Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 125 My Damn Charm

As Han Zhou expected, Ouyang Lianyu indeed found him a job.

However, the other party did not intend to make things difficult for him. They gave him a very easy task: to take photos of memorable moments during the military training period, which meant taking photos for a few days.

In a sense, this is actually a good job. After all, Han Zhou couldn't wander around while others were in military training before; he could only sit obediently in one place. Now he has a legitimate reason to move around freely.

Ouyang Lianyu had put a lot of thought into it. In her opinion, although military training was tough, it wasn't without its benefits. It could help freshmen adapt to university life quickly and was also a good opportunity to make friends with students from different classes.

Han Zhou missed military training, which meant that he would be bored for the next two weeks and might lack the social interaction he should have had. That's why they gave him this job to help him interact with more people.

Han Zhou was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that Ouyang Lianyu, despite being a bit forgetful, would be so meticulous in this regard. No wonder she was so popular with the students.

Ouyang Lianyu was a hot topic of discussion at school. Being "covered in wounds" would usually be a laughing stock on most people, who would think she was a fool with underdeveloped cerebellum. But on the gentle and beautiful Ouyang Lianyu, it was a cute thing. Both boys and girls liked her. Even Chen Long, a fellow freshman, had heard her legend and talked about it for a long time last night, seemingly very interested in this counselor he had never met.

In the initial phone call, Ouyang Lianyu specifically inquired about Han Zhou's injuries. She seemed to have remembered that Han Zhou's hands were injured and was worried that it would be inconvenient for him to stay in the dormitory, so she asked if he needed to make any adjustments.

She was quite concerned about Han Zhou's situation. Besides her own concern for her students, she probably also wanted to repay the kindness of being saved that night. Otherwise, she wouldn't have made a special trip to call and inquire about his well-being when she was so busy at the beginning of the semester.

Thanks to Ouyang Lianyu's help, Han Zhou has been quite relaxed these past few days. He couldn't help but sigh that if he hadn't risked helping Ouyang Lianyu back then, he might not be having such an easy time now. Is this a case of good deeds being rewarded?

[Passionate Youth: You are a courageous and righteous young person. Once activated, all your attributes will receive a slight boost. Good deeds will be rewarded more easily, and this effect can be turned on and off at any time.]

He looked at his professional status in the status bar. There was no cooldown for turning "Passionate Youth" on and off, and it did not consume points. He basically used it as a permanent status now, mainly for the effect of a slight increase in all attributes, which would make him more sharp-witted and agile.

He wasn't so concerned about the second half of the sentence; he was just curious whether it was just an encouraging message in the status bar or if it really increased the probability of "good deeds being rewarded." If it was the latter, it was a bit exaggerated, which meant that the status bar's power was more than he had imagined...

While I was thinking, a commotion suddenly broke out on the playground. It was time for a break. Military training is meant to train students, not torture them. The instructors would let them rest in place every now and then. They could chat or do other things, but they couldn't run around.

Han Zhou stood up with his camera. He usually chose this time to take photos. He was already tired of taking pictures of students standing at attention. He had even thought of a title: "A Young Man's Hardships and Determination, Undeterred by the Scorching Sun"—basically, just praise.

Since Ouyang Lianyu took such good care of him, he naturally had to do his best. So he planned to find some interesting photos. There were quite a few funny things the freshmen did during their breaks, and there were also male and female formations singing military songs together under the "encouragement" of the instructors. These were all interesting scenes worth recording.

Han Zhou thought for a moment, then headed straight for the formation where Gu Zheng was. He had been wandering around for the past two days and had naturally figured out the locations of a few people he knew. He planned to see what that guy was doing.

Military training shouldn't be too difficult for Guzheng, but hopefully she won't be provoked by anything into competing with someone for first place...

As Han Zhou set off, many freshmen who had been paying attention to him quickly turned their gazes to him.

After two days, Han Zhou had become somewhat famous. A handsome freshman with a bandage wrapped around his arm naturally attracted a lot of attention. In addition, he usually sat under the parasol next to the podium, and many people standing at attention couldn't look away but stared at him. The more they looked at him, the more handsome they thought he was. His downcast eyes, melancholy gaze, and handsome face seemed to hide some story...

However, these are all just the imaginations of girls who are interested in Han Zhou. What kind of story could Han Zhou possibly have? He was just sitting there feeling bored and a little sleepy.

"Han Zhou! Han Zhou!"

Han Zhou was about to go check on the guzheng when he suddenly heard an excited voice as he passed a formation. The voice sounded familiar and seemed to belong to Chen Long.

