue gave Chen Long chocolate, she didn't say a word. But when she was with you, she mustered up all her courage and asked you all sorts of questions. So this is the importance of looks. If you're handsome, you can attract girls' attention even if you don't do anything."

Han Zhou was both amused and exasperated: "I admit I'm not bad looking, but isn't your judgment too hasty? She might just be curious about how I got injured."

"Impossible." Chen Zheng said with certainty. "If you don't believe me, open your chocolate and look at the words inside the wrapper."

Han Zhou was taken aback. He opened the chocolate and saw that there were indeed words inside the wrapper, but they were neither Chinese characters nor English; they looked more like symbols.

Chen Zheng leaned closer to take a look, a "I knew it" expression on his face. He also unwrapped his own chocolate, which also had words on the wrapper, but in a completely different symbol.

He adjusted his glasses and explained in a low voice, "'Lucky Chocolate' is a niche product that was launched online a while ago. A box contains about sixty pieces, and each chocolate has a symbol on its wrapper. Most of the symbols are the same, representing friends, but a few symbols are more special, representing different meanings such as 'best friend,' 'lover,' or 'secret admirer.' The symbol on the chocolate in your hand means 'the one you like.'"

He spoke eloquently, "It is said that this kind of chocolate is endowed with lucky magic, which can make the person who eats the chocolate understand the feelings of the giver, thereby generating a positive response, and ultimately enabling both parties to achieve the relationship desired by the giver. The effect is very magical. Of course, this is just a gimmick."

Han Zhou asked in surprise, "Isn't this a niche product? How do you know so much about it?"

Chen Zheng looked embarrassed, realizing he had said too much, and quickly pushed up his glasses to hide his embarrassment.

Han Zhou looked suspicious: "You didn't actually buy this, did you?"

Chen Zheng's expression changed slightly, but he finally nodded dejectedly.

He recalled, "I bought a box when I graduated from high school and mustered up the courage to give it to my high school classmate at the graduation party. I mainly wanted to give the 'secret crush' piece to a girl I liked."

Han Zhou became interested: "And then?"

"After that, I never wanted to eat chocolate again."

After a brief silence, Chen Zheng's voice, tinged with a sense of melancholy and desolation, echoed in the air.

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment. This person seemed to have quite a story to tell...

Just then, a crisp voice suddenly rang out behind them: "If you don't want chocolate, give it to me."

Han Zhou turned his head and saw no one. He lowered his gaze slightly and saw a short girl with a ponytail, arms crossed, looking up at them.

Chen Zheng also noticed the girl. He wasn't afraid of unfamiliar children and teased her, "Little sister, are you here to play at school?"

The girl raised an eyebrow, glanced at him sideways, and silently walked to the back of the girls' line.

Chen Zheng was taken aback, then suddenly realized what was happening and asked in surprise, "Could this also be one of our classmates?"

"Isn't this obvious?" Han Zhou said helplessly. "Didn't you see she was wearing an earring? Middle school and high school students aren't allowed to wear these kinds of things."

He didn't know why, but he felt a strange sense of familiarity with this girl. If he had to give a reason, it might be because her smug, arms-crossed demeanor was somewhat similar to that of the guzheng player.

That's right, a small guzheng.

This was Han Zhou's first impression of the girl.

However, they are only somewhat similar; the two are quite different. Gu Zheng would never wear an unhappy expression on her face all the time.

Thinking of this, Han Zhou couldn't help but shake his head. Suddenly, he heard the short girl next to him ask, "Hey, what's your name?"

"Me?" Han Zhou pointed to himself.

"If it's not you, then who is it?" the girl said rudely.

Han Zhou wasn't angry. He smiled and said, "My name is Chu Yuxun."

"Chu Yuxun?" The girl raised an eyebrow. "Why does that sound like a girl's name?"

"Because that's a girl's name."

"Are you kidding me?" The girl raised her eyebrows.

Han Zhou said unhurriedly, "Shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking someone's name?"

The girl frowned, intending to ignore him completely, but reluctantly said, "Xiaoxiao, just call me Xiaoxiao."

Chen Zheng, who had been listening nearby, asked curiously, "Xiaoxiao must be your name, right? What's your surname?"

"None of your business." The girl glared at him fiercely, her menacing look startling Chen Zheng. Then she looked coldly at Han Zhou, "It's your turn to speak. What's your name?"

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment before replying, "My name is Zhou."

"Daytime?" The girl was taken aback.

"Yes, this is my name. I can't reveal my surname yet."

Han Zhou's solemn expression and serious demeanor amused everyone around him.

The girl couldn't laugh. She felt that this guy was playing a trick on her and said unhappily, "Fine, it's daytime then. What happened to your arm?"

Han Zhou did not answer, but said, "Although you are unwilling to tell me, I can guess what your surname is."

That's obviously nonsense; he certainly couldn't have guessed it. However, he had a status bar and clearly saw the girl's name from the beginning, so it wouldn't be wrong to say he could have guessed it.

"I don't believe it." The girl pouted.

Could this guy be Guzheng's long-lost sister...?

The more Han Zhou looked at the girl, the more he felt she resembled a guzheng, especially her pouting expression. Finding it amusing, he said, "Let's make a bet. If I guess right, you..."

The girl quickly chimed in, "If you guess right, I'll run five laps around the track; if you guess wrong, you'll run five laps around the track."

She was quite quick-witted, fearing that Han Zhou might make some unreasonable demands, and promptly seized the decision-making power regarding the bet.

"Okay."

Han Zhou didn't care. He didn't intend to do anything excessive to this girl. He just thought she was impolite and that she looked a bit like a guzheng, so he wanted to tease her.

The girl felt relieved, tilted her chin up, and said, "Then tell me, what's my last name?"

She didn't believe this guy knew her name; if he really did, he wouldn't have made her say it in the first place.

The reason she cared about this guy's name was simple: she felt that he looked familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

Facing the girl's gaze, Han Zhou didn't keep her in suspense and chuckled, "Your surname is Xiao, and your name is Xiao Xiaoxiao."

He could understand why the girl didn't want to reveal her surname, since the three characters in her name were homophones. Considering her height of 1.5 meters, she probably didn't want to hear people say that she was small.

(End of this chapter)