Turning my head, I saw that guy. He probably took off his hat a while because it was too hot, and the hat he put back on was crooked, like a bandit who had just reformed and joined the army.

Noticing the gazes fixed on him, Chen Long straightened his back, straightened his expression, and waved to Han Zhou with feigned modesty.

He knew this would have the effect. Many people were paying attention to Han Zhou, especially girls. He had already heard the girls next to him discussing Han Zhou more than once, seemingly wanting his contact information but too shy to do so.

This is somewhat similar to his current situation; both are asking for contact information without success, but the difference is that the girls are too embarrassed to ask, while he can't get it.

Then he had a brilliant idea: the girls might be too shy to ask Han Zhou for his contact information directly, but they could ask him through people around him!
And isn't he one of Han Zhou's men?

So as long as he acts like he's very familiar with Han Zhou, the girls might come to him to ask about Han Zhou, and he can add a lot of girls as he wishes. It's killing two birds with one stone, isn't that wonderful?

Han Zhou, unaware of Chen Long's thoughts, assumed something was wrong and went over to ask, "What's wrong?"

Chen Long knew very well that many people were watching them at this moment. In order to show that he had a good relationship with Han Zhou, he smiled slightly and raised his voice, saying, "You must have been very tired from taking photos all these days?"

Han Zhou was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "That's not hard at all, it's definitely much easier than your military training."

"You can't say that. Both of your hands are injured, so how can you hold a camera with only one hand?"

"It's alright. Like I said, I just have trouble lifting heavy things, but it doesn't affect my normal activities."

"Hahaha, that's good, that's good."

Han Zhou sensed something was off; this guy's laughter was too exaggerated. He asked suspiciously, "Why are you laughing so loudly?"

He seemed to have guessed Chen Long's thoughts.

Chen Long remained expressionless, quietly moved closer, and lowered his voice, saying, "Han Zhou, I want to ask you for a favor."

"what's up?"

"Why don't you take a picture of me too? Just to pretend, you can delete it later." Chen Long's eyes were full of expectation.

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment, but did not refuse. It was just a small matter, so he raised his hand and took a few photos for the other party.

Chen Long immediately felt very proud, thinking that this was enough to prove that he and Han Zhou were very familiar with each other, so he happily said, "We're playing a punishment game here, do you want to join? It's quite interesting."

There are many things you can do during the break, including some group games. As long as you don't run around or shout, the instructors will generally allow it, and may even join in.

Han Zhou shook his head and said, "I'll pass, I have other things to do."

There were quite a few punishment games. If it was just singing or something, it would be fine, but if you accidentally drew a punishment like shouting "I'm a pig" or randomly confessing your love, it would be a bit awkward. It was okay to play with familiar people, but he wasn't interested in playing with strangers. Chen Long didn't force him and said, "Okay, you go ahead and do your thing. How about we go out for dinner tonight? Lao Huo is here too, so the four of us from the dorm can have a get-together."

His casual tone inadvertently revealed that he and Han Zhou were roommates, and unsurprisingly, many girls immediately looked at him differently.

Han Zhou didn't expose his thoughts and smiled, "Okay."

The old Huo that Chen Long mentioned was the last person in their dormitory. It seemed that something had delayed him, and he only arrived yesterday afternoon.

When Han Zhou heard the other person's surname, his first thought was that his last roommate wasn't named Ip Man, but Huo Yuanjia.

However, things were not so coincidental. The roommate's full name was Huo Zhencheng. He was from Yecheng, a tall and honest guy who brought them some local specialties from his hometown when he came.

Han Zhou was about to leave after saying goodbye to Chen Long when a girl walked over from a distance, her face as red as a monkey's bottom. She blocked his way and hesitated for a moment before speaking softly.

"Excuse me, I...I like you..."

As soon as she finished speaking, a group of girls from the direction she came from started to cheer, followed by a barrage of reminders: "There's more! There's one more sentence after that, don't forget!"

Others, enjoying the spectacle, joined in the commotion.

Clearly, the girls in this group had just been playing a similar punishment game, and the girl who confessed was the first "victim," whose punishment was to confess her feelings to Han Zhou.

However, rather than a confession, the purpose of this punishment was more to obtain Han Zhou's contact information.

Faced with so many eyes on her, the girl felt really embarrassed, her face burning hot. Before Han Zhou could speak, she bit her lip and continued, "Excuse me, could you please give me your contact information?"

Seeing the expectation in the girl's eyes, Han Zhou felt a headache coming on. If there was anything wrong with "hot-blooded youths," it was probably this.

The overall attribute improvement naturally includes charm. Although his facial features and figure have not changed, his attractiveness is much stronger than before. In the past few days, he has been stopped by girls asking for his contact information more than once. Although this may be related to the fact that college students are more enthusiastic and proactive, the main reason should be the improvement in charm.

Han Zhou had previously assessed his own charm and estimated that it was just around the corner to reach eight points. And indeed, when he activated the "Hot-blooded Youth" mode, his charm temporarily reached eight points. This seemed to be a qualitative change, which led to many more girls paying attention to him than before.

However, besides that, there might also be some influence from the "attracting bees and butterflies" skill.

If Han Zhou has this problem, then Gu Zheng, as a naturally beautiful girl with eight points of charm, must have encountered similar issues in the past few days.

At first, she was quite patient and politely said that she would not give out her contact information. Later, she gradually became impatient and said directly that she came from the countryside and did not have a mobile phone. She relied on carrier pigeons to contact people and told these guys to leave her alone.

However, one senior student, whether genuinely naive or pretending, actually believed that Guzheng didn't have a cell phone and offered to give her his spare phone and teach her how to use it, suggesting they could become friends.

He might have thought it was humor, but to Gu Zheng it was nothing short of harassment. If she hadn't been in such a hurry to get food from the cafeteria, she might have cursed him out. Afterwards, she complained to Han Zhou several times, saying that the boys in college were really annoying.

Han Zhou also wanted to say he didn't have a cell phone, but he had received several phone calls in front of everyone these past few days, so he couldn't bring himself to say it. He mumbled, "I'm sorry, I have an urgent matter to attend to. You can ask my friend for my contact information."

He pointed to Chen Long, who was standing there dumbfounded, and then hurriedly left.

Chen Long was stunned because the girl in front of Han Zhou didn't seem to be forced to confess her feelings because of the punishment game. Her shy appearance, her blushing face, her determination to stay despite her obvious shyness... Damn it, this looked like a genuine confession!
However, he quickly perked up. Han Zhou seemed to understand his thoughts. His words were undoubtedly helping him. At this moment, he had to maintain his composure as Han Zhou's friend and not show any smugness or excitement.

He stared at Han Zhou's retreating figure, and although he kept telling himself to stay calm, he was already so excited that he was babbling incoherently. He shouted, "Be careful, drive safely, and come home for dinner soon!"

Han Zhou ran even faster.

Seeing Han Zhou leave, the girl who had confessed her feelings was somewhat disappointed, so she turned her expectant gaze to Chen Long: "Excuse me, could you tell me the contact information of that student?"

"Of course, I have his Fetion."

Chen Long laughed heartily, about to speak, when suddenly his expression changed, and he said awkwardly, "Oh dear, I'm sorry, I didn't bring my phone, and I don't quite remember his flight signal..."

"Oh, I see..." The girl hesitated for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Could you give me your Fetion number? I'll add you when I get back to the dorm, and then you can send me that classmate's Fetion number. Thank you."

"No problem at all."

This was exactly what Chen Long wanted. He suppressed his joy and immediately took out paper and pen from his pocket, writing his flying signal to the other party.

He had been carrying paper and pen with him these past few days, all for this moment. It just goes to show that opportunity favors the prepared.

"Thank you."

The girl was overjoyed and smiled brightly. She took the note and was about to leave, but before she could take two steps, Chen Long called her back.

"Wait a minute, I forgot to mention earlier that my friend doesn't really like meeting strangers, so it's best if you just know his contact information and don't give it to anyone else."

Chen Long appeared serious on the surface, but inwardly he was secretly amused. His use of "try his best" was quite clever. He estimated that as soon as the girl returned to the team, a bunch of girls would ask her for Han Zhou's Feixin (a type of instant messaging service), and she would definitely use his words as a shield to refuse their requests.

But the other girls would definitely be unhappy about this, but they couldn't force her to say it, since they had only known each other for a few days and weren't familiar with each other. So they had to find another way to get Han Zhou's WeChat.

What is this method?

Of course, we should ask Han Zhou's good friend, Chen Long, for help!

Chen Long believed that the girl might not be willing to share Han Zhou's Fetion information, but she would certainly not hesitate to share it with other girls, because that way it wouldn't be considered that she was actively revealing Han Zhou's contact information. She wouldn't be bothered by the girls or incur Han Zhou's displeasure.

According to Chen Long's prediction, he will receive a lot of friend requests in the next few days. Although most of these people are probably here for Han Zhou, if he can hook up with even one girl from them, he will have a chance to find a girlfriend at lightning speed during his freshman year.

And that was his open scheme.

Chen Long admitted that Han Zhou was very handsome, but he himself was not bad either. As long as he showed a little charm, this plan would definitely succeed!
(End of this chapter)